The 2014 Josephine Waters Bennett Lecture
“Certain of Death”: Michelangelo’s Late Life and Art
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10410902 |
|---|---|
| Authors | W E Wallace (0000-0001-8684-6530, Washington University in St. Louis, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 68 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-32 |
| Publication date | 2015-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Renaissance Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-4338 • E-ISSN: 1935-0236 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/681307 |
| OpenAlex | W1994572346 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 14 |
This essay is a preliminary sketch for a book that examines Michelangelo Buonarroti’s final eighteen years, from his appointment as architect of St. Peter’s until his death in 1564, that is, from age seventy-one to a few weeks shy of eighty-nine. This period represents nearly a quarter of his approximately seventy-five-year artistic career, yet it remains the least familiar segment of Michelangelo’s long life. It is paradoxical that in the final phase of his career, Michelangelo remained prodigiously creative and influential without being prolific — as he had been earlier in his career. His late life was concerned less with making things than with finding the courage and devotion to continue tasks that he knew he would never see to fruition, and this despite the loss of his closest friends, greatest patron, and his entire family
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Courage · Performance art · Period (music · Quarter (Canadian coin · Sketch · Theology · Aesthetic Perception and Analysis · Architecture and Art History Studies · History · Philosophy · Renaissance and Early Modern Studies
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |