What do you think?
Rate this book
Michelangelo: The Artist, the Man and his Times
Michelangelo is universally recognized to be one of the greatest artists of all time. In this vividly written biography, William E. Wallace offers a substantially new view of the artist. Not only a supremely gifted sculptor, painter, architect, and poet, Michelangelo was also an aristocrat who firmly believed in the ancient and noble origins of his family. The belief in his patrician status fueled his lifelong ambition to improve his family’s financial situation and to raise the social standing of artists. Michelangelo’s ambitions are evident in his writing, dress, and comportment, as well as in his ability to befriend, influence, and occasionally say “no” to popes, kings, and princes. Written from the words of Michelangelo and his contemporaries, this biography not only tells his own stories but also brings to life the culture and society of Renaissance Florence and Rome. Not since Irving Stone’s novel The Agony and the Ecstasy has there been such a compelling and human portrayal of this remarkable yet credible human individual.
Subscribe to William Wallace's podcast on individual works of the master!
Episodes every week, right from this bookmark or your feed reader.
Subscribe to William Wallace's podcast on individual works of the master!
Episodes every week, right from this bookmark or your feed reader.
428 pages, Hardcover
First published October 20, 1998
60 people are currently reading
574 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
January 2, 2015
This ended up being just okay for me. It's certainly well-researched, careful, sober and authoritative, so that's nice. But I have two issues, both of which are sorta bigger than just this book:
1) I only read this one book about Michelangelo, which means it's hard for me to know whether Wallace's take is entirely the right one. I have no dissenting opinion, you know? In this case, my uncertainty is about Michelangelo's homosexuality. From what I've heard (including from Michelangelo himself, in the form of his wicked gay sonnets), he was pretty gay - like, somewhere between my friend Rob, who's happily married to a dude but other than that I could swear he's straight, and my friend Jeffrey, who's a slut of epic proportions. Wallace underplays and/or "excuses" this aspect of his life, though, using the hoary old "Times were different back then! Everybody wrote love letters to dudes!" and quoting mostly from his tamer poetry. I believe he's straightifying Michelangelo a bit, which I disapprove of.
(But this is a difficulty about history. We go through phases where we redefine it based on what our current society wants it to be. Lots of people would love to have Michelangelo as a gay icon. Are those people overstating their case, or is Wallace understating it? If Wallace had confronted the issue of Michelangelo's sexuality straight on, as I think he should have, I might have a better guess at the answer. Instead he tiptoes delicately around it, doing no one any favors.)
2) We build our myths based in part around what the most fun picture of a guy might be. It's fun to believe that Richard Gere stuffs hamsters in his butt, so why shouldn't I believe it? Similarly, it's fun to picture Michelangelo as this irascible, stinky old crank living in his own squalor and crazily hammering at musty old blocks of granite. But then a sober researcher like Wallace comes along and says, listen, if you just read the guy's letters, you find out he's pretty normal. Sure, a little fussy, but he bathed as much as anyone else, cracked jokes with a nice circle of friends, cared deeply about his family, and was perfectly capable of diplomacy. Okay, I believe him. But wasn't it more fun the other way?
I had the same problem when I was learning about the Dark Ages. It turns out it wasn't a wretched time of plague, burnings and constant Viking raids - at least, not completely, and not much more than the times before or after it. There was still trade, commerce, government, family...when the Roman empire collapsed, the only difference in most peoples' lives was that there were fewer Romans traipsing around demanding taxes. But that's no fun! Where's my schadenfreude?
Often it turns out that history was much cooler and/or weirder than I've been led to believe. The advanced and expansive pre-Columbian American societies are a good example of this. But sometimes it goes the other way: sometimes history turns out to be more mundane than I've imagined. I'm not complaining - well, I am, obviously, but I'm not going to stop reading. But seriously, Wallace, you're harshing my buzz.
