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Loading... Michelangelo & The Pope's Ceilingby Ross King
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.  valkylee | Dec 20, 2008 |  Most everything I was told or thought I found out I was wrong. Many artists are treated as mythological superheroes and Ross King does a fine job of discussing the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo, and 16th century Italy. A must read for art lovers! (  ) Docbliss | Nov 7, 2008 | the real story about the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and placed in the context of 16th C. Italian/Church history—informative and interesting xestobium25 | Aug 12, 2008 | What a brilliant traipse through history. King's depiction of Michelangelo brought the man alive to me. The frustrations he felt having to put aside his first love of sculpting to paint commissions by the Pope and his struggles in getting them to pay him his dues were painful. It was really interesting to read about how he would paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in a medium in which he was originally unfamiliar and clearly not his forte but the strength of his belief in himself and of course his genius enabled him to create one of the most amazing masterpieces of art. ( ) cameling | Jul 24, 2008 | An interesting history, both of the painting of the Sistine Chapel and of what was going on in Italy at the time. (  ) Kynaratholis | Nov 16, 2007 |  no reviews | add a review
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The temperament of the day was dictated by the politics of the papal court, a corrupt and powerful office steeped in controversy; Pope Julius II even had a nickname, "Il Papa Terrible," to prove it. Along with his violent outbursts and warmongering, Pope Julius II took upon himself to restore the Sistine Chapel and pretty much intimidated Michelangelo into painting the ceiling even though the artist considered himself primarily a sculptor and was particularly unfamiliar with the temperamental art of fresco. Along with technical difficulties, personality conflicts, and money troubles, Michelangelo was plagued by health problems and competition in the form of the dashing and talented young painter Raphael.
Author Ross King offers an in-depth analysis of the complex historical background that led to the magnificence that is the Sistine Chapel ceiling along with detailed discussion of some of the ceiling’s panels. King provides fabulous tidbits of information and weaves together a fascinating historical tale. --J.P. Cohen
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:22 -0400)
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In addition to Michelangelo, Ross King's book also follows the careers of Leonardo de Vinci, Raphael Santi and any other Renaissance artist that happened to cross paths with Michelangelo. But Michelangelo is the star - not that he'd ever let anyone forget it - and his Herculean labors to finish the Sistine Chapel are reported, analyzed, and described in great detail. King often quotes from Michelangelo's letters to his families to illustrate the painter's thoughts and emotions, and although he uses Vasari's famous "Lives of the Artist" to tell stories about Michelangelo, he proves those tales erroneous as often as he bolsters them.
John Lee is a fantastic narrator, speaking with good pace and great clarity. 10 hours is a long time to listen to a book (I listened to the unabriged version) but in this case, it was worth it. (