This book is a significant contribution to our understanding of the theology of Michelangelo. In a series of sustained commentaries on Michelangelo’s religious poetry, the author places Michelangelo’s poetic writing in a broad context extending from the Bible to Augustine, Dante, Petrarch, Landino, and Vittoria Colonna, among others. Although Prodan’s readings of the poetry have more to do with theological matters seen in a broad religious context than with a reading of the poetry for its aesthetic value, there are some nice moments of appreciation, as when she enjoys the “witty marine allegory that evokes the first tercet of Dante’s Purgatorio.” Whereas Dante’s sails are famously hoisted by his genius, Michelangelo’s are deflated since there is no wind, and so he loses his way.

Such playfulness is of a piece with that found in Michelangelo’s poem “I’sto rinchiuso come la midolla.” Here Michelangelo, adapting the conventional marine imagery that Prodan explicates so beautifully, laments that because he aspired to make so many frivolous things, he is like the person who crossed the sea only to drown in snot. I think it fair to say that the scholarly emphasis on Michelangelo’s more obviously religious poetry has over time cast into the shadows the humor of his comic poems, where, for example, he is elevated into heaven like a ball that has been punched upon its first bounce. Even this kind of still-undervalued comic self-mocking poetry is rooted in Michelangelo’s theology and cannot be separated from it.

Prodan’s book will be of obvious interest not only to scholars of religion, social history, and literature, but also to art historians. She reminds us implicitly how problematic art historical interpretation can be when we describe works of art. Speaking of Michelangelo’s Temptation scene in the Sistine ceiling, she observes Eve “passively reclining on the barren land below” Adam, whereas art historians will remark that Eve is quite active, reaching for the fruit being offered by Satan. They might also observe that Eve is no less active turning her face away from the groin of Adam, another highly suggestive visual commentary on the forbidden fruit.

Prodan is always stimulating. Her lengthy disquisitions on Saint Augustine are highly suggestive. Art historians have perhaps not dealt sufficiently with Michelangelo’s thinking about the Augustinian perfection of the resurrected body. The beauty of the Resurrected Christ was seemingly intended to make visible the perfection of the body after the resurrection. Maybe modern taste, which has not been overly favorable to this work, has prevented us from seeing the close relations in Michelangelo’s statue between aesthetics and spirituality — a relationship that became more and more problematical for Michelangelo over time.

One of the most valuable sections of Prodan’s tome is the discussion of Michelangelo’s spiritual poetry in relation to the tradition of hymns. This is a very highly suggestive approach, because Renaissance works of art are in themselves a form of wordless prayer. Indeed, they often include a few words from a prayer, which are a key to the worshipful beholder, who is thus prompted to recite or chant the prayer in full. Although the tradition of laude is well known to art historians, the subject of the relationship of prayers to works of art is still understudied. Prodran’s discussion moves us further along in the right direction. The author makes another valuable contribution with her close analysis of Michelangelo’s pictorial invention of the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Her discussion of how both figures point to the water in the well as they gaze into each other’s eyes suggests a depth of meaning that is as profound as it is difficult to articulate.

Ultimately, the full meaning of Michelangelo’s devotional works in his last years eludes us. When we contemplate some of his late Crucifixion drawings, for example, we encounter figures that are mystically embodied spirits. In short, Prodan provides us with a solid foundation for approaching these hauntingly elusive images. Hers is a very stimulating book.