Hartt, Frederick. Michelangelo. New York: Harry N. Abrams Pub., 1984.
I believe this book was mistitled and should be titled Michelangelo and Sistine Chapel. The author briefly discusses Michelangelo's first love, sculpture, and focuses on the Sistine Chapel throughout most of the book. All of the color plates are dedicated to the Sistine ceiling and The Last Judgement. If Michelangelo were alive today, he would definitely argue to have the book removed from the shelves. Michelangelo argued constantly that he was not a painter, but a sculptor. He took this so seriously that near the end of his life, he began to sign his documents as, "Michelangelo, The Sculptor." This is odd since most of the work and commissions that he could complete were in paintings rather than sculpture. He wrote in a letter to Benedetto Varchi, while in his seventies, "Painting seems to me more to be held good the more it approaches relief, and relief to be held bad the more it approaches painting: and therefore I used to think that sculpture was the lantern of painting, and that between the one and the other was the difference which there was between the sun and the moon." He also advised painters to keep their work up to par by occasionally creating sculpture.
Michelangelo, like many other personalities of the Renaissance, drew a thin line between fantasy and reality. Commissions for the most ambitious projects would be proposed, only to be unfinished, or never started. An example of this ambitious attitude is seen is Michelangelo's commission to complete the facade for the tomb of Pope Julius II. The final request from Julius was for Michelangelo to complete the facade that would include over forty life-size statues in five years. This would take him an estimate of over twenty years, if his work went uninterrupted. Surely Michelangelo's style would have drastically changed over this period, leading to a facade that may have been packed with mismatched figures. Michelangelo completed only ten statues within forty years, four of which were left unfinished, and three making their final destination within the tomb.
The setup for failure seems, I think, to be Michelangelo's downfall. His life was full of unfulfilled contracts, commissions, and ambitions. He died a bitter man that grew to hate the art he created. This is sad for one that created the most ambitious project in all of art history, the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
The book begins with an introduction that briefly covers the life of Michelangelo. This introduction focuses on the Sistine ceiling and scarcely covers the sculpture created by the artist. The author gives many explanations on the symbolism included in the Sistine ceiling and the "Last Judgement" which I found very interesting. The color plates are fair in quality, but I believe this is due to the photos being taken before the works were cleaned.
This book brought back memories of my great senior art project in high school. During my senior year, I had six periods of Art and one of English. My love of Michelangelo's work had only begun and I decided to embark on an ambitious project myself. For my senior year project I drew the center frame of the Sistine ceiling, "The Creation of Adam" in colored pencils. This was on a long roll of paper that was over twelve feet long and six feet high. To work on it, I had to sit in the hallway and unroll it. Unlike Michelangelo, I did finish this project, which was hung in the center of the school's auditorium ceiling for my graduation. After that, I never returned to Michelangelo's work again until now. With the knowledge I've gained in art, it is easier to understand his work and really appreciate it. He will always be one of my favorite artists.
Frederick Hartt is the professor of the history of art at the University of Virginia.