THE AGONY AND ECSTACY
(1961)
IRVING STONE
This biographical novel depicts the life and times of the
great Michael Angelo who needs no introduction. The greatest ever
sculptor; in whose hands the perfection and beauty of the
human form found its expression in that famous statue of the Virgin Mary with Jesus, was an unwilling but great painter too. And- do not be surprised- he was a great scientist too. The professors of anatomy in medical universities would do well to go through his perfect sketches of cross sections of human body and its internal structure. Like his contemporaries Leonardo Da Vinci and Galileo, Michael Angelo was a product of that great age of renaissance, after all, and not a mere skilled sculptor with a chisel and hammer in his hand.
As a boy Michael Angelo, the son of a middle class trader, looked very ordinary, unattractive and not very promising. But in his heart he had that single mindedness to become a great sculptor. And the road to success was very long and definitely not strewn with roses. As for the labour that went into the struggle, it can be summed up by one word – inhuman. He depended, at first, on the Medici family in Florence, the wealthy merchants who were also patrons of arts and sciences. He joined as an apprentice under the then authority for sculptors. Besides, he was making deep study of the human form which he was going to create in the famed Italian
marble stones, by dissecting it in the mortuary without the knowledge of the outside world. Michael Angelo’s father was intrigued by the foul smell emanating from him. But he would never know the secret. Only the in charge of the local hospital knew it.
Michael Angelo was a promising sculptor and he was the best among the students of his teacher. But strangely his teacher allowed the other wealthy boys to switch over from clay to wood and ultimately to marble while Michael Angelo was not allowed to touch marble stones. The boy was crestfallen. But the teacher in his death bed called him and told that he was to continue his legacy and he was strict with him because he had to prepare him.
In his youth Michael Angelo was a contrast to his contemporary Leonardo Da Vinci. While the latter was extremely handsome, a great success and a favourite among the opposite sex, the former, though an equal in all other aspects was a nonentity in the high society of Florence at that time. Only when he was in his sixties, did Michael start getting recognition. And it was for the Pope to find out the genius in the man. Even then the first
assignment given to him was the drawing at the Sistine chapel which Michael Angelo did not like very much. But his circumstances compelled him to take up the assignment and what a wonderful creation it was! Then only Michael Angelo got his famous assignment, Virgin Mary with Jesus, from the Pope.
The book is a veritable historical document of Italy in particular and Europe in general of the Renaissance period. The Pope is concerned not just with Italy but with the entire Christian world. We find him in conflict with different thrones and in the midst of his turbulent duties then he was creating architectural marvels too. Leonardo Da Vinci was not only a painter who drew the immortal Mona Lisa. He was also an engineer who constructed irrigation dams and invented engines of war. In fact he was encyclopedic. All branches of knowledge and sciences started flourishing and the old society was coming to an end signaling the advent of a new era in human civilization.
“ The Agony and Ecstasy” is not just informative. It is a great guide for all those who want to reach the top but face unimaginably adverse situations.
More reviews about the The Agony and the Ecstacy