Michelangelo's Nose

While offering both a playful and serious examination of the iconography of the nose from antiquity to the modern period, Michelangelo's Nose concentrates on exploring the way in which Michelangelo created himself. Paul Barolsky analyzes in detail Michelangelo's identification with God the Creator, Old Testament prophets and saints, epic poets and philosophers, and caesars and modern monarchs.

Paul Barolsky is Commonwealth Professor of the History of Art at the University of Virginia. His books on Renaissance art with Penn State Press include The Faun in the Garden: Michelangelo and the Poetic Origins of Italian Renaissance Art (1994), Giotto's Father and the Family of Vasari's "Lives" (1992), and Why Mona Lisa Smiles and Other Tales by Vasari (1991).