Michelangelo's letters, edited and arranged chronologically to make an autobiographical portrait of the artist.

A wonderful book on all masterpieces Michelangelo shaped, the heritage of all mankind here in 260 images and full of details.

"A distillation of Charles de Tolnay's monumental studies on Michelangelo, this book surveys the whole range of Michelangelo's career and achievements in sculpture, painting, and architecture ... completed and enriched by nearly four hundred illustrations"--Cover.

Profiles the life of Italian artist and sculptor Michelangelo, well known for his marble statue of David and his painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Contains translations of Michelangelo's personal and business correspondence covering the years 1496-1563; his poetry, and photographs of 17 of his most famous works.

In this vividly written biography, William E. Wallace offers a new view of the artist. Not only a supremely gifted sculptor, painter, architect and poet, Michelangelo was also an aristocrat who firmly believed in the ancient, noble origins of his family. The belief in his patrician status fueled his lifelong ambition to improve his family's financial situation and to raise the social standing of artists. Michelangelo's ambitions are evident in his writing, dress and comportment, as well as in his ability to befriend, influence and occasionally say 'no' to popes, kings and princes. Written from the words of Michelangelo and his contemporaries, this biography not only tells his own stories, but also brings to life the culture and society of Renaissance Florence and Rome. Not since Irving Stone's novel The Agony and the Ecstasy has there been such a compelling and human portrayal of this remarkable yet credible human individual.

As with all geniuses, Michelangelo is famous. But his fame often eclipses a real knowledge of the man and his work. This book reveals his masterpieces including the David of the Accademia in Florence, the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, and many architectural gems, including the Laurentian library at San Lorenzo and St Peter's dome in Rome. It also retraces the vagaries of creation under Papal authority in war-torn Italy. Behind the work is a solitary man split between Florence and Rome, prey to the anguish of creation and the jealousy of his rivals including Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci. Eighty-nine years of a life spent in a relentless and tenacious search for an ideal beauty, in spite of a number of unfinished sculptures.