The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-12-12
SOME NEW BOOKS.
u O1land's MIcheIangeIO.


Frederick Street translates his Michel
dnpeio tDufiieid and Company. one Of
a 'Maitres dart series. In this. while
correctly laying down the principle
ths. .nc artists whole life and his eff
forts at expressing himself in every
way must he considered in attempting
TO form an estimate of his greatness.
NJ. Hollands execution Is f~ragmentary
and im~pressionistic. shifting suddenly
from minutcly detailed descriptions to
vague gencralities, and leaving the inn
preston that he is familiar with and
appreciates only a few OF Michelange-
los works and that he is trying to put
into his picture twenticth century ideas
Of art and of life. He makes IL the
essentials. however. even if he some-
times obscures them with irrelevant
matters. in dealing with the greatest
genius In sculpture. in painting. In
architecture and. he comes near say
ing. in poetry too. that the golden age
OF modern art produced.
To Michelargclo. who lived to be SO
and worked to the very end. his life
seemed n failure. His biographer
seems inclined to take the same view
when he compares what Michelangelo
actually accomplished with what he
planned to do and speaks of him and
Leonardo da Ninci as the two great
irresolutes." lie is impatient with
Leonardo's scientific curiosity and the
experiments In which he frittcred away
his time and through which he inn
paired the existence Of his work. tho
very things that attract men to hin
now. In the case OF Michelangelo the
hlndrancc was in the succession OF
great artistic visions following on one
another. SO that the later plan impcded
the completion of the first. He began
or undertook more than any mortal
man could do and insisted on doing the
work himself ard alone. Almost from
the time he attained manhood his life
was made miserable by his ambitious
scheme for the c~olossal tomb for Pope
Julius H., which ended after all in
the single statue of Moses. He chafed
bitterly at the waste of time when the
ropc called him away from that task
tn paint the ceiling Of the Sistine
chapel.
Throughout his life Michelangelo
insisted that he was q sculptor. with
the astounding versatility in crafts
manship. which was not in
the Renaissance. when he was called
upon to paint he could give them the
Last Judgment. when called upon to
build he could ofer ST. Peters ip
Rome. but these were distractions
from his real work. his attempt tn en-
hody his ideas in the David. the Medici
tomas in Florence. the Moses. NJ.
ROLAND says that he sought the most
difficult way to do things. tina ne
mus have materials that resisted him.
and finds evidence CT this even in the
complicated constructions in his SON
nets. He desp.sei the copying Of ma
turc or Of models and held that ar.
must express only ideas. That he re-
helled against the conventions of
beauty. Of which that age has left us
such superb examples. and wished to
substitute for them power and vigor,
as he has. is probably true. but that
he was animated throughout his un-
happy life by the spirit of revolt seems
n misapplication Of current art iargon.
Miclielangelo wished to create in his
W way and justified his action: he
did not turn from what he saw was
true and right, merely To he different
from others.
With Michelangelo's life NJ. Rol-
land finds the dificulti, thai all Tho
biographers do. In his youth he was
brought M i'm Florence and saw some
tEinc at any rate Of the court of
Lorenzo the Magnificent. As he be,an
to create. apparentiy even with tho
carving of the David. he ,ool IN living
hy himself and n, M limo oo,,, 90,
along well with workmen OF assist
onts In IN. ,e,,or. IN, b.,o a,,o
down IN nc ba 4, can -, aa..,.
and worry carl, ho,,m.. .,snin,nms ~,
,ba nonni, aro,,l hi., ..D
~ o,hor .r,is,s IT, haI "t"
,or,ro. "a Ill, i
,;..,. at. 80. 10 '''''
" 'ro''''" mas
~ Wv '"uN' ''"'''
-. "."o' no" ~ SCI "'on'
49,. civ " peop'e III
r'"e'' WIN" may seem s''anse nova
""''' ''''s' Tue pe'iou ana III
Ho""e ues'ee MS ""'ioha'i'E' lie
was auo'essins 'he persons VINO alone
co"i" ehao'e MN 10 eHohStrate what
genius was III hlm' IL seems "A niue
100 much TO ask or MN. as NJ. Roll
iand seems inclined To. to behave as
q twentieth century student OF Flor
ehtlne history may think he himself
wo"'o nave acten II ne had nN"d III
lnose times M!~cheianSeio saw ana
ltdIu say lac Via anu WAS diItl'ltu HI