The Agony And The Ecstasy

Full of medieval intrigue and colour, The Agony and the Ecstasy is a biographical novel which transports us to Renaissance Florence in Italy, where a teenage Michelangelo is received into apprenticeship by an old man with an eye for talent. He grows up to be an artist driven by his love of art, his desire to immitate nature to the point where the distinction between reality and fabrication blurs. His time is one of turbulence, when the Medici family holds sway over the city, and the women in his life play a prominent role in his development as artist. A galloping read and an insight into the life and times of one of the world's greatest artists. (Kirkus UK)