Agony And The Ecstacy Essay Research Paper — страница 3

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incompatibility of art and business. During most of his life, Michelangelo is totally dependent on the patronage of the wealthy, especially the papacy, and their whims and eccentricities prevent him from expressing himself in his beloved marble. Although a creative god in theory, the artist is, as Michelangelo ruefully acknowledges, a ?hireling,? below a tradesman in status. Rather than financing the artist and allowing freedom of expression, the patrons exercise their vanity and force artists to work on inappropriate projects. Running throughout the novel is the notion that the artist exist only to be exploited both artistically and financially. Lodovico may not approve of his son?s vocation, but he extorts money from him. Michelangelo is, in truth, his father?s ?quarry.?

Finally, he recognizes that both his Holy Fathers and his earthly one have exploited him. It is only the committed artist who can survive, even thrive, in the midst of such materialism. Michelangelo?s commitment allows no distractions and necessitates mastery of every phase of art: painting, poetry, sculpture ? he masters them all. Like the amateur film director who wishes to control all phases of the filmmaking process, the sculptor wants to control the marble from the time it is cut from the quarry until the carved statue is safely installed. Therefore, readers learn that Michelangelo can cut stone, that he can build roads to the quarry, that he can protect his work from the ravages of war. According to Bertoldo, the stone ?works with? a sculptor like Michelangelo. Critical

Contest The Agony and the Ecstasy, perhaps Stone?s most acclaimed novel, is a worthy successor to Lust for Life (1934), his first venture into the artistic world, and the two novels contain many of the same themes. Stone?s other novels concern, for the most part, political figures as diverse as Eugene V. Debs and Mary Todd Lincoln; he returned to the world of art in Depths Of Glory (1985), a novel about the Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro. In his genre, the biographical novel, Stone has no American equal in quality or quantity, though Andre Maurois is a worthy foreign rival. The lack of competition is understandable, given the demands of the genre and the lack of critical appreciation for it, despite its popular acceptance. First, the research is formidable, for the

biographical novelist must know not only his subject but also his times, including history, religion, politics, science, and the arts. Second, because they believe that less imagination and creativity are required in ?history?, critics value fiction over fact. As Stone points out, however, a biographical novel is not simply history or biography; a biographical novelist must select and shape his material to give it dramatic structure and theme. In The Agony and the Ecstasy, Stone eliminates historical characters, alters them, adds fictional ones, and has them reappear so as to give unity, focus, and theme to his novel. Given the massive amount of material that was at his disposal, tone?s novel is a significant achievement. Sources of Further Study Clements, Robert j. ?the Artist

as Hero,? in Saturday Review. XLIV (March 18, 1961),p.18.