1) I only read this one book about Michelangelo, which means it's hard for me to know whether Wallace's take is entirely the right one. I have no dissenting opinion, you know? In this case, my uncertainty is about Michelangelo's homosexuality. From what I've heard (including from Michelangelo himself, in the form of his wicked gay sonnets), he was pretty gay - like, somewhere between my friend Rob, who's happily married to a dude but other than that I could swear he's straight, and my friend Jeffrey, who's a slut of epic proportions. Wallace underplays and/or "excuses" this aspect of his life, though, using the hoary old "Times were different back then! Everybody wrote love letters to dudes!" and quoting mostly from his tamer poetry. I believe he's straightifying Michelangelo a bit, which I disapprove of.
(But this is a difficulty about history. We go through phases where we redefine it based on what our current society wants it to be. Lots of people would love to have Michelangelo as a gay icon. Are those people overstating their case, or is Wallace understating it? If Wallace had confronted the issue of Michelangelo's sexuality straight on, as I think he should have, I might have a better guess at the answer. Instead he tiptoes delicately around it, doing no one any favors.)
2) We build our myths based in part around what the most fun picture of a guy might be. It's fun to believe that Richard Gere stuffs hamsters in his butt, so why shouldn't I believe it? Similarly, it's fun to picture Michelangelo as this irascible, stinky old crank living in his own squalor and crazily hammering at musty old blocks of granite. But then a sober researcher like Wallace comes along and says, listen, if you just read the guy's letters, you find out he's pretty normal. Sure, a little fussy, but he bathed as much as anyone else, cracked jokes with a nice circle of friends, cared deeply about his family, and was perfectly capable of diplomacy. Okay, I believe him. But wasn't it more fun the other way?
I had the same problem when I was learning about the Dark Ages. It turns out it wasn't a wretched time of plague, burnings and constant Viking raids - at least, not completely, and not much more than the times before or after it. There was still trade, commerce, government, family...when the Roman empire collapsed, the only difference in most peoples' lives was that there were fewer Romans traipsing around demanding taxes. But that's no fun! Where's my schadenfreude?
Often it turns out that history was much cooler and/or weirder than I've been led to believe. The advanced and expansive pre-Columbian American societies are a good example of this. But sometimes it goes the other way: sometimes history turns out to be more mundane than I've imagined. I'm not complaining - well, I am, obviously, but I'm not going to stop reading. But seriously, Wallace, you're harshing my buzz.
December 20, 2018
Michelangelo is one of those great minds whose greatness of a personality in course of time started diminishing their personality, weird as it may sound. The more we learn about them as painters, thinkers, royals, history shakers, the less we know about who they actually were and the more we treat them as paragraphs in a history book rather than as personalities. Hence we miss an opportunity to admire how beautifully flawed, relatable and human they were. Wallace delicately unfolds Michelangelo’s life, devoting more space in his book for him as The Man, not The Artist, which at first disappointed me and then utterly charmed, because I would have never imagined Michelangelo being able and willing to amuse a child, tracing the outline of his little nephew’s ankle and foot or writing such poignant words about death. This book was a very good, if a bit too brief, tour outside dry art history books where genius is often explained, not shown.
July 6, 2021
We all know Irving Stone's image of Michelangelo: a tortured genius, irascible and isolated from those around him. While this neatly corresponds to a certain post-Romantic vision of genius we have, William Wallace in this biography coherently argues that it is utterly wrong.
Instead, Michelangelo appears to us as struggling young artist (whose father constantly worries he chose the wrong career), friend to several popes (particularly Clement VII and Paul III), and a deeply generous - if often concerned - family member and companion. Moreover, as his career develops, Michelangelo goes from seeking patrons to becoming something of one himself; by the end, everyone from Catherine de Medici to the Grand Duke of his native Tuscany throw at him all sorts of offers to coax 'il divino' into their service.
Incredibly living to the age of 88, Michelangelo's life is one of development but also permanent loss. Continually, we are introduced to characters who are 30-40 years younger than him with whom he becomes intimate only for them to die unexpectedly before him. At times this is very moving, as when he reflects on the death of Vittoria Colonna or those of members of his Buonarroti clan.
