MICHELANGELO AND THE POPES CEILING PDF, EPUB, EBOOK

Ross King | 384 pages | 08 May 2006 | Vintage Publishing | 9781844139323 | English | London, United Kingdom Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King

A panorama of illustrious figures converged around the creation of this magnificent work-from the great Dutch scholar Erasmus to the young Martin Luther-and Ross King skillfully weaves them through his compelling historical narrative, offering uncommon insight into the intersection of art and history. Four years earlier, at the age of twenty-nine, Michelangelo had unveiled his masterful statue of David in Florence; however, he had little experience as a painter, even less working in the delicate medium of fresco, and none with the curved surface of vaults, which dominated the chapel's ceiling. The temperamental Michelangelo was himself reluctant, and he stormed away from Rome, risking Julius's wrath, only to be persuaded to eventually begin. Michelangelo would spend the next four years laboring over the vast ceiling. He executed hundreds of drawings, many of which are masterpieces in their own right. Contrary to legend, he and his assistants worked standing rather than on their backs, and after his years on the scaffold, Michelangelo suffered a bizarre form of eyestrain that made it impossible for him to read letters unless he held them at arm's length. Nonetheless, he produced one of the greatest masterpieces of all time, about which Giorgio Vasari, in his Lives of the Artists, wrote, 'There is no other work to compare with this for excellence, nor could there be. Battling against ill health, financial difficulties, domestic problems, inadequate knowledge of the art of fresco, and the pope's impatience, Michelangelo created figures-depicting the Creation, the Fall, and the Flood-so beautiful that, when they were unveiled in , they stunned his onlookers. Modern anatomy has yet to find names for some of the muscles on his nudes, they are painted in such detail. While he worked, Rome teemed around him, its politics and rivalries with other city-states and with France at fever pitch, often intruding on his work. From Michelangelo's experiments with the composition of pigment and plaster to his bitter competition with the famed painter Raphael, who was working on the neighboring Papal Apartments, Ross King presents a magnificent tapestry of day-to-day life on the ingenious Sistine scaffolding and outside in the upheaval of early-sixteenth-century Rome. There are no reviews yet. Several other artists had worked on the scheme, beginning with Nicola Pisano in the 13th century. Everything about Michelangelo's angel is dynamic. The sculpture has all the traditional attributes, a vine wreath, a cup of wine and a fawn, but Michelangelo ingested an air of reality into the subject, depicting him with bleary eyes, a swollen bladder and a stance that suggests he is unsteady on his feet. With the Rebellious Slave , it is one of two such earlier figures for the Tomb of Pope Julius II , now in the Louvre, that the sculptor brought to an almost finished state. The works, known collectively as The Captives , each show the figure struggling to free itself, as if from the bonds of the rock in which it is lodged. The works give a unique insight into the sculptural methods that Michelangelo employed and his way of revealing what he perceived within the rock. The Sistine Chapel ceiling was painted between and The commission, as envisaged by Pope Julius II , was to adorn the pendentives with figures of the twelve apostles. On the pendentives, Michelangelo replaced the proposed Apostles with Prophets and Sibyls who heralded the coming of the Messiah. Michelangelo began painting with the later episodes in the narrative, the pictures including locational details and groups of figures, the Drunkenness of Noah being the first of this group. The final panel, showing the Separation of Light from Darkness is the broadest in style and was painted in a single day. As the model for the Creator, Michelangelo has depicted himself in the action of painting the ceiling. The Creation of Adam As supporters to the smaller scenes, Michelangelo painted twenty youths who have variously been interpreted as angels, as muses, or simply as decoration. Michelangelo referred to them as "ignudi". In the process of painting the ceiling, Michelangelo made studies for different figures, of which some, such as that for The Libyan Sibyl have survived, demonstrating the care taken by Michelangelo in details such as the hands and feet. Michelangelo's relief of the Battle of the Centaurs , created while he was still a youth associated with the Medici Academy, [91] is an unusually complex relief in that it shows a great number of figures involved in a vigorous struggle. Such a complex disarray of figures was rare in Florentine art, where it would usually only be found in images showing either the Massacre of the Innocents or the Torments of Hell. The relief treatment, in which some of the figures are boldly projecting, may indicate Michelangelo's familiarity with Roman sarcophagus reliefs from the collection of Lorenzo Medici, and similar marble panels created by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano , and with the figurative compositions on Ghiberti 's Baptistry Doors. The composition of the Battle of Cascina is known in its entirety only from copies, [92] as the original cartoon, according to Vasari, was so admired that it deteriorated and was eventually in pieces. Melozzo had depicted figures from different angles, as if they were floating in the Heaven and seen from below. Melozzo's majestic figure of Christ, with windblown cloak, demonstrates a degree of foreshortening of the figure that had also been employed by Andrea Mantegna , but was not usual in the frescos of Florentine painters. In The Last Judgement Michelangelo had the opportunity to depict, on an unprecedented scale, figures in the action of either rising heavenward or falling and being dragged down. Peter and The Conversion of Saul , Michelangelo has used the various groups of figures to convey a complex narrative. In the Crucifixion of Peter soldiers busy themselves about their assigned duty of digging a post hole and raising the cross while various people look on and discuss the events. A group of horrified women cluster in the foreground, while another group of Christians is led by a tall man to witness the events. In the right foreground, Michelangelo walks out of the painting with an expression of disillusionment. Battle of the Centaurs Copy of the lost Battle of Cascina by Bastiano da Sangallo. The Last Judgment , detail of the Redeemed. The Crucifixion of St. In Michelangelo produced the highly complex ovoid design for the pavement of the Campidoglio and began designing an upper storey for the Farnese Palace. In he took on the job of completing St Peter's Basilica, begun to a design by Bramante, and with several intermediate designs by several architects. Michelangelo returned to Bramante's design, retaining the basic form and concepts by simplifying and strengthening the design to create a more dynamic and unified whole. The vestibule of the Laurentian Library has Mannerist features which challenge the Classical order of Brunelleschi's adjacent church. Michelangelo's redesign of the ancient Capitoline Hill included a complex spiralling pavement with a star at its centre. Michelangelo's design for St Peter's is both massive and contained, with the corners between the apsidal arms of the Greek Cross filled by square projections. The exterior is surrounded by a giant order of pilasters supporting a continuous cornice. Four small cupolas cluster around the dome. They are heralded by the Victory , perhaps created for the tomb of Pope Julius II but left unfinished. In this group, the youthful victor overcomes an older hooded figure, with the features of Michelangelo. In this image, Mary's upraise arms and upraised hands are indicative of her prophetic role. Michelangelo smashed the left arm and leg of the figure of Jesus. His pupil Tiberio Calcagni repaired the arm and drilled a hole in which to fix a replacement leg which was not subsequently attached. He also worked on the figure of Mary Magdalene. The legs and a detached arm remain from a previous stage of the work. As it remains, the sculpture has an abstract quality, in keeping with 20th-century concepts of sculpture. Michelangelo died in Rome in , at the age of 88 three weeks before his 89th birthday. His body was taken from Rome for interment at the Basilica of Santa Croce , fulfilling the maestro's last request to be buried in his beloved Florence. Although their names are often cited together, Michelangelo was younger than Leonardo by 23 years, and older than Raphael by eight. Because of his reclusive nature, he had little to do with either artist and outlived both of them by more than forty years. Michelangelo took few sculpture students. He employed Francesco Granacci , who was his fellow pupil at the Medici Academy, and became one of several assistants on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Despite this, his works were to have a great influence on painters, sculptors and architects for many generations to come. While Michelangelo's David is the most famous male nude of all time and now graces cities around the world, some of his other works have had perhaps even greater impact on the course of art. The twisting forms and tensions of the Victory , the Bruges Madonna and the Medici Madonna make them the heralds of the Mannerist art. The unfinished giants for the tomb of Pope Julius II had profound effect on lateth- and 20th-century sculptors such as Rodin and Henry Moore. Michelangelo's foyer of the Laurentian Library was one of the earliest buildings to utilise Classical forms in a plastic and expressive manner. This dynamic quality was later to find its major expression in Michelangelo's centrally planned St Peter's, with its giant order , its rippling cornice and its upward-launching pointed dome. The dome of St Peter's was to influence the building of churches for many centuries, including Sant'Andrea della Valle in Rome and St Paul's Cathedral , London, as well as the civic domes of many public buildings and the state capitals across America. Artists who were directly influenced by Michelangelo include Raphael, whose monumental treatment of the figure in the School of Athens and The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple owes much to Michelangelo, and whose fresco of Isaiah in Sant'Agostino closely imitates the older master's prophets. The Sistine Chapel ceiling was a work of unprecedented grandeur, both for its architectonic forms, to be imitated by many Baroque ceiling painters, and also for the wealth of its inventiveness in the study of figures. Vasari wrote:. The work has proved a veritable beacon to our art, of inestimable benefit to all painters, restoring light to a world that for centuries had been plunged into darkness. Indeed, painters no longer need to seek for new inventions, novel attitudes, clothed figures, fresh ways of expression, different arrangements, or sublime subjects, for this work contains every perfection possible under those headings. