Michelangelo

This is a new biography of Michelangelo by Martin Gayford, the acclaimed author of 'Constable in Love' and 'The Yellow House'

There was an epic sweep to Michelangelo's life. At 31 he was considered the finest artist in Italy, perhaps the world; long before he died at almost 90 he was widely believed to be the greatest sculptor or painter who had ever lived (and, by his enemies, to be an arrogant, uncouth, swindling miser). For decade after decade, he worked near the dynamic centre of events: the vortex at which European history was changing from Renaissance to Counter Reformation. Few of his works - including the huge frescoes of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, the marble giant 'David' and 'the Last Judgment' - were small or easy to accomplish. Like a hero of classical mythology he was subject to constant trials and labours. In Michelangelo Martin Gayford describes what it felt like to be Michelangelo Buonarroti, and how he transformed forever our notion of what an artist could be. Martin Gayford has been art critic of the Spectator and the Sunday Telegraph. Among his publications are: 'The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles'