The Agony and the Ecstasy
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Agony and the Ecstasy (1961) is a biographical novel of Michelangelo Buonarroti written by American author Irving Stone. Stone lived in Italy for years visiting many of the locations in Rome and Florence, worked in marble quarries, and apprenticed himself to a marble sculptor. A primary source for the novel is Michelangelo's correspondence, all 495 letters of which Stone had translated from Italian by Charles Speroni, published in 1962 as I, Michelangelo, Sculptor. The Italian government lauded Stone with several honorary awards for his cultural achievements highlighting Italian history.
Stone wrote a number of biographical novels but this one and Lust for Life are his most well known, in large part because both had major Hollywood film adaptations. The novel was adapted to film in The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) starring Charlton Heston.
