The Agony and the Ecstacy
by Irving Stone
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Book Summary Information
Author: Irving StoneEdition: Hardcover
Published: 1961
ISBN: N/A
Publisher: Doubleday & Company, Inc.
Book Reviews of The Agony and the Ecstacy
Book Review: Amazing!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had this book for about 17 years or so and I read it once right after I received it and though I enjoyed it the first time and this is technically a reread but I can honestly say that this read felt like my first read.
Michelangelo Buonarroti has always been an artist that I admired. His sculpture goes beyond the mere carving of marble, he created pieces that glow with life, that are not just works of art, they are creations that stop just short of breathing. You only have to stand in front of the Pieta to see it. This sculpture isn't just a depiction of a religious story, it's proof of his ability to take something as hard as marble and make it look as though it has the feeling of skin stretched over bone and muscle, it projects a warmth not found in stone, that if you could reach out and touch it you would feel the slight give of living skin. That is the mark of a Master. But his skill didn't just stop at sculpture, no, he painted frescoes and canvas with the ability of someone who sees not just the figure and depicts it but builds the figures from the skeleton out creating every tendon and muscle mass and finally achieving the very core of humanity in the emotions played out through movement as well as expression. I've been lucky enough to see some of these things with my own eyes and as I grow and mature as an artist I continue to be awe struck by his talent.
The reasons that I picked up this book again were to reacquaint myself with a story that I had forgotten most of and as inspiration. After almost two weeks I have achieved both of those things. The story itself is amazing and yet in someways ordinary, not that Michelangelo didn't accomplish great things in his life but that most of the time his life was not fundamentally different from any artist in any era who's desire to create is one of the driving forces in their life.
He spent the first half of his life poor, literally living commission to commission, at the mercy of those in power. He found support in Lorenzo de Medici who is credited with being the father of the arts in Florence. Yet he also found himself at the mercy of the church and those who ruled it.
The book follows his life from age 13 to his death at age 90. From his introduction to fresco painting and sculpture to his final project of architect of St, Peters. During the years documented here we see not only the artist but the man and how he lived his life as a person and as an artist. I was inspired by his need for complete understanding of his subject but also by his need for perfection in his work. I think the saying, if you don't do your best than it's not worth doing, should be attributed to Michelangelo. I'm not sure I have the saying exactly right but the gist of it is the same. He gave all of his effort to his work and to creating work that was the result of the best of his ability. He wanted his creations not to be the best but to be the best that he was capable of, he just happened to be able to achieve both.
I could sit here and write for hours about this book but I won't because I want people to read the book not just read about it. I know how I feel truly inspired when I learn that the life of an artist never really changes and that artists themselves never change no matter how famous or obscure they might be. That they feel the same drive, the same fascination with the world and all that is in it that I do. I know that when I find myself drawn to something, the play of light on something or the way the muscles and tendons move in a limb and the overwhelming need to capture that on paper, I'm not alone and never have been.
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