Michelangelo; A Book of Postcards

Petaluma, CA: Pomegranate Communications, 2006. Second Printing [stated]. Trade paperback. Very good. Michelangelo was a creative phenomenon whose masterworks of painting, sculpture and architecture are central to the cultural development of Western civilization. This lavishly illustrated introduction to the artist's work includes thirty color reproductions in this book of postcards. These postcards trace the development of Michelanglo Buonarroti's drawing style over the course of fifty years--a half-centure in which he profoundly changed European art. The first--a pen-and-ink study of a philosopher (scientist) holding what might be a skull, dating from 1500 to 1504--reveals its maker's early grasp of monumental form. The last, a nearly impressionistic 1550s Crucifixion scene in black chalk, reflects the meditative mysticism that pervades the artist's last work. The pieces that lie between demonstrate the breadth of Michelangelo's vision and this preternatural skill and also make clear, without recourse to words, the depth of his influence on Western art, in his own time and ever since. This work is licensed by The British Museum. Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni or more commonly known by his first name Michelangelo (6 March 1475 - 18 February 1564) was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance born in the Republic of Florence, who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Considered by many the greatest artist of his lifetime, and by some the greatest artist of all time, his artistic versatility was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival, the fellow Florentine and client of the Medici, Leonardo da Vinci. A number of Michelangelo's works of painting, sculpture and architecture rank among the most famous in existence.[1] His output in these fields was prodigious; given the sheer volume of surviving correspondence, sketches and reminiscences, he is the best-documented artist of the 16th century.