Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling

Rating:
Summary: His pain is our gain - The sacrifices of a Master
Review: "Michelangelo & the Pope's Ceiling" by Ross King tells the story of four years (1508-1512) in the lives of three great figures in history: Michelangelo, Pope Julius II, and Raphael.

The author's latest nonfiction historical "thriller" is, however, more than a story of the four years that Michelangelo spent laboring over the twelve thousand square feet of the vast ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In King's skilled hands it becomes an early 16th century soap opera, starring Michelangelo, Pope Julius II, and Raphael, and featuring all the intrigue, passion, violence, and pettiness of a General Hospital episode. Amzingly none of the action is fiction, but an accurate re-telling of historical facts.

This is how the author sees the three heroes of his book:

"Pope Julius II was not a man one wished to offend.... A sturdily built sixty-three-year old with snow-white hair and a ruddy face, he was known as il papa terrible , the 'dreadful' or 'terrifying' pope.... His violent rages, in which he punched underlings or thrashed them with his stick were legendary.... In body and soul he had the nature of a giant. Everything about him is on a magnified scale, both his undertakings and passions."

"Almost as renowned for his moody temper and aloof, suspicious nature as he was for his amazing skill with the hammer and chisel, Michelangelo could be arrogant, insolent, and impulsive....If Michelangelo was slovenly and, at times, melancholy and antisocial, Raphael was, by contrast, the perfect gentleman. Contemporaries fell over themselves to praise his polite manner, his gentle disposition, his generosity toward others....Raphael's appealing personality were accompanied by his good looks: a long neck, oval face, large eyes, and olive skin -- handsome, delicate features that further made him the antithesis of the flat-nosed, jug-eared Michelangelo."

For the millions out there who are fascinated by the mere existence of the unparalleled genius responsible for the creation of Michelangelo's commissioned work for Pope Julius II, and for those with a knack for detailed historical accounts, this book certainly delivers! With less interest in the fine arts, yet great interest in history, I deeply appreciate "Michaelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling".*****

Rating:
Summary: Beauty In Context
Review: I thoroughy enjoyed this book. I liked it best for the context it gives to this famous work.

Rating:
Summary: Good, overall - more on the topic would have been better.
Review: I'm not a fan of historical books but the topic of arts intertwigled with the Papacy was too good for me to resist. The book is a very well written, real non-fiction page-turner, which does not have the typical hundred names and hundreds places and dates of the typical historical book. It has plenty of interesting facts about the time of Michelangelo's fresco paintings, and places the topic well in the time and place context of such an age. However, there is a relatively small proportion of the book that is specifically focused on the topic of the title. Rather, the author sidetracks time and time again on events that occur at the time when the Sistine Chapel ceiling was being painted. Although not related, the topics described are quite interesting and the overall narration flows quite well.

This is definetly not a biography on Michelangelo, neither is it a compendium on fresco painting. It is a very good historical book, which could have been complemented with plenty of more insights into the subject matter rather than delving on tangents.

Rating:
Summary: A solid, well told history; drier than I expected
Review: I've come to expect a certain popular story-telling structure from best-seller non fiction, but this book takes a decidedly drier approach than I imagined it would. It's an honest, academically researched, meticulously laid out history.

Rather than relying on dramatization of events, or on assumptions about the details of the lives he portrays, King lets the story unfold without a lot of frills. He's honest about areas that he's not sure about, and when he makes guesses, he clearly lays out his reasons.

The tone King takes sheds an enormous amount of light on the Renaissance Vatican, on the technicalities of fresco, on rivalries between painters, and on the connections between art, religion and politics in the 1500s. In the end (perhaps intentionally) he does a much better job exploring the character of the ceiling, than he does the characters of either Michelangelo or Julius.

While generally interesting, there were definitely points where the detail got a little tiring. In general, the slowest parts were toward the beginning of the book, with it really picking up steam toward the end.

