Coffee with Michelangelo

Book excerpt: How would it feel to stand in the Sistine Chapel as Michelangelo painted? To watch him create his breathtaking sculptures? James Hall, an art critic, historian, and lecturer, puts us in that amazing position, and in the process reveals intriguing details on the master artist’s life and thoughts. Despite a reputation for being a truculent loner, Michelangelo was an eloquent speaker in two dialogues compiled in the 1540s, and the "conversation” here comes from those and a number of other sources, including contemporary biographies, Michelangelo’s many letters and poems, and anecdotes and quotations relayed by contemporaries.