Michelangelo's Dream of Human Life is one of the finest of all Italian Renaissance drawings and is among the Courtauld Gallery's greatest treasures. Executed at the height of the artist's career, this magnificent work exemplifies Michelangelo's unrivalled skill as draughtsman and his extraordinary powers of invention. --Accompanying an exhibition, this catalogue will explored the making and meaning of this celebrated drawing in the context of closely related works by Michelangelo and his contemporaries. A rarely viewed group of letters and poems by Michelangelo will shed further light on this Renaissance masterpiece. --The book accompanies an exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery, London.-.