Customer Reviews

The Complete Poems of Michelangelo

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I must confess that I am not a mushy person, I hate lovey dovey music. But the first time I ever read Michelangelo's poems directed towards Vittoria Colonna I knew that I was in love. The intensity and the beauty of it is so touching especially considering he was an old man when they were penned. Make it much more real, like a man who is truly pouring out his heart as opposed to someone who is just spouting words to gain the "favors" of a lady. Michelanglo is one of the few artists who have ever lived who have shown the true meaning of beauty. "My lady, these eyes see vividly-far, near-/your radiant face, wherever it is here,there."-absolutely.

Read along with Vittoria Colonna, Sonnets for Michelangelo, edited and translated by Abigail Brundin (Chicago U. Press, 2005), Michelangelo's language of art and faith become clearer: He found himself closer to God believing in His grace almost the same faith as a Protestant that came from his deep spiritual involvement with the reforming Catholic faith of Vittoria. Images of young men who had inspired him for his art works receded and remorse remained. They explain the growth of several lines of interpretation of the last judgment on the wall of the Sistine Chapel. End result was that Christ is not judging in spite of the fact of martyred saints around him were expectantly looking toward him. He is presented as a Copernican sun rather than a mere resurrection in human form.