Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel - Hardcover

Graham-Dixon, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1602393680 ISBN 13: 9781602393684

Publisher: Skyhorse, 2009

Synopsis

You cannot stand underneath the masterwork that is the Sistine Chapel without considering the genius and painstaking work that went into its creation. Michelangelo Buonarroti never wanted to paint the Sistine Chapel, though. Appointed by the temperamental Julius II, Michelangelo believed the suspiciously large-scale project to be a plot for failure conspired by his rivals and the "Warrior Pope." After all, Michelangelo was not a painter—he was a sculptor. The noble artist reluctantly took on the daunting task that would damage his neck, back, and eyes (if you have ever strained to admire the real thing, you know). Andrew Graham-Dixon tells the story behind the famous painted ceiling over which the great artist painfully toiled for four long years.

Linking Michelangelo's personal life to his work on the Sistine Chapel, Graham-Dixon describes Michelangelo's unique depiction of the Book of Genesis, tackles ambiguities in the work, and details the painstaking work that went into Michelangelo's magnificent creation. Complete with rich, full-color illustrations and Graham-Dixon's articulate narrative, Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel is an indispensable and significant piece of art criticism. It humanizes this heavenly masterpiece in a way that every art enthusiast, student, and professional can understand and appreciate.

About this title

About the Author:

Andrew Graham-Dixon has presented six landmark series on art for the BBC, including the acclaimed A History of British Art, Renaissance and Art of Eternity, as well as numerous individual documentaries on art and artists. For more than twenty years he has published a weekly column on art, first in the Independent and, more recently, in the Sunday Telegraph. He has written a number of acclaimed books, on subjects ranging from medieval painting and sculpture to the art of the present, including Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane, Art: The Definitive Visual Guide, and Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel.

Review:

"unravels the aesthetic originality behind... familiar figures." OBSERVER "an engaging and accessible introduction... the way he sets out this historical context, establishing for his readers the ongoing economic, social and political events that did so much to shape the building of the city and therefore the creation of a masterpiece... a model of understated scholarship packed into a convenient size - physically as well as intellectually - with good colour photography and all at a very reasonable price: what more can the general reader hope for." SUNDAY TELEGRAPH "an excellent introduction to the Sistine Chapel... Time and again while reading this book I found myself looking with fresh eyes at a detail of the ceiling, prompted by an arresting phrase or astute observation... This is art history at its best: clear, exciting, well-informed." -- CRAIG BROWN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK MAIL ON SUNDAY "shows the best of what Graham-Dixon brings to his art criticism: an easy facility to convey the complex in lucid, simple terms." -- SERENA DAVIES DAILY TELEGRAPH "From first to last, it is crisply written in a prose which is both brisk and shapely... such a user guide to the brilliant particularities of the Sistine Chapel, aimed at the intelligent general reader, fills a gap in the market." RA MAGAZINE "Andrew Graham Dixon penetrates the many layers of meaning surrounding Michelangelo's rich images and allows us to glimpse something of the visions perceived by the artist himself. But more than this, he reveals Michelangelo the man - an achievement which ultimately proves even more rewarding." YORKSHIRE EVENING POST

About this edition

• Publisher: Skyhorse
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1602393680
• ISBN 13: 9781602393684
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240