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Redirected from Michel angelo. Italian sculptor, painter, architect — For other uses, see Michelangelo disambiguation. Portrait of Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra. Rome , Papal States present-day Italy. See also: List of works by Michelangelo. Main article: David Michelangelo. Main article: Sistine Chapel ceiling. The Doni Tondo — Dying slave , Louvre Self-portrait of the artist as Nicodemus. Further information: List of works by Michelangelo. Italy portal Biography portal Visual arts portal. However, in the Roman manner, ab Nativitate , it is De Tolnay writes that it was at ten years old while Sedgwick notes in her translation of Condivi that Michelangelo was seven. Filippo Strozzi sold it to Francis I in Longman Pronunciation Dictionary 3rd ed. Pearson Longman. The Life of Michelangelo. The Lives of the Artists. Oxford University Press. Oxford Art Online. Boston: Brill. A Creating the "Divine Artist": from Dante to Michelangelo. Condivi, The Life of Michelangelo , p. Gardner, p. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Supplement2, Aug. EBSCOhost, search. The World of Michelangelo: — Time-Life Books. Condivi, The Life of Michelangelo , pp. Condivi ed. Hellmut Wohl , The Life of Michelangelo , p. BBC News. Retrieved 9 February The British Museum. Archived from the original on 15 October Well, really, I was awestruck, but since when you adjust for my lack of intellectual horsepower, it was the functional equivalent of being dumbstruck. Despite having nary a religious bone in his body, I can only call it a religious, or, at least, cathartic, experience. Well worth a read for art or Renaissance aficionados. On an unrelated note: do we think Splinter was being intentionally ironic when he named the most happy-go-lucky ninja turtle after the grouchiest of his quartet of Renaissance artist-inspired names? I hope so; otherwise, it just makes him look ignorant, and there are few things I hate more than an ignorant mutant rat who holds himself out as a wise sensei. View all 36 comments. Oct 02, Jean Tessier rated it it was amazing Shelves: leisure. What a treat. This book felt like the best read I've had in a long time. This may seem unfair to some of the great books I've read recently, but this one was at the same time instructive and of very easy access. It covered everything from the technical aspects of painting frescos to the artistic concerns that went into the vault of the Sistine Chapel, to the geo-political landscape of Italy at the beginning of the 16th Century. The books starts with Michelangelo's early career and how he landed t What a treat. The books starts with Michelangelo's early career and how he landed the commission to fresco the vault of the Sistine Chapel. It was very interesting to see the life of a tradesman in those days. The author goes over Michelangelo's character and his relationships with various figures of the days. As the book follows the progress on the vault, we are made privy to the ever changing political landscape and the ongoing competition with Raphael, as each one pushes the boundaries of art. I have read quite a bit about the Papacy during the Middle-Ages and this was a very nice refresher of the events in Northern Italy at the time. But the real focus of the book is the fresco and its numerous panels and figures. The author walks us over all the difficulties, tribulations, and inventions that continually happened throughout the project. The book has many illustrations and nice color plates of the entire vault. But for some reason, it is missing the two pendentives from the altar wall that were considered by Michelangelo's contemporaries as his best work. There are also other works, notably by Raphael, that are not depicted and I had to go to the Internet in order to see them. But it was still a very enjoyable read that gave me a new prespective on this cornerstone of Western culture. View all 3 comments. Jan 09, Tung rated it it was ok Shelves: non-fiction. The book details the technical challenges of the painting of the Sistine Chapel ranging from paint issues to scaffolding issues to design issues , the life of Michelangelo leading up to the commission, the historical events during the reign of Julius and how they intersect with the chapel painting, and other such details. Overall, I had a hard time getting through this book. One problem was the continuous mention of obscure Italian after obscure Italian probably not obscure if you were an art history major. Secondly, King includes far too many details of every historic event even remotely related to the completion of this great work, and the tangential details ruin the pacing. There were many sections in the book I felt could have been left out, and the book would have fared the better for it. Lastly, King seems to have written the book for art buffs. As he describes works created by Michelangelo or other artists, he often compared aspects of the work to aspects of other existing works that may have inspired said work i. But unless one were also familiar with the other works, the points are less effective. I wish King had included far more illustrations throughout so that non-art fans could better follow his analyses. Overall, a recommendation only for fans of the Sistine Chapel, or for European or Art History majors. View 2 comments. Apr 07, Susanna - Censored by GoodReads rated it really liked it. Another fine volume of art history from Ross King. This covers most closely Michelangelo's early years in Rome, from when he got the commission for Pope Julius II's tomb, through , when he finally finished the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The notoriously grumpy genius was immortalized twice at least by artists working at the Vatican in those years - by himself as the prophet Jeremiah, and by Raphael as the notoriously grumpy genius Heraclitus in his "The Academy of Athens. View all 4 comments. Mar 29, Linda Harkins rated it it was amazing. Having immensely enjoyed reading Brunelleschi's Dome by the same author, I knew this bestseller about Michelangelo would not disappoint. Through thorough research, Ross King exposes truths that rectify many prevailing myths, particularly those promulgated by cinema. Indeed, Michelangelo did not lie flat on his back to paint painstakingly the frescoed scenes on the curved Sistine Chapel ceiling. The artist, in fact, wrote to his father describing how he had to stand on raised scaffolding in an un Having immensely enjoyed reading Brunelleschi's Dome by the same author, I knew this bestseller about Michelangelo would not disappoint. The artist, in fact, wrote to his father describing how he had to stand on raised scaffolding in an uncomfortable stance with his head tilted back. Unlike the Michelangelo portrayed by Charlton Heston, the real Michelangelo was not the only artist responsible for decorating this ceiling. Michelangelo employed numerous assistants to help with all phases of the work, since sculpture in stone rather than fresco painting was his medium of choice. King renders both the artist and the pope as formidable personalities. Michelangelo never hestiated to ask for compensation that he felt was due him. He even followed the warrior pope to the battleground to ask for money. Although respectful, Michelangelo never cowered before Pope Julius II, and was probably highly admired and respected in return. The Sistine chapel ceiling that took more than four years to complete has become synonymous with Michelangelo's name. King points out numerous details that illuminate the life and work of an artist whose portfolio seems inexhaustible. Well-researched and readable, I highly recommend this accounting of Michelangelo's life. View 1 comment. Aug 01, Netta rated it really liked it Shelves: art-history , painters-and- paintings , read I remember myself standing in Sistine Chapel. I was standing there speechless, throwing my head back, absolutely dazzled by what I was experiencing. Later I thought, though, what other people had felt standing there. Did they know the story behind Pope's ceiling in question? Did they understand the narrative of each scene they saw? Did they try to imagine what creating such a masterpiece required? Or were they simply standing there thinking why on Earth THIS is considered to be one of the greatest things humanity has ever created? Did they read something on the subject? Did anyone tell them? But I do believe that art, history and, hence, art history as well could and should for that matter be both informative and entertaining. Moreover, I believe art history may be appealing for a huge audience once the person who tells the story makes it relatable. Ross King certainly knows how this things works. He may simplify facts or omit something overcomplicated, but he always invites his readers to learn more. Both in Leonardo and the Last Supper and in Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling he gives impressive, broad context for the period of creation of the masterpiece in question, trying to describe what surrounded the artist and his work. Sometimes King gets carried away, but mostly it does no damage to the book. It may even hook a reader and make him or her search for additional information. This book does not make art seem boring or a privilege of the elite. It tells the story of the time when ugly deeds were adjoined with grand gestures and visions. And I hope that this book works the way it should. This book is a fascinating trip through early 16th century Italy, focusing mainly on the frescoing of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I read