Michelangelo: A Biography

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) was recognized as the greatest living artist, and created a succession of masterpieces of sculpture, fresco painting, and architecture. In all his work, Michelangelo impressed his contemporaries as a forceful personality, a divine genius endowed with terribilita, or intense emotional power. Often portrayed as a solitary and austere figure, he in fact enjoyed a remarkable range of friendships. In this new life of Michelangelo, George Bull places him firmly in the context of his time. He worked during three-quarters of a century of tremendous change in European society, and as an artist was supremely responsive to the hopes, fears, and values of his culture, which he both exemplified and defied.

Using recent research as well as the established biographies, letters and records, George Bull brings before the reader a towering genius whose versatility and originality are being rediscovered. He traces the life and spiritual quest of Michelangelo, man and artist, and brings to the narrative an exceptional feel for the Italian Renaissance.