Some Pages from Michelangelo's Life

November 2011 - Leonard Barkan, Class of 1943 University Professor and chair, department of comparative literature, Princeton University. Michelangelo is justly revered not only for his painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, his Moses sculpture, and the plans for St. Peter's Basilica, but also for having produced one of the most exquisite collections of drawings the art world has ever known. It is rarely noticed, however, that fully a third of his drawings also contain his handwriting, including everything from poetry to letters to throwaway memos. In this lecture recorded on October 16, 2011, at the National Gallery of Art, Professor Leonard Barkan discusses the new Michelangelo who emerges when these sheets of paper are examined and attention is paid to the draftsmanship and the poetry, the doodles and the scribbles.