several reviews here on Goodreads in which the reviewers felt that the author should have stuck solely to Michelangelo and his art, and that all the other information given is completely extraneous. I have to say I completely disagree with that. A work of art is not created in a vacuum. There were many events, political and religious, swirling around Mic This book is a fascinating trip through early 16th century Italy, focusing mainly on the frescoing of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. There were many events, political and religious, swirling around Michelangelo at the time he was creating his amazing frescoes, and ignoring the world and the events around him does the reader a disservice. I do not have a degree in Art History, nor have I taken an Art History course, but I found this book a fascinating read that drew me in from the first chapter, covering everything from how a fresco is applied to the wall to how colors are created and ground for application onto the plaster to the effect of Julius II's tyrannical papacy on Michelangelo and his art, as well as the rest of Italy. I never felt as through the author assumed I was an expert on Italian art in the s, like other reviewers have felt. My only regret is that I did not read this book before I saw the Sistine Chapel for myself in March of Oct 06, Amy rated it did not like it. I'm only on page ish and it's taken me forever to get that far because it's so boring. View all 5 comments. Nov 06, Laurie rated it it was ok. It was a huge chore to slug my way through this tome. Perhaps if a trip to Italy were in the near future I'd have enjoyed it more. As it is, I realized that the descriptions of more than one painting or fresco were ones I'd blithely walked past with barely a glance when I was in Florence a few years ago. I did learn a lot about the Sistine Chapel and if I ever see it I'll know more than most, but that's what tour guides are for, so why did I force myself to finish it? No reason but stubbornness It was a huge chore to slug my way through this tome. No reason but stubbornness and true grit. Jul 03, Czarny Pies rated it liked it Recommends it for: Those in need of entertainment. It's a hoot. Shelves: european-history. Although balderdash from cover to cover, Ross King's "Pope's Ceiling" is wildly entertaining. I heartily recommend it to anyone planning to visit Rome in the next twelve months. However, muddled the facts may be, the text is clear and easy to follow making the book ideal for reading on a long trans-Atlantic flight. The thing that set my teeth on edge Jeremiah was King's decision on page in a discussion of five medallions of the Sistine Chapel fresco modelled on a recent printing of t Although balderdash from cover to cover, Ross King's "Pope's Ceiling" is wildly entertaining. The thing that set my teeth on edge Jeremiah was King's decision on page in a discussion of five medallions of the Sistine Chapel fresco modelled on a recent printing of the Book of Maccabees was to say that the Book of Maccabees were Apocryphal and hence of doubtful provenance. Despite the dominant role of the Roman Catholic Church in the commissioning of works, Ross King like most experts on the art of Renaissance Italy appears to know remarkably little of the Christian faith. The 14 books of the Apocrypha have been included in the Bibles of the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Coptic churches since the second century and remain there to this day. It was not until the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century that that their validity was challenged. Michelangelo being a good Catholic drew heavily from the Apocrypha. In addition to the medallions mentioned by King, Michelangelo's fresco includes panels based on passages from the books of Esther and Judith that are also considered to be Apocryphal. King, however, does not mention that these two panels are linked to the Apocrypha either because he was unaware of the fact or did not wish to acknowledge how important the Apocryphal books were top Michelangelo. King's sin however is one of ignorance. He is anything but anti- Catholic. King in fact makes it clear that Pope Julius not Michelangelo was the driving force behind the whole project. In addition he lavishes praises on Pope Julius as a military commander, filling his books with stirring passages describing Julius rallying from his death bed to lead his army in battle against the enemies of Italy and the frescos. Michelangelo - Wikipedia

Retrieved The Independent. Kirkus Reviews. January 1, Categories : non-fiction books Bloomsbury Publishing books Cultural depictions of Michelangelo Art history stubs Art book stubs. Hidden categories: Books with missing cover All stub articles. Namespaces Article Talk. Views Read Edit View history. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file. Download as PDF Printable version. Throughout his spectacular ten-year reign, he devoted himself to expelling foreigners, redefining borders, unifying the papal states, and creating a new Rome in accordance with his conception of High Renaissance splendor. It was due in part to the relentless drive of this outrageous pontiff that the High Renaissance progressed in Rome with more urgency and grandeur than it did in Florence. In this dynamic atmosphere, Michelangelo entered into the service of his first papal patron. Commissioned by Julius II to create a tomb for him of unparalleled power and grandeur, Michelangelo could not have foreseen that the tomb would become a forty-year nightmare. Abandoning all other projects, Michelangelo created several drawings for the structure. The final version had a structure three stories high and included forty sculptures. The artist endured a draining year finding and moving marble from Carrara, but the Pope stopped work on the tomb. This might have been due to a shortage of funds, though no proof of that exists today. In a rage, Michelangelo retreated to Florence, where he resumed work on other commissions. But he never forgot the dismissive and discourteous manner in which he had been treated by Julius II. Though Julius II was one of Michelangelo's most important patrons, the relationship between the two men was difficult. The explosive and unyielding artist was ferocious in his dealings with his patrons, both papal and secular, and he regarded them with neither fear nor favor. In the end, however, the two men found common ground in the basic respect each had for the other: For Michelangelo, the respect was founded on his deeply held religious beliefs and his reverence for the will of the church. For the Pope, it stemmed from his admiration for the incomparable genius of the Florentine master. History would again bind the two men together when, in , Michelangelo was called to Rome by Julius II. The artist reluctantly accepted the commission to create frescoes for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. What began as Julius II's plan for paintings of the twelve apostles gave way to disagreements about the design, content, and scale of the project. Michelangelo, eventually given free rein, enlarged the project to include more than figures, including prophets and sibyls and ignudi nude figures , decorative medallions, thirteen scenes from the Old Testament, and sixteen lunettes of the ancestry of Christ. Aided by theological advisor Marco Vigerio, a fellow Florentine and a cardinal trusted by the Pope, and several laborers, the artist began work on the ceiling. He was unhappy, however, with how the work was progressing. Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King, Paperback | Barnes & Noble®

I have to say I completely disagree with that. A work of art is not created in a vacuum. There were many events, political and religious, swirling around Mic This book is a fascinating trip through early 16th century Italy, focusing mainly on the frescoing of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. There were many events, political and religious, swirling around Michelangelo at the time he was creating his amazing frescoes, and ignoring the world and the events around him does the reader a disservice. I do not have a degree in Art History, nor have I taken an Art History course, but I found this book a fascinating read that drew me in from the first chapter, covering everything from how a fresco is applied to the wall to how colors are created and ground for application onto the plaster to the effect of Julius II's tyrannical papacy on Michelangelo and his art, as well as the rest of Italy. I never felt as through the author assumed I was an expert on Italian art in the s, like other reviewers have felt. My only regret is that I did not read this book before I saw the Sistine Chapel for myself in March of Oct 06, Amy rated it did not like it. I'm only on page ish and it's taken me forever to get that far because it's so boring. View all 5 comments. Nov 06, Laurie rated it it was ok. It was a huge chore to slug my way through this tome. Perhaps if a trip to Italy were in the near future I'd have enjoyed it more. As it is, I realized that the descriptions of more than one painting or fresco were ones I'd blithely walked past with barely a glance when I was in Florence a few years ago. I did learn a lot about the Sistine Chapel and if I ever see it I'll know more than most, but that's what tour guides are for, so why did I force myself to finish it? No reason but stubbornness It was a huge chore to slug my way through this tome. No reason but stubbornness and true grit. Jul 03, Czarny Pies rated it liked it Recommends it for: Those in need of entertainment. It's a hoot. Shelves: european-history. Although balderdash from cover to cover, Ross King's "Pope's Ceiling" is wildly entertaining. I heartily recommend it to anyone planning to visit Rome in the next twelve months. However, muddled the facts may be, the text is clear and easy to follow making the book ideal for reading on a long trans-Atlantic flight. The thing that set my teeth on edge Jeremiah was King's decision on page in a discussion of five medallions of the Sistine Chapel fresco modelled on a recent printing of t Although balderdash from cover to cover, Ross King's "Pope's Ceiling" is wildly entertaining. The thing that set my teeth on edge Jeremiah was King's decision on page in a discussion of five medallions of the Sistine Chapel fresco modelled on a recent printing of the Book of Maccabees was