Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling: Brief Book Review
History, from the Beginning (Book #11)
In 2018 I realised my knowledge of history was plain bad. This series charts my re-education, starting from the big bang and working my way to present day one book at a time. (Learn more)
The books so far have done well to highlight some of humanity’s worst traits: violence, hedonism, and desire for power. This book is a celebration of some of its better ones: appreciation for art and commitment to craft.
Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling is small in scope, covering the four years it took Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel between 1508 and 1512. This break away from burning and pillaging was a tranquil reprieve, although this does not reflect the mental state of Michelangelo himself, who spends the majority of the book in near constant torture.
Not just the physical torture of painting on a ceiling for months on end, but the mental torture that comes with attempting one of the most ambitious artistic endeavours of all time, on one of the world’s most important canvases, with little prior experience in the creative techniques involved.
Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling also offers indirect insight into the beating heart of the Renaissance era. I was surprised to learn Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Rafael and many of the other ‘greatest hits’ co-existed together in the same place, at the same time. In fact one of the more dramatic scenes in the book tells of the painting competition between Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, in which both were commissioned to paint opposing chapel walls in order to determine who was the better artist. While the project didn’t get past initial sketches, it is a clear example of a period that often drifts into the realm of fan fiction.
This book was a wonderful hiatus, and served as a reminder that not all history is war and conquest.
