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Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564)
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 The
Complete Poems of Michelangelo by Michelangelo,
John Frederick Nims (Translator)
The greatest artist of the human figure was also
one of Renaissance Italy's greatest poets. Observing the
originals' meters and rhyming, though not always according to the
original schemes, Nims' translations allow us to appreciate that
greatness. Like other Renaissance poets, Michelangelo wrote
primarily of love. Like Shakespeare, Michelangelo loved both men
and women and both spiritually "fair" and
"dark" ladies. Unlike Shakespeare, he specified who the
men and the fair lady were, though not who "the lady
beautiful and cruel" was. That this great artist represents
himself as unworthy of his loves and frustrated by his
inadequacies (many of them having to do with his age, for these
are poems written mostly in his 60s and later to much younger
beloveds) is conventional--other sonneteers and madrigalists of
the time voiced similar sentiments--yet as Nims' accompanying text
makes clear, it is also psychologically accurate. Those still
hankering, after The Agony and the Ecstasy and several
biographies, to know what the greatest Western artist "was
like" should turn to these poems. Ray Olson from
Booklist
 Michelangelo
: A Biography by George Anthony Bull
The sculpture Pieta launched Michelangelo
Buonarroti on a long, tempestuous career buffeted by his genius
and the tangled political fortunes of his patrons, the Medici and
the papacy. Bull, a translator of Italian Renaissance classics
(including Michelangelo's letters), presents a workmanlike life
for modern readers. He expressly avoids art history, as such, and
instead describes the context of Michelangelo's creations--their
commissioning, the vicissitudes of work, and the sporadic warfare
that racked his native Florence and once threatened his life.
Other elements Bull highlights, aided by the artist's
correspondence, are the up-and-down relations within the
Buonarroti family, which reflect Michelangelo's intense passions
and sensitivity to affront, though, Bull writes, he would not long
hold grudges. Observations such as these lend this biography its
completeness and vivacity; why Michelangelo's paintings and
sculptures seem on the verge of becoming sensuously alive develops
well in Bull's narrative of how intense Michelangelo himself was,
quavering before mortality yet exultant in glorifying mortal
flesh. A sturdy work, with 70 illustrations, that offers libraries
durable service. Gilbert Taylor from Booklist
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Excerpt:
Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564) exerted
enormous influence. He, too, was universally acknowledged as a
supreme artist in his own lifetime, but again, his followers all
too often present us with only the master's outward manner, his
muscularity and gigantic grandeur; they miss the inspiration.
Sebastiano del Piombo (c.1485-1547), for example, actually used a
drawing (at least a sketch) made for him by Michelangelo for his
masterwork, The Raising of Lazarus. Masterwork it is;
yet how melodramatic it appears if compared with Michelangelo's
own painting...
This site has a lot of information!
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Read an extensive biography about Michelangelo's
life and artistic development. Includes links to additional info
and access to a gift shop.
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Extensive Images of the Pieta with lots of
details and different perspectives, from Christus Rex. Exploring
the Sistine Chapel Ceiling Visit to the Sistine Chapel in Vatican
and more.
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Excerpt:
A widely respected American scholar is
challenging the long-held belief that Michelangelo, the 16th
century Italian sculptor, painter and architect, was gay.
Professor James Beck, an American specialist in
Renaissance art at Columbia University says the master artisan
simply had more passion for art and for the care of his father and
brothers than he did for sexual adventure.
"The skimpy evidence that survives suggests
that Michelangelo, whether through disinclination, restraint,
shyness, conviction or fear, held his libido in check and that he
had few, if any, sexual experiences," said Beck. "The
contention that Michelangelo was a homosexual, closeted or
otherwise... is without solid historical support."
Historians have long inferred Michelangelo's
homosexuality from his spurning of marriage and regular historical
references to group of close male friends and associates. Rumors
alleging his taste for men and boys circulated widely though 16th
century Rome, reports of which survived into contemporary
scholarship. Art historians have long credited the masculine
appearance of his rendered female subjects in his drawings,
paintings and sculpture a reflection of his attraction to men...
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Names Index:
A B
C D
E F
G H
I J
K L
M N
O P
Q R
S T
U V
W X
Y Z
| Authors
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Index |
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