Michelangelo and I: Facts, People, Surprises and Discoveries in the Restoration of the Sistine Chapel

- Behind the scenes of one of the most important restorations in recent years - that of the Sistine Chapel, told by Gianluigi Colalucci, the restorer - Historical photographs show the restorers at work on Michelangelo's painting The restoration of the Sistine Chapel - a singular experience that lasted fourteen years. Michelangelo and I is the story of the restoration, told by the restorer himself; from the first small cleaning test, to the difficult decisions when cleaning Adam's Eye or the Head of God. In this book, Gianluigi Colalucci reveals not only the burden he felt under the weight of the enormous responsibility of his task, but also the fun involved behind the scenes. He reveals the stories that animated this historic restoration in which many people of the highest level - artists, scholars, writers, actors, musicians and even Her Majesty the Queen of England - visited him high up on the scaffolding during his work. Contents: I Hands; II The Postage Stamp; III The Decision; IV An Apparition; V The Renewal; VI The Lunettes; VII The Cleaning; VIII Wethersfield; IX The Controversy; X Zechariah; XI The First Discovery; XII The First Brushstrokes; XIII Fresco; XIV Adam; XV The Spirit of the Restoration; XVI Encounters; XVII Restoration outside Italy; XVIII The Painting; XIX The Work; XX The Completion of the Ceiling; XXI The Last Judgement; XXII Christ in Judgement; XXIII Some Considerations; XIV Three Dates.

Born in Rome and qualified as a restorer under Cesare Brandi at the Istituto Centrale del Restauro, Gianluigi Colalucci began his career in Palermo, where he worked for seven years on restorations for the Superintendency of Sicilian Galleries. He entered the Vatican Museums’ restoration department in 1960, became its chief restorer in 1979 and personally executed the restoration of the Michelangelo frescoes in the Sistine Chapel from 1980 to 1994. Still active today, he has restored works of every kind and era, from Minoan frescoes on Crete to medieval Roman Madonnas and the frieze by Sartorio in Palazzo Montecitorio in Rome. Works by painters like Giotto, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Mantegna, Dosso Dossi, Lotto, Lucas Cranach, Guido Reni, Caravaggio, Perin del Vaga, Pellegrino Tibaldi, Giorgio Morandi and Ferruccio Ferrazzi have all passed through his hands.