“The day that Michelangelo walked into Lorenzo’s sculpture garden at San Marco changed his life, and hence the course of Western art.” I got this in preparation for the Michelangelo exhibition at my local art museum. This book was super interesting, and even thrilling, especially for a subject that most would probably imagine to be pretty dry. Michelangelo can only be described as one crazy and wild dude, which probably also explains a lot of his brilliance. For instance, about 500 years ago, a 25 year old Michelangelo was putting the finishing touches on his Pieta, possibly the most priceless piece of artwork on the whole planet. As he was doing so, his father wrote him a testy letter basically telling him he was worthless, stating there is “no one to give me the slightest help or provide for me, not even with a glass of water.” This isn’t even the best story about the Pieta, though. Once he conceived of the statue (and obtained the requisite commission), Michelangelo knew it was going to make his career. He even personally travelled to Carrara to select the piece of marble to be quarried himself. Of course, when he finished, the work was a total masterpiece. However, as with his father, to the general public Michelangelo’s genius was yet unknown. After the statue was put on display at the Vatican, he overheard someone in the stupefied crowd saying that a sculptor from Milan had created it. Disgusted, the young artist climbed up on the statue and chiseled “Michelangelo made this” across Mary’s chest. To this day, you can see these vainglorious words, albeit now from behind bulletproof glass. This was also the last piece of art Michelangelo ever signed, as from then on, it was evident to all who had made the work in question. Additionally, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel had a rather bizarre, if not entertaining genesis (see what I did there?). Following the Pieta, Michelangelo was promised that he could sculpt the Pope’s tomb (an enormous feat that called for 30 some statues). However, the Pope pulled a switcheroo and told Michelangelo he had to paint the ceiling of the chapel instead. Despite being quite adept at it, Michelangelo did not really care for painting, to say the least. So, doing what any reasonable person would, he defied the Pope in a fury, grabbed a horse, fled Rome, and rode 24 hours straight toward Florence. Now equally enraged, the Pope dispatched five soldiers after Michelangelo with instructions to haul the artist back; however, by the time the soldiers caught up to him, they had crossed out of the Papal States and into Tuscany. Michelangelo then calmly told the soldiers that if any of them attempted to touch him he would have them all murdered. The soldiers discussed this at length, and in the end decided that they didn’t know whether this threat was actually within Michelangelo’s power or not. Instead, they simply tried to convince him to come back. When he still refused, they just begged him to write a letter to the Pope explaining they had tried their best. Michelangelo aloofly told them to tell the Pope that he would never set foot in Rome again (this was a whopper, if there ever was one). Finally, it fell to the leader of Florence himself to try and get Michelangelo to return to Rome, writing him “you’ve tried and tested the Pope as not even the King of France would dare, so he will no longer wait to be asked.” This entreaty from the ruler of his native-city, as we now know by one of the great works of art in the world, was ultimately successful. Not everything from there was smooth sailing, though. One day, the Pope presumed to ask Michelangelo when he would be done with the chapel. Michelangelo tartly replied “when I’m able to.” To this impudence, the Pope angrily responded “you want me to have you thrown off that scaffolding, don’t you?” Somehow, this last part doesn’t seem very Christian, from the heir of Saint Peter, no less. Then, after completing one of the most famous paintings ever, Michelangelo was clearly disappointed with the result, writing “things have not turned out for me as I’d hoped; for this I blame the times, which are very unfavorable to our art.” Others weren’t so thrilled with the painting either. The following Pope intended to have the frescoes on the ceiling of the chapel removed entirely, calling them “a bath house of nudes.” Luckily for us, this Pope died before he could carry this project out. In any case, Michelangelo often continued to defy and speak to the Pope as he pleased. At one point, unhappy with the price of a marble purchase, he wrote him “if the Pope is issuing Bulls granting license to rob, I beg your Most Reverend Lordship to get one issued to me too, because I have more need of it than they.” In another instance, when trying to get Michelangelo back to work while he was in a tiff, an official at the Vatican wrote to the artist “the Pope values you, he shows that he knows you and loves you, but you frighten everyone, including popes.” This was in response to the Pope saying “he is terrible; one cannot deal with him.” If all this sounds rather presumptuous, consider the following excerpt from a letter Michelangelo wrote: “even his Holiness annoys and wearies me when at times he talks to me and asks me somewhat roughly why I do not come to see him...I told him I was better occupied working for the Pope in my own house instead of by standing before him all day, as others do.” Michelangelo’s high opinion of himself can perhaps best be seen in his design for St. Peter’s Basilica. Despite it being the largest church in the world, he actually shrunk the original layout, and to accomplish this had much of the earlier, and extremely expensive work torn down. In doing so, he invented baroque architecture (all the while continually stating that architecture, or even painting “was not my profession”). Anyways, its not totally surprising that he held this negative view of his work. When he was a child, his father and uncle used to take turns beating him mercilessly any time they caught him drawing or painting (they wanted him to become a merchant). Once the family relented, however, Michelangelo was taken into the Medici household to foster his talent. This was one of the the most fascinating parts of the book. The Medici had collected all of Italy’s greatest artists, musicians, and writers under one roof, and kept them in residence in their massive villa. In addition, because the Medici were not technically royalty, their household was much more relaxed than most rulers. This meant that every evening these luminaries surrounded Lorenzo “the Magnificent” de Medici at the supper table where they could converse and exchange ideas. One ambassador even complained about this informality, and was told with the Medici, the more you are treated like family, the greater the honor. I was also surprised to learn that Michelangelo was more or less openly gay during his lifetime. Apparently, this wasn’t all that big of a deal in Renaissance Florence. Technically, the penalty was being burned at the stake. However, in practice, the law wasn’t enforced at all, and when it was, there was merely a fine levied. Even in death, Michelangelo was quite the character. When he died, they found an equivalent amount of gold stuffed under his bed that the Medici had recently paid for the entire Pitti Palace. The Pope and the Medici also got in a fight over in which city Michelangelo’s body would be interred. Ultimately, his corpse ended up being smuggled out of Rome in a bale of hay (eat your heart out Saint Mark) by Florentine agents, so it could be placed in a tomb at Santa Croce (at one point, the body spilled out of its concealment where it landed in a heap on the church floor). This book was equal parts compelling and informative; although, I’m not sure how engaging it would be to someone who didn’t have a preexisting interest in the subject. I think you would also need to have at least a basic idea of Italian and Florentine history to totally follow it. I’m not super familiar with art history or terms, and so struggled with this aspect of the text a bit (and ended up looking a lot of things up). This book was also really long and really dense. Still, it is one of those texts where you walk away from it feeling like you have truly gotten to know the person featured.
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About the author
This tome gave me a great introduction to him
I knew next to nothing about Michelangelo. I'm leaving for Italy tomorrow. This tome gave me a great introduction to him, his times, and even his landscape. Great read
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Top reviews from other countries
- LenReviewed in Canada on May 10, 2014
A very personal investigation into the life of one of the greats
- RRReviewed in India on March 16, 2018
Great book to read about Michelangelo's life
Soon after buying Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaccson, it wasn't long before I started thinking about Michelangelo and I had to get this! This is a beautiful book with thick, smooth and white pages and easy-to-read chapters. I love how it is liberally sprinkled with many color images making it even more delightful to read and admire his works. There were a lot of characters popping up in each chapter that I found that a little tedious.RRGreat book to read about Michelangelo's life
Reviewed in India on March 16, 2018
Even the book is 662 pages long, from page 565, there are only acknowledgements, notes and references.
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