Michelangelo: The Man and the Myth ed. by Pina Ragionieri, Gary M. Radke, Domenic J (review)

REVIEWS 315 of correct texts. The growing emphasis on orthodoxy is shown in the controversies over Adoptionism, the veneration of images, and the filioque clause. In summary, his reign is presented as both dynamic in its response to political challenges and successful in establishing a clear vision of Christian unity and a workable administrative apparatus. McKitterick challenges the reader throughout to reevaluate what we think we know about Charlemagne, by way of a thorough and wide-ranging engagement with the sources. For the student, she is a wonderful guide, showing how various sources give different pieces of the puzzle. She is particularly sensitive to defining terms that might be unfamiliar to a general reader, and pages 200–202 offer a good, short, lesson on the elements of a charter. One reservation, however, is the lack of emphasis on other leading figures, events, or external groups, which may have shaped his thinking and actions. The process of achieving political consensus is not portrayed, and this left an impression that Charlemagne planned everything except, curiously, his wars. McKitterick states there is “little substance to any assumption of Charlemagne as a great warrior or military leader” (378), and describes the conquest of Lombardy as “a political coup d’état far more than one of aggressive conquest ” (108), Bavaria as “entirely a family matter” (136), and the process of absorbing Saxony as the continuation of a policy begun in his grandfather’s time (103, 136). Her point is that Carolingian expansion should be understood as more than simply a policy of aggression; rather, it is connected to the consolidation of stability within. In addition, the focus of her study is the cultural, administrative, and religious aspects of Charlemagne’s reign. However, the importance of Frankish military life, of plunder, and of the image of victor seems underplayed. As McKitterick makes clear, this work is not meant as a biography or an introduction to the political events of the period. Rather, it is a reassessment of assumptions about Charlemagne that have become accepted, and a clear summary of the policies promoted during his reign which had long-reaching consequences for the history of Europe. LEANNE GOOD, History, UCLA Michelangelo: The Man and the Myth, ed. Pina Ragionieri, Gary M. Radke, and Domenic J. Iacono, trans. Christian and Sylvia Dupont (Syracuse: Syracus University Art Galleries 2008) 126 pp., ill. Michelangelo: The Man and the Myth is the record of an ambitious and unique exhibit produced by Syracuse University in collaboration with Casa Buonarroti on the life and creative intensity of the Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564). The scholars of the exhibit introduce Michelangelo as the “genius” of Italian art setting the “standard for the ‘renaissance man’” (11) of his day. Although the artist himself insisted on the unflattering title of “sculptor,” he was undeniably productive as inventor, painter, writer, architect, and engineer. Biographers like Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574) have elevated his extraordinary productivity to divine origin and direction, and many authors since the Renaissance have found his personality to be disconcerting and “full of contradictions” (11). An informative biographical overview of the artist’s artistic production is REVIEWS 316 contained in the subsection of the catalog entitled “The Life and Works of Michelangelo.” Here detailed chronology is combined with expert commentary on early apprenticeships, aesthetic agendas, relationships with the Medici, and Michelangelo’s achievements in Florence, Bologna, Venice, Rome, and Siena. Illustrations and analyses include Madonna of the Stairs (ca. 1491), Bacchus (1497), Vatican Pietà (1499), David (1504), Last Judgment (1534–1541), and a history of his lesser-known works like the Risen Christ (1521), Apollo (ca. 1530) of the Bargello Museum in Florence, and the unfinished Entombment of Christ (ca. 1500–1501) in the National Gallery in London. The book’s subsection on “The Face of Michelangelo” uses numerous images of Michelangelo to imply that we must see beyond the customary surface of the famous individual and his time. But there are some interpretive problems . For instance, how can the reader accept the conclusion that Michelangelo was not “fond of portraying himself or of being portrayed by others” (12) when approximately “one hundred sixteenth-century engravings” (37) and “four life portraits” by Giuliano Bugiardini...