to say that the Book of Maccabees were Apocryphal and hence of doubtful provenance. Despite the dominant role of the Roman Catholic Church in the commissioning of works, Ross King like most experts on the art of Renaissance Italy appears to know remarkably little of the Christian faith. The 14 books of the Apocrypha have been included in the Bibles of the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Coptic churches since the second century and remain there to this day. It was not until the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century that that their validity was challenged. Michelangelo being a good Catholic drew heavily from the Apocrypha. In addition to the medallions mentioned by King, Michelangelo's fresco includes panels based on passages from the books of Esther and Judith that are also considered to be Apocryphal. King, however, does not mention that these two panels are linked to the Apocrypha either because he was unaware of the fact or did not wish to acknowledge how important the Apocryphal books were top Michelangelo. King's sin however is one of ignorance. He is anything but anti- Catholic. King in fact makes it clear that Pope Julius not Michelangelo was the driving force behind the whole project. In addition he lavishes praises on Pope Julius as a military commander, filling his books with stirring passages describing Julius rallying from his death bed to lead his army in battle against the enemies of Italy and the frescos. As a Catholic, I found these passages quite inspirational. Nonetheless, I have to think that Ross too readily accepted at face value the contemporary accounts of Julius' many near scrapes with death. Take everything with a grain of salt but read this book nonetheless. It is wildly entertaining. Far from the usual dry commentary that is found most art history books, Michelangelo is portrayed as a real person living in his world with all of the problems and challenges that are familiar to us today. Family issues, living conditions, a demanding boss, technical challenges and financial problems plague him as he works on this unwanted commission from Pope Julius II. I was surprised to learn of the simmering rivalries with his contemporaries, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci. I especially enjoyed Far from the usual dry commentary that is found most art history books, Michelangelo is portrayed as a real person living in his world with all of the problems and challenges that are familiar to us today. I especially enjoyed learning about the physical methods of making fresco and the manufacture of different pigments. Lovely photos of the ceiling in the centerplate. The author shares the story sequentially, as Michelangelo slowly makes his way across the ceiling, over a four year period, and intertwines this story with the story of the pope and his desire to keep France out of his realm. Apr 17, Shatterlings rated it it was amazing Shelves: non-fiction-nineteen. This very interesting book tells the story of how a notable sculptor such as Michelangelo Buonarroti came to spend four years or more of his life painting the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel for pope Julius II. Ross King does a masterful, well researched job of describing the circumstances leading to pope Julius insisting Michelangelo abandon the craft forms he knew and delve into painting, which he had some training and a little experience with and more importantly fresco, with which he had vi This very interesting book tells the story of how a notable sculptor such as Michelangelo Buonarroti came to spend four years or more of his life painting the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel for pope Julius II. Ross King does a masterful, well researched job of describing the circumstances leading to pope Julius insisting Michelangelo abandon the craft forms he knew and delve into painting, which he had some training and a little experience with and more importantly fresco, with which he had virtually no experience at all. The politics, significant persons, significant events both military and other surrounding the years the ceiling got re-done are amazing and confusing. I know very little of Italian history and have no interest in catholicism but despite these disadvantages, with wit and excellent writing skills Ross King led me to a much better understanding of the country, events and era that help shape Michelangelo and Julius, leading to the amazing ceiling that it one of the wonders of the world. I was absolutely delighted with the details of how fresco is rended, the layers and materials that go into preparing it. Also the details of how the pigments were sourced and prepared applied and reacted with the render were fascinating, this level of detail may not be everyone's favourite part but I found it fascinating. The political machinations of that pope If you are catholic and have a residual respect for the institution you may find these aspects of the book confronting. King goes into quiet some detail to explain the stops and starts of work on the ceiling and, well, that organisation and it's leaders in the 's strikes me as anything but holy. Both Martin Luther and Desiderius Erasmus came to the same conclusions incidentally, when they visited Rome during the work on the ceiling and they are among the extensive suite of secondary historical figures mentioned in the book. The friction between Raphael and Michelangelo is also brought into it, there always seems to be an artistic feud with any of the renaissance artists doesn't there? Although honestly, I am still unconvinced as to how much real rivalry was there. There was a great deal of information in this book and despite the nicely chosen colour plates and numerous black and white ones, I spent a lot of time googling images through the reading because I could not even begin to visualise all the images being described or the colours used. At the end of reading it, the Sistine chapel and Rome and Florence of the 's have come alive for me in a whole new way. Michelangelo himself seems so much more a real figure than ever before, perhaps not someone you would want to sit down to dinner with though I would not turn down an invitation from Raphael , but a fascinating introverted gloomy man with a level of dedication to his craft that was stupendous and an ability to see beyond mere fashion in art to the raw emotions it can command. Why wasn't it five stars? The research, writing and information available certainly warranted five stars, the scholarship and comprehension of the author is undoubted and it even feels a little insulting of me not to give it five stars - I am a bit ashamed of myself. But readability has to come in to it as well for me and at times, personally, the flow of the writing didn't really work to the best advantage. Though I never really wanted to put it down I found I often had to be in the right frame of mind to pick it up. This is because there is a lot of back history and fairly minor Italian personages who were involved in the project in one way or another and they are included in the book. Now, while I was interested in these obscure people and am glad to know some of the politics that swirled around at the time there was a fair bit of it. I get the sense that King was really trying to limit the list of people as much as he could, so maybe a historian or art history person would know them all. I didn't know hardly any of them, I often couldn't pronounce their names and consequently I didn't always remember who they were. Despite that small issue that made a star drop off, this was a book, I felt, that really impressed on the reader the intellectual spectacle as well as the visual that the Sistine chapel ceiling is. I suppose I should give this book five stars because it has lead me on to a more extensive study of Michelangelo. It was somewhat slow going as I read the book because I kept switching to my iPad to look up pictures of various works of art mentioned in the book. However, I learned through Ross King's book that there is much mythology in Stone's book. King has done a vast amount of research, I suppose I should give this book five stars because it has lead me on to a more extensive study of Michelangelo. King has done a vast amount of research, and I was amazed at how much has survived of Michelangelo's family letters and other sources touching his life. King goes into detail concerning the political situations in the Italian States at that time. I had never thought to note that Martin Luther was a contemporary of Michelangelo--just one of the sidelights that interested me. Though his temperament and interaction with people wasn't good, there is no doubting that Michelangelo was an artistic genius. I recommend the book for history fanatics like me! But this book deals primarily with how Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling. It was an unbelievable task that he was forced into by Pope Julius II. Michelangelo didn't consider himself a painter, but wanted to sculpt. Because of Ross's expert interpretation of each section of the Chapel, I have a much better understanding of the entire work. Can't beat Heston and Harrison! King does a fine job of pulling together information about Michelangelo himself, his struggles with "il papa terribile" Julius II as well as with his family members and his rivals. There is much detailed information here about the painting of the Sistine Chapel and some can get a bit tedious. Usually I nod off at the mention of a battle. But the inte King does a fine job of pulling together information about Michelangelo himself, his struggles with "il papa terribile" Julius II as well as with his family members and his rivals. But the interweaving of the story of Michelangelo and Julius worked beautifully to keep me interested, and I may even remember some of this - like the fact that the battle of Ravenna was the first "modern" battle in its use of artillery by the Ferrarese. People actually died! Before that, it was just medieval pageantry, not very risky. It's too bad the illustrations are not more numerous, but if you refer to good pictures of the Sistine Chapel, you will be fascinated by the progress of Michelangelo's skill as a fresco painter, as well as by his personality and the conditions under which he completed this truly herculean task. Feb 19, Karen rated it really liked it Shelves: travel-the-world. This year my goal is