The greatest
Michelangelo was in a class of his own
Michelangelo: His Epic Life. By Martin Gayford. Fig Tree; 662 pages; £30. Buy from Amazon.co.uk
LORENZO DE’ MEDICI, ruler of the Florentine Republic, was so taken by a statue carved by an adolescent that he proposed to make the sculptor a member of his household. The boy’s father was not impressed. He told Lorenzo that his family would be demeaned if his son were to become a stonemason. But the youth believed that he had been born to carve stone, and so the father relented. In the Medici court the young sculptor was given a violet cloak, paid five ducats a month and treated as an artist. As it turned out, the sculptor, Michelangelo Buonarroti, was also born to paint, write poetry and be an architect. He even showed considerable talent for military engineering.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline "The greatest"
From the December 14th 2013 edition
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