sketches for the Baptism of Christ, which was to be one of the scenes in the fresco of the Tornabuoni Choir. Though Ghirlandaio never mentions their conversation about the figure of Christ again, Michelangelo sees his preferred Christ in Ghirlandaio’s finished figure: “The legs twisted in an angular position, a little knock-kneed; the chest, shoulders and arms those of a man who had carried logs and built houses; with a rounded, protruding stomach that had absorbed its quantity of food: in its power and reality far outdistancing any of the still-life set figures that Ghirlandaio had as yet painted for the Tornabuoni Choir.” (From Book Two, but about the same painting) Michelangelo “sketched his roughhewn young contandino just in from the fields, naked except for his brache, kneeling to take off his clodhoppers; the flesh tones a sunburned amber, the figure clumsy, with graceless bumpkin muscles; but the face transfused with light as the young lad gazed up at John. Behind him, he did two white-bearded assistants to John, with beauty in their faces and a rugged power in their figures. He experimented with flesh tones from his paint pots, enjoyed this culminating physical effort of bringing his figures to life, clothing them in warm-colored lemon-yellow and rose robes.” Other Michelangelo "watched Ghirlandaio complete a portrait of Giovanna Tournabouni" "Michelangelo .. was studying the pure gold sculptures of Ghiberti's second set of doors", famously describing them as "the gates of paradise" In popular culture The book is mentioned in John Guare's 1990 play Six Degrees of Separation as a book Paul, the protagonist, had recently completed. In the 2008 Mad Men season 2 episode "Flight 1", Peggy Olson's mother tells her daughters: "I have to renew The Agony and the Ecstasy; it's taking forever". In the autobiographical adventure book Minus 148°, author Art Davidson mentions that he is reading The Agony and the Ecstasy while waiting out a blizzard on the first winter ascent of Denali. References External links Irving Stone. I, Michelangelo, Sculptor. 1962. Michelangelo's letters. Translated by Dr. Charles Speroni, professor of Italian at the University of California, Los Angeles. Also includes a "list of characters." 1961 American novels American novels adapted into films Biographical novels Cultural depictions of Michelangelo Cultural depictions of Raphael Doubleday (publisher) books Novels about artists Novels by Irving Stone Novels set in the Renaissance Novels set in Vatican City