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BBC: Leonardo and Divine Michelangelo

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Two great documentaries of the kind the BBC is rightly praised: knowledge combined with drama. The series depict the lives of Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo, the greatest minds of the Renaissance.

Product description

LEONARDO DA VINCI and THE DIVINE MICHELANGELO

THE STORY OF THE GREATEST RENAISSANCE ARTISTS
PRESENTED IN TWO BBC ART DOCUMENTARIES

Leonardo - The story of the most imaginative mind in human history as it's never been told before. Artist, scientist and engineer, Leonardo was one of the greatest figures of the Renaissance and yet only a handful of facts are known about him. He ate and drank with the most powerful men of his day yet always remained an outsider. This is the portrait of a genius of extraordinary diversity who lived a rollercoaster life of success and failure.

The Divine Michelangelo - Unveiling the man behind the myth. Five hundred years ago, Michelangelo created three of the art world's greatest icons: the statue of David, the painted ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican and the dome of St Peter's in Rome. This revealing drama documentary traces his development from angry young man to pride of Rome.

Source: BBC http://www.bbcshop.com/Drama+Arts/Leonardo-The-Divine-Michelangelo-DVD/invt/bbcdvd1558

Leonardo was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award in 2004 and an RTS Television Award in 2003.

See the list of episodes and other details under Additional information.

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Additional information

Starring	Susannah York (narrator), Mark Rylance, Che Cartwright, James Faulkner, James Frain, Adam Croasdell, Christopher Benjamin, Kai Portman, Dolya Ciavanski, Alessandro Dieli, Ted Rusoff, Stephen Noonan, Roy Holder, Remo Masini, Alessandro Riccio, Daniele Favilli, Andrea Pericoli, Massimo Alì, Maurizio Bartoli, Roberto Maltagliati
Format	Box set, Colour, PAL
Main soundtrack	English or Greek (selectable) Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles	Greek
Special features	-
Region
Aspect ratio	16:9
Number of discs	2
Classification	BBFC
Studio	2 Entertain Video
DVD release date	23 Aug 2004 in the UK
Run time	270 minutes (4 hours 30 mins)
EAN	-

List of episodes

Disc 1 - Leonardo Da Vinci

Episode 1: The Man Who Wanted to Know Everything

Episode 2: Dangerous Liaisons

Episode 3: The Secret Life of the Mona Lisa

Disc 2 - The Divine Michelangelo

Episode 1:

Michelangelo's path to success was plagued with difficulties.

Episode one traces the troubled origins of his genius, from boyhood beatings from his father, to fights with fellow artists. His father's feeling that his obsession with art would bring disgrace to the family failed to deter the young, determined Michelangelo. Inspiration to become a sculptor came early, when his father sent him to a wet-nurse whose husband was a stonemason. By the time he reached his teens he showed precocious talent and at the age of 25 he was a rising star.

The tempestuous young Michelangelo made a name for himself as an art faker and his first major commission was rejected by his patron. One night, gripped by rage and driven by a determination to ensure the world knew who he was, he carved his name across the breast of his first masterpiece, the Pietà.

Then, aged 26, he took on the seemingly impossible challenge of sculpting a colossal statue of the biblical hero, David, from one piece of flawed marble. The towering nude, over five metres tall, took more than two years to complete but established Michelangelo as the greatest sculptor alive, immortalising him forever.

This episode shows sculptor Romolo Burati as he recreates key features of the David's face, conveying the sheer skill and craft embodied in Michelangelo's exquisite work.

Having created this great masterpiece, Michelangelo's next challenge was to design a structure to transport the sculpture, which weighed several tons, across the uneven roads without the giant crashing to the ground.

It was no mean feat even by today's standards.

To illustrate the technical skills that Michelangelo displayed, the programme enlists engineer Nick McLean to follow in Michelangelo's footsteps. Using illustrations and a diary entry from an eye witness, he develops a structure to shift the replica David through the cobbled Italian streets. It becomes clear that Michelangelo's commission to carve the David proved him to be not only a master sculptor, but also a thoroughly able engineer.

Episode 2:

The story of Michelangelo's titanic struggle to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, one of the artistic marvels of the world, is told in the second episode of The Divine Michelangelo.

Imagine the torture of painting an area the size of a football pitch, 20 metres off the ground...

From 1508 to 1512 this is exactly what Michelangelo was forced to do by Pope Julius II who commissioned him to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo viewed it as a trap set by his enemies in the Vatican and was horrified that he would have to stoop to what he considered the lowly and inferior craft of painting. What he really wanted to do was carve the Pope's tomb - a saga in itself, which would haunt him for years to come.

As Michelangelo confronted the huge expanse of the ceiling, he quickly ran into huge difficulties and ended up destroying his own work. This programme explores some of the main challenges he faced by recruiting two modern fresco artists - Fleur Kelly and Leo Stevenson - to produce at a church in Leyton, east London, their own version of the iconic scene where God creates Adam.

After four years of struggle and disappointment, the Sistine Chapel ceiling was complete. But the Pope was dissatisfied with the heavenly creation and demanded changes, such as the addition of more gold and blue, as he felt it looked too poor. Michelangelo, made ill by his trials, was not amused. But 25 years later he did return to the Sistine Chapel to paint the fresco of The Last Judgement on the altar wall.

Having established his genius as a sculptor and painter Michelangelo went on to completely change the Roman skyline with his architectural designs. He broke many of the accepted rules of architecture, creating terrifically original and beautiful work, culminating in the dome of St Peter's. He was obsessed by this final project for the rest of his life. He saw it as a deeply spiritual task that would assure him a place in history and in heaven.

In his later years, Michelangelo's poetry also blossomed. Struck by true love for a young Roman nobleman named Cavalieri he was inspired to write some of his most moving verses.

When Michelangelo died at the age of 88 he left a fortune, including 8,000 gold coins in a walnut chest by his bed and numerous farms in Tuscany. He lived a simple, frugal existence but was also the richest, and most famous, artist ever to have lived.

Source: DocuWiki http://docuwiki.net/index.php?title=Divine_Michelangelo