THE ARCHITECTURE OF MICHELANGELO Text and Plates Volume Only

by Ackerman

In this widely acclaimed work, James Ackerman considers in detail the buildings designed by Michelangelo in Florence and Rome—including the Medici Chapel, the Farnese Palace, the Basilica of St. Peter, and the Capitoline Hill. He then turns to an examination of the artist's architectural drawings, theory, and practice. As Ackerman points out, Michelangelo worked on many projects started or completed by other architects. Consequently this study provides insights into the achievements of the whole profession during the sixteenth century. The text is supplemented with 140 black-and-white illustrations and is followed by a scholarly catalog of Michelangelo's buildings that discusses chronology, authorship, and condition. For this second edition, Ackerman has made extensive revisions in the catalog to encompass new material that has been published on the subject since 1970.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, Italy

Hardcover

First published July 30, 1971

Reviews

[Victor Chiñas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Architecture of Michelangelo is super detailed and really focused on the architecture itself, maybe a bit too much for me. I wish there had been more historical context, but even without knowing much about architecture, I learned a lot. In the end, it just confirmed how insanely talented Michelangelo was. He did everything.

[Merryn Summersgill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ackerman gives a good visual analysis of Michelangelo’s works - he relates the structures to the human body calling them organisms which I thought was interesting. I want to go to Florence so bad now tho to see the Laurentian Library and Medici Chapel!!

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually reading it through now - it was like most of my purchases a secondhand book - I had read others in the series - just the first few pages about Michelangelo's organic dynamic approach to design and modelling - well that got me hooked. It is a fascinating book and very readable (thanks to the author's wife! :-))