80 pages • 2-hour read
The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Novel of Michelangelo
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Parts 8-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 8 Summary: “The Medici”
Shortly after the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is complete, Pope Julius II dies. His heir, the Duke of Urbino, wants Michelangelo to finish the sculptures for the tomb. Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici is elected as the new Pope, becoming Pope Leo X. He is well liked, and Michelangelo is relieved that a Medici and apparent ally is now in charge. He attends the celebration for the election of the new Pope and is pleased to be able to work on the marble statues for the dead Pope’s tomb. The Sistine Chapel brings Michelangelo much renown. Many artists study his work, though a small group associated with Raphael are very disparaging. Rather than fight back against them, Michelangelo helps an unknown painter named Sebastiano to win commissions that might otherwise have been awarded to Raphael. Michelangelo has no interest in entering these competitions himself, but he allows Sebastiano to submit Michelangelo’s designs as his own, thus beating Raphael. Contessina now lives in Rome, and she immediately sees through this ploy. Michelangelo defends his “hoax” (560). Many people are praising his work now, he says, including his old rival, Leonardo.
Pope Leo’s court in Rome resembles his father’s court in Florence, filled with artists and intellectuals. Pope Leo throws many lavish feasts and spends beyond his means. In Florence, the youngest Medici son, Guiliano, is in charge. Michelangelo likes Guiliano, as do the people of Florence. Yet Leo brings Guiliano to Rome to join his court, leaving Piero’s hated son to take charge and immediately begin to shun the government and the people. Pope Leo makes his relatives into Cardinals, changing the balance of power in the Church in favor of the Medici. When Bramante dies, Sangallo returns to Rome. Though he is now old, he and his son take over the renovation of St. Peter’s Basilica. Raphael is recruited to help; Michelangelo is pleased that he will not need to worry about Raphael. Leonardo da Vinci is also given a commission but he spends more time “experimenting” (659) with his inventions.
Contessina falls sick. Michelangelo visits her deathbed and they confess their mutual, unfulfilled love. Her death pains Michelangelo, who feels he has lost one of his oldest friends. Buonarroto marries and gives hope that the family line will continue. Pope Leo has also helped Michelangelo’s family with jobs and positions in Florence, meaning that Michelangelo is anxious to please him. When Leo announces that Michelangelo should stop working on the marble statues for his predecessor’s tomb, however, Michelangelo is displeased. He only wants to carve marble, and he has entered a “crucial moment” (573). Instead, Leo wants Michelangelo to design a façade for the San Lorenzo church in Florence, a project that Lorenzo once mentioned to Michelangelo many years before. Michelangelo pleads for time to finish his current assignment, but Leo will not be swayed. Desperate and angry, he seeks comfort in the company of a sex worker. However, he catches an STI from her that makes him sick with “the French sickness,” or syphilis (574). Balducci knows which medicine to give him, and Michelangelo recovers (though in reality, no effective treatment for syphilis existed at this time).
To build the façade of San Lorenzo, Michelangelo will need the perfect marble. Michelangelo is respected by the quarrymen of Carrara, the Carrarini, who have their own culture and traditions. He lives among them while searching for the perfect marble for his project. He is not satisfied with what they offer, however, and they begin to turn against him. When a worker dies in one of the quarries, he is reminded of the danger of the work. He agrees to buy some marble to quell the grumblings.
Michelangelo is not inspired by any of his plans for the façade. He thinks about all the projects that have been left unfinished. He worries about his father, who still regularly demands money from him. Michelangelo shows his plans to the Pope, but there is a new demand. For political reasons, the Pope wants Michelangelo to use stone from Pietrasanta, rather than the “rebellious lot” (585) in Carrara. Though the Pope owns the land in Pietrasanta, thus reducing the cost of the marble, there are few quarries and no roads in the area, making it hard to obtain the amount of marble necessary. Michelangelo tries to explain this to the Pope, but the Pope insists that he do as he is told.
Michelangelo returns to Carrara, where the locals treat him with contempt. They have heard about the plans for Pietrasanta and fear for their livelihoods. To show that the marble cannot be obtained from Pietrasanta, Michelangelo hikes there with a guide. When he arrives, however, he discovers that the marble is actually “perfect” (587), purer than that in Carrara. He desperately wants to use it, even if it seems impossible to extract. Amid rumors that he must share the workload in San Lorenzo, Michelangelo resolves to tell the Pope that the Pietrasanta marble cannot be obtained.
Returning to Florence, Michelangelo learns that his original designs for the nude bathers have been lost or destroyed. There is nothing left of his (or Leonardo’s) paintings. Prior Bichiellini dies, and Michelangelo mourns the loss of his old friend and spiritual counsel. When Michelangelo speaks to the Pope, he insists again that the marble come from Pietrasanta. As such, Michelangelo must build a road and then a quarry. He tries to assemble a crew to do this but struggles with recruitment. The people of Carrara turn against Michelangelo and throw stones at him. Michelangelo eventually turns to the Topolino family, recruiting their youngest member to help him. Michelangelo struggles with the difficult terrain. When the roadbuilder will only bring the road halfway up the mountain, Michelangelo turns engineer to construct a way to take the marble from the quarry to the road. He uses his own money when funds run dry, desperate to finish as quickly as possible. A man dies on the site, and the block of marble is smashed. The tragic accident wins the sympathy of the Carrarini, who understand the danger of the work.
