Books by Michelangelo

The description for this book, Complete Poems and Selected Letters of Michelangelo, will be forthcoming.

Often overshadowed by the magnificence of his achievements as a visual artist is Michelangelo's devotion to poetry. Here is a collection of his poetic works translated to capture all the pathos, complexity, and ardor of both his language and his poetic temperament.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) is universally celebrated as one of the greatest artists of all time, yet iconic Renaissance creator was also a prolific and gifted poet. The verses collected here are primarily devoted to love and religion. Intense and passionate, the love poems focus on two figures: Tommaso de Cavalieri and Vittoria Colonna; with the sonnets and madrigals dedicated to de Cavalieri revealing a highly charged, homoerotic fervour - previously obscured in the original versions. Michelangelo's later religious poetry moves away from his earlier wordly concerns, while his letters provide a fasicnating insight into his fanily relations and day-to-day life as a working artist. The result is a revealing picture of one of the towering figures of the Renaissance.