Emil Ludwig

Three Titans Emil Ludwig

Profiles of Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Beethoven. Even in their destinies the three masters are comparable, for their characters were essentially akin and so drew down on each a similar fate. They were all, throughout life, misanthropical, enigmatic, distrustful; and at certain periods each approached the borderland of madness. Despite their prodigious successes, all three had been perpetually in conflict with the world; Michelangelo strove for power, Rembrandt for luxury, Beethoven for love; but each attained his desire only by fits and starts, and always at the cost of bitter experiences. All three lost the few men and women whom they loved.