Items related to The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti
The artistic genius of Michelangelo (1475-1564) is beyond question. One the most important figures in the history of art, his monumental paintings in the Sistine Chapel, his sculpture David in Florence, and his Pietà at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome are among the greatest human achievements of all time and remain the most visited and admired works of art in the world. Michelangelo's life has been the subject of many biographies over the centuries, but it was not until the appearance of John Addington Symonds's The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, in 1893, that a biographer had complete access to the artist's family archives.
The Buonarroti archives were to be available to the public with the passing of the last family member, but even when that event occurred, in 1858, material from the archives remained closely guarded and only fragments emerged through the hands of family friends. The Italian government, predisposed to Symonds for his impeccable scholarship of Renaissance art, gave Symonds full access to the Buonarroti archives in the 1880s, the first independent scholar so honored.
With the ability to consult the massive amount of material in the archives, Symonds produced the first documented, and considered by many still to be the best, biography of Michelangelo. Symonds's expertise as a historian and critic gives added depth to this biography, and it is here that the public first learned that translations of Michelangelo's poetry had been altered to opaque the artist's sexuality. Yet this great work, the last of Symonds's life, has largely been forgotten by students of Michelangelo.
In this new edition, the first in more than fifty years, preeminent art historian Creighton E. Gilbert reintroduces Symonds's masterful study of Michelangelo to a new audience through a discussion of the historical context in which the biography appeared, a biographical sketch of Symonds, an openly gay man who worked rigorously to evaluate and promote the contributions of gay artists and scholars to mainstream life, and concludes with an appreciation of The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, for its scholarly and literary merits, as an account of the most brilliant painter and sculptor of the Italian Renaissance.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author:
John Addington Symonds (1840-93) was a major figure in Renaissance studies and in the history of gay rights. He was the author of numerous books on criticism and polemics, including Renaissance in Italy and his classic translation of the Life of Benvenuto Cellini. Creighton E. Gilbert is Professor of History of Art at Yale University. He is the author of the Complete Poems and Selected Letters of Michelangelo and Michelangelo: On and Off the Sistine Ceiling.
From Library Journal:
Though this originally appeared back in 1911, it is still considered to be one of the best biographies of the artist. Symonds was the first to deal frankly with Michelangelo's homosexuality and was the first scholar granted complete access to the artist's materials by the Italian government. This edition includes a new introduction by Creighton E. Gilbert, art historian and translator of Michelangelo's poems and letters, who discusses the historical context of the biography as well as Symonds's own life and his efforts to recognize the contributions of gay artists.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherUniversity of Pennsylvania Press
- Publication date2002
- ISBN 10 0812236114
- ISBN 13 9780812236118
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages992
- Rating
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