Michelangelo's Notebooks is an intimate celebration of the artist's
sketches, architectural drawings, letters, and love poems.
Michelangelo Buonarroti is considered to be one of the greatest artists
of the sixteenth century, not only in painting but in writing and poetry
as well. He filled hundreds of sheets of paper with exquisite drawings,
many of which would eventually become some of the most celebrated
masterpieces of all time, and he wrote over 300 poems and sonnets on
admiration and spirituality.
Organized chronologically, Michelangelo's Notebooks is an illustrated
record of the artist's life and work, and combines the artists's own
words with his sketches and finished compositions. His letters about the
Sistine Chapel and Pope Julius, for example, are illustrated with
sketches that he produced while he was writing.
Edited and curated by Carolyn Vaughan, former editor at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, she provides fascinating commentary and insights into the
material presented throughout the book.