The other major flaw I found was the lack of decent illustrations. Granted this is more an issue with the book's production than its authorship. While the narrative does an excellent job of describing Michelangelo's effort (as well as Rafael's), the book itself shows almost no illustration of that effort. I was left squniting at half-inch high panel illustrations trying to discern details being described in the text. I recommend that anyone approaching this book does so with a good print nearby.

In all, I certainly found it informative and engaging, and feel like I left the book with significantly more appreciation for not only the Sistine Chapel, but Renaissance art as a whole.



Rating:
Summary: An Italian Renaissance Masterpiece
Review: If you are a fan of Michelangelo or the Italian Renaissance in general, this book is a must read. It is not an overly exciting, page-turning suspense thriller, but it is very informative, interesting, and dramatic. As in "Brunelleschi's Dome," Ross King's expertise comes through clearly in a logical and well-organized manner. Michelangelo's progress on the masterpiece is skillfully interwoven with the exploits of the arrogant warrior-pope Julius II, the artist's relationship with his archrival and antithesis Raphael, and anecdotes of other historical figures including Savanorola, Erasmus, Martin Luther, and Machiavelli. The most interesting parts of the book dealt with Michelangelo's cantankerous and miserly behavior and the debunking of several commonly held myths. The book could have been improved with the inclusion of more color images, but it did not detract from the reading experience.

Rating:
Summary: What brought about Michelangelo's breakthough?
Review: If you enjoy Renaissance History, Art History, and/or Religious History, you will enjoy this book. It combines all three into a compelling story about Michelangelo's breakthrough as one of, if not the, world's the greatest artist(s). The setting is Rome in the reign of Pope Julius II - the war Pope, and megalomaniac.

Michelangelo's breakthough as an artist is deeply intertwined with the Julius II. The Pope's desire to bring Italy back under the Vatican's control, his focus on bringing honor to himself through the arts, and his penny pinching ways are all key elements in Michelangelo's journey to greatness.

While the book covers all of Michelangelo's life, the focus is on the four years it took to paint the Sistine Chapel vault. Author Ross King includes stories of Michelangelo's family, disputed loves, contemporaries (Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and others), and the intricacies of sculpting, oil painting, and frescoing. As an oil painter myself, I found these details of great interest, as I take for granted how much easier it is today to get the right materials than 500 years ago.

One takeaway from this book is why the young Martin Luther, a priest, was so distraught after his stay in Rome. The role of the Church as an extension of Christ's life, and as a light for all, was subverted by greed, power, and, while not covered here, lust. This period contributed mightily to the Protestant Reformation which followed shortly after this period.

Those who read "The Agony and the Ectasy" will be disappointed to find that much in that book was not fact. King, based on more recent evidence, has re-written the story of this great artist making it the most up-to-date biography for this period in his life. This is a book rich with history, and is not a quick read. If you are one to listen to books on tape/CD while you workout, as I do, this is a perfect way to stretch your mind as you stretch your muscles. Alan Sklar does an excellent job narrating.


Rating:
Summary: Un buon libro di facile lettura
Review: Il papa e il suo pittore conduce il lettore lungo i quattro anni che videro Michelangelo affrescare la volta della Cappella sistina. L'incarico gli fu affidato nel 1508 da Giulio II, nonostante l'artista avesse allora poca esperienza con l'affresco e si considerasse uno scultore. Il libro di Ross King racconta del vecchio papa guerriero Giulio II, che non esitava a prendere a pugni i subordinati ed era abituato a piegare il mondo al suo volere, e del suo rapporto con il lamentoso Michelangelo, incline a vedere ovunque intrighi e complotti a suo danno. Negli stessi anni, Raffaello - giovane, bello, affascinante, uomo di mondo - affrescava gli appartamenti vaticani. E' un libro gradevole e ben scritto che sfata un po' di miti sulla creazione del celebre affresco: soprattutto quello secondo cui l'intera volta sarebbe stata dipinta da un solitario Michelangelo disteso a pancia in su un improbabile impalcatura che partiva da terra, come appare nel film Il tormento e l'estasi con Charlton Eston.


