Michelangelo, Grandmaster of the Renaissance (ePub)

Why Read 'MICHELANGELO

Grandmaster of the Renaissance'

Michelangelo (1475-1564) did more than live in the heart of the Renaissance and the Reformation. In many ways he was the catalyst for it. Every year millions of tourists flock to Rome and Florence to try and discover then appreciate the foundation of wealth and power that dominated this region, and then shaped the world in a manner that has never been duplicated. This book brings to life these dramatic events to such an extent that one should not go there without first reading this book.

Exposed here is the massive love-hate relationship between those two cities, fueled by their Titans that constantly competed against each other to ever gain more riches. Both the Popes of Rome and the Medici dynasty in Florence deployed unlimited financing, extracted from Europe, to send vast armies to enforce their will or protect their interests. Assassins were also sent to accomplish the same objective - which was always to control the flow of money and influence.

One cannot appreciate the score if one does not understand the tactics. This book reveals both the tactics and the score. In short, this is a must read prior to being a mere ordinary pilgrim that troops from narrow street to narrow street and from corridor to corridor in that otherwise invisible labyrinth of bygone mystique and intrigue.

Enter now Michelangelo. He was far more than the recognized grandmaster of all grandmasters as to the upper achievements of not only painting and sculpture but also of architecture. His rendition of the Pieta, the David and the frescos on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, plus the design of the world's largest basilica and dome, being St. Peter's of Rome, all remain as unsurpassed marvels. Notwithstanding, what is even more astonishing are the mortal secrets and circumstances behind each of these masterpieces.

As a teenager, Michelangelo matriculated in the lavish palace of Lorenzo Medici in the center of Florence. He associated with the leading bankers, intellectuals, theologians, strategists and mistresses. He ate at the same table with the younger Giovanni and Guilio Medici, whose father Lorenzo purchased expensive Cardinalships for them, so they could get a head start at Popeship and eventually became Leo X and Clement VII respectively. He lived to span thirteen Popes he worked for seven of them and fought with all of them.

Michelangelo was also contemporary to Savonarola, who was burned at the stake in Florence; Martin Luther, who defied Rome and got away with it; Emperor Charles V, who sacked both Rome and Florence; and Piero Medici, who failed to retake Florence, after it was lost upon the death of his father, Lorenzo. Other luminaries included Pope Julius II, the Warrior Pope who had to re-conquer all his private cities and moreover persuade Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel against his will and who dramatically quit in the middle of the job. Other battles likewise erupted over whose tomb Michelangelo would start and finish first.

This electric window of unparalleled history is a priceless harbinger from the past to the future.