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diff --git a/old/11242-8.txt b/old/11242-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..03287db --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11242-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18271 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti +by John Addington Symonds + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti + +Author: John Addington Symonds + +Release Date: February 23, 2004 [EBook #11242] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHELANGELO *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Keith M. Eckrich and the PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE LIFE OF MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI + +By JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS + + +TO THE CAVALIERE GUIDO BIAGI, DOCTOR IN LETTERS, PREFECT OF THE +MEDICEO-LAURENTIAN LIBRARY, ETC., ETC. + +I DEDICATE THIS WORK ON MICHELANGELO IN RESPECT FOR HIS SCHOLARSHIP +AND LEARNING ADMIRATION OF HIS TUSCAN STYLE AND GRATEFUL +ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF HIS GENEROUS ASSISTANCE + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. BIRTH, BOYHOOD, YOUTH AT FLORENCE, DOWN TO LORENZO DE' MEDICI'S + DEATH. 1475-1492. + + II. FIRST VISITS TO BOLOGNA AND ROME--THE MADONNA DELLA FEBBRE AND + OTHER WORKS IN MARBLE. 1492-1501. + + III. RESIDENCE IN FLORENCE--THE DAVID. 1501-1505. + + IV. JULIUS II. CALLS MICHELANGELO TO ROME--PROJECT FOR THE POPE'S + TOMB--THE REBUILDING OF S. PETER'S--FLIGHT FROM ROME--CARTOON + FOR THE BATTLE OF PISA. 1505, 1506. + + V. SECOND VISIT TO BOLOGNA--THE BRONZE STATUE OF JULIUS + II--PAINTING OF THE SISTINE VAULT. 1506-1512. + + VI. ON MICHELANGELO AS DRAUGHTSMAN, PAINTER, SCULPTOR. + + VII. LEO X. PLANS FOR THE CHURCH OF S. LORENZO AT + FLORENCE--MICHELANGELO'S LIFE AT CARRARA. 1513-1521. + +VIII. ADRIAN VI AND CLEMENT VII--THE SACRISTY AND LIBRARY OF S. + LORENZO. 1521-1526. + + IX. SACK OF ROME AND SIEGE OF FLORENCE--MICHELANGELO'S FLIGHT TO + VENICE--HIS RELATIONS TO THE MEDICI. 1527-1534. + + X. ON MICHELANGELO AS ARCHITECT. + + XI. FINAL SETTLEMENT IN ROME--PAUL III.--THE LAST JUDGMENT AND THE + PAOLINE CHAPEL--THE TOMB OF JULIUS. 1535-1542. + + XII. VITTORIA COLONNA AND TOMMASO CAVALIERI--MICHELANGELO AS POET AND + MAN OF FEELING. + +XIII. MICHELANGELO APPOINTED ARCHITECT-IN-CHIEF AT THE + VATICAN--HISTORY OF S. PETER'S. 1542-1557. + + XIV. LAST YEARS OF LIFE--MICHELANGELO'S PORTRAITS--ILLNESS OF OLD + AGE. 1557-1564. + + XV. DEATH AT ROME--BURIAL AND OBSEQUIES AT + FLORENCE--ANECDOTES--ESTIMATE OF MICHELANGELO AS MAN AND ARTIST. + + + + +THE LIFE OF MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI + + +CHAPTER I + + +I + +The Buonarroti Simoni, to whom Michelangelo belonged, were a +Florentine family of ancient burgher nobility. Their arms appear to +have been originally "azure two bends or." To this coat was added "a +label of four points gules inclosing three fleur-de-lys or." That +augmentation, adopted from the shield of Charles of Anjou, occurs upon +the scutcheons of many Guelf houses and cities. In the case of the +Florentine Simoni, it may be ascribed to the period when Buonarrota di +Simone Simoni held office as a captain of the Guelf party (1392). +Such, then, was the paternal coat borne by the subject of this Memoir. +His brother Buonarroto received a further augmentation in 1515 from +Leo X., to wit: "upon a chief or, a pellet azure charged with +fleur-de-lys or, between the capital letters L. and X." At the same +time he was created Count Palatine. The old and simple bearing of the +two bends was then crowded down into the extreme base of the shield, +while the Angevine label found room beneath the chief. + +According to a vague tradition, the Simoni drew their blood from the +high and puissant Counts of Canossa. Michelangelo himself believed in +this pedigree, for which there is, however, no foundation in fact, and +no heraldic corroboration. According to his friend and biographer +Condivi, the sculptor's first Florentine ancestor was a Messer Simone +dei Conti di Canossa, who came in 1250 as Podestà to Florence. "The +eminent qualities of this man gained for him admission into the +burghership of the city, and he was appointed captain of a Sestiere; +for Florence in those days was divided into Sestieri, instead of +Quartieri, as according to the present usage." Michelangelo's +contemporary, the Count Alessandro da Canossa, acknowledged this +relationship. Writing on the 9th of October 1520, he addresses the +then famous sculptor as "honoured kinsman," and gives the following +piece of information: "Turning over my old papers, I have discovered +that a Messere Simone da Canossa was Podestà of Florence, as I have +already mentioned to the above-named Giovanni da Reggio." +Nevertheless, it appears now certain that no Simone da Canossa held +the office of Podestà at Florence in the thirteenth century. The +family can be traced up to one Bernardo, who died before the year +1228. His grandson was called Buonarrota, and the fourth in descent +was Simone. These names recur frequently in the next generations. +Michelangelo always addressed his father as "Lodovico di Lionardo di +Buonarrota Simoni," or "Louis, the son of Leonard, son of Buonarrota +Simoni;" and he used the family surname of Simoni in writing to his +brothers and his nephew Lionardo. Yet he preferred to call himself +Michelangelo Buonarroti; and after his lifetime Buonarroti became +fixed for the posterity of his younger brother. "The reason," says +Condivi, "why the family in Florence changed its name from Canossa to +Buonarroti was this: Buonarroto continued for many generations to be +repeated in their house, down to the time of Michelangelo, who had a +brother of that name; and inasmuch as several of these Buonarroti held +rank in the supreme magistracy of the republic, especially the brother +I have just mentioned, who filled the office of Prior during Pope +Leo's visit to Florence, as may be read in the annals of that city, +this baptismal name, by force of frequent repetition, became the +cognomen of the whole family; the more easily, because it is the +custom at Florence, in elections and nominations of officers, to add +the Christian names of the father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and +sometimes even of remoter ancestors, to that of each citizen. +Consequently, through the many Buonarroti who followed one another, +and from the Simone who was the first founder of the house in +Florence, they gradually came to be called Buonarroti Simoni, which is +their present designation." Excluding the legend about Simone da +Canossa, this is a pretty accurate account of what really happened. +Italian patronymics were formed indeed upon the same rule as those of +many Norman families in Great Britain. When the use of Di and Fitz +expired, Simoni survived from Di Simone, as did my surname Symonds +from Fitz-Symond. + +On the 6th of March 1475, according to our present computation, +Lodovico di Lionardo Buonarroti Simoni wrote as follows in his private +notebook: "I record that on this day, March 6, 1474, a male child was +born to me. I gave him the name of Michelangelo, and he was born on a +Monday morning four or five hours before daybreak, and he was born +while I was Podestà of Caprese, and he was born at Caprese; and the +godfathers were those I have named below. He was baptized on the +eighth of the same month in the Church of San Giovanni at Caprese. +These are the godfathers:-- + + DON DANIELLO DI SER BUONAGUIDA of Florence, +Rector of San Giovanni at Caprese; + DON ANDREA DI .... of Poppi, Rector of the Abbey + of Diasiano (_i.e._, Dicciano); + JACOPO DI FRANCESCO of Casurio (?); + MARCO DI GIORGIO of Caprese; + GIOVANNI DI BIAGIO of Caprese; + ANDREA DI BIAGIO of Caprese; + FRANCESCO DI JACOPO DEL ANDUINO (?) of Caprese; + SER BARTOLOMMEO DI SANTI DEL LANSE (?), Notary." + +Note that the date is March 6, 1474, according to Florentine usage _ab +incarnatione_, and according to the Roman usage, _a nativitate_, it is +1475. + +Vasari tells us that the planets were propitious at the moment of +Michelangelo's nativity: "Mercury and Venus having entered with benign +aspect into the house of Jupiter, which indicated that marvellous and +extraordinary works, both of manual art and intellect, were to be +expected from him." + + +II + +Caprese, from its beauty and remoteness, deserved to be the birthplace +of a great artist. It is not improbable that Lodovico Buonarroti and +his wife Francesca approached it from Pontassieve in Valdarno, +crossing the little pass of Consuma, descending on the famous +battle-field of Campaldino, and skirting the ancient castle of the +Conti Guidi at Poppi. Every step in the romantic journey leads over +ground hallowed by old historic memories. From Poppi the road descends +the Arno to a richly cultivated district, out of which emerges on its +hill the prosperous little town of Bibbiena. High up to eastward +springs the broken crest of La Vernia, a mass of hard millstone rock +(_macigno_) jutting from desolate beds of lime and shale at the height +of some 3500 feet above the sea. It was here, among the sombre groves +of beech and pine which wave along the ridge, that S. Francis came to +found his infant Order, composed the Hymn to the Sun, and received the +supreme honour of the stigmata. To this point Dante retired when the +death of Henry VII. extinguished his last hopes for Italy. At one +extremity of the wedge-like block which forms La Vernia, exactly on +the watershed between Arno and Tiber, stands the ruined castle of +Chiusi in Casentino. This was one of the two chief places of Lodovico +Buonarroti's podesteria. It may be said to crown the valley of the +Arno; for the waters gathered here flow downwards toward Arezzo, and +eventually wash the city walls of Florence. A few steps farther, +travelling south, we pass into the valley of the Tiber, and, after +traversing a barren upland region for a couple of hours, reach the +verge of the descent upon Caprese. Here the landscape assumes a softer +character. Far away stretch blue Apennines, ridge melting into ridge +above Perugia in the distance. Gigantic oaks begin to clothe the stony +hillsides, and little by little a fertile mountain district of +chestnut-woods and vineyards expands before our eyes, equal in charm +to those aërial hills and vales above Pontremoli. Caprese has no +central commune or head-village. It is an aggregate of scattered +hamlets and farmhouses, deeply embosomed in a sea of greenery. Where +the valley contracts and the infant Tiber breaks into a gorge, rises a +wooded rock crowned with the ruins of an ancient castle. It was here, +then, that Michelangelo first saw the light. When we discover that he +was a man of more than usually nervous temperament, very different in +quality from any of his relatives, we must not forget what a fatiguing +journey had been performed by his mother, who was then awaiting her +delivery. Even supposing that Lodovico Buonarroti travelled from +Florence by Arezzo to Caprese, many miles of rough mountain-roads must +have been traversed by her on horseback. + + +III + +Ludovico, who, as we have seen, was Podestà of Caprese and of Chiusi +in the Casentino, had already one son by his first wife, Francesca, +the daughter of Neri di Miniato del Sera and Bonda Rucellai. This +elder brother, Lionardo, grew to manhood, and become a devoted +follower of Savonarola. Under the influence of the Ferrarese friar, he +determined to abjure the world, and entered the Dominican Order in +1491. We know very little about him, and he is only once mentioned in +Michelangelo's correspondence. Even this reference cannot be +considered certain. Writing to his father from Rome, July 1, 1497, +Michelangelo says: "I let you know that Fra Lionardo returned hither +to Rome. He says that he was forced to fly from Viterbo, and that his +frock had been taken from him, wherefore he wished to go there +(_i.e._, to Florence). So I gave him a golden ducat, which he asked +for; and I think you ought already to have learned this, for he should +be there by this time." When Lionardo died is uncertain. We only know +that he was in the convent of S. Mark at Florence in the year 1510. +Owing to this brother's adoption of the religious life, Michelangelo +became, early in his youth, the eldest son of Lodovico's family. It +will be seen that during the whole course of his long career he acted +as the mainstay of his father, and as father to his younger brothers. +The strength and the tenacity of his domestic affections are very +remarkable in a man who seems never to have thought of marrying. +"Art," he used to say, "is a sufficiently exacting mistress." Instead +of seeking to beget children for his own solace, he devoted himself to +the interests of his kinsmen. + +The office of Podestà lasted only six months, and at the expiration of +this term Lodovico returned to Florence. He put the infant +Michelangelo out to nurse in the village of Settignano, where the +Buonarroti Simoni owned a farm. Most of the people of that district +gained their livelihood in the stone-quarries around Settignano and +Maiano on the hillside of Fiesole. Michelangelo's foster-mother was +the daughter and the wife of stone-cutters. "George," said he in +after-years to his friend Vasari, "if I possess anything of good in my +mental constitution, it comes from my having been born in your keen +climate of Arezzo; just as I drew the chisel and the mallet with which +I carve statues in together with my nurse's milk." + +When Michelangelo was of age to go to school, his father put him under +a grammarian at Florence named Francesco da Urbino. It does not +appear, however, that he learned more than reading and writing in +Italian, for later on in life we find him complaining that he knew no +Latin. The boy's genius attracted him irresistibly to art. He spent +all his leisure time in drawing, and frequented the society of youths +who were apprenticed to masters in painting and sculpture. Among these +he contracted an intimate friendship with Francesco Granacci, at that +time in the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandajo. Granacci used to lend +him drawings by Ghirlandajo, and inspired him with the resolution to +become a practical artist. Condivi says that "Francesco's influence, +combined with the continual craving of his nature, made him at last +abandon literary studies. This brought the boy into disfavour with his +father and uncles, who often used to beat him severely; for, being +insensible to the excellence and nobility of Art, they thought it +shameful to give her shelter in their house. Nevertheless, albeit +their opposition caused him the greatest sorrow, it was not sufficient +to deter him from his steady purpose. On the contrary, growing even +bolder he determined to work in colours." Condivi, whose narrative +preserves for us Michelangelo's own recollections of his youthful +years, refers to this period the painted copy made by the young +draughtsman from a copper-plate of Martin Schöngauer. We should +probably be right in supposing that the anecdote is slightly +antedated. I give it, however, as nearly as possible in the +biographer's own words. "Granacci happened to show him a print of S. +Antonio tormented by the devils. This was the work of Martino +d'Olanda, a good artist for the times in which he lived; and +Michelangelo transferred the composition to a panel. Assisted by the +same friend with colours and brushes, he treated his subject in so +masterly a way that it excited surprise in all who saw it, and even +envy, as some say, in Domenico, the greatest painter of his age. In +order to diminish the extraordinary impression produced by this +picture, Ghirlandajo went about saying that it came out of his own +workshop, as though he had some part in the performance. While engaged +on this piece, which, beside the figure of the saint, contained many +strange forms and diabolical monstrosities, Michelangelo coloured no +particular without going first to Nature and comparing her truth with +his fancies. Thus he used to frequent the fish-market, and study the +shape and hues of fishes' fins, the colour of their eyes, and so forth +in the case of every part belonging to them; all of which details he +reproduced with the utmost diligence in his painting." Whether this +transcript from Schöngauer was made as early as Condivi reports may, +as I have said, be reasonably doubted. The anecdote is interesting, +however, as showing in what a naturalistic spirit Michelangelo began +to work. The unlimited mastery which he acquired over form, and which +certainly seduced him at the close of his career into a stylistic +mannerism, was based in the first instance upon profound and patient +interrogation of reality. + + +IV + +Lodovico perceived at length that it was useless to oppose his son's +natural bent. Accordingly, he sent him into Ghirlandajo's workshop. A +minute from Ghirlandajo's ledger, under the date 1488, gives +information regarding the terms of the apprenticeship. "I record this +first of April how I, Lodovico di Lionardo di Buonarrota, bind my son +Michelangelo to Domenico and Davit di Tommaso di Currado for the next +three ensuing years, under these conditions and contracts: to wit, +that the said Michelangelo shall stay with the above-named masters +during this time, to learn the art of painting, and to practise the +same, and to be at the orders of the above-named; and they, for their +part, shall give to him in the course of these three years twenty-four +florins (_fiorini di suggello_): to wit, six florins