Here’s a brand new book
that aims to give us the inside view on Michelangelo and his quest for
artistic perfection - but this is not a book about the Sistine Chapel
ceiling or the Pieta. Rather this book details Michelangelo’s
quests for perfect blocks of marble in the quarries of Carrara in
Northern Italy. Author Eric Scigliano presents a vivid picture of
Michelangelo’s escapades and ordeals in the quarries that produced the
marble from which the artist carved every single statue that he ever
created.
Michelangelo’s repeated
trips to Cararra - some lasting as long as eight months - gave him
intimate knowledge of its mountain of marble. He spent his time
there choosing the perfect blocks of statuario - marble fit for carving statuary - and supervising their quarrying and their transport to distant locales like Florence and Rome.
In writing this book,
Scigliano shows his reader just how difficult and complex the task of
quarrying marble was in the Renaissance, and he also demonstrates
the extraordinary effort needed to produce the perfect block of
marble.
Fortunately this book
is not just about the quarries. It also covers the subject of
Michelangelo’s scultpural work, with chapters discussing some of the
artist’s greatest hits, like the David and the Pieta. Equally
spellbinding are Scigliano’s descriptions of the enormous social
and political challenges Michelangelo faced throughout his career, and
his often troubled relationships with popes, princes, and poets.
Order Michelangelo’s Mountain from Powell’s
Free Press, 2005. ISBN 0743254775