Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel

Andrew Graham-Dixon is an excellent and exceedingly well-informed guide to the life of Michelangelo andparticularly his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. He builds up a convincing picture of an artist at the heightof his powers both as a painstaking artist and a self-motivated thinker about Theology.'Michelangelo And The Sistine Chapel' wonderfully describes and analyses Michelangelo's Sistine Chapelensemble of characters. There are also excellent quotes from contemporary biographies and the authorhelps one to see many of the messages and meanings behind Michelangelo's art.For me the key to interpreting the overriding message is the Prophet Jonah.It is the Book of Jonah that finishes with the greatest verse about God's mercy and loving judgement in thebible - Jonah 4:11. This for me is the ending of things, God's mercy which overrides the bleak picture ofthe Book of Revelation which describes a thoroughly deserved judgement which by God's grace and mercywe may yet avoid.Andrew Graham-Dixon certainly thinks the Prophet Jonah has a pivotal position in the overall plan and wasprobably the figure with whom Michelangelo most identified, depicted leaning back not unlike the artisthimself as he created these amazing frescoes.A divine spark always seems to bridge the gap between God and Adam and between Michelangelo and us!

Everyone knows Michelangelo's fresco of the creation of Adam. Andrew Graham-Dixon writes about all the other frescos, too: the scenes from Genesis, the prophets, the sybils, the ignudi, and so on. We learn why each was painted, and its place in the ceiling's overall plan, which is an account of God's love for the human race he had created and was to redeem through Christ.Graham-Dixon presents as a coherent whole what can seem simply a collection of wonderful pictures. I must have visited the Sistine Chapel a dozen times in my life; his book interpreted the whole ceiling to me for the first time. His account of the Last Judgement is a bonus. This book has met my need, and I am happy to recommend it.

Nice little book containing a lot of information from the very knowledgeable Andrew Graham-Dixon.

Gorgeously easy to read (as well as to remember afterwards), totally absorbing, and delightfully, beautifully written.

Most excellent and informative.

its another book

This is a slim book on Michelangelo and his painting of the Sistine Chapel. I find this book interesting for the personal observations, albeit brief, by the author. I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a brief introduction on this area. But if you are looking for a book that gives a fuller picture I can recommend no further than the excellent book by Ross King titled Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling.

In "Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel" Andrew Graham-Dixon takes a thorough look at the Michelangelo relationship with his patron, historical circumstances surrounded rightly to say this "compulsory" commissions but most interesting is the creative process of the great artist's behind the four years long project. Andrew investigates the long standing dilemma of boundaries of patron's trust in the artist work and the same time limits of creative freedom. He also explores the order of the sixteen chapel's sequence and looks afresh at the importance of composition and its symbolic values. Fascinated book, nicely written could easily read another 200 pages.