Rating:
Summary: Pardon me while I yawn
Review: Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling presents the saga of the world's most famous artist and what is arguably his most famous work. Along the way, King debunks many of the myths that have surrounded this masterpiece and its creation. King, however, depicts Michelangelo himself as wooden and aloof, with only a fragile connection to the rest of humanity. Perhaps the book should have been entitled Michelangelo and Raphael in Rome, because King brings his rival to life in a way sadly lacking in his treatment of Michelangelo himself. Barely 5 lines are devoted to the question of his lifestyle and romantic attachments, for example. I agree with reviewers who complained about the absence of illustrations. On the positive side, King does examine available records and factually describe Michelangelo's reluctance to undertake the chapel ceiling and the obstacles he was forced to circumvent over the long years between its commencement and completion. Unfortunately, this reads more like a textbook than literature, I'm afraid.

Rating:
Summary: Well done but not a page turner
Review: Mr. King has done a very well researched book that really goes into great detail regarding the history of the Vatican and of Italy at the time Michelangelo worked on the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunatley, I found this detail to be distracting at times to the main thrust of the story: Michelangelo and his work. This is a scholarly work that will be more interesting to historians who are interested in this particular period than those, like myself, who were looking for something a little closer to a historical novel.

A side note: It will be very helpful to the reader to have a book that shows each work in the Sistine Chapel in some detail. King's book discusses many of the works at length, but the details are difficult to appreciate without seeing the actual work. The hardcover edition has only a few pages of color illustrations in one section.

Nevertheless, this work is well done and very interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating slice of history
Review: Ross King's story of the "Pope's ceiling" is much more than the history of the painitng of the Sistine Chapel, as fascinating as that is. Spanning only four years, this book is art history, military history, church history and more all in one. Michelangelo was a renowned sculptor, who at the beginning of the 16th century was commissioned by Julius II to create the grandest tomb the world had known. But Julius, the feared and volatile ruler of part of Italy as well as the Pope, changed his mind before Michelangelo started, and directed him to paint the chapel instead. Unskilled in the complicated fresco process, and bitterly disappointed, Michelangelo nevertheless has no choice and begins the project. King details the challenging job of preparing the walls, transferring the design to the plaster, quickly painting before the walls dry. The author debunks many of the stories that have grown up over the years--Michelangelo did not work alone but with a changing crew of assistants; he did not lie on his back but painted in a much more uncomfortable position--standing, looking up.

King also offers an intriguing look at the corrupt church of the time, as we recall that the chapel is being painted on the eve of the Protestant reformation. The pope is hardly a spiritual leader, but one prince among many, with the extra power of condemning his enemies to hell or granting forgiveness and absolution for sins. Julius spends more time warring with rival kingdoms than worrying about salvation, and one cannot help thinking of the many lives lost during these useless escapades. Julius fancies himself as the successor not only of the first pope Peter but of Christ himself, and his triumphant entry into conquered cities in a fashion reminiscent of Palm Sunday are colorfully described. The clergy are uneducated, poor and hardly living a life of holiness--the vow of chastity simply means one cannot marry, and as a result Rome is overrun with prostitutes. In a wonderful aside, King quotes from the writings of the young Martin Luther--overjoyed at the prospect of visiting Rome's holy shrines, he quickly sees the filth and corruption in the city, which no doubt deeply influenced his subsequent break with Rome.

King does a wonderful job describing the fresco itself, explaining the origins of the designs in history, the classics, and earlier art works. We also learn quite a bit about Raphael, a young likeable man about town compared to the grumpy Michelangelo. Raphael was painting the pope's apartments at the same time as Michelangelo was working on the ceiling, and King does a great job explaining the differences between these two great masters. Leonardo da Vinci, the older, acknowledged master, was also working at this time, and King refers to his works throughout.

Whatever one might say about Julius and the corruption of the time, the popes did much to nuture the flowering of the Renaissance, and they certainly knew their art! This book is highly recommended--the audio version is also very well done.