Making and Meaning: the Young Michelangelo: The Artist in Rome, 1496-1501(Making & meaning series)

This book is an account of Michelangelo's early work, as a painter as well as a sculptor. The period of his first stay in Rome was a crucial five years in the artist's life when he created, among other works, the marble "Bacchus" now in the Bargello, Florence, and the celebrated "Pieta" in St Peter's, Rome, and, as Hirst shows, also began his painting of the "Entombment" now in the National Gallery, London. It was during these years in Rome, Hirst argues, that he probably painted another work in the National Gallery Collection, the "Madonna and Child with Saint John and Angels", better known for the last 150 years as the "Manchester Madonna", which Hirst concludes is entirely the work of Michelangelo and not, as has been thought, of an associate. Hirst traces much that is original in Michelangelo's thought - his troubling interpretation of the character of the god of wine, his novel conception of sculpture in the round, his treatment of the nude body of Christ in both sculpture and painting - but also explores the artist's debt to earlier 15th century imagery and ideas, and supplies substantial new evidence concerning the artist's life and contacts in Rome. Michael Hirst's chapters are followed by Jill Dunkerton's survey of Michelangelo's technique as a painter on panel, using both egg tempera and oil paint, based on the investigation of his paintings in the National Gallery. Included in the discussion is Michelangelo's slightly later "Doni Tondo" in the Uffizi, Florence, his only completed panel painting and one of the most perfect of his works. Dunkerton also looks back to the paintings by Ghirlandaio and his workshop in which Michelangelo was trained. Her text helps readers to understand how Michelangelo executed his paintings and also to envisage the startling finished appearance probably conceived by Michelangelo for these two familiar but relatively little-studied paintings. This book is published to accompany an exhibition at the National Gallery, London (19th October 1994 - 15th January 1995).

Table of Contents:
Part 1 The Artist in Rome 1496-1501, Michael Hirst: The Sculptor of the "Sleeping Cupid"; Excursus - "The Sleeping Cupid"; The "Bacchus"; The "Manchester Madonna"; The Marble "Pieta"; The "Entombment"; Michelangelo as a Painter on Panel, Jill Dunkerton; The Technique of the "Manchester Madonna"; The Technique of the "Entombment".