When Michelangelo finally manages to bring the marbles to Florence, he is pleased that he will finally be able to carve them in his studio. He is summoned by Cardinal Guilio, who explains that—due to changes in the political situation and the funds available—the construction of the façade is being put on hold. The pietrasanta marble will instead be used for “repaving” (613) the cathedral. Michelangelo is angry and horrified. He feels as though he has wasted three years of his life and large sums of his own money on a foolish idea.
Part 9 Summary: “The War”
Michelangelo is now in his fifties. After the cancellation of the façade, he works on a statue of the Risen Christ for a patron in Rome. He lives in Florence and attends the meetings of the Company of the Cauldron, which makes him happy in spite of the complicated politics that interfere with his work. His family continues to drain his financial resources, always asking for more money. His peers are cast adrift: Leonardo has supposedly died in France, Raphael is sick, and Pope Leo is struggling with Martin Luther’s emergent Protestantism.
Still, he must finish the statues for Pope Julius’s tomb. He wants to finish the contract, while Pope Leo instead wants him to work on a sacristy inside the Medici Chapel in San Lorenzo church. Michelangelo expresses his desire to finish his current contracts, but the Pope insists. Michelangelo, desperate for money and wanting only to work, accepts the offer. He uses Carrara marble to carve statues for the sacristy in memory of the Medici, including Lorenzo.
While he works on the plans, Pope Leo dies. A new Pope is elected and, due to his political connections, Michelangelo is threatened with a lawsuit brought by the family of Pope Julius, the Rovere family, for “failing to fulfill his contract” (626). Michelangelo cannot afford the lawsuit and, facing financial ruin, he feels unable to work. He falls sick, and Granacci tries to comfort him. Two years pass and the new Pope dies, leading to the election of another Medici. Cardinal Guilio becomes Pope Clement VII, and Michelangelo resumes work on the sacristy.
By 1525, Michelangelo is 50. He thinks about his body of work and his uncompleted projects as he resumes his usual tireless, solitary workstyle. Work is his only reward, and he feels as though his life is “half spent” (629). The lawsuit is settled for the moment, and Michelangelo is able to bring new apprentices in to work alongside him. He hears Nicolo Machiavelli read from his history of Florence as a movement gathers force to return the city to a republic, kicking out the Medici. Michelangelo feels caught between both sides of the debate. The Holy Roman Emperor invades Italy, forcing Pope Clement to raise an army. The Florentines seize the opportunity and remove the Medici from power. During the riots, Michelangelo sees the crowd damage his statue of David. Giorgio Vasari, one of the men apprenticed to Michelangelo, carries away the damaged arm so that it can be repaired later. Michelangelo wonders what can be “safe in a world of war and chaos” (636).
Pope Clement flees Rome. The city is sacked, leading to the destruction of many priceless works. Michelangelo worries about the statues he designed in Rome, as well as his studio in the city. With Florence now a republic, the Medici chapel is locked so Michelangelo cannot continue to work on the sacristy. The republic of Florence enjoys prosperity, but this is occasionally blighted by outbreaks of plague and the threat of the Reformation from abroad. Since he still lives in Florence, Michelangelo cannot work for Pope Clement (a Medici). Michelangelo’s brother Buonarroto dies from the plague, and Michelangelo nurses him, not caring that he thus exposes himself to the illness. He resolves to get his affairs in order to help his family if he dies.
Pope Clement consolidates his power and sends an army against Florence. Michelangelo is recruited by the city as an engineer. He helps to prepare the city’s defenses. While inspecting the defenses, he suspects that one of the generals, Malatesta, “will betray Florence” (645). Michelangelo tries to warn Florence about Malatesta’s untrustworthiness but no one listens. Fearing that Malatesta will try to have him killed, he flees the city. He is not punished for this flight, even though most people would be prosecuted for abandoning the city. Michelangelo’s defenses hold up and bring a brief pause to the war. Michelangelo celebrates by painting and, at night, he sneaks into the sacristy and carves.
When the war resumes, Florence is contending with plague and starvation. As many as 5,000 people die in the war, and as Michelangelo warned, Malatesta betrays the republic. Florence loses, and Clement’s forces execute many of the military leaders of the city. Michelangelo hides in a belltower and, now aged 55, thinks back over his life. He feels that he does not have much to show for his many years of work, believing that there is “nothing finished” (651). Some of the projects he did complete have been damaged or lost, others have been abandoned before completion. When Pope Clement agrees to pardon Michelangelo, he descends from the tower and resumes work on the sacristy.
