Italian-bornMichelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni(1475 1564) was a tormented, prodigiously talented, and God-fearing Renaissance man. His manifold achievements in painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry, and engineering combined body, spirit, and God into visionary masterpieces thatchanged art history forever. Famed biographer Giorgio Vasari considered him the pinnacle of Renaissance achievement.His peers called him simply Il Divino( the divine one ).This book provides the essential introduction to Michelangelo withall the awe-inspiring masterpieces and none of the queues and crowds. With vivid illustration and accessible texts, we explore the artist sextraordinary figuration and celebrated style ofterribilità(momentous grandeur), which allowed human and biblical drama to exist in compelling scale and fervor. Through thepower hubs of Renaissance Italy, we take in his major commissions andphenomenal capacity for compositional schemes, whether the famous Medici library in Florence, or the extraordinary 500-square-meter ceiling (1508 1512) in the Vatican s Sistine Chapel.From the toweringDavidto the aching grief and faith ofThe Pietàand the vivid drama of the Sistine Chapel sLast Judgment,this is a succinct, dependable reference to a true giant of art history and tosome of the most famous artworks in the world.
