'The Poetry, Letters and Art of The Great Master' here is a beautifully designed book with dozens of sketches, architectural drawings, facsimiles of poems and letters and finished works of art in glowing colour, a rare and revealing picture of Michelangelo, one of the towering figures of the Renaissance. Best known as a sculptor, painter and architect of exceptional genius, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, David sculpture, and the dome of St Peter's Basilica are among the most celebrated artistic achievements of all time. He is also considered one of the greatest poets and writers of the 16th century, and his life is documented in revealing letters to family and friends. He also filled hundreds of sheets of paper with exquisite drawings, many of which form the basis for masterpieces. Many of those sketches of the human form served as studies for the ceiling. One of his sonnets describes how he stood up with his head tilted back to paint the ceiling, not lying on scaffolding as often thought. Along with these more technical insights, his letters also reveal aspects of his character which could be by turns proud, cranky, paranoid, and incisively wise, as well as his deep affection for the two great loves of his life. Nearly 500 letters written by him exist and a fair selection are reproduced here including correspondence with his friend and fellow artist Sebastiano del Piombo, Giorgio Vasari, not to mention popes, dukes, and Francis I, the King of France and letters about financial transactions or shipments, or advice about marriage. Above all he was an artist who drew and drew and drew on the backs of receipts, poems, letters he had received and drafts of his own letters. Curmudgeonly, yet Michelangelo did have a sense of humour as clearly on display in his satirical letter date December 1525 about a colossal statue of Pope Clement VII. Michelangelo lived to be 89 years old and lived through a century of upheaval in politics, religion, society and art, yet his letters rarely discuss his theories about his art but he often expresses his ideas about the making of sculpture. With beautiful quotations and many fine illustrations throughout 384 nicely designed pages with curved corners. Organised chronologically and selected by Carolyn Vaughan, former editor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Softback.
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