Michelangelo: The Artist, the Man and his Times

Description

Michelangelo is universally recognized to be one of the greatest artists of all time. In this vividly written biography, William E. Wallace offers a substantially new view of the artist. Not only a supremely gifted sculptor, painter, architect, and poet, Michelangelo was also an aristocrat who firmly believed in the ancient and noble origins of his family. The belief in his patrician status fueled his lifelong ambition to improve his family’s financial situation and to raise the social standing of artists. Michelangelo’s ambitions are evident in his writing, dress, and comportment, as well as in his ability to befriend, influence, and occasionally say “no” to popes, kings, and princes. Written from the words of Michelangelo and his contemporaries, this biography not only tells his own stories but also brings to life the culture and society of Renaissance Florence and Rome. Not since Irving Stone’s novel The Agony and the Ecstasy has there been such a compelling and human portrayal of this remarkable yet credible human individual. Subscribe to William Wallace's podcast on individual works of the master! Click here! Episodes every week, right from this bookmark or your feed reader. Cover Title Copyright Contents Preface Note to the Reader PART I Introduction 1. Rome, 1496 An Unconventional Beginning To Carrara Friends and the Pietà Michelangelo, 1500 2 Aristocrat of Artists “Under a Fateful Star” What’s in a Name? A Privileged Beginning Medici Connection “Of the Noblest Origins” Florentine Citizens Michelangelo in School Sex and Domestic Arrangements Was There Love? A Flattened Nose 3. Rise to Prominence Early Works To Bologna Return to Florence David For the Republic Three Tondi Doni’s Double International Fame 4. Papal Summons Michelangelo in Bologna, 1506–1508 Casting the Great Bronze 5. Rome, 1508 – 1516 At Work in the Sistine Chapel Family Matters “Barefoot and Naked” Current Affairs Completing the Ceiling Tomb Again Pope Leo X “A Place of Brigands” 6. Florence, 1515 – 15 2 5 Marble Behemoth First Column Cancellation From Façade to Mausoleum A New Pope, a New Start Jacopo Salviati Clement VII 7. A Week in the Life Monday, July 24 Tuesday, July 25 Wednesday, July 26 Thursday, July 27 Friday, July 28 Saturday, July 29 Sunday, July 30 Medici Chapel and Laurentian Library 8. Florence, 1525 – 1534 Unfavorable Times “They Are All Dying of Hunger’’ War Aftermath of War Domestic Matters Departure PART II 9. Rom e, 1534 – 1542 Old and New Friends: Fattucci Jesting with Sebastiano and Company Tommaso de’ Cavalieri Paul III The Pope’s Artist The Last Judgment The Julius Tomb Again … and Again Denouement 10. Rome, 1542–1545 Poetic Muses Illness and an Unusual Gift Vittoria Colonna The Poet’s Growing Reputation 11 . Papal Architect, Rome, 1546–1549 A Pasture for Silly Sheep St. Peter’s Campidoglio and Farnese Palace Lionardo Finding a Wife “Una Casa Onorevole” Misunderstandings “We Must Be Resigned” Once Again, a Suitable Wife 12. New Friends , Diminishing Family Pauline Chapel 1550: Julius III Giorgio Vasari Urbino Michelangelo’s Household A Pietà “Molto Afflicto e Tribolato” 13. St. Peter’s Michelangelo’s Assistant: Bastiano Malenotti Spoleto Rome Again … and St. Peter’s St. Peter’s or Florence? 14. Late Work, Long Life San Giovanni dei Fiorentini Tiberio Calcagni Porta Pia and Santa Maria degli Angeli Friends, Rivals, Fawners, and Favors Leone Leoni A Thousand Kisses 15 Final Years “For the Welfare of My Soul” Cornelia Colonelli Patriarch of Casteldurante Working at St. Peter’s and at Home Murder Marcello Venusti Daniele da Volterra “Questo Santo Huomo” Last Pietà Illness and Death 16. Return to Florence A Final Journey “I Never Ran a Shop …” Notes Cast of Principal Characters Popes During Michelangelo’s Life Abbreviations of Frequently Cited Works Index