Michelangelo's piety is attentively sketched by Wallace and is one of the defining features of his entire life - from 20 year old aspirant artist to 80 year old sonneteer and sculptor. At times, this makes for excellent art criticism: for instance, Wallace offers a crucial revisionary reading of Michelangelo's 'Last Judgement' (often seen to symbolise the callousness of the divine) which pays attention to Christ's pain in the scene and the use of his right hand (after all, the right hand is not for condemnation as Wallace points out!) not to condemn but to redeem as much of the world as possible - this parallels Michelangelo's obsessive image of Christ's outstretched arms at the Crucifixion as a form of invitation.
Reconciling Michelangelo's earliest biographers (Condivi and Vasari) with modern scholarly practices, Wallace refuses the temptation to engage in either hagiography or a clinical, quasi-rigorous modern biography (no hermeneutics of suspicion here!). With some nice overtures to Oscar Wilde, Wallace points out that we have to take seriously Michelangelo's claim of noble ancestry even if we are almost certain today that it wasn't true; to fail to do so is to neglect not only how Michelangelo thought about himself, his art and his family but also to miss a crucial facet of how his patrons, friends and colleagues saw the artist. Similarly, Wallace has no hesitations in showing his admiration for the artist - his model of artistic genius; while he departs from Condivi and Vasari often, it is not due to their effusive praise of the artist but (on the contrary) it is part of Wallace's attempt to show us that Michelangelo was even more complex and nuanced than these historic portraits have allowed us to see.
I don't often read biographies but this one was simply excellent. Beautifully and attentively written, it clearly was a labour of love - highly recommended.
Instead, Michelangelo appears to us as struggling young artist (whose father constantly worries he chose the wrong career), friend to several popes (particularly Clement VII and Paul III), and a deeply generous - if often concerned - family member and companion. Moreover, as his career develops, Michelangelo goes from seeking patrons to becoming something of one himself; by the end, everyone from Catherine de Medici to the Grand Duke of his native Tuscany throw at him all sorts of offers to coax 'il divino' into their service.
Incredibly living to the age of 88, Michelangelo's life is one of development but also permanent loss. Continually, we are introduced to characters who are 30-40 years younger than him with whom he becomes intimate only for them to die unexpectedly before him. At times this is very moving, as when he reflects on the death of Vittoria Colonna or those of members of his Buonarroti clan.
Michelangelo's piety is attentively sketched by Wallace and is one of the defining features of his entire life - from 20 year old aspirant artist to 80 year old sonneteer and sculptor. At times, this makes for excellent art criticism: for instance, Wallace offers a crucial revisionary reading of Michelangelo's 'Last Judgement' (often seen to symbolise the callousness of the divine) which pays attention to Christ's pain in the scene and the use of his right hand (after all, the right hand is not for condemnation as Wallace points out!) not to condemn but to redeem as much of the world as possible - this parallels Michelangelo's obsessive image of Christ's outstretched arms at the Crucifixion as a form of invitation.
Reconciling Michelangelo's earliest biographers (Condivi and Vasari) with modern scholarly practices, Wallace refuses the temptation to engage in either hagiography or a clinical, quasi-rigorous modern biography (no hermeneutics of suspicion here!). With some nice overtures to Oscar Wilde, Wallace points out that we have to take seriously Michelangelo's claim of noble ancestry even if we are almost certain today that it wasn't true; to fail to do so is to neglect not only how Michelangelo thought about himself, his art and his family but also to miss a crucial facet of how his patrons, friends and colleagues saw the artist. Similarly, Wallace has no hesitations in showing his admiration for the artist - his model of artistic genius; while he departs from Condivi and Vasari often, it is not due to their effusive praise of the artist but (on the contrary) it is part of Wallace's attempt to show us that Michelangelo was even more complex and nuanced than these historic portraits have allowed us to see.
I don't often read biographies but this one was simply excellent. Beautifully and attentively written, it clearly was a labour of love - highly recommended.
July 18, 2010
Michelangelo was a true Renaissance Man. This book follows him through out his life, with documented letters he wrote to family and friends. He was not as crabby as other biographers made him out to be. He was a loving friend and family man, even though his family depended on him for their support.
