Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) was already in his lifetime the most celebrated and influential artist in Europe. These dialogues record his participation in the discussions about art hosted by Vittoria Colonna, Michelangelo's closest friend (and for whom he made some of his most poignant images). Michelangelo's opinions and ambitions during the period when he was painting the "Last Judgement" come vividly to life, as does the cultivated and passionate world in which he moved. No other text brings us so close to Michelangelo the artist, poet and thinker.