Born in Volterra, Italy, Daniele Ricciarelli trained under Il Sodoma and Baldassare Peruzzi before moving to Rome. He became a close associate and protégé of Michelangelo, whose influence profoundly shaped his artistic development and stylistic approach to the human form.

His work is characterized by the dramatic, muscular figures typical of the Mannerist tradition. He is perhaps most historically recognized for his 1565 commission to add drapery to the figures in Michelangelo's The Last Judgment, an act that earned him the nickname Il Braghettone, or the breeches-maker.

While his reputation has historically been tied to his interventions on Michelangelo's work, he was a significant artist in his own right, producing notable frescoes and sculptures in Roman churches. His legacy remains central to the study of 16th-century Italian art and the evolution of Mannerism.