Michelangelo's place in the world of art is altogether unique. His supremacy is acknowledged by all, but is understood by a few only. In the presence of his works none can stand unimpressed, yet few dare to claim any intimate knowledge of his art…

Michael Angelo was twenty-two years younger than Leonardo da Vinci, but the more severe and reflective cast of his mind rendered their difference of age far less in effect than in reality. It is usual to compare Michael Angelo with Raphael, but he is more aptly compared with Leonardo da Vinci. All the great artists of that time, even Raphael himself, were influenced more or less by these two extraordinary men, but they exercised no influence on each other. They started from opposite points; they pursued throughout their whole existence, and in all they planned and achieved, a course as different as their respective characters…

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Anna Brownell Jameson (1794–1860) est une écrivaine et féministe britannique. Réputée pour ses essais critiques sur les héroïnes de Shakespeare et l’art chrétien, elle s’illustre aussi par ses récits de voyage, notamment au Canada. Défenseure de l’éducation et du travail féminin, elle milite pour la coopération entre les sexes dans les œuvres sociales. Ses écrits marient érudition, sensibilité et engagement. Elle laisse une œuvre influente sur l’art sacré, la condition des femmes et la philanthropie.

Elbert Green Hubbard (1856–1915) was an American writer, publisher, and philosopher, best known for founding the Roycroft artisan community linked to the Arts and Crafts movement. He gained early success as a salesman for the Larkin Soap Company. His notable works include A Message to Garcia and Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great. Hubbard and his wife, Alice Moore Hubbard, perished in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania by a German submarine on May 7, 1915.