in the first +year, eight in the second, ten in the third; making in all the sum of +ninety-six pounds (_lire_)." A postscript, dated April 16th of the +same year, 1488, records that two florins were paid to Michelangelo +upon that day. + +It seems that Michelangelo retained no very pleasant memory of his +sojourn with the Ghirlandajo brothers. Condivi, in the passage +translated above, hints that Domenico was jealous of him. He proceeds +as follows: "This jealousy betrayed itself still more when +Michelangelo once begged the loan of a certain sketch-book, wherein +Domenico had portrayed shepherds with their flocks and watchdogs, +landscapes, buildings, ruins, and such-like things. The master refused +to lend it; and indeed he had the fame of being somewhat envious; for +not only showed he thus scant courtesy toward Michelangelo, but he +also treated his brother likewise, sending him into France when he saw +that he was making progress and putting forth great promise; and doing +this not so much for any profit to David, as that he might himself +remain the first of Florentine painters. I have thought fit to mention +these things, because I have been told that Domenico's son is wont to +ascribe the genius and divinity of Michelangelo in great part to his +father's teaching, whereas the truth is that he received no assistance +from that master. I ought, however, to add that Michelangelo does not +complain: on the contrary, he praises Domenico both as artist and as +man." + +This passage irritated Vasari beyond measure. He had written his first +Life of Michelangelo in 1550. Condivi published his own modest +biography in 1553, with the expressed intention of correcting errors +and supplying deficiencies made by "others," under which vague word he +pointed probably at Vasari. Michelangelo, who furnished Condivi with +materials, died in 1564; and Vasari, in 1568, issued a second enlarged +edition of the Life, into which he cynically incorporated what he +chose to steal from Condivi's sources. The supreme Florentine sculptor +being dead and buried, Vasari felt that he was safe in giving the lie +direct to this humble rival biographer. Accordingly, he spoke as +follows about Michelangelo's relations with Domenico Ghirlandajo: "He +was fourteen years of age when he entered that master's service, and +inasmuch as one (Condivi), who composed his biography after 1550, when +I had published these Lives for the first time, declares that certain +persons, from want of familiarity with Michelangelo, have recorded +things that did not happen, and have omitted others worthy of +relation; and in particular has touched upon the point at issue, +accusing Domenico of envy, and saying that he never rendered +Michelangelo assistance."--Here Vasari, out of breath with +indignation, appeals to the record of Lodovico's contract with the +Ghirlandajo brothers. "These minutes," he goes on to say, "I copied +from the ledger, in order to show that everything I formerly +published, or which will be published at the present time, is truth. +Nor am I acquainted with any one who had greater familiarity with +Michelangelo than I had, or who served him more faithfully in friendly +offices; nor do I believe that a single man could exhibit a larger +number of letters written with his own hand, or evincing greater +personal affection, than I can." + +This contention between Condivi and Vasari, our two contemporary +authorities upon the facts of Michelangelo's life, may not seem to be +a matter of great moment for his biographer after the lapse of four +centuries. Yet the first steps in the art-career of so exceptional a +genius possess peculiar interest. It is not insignificant to +ascertain, so far as now is possible, what Michelangelo owed to his +teachers. In equity, we acknowledge that Lodovico's record on the +ledger of the Ghirlandajo brothers proves their willingness to take +him as a prentice, and their payment to him of two florins in advance; +but the same record does not disprove Condivi's statement, derived +from his old master's reminiscences, to the effect that Domenico +Ghirlandajo was in no way greatly serviceable to him as an instructor. +The fault, in all probability, did not lie with Ghirlandajo alone. +Michelangelo, as we shall have occasions in plenty to observe, was +difficult to live with; frank in speech to the point of rudeness, +ready with criticism, incapable of governing his temper, and at no +time apt to work harmoniously with fellow-craftsmen. His extraordinary +force and originality of genius made themselves felt, undoubtedly, at +the very outset of his career; and Ghirlandajo may be excused if, +without being positively jealous of the young eagle settled in his +homely nest, he failed to do the utmost for this gifted and +rough-natured child of promise. Beethoven's discontent with Haydn as a +teacher offers a parallel; and sympathetic students of psychology will +perceive that Ghirlandajo and Haydn were almost superfluous in the +training of phenomenal natures like Michelangelo and Beethoven. + +Vasari, passing from controversy to the gossip of the studio, has +sketched a pleasant picture of the young Buonarroti in his master's +employ. "The artistic and personal qualities of Michelangelo developed +so rapidly that Domenico was astounded by signs of power in him beyond +the ordinary scope of youth. He perceived, in short, that he not only +surpassed the other students, of whom Ghirlandajo had a large number +under his tuition, but also that he often competed on an equality with +the master. One of the lads who worked there made a pen-drawing of +some women, clothed, from a design of Ghirlandajo. Michelangelo took +up the paper, and with a broader nib corrected the outline of a female +figure, so as to bring it into perfect truth to life. Wonderful it was +to see the difference of the two styles, and to note the judgment and +ability of a mere boy, so spirited and bold, who had the courage to +chastise his master's handiwork! This drawing I now preserve as a +precious relique, since it was given me by Granacci, that it might +take a place in my Book of Original Designs, together with others +presented to me by Michelangelo. In the year 1550, when I was in Rome, +I Giorgio showed it to Michelangelo, who recognised it immediately, +and was pleased to see it again, observing modestly that he knew more +about the art when he was a child than now in his old age. + +"It happened then that Domenico was engaged upon the great Chapel of +S. Maria Novella; and being absent one day, Michelangelo set himself +to draw from nature the whole scaffolding, with some easels and all +the appurtenances of the art, and a few of the young men at work +there. When Domenico returned and saw the drawing, he exclaimed: 'This +fellow knows more about it than I do,' and remained quite stupefied by +the new style and the new method of imitation, which a boy of years so +tender had received as a gift from heaven." + +Both Condivi and Vasari relate that, during his apprenticeship to +Ghirlandajo, Michelangelo demonstrated his technical ability by +producing perfect copies of ancient drawings, executing the facsimile +with consummate truth of line, and then dirtying the paper so as to +pass it off as the original of some old master. "His only object," +adds Vasari, "was to keep the originals, by giving copies in exchange; +seeing that he admired them as specimens of art, and sought to surpass +them by his own handling; and in doing this he acquired great renown." +We may pause to doubt whether at the present time--in the case, for +instance, of Shelley letters or Rossetti drawings--clever forgeries +would be accepted as so virtuous and laudable. But it ought to be +remembered that a Florentine workshop at that period contained masses +of accumulated designs, all of which were more or less the common +property of the painting firm. No single specimen possessed a high +market value. It was, in fact, only when art began to expire in Italy, +when Vasari published his extensive necrology and formed his famous +collection of drawings, that property in a sketch became a topic for +moral casuistry. + +Of Michelangelo's own work at this early period we possess probably +nothing except a rough scrawl on the plaster of a wall at Settignano. +Even this does not exist in its original state. The Satyr which is +still shown there may, according to Mr. Heath Wilson's suggestion, be +a _rifacimento_ from the master's hand at a subsequent period of his +career. + + +V + +Condivi and Vasari differ considerably in their accounts of +Michelangelo's departure from Ghirlandajo's workshop. The former +writes as follows: "So then the boy, now drawing one thing and now +another, without fixed place or steady line of study, happened one day +to be taken by Granacci into the garden of the Medici at San Marco, +which garden the magnificent Lorenzo, father of Pope Leo, and a man of +the first intellectual distinction, had adorned with antique statues +and other reliques of plastic art. When Michelangelo saw these things +and felt their beauty, he no longer frequented Domenico's shop, nor +did he go elsewhere, but, judging the Medicean gardens to be the best +school, spent all his time and faculties in working there." Vasari +reports that it was Lorenzo's wish to raise the art of sculpture in +Florence to the same level as that of painting; and for this reason he +placed Bertoldo, a pupil and follower of Donatello, over his +collections, with a special commission to aid and instruct the young +men who used them. With the same intention of forming an academy or +school of art, Lorenzo went to Ghirlandajo, and begged him to select +from his pupils those whom he considered the most promising. +Ghirlandajo accordingly drafted off Francesco Granacci and +Michelangelo Buonarroti. Since Michelangelo had been formally articled +by his father to Ghirlandajo in 1488, he can hardly have left that +master in 1489 as unceremoniously as Condivi asserts. Therefore we +may, I think, assume that Vasari upon this point has preserved the +genuine tradition. + +Having first studied the art of design and learned to work in colours +under the supervision of Ghirlandajo, Michelangelo now had his native +genius directed to sculpture. He began with the rudiments of +stone-hewing, blocking out marbles designed for the Library of San +Lorenzo, and acquiring that practical skill in the manipulation of the +chisel which he exercised all through his life. Condivi and Vasari +agree in relating that a copy he made for his own amusement from an +antique Faun first brought him into favourable notice with Lorenzo. +The boy had begged a piece of refuse marble, and carved a grinning +mask, which he was polishing when the Medici passed by. The great man +stopped to examine the work, and recognised its merit. At the same +time he observed with characteristic geniality: "Oh, you have made +this Faun quite old, and yet have left him all his teeth! Do you not +know that men of that great age are always wanting in one or two?" +Michelangelo took the hint, and knocked a tooth out from the upper +jaw. When Lorenzo saw how cleverly he had performed the task, he +resolved to provide for the boy's future and to take him into his own +household. So, having heard whose son he was, "Go," he said, "and tell +your father that I wish to speak with him." + +A mask of a grinning Faun may still be seen in the sculpture-gallery +of the Bargello at Florence, and the marble is traditionally assigned +to Michelangelo. It does not exactly correspond to the account given +by Condivi and Vasari; for the mouth shows only two large tusk-like +teeth, with the tip of the tongue protruding between them. Still, +there is no reason to feel certain that we may not have here +Michelangelo's first extant work in marble. + +"Michelangelo accordingly went home, and delivered the message of the +Magnificent. His father, guessing probably what he was wanted for, +could only be persuaded by the urgent prayers of Granacci and other +friends to obey the summons. Indeed, he complained loudly that Lorenzo +wanted to lead his son astray, abiding firmly by the principle that he +would never permit a son of his to be a stonecutter. Vainly did +Granacci explain the difference between a sculptor and a stone-cutter: +all his arguments seemed thrown away. Nevertheless, when Lodovico +appeared before the Magnificent, and was asked if he would consent to +give his son up to the great man's guardianship, he did not know how +to refuse. 'In faith,' he added, 'not Michelangelo alone, but all of +us, with our lives and all our abilities, are at the pleasure of your +Magnificence!' When Lorenzo asked what he desired as a favour to +himself, he answered: 'I have never practised any art or trade, but +have lived thus far upon my modest income, attending to the little +property in land which has come down from my ancestors; and it has +been my care not only to preserve these estates, but to increase them +so far as I was able by my industry.' The Magnificent then added: +'Well, look about, and see if there be anything in Florence which will +suit you. Make use of me, for I will do the utmost that I can for +you.' It so happened that a place in the Customs, which could only be +filled by a Florentine citizen, fell vacant shortly afterwards. Upon +this Lodovico returned to the Magnificent, and begged for it in these +words: 'Lorenzo, I am good for nothing but reading and writing. Now, +the mate of Marco Pucci in the Customs having died, I should like to +enter into this office, feeling myself able to fulfil its duties +decently.' The Magnificent laid his hand upon his shoulder, and said +with a smile: 'You will always be a poor man;' for he expected him to +ask for something far more valuable. Then he added: 'If you care to be +the mate of Marco, you can take the post, until such time as a better +becomes vacant.' It was worth eight crowns the month, a little more or +a little less." A document is extant which shows that Lodovico +continued to fill this office at the Customs till 1494, when the heirs +of Lorenzo were exiled; for in the year 1512, after the Medici +returned to Florence, he applied to Giuliano, Duke of Nemours, to be +reinstated in the same. + +If it is true, as Vasari asserts, that Michelangelo quitted +Ghirlandajo in 1489, and if Condivi is right in saying that he only +lived in the Casa Medici for about two years before the death of +Lorenzo, April 1492, then he must have spent some twelve months +working in the gardens at San Marco before the Faun's mask called +attention to his talents. His whole connection with Lorenzo, from the +spring of 1489 to the spring of 1492, lasted three years; and, since +he was born in March 1475, the space of his life covered by this +patronage extended from the commencement of his fifteenth to the +commencement of his eighteenth year. + +These three years were decisive for the development of his mental +faculties and special artistic genius. It is not necessary to enlarge +here upon Lorenzo de' Medici's merits and demerits, either as the +ruler of Florence or as the central figure in the history of the +Italian Renaissance. These have supplied stock topics for discussion +by all writers who have devoted their attention to that period of +culture. Still we must remember that Michelangelo enjoyed singular +privileges under the roof of one who was not only great as diplomatist +and politician, and princely in his patronage, but was also a man of +original genius in literature, of fine taste in criticism, and of +civil urbanity in manners. The palace of the Medici formed a museum, +at that period unique, considering the number and value of its art +treasures--bas-reliefs, vases, coins, engraved stones, paintings by +the best contemporary masters, statues in bronze and marble by +Verocchio and Donatello. Its library contained the costliest +manuscripts, collected from all quarters of Europe and the Levant. The +guests who assembled in its halls were leaders in that intellectual +movement which was destined to spread a new type of culture far and +wide over the globe. The young sculptor sat at the same board as +Marsilio Ficino, interpreter of Plato; Pico della Mirandola, the +phoenix of Oriental erudition; Angelo Poliziano, the unrivalled +humanist and melodious Italian poet; Luigi Pulci, the humorous +inventor of burlesque romance--with artists, scholars, students +innumerable, all in their own departments capable of satisfying a +youth's curiosity, by explaining to him the particular virtues of +books discussed, or of antique works of art inspected. During those +halcyon years, before the invasion of Charles VIII., it seemed as +though the peace of Italy might last unbroken. No one foresaw the +apocalyptic vials of wrath which were about to be poured forth upon +her plains and cities through the next half-century. Rarely, at any +period of the world's history, perhaps only in Athens between the +Persian and the Peloponnesian wars, has culture, in the highest and +best sense of that word, prospered more intelligently and pacifically +than it did in the Florence of Lorenzo, through the co-operation and +mutual zeal of men of eminence, inspired by common enthusiasms, and +labouring in diverse though cognate fields of study and production. + +Michelangelo's position in the house was that of an honoured guest or +adopted son. Lorenzo not only allowed him five ducats a month by way +of pocket-money, together with clothes befitting his station, but he +also, says Condivi, "appointed him a good room in the palace, together +with all the conveniences he desired, treating him in every respect, +as also at his table, precisely like one of his own sons. It was the +custom of this household, where men of the noblest birth and highest +public rank assembled round the daily board, for the guests to take +their places next the master in the order of their arrival; those who +were present at the beginning of the meal sat, each according to his +degree, next the Magnificent, not moving afterwards for any one who +might appear. So it happened that Michelangelo found himself +frequently seated above Lorenzo's children and other persons of great +consequence, with whom that house continually flourished and abounded. +All these illustrious men paid him particular attention, and +encouraged him in the honourable art which he had chosen. But the +chief to do so was the Magnificent himself, who sent for him +oftentimes in a day, in order that he might show him jewels, +cornelians, medals, and such-like objects of great rarity, as knowing +him to be of excellent parts and judgment in these things." It does +not appear that Michelangelo had any duties to perform or services to +render. Probably his patron employed him upon some useful work of the +kind suggested by Condivi. But the main business of his life in the +Casa Medici was to make himself a valiant sculptor, who in after years +should confer lustre on the city of the lily and her Medicean masters. +What he produced during this period seems to have become his own +property, for two pieces of statuary, presently to be described, +remained in the possession of his family, and now form a part of the +collection in the Casa Buonarroti. + + +VI + +Angelo Poliziano, who was certainly the chief scholar of his age in +the new learning, and no less certainly one of its truest poets in the +vulgar language, lived as tutor to Lorenzo's children in the palace of +the Medici at Florence. Benozzo Gozzoli introduced his portrait, +together with the portraits of his noble pupils, in a fresco of the +Pisan Campo Santo. This prince of humanists recommended Michelangelo +to treat in bas-relief an antique fable, involving the strife of young +heroes for some woman's person. Probably he was also able to point out +classical examples by which the boyish sculptor might be guided in the +undertaking. The subject made enormous demands upon his knowledge of +the nude. Adult and youthful figures, in attitudes of vehement attack +and resistance, had to be modelled; and the conditions of the myth +required that one at least of them should be brought into harmony with +equine forms. Michelangelo wrestled vigorously with these +difficulties. He produced a work which, though it is imperfect and +immature, brings to light the specific qualities of his inherent +art-capacity. The bas-relief, still preserved in the Casa Buonarroti +at Florence, is, so to speak, in fermentation with powerful +half-realised conceptions, audacities of foreshortening, attempts at +intricate grouping, violent dramatic action and expression. No +previous tradition, unless it was the genius of Greek or Greco-Roman +antiquity, supplied Michelangelo with the motive force for this +prentice-piece in sculpture. Donatello and other Florentines worked +under different sympathies for form, affecting angularity in their +treatment of the nude, adhering to literal transcripts from the model +or to conventional stylistic schemes. Michelangelo discarded these +limitations, and showed himself an ardent student of reality in the +service of some lofty intellectual ideal. Following and closely +observing Nature, he was also sensitive to the light and guidance of +the classic genius. Yet, at the same time, he violated the aesthetic +laws obeyed by that genius, displaying his Tuscan proclivities by +violent dramatic suggestions, and in loaded, overcomplicated +composition. Thus, in this highly interesting essay, the horoscope of +the mightiest Florentine artist was already cast. Nature leads him, +and he follows Nature as his own star bids. But that star is double, +blending classic influence with Tuscan instinct. The roof of the +Sistine was destined to exhibit to an awe-struck world what wealths of +originality lay in the artist thus gifted, and thus swayed by rival +forces. For the present, it may be enough to remark that, in the +geometrical proportions of this bas-relief, which is too high for its +length, Michelangelo revealed imperfect feeling for antique +principles; while, in the grouping of the figures, which is more +pictorial than sculpturesque, he already betrayed, what remained with +him a defect through life, a certain want of organic or symmetrical +design in compositions which are not rigidly subordinated to +architectural framework or limited to the sphere of an _intaglio_. + +Vasari mentions another bas-relief in marble as belonging to this +period, which, from its style, we may, I think, believe to have been +designed earlier than the Centaurs. It is a seated Madonna with the +Infant Jesus, conceived in the manner of Donatello, but without that +master's force and power over the lines of drapery. Except for the +interest attaching to it as an early work of Michelangelo, this piece +would not attract much attention. Vasari praises it for grace and +composition above the scope of Donatello; and certainly we may trace +here the first germ of that sweet and winning majesty which Buonarroti +was destined to develop in his Pietà of S. Peter, the Madonna at +Bruges, and the even more glorious Madonna of S. Lorenzo. It is also +interesting for the realistic introduction of a Tuscan cottage +staircase into the background. This bas-relief was presented to Cosimo +de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, by Michelangelo's nephew +Lionardo. It afterwards came back into the possession of the +Buonarroti family, and forms at present an ornament of their house at +Florence. + + +VII + +We are accustomed to think of Michelangelo as a self-withdrawn and +solitary worker, living for his art, avoiding the conflict of society, +immersed in sublime imaginings. On the whole, this is a correct +conception of the man. Many passages of his biography will show how +little he actively shared the passions and contentions of the stirring +times through which he moved. Yet his temperament exposed him to +sudden outbursts of scorn and anger, which brought him now and then +into violent collision with his neighbours. An incident of this sort +happened while he was studying under the patronage of Lorenzo de' +Medici, and its consequences marked him physically for life. The young +artists whom the Magnificent gathered round him used to practise +drawing in the Brancacci Chapel of the Carmine. There Masaccio and his +followers bequeathed to us noble examples of the grand style upon the +frescoed panels of the chapel walls. It was the custom of industrious +lads to make transcripts from those broad designs, some of which +Raphael deigned in his latest years to repeat, with altered manner, +for the Stanze of the Vatican and the Cartoons. Michelangelo went one +day into the Carmine with Piero Torrigiano and other comrades. What +ensued may best be reported in the narration which Torrigiano at a +later time made to Benvenuto Cellini. + +"This Buonarroti and I used, when we were boys, to go into the Church +of the Carmine to learn drawing from the chapel of Masaccio. It was +Buonarroti's habit to banter all who were drawing there; and one day, +when he was annoying me, I got more angry than usual, and, clenching +my fist, I gave him such a blow on the nose that I felt bone and +cartilage go down like biscuit beneath my knuckles; and this mark of +mine he will carry with him to the grave." The portraits of +Michelangelo prove that Torrigiano's boast was not a vain one. They +show a nose broken in the bridge. But Torrigiano, for this act of +violence, came to be regarded by the youth of Florence with aversion, +as one who had laid sacrilegious hands upon the sacred ark. Cellini +himself would have wiped out the insult with blood. Still Cellini knew +that personal violence was not in the line of Michelangelo's +character; for Michelangelo, according to his friend and best +biographer, Condivi, was by nature, "as is usual with men of sedentary +and contemplative habits, rather timorous than otherwise, except when +he is roused by righteous anger to resent unjust injuries or wrongs +done to himself or others, in which case he plucks up more spirit than +those who are esteemed brave; but, for the rest, he is most patient +and enduring." Cellini, then, knowing the quality of Michelangelo's +temper, and respecting him as a deity of art, adds to his report of +Torrigiano's conversation: "These words begat in me such hatred of the +man, since I was always gazing at the masterpieces of the divine +Michelangelo, that, although I felt a wish to go with him to England, +I now could never bear the sight of him." + + +VIII + +The years Michelangelo spent in the Casa Medici were probably the +blithest and most joyous of his lifetime. The men of wit and learning +who surrounded the Magnificent were not remarkable for piety or moral +austerity. Lorenzo himself found it politically useful "to occupy the +Florentines with shows and festivals, in order that they might think +of their own pastimes and not of his designs, and, growing unused to +the conduct of the commonwealth, might leave the reins of government +in his hands." Accordingly he devised those Carnival triumphs and +processions which filled the sombre streets of Florence with +Bacchanalian revellers, and the ears of her grave citizens with +ill-disguised obscenity. Lorenzo took part in them himself, and +composed several choruses of high literary merit to be sung by the +masqueraders. One of these carries a refrain which might be chosen as +a motto for the spirit of that age upon the brink of ruin:-- + + _Youths and maids, enjoy to-day: + Naught ye know about to-morrow!_ + +He caused the triumphs to be carefully prepared by the best artists, +the dresses of the masquers to be accurately studied, and their +chariots to be adorned with illustrative paintings. Michelangelo's old +friend Granacci dedicated his talents to these shows, which also +employed the wayward fancy of Piero di Cosimo and Pontormo's power as +a colourist. "It was their wont," says Il Lasca, "to go forth after +dinner; and often the processions paraded through the streets till +three or four hours into the night, with a multitude of masked men on +horseback following, richly dressed, exceeding sometimes three hundred +in number, and as many on foot with lighted torches. Thus they +traversed the city, singing to the accompaniment of music arranged for +four, eight, twelve, or even fifteen voices, and supported by various +instruments." Lorenzo represented the worst as well as the best +qualities of his age. If he knew how to enslave Florence, it was +because his own temperament inclined him to share the amusements of +the crowd, while his genius enabled him to invest corruption with +charm. His friend Poliziano entered with the zest of a poet and a +pleasure-seeker into these diversions. He helped Lorenzo to revive the +Tuscan Mayday games, and wrote exquisite lyrics to be sung by girls in +summer evenings on the public squares. This giant of learning, who +filled the lecture-rooms of Florence with Students of all nations, and +whose critical and rhetorical labours marked an epoch in the history +of scholarship, was by nature a versifier, and a versifier of the +people. He found nothing' easier than to throw aside his professor's +mantle and to improvise _ballate_ for women to chant as they danced +their rounds upon the Piazza di S. Trinità. The frontispiece to an old +edition of such lyrics represents Lorenzo surrounded with masquers in +quaint dresses, leading the revel beneath the walls of the Palazzo. +Another woodcut shows an angle of the Casa Medici in Via Larga, girls +dancing the _carola_ upon the street below, one with a wreath and +thyrsus kneeling, another presenting the Magnificent with a book of +loveditties. The burden of all this poetry was: "Gather ye roses while +ye may, cast prudence to the winds, obey your instincts." There is +little doubt that Michelangelo took part in these pastimes; for we +know that he was devoted to poetry, not always of the gravest kind. An +anecdote related by Cellini may here be introduced, since it +illustrates the Florentine customs I have been describing. "Luigi +Pulci was a young man who possessed extraordinary gifts for poetry, +together with sound Latin scholarship. He wrote well, was graceful in +manners, and of surpassing personal beauty. While he was yet a lad and +living in Florence, it was the habit of folk in certain places of the +city to meet together during the nights of summer on the open streets, +and he, ranking among the best of the improvisatori, sang there. His +recitations were so admirable that the divine Michelangelo, that +prince of sculptors and of painters, went, wherever he heard that he +would be, with the greatest eagerness and delight to listen to him. +There was a man called Piloto, a goldsmith, very able in his art, who, +together with myself, joined Buonarroti upon these occasions." In like +manner, the young Michelangelo probably attended those nocturnal +gatherings upon the steps of the Duomo which have been so graphically +described by Doni: "The Florentines seem to me to take more pleasure +in summer airings than any other folk; for they have, in the square of +S. Liberata, between the antique temple of Mars, now the Baptistery, +and that marvellous work of modern architecture, the Duomo: they have, +I say, certain steps of marble, rising to a broad flat space, upon +which the youth of the city come and lay themselves full length during +the season of extreme heat. The place is fitted for its purpose, +because a fresh breeze is always blowing, with the blandest of all +air, and the flags of white marble usually retain a certain coolness. +There then I seek my chiefest solace, when, taking my aërial flights, +I sail invisibly above them; see and hear their doings and discourses: +and forasmuch as they are endowed with keen and elevated +understanding, they always have a thousand charming things to relate; +as novels, intrigues, fables; they discuss duels, practical jokes, old +stories, tricks played off by men and women on each other: things, +each and all, rare, witty, noble, decent and in proper taste. I can +swear that during all the hours I spent in listening to their nightly +dialogues, I never heard a word that was not comely and of good +repute. Indeed, it seemed to me very remarkable, among such crowds of +young men, to overhear nothing but virtuous conversation." + +At the same period, Michelangelo fell under very different influences; +and these left a far more lasting impression on his character than the +gay festivals and witty word-combats of the lords of Florence. In 1491 +Savonarola, the terrible prophet of coming woes, the searcher of men's +hearts, and the remorseless denouncer of pleasant vices, began that +Florentine career which ended with his martyrdom in 1498. He had +preached in Florence eight years earlier, but on that occasion he +passed unnoticed through the crowd. Now he took the whole city by +storm. Obeying the magic of his eloquence and the magnetism of his +personality, her citizens accepted this Dominican friar as their +political leader and moral reformer, when events brought about the +expulsion of the Medici in 1494. Michelangelo was one of his constant +listeners at S. Marco and in the Duomo. He witnessed those stormy +scenes of religious revival and passionate fanaticism which +contemporaries have impressively described. The shorthand-writer to +whom we owe the text of Savonarola's sermons at times breaks off with +words like these: "Here I was so overcome with weeping that I could +not go on." Pico della Mirandola tells that the mere sound of the +monk's voice, startling the stillness of the Duomo, thronged through +all its space with people, was like a clap of doom; a cold shiver ran +through the marrow of his bones the hairs of his head stood on end +while he listened. Another witness reports: "Those sermons caused such +terror, alarm, sobbing, and tears, that every one passed through the +streets without speaking, more dead than alive." + +One of the earliest extant letters of Michelangelo, written from Rome +in 1497 to his brother Buonarroto, reveals a vivid interest in +Savonarola. He relates the evil rumours spread about the city +regarding his heretical opinions, and alludes to the hostility of Fra +Mariano da Genezzano; adding this ironical sentence: "Therefore he +ought by all means to come and prophesy a little in Rome, when +afterwards he will be canonised; and so let all his party be of good +cheer." In later years, it is said that the great sculptor read and +meditated Savonarola's writings together with the Bible. The +apocalyptic thunderings and voices of the Sistine Chapel owe much of +their soul-thrilling impressiveness to those studies. Michelet says, +not without justice, that the spirit of Savonarola lives again in the +frescoes of that vault. + +On the 8th of April 1492, Michelangelo lost his friend and patron. +Lorenzo died in his villa at Careggi, aged little more than forty-four +years. Guicciardini implies that his health and strength had been +prematurely broken by sensual indulgences. About the circumstances of +his last hours there are some doubts and difficulties; but it seems +clear that he expired as a Christian, after a final interview with +Savonarola. His death cast a gloom over Italy. Princes and people were +growing uneasy with the presentiment of