Michelangelo: A Life in Six Masterpieces

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Michelangelo Buonarroti is one of the greatest of the greats. Long after his noble family would have been forgotten history, Michelangelo remains loved and admired for the arts that he mastered. In this hefty tome, Unger walks readers through the life of the great Renaissance man, with an introduction that covers his training and early years, then focusing on six of his greatest masterpieces—in marble, paint, and architecture. We get the history and politics behind the works, detailed descriptions and interpretations of the details of the piece, multiple sides of any controversies (which, of course, are plenty). The only thing I was missing was the passion.

Perhaps this is my fault. Irving Stone’s The Agony and the Ecstasy has long been a favorite of mine. Unger is not writing a novel here and cannot take the sorts of liberties that Stone could. This work is incredibly well researched, but it reads very much like an academic art history paper. I would prefer to listen to this book, accompanied by prints of the works mentioned, and pretend I’m taking an audio tour of a museum, or perhaps view the sections as a lecture series. The information is compelling, but the presentation a little dry.


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Author
Star Count 3.5/5
Format Hard
Page Count 448 pages
Publisher Simon & Schuster
Publish Date 2014-Jul-22
ISBN 9781451678741
Bookshop.org Buy this Book
Issue November 2014
Category History
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