Michelangelo and the viewer in his time

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Title:

Michelangelo and the viewer in his time

Author:

Barnes, Bernadine Ann author.

ISBN:

9781780237404

Personal Author:

Barnes, Bernadine Ann author.

Physical Description:

xvi, 226 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 23 cm.

Series:

Renaissance lives

Renaissance lives.

Abstract:

Today Michelangelo's painting and sculpture is seen most often in museums, while his architectural designs have been left incomplete or modified by others so that some are barely recognizable. But his art was made to be viewed in churches, homes and political settings, by people who brought their own needs and expectations to his work. Paintings and sculptures were rarely seen in isolation; instead they were seen as part of rituals and ceremonies. Viewers of Michelangelo's time would experience the work under specific lighting conditions and from particular positions. They would move through spaces and past sculpture, and they might make comparisons to other objects nearby. In this engaging book, Bernadine Barnes brings together new research to show how Michelangelo's art was seen in its own time. The original setting is reconstructed for works that have been moved, modified or left incomplete. Michelangelo's consideration of his audience changed throughout his career: sometimes he produced work for conventional religious settings, and at other times he was given unprecedented freedom by open-minded patrons.

Contents:

Introduction -- The artist in search of an audience -- The heroic body -- visions of majesty: projects for Pope Julius -- Power and illusion: commissions for the Medici -- Painting the visionary experience: frescoes for Pope Paul III -- Love, desire and politics: works for private viewers -- Vision and space: Michelangelo's Roman architecture -- Last works -- Conclusion.

Subject Term:

Artists -- Italy -- Biography.

Rezeption

Artists. (OCoLC)fst00817559

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
Searching... Aurora Downtown	Book	NX552 .B37 2017	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

Today most of us enjoy the work of famed Renaissance artist Michelangelo by perusing art books or strolling along the galleries of a museum--and the luckier of us have had a chance to see his extraordinary frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. But as Bernadine Barnes shows in this book, even a visit to a well-preserved historical sight doesn't quite afford the experience the artist intended us to have. Bringing together the latest historical research, she offers us an accurate account of how Michelangelo's art would have been seen in its own time.

As Barnes shows, Michelangelo's works were made to be viewed in churches, homes, and political settings, by people who brought their own specific needs and expectations to them. Rarely were his paintings and sculptures viewed in quiet isolation--as we might today in the stark halls of a museum. Instead, they were an integral part of ritual and ceremonies, and viewers would have experienced them under specific lighting conditions and from particular vantages; they would have moved through spaces in particular ways and been compelled to relate various works with others nearby. Reconstructing some of the settings in which Michelangelo's works appeared, Barnes reassembles these experiences for the modern viewer. Moving throughout his career, she considers how his audience changed, and how this led him to produce works for different purposes, sometimes for conventional religious settings, but sometimes for more open-minded patrons. She also shows how the development of print and art criticism changed the nature of the viewing public, further altering the dynamics between artist and audience.

Historically attuned, this book encourages today's viewers to take a fresh look at this iconic artist, seeing his work as they were truly meant to be seen.