impending disaster; and now +the only man who by his diplomatical sagacity could maintain the +balance of power had been taken from them. To his friends and +dependants in Florence the loss appeared irreparable. Poliziano poured +forth his sorrow in a Latin threnody of touching and simple beauty. +Two years later both he and Pico della Mirandola followed their master +to the grave. Marsilio Ficino passed away in 1499; and a friend of his +asserted that the sage's ghost appeared to him. The atmosphere was +full of rumours, portents, strange premonitions of revolution and +doom. The true golden age of the Italian Renaissance may almost be +said to have ended with Lorenzo de' Medici's life. + + + +CHAPTER II + + +I + +After the death of Lorenzo de' Medici, Michelangelo returned to his +father's home, and began to work upon a statue of Hercules, which is +now lost. It used to stand in the Strozzi Palace until the siege of +Florence in 1530, when Giovanni Battista della Palla bought it from +the steward of Filippo Strozzi, and sent it into France as a present +to the king. + +The Magnificent left seven children by his wife Clarice, of the +princely Roman house of the Orsini. The eldest, Piero, was married to +Alfonsina, of the same illustrious family. Giovanni, the second, had +already received a cardinal's hat from his kinsman, Innocent VIII. +Guiliano, the third, was destined to play a considerable part in +Florentine history under the title of Duke of Nemours. One daughter +was married to a Salviati, another to a Ridolfi, a third to the Pope's +son, Franceschetto Cybò. The fourth, Luisa, had been betrothed to her +distant cousin, Giovanni de' Medici; but the match was broken off, and +she remained unmarried. + +Piero now occupied that position of eminence and semi-despotic +authority in Florence which his father and grandfather had held; but +he was made of different stuff, both mentally and physically. The +Orsini blood, which he inherited from his mother, mixed but ill in his +veins with that of Florentine citizens and bankers. Following the +proud and insolent traditions of his maternal ancestors, he began to +discard the mask of civil urbanity with which Cosimo and Lorenzo had +concealed their despotism. He treated the republic as though it were +his own property, and prepared for the coming disasters of his race by +the overbearing arrogance of his behaviour. Physically, he was +powerful, tall, and active; fond of field-sports, and one of the best +pallone-players of his time in Italy. Though he had been a pupil of +Poliziano, he displayed but little of his father's interest in +learning, art, and literature. Chance brought Michelangelo into +personal relations with this man. On the 20th of January 1494 there +was a heavy fall of snow in Florence, and Piero sent for the young +sculptor to model a colossal snow-man in the courtyard of his palace. +Critics have treated this as an insult to the great artist, and a sign +of Piero's want of taste; but nothing was more natural than that a +previous inmate of the Medicean household should use his talents for +the recreation of the family who lived there. Piero upon this occasion +begged Michelangelo to return and occupy the room he used to call his +own during Lorenzo's lifetime. "And so," writes Condivi, "he remained +for some months with the Medici, and was treated by Piero with great +kindness; for the latter used to extol two men of his household as +persons of rare ability, the one being Michelangelo, the other a +Spanish groom, who, in addition to his personal beauty, which was +something wonderful, had so good a wind and such agility that when +Piero was galloping on horseback he could not outstrip him by a +hand's-breadth." + + + +II + +At this period of his life Michelangelo devoted himself to anatomy. He +had a friend, the Prior of S. Spirito, for whom he carved a wooden +crucifix of nearly life-size. This liberal-minded churchman put a room +at his disposal, and allowed him to dissect dead bodies. Condivi tells +us that the practice of anatomy was a passion with his master. "His +prolonged habits of dissection injured his stomach to such an extent +that he lost the power of eating or drinking to any profit. It is +true, however, that he became so learned in this branch of knowledge +that he has often entertained the idea of composing a work for +sculptors and painters, which should treat exhaustively of all the +movements of the human body, the external aspect of the limbs, the +bones, and so forth, adding an ingenious discourse upon the truths +discovered by him through the investigations of many years. He would +have done this if he had not mistrusted his own power of treating such +a subject with the dignity and style of a practised rhetorician. I +know well that when he reads Albert Dürer's book, it seems to him of +no great value; his own conception being so far fuller and more +useful. Truth to tell, Dürer only treats of the measurements and +varied aspects of the human form, making his figures straight as +stakes; and, what is more important, he says nothing about the +attitudes and gestures of the body. Inasmuch as Michelangelo is now +advanced in years, and does not count on bringing his ideas to light +through composition, he has disclosed to me his theories in their +minutest details. He also began to discourse upon the same topic with +Messer Realdo Colombo, an anatomist and surgeon of the highest +eminence. For the furtherance of such studies this good friend of ours +sent him the corpse of a Moor, a young man of incomparable beauty, and +admirably adapted for our purpose. It was placed at S. Agata, where I +dwelt and still dwell, as being a quarter removed from public +observation. + +"On this corpse Michelangelo demonstrated to me many rare and abstruse +things, which perhaps have never yet been fully understood, and all of +which I noted down, hoping one day, by the help of some learned man, +to give them to the public. Of Michelangelo's studies in anatomy we +have one grim but interesting record in a pen-drawing by his hand at +Oxford. A corpse is stretched upon a plank and trestles. Two men are +bending over it with knives in their hands; and, for light to guide +them in their labours, a candle is stuck into the belly of the +subject." + +As it is not my intention to write the political history of +Michelangelo's period, I need not digress here upon the invasion of +Italy by Charles VIII., which caused the expulsion of the Medici from +Florence, and the establishment of a liberal government under the +leadership of Savonarola. Michelangelo appears to have anticipated the +catastrophe which was about to overwhelm his patron. He was by nature +timid, suspicious, and apt to foresee disaster. Possibly he may have +judged that the haughty citizens of Florence would not long put up +with Piero's aristocratical insolence. But Condivi tells a story on +the subject which is too curious to be omitted, and which he probably +set down from Michelangelo's own lips. "In the palace of Piero a man +called Cardiere was a frequent inmate. The Magnificent took much +pleasure in his society, because he improvised verses to the guitar +with marvellous dexterity, and the Medici also practised this art; so +that nearly every evening after supper there was music. This Cardiere, +being a friend of Michelangelo, confided to him a vision which pursued +him, to the following effect. Lorenzo de' Medici appeared to him +barely clad in one black tattered robe, and bade him relate to his son +Piero that he would soon be expelled and never more return to his +home. Now Piero was arrogant and overbearing to such an extent that +neither the good-nature of the Cardinal Giovanni, his brother, nor the +courtesy and urbanity of Giuliano, was so strong to maintain him in +Florence as his own faults to cause his expulsion. Michelangelo +encouraged the man to obey Lorenzo and report the matter to his son; +but Cardiere, fearing his new master's temper, kept it to himself. On +another morning, when Michelangelo was in the courtyard of the palace, +Cardiere came with terror and pain written on his countenance. Last +night Lorenzo had again appeared to him in the same garb of woe; and +while he was awake and gazing with his eyes, the spectre dealt him a +blow on the cheek, to punish him for omitting to report his vision to +Piero. Michelangelo immediately gave him such a thorough scolding that +Cardiere plucked up courage, and set forth on foot for Careggi, a +Medicean villa some three miles distant from the city. He had traveled +about halfway, when he met Piero, who was riding home; so he stopped +the cavalcade, and related all that he had seen and heard. Piero +laughed him to scorn, and, beckoning the running footmen, bade them +mock the poor fellow. His Chancellor, who was afterwards the Cardinal +of Bibbiena, cried out: 'You are a madman! Which do you think Lorenzo +loved best, his son or you? If his son, would he not rather have +appeared to him than to some one else?' Having thus jeered him, they +let him go; and he, when he returned home and complained to +Michelangelo, so convinced the latter of the truth of his vision that +Michelangelo after two days left Florence with a couple of comrades, +dreading that if what Cardiere had predicted should come true, he +would no longer be safe in Florence." + +This ghost-story bears a remarkable resemblance to what Clarendon +relates concerning the apparition of Sir George Villiers. Wishing to +warn his son, the Duke of Buckingham, of his coming murder at the hand +of Lieutenant Felton, he did not appear to the Duke himself, but to an +old man-servant of the family; upon which behaviour of Sir George's +ghost the same criticism has been passed as on that of Lorenzo de' +Medici. + +Michelangelo and his two friends travelled across the Apennines to +Bologna, and thence to Venice, where they stopped a few days. Want of +money, or perhaps of work there drove them back upon the road to +Florence. When they reached Bologna on the return journey, a curious +accident happened to the party. The master of the city, Giovanni +Bentivoglio, had recently decreed that every foreigner, on entering +the gates, should be marked with a seal of red wax upon his thumb. The +three Florentines omitted to obey this regulation, and were taken to +the office of the Customs, where they were fined fifty Bolognese +pounds. Michelangelo did not possess enough to pay this fine; but it +so happened that a Bolognese nobleman called Gianfrancesco Aldovrandi +was there, who, hearing that Buonarroti was a sculptor, caused the men +to be released. Upon his urgent invitation, Michelangelo went to this +gentleman's house, after taking leave of his two friends and giving +them all the money in his pocket. With Messer Aldovrandi he remained +more than a year, much honoured by his new patron, who took great +delight in his genius; "and every evening he made Michelangelo read +aloud to him out of Dante or Petrarch, and sometimes Boccaccio, until +he went to sleep." He also worked upon the tomb of San Domenico during +this first residence at Bologna. Originally designed and carried +forward by Niccolò Pisano, this elaborate specimen of mediaeval +sculpture remained in some points imperfect. There was a San Petronio +whose drapery, begun by Niccolò da Bari, was unfinished. To this +statue Michelangelo put the last touches; and he also carved a +kneeling angel with a candelabrum, the workmanship of which surpasses +in delicacy of execution all the other figures on the tomb. + + +III + +Michelangelo left Bologna hastily. It is said that a sculptor who had +expected to be employed upon the _arca_ of S. Domenic threatened to do +him some mischief if he stayed and took the bread out of the mouths of +native craftsmen. He returned to Florence some time in 1495. The city +was now quiet again, under the rule of Savonarola. Its burghers, in +obedience to the friar's preaching, began to assume that air of +pietistic sobriety which contrasted strangely with the gay +licentiousness encouraged by their former master. Though the reigning +branch of the Medici remained in exile, their distant cousins, who +were descended from Lorenzo, the brother of Cosimo, Pater Patriae, +kept their place in the republic. They thought it prudent, however, at +this time, to exchange the hated name of de' Medici for Popolano. With +a member of this section of the Medicean family, Lorenzo di +Pierfrancesco, Michelangelo soon found himself on terms of intimacy. +It was for him that he made a statue of the young S. John, which was +perhaps rediscovered at Pisa in 1874. For a long time this S. +Giovannino was attributed to Donatello; and it certainly bears decided +marks of resemblance to that master's manner, in the choice of +attitude, the close adherence to the model, and the treatment of the +hands and feet. Still it has notable affinities to the style of +Michelangelo, especially in the youthful beauty of the features, the +disposition of the hair, and the sinuous lines which govern the whole +composition. It may also be remarked that those peculiarities in the +hands and feet which I have mentioned as reminding us of Donatello--a +remarkable length in both extremities, owing to the elongation of the +metacarpal and metatarsal bones and of the spaces dividing these from +the forearm and tibia--are precisely the points which Michelangelo +retained through life from his early study of Donatello's work. We +notice them particularly in the Dying Slave of the Louvre, which is +certainly one of his most characteristic works. Good judges are +therefore perhaps justified in identifying this S. Giovannino, which +is now in the Berlin Museum, with the statue made for Lorenzo di +Pierfrancesco de' Medici. + +The next piece which occupied Michelangelo's chisel was a Sleeping +Cupid. His patron thought this so extremely beautiful that he remarked +to the sculptor: "If you were to treat it artificially, so as to make +it look as though it had been dug up, I would send it to Rome; it +would be accepted as an antique, and you would be able to sell it at a +far higher price." Michelangelo took the hint. His Cupid went to Rome, +and was sold for thirty ducats to a dealer called Messer Baldassare +del Milanese, who resold it to Raffaello Riario, the Cardinal di S. +Giorgio, for the advanced sum of 200 ducats. It appears from this +transaction that Michelangelo did not attempt to impose upon the first +purchaser, but that this man passed it off upon the Cardinal as an +antique. When the Cardinal began to suspect that the Cupid was the +work of a modern Florentine, he sent one of his gentlemen to Florence +to inquire into the circumstances. The rest of the story shall be told +in Condivi's words. + +"This gentleman, pretending to be on the lookout for a sculptor +capable of executing certain works in Rome, after visiting several, +was addressed to Michelangelo. When he saw the young artist, he begged +him to show some proof of his ability; whereupon Michelangelo took a +pen (for at that time the crayon [_lapis_] had not come into use), and +drew a hand with such grace that the gentleman was stupefied. +Afterwards, he asked if he had ever worked in marble, and when +Michelangelo said yes, and mentioned among other things a Cupid of +such height and in such an attitude, the man knew that he had found +the right person. So he related how the matter had gone, and promised +Michelangelo, if he would come with him to Rome, to get the difference +of price made up, and to introduce him to his patron, feeling sure +that the latter would receive him very kindly. Michelangelo, then, +partly in anger at having been cheated, and partly moved by the +gentleman's account of Rome as the widest field for an artist to +display his talents, went with him, and lodged in his house, near the +palace of the Cardinal." S. Giorgio compelled Messer Baldassare to +refund the 200 ducats, and to take the Cupid back. But Michelangelo +got nothing beyond his original price; and both Condivi and Vasari +blame the Cardinal for having been a dull and unsympathetic patron to +the young artist of genius he had brought from Florence. Still the +whole transaction was of vast importance, because it launched him for +the first time upon Rome, where he was destined to spend the larger +part of his long life, and to serve a succession of Pontiffs in their +most ambitious undertakings. + +Before passing to the events of his sojourn at Rome, I will wind up +the story of the Cupid. It passed first into the hands of Cesare +Borgia, who presented it to Guidobaldo di Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. +On the 30th of June 1502, the Marchioness of Mantua wrote a letter to +the Cardinal of Este, saying that she should very much like to place +this piece, together with an antique statuette of Venus, both of which +had belonged to her brother-in-law, the Duke of Urbino, in her own +collection. Apparently they had just become the property of Cesare +Borgia, when he took and sacked the town of Urbino upon the 20th of +June in that year. Cesare Borgia seems to have complied immediately +with her wishes; for in a second letter, dated July 22, 1502, she +described the Cupid as "without a peer among the works of modern +times." + + +IV + +Michelangelo arrived in Rome at the end of June 1496. This we know +from the first of his extant letters, which is dated July 2, and +addressed to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici. The superscription, +however, bears the name of Sandro Botticelli, showing that some +caution had still to be observed in corresponding with the Medici, +even with those who latterly assumed