Customer Reviews

Michelangelo A&I (Art and Ideas)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Firstly, I was thoughroughly impressed by the quality of this little book. The layout of the pages, the quality of the paper, everything. I'm glad to report that the content matches its presentation: Very clean, clear text featuring an unbiased look at Michelangelo's life. The book often cites former biographers (specifically Vasari and Condivi) and more often than not, it tries to find the right history. Very good illustrations of his more famous artwork as well as some drawings. Excellent!

You know how rare that is! But this book is one you don't want to put down. It is so well written, educational, and has so many great illustrations. I enjoyed it a lot.

Hughes gives a lot of info in a short book, and paints a very well balanced idea of Michelangelo the man. I felt bad for
Buonaratti after reading this. He truly was a miserable man, yet his committment to his art was never diminished for a moment. In the end the story of his life is inspiring and humbling. Inspiring because it proves what man can acheive, humbling in the sacrifices that were made in order to fulfill his destiny as one of the great geniuses to have ever lived.

Phaidon does an excellent job with this series and the Michelangelo book is no exception. The 1st thing I always look for in an art book is superb photographs, ones that accurately capture the works of art in all of their detail and more importantly capture the colors of the paintings. And this book definitely meets that criteria. The photographs accurately capture the colors of Michelangelo's works and they capture some of the detail he put into them so that you feel as if you're actually standing in front of them. The writing, while always secondary to me, is easy to read and tells us not only about the works, but something about Michelangelo himself. Unlike many other art history books, this one doesn't have the dry academic tone about it, but is instead actually fun to read and a great way to find out more about Michelangelo. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about this great artist.

This is a good introduction, although it does not offer a lot more than the introduction by Howard Hibbard. I prefer it to the one by Linda Murray in the World of Art-series. The book by Hughes offers a more balanced view on the works it describes, in the way that it usually gives several opinions of other writers, then sometimes gives a preference for one opinion in particular, but also sometimes states that there is simply not enough evidence to substantiate the views of other writers. Therefore it is a pity that Hughes does not always substantiate his own views, he doesn't tell us why a particular view is better than another.
Nevertheless the book is full of interesting information and easy to read.