Michelangelo's tomb for Julius II: genesis and genius

Uittreksel

In 1505 Michelangelo began planning the magnificent tomb for Pope Julius II, which would dominate the next forty years of his career. Repeated failures to complete the monument were characterized by Ascanio Condivi, Michelangelo's authorized biographer, as "the tragedy of the tomb." This definitive book on the subject thoroughly documents the art of the tomb and each stage of its long and often fraught history, including its most recent restoration. It was edited by Christoph Luitpold Frommel, one of the field's foremost scholars, who also acted as the lead consultant on the restoration campaign and wrote the book's main essay. New post-restoration photography reveals the beauty of the tomb overall, its individual statues, and its myriad details. Alongside its in-depth handling of the monument, this volume traces Michelangelo's stylistic development over the course of his work on the tomb; documents the dialogue between the artist and his great friend and exacting patron, Julius II (who died long before the work was finished); unravels the complicated relationship between the master and his assistants, who executed large parts of the design; and sheds new light on the importance of Neoplatonism in Michelangelo's thinking, an influence that greatly shaped the tomb's most famous statue, the Moses, as well as the work as a whole. A rich trove of documents in the original Latin and archaic Italian - many previously unpublished - relates the story firsthand through letters, contracts, and other records covering Michelangelo's travels, the purchase of the marble, the concerns that arose as work progressed, and numerous disagreements and negotiations. The book also includes catalogues of fifteen sculptures designed for the tomb and more than eighty related drawings, in addition to an extensive and up-to-date bibliography. -- from dust jacket.

Inhoud

Introduction / Christoph Luitpold Frommel -- The reception of the tomb of Julius II from the sixteenth century to the present / Maria Forcellino -- The tomb of Pope Julius II : genesis, reconstructions, and analyses / Christoph Luitpold Frommel. Plates ; Drawings ; Sculptures ; Contextual illustrations -- Michelangelo's tomb of Pope Julius II: art and history / Claudia Echinger-Maurach -- Michelangelo's statues for the tomb of Julius II in San Pietro in Vincoli / Antonio Forcellino -- Catalogue of drawings / Claudia Echinger-Maurach -- Appendix to the catalogue of drawings / Maria Forcellino and Christoph Luitpold Frommel -- Catalogue of the sculptures / Maria Forcellino -- Documents / edited by Claudia Echinger-Maurach.