The life of Michelangelo Buonarroti: Based on studies in the archives of the Buonarroti family at Florence [Hardcover]

John Addington Symonds (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1893

According to a vague tradition the Simoni drew their blood from the high and puissant Counts of Canossa. Michelangelo himself believed in this pedigree for which there is however no foundation in fact and no heraldic corroboration. According to his friend and biographer Condivi the sculptor¿s first Florentine ancestor was a Messer Simone dei Conti di Canossa who came in 1250 as Podesta to Florence.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Though this originally appeared back in 1911, it is still considered to be one of the best biographies of the artist. Symonds was the first to deal frankly with Michelangelo's homosexuality and was the first scholar granted complete access to the artist's materials by the Italian government. This edition includes a new introduction by Creighton E. Gilbert, art historian and translator of Michelangelo's poems and letters, who discusses the historical context of the biography as well as Symonds's own life and his efforts to recognize the contributions of gay artists.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"Scholars and students can learn much from a careful reading of this masterpiece of nineteenth-century research, the first modern biography of this famous artist. . . . Symonds's biography stands on its own as a solid, readable, compelling, and appropriate reading for the twenty-first century."—Sixteenth Century Journal

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (1893)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00086266C
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding biograpphy !, November 1, 2004

By 

Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti (Hardcover)

Miguel Angel is to say in Carlyle words , the Hero made Artist .

If we had more individualities with his courage , the symphony of the civilization would be more glorious .

If we persisted in search of the affinities of such artist we would find them in Beethoven . If not go and listen the last quartets of Beethoven (Op. 130 and 132, for instance) and proceed to watch the last works of Miguelangelo . You will not find another music more appropriate which illuminates with so fevered state, intriguing pathos and dark clouds mood . He, as the legitimate son of the ancient Greeks lived in the right time and in the right place Florence to show the world the Renaissance not only was the most important artistic movement of the mankind story but it was more than necessary a figure of his stature appeared in the middle of this land .

He belonged to the lineage of the deep characters , violents , greatful , that strengthens and fight passionately.

Miguel Angel was the timeless inspiration to many other thinkers , writers and artists such as William Blake, Goethe, Beethoven , Liszt, Mendelssohn, Lord Byron , Carlyle and Fürtwangler, among others and even his legacy seems to have not any kind of restrictions.

The author makes a careful study and explores dilatory every stage of his complex life with magnificent illustrations and broad gusto that it represents an exquisite refinement exercise for the intellect and mind to read this fundamental biography

The description of the Sistine Chapel is simply a imagination triumph and the highest and supreme good taste .

Terrific recommendable.