The Agony and the Ecstasy

Summary
The Agony and the Ecstasy depicts Michelangelos struggle to become the embodiment of
Renaissance humanism. In the course of the novel Michelangelo must overcome the
interference of his family, religious dogma, political intrigue, papal patronage, military
campaigns, and artistic jealousy to realize his artistic ambition. Despite his fathers
opposition, twelve-year-old Michelangelo becomes an apprentice, first to painter
Ghirlandaio and then to Bertoldo, a sculptor, who directs a school financed by Lorenzo de
Medici, patron of Florentine art. Michelangelo quickly wins Lorenzos esteem, meets his
children (among Them two future popes, Giulio and Giovanni, and Contessina, his first
love), suffers the first of several attacks by jealous colleagues (his nose is broken by
Trrigiani, whose later appearances always threaten Michelangelo), and through forbidden
dissection learns the anatomy and physiology he needs. Eventually Savonarola, a reform
priest, comes to power, and his crusading zeal threatens Lorenzo de Medicis family and
the Florentine art world. When Savonarola gains political, as well as religious control,
Michelangelo flees Florence and travels to Bologna, where he meets the sensuous Clarissa
Saffi and carves the Bambino that attracts the attention of Leo Baglioni. In Rome for the first
time, Michelangelo meets Jacopo Galli, a banker, who commissions a sculpture; Giuliano
Sangallo, an architect; and Bramante, another architect and an adversary. In Rome,
Michelangelo carves the Pieta, learns about the whims of religious patrons, and becomes
interested in St. Peters the building of the new St. Peters will embroil him in controversy
and ultimately consume his last years. Michelangelo return to Florence, where he carves
the Giant," a sculpture of David which becomes the symbol of Florence. There he meets
Leonardo da Vinci, his principal rival, and Raphael, the painter the three become the
triumvirate of Renaissance Italian art. Jealous of Leonardo Michelangelo competes with him
as the two artists paint frescoes for the rulers of Florence.
Word of Michelangelos work reaches Pope Julius, who forces Michelangelo to work in
bronze, rather than his beloved marble, and to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling. It is Julius
who resolves to build a new St. Peters. Julius is followed by two Medici popes who only
add to Michelangelos problems: Giovanni, by forcing him to work with marble from
Pietrasanta, an almost inaccessible region, thereby making Michelangelo an engineer, and
Giulio, against whose forces Michelangelo must use his engineering talents to fortify the city

of Florence. The Medici popes are followed by Pope Paul III, who commissions
Michelangelo to paint the Last Judgment and who, after bitter disputes about the ongoing
building of St. Peters, appoints him as architect for the cathedral. The dome,
Michelangelos last creation, is the appropriate capstone for his creative efforts. In addition
to achieving artistic acclaim, he finds an assistant, Tommaso de Cavalieri, who is to
complete St. Peters, and Vittoria Colonna, the female epitome of Renaissance humanism
and his last great love.

Themes and Meanings

In the Agony and the Ecstasy, Stone uses Michelangelo as a working definition of the
idealized artist, a creation who is, simultaneously, a godlike creator. Early in the novel
Michelangelo refer to God as the first sculptor" and as the supreme carver"; later, he refers
to artists as the species apart"who will speak for God. To draw is to be like God," asserts
Michelangelo, who claims elsewhere that sculpture is my faith." As he gazes at his Sistine
Chapel, Michelangelo recalls Genesis, and Stone has him, in analogous terms, see all that
he has made and find it very good." This extraordinary analogy is extended when
Michelangelo sees himself as not only God the Father, but as God the Mother," source of a
noble breed, half man, half god": as God the Mother, he inseminates himself with his
creative fertility." Stone thus incorporates sexuality within religiosity and provides his
readers with a new metaphor involving the equation of sex with sculpture. In its coarsest
terms, the relationship is described by Beppe: "What you put into the ladies at night, you
cant put into the marble in the morning." In more elevated terms, the conflict between art
and sexuality is akin to the traditional opposition between the body (sex) and spirit (art).
Given that conflict, the sculptor expresses his relationship to marble in sexual terms; having
expended himself on the marble, he has no creative energy for personal relationships. For
Michelangelo the act of creation involves the thrust, the penetration, the beating and
pulsing: toward climax. Blocks of marble are seen as virginal"; the chosel penetrates and
seeds its female form. Conversely, when he makes love to Clarissa, the sexual act is
expressed in terms of sculpture: He uses a chisel" on the warm living marble" of Clarissas
body, which had been earlier described as being already carved." Through the use of the
analogy Stone explains Michelangelos relative lack of sexual interest in women (Clarissa is
a fictional character), but Stone avoids dealing with his subjects bisexuality.

Stone also addresses the incompatibility of art and business. During most of his life,
Michelangelo is totally dependent on the patronage of the wealthy, especially the papacy,
and their whims and eccentricities prevent him from expressing himself in his beloved
marble. Although a creative god in theory, the artist is, as Michelangelo ruefully
acknowledges, a hireling," below a tradesman in status. Rather than financing the artist
and allowing freedom of expression, the patrons exercise their vanity and force artists to
work on inappropriate projects. Running throughout the novel is the notion that the artist
exist only to be exploited both artistically and financially. Lodovico may not approve of his
sons vocation, but he extorts money from him. Michelangelo is, in truth, his fathers
quarry." Finally, he recognizes that both his Holy Fathers and his earthly one have
exploited him. It is only the committed artist who can survive, even thrive, in the midst of
such materialism. Michelangelos commitment allows no distractions and necessitates
mastery of every phase of art: painting, poetry, sculpture he masters them all. Like the
amateur film director who wishes to control all phases of the filmmaking process, the
sculptor wants to control the marble from the time it is cut from the quarry until the carved
statue is safely installed. Therefore, readers learn that Michelangelo can cut stone, that he
can build roads to the quarry, that he can protect his work from the ravages of war.
According to Bertoldo, the stone works with" a sculptor like Michelangelo.