Michelangelo (Masters of Art) [Hardcover]

Frederick Hartt (Author), M. di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (Painter)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 1984

This volume includes all of Michelangelo's paintings, as well as a selection of his work in sculpture and architecture. Numerous full-color details capture the works' staggering depth of meaning and magnificent beauty. Frederick Hartt, the great scholar of Italian Renaissance art, provides a fascinating account of Michelangelo's titanic genius.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (September 30, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810913356
• ISBN-13: 978-0810913356
• Product Dimensions: 12.4 x 12.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,561,432 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #54 in Books > Arts & Photography > Schools, Periods & Styles > Mannerism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent text and detailed descriptions for each image, July 20, 2006

By 

Arts&HistoryFan/Kindleworld "Andrys" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Michelangelo (Masters of Art) (Hardcover)

Hartt is an interesting writer and points out details that other writers don't. The quality of the color printing and of the paper itself is high. Since I bought this at Amazon marketplace, I consider it a great value.

However, this is the 'concise' edition (in 1984) of the 1964 book. And the reason the colors are not as bright as another reviewer remembers them is that the book's pictures were taken before the somewhat controversial cleaning and restoration of the paintings in the Sistine Chapel. They were brownish after centuries of accumulations (smoke and 'protective' applications of varnish), and the project to clean them and restore the colors took place from '81 to '94.

To see what the paintings look like nowadays, color-wise, see _Michelangelo The Frescoes of the Sistine Chapel_ with text by Marcia Hall (Temple University) and photographs by Takashi Okamura, who was the first photographer given the opportunity to photograph the Chapel after the restoration project was completed. [...]

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice book, colors could be a tad brighter, April 26, 2005

By 

Ruth L "RuthBruin" (Long Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Michelangelo (Masters of Art) (Paperback)

I purchased this book recently after having come back from Italy and having seen some of these works of art in person. The books is very nicely put together, a great coffee table piece. The large, thick pages really make the book feel sturdy. The only thing that I found a minor issue with is that the color plates of the paintings should be brighter. An example, the painting of the Doni Madonna was much more bright and colorful than is depicted in the book. In real life even the old paintings in the Sistine Chapel pop out at you (see the Delphic Sybil for another example).