Michelangelo books

The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo's Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican

by: Benjamin Blech, Roy Doliner
This book describes many of Michelangelo's high Renaissance artworks in the Vatican City, Florence and elsewhere and claims Michelangelo was directly influenced by Jewish religious teachings of the Talmud, Midrash and Kabbalah in his subject matter as well as deeper symbolic messages of Christian religious art, particularly in the Sistine Chapel.

The authors note that Michelangelo was virtually adopted by Lorenzo de Medici and educated in an intellectual environment of the de Medici court that included Renaissance scholars and philosophers who were proponents of ideals of unity of religious and philosophical thought.

The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo

by: Irving Stone
Having not painted since 1995 due to life's hurts, I needed to read something that would bring back the passion I had for my art. This book is doing the trick. I can't put it down and wish it would never end. I'm starting to paint and The Agony and the Ecstasy is the best read for me since Gone With The Wind. Michelangelo had so many gifts from God that I feel sad we all don't use it like he did. Since we are all gifted this book will certainly make you realize not to waste time with our modern stuff and start using the gifts God has given us.

The Diary of Melanie Martin: or How I Survived Matt the Brat, Michelangelo, and the Leaning Tower of Pizza (Melanie Martin Novels)

by: Carol Weston
The Diary Of Melanie Martin is a book about a young girl called Melanie. She flies to Italy with her family on an airplane when she had never been out of the U.S.A. She loved the thought going to a foreign country, but things didn't turn out how she expected... I liked this book and all the characters in it. My favorite part of the book was when Melanie just went back home to the U.S.A. She had realized a lot about her family and learned some important values. Melanie inspired me to be nicer to my sibling, as she did in the book.

Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling

by: Ross King
More than the story of the tumultuous relationship between Michelangelo and Pope Julius II, this well documented offering from Ross King breathes life into a period in history that was populated by the great artists, Michelangelo, DaVinci, Raphael, etc. and some of the most bizarre characters in church history. Mystery, intrigue, sex, betrayal, deceit..... all the makings of a great page turning novel. But, this is fact not fiction. Art history buffs, I think, will love the stories "behind the canvas" and "outside the frame".

Michelangelo picture links