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Secondary sourceBook1908

Vie de Michel-Ange

Romain Rolland · 1908

A major French biography of Michelangelo written in 1908 by Romain Rolland, a leading writer of his time.

A literary biography of Michelangelo written by a major French author, showing his lasting fame.

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Vie de Michel-Ange
Romain Rolland, Vie de Michel-Ange, 1908. Scanned book, Internet Archive.

About this source

What it is

This is a biography of Michelangelo written in French by Romain Rolland and published in 1908 as part of a series on illustrious men. It opens by describing one of Michelangelo's marble statues held in Florence.

Why it matters

Rolland was a significant literary figure, and his decision to write about Michelangelo shows the artist's continuing fame centuries after his death. As a secondary source, it reflects how a later writer interpreted and presented Michelangelo's life and works to a new audience.

Look closer

  • Why might a famous writer like Rolland choose to write about Michelangelo centuries later?
  • What does the choice to open with a description of a statue tell you about what Rolland thought was important?
  • How might a French biography differ from an Italian or English one in its view of Michelangelo?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Michelangelo Buonarroti on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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