the name of Popolani. The young +Buonarroti writes in excellent spirits: "I only write to inform you +that last Saturday we arrived safely, and went at once to visit the +Cardinal di San Giorgio; and I presented your letter to him. It +appeared to me that he was pleased to see me, and he expressed a wish +that I should go immediately to inspect his collection of statues. I +spent the whole day there, and for that reason was unable to deliver +all your letters. Afterwards, on Sunday, the Cardinal came into the +new house, and had me sent for. I went to him, and he asked what I +thought about the things which I had seen. I replied by stating my +opinion, and certainly I can say with sincerity that there are many +fine things in the collection. Then he asked me whether I had the +courage to make some beautiful work of art. I answered that I should +not be able to achieve anything so great, but that he should see what +I could do. We have bought a piece of marble for a life-size statue, +and on Monday I shall begin to work." + +After describing his reception, Michelangelo proceeds to relate the +efforts he was making to regain his Sleeping Cupid from Messer +Baldassare: "Afterwards, I gave your letter to Baldassare, and asked +him for the child, saying I was ready to refund his money. He answered +very roughly, swearing he would rather break it in a hundred pieces; +he had bought the child, and it was his property; he possessed +writings which proved that he had satisfied the person who sent it to +him, and was under no apprehension that he should have to give it up. +Then he complained bitterly of you, saying that you had spoken ill of +him. Certain of our Florentines sought to accommodate matters, but +failed in their attempt. Now I look to coming to terms through the +Cardinal; for this is the advice of Baldassare Balducci. What ensues I +will report to you." It is clear that Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, being +convinced of the broker's sharp practice, was trying to recover the +Sleeping Cupid (the child) at the price originally paid for it, either +for himself or for Buonarroti. The Cardinal is mentioned as being the +most likely person to secure the desired result. + +Whether Condivi is right in saying that S. Giorgio neglected to employ +Michelangelo may be doubted. We have seen from this letter to Lorenzo +that the Cardinal bought a piece of marble and ordered a life-size +statue. But nothing more is heard about the work. Professor Milanesi, +however, has pointed out that when the sculptor was thinking of +leaving Rome in 1497 he wrote to his father on the 1st of July as +follows: "Most revered and beloved father, do not be surprised that I +am unable to return, for I have not yet settled my affairs with the +Cardinal, and I do not wish to leave until I am properly paid for my +labour; and with these great patrons one must go about quietly, since +they cannot be compelled. I hope, however, at any rate during the +course of next week, to have completed the transaction." + +Michelangelo remained at Rome for more than two years after the date +of the letter just quoted. We may conjecture, then, that he settled +his accounts with the Cardinal, whatever these were, and we know that +he obtained other orders. In a second letter to his father, August 19, +1497, he writes thus: "Piero de' Medici gave me a commission for a +statue, and I bought the marble. But I did not begin to work upon it, +because he failed to perform what he promised. Wherefore I am acting +on my own account, and am making a statue for my own pleasure. I +bought the marble for five ducats, and it turned out bad. So I threw +my money away. Now I have bought another at the same price, and the +work I am doing is for my amusement. You will therefore understand +that I too have large expenses and many troubles." + +During the first year of his residence in Rome (between July 2, 1496, +and August 19, 1497) Michelangelo must have made some money, else he +could not have bought marble and have worked upon his own account. +Vasari asserts that he remained nearly twelve months in the household +of the Cardinal, and that he only executed a drawing of S. Francis +receiving the stigmata, which was coloured by a barber in S. Giorgio's +service, and placed in the Church of S. Pietro a Montorio. Benedetto +Varchi describes this picture as having been painted by Buonarroti's +own hand. We know nothing more for certain about it. How he earned his +money is therefore, unexplained, except upon the supposition that S. +Giorgio, unintelligent as he may have been in his patronage of art, +paid him for work performed. I may here add that the Piero de' Medici +who gave the commission mentioned in the last quotation was the exiled +head of the ruling family. Nothing had to be expected from such a man. +He came to Rome in order to be near the Cardinal Giovanni, and to +share this brother's better fortunes; but his days and nights were +spent in debauchery among the companions and accomplices of shameful +riot. + +Michelangelo, in short, like most young artists, was struggling into +fame and recognition. Both came to him by the help of a Roman +gentleman and banker, Messer Jacopo Gallo. It so happened that an +intimate Florentine friend of Buonarroti, the Baldassare Balducci +mentioned at the end of his letter to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, was +employed in Gallo's house of business. It is probable, therefore, that +this man formed the link of connection between the sculptor and his +new patron. At all events, Messer Gallo purchased a Bacchus, which now +adorns the sculpture-gallery of the Bargello, and a Cupid, which may +possibly be the statue at South Kensington. + +Condivi says that this gentleman, "a man of fine intelligence, +employed him to execute in his own house a marble Bacchus, ten palms +in height, the form and aspect of which correspond in all parts to the +meaning of ancient authors. The face of the youth is jocund, the eyes +wandering and wanton, as is the wont with those who are too much +addicted to a taste for wine. In his right hand he holds a cup, +lifting it to drink, and gazing at it like one who takes delight in +that liquor, of which he was the first discoverer. For this reason, +too, the sculptor has wreathed his head with vine-tendrils. On his +left arm hangs a tiger-skin, the beast dedicated to Bacchus, as being +very partial to the grape. Here the artist chose rather to introduce +the skin than the animal itself, in order to hint that sensual +indulgence in the pleasure of the grape-juice leads at last to loss of +life. With the hand of this arm he holds a bunch of grapes, which a +little satyr, crouched below him, is eating on the sly with glad and +eager gestures. The child may seem to be seven years, the Bacchus +eighteen of age." This description is comparatively correct, except +that Condivi is obviously mistaken when he supposes that +Michelangelo's young Bacchus faithfully embodies the Greek spirit. The +Greeks never forgot, in all their representations of Dionysos, that he +was a mystic and enthusiastic deity. Joyous, voluptuous, androgynous, +he yet remains the god who brought strange gifts and orgiastic rites +to men. His followers, Silenus, Bacchantes, Fauns, exhibit, in their +self-abandonment to sensual joy, the operation of his genius. The +deity descends to join their revels from his clear Olympian ether, but +he is not troubled by the fumes of intoxication. Michelangelo has +altered this conception. Bacchus, with him, is a terrestrial young +man, upon the verge of toppling over into drunkenness. The value of +the work is its realism. The attitude could not be sustained in actual +life for a moment without either the goblet spilling its liquor or the +body reeling side-ways. Not only are the eyes wavering and wanton, but +the muscles of the mouth have relaxed into a tipsy smile; and, instead +of the tiger-skin being suspended from the left arm, it has slipped +down, and is only kept from falling by the loose grasp of the +trembling hand. Nothing, again, could be less godlike than the face of +Bacchus. It is the face of a not remarkably good-looking model, and +the head is too small both for the body and the heavy crown of leaves. +As a study of incipient intoxication, when the whole person is +disturbed by drink, but human dignity has not yet yielded to a bestial +impulse, this statue proves the energy of Michelangelo's imagination. +The physical beauty of his adolescent model in the limbs and body +redeems the grossness of the motive by the inalienable charm of health +and carnal comeliness. Finally, the technical merits of the work +cannot too strongly be insisted on. The modelling of the thorax, the +exquisite roundness and fleshiness of the thighs and arms and belly, +the smooth skin-surface expressed throughout in marble, will excite +admiration in all who are capable of appreciating this aspect of the +statuary's art. Michelangelo produced nothing more finished in +execution, if we except the Pietà at S. Peter's. His Bacchus alone is +sufficient to explode a theory favoured by some critics, that, left to +work unhindered, he would still have preferred a certain vagueness, a +certain want of polish in his marbles. + +Nevertheless, the Bacchus leaves a disagreeable impression on the +mind--as disagreeable in its own way as that produced by the Christ of +the Minerva. That must be because it is wrong in spiritual +conception--brutally materialistic, where it ought to have been noble +or graceful. In my opinion, the frank, joyous naturalism of +Sansovino's Bacchus (also in the Bargello) possesses more of true +Greek inspiration than Michelangelo's. If Michelangelo meant to carve +a Bacchus, he failed; if he meant to imitate a physically desirable +young man in a state of drunkenness, he succeeded. + +What Shelley wrote upon this statue may here be introduced, since it +combines both points of view in a criticism of much spontaneous +vigour. + +"The countenance of this figure is the most revolting mistake of the +spirit and meaning of Bacchus. It looks drunken, brutal, and +narrow-minded, and has an expression of dissoluteness the most +revolting. The lower part of the figure is stiff, and the manner in +which the shoulders are united to the breast, and the neck to the +head, abundantly inharmonious. It is altogether without unity, as was +the idea of the deity of Bacchus in the conception of a Catholic. On +the other hand, considered merely as a piece of workmanship, it has +great merits. The arms are executed in the most perfect and manly +beauty; the body is conceived with great energy, and the lines which +describe the sides and thighs, and the manner in which they mingle +into one another, are of the highest order of boldness and beauty. It +wants, as a work of art, unity and simplicity; as a representation of +the Greek deity of Bacchus, it wants everything." + +Jacopo Gallo is said to have also purchased a Cupid from Michelangelo. +It has been suggested, with great plausibility, that this Cupid was +the piece which Michelangelo began when Piero de' Medici's commission +fell through, and that it therefore preceded the Bacchus in date of +execution. It has also been suggested that the so-called Cupid at +South Kensington is the work in question. We have no authentic +information to guide us in the matter. But the South Kensington Cupid +is certainly a production of the master's early manhood. It was +discovered some forty years ago, hidden away in the cellars of the +Gualfonda (Rucellai) Gardens at Florence, by Professor Miliarini and +the famous Florentine sculptor Santarelli. On a cursory inspection +they both declared it to be a genuine Michelangelo. The left arm was +broken, the right hand damaged, and the hair had never received the +sculptor's final touches. Santarelli restored the arm, and the Cupid +passed by purchase into the possession of the English nation. This +fine piece of sculpture is executed in Michelangelo's proudest, most +dramatic manner. The muscular young man of eighteen, a model of superb +adolescence, kneels upon his right knee, while the right hand is +lowered to lift an arrow from the ground. The left hand is raised +above the head, and holds the bow, while the left leg is so placed, +with the foot firmly pressed upon the ground, as to indicate that in a +moment the youth will rise, fit the shaft to the string, and send it +whistling at his adversary. This choice of a momentary attitude is +eminently characteristic of Michelangelo's style; and, if we are +really to believe that he intended to portray the god of love, it +offers another instance of his independence of classical tradition. No +Greek would have thus represented Eros. The lyric poets, indeed, +Ibycus and Anacreon, imaged him as a fierce invasive deity, descending +like the whirlwind on an oak, or striking at his victim with an axe. +But these romantic ideas did not find expression, so far as I am +aware, in antique plastic art. Michelangelo's Cupid is therefore as +original as his Bacchus. Much as critics have written, and with +justice, upon the classical tendencies of the Italian Renaissance, +they have failed to point out that the Paganism of the Cinque Cento +rarely involved a servile imitation of the antique or a sympathetic +intelligence of its spirit. Least of all do we find either of these +qualities in Michelangelo. He drew inspiration from his own soul, and +he went straight to Nature for the means of expressing the conception +he had formed. Unlike the Greeks, he invariably preferred the +particular to the universal, the critical moment of an action to +suggestions of the possibilities of action. He carved an individual +being, not an abstraction or a generalisation of personality. The +Cupid supplies us with a splendid illustration of this criticism. +Being a product of his early energy, before he had formed a certain +manneristic way of seeing Nature and of reproducing what he saw, it +not only casts light upon the spontaneous working of his genius, but +it also shows how the young artist had already come to regard the +inmost passion of the soul. When quite an old man, rhyming those rough +platonic sonnets, he always spoke of love as masterful and awful. For +his austere and melancholy nature, Eros was no tender or light-winged +youngling, but a masculine tyrant, the tamer of male spirits. +Therefore this Cupid, adorable in the power and beauty of his vigorous +manhood, may well remain for us the myth or symbol of love as +Michelangelo imagined that emotion. In composition, the figure is from +all points of view admirable, presenting a series of nobly varied +line-harmonies. All we have to regret is that time, exposure to +weather, and vulgar outrage should have spoiled the surface of the +marble. + + +VI + +It is natural to turn from the Cupid to another work belonging to the +English nation, which has recently been ascribed to Michelangelo. I +mean the Madonna, with Christ, S. John, and four attendant male +figures, once in the possession of Mr. H. Labouchere, and now in the +National Gallery. We have no authentic tradition regarding this +tempera painting, which in my judgment is the most beautiful of the +easel pictures attributed to Michelangelo. Internal evidence from +style renders its genuineness in the highest degree probable. No one +else upon the close of the fifteenth century was capable of producing +a composition at once so complicated, so harmonious, and so clear as +the group formed by Madonna, Christ leaning on her knee to point a +finger at the book she holds, and the young S. John turned round to +combine these figures with the exquisitely blended youths behind him. +Unfortunately the two angels or genii upon the left hand are +unfinished; but had the picture been completed, we should probably +have been able to point out another magnificent episode in the +composition, determined by the transverse line carried from the hand +upon the last youth's shoulder, through the open book and the upraised +arm of Christ, down to the feet of S. John and the last genius on the +right side. Florentine painters had been wont to place attendant +angels at both sides of their enthroned Madonnas. Fine examples might +be chosen from the work of Filippino Lippi and Botticelli. But their +angels were winged and clothed like acolytes; the Madonna was seated +on a rich throne or under a canopy, with altar-candles, wreaths of +roses, flowering lilies. It is characteristic of Michelangelo to adopt +a conventional motive, and to treat it with brusque originality. In +this picture there are no accessories to the figures, and the +attendant angels are Tuscan lads half draped in succinct tunics. The +style is rather that of a flat relief in stone than of a painting; and +though we may feel something of Ghirlandajo's influence, the spirit of +Donatello and Luca della Robbia are more apparent. That it was the +work of an inexperienced painter is shown by the failure to indicate +pictorial planes. In spite of the marvellous and intricate beauty of +the line-composition, it lacks that effect of graduated distances +which might perhaps have been secured by execution in bronze or +marble. The types have not been chosen with regard to ideal loveliness +or dignity, but accurately studied from living models. This is very +obvious in the heads of Christ and S. John. The two adolescent genii +on the right hand possess a high degree of natural grace. Yet even +here what strikes one most is the charm of their attitude, the lovely +interlacing of their arms and breasts, the lithe alertness of the one +lad contrasted with the thoughtful leaning languor of his comrade. +Only perhaps in some drawings of combined male figures made by Ingres +for his picture of the Golden Age have lines of equal dignity and +simple beauty been developed. I do not think that this Madonna, +supposing it to be a genuine piece by Michelangelo, belongs to the +period of his first residence in Rome. In spite of its immense +intellectual power, it has an air of immaturity. Probably Heath Wilson +was right in assigning it to the time spent at Florence after Lorenzo +de' Medici's death, when the artist was about twenty years of age. + +I may take this occasion for dealing summarily with the Entombment in +the National Gallery. The picture, which is half finished, has no +pedigree. It was bought out of the collection of Cardinal Fesch, and +pronounced to be a Michelangelo by the Munich painter Cornelius. Good +judges have adopted this attribution, and to differ from them requires +some hardihood. Still it is painful to believe that at any period of +his life Michelangelo could have produced a composition so discordant, +so unsatisfactory in some anatomical details, so feelingless and ugly. +It bears indubitable traces of his influence; that is apparent in the +figure of the dead Christ. But this colossal nude, with the massive +chest and attenuated legs, reminds us of his manner in old age; +whereas the rest of the picture shows no trace of that manner. I am +inclined to think that the Entombment was the production of a +second-rate craftsman, working upon some design made by Michelangelo +at the advanced period when the Passion of our Lord occupied his +thoughts in Rome. Even so, the spirit of the drawing must have been +imperfectly assimilated; and, what is more puzzling, the composition +does not recall the style of Michelangelo's old age. The colouring, so +far as we can understand it, rather suggests Pontormo. + + +VII + +Michelangelo's good friend, Jacopo Gallo, was again helpful to him in +the last and greatest work which he produced during this Roman +residence. The Cardinal Jean de la Groslaye de Villiers François, +Abbot of S. Denys, and commonly called by Italians the Cardinal di San +Dionigi, wished to have a specimen of the young sculptor's handiwork. +Accordingly articles were drawn up to the following effect on August +26, 1498: "Let it be known and manifest to whoso shall read the +ensuing document, that the most Rev. Cardinal of S. Dionigi has thus +agreed with the master Michelangelo, sculptor of Florence, to wit, +that the said master shall make a Pietà of marble at his own cost; +that is to say, a Virgin Mary clothed, with the dead Christ in her +arms, of the size of a proper man, for the price of 450 golden ducats +of the Papal mint, within the term of one year from the day of the +commencement of the work." Next follow clauses regarding the payment +of the money, whereby the Cardinal agrees to disburse sums in advance. +The contract concludes with a guarantee and surety given by Jacopo +Gallo. "And I, Jacopo Gallo, pledge my word to his most Rev. Lordship +that the said Michelangelo will finish the said work within one year, +and that it shall be the finest work in marble which Rome to-day can +show, and that no master of our days shall be able to produce a +better. And, in like manner, on the other side, I pledge my word to +the said Michelangelo that the most Rev. Card. will disburse the +payments according to the articles above engrossed. To witness which, +I, Jacopo Gallo, have made this present writing with my own hand, +according to the date of year, month, and day as above." + +The Pietà raised Michelangelo at once to the highest place among the +artists of his time, and it still remains unrivalled for the union of +sublime aesthetic beauty with profound religious feeling. The mother +of the dead Christ is seated on a stone at the foot of the cross, +supporting the body of her son upon her knees, gazing sadly at his +wounded side, and gently lifting her left hand, as though to say, +"Behold and see!" She has the small head and heroic torso used by +Michelangelo to suggest immense physical force. We feel that such a +woman has no difficulty in holding a man's corpse upon her ample lap +and in her powerful arms. Her face, which differs from the female type +he afterwards preferred, resembles that of a young woman. For this he +was rebuked by critics who thought that her age should correspond more +naturally to that of her adult son. Condivi reports that Michelangelo +explained his meaning in the following words: "Do you not know that +chaste women maintain their freshness far longer than the unchaste? +How much more would this be the case with a virgin, into whose breast +there never crept the least lascivious desire which could affect the +body? Nay, I will go further, and hazard the belief that this +unsullied bloom of youth, besides being maintained in her by natural +causes, may have been miraculously wrought to convince the world of +the virginity and perpetual purity of the Mother. This was not +necessary for the Son. On the contrary, in order to prove that the Son +of God took upon himself, as in very truth he did take, a human body, +and became subject to all that an ordinary man is subject to, with the +exception of sin; the human nature of Christ, instead of being +superseded by the divine, was left to the operation of natural laws, +so that his person revealed the exact age to which he had attained. +You need not, therefore, marvel if, having regard to these +considerations, I made the most Holy Virgin, Mother of God, much +younger relatively to her Son than women of her years usually appear, +and left the Son such as his time of life demanded." "This reasoning," +adds Condivi, "was worthy of some learned theologian, and would have +been little short of marvellous in most men, but not in him, whom God +and Nature fashioned, not merely to be peerless in his handiwork, but +also capable of the divinest concepts, as innumerable discourses and +writings which we have of his make clearly manifest." + +The Christ is also somewhat youthful, and modelled with the utmost +delicacy; suggesting no lack of strength, but subordinating the idea +of physical power to that of a refined and spiritual nature. Nothing +can be more lovely than the hands, the feet, the arms, relaxed in +slumber. Death becomes immortally beautiful in that recumbent figure, +from which the insults of the scourge, the cross, the brutal lance +have been erased. Michelangelo did not seek to excite pity or to stir +devotion by having recourse to those mediaeval ideas which were so +passionately expressed in S. Bernard's hymn to the Crucified. The +aesthetic tone of his dead Christ is rather that of some sweet solemn +strain of cathedral music, some motive from a mass of Palestrina or a +Passion of Sebastian Bach. Almost involuntarily there rises to the +memory that line composed by Bion for the genius of earthly loveliness +bewailed by everlasting beauty-- + + _E'en as a corpse he is fair, fair corpse as fallen aslumber._ + +It is said that certain Lombards passing by and admiring the Pietà +ascribed it to Christoforo Solari of Milan, surnamed Il Gobbo. +Michelangelo, having happened to overhear them, shut himself up in the +chapel, and engraved the belt upon the Madonna's breast with his own +name. This he never did with any other of his works. + +This masterpiece of highest art combined with pure religious feeling +was placed in the old Basilica of S. Peter's, in a chapel dedicated to +Our Lady of the Fever, Madonna della Febbre. Here, on the night of +August 19, 1503, it witnessed one of those horrid spectacles which in +Italy at that period so often intervened to interrupt the rhythm of +romance and beauty and artistic melody. The dead body of Roderigo +Borgia, Alexander VI., lay in state from noon onwards in front of the +high altar; but since "it was the most repulsive, monstrous, and +deformed corpse which had ever yet been seen, without any form or +figure of humanity, shame compelled them to partly cover it." "Late in +the evening it was transferred to the chapel of Our Lady of the Fever, +and deposited in a corner by six hinds or porters and two carpenters, +who had made the coffin too narrow and too short. Joking and jeering, +they stripped the tiara and the robes of office from the body, wrapped +it up in an old carpet, and then with force of fists and feet rammed +it down into the box, without torches, without a ministering priest, +without a single person to attend and bear a consecrated candle." Of +such sort was the vigil kept by this solemn statue, so dignified in +grief and sweet in death, at the ignoble obsequies of him who, +occupying the loftiest throne of Christendom, incarnated the least +erected spirit of his age. The ivory-smooth white corpse of Christ in +marble, set over against that festering corpse of his Vicar on earth, +"black as a piece of cloth or the blackest mulberry," what a hideous +contrast! + + +VIII + +It may not be inappropriate to discuss the question of the Bruges +Madonna here. This is a marble statue, well placed in a chapel of +Notre Dame, relieved against a black marble niche, with excellent +illumination from the side. The style is undoubtedly Michelangelesque, +the execution careful, the surface-finish exquisite, and the type of +the Madonna extremely similar to that of the Pietà at S. Peter's. She +is seated in an attitude of almost haughty dignity, with the left foot +raised upon a block of stone. The expression of her features is marked +by something of sternness, which seems inherent in the model. Between +her knees stands, half reclining, half as though wishing to step +downwards from the throne, her infant Son. One arm rests upon his +mother's knee; the right hand is thrown round to clasp her left. This +attitude gives grace of rhythm to the lines of his nude body. True to +the realism which controlled Michelangelo at the commencement of his +art career, the head of Christ, who is but a child, slightly overloads +his slender figure. Physically he resembles the Infant Christ of our +National Gallery picture, but has more of charm and sweetness. All +these indications point to a genuine product of Michelangelo's first +Roman manner; and the position of the statue in a chapel ornamented by +the Bruges family of Mouscron renders the attribution almost certain. +However, we have only two authentic records of the work among the +documents at our disposal. Condivi, describing the period of +Michelangelo's residence in Florence (1501-1504), says: "He also cast +in bronze a Madonna with the Infant Christ, which certain Flemish +merchants of the house of Mouscron, a most noble family in their own +land, bought for two hundred ducats, and sent to Flanders." A letter +addressed under date August 4, 1506, by Giovanni Balducci in Rome to +Michelangelo at Florence, proves that some statue which was destined +for Flanders remained among the sculptor's property at Florence. +Balducci uses the feminine gender in writing about this work, which +justifies us in thinking that it may have been a Madonna. He says that +he has found a trustworthy agent to convey it to Viareggio, and to +ship it thence to Bruges, where it will be delivered into the hands of +the heir of John and Alexander Mouscron and Co., "as being their +property." This statue, in all probability, is the "Madonna in marble" +about which Michelangelo wrote to his father from Rome on the 31st of +January 1507, and which he begged his father to keep hidden in their +dwelling. It is difficult to reconcile Condivi's statement with +Balducci's letter. The former says that the Madonna bought by the +Mouscron family was cast in bronze at Florence. The Madonna in the +Mouscron Chapel at Notre Dame is a marble. I think we may assume that +the Bruges Madonna is the piece which Michelangelo executed for the +Mouscron brothers, and that Condivi was wrong in believing it to have +been cast in bronze. That the statue was sent some time after the +order had been given, appears from the fact that Balducci consigned it +to the heir of John and Alexander, "as being their property;" but it +cannot be certain at what exact date it was begun and finished. + + +IX + +While Michelangelo was acquiring immediate celebrity and immortal fame +by these three statues, so different in kind and hitherto unrivalled +in artistic excellence, his family lived somewhat wretchedly at +Florence. Lodovico had lost his small post at the Customs after the +expulsion of the Medici; and three sons, younger than the sculptor, +were now growing up. Buonarroto, born in 1477, had been put to the +cloth-trade, and was serving under the Strozzi in their warehouse at +the Porta Rossa. Giovan-Simone, two years younger (he was born in +1479), after leading a vagabond life for some while, joined Buonarroto +in a cloth-business provided for them by Michelangelo. He was a +worthless fellow, and gave his eldest brother much trouble. +Sigismondo, born in 1481, took to soldiering; but at the age of forty +he settled down upon the paternal farm at Settignano, and annoyed his +brother by sinking into the condition of a common peasant. + +The constant affection felt for these not very worthy relatives by +Michelangelo is one of the finest traits in his character. They were +continually writing begging letters, grumbling and complaining. He +supplied them with funds, stinting himself in order to maintain them +decently and to satisfy their wishes. But the more he gave, the more +they demanded; and on one or two occasions, as we shall see in the +course of this biography, their rapacity and ingratitude roused his +bitterest indignation. Nevertheless, he did not swerve from the path +of filial and brotherly kindness which his generous nature and steady +will had traced. He remained the guardian of their interests, the +custodian of their honour, and the builder of their fortunes to the +end of his long life. The correspondence with his father and these +brothers and a nephew, Lionardo, was published in full for the first +time in 1875. It enables us to comprehend the true nature of the man +better than any biographical notice; and I mean to draw largely upon +this source, so as gradually, by successive stipplings, as it were, to +present a miniature portrait of one who was both admirable in private +life and incomparable as an artist. + +This correspondence opens in the year 1497. From a letter addressed to +Lodovico under the date August 19, we learn that Buonarroto had just +arrived in Rome, and informed his brother of certain pecuniary +difficulties under which the family was labouring. Michelangelo gave +advice, and promised to send all the money he could bring together. +"Although, as I have told you, I am out of pocket myself, I will do my +best to get money, in order that you may not have to borrow from the +Monte, as Buonarroto says is possible. Do not wonder if I have +sometimes written irritable letters; for I often suffer great distress +of mind and temper, owing to matters which must happen to one who is +away from home.... In spite of all this, I will send you what you ask +for, even should I have to sell myself into slavery." Buonarroto must +have paid a second visit to Rome; for we possess a letter from +Lodovico to Michelangelo, under date December 19, 1500, which throws +important light upon the latter's habits and designs. The old man +begins by saying how happy he is to observe the love which +Michelangelo bears his brothers. Then he speaks about the +cloth-business which Michelangelo intends to purchase for them. +Afterwards, he proceeds as follows: "Buonarroto tells me that you live +at Rome with great economy, or rather penuriousness. Now economy is +good, but penuriousness is evil, seeing that it is a vice displeasing +to God and men, and moreover injurious both to soul and body. So long +as you are young, you will be able for a time to endure these +hardships; but when the vigour of youth fails, then diseases and +infirmities make their appearance; for these are caused by personal +discomforts, mean living, and penurious habits. As I said, economy is +good; but, above all things, shun stinginess. Live discreetly well, +and see you have what is needful. Whatever happens, do not expose +yourself to physical hardships; for in your profession, if you were +once to fall ill (which God forbid), you would be a ruined man. Above +all things, take care of your head, and keep it moderately warm, and +see that you never wash: have yourself rubbed down, but do not wash." +This sordid way of life became habitual with Michelangelo. When he was +dwelling at Bologna in 1506, he wrote home to his brother Buonarroto: +"With regard to Giovan-Simone's proposed visit, I do not advise him to +come yet awhile, for I am lodged here in one wretched room, and have +bought a single bed, in which we all four of us (_i.e_., himself and +his three workmen) sleep." And again: "I am impatient to get away from +this place, for my mode of life here is so wretched, that if you only +knew what it is, you would be miserable." The summer was intensely hot +at Bologna, and the plague broke out. In these circumstances it seems +miraculous that the four sculptors in one bed escaped contagion. +Michelangelo's parsimonious habits were not occasioned by poverty or +avarice. He accumulated large sums of money by his labour, spent it +freely on his family, and exercised bountiful charity for the welfare +of his soul. We ought rather to ascribe them to some constitutional +peculiarity, affecting his whole temperament, and tinging his +experience with despondency and gloom. An absolute insensibility to +merely decorative details, to the loveliness