Michelangelo Imperfect

$76.99

A sweeping account of Michelangelo’s life as a sculptor and the multiplication of his work in the modern era

This book is not yet published, but will be available from January 2026.

ISBN: 9788775512287 Category:

Description

A sweeping account of Michelangelo’s life as a sculptor and the multiplication of his work in the modern era

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) made modern art. If we were to point to a single artist responsible for establishing the notion of art as self-expression, a commonplace today, it would be he. Despite his successes in other art forms, Michelangelo regarded himself primarily as a sculptor. Based on The Royal Cast Collection in Copenhagen, supplemented by completely new reproductions. Michelangelo Imperfect tells the story of his sculpture and its multiplication in the modern era.

The book tells the story of Michelangelo’s career as a sculptor, his life and practice, as well as that of the multiplication of his work in the form of casts and other reproductions in the modern era. Questions of authorship, originality and authenticity as well as the establishment and purpose of cast collections in the nineteenth century are addressed in five essays. In addition to this, the book catalogues almost all of Michelangelo’s sculptural works, reexamining several of his major projects in detail.

Additional information

Dimensions 17 x 24 cm
Publisher name Thames and Hudson Ltd
Publication date 4 January 2026
Number of pages 396
Format Hardback
Contributors Edited by Matthias Wivel
Dimensions 17 x 24 cm
Weight g
Matthias Wivel is Head of Research at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen. In his previous post as Curator of Sixteenth-Century Italian Paintings at the National Gallery, London, he curated or co-curated the exhibitions Michelangelo & Sebastiano (2017), Lorenzo Lotto Portraits (2018-19), Titian: Love, Desire, Death (2020-21), Raphael (2022), and Parmigianino - The Vision of Saint Jerome (2024-25).