Life may imitate art...but death follows it. While studying art history at New York University, brilliant and beautiful Finn Ryan makes a startling discovery: a Michelangelo drawing of a dissected corpse-supposedly from the artist's near-mythical notebook. But that very night, someone breaks into her apartment-murdering her boyfriend and stealing the sketches she made of the drawing. Fleeing for her life, Finn heads to the address her mother had given her for emergencies, where she finds the enigmatic antiquarian book dealer, Michael Valentine. Together, they embark on a desperate race through the city-and through the pages of history itself-to expose an electrifying secret from the final days of World War II-a secret that lies in the dark labyrinthine heart of the Vatican.
An innocent woman, a deadly conspiracy... Studying art history, brilliant Finn Ryan makes a startling discovery: a Michelangelo drawing of a dissected corpse – supposedly from the artist’s near-mythical notebook. But that night someone breaks into Finn’s apartment, murders her partner and steals her sketches. Fleeing for her life, she heads to an address her mother gave her for emergencies, where she finds enigmatic antiquarian book dealer Michael Valentine. Together they embark on a desperate race through the pages of history itself, determined to stay one step ahead of a vengeful assassin – and to expose an electrifying secret from the final days of World War II. A secret whose source lies in the dark, labyrinthine heart of the Vatican itself. Michelangelo’s Notebook, the first of the Finn Ryan Conspiracy Thrillers, is perfect for fans of Chris Kuzneski, Steve Berry and Scott Mariani.
Michelangelo's Notebooks is an intimate celebration of the artist's sketches, architectural drawings, letters, and love poems. Michelangelo Buonarroti is considered to be one of the greatest artists of the sixteenth century, not only in painting but in writing and poetry as well. He filled hundreds of sheets of paper with exquisite drawings, many of which would eventually become some of the most celebrated masterpieces of all time, and he wrote over 300 poems and sonnets on admiration and spirituality. Organized chronologically, Michelangelo's Notebooks is an illustrated record of the artist's life and work, and combines the artists's own words with his sketches and finished compositions. His letters about the Sistine Chapel and Pope Julius, for example, are illustrated with sketches that he produced while he was writing. Edited and curated by Carolyn Vaughan, former editor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she provides fascinating commentary and insights into the material presented throughout the book.
Michelangelo's Notebooks is an intimate celebration of the artist's sketches, architectural drawings, letters, and love poems. Michelangelo Buonarroti is considered to be one of the greatest artists of the sixteenth century, not only in painting but in writing and poetry as well. He filled hundreds of sheets of paper with exquisite drawings, many of which would eventually become some of the most celebrated masterpieces of all time, and he wrote over 300 poems and sonnets on admiration and spirituality. Organized chronologically, Michelangelo's Notebooks is an illustrated record of the artist's life and work, and combines the artists's own words with his sketches and finished compositions. His letters about the Sistine Chapel and Pope Julius, for example, are illustrated with sketches that he produced while he was writing. Edited and curated by Carolyn Vaughan, former editor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she provides fascinating commentary and insights into the material presented throughout the book.
A Journey into Michelangelo's Rome follows Michelangelo from his arrival in Rome in 1496 to his death in the city almost seventy years later. It tells the story of Michelangelo's meteoric rise and artistic breakthroughs, of his tempestuous relations with powerful patrons, and of his austere but passionate private life. Each chapter focuses on a particular work that stunned his contemporaries and continues to impress today's visitors. From the tender sorrow of his sculpted Piet, to the civic elegance of his restoration of Capitoline Hill, to the grandeur of his dome atop St. Peter's, Michelangelo's work adorns the city in numerous ways.
Discover the fascinating, crucial, and often dangerous relationship between Michelangelo and the stone quarries of Carrara in this clear-eyed and well-researched exploration that “recounts the artist's large life and lasting works with care and reverence” (Booklist). No artist looms so large in Western consciousness and culture as Michelangelo Buonarroti, the most celebrated sculptor of all time. And no place on earth provides a stone so capable of simulating the warmth and vitality of human flesh and incarnating the genius of a Michelangelo as the statuario of Carrara, the storied marble mecca at Tuscany's northwest corner. It was there, where shadowy Etruscans and Roman slaves once toiled, that Michelangelo risked his life in dozens of harrowing expeditions to secure the precious stone for his Pietà, Moses, and other masterpieces. Many books have recounted Michelangelo’s achievements in Florence and Rome. Michelangelo’s Mountain goes beyond all of them, revealing his escapades and ordeals in the spectacular landscape that was the third pole of his tumultuous career and the third wellspring of his art. Eric Scigliano brings this haunting place and eternally fascinating artist to life in a sweeping tale peopled by popes and poets, mad dukes and mythic monsters, scheming courtiers and rough-hewn quarrymen. He recounts the saga of the David, the improbable masterpiece that Michelangelo created against all odds, of the twin Hercules that he tried to erect beside it, and of the Salieri-like nemesis who snatched away the commission, turning a sculptural testament to liberty into a bitter symbol of tyranny and giving Florence the colossus it loves to hate. In showing how the artist, land, and stone transformed one another, Scigliano brings fresh insight to Michelangelo's most cherished works and illuminates his struggles with the princes and potentates of Carrara, Rome, and Medici Florence, who raised intrigue to a high art.
Florence, 1553. An assassin sent by Arma Dei disappears into the night, with him a collection of heretical art and writings. For five centuries the satchel, containing sketches and writings by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and many others, is pursued by kings, popes, princes, and scavengers. The Paletti Notebook lives on through rumor and legend, which also suggest that it contains the infamous Gospel of Matthias, thought to be lost forever. In modern day Vienna, a bank manager discovers World War II-era photographs that hint to the collection's existence, sparking a new campaign by opposing forces to find the Paletti Notebook and take possession of its crucially important contents - by any means necessary.
An ancient secret. A lost city. A treasure that could change the world. In search of a Spanish galleon in the Caribbean, archaeologist Finn Ryan and her partner Lord Billy Pilgrim find evidence of a lost Aztec Codex. The invaluable book created by 15th-century explorer and accused heretic Hernan Cortez is said to reveal the secret location of the lost City of Gold. But they are not alone in their quest. Also on the trail is the head of a menacing religious cadre who'd kill to get it first, and a sociopathic billionaire with his own sinister motives. But while running for their lives, Finn and Billy come upon a more explosive secret that will take them from the Yucatan jungles to the Sonoran Desert, where the stakes are life and death.
Not only does the library have a long and complex history and politics, but it has an ambivalent presence in Western culture – both a site of positive knowledge and a site of error, confusion, and loss. Nevertheless, in literary studies and in the humanities, including book history, the figure of the library remains in many senses under-researched. This collection brings together established and up-and-coming researchers from a number of practices – literary and cultural studies, gender studies, book history, philosophy, visual culture, and contemporary art –with an effective historical sweep ranging from the time of Sumer to the present day. In the context of the rise of archive studies, this book attends specifically and meta-critically to the figure of the library as a particular archival form, considering the traits that constitute (or fail to constitute) the library as institution or idea, and questions its relations to other accumulative modes, such as the archive in its traditional sense, the museum, or the filmic or digital archive. Across their diversity, and in addition to their international standard of research and writing, each chapter is unified by commitment to analyzing the complex cultural politics of the library form.
Now available in a deluxe keepsake edition! A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) Run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with E. L. Konigsburg’s beloved classic and Newbery Medal–winning novel From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. When Claudia decided to run away, she planned very carefully. She would be gone just long enough to teach her parents a lesson in Claudia appreciation. And she would go in comfort-she would live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She saved her money, and she invited her brother Jamie to go, mostly because be was a miser and would have money. Claudia was a good organizer and Jamie bad some ideas, too; so the two took up residence at the museum right on schedule. But once the fun of settling in was over, Claudia had two unexpected problems: She felt just the same, and she wanted to feel different; and she found a statue at the Museum so beautiful she could not go home until she bad discovered its maker, a question that baffled the experts, too. The former owner of the statue was Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Without her—well, without her, Claudia might never have found a way to go home.