Overview

The first English translation of Erwin Panofsky's long-lost work on MichelangeloIn 2012, a manuscript by renowned art historian Erwin Panofsky was rediscovered in a safe in Munich, in the basement of the Central Institute for Art History. Hidden for decades among folders and administrative files was Panofsky's thesis on Michelangelo-originally submitted to Hamburg University in March of 1920, abandoned when Panofsky fled Hitler's Germany in 1934, and thought to have been destroyed in the Allied bombings. A century on, Michelangelo's Design Principles makes this remarkable work available for the first time in English.Casting Panofsky's thought in an entirely new light, Michelangelo's Design Principles is the legendary scholar's only book-length examination of the art of the Italian Renaissance. He provides a compelling analysis of Michelangelo's artistic style and deftly compares it with that of Raphael, situating both Renaissance masters in the broader context of Western art. This illuminating book offers unique perspectives on Panofsky's early intellectual development and the state of research on Michelangelo and the High Renaissance at a period of transition in art history, when formalist readings of artworks began to take precedence over a biographical approach.Featuring an introduction by Gerda Panofsky that discusses the history of the manuscript and the significance of its rediscovery, Michelangelo's Design Principles is a crucial link between Panofsky's formalist training as a young art historian and his later work in iconology.

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9780691165264

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[Gerda Panofsky's] invaluable, sixty-five page introduction provides a fascinating account of Panofsky's life and career and his intellectual trajectory, with special regard to his engagement with Michelangelo studies and his gradual disengagement from that early passion, especially after his move to the United States. . . . Written about two of the most significant artists of all time, Panofsky's Michelangelo's Design Principles offers us a welcome opportunity to observe the maturing of one of the great figures of Art and Intellectual History. ---William E. Wallace, Journal of Art Historiography

[Gerda Panofsky's] invaluable, sixty-five page introduction provides a fascinating account of Panofsky's life and career and his intellectual trajectory, with special regard to his engagement with Michelangelo studies and his gradual disengagement from that early passion, especially after his move to the United States. . . . Written about two of the most significant artists of all time, Panofsky's Michelangelo's Design Principles offers us a welcome opportunity to observe the maturing of one of the great figures of Art and Intellectual History. ---William E. Wallace, Journal of Art Historiography Eloquently translated. . . This is a deeply moving book about a deeply moving artist. . . . Panofsky's analyses carry compelling explanatory power because they are rooted in sensitive observation. . . . [The] presentation offered here takes the readers closer to Michelangelo the artist. We acutely feel the engagement behind the methodology ---Matthias Wivel, The Burlington Magazine

Author Information

Erwin Panofsky (18921968) was one of the most eminent art historians of the twentieth century. His many books include Early Netherlandish Painting and The Life and Art of Albrecht Drer (Princeton). Gerda Panofsky is professor emerita of art history at Temple University. She has published on Michelangelo and prepared the revised and enlarged second edition of Erwin Panofsky's Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of St.-Denis and Its Art Treasures (Princeton).

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