The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo (original 1961; edition 2004)

by Irving Stone

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3,978	81	3,054	(4.02)	136
Fiction. Literature. Thriller. Historical Fiction. This is Irving Stone's powerful and passionate biographical novel of Michelangelo. His time: the turbulent Renaissance, the years of poisoning princes, warring popes, the all-powerful Medici family, the fanatic monk Savonarola. His loves: the frail and lovely daughter of Lorenzo de Medici; the ardent mistress of Marco Aldovrandi; and his last love�??his greatest love�??the beautiful, unhappy Vittoria Colonna. His genius: a God-driven fury from which he wrested the greatest art the world has ever known. Michelangelo Buonarotti, creator of "David", painter of the Sistine ceiling, architect of the dome of St Peter's, lives once more in Irving Stone's marvellous… (more)

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Member:	bookfitz
Title:	The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo
Authors:	Irving Stone
Info:	NAL Trade (2004), Paperback, 784 pages
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
Tags:	Fiction, Historical Fiction, Italy, Vatican City, Sistine Chapel, Pope Julius II, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Renaissance, 16th Century

Work Information

The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo by Irving Stone (1961)

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The Passions of the Mind: A Novel of Sigmund Freud by Irving Stone (John_Vaughan)
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Michelangelo, Life, Letters, and Poetry by Michelangelo (Anonymous user)
Anonymous user: One of the two biographies of Michelangelo written while he was alive, Condivi's life was among Stone's major sources. It's fascinating to see how he novelised it.
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The Lives of the Artists by Giorgio Vasari (Anonymous user)
Anonymous user: One of the two biographies of Michelangelo written while he was alive, Vasari's life (a major part of a much larger work) was among Stone's major sources. It's fascinating to see how he novelised it.
00
The Life and Works of Michelangelo by Rosalind Ormiston (Anonymous user)
Anonymous user: A fine illustrated biography is almost obligatory while reading Stone's novel. This one is simply superb.
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The Poetry of Michelangelo: An Annotated Translation by James M. Saslow (Anonymous user)
Anonymous user: Only for rather hardcore fans of Michelangelo, this complete, bilingual and highly erudite edition of his poems may serve to illuminate further (albeit to a far less degree than the paintings and the sculptures) the tremendous personality Irving Stone had to dramatise.

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English (70) Spanish (4) German (3) Slovak (1) French (1) Norwegian (1) Swedish (1) All languages (81)

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Showing 1-5 of 70 (next | show all)

Very biographical novel about the famous artist. Stone gives our hero a tepid and unconvincing heterosexual unhappy love affair. Mostly, when not checking off the major artworks, the novel is about MA's lifelong struggle with authority figures, and manages to have prctically no details about sculpture. The movie was better, as it had the enliving prescence of Rex Harrison. (

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DinadansFriend | Feb 10, 2024 |

Buen libro, en su mayoría entretenido, pero para mi fue poco emotivo, nada que ver con el “Anhelo de Vivir”. En el libro “Anhelo de Vivir” siento que el autor trabajo mas en los diálogos y pensamientos de los personajes, en la esencia de los personajes, fueron un poco mas modernizados (por así decirlo), o probable me identifique mas en algunas ocasiones. (

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keplerhc | Jan 22, 2024 |

I read this many years ago, but remember loving it (

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MarshaKT | Dec 31, 2023 |

Just an incredible read about an incredible man that accomplished incredible things. If you are the least bit interested in the life, art, struggles and humanity of Michelangelo then this is a must read. (

)

everettroberts | Oct 20, 2023 |

stirred up the desire to visit Florence, Bologna and Vatican to pay Homage to Michelangelo (

)

harishwriter | Oct 12, 2023 |

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▾Other authors

» Add other authors (18 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Irving Stone	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Kaempfer, Hans	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Publisher Series

Novela Histórica. El País (29)

Profiili-sarja

rororo (22229)

Is contained in

The Agony and the Ecstasy / Lust for Life / Depths of Glory by Irving Stone

Irving Stone: 3 Complete Novels by Irving Stone

Contains

The Agony and the Ecstasy, Part 1 by Irving Stone

The Agony and the Ecstasy, Part 2 by Irving Stone

Has the adaptation

The Agony and the Ecstasy [1965 film] by Carol Reed

Is abridged in

Reader's Digest Best Sellers: To Kill a Mockingbird | Agony and the Ecstasy | Winter of our Discontent | Fate is the Hunter by Reader's Digest

Reader's Digest Condensed Books 1961 v03 by Reader's Digest

Reader's Digest Great Biographies 11 by Reader's Digest

Reader's Digest Auswahlbücher 109 - Umstrittene Diagnose / Die Söhne des Krieges / Unter Elefanten / Nacktes Land by Reader's Digest

(show 6 more)

Reader's Digest Great Biographies in Large Type: Michelango [Agony and the Ecstasy] by Reader's Digest

Reader's Digest Condensed Books: Ring of Bright Water • The Agony and the Ecstasy • The Story of San Michele • The Ugly American • The Ivy Tree by Gavin Maxwell

Good-bye Mr. Chips; De roman van het leven van Michelangelo; De berg van de Spencers; Haaien en kleine vissen by Reader's Digest

Det Bästas Bokval (1963) vol 28 : Livets krydda; Ödets vingar; Han som skapade en värld; Kejserligt besök; Mikrobjägare by Reader's Digest

The Agony and the Ecstasy (abridged) by Irving Stone

Miguel Angelo e seu Mundo (Seleções - The Agony and the Ecstasy) by Irving Stone

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Commonwealth Club of California Book Awards (Silver Medal – Fiction – 1961)

Distinctions

New York Times bestseller (Fiction – 1961)

Publishers Weekly Bestseller (Fiction – 1962)

Notable Lists

Daniel S. Burt's recommended historical novels (Renaissance: Europe)

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▾Common Knowledge

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Canonical title

Original title

The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1961

People/Characters

Michelangelo Buonarroti

Important places

Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Vatican City

Important events

Related movies

The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965 | IMDb)

Epigraph

Dedication

Information from the Slovak Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.

Svojej žene Jean Stonovej
Možno najlepšej na svete
Diaskeuast

First words

He sat before the mirror in the second floor bedroom sketching his lean cheeks with their high bone ridges, the flat broad forehead, and ears too far back on the head, the hair curling forward in thatches, the amber-colored eyes wide-set but heavy-lidded.

Quotations

From this vantage point he came to a realization that everything that had happened to him before this had been a journey upward through time, everything that occurred after it a descent. If he could not control his fate, why be born?

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

1st ed. (1961): The agony and the ecstasy, a novel of Michelangelo.

Please distinguish between this work, Irving Stone's 1961 novel The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo, and the similarly titled The Agony and the Ecstasy: Short Stories and New Writing in Celebration of the World Cup edited by Nicholas Royle. Thank you.

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

Michelangelo and the Medici

The Agony and the Ecstasy (novel)

▾Book descriptions

Fiction. Literature. Thriller. Historical Fiction. This is Irving Stone's powerful and passionate biographical novel of Michelangelo. His time: the turbulent Renaissance, the years of poisoning princes, warring popes, the all-powerful Medici family, the fanatic monk Savonarola. His loves: the frail and lovely daughter of Lorenzo de Medici; the ardent mistress of Marco Aldovrandi; and his last love�??his greatest love�??the beautiful, unhappy Vittoria Colonna. His genius: a God-driven fury from which he wrested the greatest art the world has ever known. Michelangelo Buonarotti, creator of "David", painter of the Sistine ceiling, architect of the dome of St Peter's, lives once more in Irving Stone's marvellous

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