A Medici named Alessandro is appointed in charge of Florence. His cruel governance angers the people. Alessandro tries to hire Michelangelo, who refuses to work for him. Michelangelo sells a painting so that his apprentice, Mini, can start a family. He recruits a new apprentice, Urbino, who takes good care of the aging Michelangelo. Meanwhile, Michelangelo’s brothers bother him. They want money or land, but they struggle to make money for themselves. Ludovico dies in 1534, aged 90. Before he dies, he tells Michelangelo that he has helped to preserve the family honor. Michelangelo is satisfied and saddened. He knows that he was his father’s only successful son.
Michelangelo works so hard that he makes himself ill. He believes that he will die, but travels to Rome in the hope of recovering. There, he meets an “heir of a patrician Roman family” (663) named Tomasso de’ Cavalieri. They become good friends, and Michelangelo offers advice to the budding artist. They agree to keep in touch. This relationship helps Michelangelo to recover. He feels many years younger. Returning to Florence, he resumes work but realizes that the cruelty of Alessandro has driven away many of the other artists. Not wanting to stay, he finishes the sacristy and leaves for Rome. Now, he is almost 60 years old. Pope Clement suggests that he add a mural to the Sistine Chapel, suggesting the Last Judgment as a subject. Michelangelo does not know how much longer he will live.
Parts 8-9 Analysis
The novel presents Michelangelo’s lack of social skills as a consequence of his relentless artistic integrity. Devoted to The Divinity of Creativity, he prioritizes his work at the expense of his friendships. His relationship with the people of Carrara exemplifies this pattern. He has felt close to the people of Carrara for many years. Their marble is his medium and, through his time spent in their community and his understanding of their customs, he has been accepted among this insular community of workers. When he is reluctantly sent to Pietrasanta to investigate the marble in the unquarried mountain, however, his allegiance to Carrara crumbles. The marble from Pietrasanta is perfect; he yearns to carve something—anything—from it. He understands that this is a betrayal of the Carrara quarries, just as his preferring of Bramante’s design to Sangallo’s design was a betrayal of his friend. Yet Michelangelo’s artistic desires supersede all other considerations. He is not willing to compromise his artistic integrity even when he must compromise his personal integrity instead. Eventually, he is chased from Carrara as the people throw stones at him. He is made to bleed by the same shards of marble that mean so much to him, an act that symbolizes his ruptured relationship with the community. More serious than the wound, however, is Michelangelo’s fear that the people of Carrara may be justified. He has betrayed them, he knows, but he knows just as well that he cannot betray himself.
Contessina’s death in this section marks an important turning point for Michelangelo. Contessina was the first real love of Michelangelo’s life, but due to social status and politics, their love remained necessarily unfulfilled. For much of their lives, the love between them has remained in an unspoken limbo. They both recognize the profound way in which they have influenced one another, yet they have never dared to explicitly declare their love for one another. For Michelangelo, this reluctance is partly due to his preferred method of communication. He would rather speak through his art than say something with his words. As Contessina approaches death, however, she feels compelled to make their love explicit. She cuts through the vagaries and obfuscation, declaring their importance to one another in a way that not even Michelangelo can deny. This directness makes him aware of the absence of love from his life and the extent to which he has denied himself this love. Contessina’s directness, in this sense, primes Michelangelo for his later relationships with Tomasso and Vittoria. Because his potential romantic relationship with Contessina never happened, his personal life has instead been defined by The Power of Platonic Love, and these later relationships exemplify the importance of platonic love in his life.
When war breaks out in Florence, Michelangelo is given a chance to show his patriotism. Earlier, he refused Piero’s request that he work on the fortifications of the city, but when the republic is threatened, he feels compelled to help. He uses his art to defend his hometown, using his knowledge to offer safety to his community in a way that his statues cannot. That Michelangelo—like his contemporaries Filippo Brunelleschi and Leonardo da Vinci—would be tasked with designing military fortifications illustrates the overlapping in Renaissance Europe of what are today seen as separate fields of knowledge. Under the patronage of figures like Lorenzo de’ Medici, the Renaissance produced a new ideal of intellectual achievement—the genius whose creativity and expertise span science, art, and engineering. When Michelangelo flees the city to escape the treachery of General Malatesta, his importance as an artist gives him a defense that is not granted to others. His talent becomes a privilege, but also a curse. While hiding from the Pope’s forces, he secures himself inside a tower. Feeling as though time is slipping away, he reviews his body of work and fears that so much of his life’s work has been left unfinished. The same work that grants him clemency is—in his mind—not enough. He may be granted political safety from his enemies and his allies, but he is not safe from his harshest critic: himself.
Unlock all 80 pages of this Study Guide
Get in-depth, chapter-by-chapter summaries and analysis from our literary experts.
- Grasp challenging concepts with clear, comprehensive explanations
- Revisit key plot points and ideas without rereading the book
- Share impressive insights in classes and book clubs