Michelangelo: On and Off the Sistine Ceiling

On the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michelangelo gave unusual prominence to women, his sibyls interacting with the prophets. And in depicting the ancestors of Christ, he showed nonheroic figures going about their daily lives. The artist's humanism and innovation are emphasized in these nine essays marked by careful scholarship and 95 black-and-white illustrations. Yale art historian Gilbert (Change in Piero della Francesca) begins with a concise biographical-critical overview situating Michelangelo amid the political and cultural ferment of his native Florence. He challenges the conventional chronology of the painting of the Sistine ceiling; examines Michelangelo's drawings of Cleopatra and Furia, an angry, shouting head; and discusses the shift toward the colossal by the artist and his contemporaries. (Nov.)