Michelangelo: A Life in Six Masterpieces

This fine combination of biography, artistic development, and social and political history by art historian and journalist Unger (Magnifico: The Brilliant Life and Violent Times of Lorenzo de' Medici; Machiavelli: A Biography) focuses on six major works of Michelangelo's career—the Pieta, David, The Creation, the Medici tombs, The Last Judgement, and the basilica of Saint Peter's—to follow the artist's burgeoning talent and fame, along with his notoriety and impulsivity. The author asserts that Michelangelo's art, sculpture, paintings, and poetry transformed the role that the artist plays in the creative act; he then places this idea into social and political settings of the time: the struggle for supremacy between Florence and Rome, which deeply involved Michelangelo in his various commissions and often led to the production of some works at the expense of others. By examining the artist's progress, readers get a refreshed view of the performance of invention as well as one of Michelangelo himself. With great perception, Unger creates a portrait of a magnificent craftsman and an often troubled human being.