Michelangelo biographer to speak Nov. 13 at Sheldon Art Gallery

William Wallace, an internationally recognized authority on Michelangelo and his contemporaries, will deliver the next Geske Lecture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

His lecture, "'The Biggest Ass in the World:' Michelangelo as Writer," begins at 7 p.m. Nov. 13 in the auditorium of Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, 12th and R streets. The event is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the lecture in Sheldon's Great Hall.

Wallace, the Barbara Murphy Bryant distinguished professor of art history at Washington University in St. Louis, reveals Michelangelo the man through his written correspondence. The title of his lecture refers to a letter Michelangelo (1475-1564) wrote to his nephew, Lionardo, expressing his exasperation with his lamentable inability to write properly: "I do not know where you learnt to write. If you had to write the biggest ass in the world, I believe you would write with more care."

Wallace received his Ph.D. in art history from Columbia University in New York in 1983. Professor and chair of the department of art history and archaeology at Washington University, he teaches Renaissance art and architecture (1300-1700) and is an internationally recognized authority on Michelangelo and his contemporaries.

In addition to more than 50 scholarly articles and two works of fiction, he is the author and editor of four different books on Michelangelo, most-recently "Michelangelo: Selected Scholarship in English" (Garland, 1999). He is at work on a biography of Michelangelo.

The Norman and Jane Geske Lectureship in the History of the Arts was established in 1995 through the generosity of Norman and Jane Geske and features noted scholars in the history of visual arts, music, theatre, dance, film or architecture. The lectures are intended to advance the understanding and appreciation of the arts with creative writing and thinking that reflect the importance of historical perspective of the arts.