In 1547 the Florentine philosopher Benedetto Varchi gave some lectures, denominated Lezione about Michelangelo's sonnet Non há l'ottimo artista alcun concetto and the issue of superiority of sculpture, painting or poetry in the hierarchy of arts. Varchi added to his lectures, published in 1550, letters written by famous Florentine artists and by Michelangelo himself. Taking Lezione de Varchi as a point of departure this text intend to contribute to understand how Michelangelo's poetry express his thought toward sculpture and the artist creation and how it has influenced the theoretical interpretation of the master's work at his time.
history of the art criticism; high Renaissance italian art; history of sculpture