Michelangelo Drawings

"Michelangelo was one of the most creative and admired artists of the Italian Renaissance, famous for his work as a sculptor, painter, architect and poet. But his genius can only truly be appreciated outside Italy through his work as a draughtsman. This book, written to accompany a major exhibition, combines the finest works from three outstanding collections of his drawings in the British Museum, London, the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and the Teyler Museum, Haarlem, to tell the story of Michelangelo's extraordinarily long and active life." "An introductory chapter discusses Michelangelo's contemporary fame, his training and choice of drawing technique, and the role of drawing in the genesis of his works. The following chapters move chronologically through the important projects that dominated his long career, illustrating how his ideas evolved in the creation of his most celebrated works, including the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the Last Judgement and the Medici chapel in Florence. The sequences of drawings that he developed give an unparalleled insight into Michelangelo's creative process, revealing how the perfection of the finished piece was arrived at only after detailed preparati