Michelangelo was recognized during his lifetime as the greatest living artist, creator of a number of masterpieces in sculpture, fresco painting, and architecture. He impressed his contemporaries as a forceful personality, a divine genius endowed with intense emotional power. Often portrayed as a solitary and austere figure, he in fact enjoyed a remarkable range of friendships, and those he loved and hated, served or resisted are presented here, from his family and fellow artists to the popes, nobles, and rulers of Europe.
George Bull places Michelangelo 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. Bull traces the life and spiritual quest of Michelangelo, man and artist, and brings to the narrative an exceptional feel for the Italian Renaissance.
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“Observations [on Michelangelo’s relationships] lend this biography its completeness and vivacity; why Michelangelo’s paintings and sculptures seem on the verge of becoming sensuously alive develops well in Bull’s narrative of how intense Michelangelo himself was, quavering before mortality yet exultant in glorifying mortal flesh.”
— Booklist
“A gripping new biography.”
— London Sunday Times“A complex and contradictory Michelangelo emerges.”
— Publishers Weekly“A thorough and informative reference book that tells us much about the times.”
— Kirkus ReviewsBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
George Bull is an author and journalist, and has been foreign news editor of the Financial Times and editor-in-chief of The Director magazine. He has translated several volumes for Penguin Classics, including Machiavelli’s The Prince, Cellini’s Autobiography, and Vasari’s Lives of the Artists. He has also translated Condivi’s Life in his Michelangelo: Life, Letters and Poetry. George Bull has written books on Venice and the Renaissance, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in London, and is married with four children.
Wanda McCaddon (d. 2023) narrated well over six hundred titles for major audiobook publishers, sometimes with the pseudonym Nadia May or Donada Peters. She earned the prestigious Audio Award for best narration and numerous Earphones Awards. She was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine.