Young Michelangelo: The Path to the Sistine

by John T. Spike

Truly in a class of its own, Young Michelangelo is the most definitive and eye-opening study of the artist’s early life to come along in a generation.

In this compelling account, renowned art historian John Spike paints a vivid portrait of one of the world’s greatest artists and the places and people—Lorenzo de’ Medici, Leonardo, Machiavelli—that inspired and defined his early life and career. Spike’s masterful text probes the thinking, evolution, and desires of a young man whose awareness of his exceptional talent never wavered. Michelangelo’s complex personality is revealed through lively examinations of the Pietà , the David , and all other major works. Drawing on a rich background of Italian Renaissance politics and culture, Spike deftly navigates the fiery Florentine master’s struggle to surpass da Vinci’s artistic mastery, and his troubled relationships with Julius II and other key figures of the era.

Praise for Young
<!--StartFragment--> “Making the most of Michelangelo’s ample correspondence and the recently published records of his extensive banking transactions, Spike has drawn an astonishingly vivid portrait of the artist’s first 33 years. It's the best life of Michelangelo I've read, and it leaves one wishing the author would complete Michelangelo’s life with his wonderful grasp of the artist’s tenacious personality and Herculean achievement.” ~ Everett Fahy, John Pope-Hennessy Chairman of the Department of European Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art


“Tense and agile as an early sculpture, Young Michelangelo is a compelling portrait of the artist as a young man in a dangerous time.” ~ Peter Robb, Author of The Man Who Became Caravaggio


"Spike crystallizes historical detail into vivid, memorable imagery. . . . Alternating between accounts of the turbulent political atmosphere and details of Michelangelo’s most private moments in the sculpture studio, Spike creates a rich narrative that promises more intrigue than the best adventure novel."— Publishers Weekly

"Spike's original and valuable approach to studying [Michelangelo's] childhood, development, and reputation as one of the greats of the Renaissance provides a deeper understanding of such a wondrous, almost mythic figure. An essential book for Renaissance collections and devotees." — Library Journal

“This erudite but immensely readable account is essential for anyone who desires to know more about Michelangelo’s formation.” ~ David Alan Brown, National Gallery of Art

“Spike is a masterful weaver of disparate information into a synthetic narrative. He provides a rich web of the political, social, and personal contexts against which Michelangelo's early career unfolded.” ~ John Hunisak, Professor of Art & Architecture, Middlebury College

"Spike captures [Michelangelo's] magnetism, his drive and the sheer scale of his ambition.... A veteran biographer of Caravaggio, Masaccio and Fra Angelico, Spike relates Michelangelo's wanderings to his restlessness and the troubles of his era, from the rise of the fundamentalist preacher Savonarola in Florence to the many skirmishes provoked by Rome's bellicose Julius." ~ The Sunday Times

"No art historian has got closer to [Michelangelo] than John T Spike. The Florence-based American, whose coup here is his access to the artist's recently published financial accounts and consequently enhanced understanding of his dealings with patrons, is an immensely flexible writer who has produced a book of alternating pans and zooms. . . . At the same time, however, the worldly dealings that Spike recounts, and his textured reconstruction of the times that his subject moved moodily through, make the artist seem more human than ever before. We're left with a Michelangelo who lived on earth as a man, but also had an element of the unearthly about him. . . . Though it probably only portends a trilogy, it's perhaps no accident that Spike's narrative ends in the artist's 33rd year." ~ The Telegraph

"As John T Spike argues in this crisply thorough biography, Michelangelo Buonarroti, like so many men of talent, seems to have known his own worth almost from the moment he came into the world. . . . Certainly the man Spike gives us is an altogether more worldly figure than the agonised ecstatic served up by Irving Stone and Charlton Heston on the silver screen." ~ Daily Express

"John T. Spike, an art historian, curator and critic, has done some impressive research to flesh out the early years of the artist's life, right up until his return to Rome in 1508 to focus on a commission in the Sistine Chapel. The young sculptor's daunting talent and quest to earn as much money as possible are woven into the story of the Italian Renaissance and the outsized figures of the age." ~ The Washington Post

"Spike, a renowned art critic, curator, and author, is the first modern writer to create such a comprehensive account of the master's early life and rise to fame amid the political upheaval in the Papal State...

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Renaissance, Biography, History, Art History

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

John T. Spike, critic, curator, and art historian, is the author of more than twenty significant books on Renaissance and contemporary art and artists, including the highly praised Caravaggio (Abbeville Press). He lives in Florence and lectures frequently throughout America."

Reviews

[Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this recently and will read it again because there is so much to absorb and love. Anyone interested in art, history, war, love, politics and other universal themes will enjoy this book.

"John T. Spike, an art historian, curator and critic has done some impressive research to flesh out the early years of the artist's life, right up until his return to Rome in 1508 to focus on a commission in the Sistine Chapel."

– Christopher Schoppa, Washington Post

"No art historian has got closer to him than John T Spike. The Florence-based American, whose coup here is his access to the artist’s recently published financial accounts and consequently enhanced understanding of his dealings with patrons, is an immensely flexible writer who has produced a book of alternating pans and zooms."

– Martin Herbert, Telegraph

[Doria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad I read this book, if only because it gave me such an excellent picture of what it was like to live during "The Golden Age of Arsenic", Florence and Rome in the waning time of the Quattrocento. The great geniuses of this age - politicians, artists, religious fanatics - are rendered as human beings, not just historical figures. Yet "Young Michelangelo is no historical fiction flight of fancy; this is firmly a work of non-fiction, complete with scrupulous (and highly readable) footnotes. As such, I found it enjoyable, informative, and even witty at times, if slightly self-consciously so. Rather a fitting tone, really, given the florid and belligerent characters consorting between this book's covers!

For those who simply want to have a better understanding of how Michelangelo came to be the man he was, "Young Michelangelo" is an excellent, if somewhat dense (i.e. complex, information-heavy), read. Some readers may feel impatient at having to read as much as is included here about seemingly subsidiary characters and far-flung political events in Michelangelo's early life/drama, however I agree with the author's position, namely that it is impossible to fully comprehend the man without understanding the men about him whose actions had such profound impact upon him during his youth and early artistic formation. So yes, you will learn quite a bit about Medici politics, papal maneuverings, wars between Florence and Pisa and Boulogna and France and Naples, and the Borgias, and yes, it is a lot of information. But Michelangelo Buonarotti LIVED through this insanity, so how can we complain when all that is required of us is to patiently read and learn? And all without fear of assassination or ruination!! I call that a bargain.

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biography of Michelangelo covers the years in which he was striving for public recognition of his artistic genius, so should be of interest not only to all those interested in Renaissance art, but also to all up-and-coming young professionals. In those days, prior to our current unprecedented levels of mass media hype, how did one gain widespread publicity and attain elevated levels of self-promotion? How, in brief, did one make a name for oneself? Starting by drawing over his master’s drawings so as to improve the latter, and challenging the older students in the sculpture studio was not bound to win him any popularity with either his instructor, or with members of his peer group, though it did start Michelangelo on his way to greatness. In short, he was lacking neither in talent, nor in ambition, having much in common with many of our modern-day winners of Idols. After the initial rejection of some of his early work, most notably that of a Bacchus reeling from drink, he restores his own credibility by unleashing the virile David from a ruined block of marble. His obsession with the telling of his own story is also not unique to his time—how many aspirant hopefuls are not now obsessed with the telling of their own tale? Underwriting Ascanio Condivi’s biography of his life, as well as two editions of Giorgio Vasari’s The Lives of the Artists, sounds all the more familiar in this modern age of ghost writing and vaunting by publicists of the greatness of artists’ work.

However, the truth will out, and that is exactly where John T. Spike’s biography excels. Through painstaking research and a determination to get to the bottom of things, he reveals the reality of both the life and times of the young Michelangelo. His writing exposes to us the vulnerability of the great man, as well as the fallacies and foibles of his age—a heady experience. Spike also does not stint on illustrations of Michelangelo’s work in this fascinating 312-page biography, containing 60 illustrations, many of which are in color. His 17-page bibliography attests to the extent of his research, and to the depths of his insight into the life and early artistic emanations of this master of the Italian Renaissance. As critic, curator, and art historian, Dr. John T. Spike is eminently suited for the task of unraveling the intricacies of the past. With more than 20 culturally significant books on Renaissance, Baroque, and contemporary art to his name, and a career during which he has lectured at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Oxford, Spike has established himself as a leading expert in the field. Not only that, but he’s also a damn fine writer too, who will have you glued to the page from start to finish.

Labeled by Rosa King, author of Brunelleschi’s Dome and Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling as “one of our most astute and readable authorities on the Italian Renaissance…[who] approaches the artist through a compelling blend of solid scholarship, animated storytelling, and shrewd insight,” Spikes does merit to both the artist and his work. Young Michelangelo: The Path to the Sistine: A Biography should be prescribed reading for all with an active interest in Renaissance art, whatever their current level of knowledge and expertise on the subject.

[K.S. Trenten · Rating 4 out of 5]

This offers an engaging look at a slice of Michelangelo’s life. It becomes particularly engaging when Pope Julius II, Raphael, Sangallo, and Bramante interact with it, dubious when it concerns the Borgias. The later’s wickedness draws upon old sources which I find questionable, especially when examples are cited of Pope Julius II doing things which are just as reprehensible. (Cesare Borgia at least abandoned the cloth before going to war. Pope Julius II didn’t bother.) At the same time Il Papa Terrible’s warlike temper and ambitions are tempered by his complex and tempestuous patronage of Michelangelo. Not only he, but many of his rivals spring into sharp relief in the environment the voracious appetite for art the pope possessed. Raphael’s sweetness and charm stand in sharp relief, especially when Michelangelo shows nothing but scorn for the other artist. (I’ll admit, I was cheering Raphael on when he retaliated with The School of Athens.) At the same time, Michelangelo tugs at my sympathies with his need to create, constantly being distraction by the business and promotional aspects of his calling, not to mention the ever-present politics intruding upon his dreams.

We never reach the Sistine Chapel even if readers see the beginnings of the grandiose plans for Pope Julius II’s tomb. Michelangelo becomes even more sympathetic as readers learn how he had to cope with his family always being in debt and always wanting money. Many a time Michelangelo had to plead poverty while secreting investing and secretly buying property for them, a deception which served his family well. (This makes me think of a completely different book I’m reading, A Simple Path to Wealth.) Some of the detail about the marble Michelangelo worked with was marvelous and informative, teaching me something I was keen to learn.

Overall this was an educational and delightful read. I’d definitely recommend it to readers wanting to learn more about Michelangelo, Michelangelo’s art, and Pope Julius II. Just read it with a critical eye, be wary of vague accounts of wickedness, and pay attention to what’s specific in putting together the pieces of this fragment of the past.

[Soubresaut · Rating 2 out of 5]

The biography bit would probably fill only one of the six chapters of this book, the rest is a tangle of Renaissance Italian politics and diversions into the doings of other artists. Hardly surprising I suppose bearing in mind the paucity of information about Michelangelo’s youth and particularly how he found and developed his extraordinary sculptural talent. We learn of Michelangelo’s predilection for secrecy, irritable aloofness and prickly genius, a ‘carefulness’ with money and his investment land strategy but nothing of his human desires. For the art historian there’s much in this book to skip although the narrative does pick up towards the end when Pope Julius II starts throwing his weight around and Michelangelo instinctively competes with Leonardo and Raphael. On the pre-penultimate page Spike intriguingly announces that at 33 Michelangelo was granted legal independence by his father thus justifying the conclusion of his story without actually informing the reader what it actually meant for Michelangelo bearing in mind he’d been contracting for commissions for years already. Frustrating.

[Dalton Valette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been in a Renaissance binge of late and must confess, going into this, I didn’t know much about Michelangelo Buonarroti’s early years. So a book titled “Young Michelangelo” seemed perfect! I will say, this book is more half a biography of Michelangelo’s early years, half a history of the political affairs throughout Italy between 1475-1508. All the history presented was fascinating, and John T. Spike offers unique perspectives on a number of the young artists early works, but I wish I could have enjoyed more depth and detail about Michelangelo himself and less on the greater conflicts and schisms throughout Italy and France.

[Carolyn Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michelangelo “devoted months, if not a year, to polishing the surface (of his Pieta) with any number of materials including pumice, Tripoli chalk, leather, and straw in order to coax the stone to its maximal liquid splendour.” (p118)

That care and loving attention is reflected in the design and sculpting of this Biography. Spike has taken the raw material of the available documentation, and crafted it with his wide knowledge and critical appreciation into an article of wonder. He has made particularly telling use of Rab Hatfield’s work on Michelangelo’s financials (The Wealth of Michelangelo, 2002) to explore everything from his character, his relationships both with family and sponsors and with money itself – and of course, his work. That’s how we know of the polishing of the Pieta.

To extend the parallel further – there are other works of Michelangelo where the chisel marks are left showing – as in the sculpture of a young boy kneeling that I saw recently in The Hermitage. Spike is also candid with questions that his research cannot fully answer, or where he suspects his sources’ partiality.

The Young Michelangelo is a fascinating picture of a young genius in a hurry. He will over-promise and under-deliver, and switch between commissions with an eye to politics and achieving financial (and personal) security. He was not a natural courtier, and the stresses of managing a complex set of business and contractual relationships alongside his creative processes put him into overload. He was clever, competitive, careless of his own wellbeing, a fatalist, and prone to bouts of melancholy.

It is John Spike’s genius that we get to understand, and care about, this young man at a very personal level. At the same time, Spike puts him in context for us. Suddenly I actually understood where Savonarola and Machiavelli fitted in, and how the rivalries between the Borgias and Medicis played out, as well as the relationships between that incredible period’s crop of artists.

Then, with a description of Raphael’s painting where Michelangelo is depicted “as Heraclitus, the melancholy philosopher, slumped over a makeshift table, alone in his thoughts” – the book stops! It is 1508, and Michelangelo is 33. His father has just granted him legal independence, though he has been financially independent since he was sixteen, and has been providing for his family since then.

I console myself that the title is “Young Michelangelo – a Biography” and that surely John Spike’s intention is a second book. Let it not be, in another parallel, a forever unfinished work.

[Sheri Rhodes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this book after returning from vacation in Italy, where my interest in Michelangelo was piqued. It was a perfect complement to the art tour information I gathered while in Rome and Florence. This book describes his family and childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, through the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. It is well-written and kept my interest throughout.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot has been written about Michaelangelo and his later years after the Sistine Chapel. His younger years are pretty interesting as well--his strong willed and ego mania definitely helped propel him to greatness

[Clifford Onehundredd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book was great I took notes Michelangelo was truly very inspirational... Spike outlined just how life was for Michelangelo... And I took notes on the book...Michelangelo was keen on his belief in God and prayer as well...I believe this was truly a great biography.

[Simonetta Carr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and accurate. Great endnotes.