Tracing the final 30 years of Michelangelo's career this book examines how the great master
used art and faith to explore the common human experience of ageing in a rapidly changing
world. 'This fascinating and beautifully illustrated catalogue demonstrates the creativity of
Michelangelo's late years in a way that is both accessible and scholarly.' - Jill Burke author
of How to be a Renaissance Woman and The Italian Renaissance Nude Michelangelo Buonarroti
(1475-1564) was one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance. He was not the isolated
tortured genius of artistic myth but a man who maintained a close circle of friends and
associates into old age. He developed collaborative working relationships with younger artists
thereby maintaining his fame and reputation even as he aged relinquishing the hardest physical
work to others. His late drawings offer a powerful insight into his psychology reflecting his
Catholic faith his commanding intellectual engagement and his hope for eternal life.
Michelangelo reimagined the iconography of religious art to create hugely influential
compositions of key moments in Christian faith such as the Crucifixion the Last Judgment and
the Pietà (or Lamentation). He was involved in designing several significant sites in Rome at
this time - including his key architectural project the immense challenge of rebuilding St
Peter's at the very heart of Christianity. His role as an architect is explored through
beautiful drawings highlighting his range as a designer. Alongside his major commissions he
created deeply personal drawings - revisiting earlier compositions to explore intensely moving
Crucifixions that served as spiritual meditations on Christ's death and offered the hope of
salvation for an elderly man facing the end of his own long life. Built on the British Museum's
extraordinary collection of drawings this book explores Michelangelo's relationships and late
creativity to go beyond the towering Renaissance master known today.