This book follows him through all stages of his artistic careers . He was a sculptor, painter, poet,architect, building engineer, structural engineer and his own contractor.
I wish the book had more photos and drawings. The author gives lots of details and it would help to have the art work readily available to look at ,to see what the writer was talking about. Other than that this is an excellent book for students of art history. You come away from the book wishing that you could have known the man personally, as it is you feel an intimate knowledge not seen in other biographies.
This book follows him through all stages of his artistic careers . He was a sculptor, painter, poet,architect, building engineer, structural engineer and his own contractor.
I wish the book had more photos and drawings. The author gives lots of details and it would help to have the art work readily available to look at ,to see what the writer was talking about. Other than that this is an excellent book for students of art history. You come away from the book wishing that you could have known the man personally, as it is you feel an intimate knowledge not seen in other biographies.
January 23, 2010
William Wallace, a professor of art history at Washington University in St. Louis, is widely considered America’s preeminent authority on Michelangelo. In an array of scholarly books and articles written over the past 20 years, he has argued for a fundamental reassessment of the great Renaissance master’s personal and professional character. Through Wallace’s meticulously documented research and analysis, Michelangelo has emerged not as the isolated, brooding loner of legend, but as an entrepreneur of the arts, deftly negotiating complex networks of patronage and influence while directing a lively band of assistants, who were both his employees and his friends.
In his new book, “Michelangelo: The Artist, the Man, and His Times,’’ Wallace attempts to make these insights accessible to a wider audience, offering a manageably sized but richly detailed narrative of the artist’s life and career...
The rest of this review is available online at Boston.com:
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articl...
In his new book, “Michelangelo: The Artist, the Man, and His Times,’’ Wallace attempts to make these insights accessible to a wider audience, offering a manageably sized but richly detailed narrative of the artist’s life and career...
The rest of this review is available online at Boston.com:
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articl...
April 29, 2010
Somewhat of a disappointment. The first page made me believe this book was going to be creative nonfiction. I was wrong, which led to my let-down.
It needs a good edit too and Cambridge University Press should be ashamed at the mistakes that were left.
The other complaint I have is the illustrations -- far too few given the subject of the biography; they were all collected at the front of the book; and they were in black and white. Cheap, I'd say.
Despite all those whinges, I still finished the book because I was interested in what MichaelAngelo's letters brought to my understanding of the period and the artist.
It needs a good edit too and Cambridge University Press should be ashamed at the mistakes that were left.
The other complaint I have is the illustrations -- far too few given the subject of the biography; they were all collected at the front of the book; and they were in black and white. Cheap, I'd say.
Despite all those whinges, I still finished the book because I was interested in what MichaelAngelo's letters brought to my understanding of the period and the artist.
April 28, 2015
So much missing
I have loved this man Michelangelo, since I was a young girl. The book is not well rounded. It did not touch on his youth to any substantial level. A disappointment.
I have loved this man Michelangelo, since I was a young girl. The book is not well rounded. It did not touch on his youth to any substantial level. A disappointment.
December 2, 2015
Very informative, but quite dry
May 31, 2018
One of the best historic biographies I have ever read. Michelangelo was a complicated artist and genius. Author William Wallace delivered Michelangelo as a real-life, caring, responsible, politically cautious, and extremely busy human being who an artistic gift beyond any measurement.
I was most surprised about Michelangelo's day-to-day life that was covered in detail! I had only thought about him in a studio sculpting or painting. Author Wallace used the hundreds of letters to and from Michelangelo to give a picture his life that was so encumbered by the "business of life": complex financial responsibilities that included: getting paid by patrons; keeping up with vast payments to artisans, marble transporters (in quarry, on land, in port, on ships), and craftsmen; household management from buying food to cooking, to care for animals, etc. He usually had 2 housekeepers who helped with cooking, cleaning, shopping, laundry. He managed the accounting for all this day-to-day business. Plus, he was responsible for his father and brothers and nephews in Florence, most of the time while he was in Rome. He never failed in his paternal obligations.
