New York: Walker, (2003) dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - Although this book focuses on Michelangelo's work, it is also an account of events in the early 16th century Renaissance world. "In 1508, the powerful Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo Buonarroti to paint the ceiling of the newly restored Sistine Chapel in Rome. Michelangelo would spend the next four years laboring over the vast ceiling. .. Battling against ill health, financial difficulties, domestic problems, inadequate knowledge of the art of fresco, and the pope's impatience, Michelangelo created figures depicting the Creation, the Fall, and the Flood - so beautiful that, when they were unveiled in 1512, they stunned his onlookers." SIGNED on the title page. Illustrated with photographs, including a section in full color. Notes, bibliography, index. ix, 373 pp. ISBN: 0-802713955.