of jewels, stuffs, and +natural objects, to flowers and trees and pleasant landscapes, to +everything, in short, which delighted the Italians of that period, is +a main characteristic of his art. This abstraction and aridity, this +ascetic devotion of his genius to pure ideal form, this almost +mathematical conception of beauty, may be ascribed, I think, to the +same psychological qualities which determined the dreary conditions of +his home-life. He was no niggard either of money or of ideas; nay, +even profligate of both. But melancholy made him miserly in all that +concerned personal enjoyment; and he ought to have been born under +that leaden planet Saturn rather than Mercury and Venus in the house +of Jove. Condivi sums up his daily habits thus: "He has always been +extremely temperate in living, using food more because it was +necessary than for any pleasure he took in it; especially when he was +engaged upon some great work; for then he usually confined himself to +a piece of bread, which he ate in the middle of his labour. However, +for some time past, he has been living with more regard to health, his +advanced age putting this constraint upon his natural inclination. +Often have I heard him say: 'Ascanio, rich as I may have been, I have +always lived like a poor man.' And this abstemiousness in food he has +practised in sleep also; for sleep, according to his own account, +rarely suits his constitution, since he continually suffers from pains +in the head during slumber, and any excessive amount of sleep deranges +his stomach. While he was in full vigour, he generally went to bed +with his clothes on, even to the tall boots, which he has always worn, +because of a chronic tendency to cramp, as well as for other reasons. +At certain seasons he has kept these boots on for such a length of +time, that when he drew them off the skin came away together with the +leather, like that of a sloughing snake. He was never stingy of cash, +nor did he accumulate money, being content with just enough to keep +him decently; wherefore, though innumerable lords and rich folk have +made him splendid offers for some specimen of his craft, he rarely +complied, and then, for the most part, more out of kindness and +friendship than with any expectation of gain." In spite of all this, +or rather because of his temperance in food and sleep and sexual +pleasure, together with his manual industry, he preserved excellent +health into old age. + +I have thought it worth while to introduce this general review of +Michelangelo's habits, without omitting some details which may seem +repulsive to the modern reader, at an early period of his biography, +because we ought to carry with us through the vicissitudes of his long +career and many labours an accurate conception of our hero's +personality. For this reason it may not be unprofitable to repeat what +Condivi says about his physical appearance in the last years of his +life. "Michelangelo is of a good complexion; more muscular and bony +than fat or fleshy in his person: healthy above all things, as well by +reason of his natural constitution as of the exercise he takes, and +habitual continence in food and sexual indulgence. Nevertheless, he +was a weakly child, and has suffered two illnesses in manhood. His +countenance always showed a good and wholesome colour. Of stature he +is as follows: height middling; broad in the shoulders; the rest of +the body somewhat slender in proportion. The shape of his face is +oval, the space above the ears being one sixth higher than a +semicircle. Consequently the temples project beyond the ears, and the +ears beyond the cheeks, and these beyond the rest; so that the skull, +in relation to the whole head, must be called large. The forehead, +seen in front, is square; the nose, a little flattened--not by nature, +but because, when he was a young boy, Torrigiano de' Torrigiani, a +brutal and insolent fellow, smashed in the cartilage with his fist. +Michelangelo was carried home half dead on this occasion; and +Torrigiano, having been exiled from Florence for his violence, came to +a bad end. The nose, however, being what it is, bears a proper +proportion to the forehead and the rest of the face. The lips are +thin, but the lower is slightly thicker than the upper; so that, seen +in profile, it projects a little. The chin is well in harmony with the +features I have described. The forehead, in a side-view, almost hangs +over the nose; and this looks hardly less than broken, were it not for +a trifling proturberance in the middle. The eyebrows are not thick +with hair; the eyes may even be called small, of a colour like horn, +but speckled and stained with spots of bluish yellow. The ears in good +proportion; hair of the head black, as also the beard, except that +both are now grizzled by old age; the beard double-forked, about five +inches long, and not very bushy, as may partly be observed in his +portrait." + +We have no contemporary account of Michelangelo in early manhood; but +the tenor of his life was so even, and, unlike Cellini, he moved so +constantly upon the same lines and within the same sphere of patient +self-reserve, that it is not difficult to reconstruct the young and +vigorous sculptor out of this detailed description by his loving +friend and servant in old age. Few men, notably few artists, have +preserved that continuity of moral, intellectual, and physical +development in one unbroken course which is the specific +characterisation of Michelangelo. As years advanced, his pulses beat +less quickly and his body shrank. But the man did not alter. With the +same lapse of years, his style grew drier and more abstract, but it +did not alter in quality or depart from its ideal. He seems to me in +these respects to be like Milton: wholly unlike the plastic and +assimilative genius of a Raphael. + + + +CHAPTER III + + +I + +Michelangelo returned to Florence in the spring of 1501. Condivi says +that domestic affairs compelled him to leave Rome, and the +correspondence with his father makes this not improbable. He brought a +heightened reputation back to his native city. The Bacchus and the +Madonna della Febbre had placed him in advance of any sculptor of his +time. Indeed, in these first years of the sixteenth century he may be +said to have been the only Tuscan sculptor of commanding eminence. +Ghiberti, Della Quercia, Brunelleschi, Donatello, all had joined the +majority before his birth. The second group of distinguished +craftsmen--Verocchio, Luca della Robbia, Rossellino, Da Maiano, +Civitali, Desiderio da Settignano--expired at the commencement of the +century. It seemed as though a gap in the ranks of plastic artists had +purposely been made for the entrance of a predominant and tyrannous +personality. Jacopo Tatti, called Sansovino, was the only man who +might have disputed the place of preeminence with Michelangelo, and +Sansovino chose Venice for the theatre of his life-labours. In these +circumstances, it is not singular that commissions speedily began to +overtax the busy sculptor's power of execution. I do not mean to +assert that the Italians, in the year 1501, were conscious of +Michelangelo's unrivalled qualities, or sensitive to the corresponding +limitations which rendered these qualities eventually baneful to the +evolution of the arts; but they could not help feeling that in this +young man of twenty-six they possessed a first-rate craftsman, and one +who had no peer among contemporaries. + +The first order of this year came from the Cardinal Francesco +Piccolomini, who was afterwards elected Pope in 1503, and who died +after reigning three weeks with the title of Pius III. He wished to +decorate the Piccolomini Chapel in the Duomo of Siena with fifteen +statues of male saints. A contract was signed on June 5, by which +Michelangelo agreed to complete these figures within the space of +three years. One of them, a S. Francis, had been already begun by +Piero Torrigiano; and this, we have some reason to believe, was +finished by the master's hand. Accounts differ about his share in the +remaining fourteen statues; but the matter is of no great moment, +seeing that the style of the work is conventional, and the scale of +the figures disagreeably squat and dumpy. It seems almost impossible +that these ecclesiastical and tame pieces should have been produced at +the same time as the David by the same hand. Neither Vasari nor +Condivi speaks about them, although it is certain that Michelangelo +was held bound to his contract during several years. Upon the death of +Pius III., he renewed it with the Pope's heirs, Jacopo and Andrea +Piccolomini, by a deed dated September 15, 1504; and in 1537 Anton +Maria Piccolomini, to whom the inheritance succeeded, considered +himself Michelangelo's creditor for the sum of a hundred crowns, which +had been paid beforehand for work not finished by the sculptor. + +A far more important commission was intrusted to Michelangelo in +August of the same year, 1501. Condivi, after mentioning his return to +Florence, tells the history of the colossal David in these words: +"Here he stayed some time, and made the statue which stands in front +of the great door of the Palace of the Signory, and is called the +Giant by all people. It came about in this way. The Board of Works at +S. Maria del Fiore owned a piece of marble nine cubits in height, +which had been brought from Carrara some hundred years before by a +sculptor insufficiently acquainted with his art. This was evident, +inasmuch as, wishing to convey it more conveniently and with less +labour, he had it blocked out in the quarry, but in such a manner that +neither he nor any one else was capable of extracting a statue from +the block, either of the same size, or even on a much smaller scale. +The marble being, then, useless for any good purpose, Andrea del Monte +San Savino thought that he might get possession of it from the Board, +and begged them to make him a present of it, promising that he would +add certain pieces of stone and carve a statue from it. Before they +made up their minds to give it, they sent for Michelangelo; then, +after explaining the wishes and the views of Andrea, and considering +his own opinion that it would be possible to extract a good thing from +the block, they finally offered it to him. Michelangelo accepted, +added no pieces, and got the statue out so exactly, that, as any one +may see, in the top of the head and at the base some vestiges of the +rough surface of the marble still remain. He did the same in other +works, as, for instance, in the Contemplative Life upon the tomb of +Julius; indeed, it is a sign left by masters on their work, proving +them to be absolute in their art. But in the David it was much more +remarkable, for this reason, that the difficulty of the task was not +overcome by adding pieces; and also he had to contend with an +ill-shaped marble. As he used to say himself, it is impossible, or at +least extraordinarily difficult in statuary to set right the faults of +the blocking out. He received for this work 400 ducats, and carried it +out in eighteen months." + +The sculptor who had spoiled this block of marble is called "Maestro +Simone" by Vasari; but the abundant documents in our possession, by +aid of which we are enabled to trace the whole history of +Michelangelo's David with minuteness, show that Vasari was +misinformed. The real culprit was Agostino di Antonio di Duccio, or +Guccio, who had succeeded with another colossal statue for the Duomo. +He is honourably known in the history of Tuscan sculpture by his +reliefs upon the façade of the Duomo at Modena, describing episodes in +the life of S. Gemignano, by the romantically charming reliefs in +marble, with terracotta settings, on the Oratory of S. Bernardino at +Perugia, and by a large amount of excellent surface-work in stone upon +the chapels of S. Francesco at Rimini. We gather from one of the +contracts with Agostino that the marble was originally blocked out for +some prophet. But Michelangelo resolved to make a David; and two wax +models, now preserved in the Museo Buonarroti, neither of which +corresponds exactly with the statue as it exists, show that he felt +able to extract a colossal figure in various attitudes from the +damaged block. In the first contract signed between the Consuls of the +Arte della Lana, the Operai del Duomo, and the sculptor, dated August +16, 1501, the terms are thus settled: "That the worthy master +Michelangelo, son of Lodovico Buonarroti, citizen of Florence, has +been chosen to fashion, complete, and finish to perfection that male +statue called the Giant, of nine cubits in height, now existing in the +workshop of the cathedral, blocked out aforetime by Master Agostino of +Florence, and badly blocked; and that the work shall be completed +within the term of the next ensuing two years, dating from September, +at a salary of six golden florins per month; and that what is needful +for the accomplishment of this task, as workmen, timbers, &c., which +he may require, shall be supplied him by the Operai; and when the +statue is finished, the Consuls and Operai who shall be in office +shall estimate whether he deserve a larger recompense, and this shall +be left to their consciences." + + +II + +Michelangelo began to work on Monday morning, September 13, in a +wooden shed erected for the purpose, not far from the cathedral. On +the 28th of February 1502, the statue, which is now called for the +first time "the Giant, or David," was brought so far forward that the +judges declared it to be half finished, and decided that the sculptor +should be paid in all 400 golden florins, including the stipulated +salary. He seems to have laboured assiduously during the next two +years, for by a minute of the 25th of January 1504 the David is said +to be almost entirely finished. On this date a solemn council of the +most important artists resident in Florence was convened at the Opera +del Duomo to consider where it should be placed. + +We possess full minutes of this meeting, and they are so curious that +I shall not hesitate to give a somewhat detailed account of the +proceedings. Messer Francesco Filarete, the chief herald of the +Signory, and himself an architect of some pretensions, opened the +discussion in a short speech to this effect: "I have turned over in my +mind those suggestions which my judgment could afford me. You have two +places where the statue may be set up: the first, that where the +Judith stands; the second, in the middle of the courtyard where the +David is. The first might be selected, because the Judith is an omen +of evil, and no fit object where it stands, we having the cross and +lily for our ensign; besides, it is not proper that the woman should +kill the male; and, above all, this statue was erected under an evil +constellation, since you have gone continually from bad to worse since +then. Pisa has been lost too. The David of the courtyard is imperfect +in the right leg; and so I should counsel you to put the Giant in one +of these places, but I give the preference myself to that of the +Judith." The herald, it will be perceived, took for granted that +Michelangelo's David would be erected in the immediate neighbourhood +of the Palazzo Vecchio. The next speaker, Francesco Monciatto, a +wood-carver, advanced the view that it ought to be placed in front of +the Duomo, where the Colossus was originally meant to be put up. He +was immediately followed, and his resolution was seconded, by no less +personages than the painters Cosimo Rosselli and Sandro Botticelli. +Then Giuliano da San Gallo, the illustrious architect, submitted a +third opinion to the meeting. He began his speech by observing that he +agreed with those who wished to choose the steps of the Duomo, but due +consideration caused him to alter his mind. "The imperfection of the +marble, which is softened by exposure to the air, rendered the +durability of the statue doubtful. He therefore voted for the middle +of the Loggia dei Lanzi, where the David would be under cover." Messer +Angelo di Lorenzo Manfidi, second herald of the Signory, rose to state +a professional objection. "The David, if erected under the middle arch +of the Loggia, would break the order of the ceremonies practised there +by the Signory and other magistrates. He therefore proposed that the +arch facing the Palazzo (where Donatello's Judith is now) should be +chosen." The three succeeding speakers, people of no great importance, +gave their votes in favour of the chief herald's resolution. Others +followed San Gallo, among whom was the illustrious Lionardo da Vinci. +He thought the statue could be placed under the middle arch of the +Loggia without hindrance to ceremonies of state. Salvestro, a +jeweller, and Filippino Lippi, the painter, were of opinion that the +neighbourhood of the Palazzo should be adopted, but that the precise +spot should be left to the sculptor's choice. Gallieno, an +embroiderer, and David Ghirlandajo, the painter, suggested a new +place--namely, where the lion or Marzocco stood on the Piazza. Antonio +da San Gallo, the architect, and Michelangelo, the goldsmith, father +of Baccio Bandinelli, supported Giuliano da San Gallo's motion. Then +Giovanni Piffero--that is, the father of Benvenuto Cellini--brought +the discussion back to the courtyard of the palace. He thought that in +the Loggia the statue would be only partly seen, and that it would run +risks of injury from scoundrels. Giovanni delle Corniole, the +incomparable gem-cutter, who has left us the best portrait of +Savonarola, voted with the two San Galli, "because he hears the stone +is soft." Piero di Cosimo, the painter, and