Book Review: Michelangelo: A Life in Six Masterpieces

Title: Michelangelo: A Life in Six Masterpieces

Author: Miles J. Unger

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ 

My Thoughts:

I have always had a fascination for art and art history. It may be due to my mother’s influence—I spent the better part of my childhood being dragged from museum to museum, gallery to gallery while my mom worked on her degree in Fine Arts. Or it may be because the lives of the artists themselves were so interesting to me. I suspect it may be a mix of the two. Michelangelo was one of a select group of artists my mom could spend hours talking about. As an adult I was able to see up close the sculptures and paintings I had seen in my mom’s art books. And while I knew a lot about Michelangelo’s work, I knew very little about the man. So when the opportunity arose to read Miles J. Unger’s labor of love, “Michelangelo: A Life in Six Masterpieces”, I was thrilled.

The Pietà ©klorenz

From the beginning I could tell that the author was truly passionate about Michelangelo and took great care to portray his life as honestly as possible. To achieve this, he used letters from the artist, his family, his friends, and his contemporaries. Unger does a fantastic job balancing each perspective to separate the legend from the man, which must have been a difficult task because not only was Michelangelo a gifted artist but he was also gifted in self-promotion.

The Creation of Adam, Sistine Chapel

The six title pieces are: The Pietà, David, The Sistine Chapel ceiling, The Medici Chapel, The Last Judgment, and St. Peter's Basilica. The author does discuss many of Michelangelo’s other works but they are used to show the artists growth or to add perspective in regard to the timeline. Of the six pieces featured I have personally seen five. The one I did not see was the Medici Chapel, it was on my list of places to see but morning sickness, the line to see David, the train schedule, and the best strawberries and cream ever, prevented me from seeing it.

What I enjoyed the most was reading about how Michelangelo evolved as an artist and reading about the little behind the scenes details about some of his most famous pieces. I know that art doesn't just appear, but sometimes you forget the amount of work and the difficulties that went into each piece. It put a lot of things in perspective and gave me a whole new appreciation for his art and the art of his contemporaries.

Saint Peter's Basilica  ©klorenz

Unger’s writing was fluid and engaging. Michelangelo was a pleasure to read and I plan on reading the author’s other works on Lorenzo de Medici and Machiavelli, and I hope to see more from him in the future. Anyone interested in art, art history, the Renaissance, Italy, or biographies will enjoy this book.

For this review I was provided a digital copy from NetGalley, which had some formatting issues but I was so engrossed in the book that I was able to overlook most of the issues. I really loved this book. So much so, that I have ordered the print copy to add to my collection—if my mom doesn't steal from me first.