The personalities of artists often lie hidden behind veils of fact, myth, and hearsay. Seizing on clues found in hundreds of contemporary documents, many in the artist's own hand, a scholar-detective redefines Michelangelo from his earliest relationships to the days of his heroic labor on the Sistine Chapel.

In James Beck's account, three men perceived and helped shape Michelangelo's creative powers. His stern father, Lodovico, instilled in him a rigorous work ethic. Their relationship, however, would be defined by bitterness: Lodovico longed for his son to train for a lucrative occupation, perhaps as a merchant or a lawyer, vigorously opposing Michelangelo's desire to become a painter.

Even after Michelangelo achieved fame, he wrote Lodovico that "all the difficulties I have undergone, I always did for your love." At a critical juncture in Michelangelo's youth, support came from the most powerful man in Florence, the imperious ruler Lorenzo de'Medici.

In his late twenties, Michelangelo began his third crucial alliance, this time with the recently elected Pope Julius II, in Rome. Three Worlds of Michelangelo offers an entirely new approach to understanding the mind, temperament, and sexuality of an unparalleled artist who, even in his own time, was called divine.