The great Renaissance artist, Michelangelo Buonarotti, il divino, is renowned for his many artistic masterpieces. It is less known that he wrote over 300 poems, many of them expressing his profound feelings, beliefs and conflicts about art and life. Through original poems, translations and drawings, the poet Caroline Maldonado and artist, Garry Kennard, offer a personal response in homage to Michelangelo’s visual and written work.
This book was on sale at the Royal Academy of Arts in London during their exhibition,’Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael’ running from 9 November 2024 to 16 February 2025.
Comments on ‘Mirror and Stone’
The poems and drawings do a truly remarkable job in capturing the essence of late Michelangelo.
Professor Martin Kemp. Emeritus Professor of the History of Art, Trinity College, Oxford
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This small but eloquent book is marked by lines of grace, dignity and delight.
Sasha Dugdale, poet and translator
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An extraordinary feat of poetic and visual empathy.
Ruth Valentin, Poet
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One of the achievements in the beautifully realised book is how through a variety of forms Caroline Maldonado’s cool, thoughtful poems, gradually build a multi-dimensional picture of the psychology of one of the greatest artists of all time. Michelangelo’s creations, so tensioned with life, are shown in stark contrast to the artist himself, who emerges human but as constrained as a living statue.
Richard Price, author of Late Gifts.
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Copies of the book are £10 plus £3.00 p&p. Please order from Garry Kennard’s email addresses below.
About the author and artist
Publications of Caroline Maldonado’s poetry include What they say in Avenale (IDP 2014) and Faultlines (Vole Books 2022). Her four translations of Italian poets were published by Smokestack Books (2013-2022). Among them is Isabella (2019) a collection of the poetry of Renaissance poet, Isabella Morra, together with Maldonado’s own poems in response to the poet’s life, commended in the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation (2019).
Contact Caroline: at caroline.maldonado@ntlworld.com
Garry Kennard (www.garrykennard.com) is an artist, illustrator, writer and founding director of Art and Mind (artandmind.org.uk). His latest books are Circlings, The Lost Traveller’s Dream, The Lemon Tree Suite and Dance. He has recently illustrated The Darker the Night, The Brighter the Stars by neuropsychologist and author Paul Broks. His paintings are in many private collections in the UK and abroad. Garry Kennard has lectured on art and the brain in many venues in the UK.
Contact Garry at: garry.kennard@btopenworld.com
