Michelangelo

The family home of Michelangelo Buonarroti-surely Italy's most famous artist-the Casa Buonarroti boasts the world's largest collection of Michelangelo's drawings and personal papers. Now a private foundation and museum, the Casa Buonarroti is also well known for art and antiquities collected by Michelangelo's family members. This volume includes drawings usually kept in storage to protect them from exposure to damaging light and air, among them sketches and preparatory studies for such important works as the Sistine Chapel and the Medici tombs. It affords an extraordinary view of Michelangelo through personal sketches, writings, and studies from the artist's notebooks, as well as insights into his family through painting, sculpture, and graphic works. Among the treasures of the Casa Buonarroti are two marble reliefs: the Madonna of the Steps and the Battle of the Centaurs. In addition, the Museum owns rich collections of paintings, sculptures, majolica ware, and archaeological pieces, as well as the most famous collection in the world of drawings by Michelangelo's own hand.