Michelangelo / A Collection of Fifteen Pictures and a Portrait of the Master, with Introduction and Interpretation

Transcriber's Note.
The images in this e book of the sculptures and paintings are from the original book. However Sistine Chapel in Rome underwent extensive restoration and was inaugurated in 1999, after 20 years of restoration work. The restored frescos and paintings are presented as modern color images with links.

MICHELANGELO BUONAROTTI. Attributed to Bugiardini. Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
In making a collection of prints from the works of Michelangelo, it is impossible to secure any wide variety, either in subject or method of treatment. We are dealing here with a master whose import is always serious, and whose artistic individuality is strongly impressed on all his works, either in sculpture or painting. Our selections represent his best work in both arts. These are arranged, not in chronological order, but in a way which will lead the student from the subjects most familiar and easily understood to those which are more abstract and difficult.
ESTELLE M. HURLL.
New Bedford, Mass. January, 1900.
Note: All the pictures with the exception of the Cupid were made from photographs by Fratelli Alinari. The Cupid was photographed from the statue in the South Kensington Museum, London.

Michelangelo's place in the world of art is altogether unique. His supremacy is acknowledged by all, but is understood by a few only. In the presence of his works none can stand unimpressed, yet few dare to claim any intimate knowledge of his art. The quality so vividly described in the Italian word terribilità is his predominant trait. He is one to awe rather than to attract, to overwhelm rather than to delight. The spectator must needs exclaim with humility, Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Yet while Michelangelo can never be a popular artist in the ordinary sense of the word, the powerful influence which he exercises seems constantly increasing. Year by year there are more who, drawn by the strange fascination of his genius, seek to read the meaning of his art.