A book review - The agony and the ecstasy by Irving Stone
(Biography of Michaelangelo, the Painter, sculptor and architect of Florence, 1475 - 1564)

Who hasen't heard about Michaelangelo?
The guy who did the fresco at the Sistine chapel.. where a semi naked "old man" created a beautiful (and naked) "Adam" with his touch... its beautiful. well when something gets as talked about as The fresco.. or the likes of The Monalisa the hype is just so much that u know it but u wonder what the fuss is all about.. there have been so many masterpieces... so whats so great about this one...
if u know a lil bit more about the man, then he is also famous for "David"... another nude male standing alone on a pedestal.....
then of course if u have touched architecture, u might also be aware of the fact that this guy designed the famous dome of St. Peters, the heart of the catholic world....
thats all i knew before i started reading " the agony and the ecstasy".. a brilliant narrative biography of the genius of a man we know as Michaelangelo.
You might as well specify his full name... Michaelangelo Buonarroti. Thats because in the painting world there is another famous namesake.. Michaelangelo Caravaggio (1573-1609). (http://www.christusrex.org/www2/art/caravaggio.htm)

He took the art world by a storm with every work of his becoming a beacon of light.. inspiring and showing the way to generations of artists who followed... the book traces the life of the maestro and also attempts to read the artist's mind as he set to create his wonderous masterpieces.. be it the sculptures that he breathed life into ... which was his self proclaimed passion second to no other art... or the splendid frescoes.
with the artistic midas touch, whattver medium he chose, he even penned down few sonnets, he quite simply excelled....
AS you read the book and sift through the description on various works, you might want to see the work of art in question to better understand the effect of all those thoughts and deliberations which probably went through the artists mind (recreated exceptionally well by Irving stone)

The link http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/giorgio.vasari/michel/michel.htm will help you immensly to relate the words to the art itself.
You might also want to visit http://www.christusrex.org/www1/sistine/0-Ceiling.html
...just to have a jaw dropping experience!!!!

Do read the book to understand the thoughts and hard work behind the most beautiful art specimen... as an account of the history of Italy during the Rennaisance... or just to savour the human mind and its ability to create such breathtaking beauty...