to read a book set in each country of the world. I find myself reading books that have been languishing in my physical library as well as my ebook library for a long time, which is a good thing. To my delight, I am loving this journey of finding new authors. For me a book is a good one when it points me to other books and more in-depth research. Michaelangelo and Pope's Ceiling is one of them. I had seen the Sistine Chapel, as well as the Pieta years ago during a trip to R This year my goal is to read a book set in each country of the world. I had seen the Sistine Chapel, as well as the Pieta years ago during a trip to Rome. While I was reading this book I kept a picture of the Sistine Chapel up on the computer so I could "follow along" with Ross King and his descriptions. This book did a wonderful job of describing Michaelangelo's work, dispelling some of the myths that have accumulated because of Irving Stone's the Agony and the Ecstasy. Aside from the Sistine Chapel, King discusses Raphael, who was frescoing the Pope's library at the same time. Most importantly of all he describes the history and its important players during the years Michaelangelo worked on his masterpiece. One fact that I forgotten about Michaelangelo was that he never thought of himself as a painter and he had very little experience in fresco. If you like Art History and the Renaissance, this a good book to read. I am torn between 3 and 4 stars for this book. I loved the history of the period and of the art enough for 5 stars but I just did not find the writing compelling. There is nothing wrong with it, it is all very well written, it just leaves a bit to be desired in the enjoyment category in that, for me, it was not a page- turner. Especially interesting are the characters of Michelangelo and the Pope. There are wonderful scenes of Michelangelo showing why he was possibly the only man in Rome who could I am torn between 3 and 4 stars for this book. Raphael is here and to a lesser degree, so is Leonardo da Vinci. The times were terrible and dark but the art was magnificent. In this Kindle edition, the illustrations and photos are just not good enough, so I read this book with an internet connection close by, Googling each work of art to appreciate fully. I must also mention that it is full of typos and missing words. Yes, Cod, not God. I wonder if autocorrect was at work here and why we did not get the final edit. Apr 03, Tim Muldoon rated it it was amazing. What a great read! I'm fascinated by Michelangelo's work on the Sistine ceiling, and learning more about its production was a walk through a fascinating chapter of European and Church history. Like many, my image is taken from "The Agony and the Ecstasy"-- Charlton Heston's Michelangelo as a solitary figure, lying on his back painting. King's book explodes that myth. He shows him rather as the head of a team of skilled laborers, with the artist still emerging as a remarkable talent revered by hi What a great read! He shows him rather as the head of a team of skilled laborers, with the artist still emerging as a remarkable talent revered by his peers, including Raphael, the young upstart who labors at the same time painting the stunning, yet less well known, "School of Athens. This backdrop, and this man, brought into sharp relief how fragile was the very possibility of Michelangelo's finishing the work at all. Somehow he managed--amidst negotiations with the pope, noise from his family in Florence, jealousy and competition with his artistic mentors and peers, and politicking with cardinals--to produce one of the world's most astounding works of art. Dec 09, Heidi rated it liked it Shelves: history , art , non-fiction , book-club. Although I enjoyed this book overall, and King does a good job dispelling some of the myths that have arisen around Michelangelo and the painting of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, it read too much like an art major's master thesis. It felt like the author wasn't really engaged with his subject, or wasn't able to convey his enthusiasm if he was. I was also disappointed that the picture section 1. King often described the panels in detail, but some of them were missing from the panoramic view; and if they were included, you had to get out a magnifying glass to try to appreciate the details. For those of us who have not had the good fortune of visiting Rome, it would have been a nice touch. Another excellent popular account of the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. I found the discussion of Italian history during this period, especially the wars of Pope Julius II to be informative. I read this on the Kindle; one problem with a book about art is that you want to see what the author is talking about, and the Kindle version only provided microscopic IMO views of what he was talking about. The book also covers Raphael's murals in the Papal Apartments. This was also interesting, b Another excellent popular account of the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. This was also interesting, but I was somewhat disappointed that the book had no real coverage of the Last Judgment fresco painted by Michelangelo, also in the Sistine Chapel. Feb 04, Mary rated it it was amazing. Jun 21, Liz readwildly rated it liked it Shelves: history , non-fiction , reading-challenge. I enjoyed the details about Michelangelo's labors and his rivalry with another famous Renaissance painter, Raphael. Now that I know more about the lives of these two men, I have a deeper appreciation for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Mar 08, Joe D'Alesio rated it liked it. Mar 08, Bobby Bermea rated it really liked it Shelves: resident-madness. Michelangelo seems so easy. He's always fascinating. Trying to capture what he accomplished and put it into words with nothing but whatever facts you can get your hands on and by making whatever inferences seem plausible, seems like an impossible task and so it is. What makes it fun is trying to get at that mystery of creation anyway, to figure out at what exact point Michelangelo was touched by God and put that moment in some kind of terms the rest of us mere mortals can understand. It can't be Michelangelo seems so easy. It can't be done. It is, however, always fun to try. You will learn something -- about art, about the Renaissance, about genius, about the human condition. And Ross King does a clear, concise, respectable job, even if I don't always agree with his conclusions. Like when he compares the composition of Raphael's "School of Athens" to "the Flood" section of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel and finds the former more elegant and graceful, I'm thinking, well yeah, one is a bunch of dudes discussing ideas in school and one is a group of people caught in a natural disaster. The flood is bound to be messier. But I, personally, can't get enough of Michelangelo. He's an untouchable superstar. Reading about him reminds me of looking at constellations and trying to figure out the cosmos from them. It's just silly really, but the exercise is worth it, all on its own. One of the things I really appreciate that Ross King does here is he doesn't go overboard trying to say how "dark" or "obsessed" Michelangelo was. A lot of times, modern critics seem to want to turn him into a Rolling Stone profile of a troubled rock star. They want to force him into a Van Gogh box. It doesn't seem to me that he was that way at all. He didn't have any extra time for all the social niceties that so occupy the rest of us. He just wanted to rock his art. So that's what he did and that was that. And I appreciate that King, for the most part, just lets that be. This was a super interesting non-fiction book that looks at how Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The book also went into the political dealings going on in Rome while he was competing the chapel, as well as Michelangelo's family issues. Commissioned by Julius II to create a tomb for him of unparalleled power and grandeur, Michelangelo could not have foreseen that the tomb would become a forty-year nightmare. Abandoning all other projects, Michelangelo created several drawings for the structure. The final version had a structure three stories high and included forty sculptures. The artist endured a draining year finding and moving marble from Carrara, but the Pope stopped work on the tomb. This might have been due to a shortage of funds, though no proof of that exists today. In a rage, Michelangelo retreated to Florence, where he resumed work on other commissions. But he never forgot the dismissive and discourteous manner in which he had been treated by Julius II. Though Julius II was one of Michelangelo's most important patrons, the relationship between the two men was difficult. The explosive and unyielding artist was ferocious in his dealings with his patrons, both papal and secular, and he regarded them with neither fear nor favor. In the end, however, the two men found common ground in the basic respect each had for the other: For Michelangelo, the respect was founded on his deeply held religious beliefs and his reverence for the will of the church. For the Pope, it stemmed from his admiration for the incomparable genius of the Florentine master. History would again bind the two men together when, in , Michelangelo was called to Rome by Julius II. The artist reluctantly accepted the commission to create frescoes for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. What began as Julius II's plan for paintings of the twelve apostles gave way to disagreements about the design, content, and scale of the project. Michelangelo, eventually given free rein, enlarged the project to include more than figures, including prophets and sibyls and ignudi nude figures , decorative medallions, thirteen scenes from the Old Testament, and sixteen lunettes of the ancestry of Christ. Aided by theological advisor Marco Vigerio, a fellow Florentine and a cardinal trusted by the Pope, and several laborers, the artist began work on the ceiling. He was unhappy, however, with how the work was progressing. By the end of , he had fired all his assistants, removed what little work had been done, and began the difficult process on his own. Michelangelo had never considered himself a painter, and over the next three years he grew increasingly resentful of the project. Through his faith, however, he remained dedicated to its sacred vision.

Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling - Wikipedia

Michelangelo was thirty-three years old. He had been born on the sixth of March , at an hour, he informed one of his assistants, when Mercury and Venus were in the house of Jupiter. Such a fortunate arrangement of the planets had foretold "success in the arts which delight the senses, such as painting, sculpture and architecture. By the age of fifteen the precociously gifted Michelangelo was studying the art of sculpture in the Garden of San Marco, a school for artists fostered by Lorenzo de' Medici, the ruler of Florence. His contract for this statue boldly claimed it would be "the most beautiful work in marble that Rome has ever seen"-a condition he was said to have fulfilled when the work was unveiled to an astonished public a few years later. Michelangelo's next triumph was another marble statue, the David , which was installed in front of the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence in September , following three years of work. Almost seventeen feet in height, the work came to be known by the awestruck citizens of Florence as Il Gigante , or "The Giant. A few months after the David was finished, early in , Michelangelo received from Pope Julius II an abrupt summons that interrupted his work in Florence. Peter's, that he wanted the young sculptor to carve his tomb as well. At the end of February the papal treasurer, Cardinal Francesco Alidosi, paid Michelangelo an advance of one hundred gold florins, the equivalent of a full year's salary for a craftsman. The sculptor then returned to Rome and entered the service of the pope. So began what he would later call "the tragedy of the tomb. That of Sixtus IV, who died in , was a beautiful bronze sarcophagus that had been nine years in the making. But Julius, a stranger to all modesty, had envisioned for himself something on an entirely new scale. He had begun making plans for his sepulchre soon after his election to the papacy in , ultimately conceiving of a memorial that was to be the largest since the mausoleums built for Roman emperors such as Hadrian and Augustus. Michelangelo's design was in keeping with these tremendous ambitions, calling for a freestanding structure some thirty-four feet wide and fifty feet high. There were to be over forty life-size marble statues, all set in a massive and highly detailed architectural setting of pillars, arches, and niches. On the bottom tier a series of nude statues would represent the liberal arts, while the top would be crowned by a ten-foot-high statue of Julius wearing the papal tiara. Besides an annual salary of 1, ducats-roughly ten times what the average sculptor or goldsmith could expect to earn in a single year-Michelangelo was to receive a final payment of 10, more. In spite of several mishaps in transit-one of his cargo boats ran aground in the Tiber, and several others were swamped when the river flooded-by the start of he had unloaded more than ninety, wagonloads of marble in the square before St. Peter's and moved into the workshop behind Santa Caterina. The people of Rome rejoiced at the sight of this mountain of white stone rising in front of the old basilica. No one was more excited than the pope, who had a special walkway built to connect Michelangelo's workshop with the Vatican and thereby facilitate his visits to the Piazza Rusticucci, where he would discuss his magnificent project with the artist. Even before the marble had arrived in Rome, however, the pope's attentions were being distracted by an even larger enterprise. Originally he had planned for his sepulchre to stand in a church near the Colosseum, San Pietro in Vincoli, only to change his mind and decide it should be installed instead in the grandeur setting of St. But soon he realized that the old basilica was in no fit state to accommodate such an impressive monument. Two and a half centuries after his death in 67 C. Peter had been brought from the catacombs to this location beside the Tiber-the spot where he was believed to have been crucified-and the basilica that bears his name constructed over them. By a sad irony, this great edifice housing the tomb of St. Peter, the rock on which the Christian Church was founded, therefore came to occupy a low-lying patch of marshy ground in which, it was said, there lived snakes large enough to eat babies whole. These undesirable foundations meant that, by , the walls of the basilica were leaning six feet out of true. While various piecemeal efforts had been made to rectify the perilous situation, Julius, typically, decided to take the most drastic measures: He planned to have St. Peter's demolished and a new basilica built in its place. The destruction of the oldest and holiest church in Christendom had therefore started by the time Michelangelo returned from Carrara. Dozens of ancient tombs of saints and previous popes-the inspiration for visions, healings, and other miracles-were smashed to rubble and enormous pits twenty-five feet deep excavated for the foundations. Tons of building materials cluttered the surrounding streets and piazzas as an army of 2, carpenters and stonemasons prepared themselves for the largest construction project seen anywhere in Italy since the days of ancient Rome. A design for this grand new basilica had been put forward by the pope's official architect, Giuliano da Sangallo, Michelangelo's friend and mentor. The sixty-three-year-old Sangallo, a Florentine, boasted an impressive list of commissions, having designed churches and palaces across much of Italy, among them the Palazzo Rovere, a splendid residence built in Savona, near Genoa, for Julius II. Sangallo had been the favorite architect of Lorenzo de' Medici, for whom he had designed a villa near Florence at Poggio a Caiano. In Rome he had been responsible for making repairs to the Castel Sant'Angelo, the city's fortress. He had also repaired Santa Maria Maggiore, one of Rome's most ancient churches, and gilded its ceiling with what was said to be the first gold ever brought back from the New World. So confident was Sangallo of gaining the commission to rebuild St. Peter's that he uprooted his family from Florence and moved it to Rome. He faced competition for the design, however. Donato d'Angelo Lazzari, better known as Bramante, had a collection of equally prestigious works to his credit. As supporters to the smaller scenes, Michelangelo painted twenty youths who have variously been interpreted as angels, as muses, or simply as decoration. Michelangelo referred to them as "ignudi". In the process of painting the ceiling, Michelangelo made studies for different figures, of which some, such as that for The Libyan Sibyl have survived, demonstrating the care taken by Michelangelo in details such as the hands and feet. Michelangelo's relief of the Battle of the Centaurs , created while he was still a youth associated with the Medici Academy, [91] is an unusually complex relief in that it shows a great number of figures involved in a vigorous struggle. Such a complex disarray of figures was rare in Florentine art, where it would usually only be found in images showing either the Massacre of the Innocents or the Torments of Hell. The relief treatment, in which some of the figures are boldly projecting, may indicate Michelangelo's familiarity with Roman sarcophagus reliefs from the collection of Lorenzo Medici, and similar marble panels created by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano , and with the figurative compositions on Ghiberti 's Baptistry Doors. The composition of the Battle of Cascina is known in its entirety only from copies, [92] as the original cartoon, according to Vasari, was so admired that it deteriorated and was eventually in pieces. Melozzo had depicted figures from different angles, as if they were floating in the Heaven and seen from below. Melozzo's majestic figure of Christ, with windblown cloak, demonstrates a degree of foreshortening of the figure that had also been employed by Andrea Mantegna , but was not usual in the frescos of Florentine painters. In The Last Judgement Michelangelo had the opportunity to depict, on an unprecedented scale, figures in the action of either rising heavenward or falling and being dragged down. Peter and The Conversion of Saul , Michelangelo has used the various groups of figures to convey a complex narrative. In the Crucifixion of Peter soldiers busy themselves about their assigned duty of digging a post hole and raising the cross while various people look on and discuss the events. A group of horrified women cluster in the foreground, while another group of Christians is led by a tall man to witness the events. In the right foreground, Michelangelo walks out of the painting with an expression of disillusionment. Battle of the Centaurs Copy of the lost Battle of Cascina by Bastiano da Sangallo. The Last Judgment , detail of the Redeemed. The Crucifixion of St. In Michelangelo produced the highly complex ovoid design for the pavement of the Campidoglio and began designing an upper storey for the Farnese Palace. In he took on the job of completing St Peter's Basilica, begun to a design by Bramante, and with several intermediate designs by several architects. Michelangelo returned to Bramante's design, retaining the basic form and concepts by simplifying and strengthening the design to create a more dynamic and unified whole. The vestibule of the Laurentian Library