Young Michelangelo - Hardcover

Spike, J. T.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0715640666 ISBN 13: 9780715640661

Publisher: Duckworth, 2011

Synopsis

We are accustomed to view Michelangelo as the old master of the Sistine Chapel ceiling without considering the long evolution of his genius. Drawing on his ample correspondence and banking records, this ground-breaking new biography explores the first 33 formative years of his life. Both erudite and entertaining, it charts the development of a charismatic and tenacious young artist utterly convinced of his own exceptional talent, against the turbulent, dangerous backdrop of Renaissance Florence and Rome.

About this title

About the Author:

John T. Spike, critic, curator, and art historian, is the author of more than 20 significant books on Italian painting and artists, including Caravaggio. He lives in Florence and teaches in the Sacred Arts Masters program at Regina Apostolorum University in Rome.

From Publishers Weekly:

Art historian Spike (Caravaggio) weaves together the personal and professional relationships that shaped the first 30 years of Michelangelo's career, from his early days in the Medicis' sculpture garden to the commissions that culminated in his work in the Sistine Chapel. Spike's Michelangelo is driven relentlessly by ambition, an obligation to provide for his dysfunctional family, and a firm conviction of his own genius. Although he lacked the social graces of contemporaries Leonardo and Raphael, Michelangelo attracted the patronage of the most important political figures of the time. Michelangelo was probably one of the very few who could flee Rome in the middle of completing the pope's tomb, repeatedly refuse orders to return, and still receive an even more important commission for a bronze sculpture. Spike crystallizes historical detail into vivid, memorable imagery. One scene stands out in particular: Michelangelo's six-ton David being slowly dragged through the streets of Florence to its place in front of the Palazzo della Signoria. Alternating between accounts of the turbulent political atmosphere and details of Michelangelo's most private moments in the sculpture studio, Spike creates a rich narrative that promises more intrigue than the best adventure novel. 60 illus., maps.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Duckworth
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0715640666
• ISBN 13: 9780715640661
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336