Michelangelo: drawings

Michelangelo Buonarroti

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If there is anyone who perfectly represents the ideal of the ultimate modern artist as we know it today, it is Michelangelo. Sculptor, painter, architect and poet, this Renaissance genius, known as il Divino, devoted his entire life to all forms of art.

Brought up in the Florentine tradition, drawing was always the foundation for his art, the medium he used to express his most private, personal side. This edition provides a glimpse into Michelangelo’s innermost thoughts through his drawings. In an insatiable quest for perfection, he tirelessly produced countless drawings in his painstaking research into the human body, exploring its anatomy, volumes and three-dimensionality

Michelangelo: Drawings is an exclusive art book that traces the career of the Renaissance man through the largest and most comprehensive collection of drawings and sketches housed in the British Museum.

In the purest spirit of the artist, the work comes in a sculpture display case featuring the David: a symbol of Florence, a benchmark in the study of anatomy and an iconic sculpture. Here, David seems to emerge from a marble block, just as Michelangelo envisioned.

Inside is the Art Book, a unique opportunity to get a glimpse into Michelangelo’s soul through 75 drawings from the British Museum's collection, all reproduced in painstaking detail. Sketches of future projects, anatomical studies and gifts for his loved ones: each drawing reveals a new secret of the artist's work.

The Study Book includes insights and analyses from leading experts on Michelangelo’s life and work: Hugo Chapman, the Simon Sainsbury Keeper of Prints & Drawings at the British Museum; Sarah Vowles, the Smirnov Family Curator of Italian and French Prints and Drawings; and Matthias Wivel, Curator of 16th-century Italian Paintings at the National Gallery, London.

Both books are bound by hand. The cover of the Study Book features the face of Michelangelo’s David.

The canvas-covered Art Book features the embossed signature of the artist and has a neodymium magnet closure.

The 75 drawings are bound into the Art Book one by one and secured with three glue dots. The copy number and British Museum label appear on the back.

Michelangelo’s name is laser engraved on the outside of the display case.

A mould is cast based on Michelangelo’s David. The mould is filled with marmolina, marble powder and resin.

The figure is removed from the mould and the final details are polished by hand to match the original sculpture.

Both the display case and the David are painted. Screen-printing is used to create the marble look on every component of the case.

The statue is then glued to the cover of the case by hand.

The elegant yet protective display case is finally ready to hold the two books inside it.

Art Book

• Bilingual edition: Spanish and English.

• 168 pp. on Tintoretto Gesso 0,44 lb. paper, vol. 1.4, 2/2 printing + 2/c varnish on pages with a background.

• Cover in 3 mm thick lined cardboard. Two flaps with magnets serve to close the book. Spine width: 1,57 in.

• 75 sheets on Magno Volume 0,28 lb. paper: 26 die-cut, 35 full-size and 40 reduced. Printed in 4 + 1 inks, numbered on the back.

• Size: 11 x 14,9 in.

• Weight: 6,17 lb.

Study Book

• Monolingual edition (two versions: in Spanish or English).

• 200 p. on Symbol Tatami White 0,33 lb., vol. 1.27. Printed in 4/4 ink colours + varnish. Flyleaves: Geltex black 191 LS 0,39 lb.

• Cover printed in 4/0 with soft touch anti-fingerprint matte lamination. Spine width: 0,98 in.

• Size: 11 x 14,9 in.

• Weight: 4,18 lb.

Sculpture case

• Lacquered MDF wooden case + marble David sculpture. Laser engraved MICHELANGELO on the cover.

• Interior: black high-density foam insert with side opening for easy removal of the books. Eight neodymium magnets provide a secure closure.

• Measurements: 17,7 x 13,77 x 9,84 in. (height x width x depth). Case weight: 17,8 lb.

• Total weight of the books and case: 28,2 lb.

(1475, Caprese - 1564, Rome) Sculptor, painter, architect and poet, his talent was clear from a young age, and he left the life of a civil servant that his father wanted him to lead to study under the best masters and patrons. In the Florentine tradition, drawing was the foundation of all his art.

Although he never married and had no children, his talent brought him into contact with some of the leading figures of the time, including the Medici, kings and nobles of Europe, thinkers and several popes. He also shared a generation with other brilliant artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael.

Michelangelo worked right up to the day he died. His artistic legacy and his influence on the history of art are beyond question and his work is still appreciated and studied all over the world today.