has Mannerist features which challenge the Classical order of Brunelleschi's adjacent church. Michelangelo's redesign of the ancient Capitoline Hill included a complex spiralling pavement with a star at its centre. Michelangelo's design for St Peter's is both massive and contained, with the corners between the apsidal arms of the Greek Cross filled by square projections. The exterior is surrounded by a giant order of pilasters supporting a continuous cornice. Four small cupolas cluster around the dome. They are heralded by the Victory , perhaps created for the tomb of Pope Julius II but left unfinished. In this group, the youthful victor overcomes an older hooded figure, with the features of Michelangelo. In this image, Mary's upraise arms and upraised hands are indicative of her prophetic role. Michelangelo smashed the left arm and leg of the figure of Jesus. His pupil Tiberio Calcagni repaired the arm and drilled a hole in which to fix a replacement leg which was not subsequently attached. He also worked on the figure of Mary Magdalene. The legs and a detached arm remain from a previous stage of the work. As it remains, the sculpture has an abstract quality, in keeping with 20th-century concepts of sculpture. Michelangelo died in Rome in , at the age of 88 three weeks before his 89th birthday. His body was taken from Rome for interment at the Basilica of Santa Croce , fulfilling the maestro's last request to be buried in his beloved Florence. Although their names are often cited together, Michelangelo was younger than Leonardo by 23 years, and older than Raphael by eight. Because of his reclusive nature, he had little to do with either artist and outlived both of them by more than forty years. Michelangelo took few sculpture students. He employed Francesco Granacci , who was his fellow pupil at the Medici Academy, and became one of several assistants on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Despite this, his works were to have a great influence on painters, sculptors and architects for many generations to come. While Michelangelo's David is the most famous male nude of all time and now graces cities around the world, some of his other works have had perhaps even greater impact on the course of art. The twisting forms and tensions of the Victory , the Bruges Madonna and the Medici Madonna make them the heralds of the Mannerist art. The unfinished giants for the tomb of Pope Julius II had profound effect on lateth- and 20th-century sculptors such as Rodin and Henry Moore. Michelangelo's foyer of the Laurentian Library was one of the earliest buildings to utilise Classical forms in a plastic and expressive manner. This dynamic quality was later to find its major expression in Michelangelo's centrally planned St Peter's, with its giant order , its rippling cornice and its upward-launching pointed dome. The dome of St Peter's was to influence the building of churches for many centuries, including Sant'Andrea della Valle in Rome and St Paul's Cathedral , London, as well as the civic domes of many public buildings and the state capitals across America. Artists who were directly influenced by Michelangelo include Raphael, whose monumental treatment of the figure in the School of Athens and The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple owes much to Michelangelo, and whose fresco of Isaiah in Sant'Agostino closely imitates the older master's prophets. The Sistine Chapel ceiling was a work of unprecedented grandeur, both for its architectonic forms, to be imitated by many Baroque ceiling painters, and also for the wealth of its inventiveness in the study of figures. Vasari wrote:. The work has proved a veritable beacon to our art, of inestimable benefit to all painters, restoring light to a world that for centuries had been plunged into darkness. Indeed, painters no longer need to seek for new inventions, novel attitudes, clothed figures, fresh ways of expression, different arrangements, or sublime subjects, for this work contains every perfection possible under those headings. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Redirected from Michel angelo. Italian sculptor, painter, architect — For other uses, see Michelangelo disambiguation. Portrait of Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra. Rome , Papal States present-day Italy. See also: List of works by Michelangelo. Main article: David Michelangelo. Main article: Sistine Chapel ceiling. The Doni Tondo — Dying slave , Louvre Self-portrait of the artist as Nicodemus. Further information: List of works by Michelangelo. Italy portal Biography portal Visual arts portal. However, in the Roman manner, ab Nativitate , it is De Tolnay writes that it was at ten years old while Sedgwick notes in her translation of Condivi that Michelangelo was seven. Filippo Strozzi sold it to Francis I in Longman Pronunciation Dictionary 3rd ed. Pearson Longman. The Life of Michelangelo. The Lives of the Artists. Oxford University Press. Oxford Art Online. Boston: Brill. A Creating the "Divine Artist": from Dante to Michelangelo. Condivi, The Life of Michelangelo , p. Gardner, p. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Supplement2, Aug. EBSCOhost, search. The World of Michelangelo: — Time-Life Books. Condivi, The Life of Michelangelo , pp. Condivi ed. Hellmut Wohl , The Life of Michelangelo , p. BBC News. Retrieved 9 February The British Museum. Archived from the original on 15 October Retrieved 24 October Columbia University. Michelangelo Gallery. Translated by Longfellow, H. Studio of the South. Scritti d'arte del cinquecento , Milan, ; vol. Phaidon, Cassell, The Complete Work of Raphael. New York: Reynal and Co. Penn State Press. Oliver Press. Frescoes of the Pauline Chapel. On an unrelated note: do we think Splinter was being intentionally ironic when he named the most happy-go-lucky ninja turtle after the grouchiest of his quartet of Renaissance artist-inspired names? I hope so; otherwise, it just makes him look ignorant, and there are few things I hate more than an ignorant mutant rat who holds himself out as a wise sensei. View all 36 comments. Oct 02, Jean Tessier rated it it was amazing Shelves: leisure. What a treat. This book felt like the best read I've had in a long time. This may seem unfair to some of the great books I've read recently, but this one was at the same time instructive and of very easy access. It covered everything from the technical aspects of painting frescos to the artistic concerns that went into the vault of the Sistine Chapel, to the geo-political landscape of Italy at the beginning of the 16th Century. The books starts with Michelangelo's early career and how he landed t What a treat. The books starts with Michelangelo's early career and how he landed the commission to fresco the vault of the Sistine Chapel. It was very interesting to see the life of a tradesman in those days. The author goes over Michelangelo's character and his relationships with various figures of the days. As the book follows the progress on the vault, we are made privy to the ever changing political landscape and the ongoing competition with Raphael, as each one pushes the boundaries of art. I have read quite a bit about the Papacy during the Middle-Ages and this was a very nice refresher of the events in Northern Italy at the time. But the real focus of the book is the fresco and its numerous panels and figures. The author walks us over all the difficulties, tribulations, and inventions that continually happened throughout the project. The book has many illustrations and nice color plates of the entire vault. But for some reason, it is missing the two pendentives from the altar wall that were considered by Michelangelo's contemporaries as his best work. There are also other works, notably by Raphael, that are not depicted and I had to go to the Internet in order to see them. But it was still a very enjoyable read that gave me a new prespective on this cornerstone of Western culture. View all 3 comments. Jan 09, Tung rated it it was ok Shelves: non-fiction. The book details the technical challenges of the painting of the Sistine Chapel ranging from paint issues to scaffolding issues to design issues , the life of Michelangelo leading up to the commission, the historical events during the reign of Julius and how they intersect with the chapel painting, and other such details. Overall, I had a hard time getting through this book. One problem was the continuous mention of obscure Italian after obscure Italian probably not obscure if you were an art history major. Secondly, King includes far too many details of every historic event even remotely related to the completion of this great work, and the tangential details ruin the pacing. There were many sections in the book I felt could have been left out, and the book would have fared the better for it. Lastly, King seems to have written the book for art buffs. As he describes works created by Michelangelo or other artists, he often compared aspects of the work to aspects of other existing works that may have inspired said work i. But unless one were also familiar with the other works, the points are less effective. I wish King had included far more illustrations throughout so that non-art fans could better follow his analyses. Overall, a recommendation only for fans of the Sistine Chapel, or for European or Art History majors. View 2 comments. Apr 07, Susanna - Censored by GoodReads rated