And...a real estate 'mogul'. He had financial responsibility for his family and himself, and he insured a measure of wealth by buying land and buildings. No wonder that he never married...he had such a full and busy life!
Then, there is the remarkable construction project management, with sometimes 100+ workers, that he was responsible for until the day of his death!
I did not know he was an avid poet. The letters that the author used illustrated a man of many friends and deep feelings.
Last, I remember that Michelangelo was a sculptor, artist, and architect. Author Wallace provided plenty of art history and review so that the pieces came to life for me. I followed the book with wikipedia and art books so that I could get a closer look at the pieces. Fascinating and such a great art trip into the Italian Renaissance.
I should mention that the bio pieces that I read in the art books that I used to 'read along', painted a different picture of Michelangelo! Most of the narrative painted a cantankerous artist. All I can say is that with as much on his plate, I can believe he was a little cranky!
I was most surprised about Michelangelo's day-to-day life that was covered in detail! I had only thought about him in a studio sculpting or painting. Author Wallace used the hundreds of letters to and from Michelangelo to give a picture his life that was so encumbered by the "business of life": complex financial responsibilities that included: getting paid by patrons; keeping up with vast payments to artisans, marble transporters (in quarry, on land, in port, on ships), and craftsmen; household management from buying food to cooking, to care for animals, etc. He usually had 2 housekeepers who helped with cooking, cleaning, shopping, laundry. He managed the accounting for all this day-to-day business. Plus, he was responsible for his father and brothers and nephews in Florence, most of the time while he was in Rome. He never failed in his paternal obligations.
And...a real estate 'mogul'. He had financial responsibility for his family and himself, and he insured a measure of wealth by buying land and buildings. No wonder that he never married...he had such a full and busy life!
Then, there is the remarkable construction project management, with sometimes 100+ workers, that he was responsible for until the day of his death!
I did not know he was an avid poet. The letters that the author used illustrated a man of many friends and deep feelings.
Last, I remember that Michelangelo was a sculptor, artist, and architect. Author Wallace provided plenty of art history and review so that the pieces came to life for me. I followed the book with wikipedia and art books so that I could get a closer look at the pieces. Fascinating and such a great art trip into the Italian Renaissance.
I should mention that the bio pieces that I read in the art books that I used to 'read along', painted a different picture of Michelangelo! Most of the narrative painted a cantankerous artist. All I can say is that with as much on his plate, I can believe he was a little cranky!
April 14, 2018
In this informative and fast paced biography of Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. We learn about his life, his family, his relationships with other artists and patrons, his friends, some of the politics occuring in Rome and Florence during his lifetime, and something of his projects and poetry. Wallace has reserarched his subject extensively and makes use of (and quotes) many of Michelangelo's personal letters. However, Wallace doesn't not elaborate on any methods or techniques Michelangelo made use of during his many projects. I would also have liked more detail on how Michelangelo dealt with all his commissions, assistants and actualy physicaly work.
The book includes 10 colour photographs of Michelangelo's works, but it would have been more helpful if the author had included photos of all the works discussed in the book so the reader could see what he was talking about. The book also includes a list of all the popes during Michelangelo's lifetime, as well as a "cast of principle characters" which is useful since a great many people have the same first name.
This biography is accessible, informative and makes a good introduction to the subject.
OTHER BOOKS
-Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King
-Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King
The book includes 10 colour photographs of Michelangelo's works, but it would have been more helpful if the author had included photos of all the works discussed in the book so the reader could see what he was talking about. The book also includes a list of all the popes during Michelangelo's lifetime, as well as a "cast of principle characters" which is useful since a great many people have the same first name.
This biography is accessible, informative and makes a good introduction to the subject.
OTHER BOOKS
-Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King
-Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King
March 15, 2025
Very detailed and well researched, I would even call it overwhelming, with lots of quotations from Michelangelo's correspondence. However, I felt the book was somewhat dry, it did not engage me very well, I didn't feel any passion from the author. Sure, this is expected from an academic, perhaps the most respected specialist in Michelangelo's biography of our times, so this might be on me and my expectations. I guess the title sums it up: it's more about the man and his times, and not his art. To this point I should add that I found it very inconvenient to have all the plates with his work at the beginning of the book and not throughout it, when they are actually discussed.
