Michelangelo: His Epic Life - Paperback

by Martin Gayford (Author)

There was an epic sweep to Michelangelo's life. At 31 he was considered the finest artist in Italy, perhaps the world; long before he died at almost 90 he was widely believed to be the greatest sculptor or painter who had ever lived (and, by his enemies, to be an arrogant, uncouth, swindling miser). For decade after decade, he worked near the dynamic center of events: the vortex at which European history was changing from Renaissance to Counter Reformation. Few of his works--including the huge frescoes of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, the marble giant David and the Last Judgment--were small or easy to accomplish. Like a hero of classical mythology--such as Hercules, whose statue Michelangelo carved in his youth--he was subject to constant trials and labors. In Michelangelo, Martin Gayford describes what it felt like to be Michelangelo Buonarroti, and how he transformed forever our notion of what an artist could be.

Author Biography

Martin Gayford is art critic for the Spectator. Among his publications are A Bigger Message, Man with a Blue Scarf, On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucian Freud, Constable in Love, and The Yellow House.