it really liked it. Another fine volume of art history from Ross King. This covers most closely Michelangelo's early years in Rome, from when he got the commission for Pope Julius II's tomb, through , when he finally finished the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The notoriously grumpy genius was immortalized twice at least by artists working at the Vatican in those years - by himself as the prophet Jeremiah, and by Raphael as the notoriously grumpy genius Heraclitus in his "The Academy of Athens. View all 4 comments. Mar 29, Linda Harkins rated it it was amazing. Having immensely enjoyed reading Brunelleschi's Dome by the same author, I knew this bestseller about Michelangelo would not disappoint. Through thorough research, Ross King exposes truths that rectify many prevailing myths, particularly those promulgated by cinema. Indeed, Michelangelo did not lie flat on his back to paint painstakingly the frescoed scenes on the curved Sistine Chapel ceiling. The artist, in fact, wrote to his father describing how he had to stand on raised scaffolding in an un Having immensely enjoyed reading Brunelleschi's Dome by the same author, I knew this bestseller about Michelangelo would not disappoint. The artist, in fact, wrote to his father describing how he had to stand on raised scaffolding in an uncomfortable stance with his head tilted back. Unlike the Michelangelo portrayed by Charlton Heston, the real Michelangelo was not the only artist responsible for decorating this ceiling. Michelangelo employed numerous assistants to help with all phases of the work, since sculpture in stone rather than fresco painting was his medium of choice. King renders both the artist and the pope as formidable personalities. Michelangelo never hestiated to ask for compensation that he felt was due him. He even followed the warrior pope to the battleground to ask for money. Although respectful, Michelangelo never cowered before Pope Julius II, and was probably highly admired and respected in return. The Sistine chapel ceiling that took more than four years to complete has become synonymous with Michelangelo's name. King points out numerous details that illuminate the life and work of an artist whose portfolio seems inexhaustible. Well-researched and readable, I highly recommend this accounting of Michelangelo's life. View 1 comment. Aug 01, Netta rated it really liked it Shelves: art-history , painters-and-paintings , read I remember myself standing in Sistine Chapel. I was standing there speechless, throwing my head back, absolutely dazzled by what I was experiencing. Later I thought, though, what other people had felt standing there. Did they know the story behind Pope's ceiling in question? Did they understand the narrative of each scene they saw? Did they try to imagine what creating such a masterpiece required? Or were they simply standing there thinking why on Earth THIS is considered to be one of the greatest things humanity has ever created? Did they read something on the subject? Did anyone tell them? But I do believe that art, history and, hence, art history as well could and should for that matter be both informative and entertaining. Moreover, I believe art history may be appealing for a huge audience once the person who tells the story makes it relatable. Ross King certainly knows how this things works. He may simplify facts or omit something overcomplicated, but he always invites his readers to learn more. Both in Leonardo and the Last Supper and in Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling he gives impressive, broad context for the period of creation of the masterpiece in question, trying to describe what surrounded the artist and his work. Sometimes King gets carried away, but mostly it does no damage to the book. It may even hook a reader and make him or her search for additional information. This book does not make art seem boring or a privilege of the elite. It tells the story of the time when ugly deeds were adjoined with grand gestures and visions. And I hope that this book works the way it should. This book is a fascinating trip through early 16th century Italy, focusing mainly on the frescoing of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I read several reviews here on Goodreads in which the reviewers felt that the author should have stuck solely to Michelangelo and his art, and that all the other information given is completely extraneous. I have to say I completely disagree with that. A work of art is not created in a vacuum. There were many events, political and religious, swirling around Mic This book is a fascinating trip through early 16th century Italy, focusing mainly on the frescoing of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. There were many events, political and religious, swirling around Michelangelo at the time he was creating his amazing frescoes, and ignoring the world and the events around him does the reader a disservice. I do not have a degree in Art History, nor have I taken an Art History course, but I found this book a fascinating read that drew me in from the first chapter, covering everything from how a fresco is applied to the wall to how colors are created and ground for application onto the plaster to the effect of Julius II's tyrannical papacy on Michelangelo and his art, as well as the rest of Italy. I never felt as through the author assumed I was an expert on Italian art in the s, like other reviewers have felt. My only regret is that I did not read this book before I saw the Sistine Chapel for myself in March of Oct 06, Amy rated it did not like it. I'm only on page ish and it's taken me forever to get that far because it's so boring. View all 5 comments. Nov 06, Laurie rated it it was ok. It was a huge chore to slug my way through this tome. Perhaps if a trip to Italy were in the near future I'd have enjoyed it more. As it is, I realized that the descriptions of more than one painting or fresco were ones I'd blithely walked past with barely a glance when I was in Florence a few years ago. I did learn a lot about the Sistine Chapel and if I ever see it I'll know more than most, but that's what tour guides are for, so why did I force myself to finish it? No reason but stubbornness It was a huge chore to slug my way through this tome. No reason but stubbornness and true grit. Jul 03, Czarny Pies rated it liked it Recommends it for: Those in need of entertainment. It's a hoot. Shelves: european-history. Although balderdash from cover to cover, Ross King's "Pope's Ceiling" is wildly entertaining. I heartily recommend it to anyone planning to visit Rome in the next twelve months. However, muddled the facts may be, the text is clear and easy to follow making the book ideal for reading on a long trans-Atlantic flight. The thing that set my teeth on edge Jeremiah was King's decision on page in a discussion of five medallions of the Sistine Chapel fresco modelled on a recent printing of t Although balderdash from cover to cover, Ross King's "Pope's Ceiling" is wildly entertaining. The thing that set my teeth on edge Jeremiah was King's decision on page in a discussion of five medallions of the Sistine Chapel fresco modelled on a recent printing of the Book of Maccabees was to say that the Book of Maccabees were Apocryphal and hence of doubtful provenance. Despite the dominant role of the Roman Catholic Church in the commissioning of works, Ross King like most experts on the art of Renaissance Italy appears to know remarkably little of the Christian faith. The 14 books of the Apocrypha have been included in the Bibles of the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Coptic churches since the second century and remain there to this day. It was not until the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century that that their validity was challenged. Michelangelo being a good Catholic drew heavily from the Apocrypha. In addition to the medallions mentioned by King, Michelangelo's fresco includes panels based on passages from the books of Esther and Judith that are also considered to be Apocryphal. King, however, does not mention that these two panels are linked to the Apocrypha either because he was unaware of the fact or did not wish to acknowledge how important the Apocryphal books were top Michelangelo. King's sin however is one of ignorance. He is anything but anti-Catholic. King in fact makes it clear that Pope Julius not Michelangelo was the driving force behind the whole project. In addition he lavishes praises on Pope Julius as a military commander, filling his books with stirring passages describing Julius rallying from his death bed to lead his army in battle against the enemies of Italy and the frescos. As a Catholic, I found these passages quite inspirational. Nonetheless, I have to think that Ross too readily accepted at face value the contemporary accounts of Julius' many near scrapes with death. Take everything with a grain of salt but read this book nonetheless.

https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4636977/normal_602039a3774e0.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4636661/normal_601f93405a876.pdf https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/b2d15444-6d06-4652-86b8-25467c739b45/gaertner-notizbuch-9830-optimiere-deine-gartenarbeiten- und-den-ertrag-deines-gemueses-oder-obst-619-1.pdf https://files8.webydo.com/9587561/UploadedFiles/29F72C89-A718-D955-E0BE-92671CF8CD09.pdf