Excellent biography, with cold hard facts, lacking in artistic details and in tone.
I know it's not a fair comparison, but my previous read was Isaacson's Da Vinci, which is at the other end of the spectrum: bursting with enthusiasm, to the point of idolatry, and lacking in academic precision. My perfect read would be an average between these two.
Excellent biography, with cold hard facts, lacking in artistic details and in tone.
I know it's not a fair comparison, but my previous read was Isaacson's Da Vinci, which is at the other end of the spectrum: bursting with enthusiasm, to the point of idolatry, and lacking in academic precision. My perfect read would be an average between these two.
February 10, 2022
Having read a dozen books on Michelangelo, I can say this is my favorite so far. William Wallace was able to write a book about the genius of Michelangelo and bring him to life. Instead of myth, he becomes man--a living, breathing, caring, loving man who had friends, enjoyed good wine, loved jokes and wit and poetry. I learned so much about the "ordinary" Michelangelo, filling in gaps that most biographies don't mention. "A Week in the Life" was just fun to read, and the same goes for the rest of this brilliant biography where Michelangelo, his family, and friends came to life. I am fortunate to also have William Wallace's lovely hardback book, "Michelangelo" gifted to me from my son. This book has gorgeous photos of all his paintings, sculptures, and architecture, and it was wonderful to refer to while reading the book.
July 17, 2025
I miss the old Michelangelo, straight from the 'Go Michelangelo Chop up the soul Michelangelo, set on his goals Michelangelo
I hate the new Michelangelo, the bad mood Michelangelo
The always rude Michelangelo, spaz in the news Michelangelo
I miss the sweet Michelangelo, chop up the beats Michelangelo
I gotta to say at that time I'd like to meet Michelangelo
See I invented Michelangelo, it wasn't any Michelangelos
And now I look and look around and there's so many Michelangelos
I used to love Michelangelo, I used to love Michelangelo
I even had the pink polo, I thought I was Michelangelo
What if Michelangelo made a song about Michelangelo
Called "I Miss The Old Michelangelo," man that would be so Michelangelo
That's all it was Michelangelo, we still love Michelangelo
And I love you like Michelangelo loves Michelangelo
I hate the new Michelangelo, the bad mood Michelangelo
The always rude Michelangelo, spaz in the news Michelangelo
I miss the sweet Michelangelo, chop up the beats Michelangelo
I gotta to say at that time I'd like to meet Michelangelo
See I invented Michelangelo, it wasn't any Michelangelos
And now I look and look around and there's so many Michelangelos
I used to love Michelangelo, I used to love Michelangelo
I even had the pink polo, I thought I was Michelangelo
What if Michelangelo made a song about Michelangelo
Called "I Miss The Old Michelangelo," man that would be so Michelangelo
That's all it was Michelangelo, we still love Michelangelo
And I love you like Michelangelo loves Michelangelo
January 23, 2024
Enriching and engaging, this biography of Michelangelo is well written and goes in depth into the relationships and innerworkings of the genius artist. I really enjoyed the way that the author, Wallace, revealed Michelangelo's flaws, emotional scars, family tensions. Most importantly this book conveys the artist's unwavering conviction to sculpt. It contextualizes Michelangelo's Pieta (1499) and David (1504), as well as many other works. The book shows the Renaissance world Michelangelo was born into in Florence in 1475 at a place and time with an appreciation for humanism and the arts, which was ripe for the rebirth of classical antiquity. Highly recommend reading before a trip to Italy!
February 9, 2021
Een helder geschreven biografie; historische en puntsgewijze bespreking van de werken en de vrienden was bepalend voor de structuur. De stelling dat Michelangelo van begin af aan bezorgd was om de naam en status van zijn eigen familie te verbeteren, is overtuigend onderbouwd; evenals de correctie op de traditionele karakterschets van Michelangelo als een loner en een vrek. Wat ik miste is een analyse van Michelangelo’s religieuze overtuiging en evt veranderingen daarin, zowel op persoonlijk niveau als tegen de geopolitieke en theologische achtergrond van reformatie en contrareformatie.
