Michelangelo and the Art of Letter Writing

Description

Michelangelo's extant correspondence is the most abundant of any artist. Spanning 67 years, it comprises roughly 1,400 letters, of which 500 were written by Michelangelo himself. Biographers and art historians have combed the letters for insight into Michelangelo's views on art, his contractual obligations, and his relationships. Literary scholars have explored parallels between the letters and Michelangelo's poetry. Nevertheless, this is the first book to study the letters for their intrinsically literary qualities. In this volume, Deborah Parker examines Michelangelo's use of language as a means of understanding the creative process of this extraordinary artist. His letters often revel in witticisms, rhetorical flourishes, and linguistic ingenuity. Close study of his mastery of words and modes of self-presentation shows Michelangelo to be a consummate artist who deploys the resources of language to considerable effect.

Deborah Parker is Professor of Italian at the University of Virginia. She has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Villa I Tatti - the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, as well as numerous others. The author of many articles, as well as the book Bronzino: Renaissance Painter as Poet (Cambridge University Press, 2000).

'Offers perceptive and intriguing analyses of the style and handwriting used in Michelangelo's letters, and in some of his poems ... interesting and persuasive.' Literary Review