Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling +++Signed+++

Ross King

ISBN 10: 0701171197 / ISBN 13: 9780701171193

Published by Chatto & Windus, London, 2002

About this Item

Chatto & Windus; 2002; An UNREAD, AS NEW in as new unclipped dw; FIRST Edition, FIRST Priinting, HARDBACK ; bound maroon cloth, gilt lettering spine *** Signed*** by author on title page. #F. Seller Inventory # 003390

Bibliographic Details

Title: Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling +++...

Publisher: Chatto & Windus, London

Publication Date: 2002

Binding: Hardcover

Illustrator: Well-illustrated

Condition: As New

Dust Jacket Condition: As New

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: First Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

“There is no other work to compare with this for excellence, nor could there be,” wrote Vasari in his Lives of Artists .

The extraordinary story behind Michelangelo’s masterpiece in the Sistine Chapel - from the author of the acclaimed Brunelleschi’s Dome .

In 1508 Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Though he considered himself primarily a sculptor not a painter, he laboured over it for the next four years and the result was one of the greatest masterpieces of all time.

Ross King’s fascinating new book tells the story of those four extraordinary years. Battling against ill health, financial difficulties, domestic problems and inadequate knowledge of the art of fresco, Michelangelo created figures so beautiful that, when they were unveiled in 1512, they stunned the onlookers. From Michelangelo’s experiments with the composition of pigment and plaster to his bitter rivalry with Raphael, who was working on the neighbouring Papal Apartments, Ross King paints a magnificent picture of day-to-day life on the Sistine scaffolding and outside in the upheaval of early sixteenth-century Rome.

Review:

Almost 500 years after Michelangelo Buonarroti frescoed the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, the site still attracts throngs of visitors and is considered one of the artistic masterpieces of the world. Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling unveils the story behind the art's making, a story rife with all the drama of a modern-day soap opera.

The temperament of the day was dictated by the politics of the papal court, a corrupt and powerful office steeped in controversy; Pope Julius II even had a nickname, "Il Papa Terrible," to prove it. Along with his violent outbursts and warmongering, Pope Julius II took upon himself to restore the Sistine Chapel and pretty much intimidated Michelangelo into painting the ceiling even though the artist considered himself primarily a sculptor and was particularly unfamiliar with the temperamental art of fresco. Along with technical difficulties, personality conflicts, and money troubles, Michelangelo was plagued by health problems and competition in the form of the dashing and talented young painter Raphael.

Author Ross King offers an in-depth analysis of the complex historical background that led to the magnificence that is the Sistine Chapel ceiling along with detailed discussion of some of the ceiling’s panels. King provides fabulous tidbits of information and weaves together a fascinating historical tale. --J.P. Cohen