November 14, 2022
Very interesting overview of Michelangelo's life that delved into his many talents. I had not realized he was also a poet. His family history, especially his "adoption" of his nephew, made the portrait of him much more well-rounded. It was rather strange that his sculpting of David took about 2 pages, but the tomb of Julius II took chapters. There is a picture of David at the front of the book, but none of any of the tomb sculptures. Would have liked more about the Sistine Chapel as well. Obviously well-researched and the facts were set into a narrative that kept it all flowing.
June 8, 2024
Read in preparation for our visit next month to the Michelangelo exhibit at the British Museum. He's a fascinating figure, shown here as devoted to his friends and relations, a hard worker, a genius but also a human being. I had no idea that he wrote sonnets, kept up a lively correspondence, and managed a series of assistants over the course of his very long life. To say nothing of carving huge blocks of marble into remarkable works of art. A useful introduction, and just about as much as I need to know.
June 25, 2020
I frequently read biographies of artists as I also am an artist.
Michelangelo by William Wallace is as excellent and seemingly objective and therefore factual as I hoped for. I thought a Cambridge press publication might be a bit dry.: On the contrary it was a fascinating read and certainly helps to plainly correct modern myths.
Highly recommended for artists wanting a perspective on ethics and dedication within the art world.
Michelangelo by William Wallace is as excellent and seemingly objective and therefore factual as I hoped for. I thought a Cambridge press publication might be a bit dry.: On the contrary it was a fascinating read and certainly helps to plainly correct modern myths.
Highly recommended for artists wanting a perspective on ethics and dedication within the art world.
August 22, 2023
An excellent biography that provides a grounded look at Michelangelo as a person and the milieu of Renaissance Italy that was extremely influential to the course of the artist's life. I loved the letters Wallace included that show not only some of the day-to-day happenings in Renaissance Italy, but also Michelangelo's personal struggles, such as his grapple with death in the final decade of his long life.
July 25, 2025
Michelangelo. The divine. Much of this book is about his life not about his art. It’s interesting read. His daily life. How he complains. Wallace attempts to make a moral of the man but in the end cements his divine.
Loved the book, but would have liked a bit more about his art or art process, but then again he did not write about that. Thus i think unfairly so but i give it 4/5
Loved the book, but would have liked a bit more about his art or art process, but then again he did not write about that. Thus i think unfairly so but i give it 4/5
July 11, 2018
While Michelangelo might be considered the most successful of the Italian Renaissance artists, he's also the least interesting in my opinion. This book definitely didn't much to change my opinion, although I have come to appreciate the work of the man all the more.
March 31, 2023
Excellent biography. I knew Michelangelo was a great artist as a gifted sculptor, painter, and architect but I also learned he was a great poet too. I really enjoyed the style as well as language of well researched biography.
September 23, 2025
A well written but perhaps too detailed biography. I knew almost nothing about Michelangelo before reading this text and I now know much more, but Wallace at times risks overwhelming the reader with the minutiae of information.
January 13, 2019
An interesting take on the Florentine great, a bit up/down at times, but worth a read!
December 30, 2019
I love this book. I gained more appreciation to Leonardo as an artist and as a person. It’s just an interesting thing to read
August 7, 2021
A great book and easy reading. Delves more into the man’s personal life. It gives a fuller picture of the man.
October 13, 2021
I watched the Teaching Company course based on this book. 18 hours. As usual, high quality lectures with good visuals to go with it. These were 30 minutes long, which is perfect length for me.
July 21, 2022
8.5/10
May 11, 2025
excellent
A wealth of information in a well thought out sequence. Wallace is the number one biographer of Michelangelo. Great read!
A wealth of information in a well thought out sequence. Wallace is the number one biographer of Michelangelo. Great read!
August 22, 2025
Michelangelo, it turns out, was not a party dude. But it was very fun to read about his masterpieces through the lens of his relentless complaining to friends and family.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews