Michelangelo and Sebastiano
The story of the friendship between the world-famous Florentine artist Michelangelo Buonarroti and the lesser-known Venetian painter Sebastiano Luciani, called Sebastiano del Piombo is both epic and personal.
The two came from widely different artistic traditions, and Michelangelo’s fierce independence made him an unlikely candidate for collaboration. But after meeting in Rome in 1511, at a time now recognised as a high point of the Renaissance, they came together to create works of striking force and originality.
Spanning about twenty-five years, their tale is one of camaraderie, mutual influence, and eventually of rupture and acrimony. It takes place against a backdrop of bitter rivalries, political turbulence, religious schism, and war.