Universally acclaimed in his own life-time and ever since as one of the greatest creative figures in the history of art, Michelangelo dominates the Renaissance as the mighty dome which he designed for St Peter's dominates Rome. For him, his art was a com-pulsive inner calling rather than a profession. With exceptionally single-minded determination he approached painting, sculpture and architecture as one art involving the same problems. An extraordinary unity, cohesion and harmony was therefore imposed on his work.
Although Michelangelo started as a protégé of the powerful Medici family in Florence, and became the favoured artist of the popes and was regarded by his contemporaries as a colossus of the arts, he himself grew to feel very differently about his own life and work. Nicholas Wadley, in his Introduction and notes on the plates, discusses this contradiction between Michelangelo's feelings of frustration, doubt and failure, and our own admira-tion of his vast achievement.
The 54 full-colour plates illustrate the astonishing range of his art sculptures like the David and the three great Pietàs paintings, including a complete colour reproduction on fold-out pages of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling (as well as many large details) architecture such as the Medici Chapel, Florence, and the exquisite setting of the Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome. and
There are nine black and white illustrations of drawings, designs and other important works of art. A com-plete list of all Michelangelo's works forms a valuable addition to the text, which also includes quotations from the writings of Michelangelo and his contemporaries.
Stunning vintage hard cover display book
Name written in front and some yellow tape marks on front endpages

Condition: Good