{"title":"Antonio Forcellino","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAntonio Forcellino\u003c\/strong\u003e offers richly detailed explorations of art and history, bringing to life the stories behind some of the world’s most iconic masterpieces. His works delve into the creative genius of figures like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, illuminating the cultural and historical contexts that shaped their art.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect insightful narratives that blend \u003cem\u003earts \u0026amp; culture\u003c\/em\u003e with historical depth, revealing the enduring significance of landmarks such as the Sistine Chapel. Forcellino’s writing invites reflection on the intersection of artistry and history, appealing to those fascinated by the legacies of Renaissance masters.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-sistine-chapel-by-antonio-forcellino-9781509565450","title":"The Sistine Chapel","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Sistine Chapel\u003c\/em\u003e is one of the world’s most magnificent buildings, and the frescos that decorate its ceiling and walls are a testimony to the creative genius of the Renaissance. Two generations of artists worked at the heart of Christianity, over the course of several decades in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to produce this extraordinary achievement of Western civilisation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this book, the art historian and restorer Antonio Forcellino tells the remarkable story of the Sistine Chapel, bringing his unique combination of knowledge and skills to bear on the conditions that led to its creation. Forcellino shows that Pope Sixtus IV embarked on the project as an attempt to assert papal legitimacy in response to Mehmed II's challenge to the Pope's spiritual leadership. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe lower part of the chapel was decorated by a consortium of master painters whose frescoes, so coherent that they seem almost to have been painted by a single hand, represent the highest expression of the Quattrocento Tuscan workshops. Then, in 1505, Sixtus IV's nephew, Julius II, imposed a change in direction. Having been captivated by the prodigious talent of a young Florentine sculptor, Julius II summoned Michelangelo Buonarroti to Rome and commissioned him to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Two decades later, Michelangelo returned to paint \u003cem\u003eThe Last Judgement\u003c\/em\u003e, which covers the wall behind the altar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMichelangelo's revolutionary work departed radically from tradition and marked a turning point in the history of Western art.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAntonio Forcellino brings to life the wonders of the Sistine Chapel by describing the aims and everyday practices of the protagonists who envisioned it and the artists who created it, reconstructing the material history that underlies this masterpiece.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46796876808428,"sku":"9781509565450","price":42.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12676753482725.jpg?v=1757114955"},{"product_id":"leonardo-by-antonio-forcellino-9781509518524","title":"Leonardo","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA visionary scientist, a supreme painter, a man of eccentricity and ambition: Leonardo da Vinci had many lives. Born from a fleeting affair between a country girl and a young notary, Leonardo was never legitimised by his father and received no formal education. While this freedom from the routine of rigid and codified learning may have served to stimulate his natural creativity, it also caused many years of suffering and an insatiable need to prove his own worth. It was a striving for glory and an obsessive thirst for knowledge that prompted Leonardo to seek the protection and favour of the most powerful figures of his day, from Lorenzo de’ Medici to Ludovico Sforza, from the French governors of Milan to the pope in Rome, where he could vie for renown with Michelangelo and Raphael.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this revelatory account, Antonio Forcellino draws on his expertise – both as historian and as restorer of some of the world’s greatest works of art – to give us a more detailed view of Leonardo than ever before. Through careful analyses of his paintings and compositional technique, down to the very materials used, Forcellino offers fresh insights into Leonardo’s artistic and intellectual development. He spans the great breadth of Leonardo’s genius, discussing his contributions to mechanics, optics, anatomy, geology and metallurgy, as well as providing acute psychological observations about the political dynamics and social contexts in which Leonardo worked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eForcellino sheds new light on a life all too often overshadowed and obscured by myth, providing us with a fresh perspective on the personality and motivations of one of the greatest geniuses of Western culture. \u003cem\u003eLeonardo\u003c\/em\u003e by Antonio Forcellino is essential reading for those looking to understand the complex figure behind the legendary name.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47471072149740,"sku":"9781509518524","price":42.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/92a3a918e637be20aed278b2bc22f035.jpg?v=1775792574"},{"product_id":"the-lost-michelangelos-by-antonio-forcellino-9780745652030","title":"The Lost Michelangelos","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eTranslated by Lucinda Byatt\u003c\/b\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis book tells the remarkable story of a rare discovery: the uncovering of two lost paintings by the great Renaissance artist Michelangelo.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLike many stories of artistic loss, this one begins in a library in Italy, where Antonio Forcellino—a distinguished Michelangelo scholar and restorer—stumbled across some unpublished letters among the papers of Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga, son of Isabella d’Este and an extremely important figure in the Italian Renaissance. These letters comment on the paintings of Michelangelo in a way that is completely at odds with what was to become the dominant critical tradition of Michelangelo scholarship, an inconsistency that set Forcellino off on a journey that took him to Dubrovnik, Oxford, New York, and Niagara Falls.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis journey culminated in the discovery of two magnificent paintings: \u003ci\u003ePieta with Mary and Two Angels\u003c\/i\u003e, now in a private collection in America, and \u003ci\u003eCavalieri Crucifixion\u003c\/i\u003e, now held by an educational institution in England. Through a combination of careful historical research, extensive restoration, and meticulous radiographic analysis, Forcellino shows convincingly that these paintings can be traced back to the studio of Michelangelo.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis extraordinary story, brilliantly retold, calls into question the received view of Michelangelo’s work and fills in a missing piece in our understanding of one of the greatest artists of all time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47599637594348,"sku":"9780745652030","price":23.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/20d698992ce4e43006df9c866c15efcf.jpg?v=1778021951"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/antonio-forcellino.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}