teacher of Andrea del +Sarto, wound up the speeches with a strong recommendation that the +choice of the exact spot should be left to Michelangelo Buonarroti. +This was eventually decided on, and he elected to have his David set +up in the place preferred by the chief herald--that is to say, upon +the steps of the Palazzo Vecchio, on the right side of the entrance. + +The next thing was to get the mighty mass of sculptured marble safely +moved from the Duomo to the Palazzo. On the 1st of April, Simone del +Pollajuolo, called Il Cronaca, was commissioned to make the necessary +preparations; but later on, upon the 30th, we find Antonio da San +Gallo, Baccio d'Agnolo, Bernardo della Ciecha, and Michelangelo +associated with him in the work of transportation. An enclosure of +stout beams and planks was made and placed on movable rollers. In the +middle of this the statue hung suspended, with a certain liberty of +swaying to the shocks and lurches of the vehicle. More than forty men +were employed upon the windlasses which drew it slowly forward. In a +contemporary record we possess a full account of the transit: "On the +14th of May 1504, the marble Giant was taken from the Opera. It came +out at 24 o'clock, and they broke the wall above the gateway enough to +let it pass. That night some stones were thrown at the Colossus with +intent to harm it. Watch had to be kept at night; and it made way very +slowly, bound as it was upright, suspended in the air with enormous +beams and intricate machinery of ropes. It took four days to reach the +Piazza, arriving on the 18th at the hour of 12. More than forty men +were employed to make it go; and there were fourteen rollers joined +beneath it, which were changed from hand to hand. Afterwards, they +worked until the 8th of June 1504 to place it on the platform +_(ringhiero)_ where the Judith used to stand. The Judith was removed +and set upon the ground within the palace. The said Giant was the work +of Michelangelo Buonarroti." + +Where the masters of Florence placed it, under the direction of its +maker, Michelangelo's great white David stood for more than three +centuries uncovered, open to all injuries of frost and rain, and to +the violence of citizens, until, for the better preservation of this +masterpiece of modern art, it was removed in 1873 to a hall of the +Accademia delle Belle Arti. On the whole, it has suffered very little. +Weather has slightly worn away the extremities of the left foot; and +in 1527, during a popular tumult, the left arm was broken by a huge +stone cast by the assailants of the palace. Giorgio Vasari tells us +how, together with his friend Cecchino Salviati, he collected the +scattered pieces, and brought them to the house of Michelangelo +Salviati, the father of Cecchino. They were subsequently put together +by the care of the Grand Duke Cosimo, and restored to the statue in +the year 1543. + + +III + +In the David Michelangelo first displayed that quality of +_terribilità_, of spirit-quailing, awe-inspiring force, for which he +afterwards became so famous. The statue imposes, not merely by its +size and majesty and might, but by something vehement in the +conception. He was, however, far from having yet adopted those +systematic proportions for the human body which later on gave an air +of monotonous impressiveness to all his figures. On the contrary, this +young giant strongly recalls the model; still more strongly indeed +than the Bacchus did. Wishing perhaps to adhere strictly to the +Biblical story, Michelangelo studied a lad whose frame was not +developed. The David, to state the matter frankly, is a colossal +hobbledehoy. His body, in breadth of the thorax, depth of the abdomen, +and general stoutness, has not grown up to the scale of the enormous +hands and feet and heavy head. We feel that he wants at least two +years to become a fully developed man, passing from adolescence to the +maturity of strength and beauty. This close observance of the +imperfections of the model at a certain stage of physical growth is +very remarkable, and not altogether pleasing in a statue more than +nine feet high. Both Donatello and Verocchio had treated their Davids +in the same realistic manner, but they were working on a small scale +and in bronze. I insist upon this point, because students of +Michelangelo have been apt to overlook his extreme sincerity and +naturalism in the first stages of his career. + +Having acknowledged that the head of David is too massive and the +extremities too largely formed for ideal beauty, hypercriticism can +hardly find fault with the modelling and execution of each part. The +attitude selected is one of great dignity and vigour. The heroic boy, +quite certain of victory, is excited by the coming contest. His brows +are violently contracted, the nostrils tense and quivering, the eyes +fixed keenly on the distant Philistine. His larynx rises visibly, and +the sinews of his left thigh tighten, as though the whole spirit of +the man were braced for a supreme endeavour. In his right hand, kept +at a just middle point between the hip and knee, he holds the piece of +wood on which his sling is hung. The sling runs round his back, and +the centre of it, where the stone bulges, is held with the left hand, +poised upon the left shoulder, ready to be loosed. We feel that the +next movement will involve the right hand straining to its full extent +the sling, dragging the stone away, and whirling it into the air; +when, after it has sped to strike Goliath in the forehead, the whole +lithe body of the lad will have described a curve, and recovered its +perpendicular position on the two firm legs. Michelangelo invariably +chose some decisive moment; in the action he had to represent; and +though he was working here under difficulties, owing to the +limitations of the damaged block at his disposal, he contrived to +suggest the imminence of swift and sudden energy which shall disturb +the equilibrium of his young giant's pose. Critics of this statue, +deceived by its superficial resemblance to some Greek athletes at +rest, have neglected the candid realism of the momentary act +foreshadowed. They do not understand the meaning of the sling. Even +Heath Wilson, for instance, writes: "The massive shoulders are thrown +back, the right arm is pendent, and _the right hand grasps resolutely +the stone_ with which the adversary is to be slain." This entirely +falsifies the sculptor's motive, misses the meaning of the sling, +renders the broad strap behind the back superfluous, and changes into +mere plastic symbolism what Michelangelo intended to be a moment +caught from palpitating life. + +It has often been remarked that David's head is modelled upon the type +of Donatello's S. George at Orsanmichele. The observation is just; and +it suggests a comment on the habit Michelangelo early formed of +treating the face idealistically, however much he took from study of +his models. Vasari, for example, says that he avoided portraiture, and +composed his faces by combining several individuals. We shall see a +new ideal type of the male head emerge in a group of statues, among +which the most distinguished is Giuliano de' Medici at San Lorenzo. We +have already seen a female type created in the Madonnas of S. Peter's +and Notre Dame at Bruges. But this is not the place to discuss +Michelangelo's theory of form in general. That must be reserved until +we enter the Sistine Chapel, in order to survey the central and the +crowning product of his genius in its prime. + +We have every reason to believe that Michelangelo carved his David +with no guidance but drawings and a small wax model about eighteen +inches in height. The inconvenience of this method, which left the +sculptor to wreak his fury on the marble with mallet and chisel, can +be readily conceived. In a famous passage, disinterred by M. Mariette +from a French scholar of the sixteenth century, we have this account +of the fiery master's system: "I am able to affirm that I have seen +Michelangelo, at the age of more than sixty years, and not the +strongest for his time of life, knock off more chips from an extremely +hard marble in one quarter of an hour than three young stone-cutters +could have done in three or four--a thing quite incredible to one who +has not seen it. He put such impetuosity and fury into his work that I +thought the whole must fly to pieces; hurling to the ground at one +blow great fragments three or four inches thick, shaving the line so +closely that if he had overpassed it by a hair's-breadth he ran the +risk of losing all, since one cannot mend a marble afterwards or +repair mistakes, as one does with figures of clay and stucco." It is +said that, owing to this violent way of attacking his marble, +Michelangelo sometimes bit too deep into the stone, and had to abandon +a promising piece of sculpture. This is one of the ways of accounting +for his numerous unfinished statues. Accordingly a myth has sprung up +representing the great master as working in solitude upon huge blocks, +with nothing but a sketch in wax before him. Fact is always more +interesting than fiction; and, while I am upon the topic of his +method, I will introduce what Cellini has left written on this +subject. In his treatise on the Art of Sculpture, Cellini lays down +the rule that sculptors in stone ought first to make a little model +two palms high, and after this to form another as large as the statue +will have to be. He illustrates this by a critique of his illustrious +predecessors. "Albeit many able artists rush boldly on the stone with +the fierce force of mallet and chisel, relying on the little model and +a good design, yet the result is never found by them to be so +satisfactory as when they fashion the model on a large scale. This is +proved by our Donatello, who was a Titan in the art, and afterwards by +the stupendous Michelangelo, who worked in both ways. Discovering +latterly that the small models fell far short of what his excellent +genius demanded, he adopted the habit of making most careful models +exactly of the same size as the marble statue was to be. This we have +seen with our own eyes in the Sacristy of S. Lorenzo. Next, when a man +is satisfied with his full-sized model, he must take charcoal, and +sketch out the main view of his figure on the marble in such wise that +it shall be distinctly traced; for he who has not previously settled +his design may sometimes find himself deceived by the chiselling +irons. Michelangelo's method in this matter was the best. He used +first to sketch in the principal aspect; and then to begin work by +removing the surface stone upon that side, just as if he intended to +fashion a figure in half-relief; and thus he went on gradually +uncovering the rounded form." + +Vasari, speaking of four rough-hewn Captives, possibly the figures now +in a grotto of the Boboli Gardens, says: They are well adapted for +teaching a beginner how to extract statues from the marble without +injury to the stone. The safe method which they illustrate may be +described as follows. You first take a model in wax or some other hard +material, and place it lying in a vessel full of water. The water, by +its nature, presents a level surface; so that, if you gradually lift +the model, the higher parts are first exposed, while the lower parts +remain submerged; and, proceeding thus, the whole round shape at +length appears above the water. Precisely in the same way ought +statues to be hewn out from the marble with the chisel; first +uncovering the highest surfaces, and proceeding to disclose the +lowest. This method was followed by Michelangelo while blocking out +the Captives, and therefore his Excellency the Duke was fain to have +them used as models by the students in his Academy. It need hardly be +remarked that the ingenious process of "pointing the marble" by means +of the "pointing machine" and "scale-stones," which is at present +universally in use among sculptors, had not been invented in the +sixteenth century. + + +IV + +I cannot omit a rather childish story which Vasari tells about the +David. After it had been placed upon its pedestal before the palace, +and while the scaffolding was still there, Piero Soderini, who loved +and admired Michelangelo, told him that he thought the nose too large. +The sculptor immediately ran up the ladder till he reached a point +upon the level of the giant's shoulder. He then took his hammer and +chisel, and, having concealed some dust of marble in the hollow of his +hand, pretended to work off a portion from the surface of the nose. In +reality he left it as he found it; but Soderini, seeing the marble +dust fall scattering through the air, thought that his hint had been +taken. When, therefore, Michelangelo called down to him, "Look at it +now!" Soderini shouted up in reply, "I am far more pleased with it; +you have given life to the statue." + +At this time Piero Soderini, a man of excellent parts and sterling +character, though not gifted with that mixture of audacity and cunning +which impressed the Renaissance imagination, was Gonfalonier of the +Republic. He had been elected to the supreme magistracy for life, and +was practically Doge of Florence. His friendship proved on more than +one occasion of some service to Michelangelo; and while the gigantic +David was in progress he gave the sculptor a new commission, the +history of which must now engage us. The Florentine envoys to France +had already written in June 1501 from Lyons, saying that Pierre de +Rohan, Maréchal de Gié, who stood high in favour at the court of Louis +XII., greatly desired a copy of the bronze David by Donatello in the +courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio. He appeared willing to pay for it, +but the envoys thought that he expected to have it as a present. The +French alliance was a matter of the highest importance to Florence, +and at this time the Republic was heavily indebted to the French +crown. Soderini, therefore, decided to comply with the Marshal's +request, and on the 12th of August 1502 Michelangelo undertook to +model a David of two cubits and a quarter within six months. In the +bronze-casting he was assisted by a special master, Benedetto da +Rovezzano. During the next two years a brisk correspondence was kept +up between the envoys and the Signory about the statue, showing the +Marshal's impatience. Meanwhile De Rohan became Duke of Nemours in +1503 by his marriage with a sister of Louis d'Armagnac, and shortly +afterwards he fell into disgrace. Nothing more was to be expected from +him at the court of Blois. But the statue was in progress, and the +question arose to whom it should be given. The choice of the Signory +fell on Florimond Robertet, secretary of finance, whose favour would +be useful to the Florentines in their pecuniary transactions with the +King. A long letter from the envoy, Francesco Pandolfini, in September +1505, shows that Robertet's mind had been sounded on the subject; and +we gather from a minute of the Signory, dated November 6, 1508, that +at last the bronze David, weighing about 800 pounds, had been "packed +in the name of God" and sent to Signa on its way to Leghorn. Robertet +received it in due course, and placed it in the courtyard of his +château of Bury, near Blois. Here it remained for more than a century, +when it was removed to the château of Villeroy. There it disappeared. +We possess, however, a fine pen-and-ink drawing by the hand of +Michelangelo, which may well have been a design for this second David. +The muscular and naked youth, not a mere lad like the colossal statue, +stands firmly posed upon his left leg with the trunk thrown boldly +back. His right foot rests on the gigantic head of Goliath, and his +left hand, twisted back upon the buttock, holds what seems meant for +the sling. We see here what Michelangelo's conception of an ideal +David would have been when working under conditions more favourable +than the damaged block afforded. On the margin of the page the +following words may be clearly traced: "Davicte cholla fromba e io +chollarcho Michelagniolo,"--David with the sling, and I with the bow. + +Meanwhile Michelangelo received a still more important commission on +the 24th of April 1503. The Consuls of the Arte della Lana and the +Operai of the Duomo ordered twelve Apostles, each 4-1/4 cubits high, +to be carved out of Carrara marble and placed inside the church. The +sculptor undertook to furnish one each year, the Board of Works +defraying all expenses, supplying the costs of Michelangelo's living +and his assistants, and paying him two golden florins a month. Besides +this, they had a house built for him in the Borgo Pinti after Il +Cronaca's design. He occupied this house free of charges while he was +in Florence, until it became manifest that the contract of 1503 would +never be carried out. Later on, in March 1508, the tenement was let on +lease to him and his heirs. But he only held it a few months; for on +the 15th of June the lease was cancelled, and the house transferred to +Sigismondo Martelli. + +The only trace surviving of these twelve Apostles is the huge +blocked-out S. Matteo, now in the courtyard of the Accademia. Vasari +writes of it as follows: "He also began a statue in marble of S. +Matteo, which, though it is but roughly hewn, shows perfection of +design, and teaches sculptors how to extract figures from the stone +without exposing them to injury, always gaining ground by removing the +superfluous material, and being able to withdraw or change in case of +need." This stupendous sketch or shadow of a mighty form is indeed +instructive for those who would understand Michelangelo's method. It +fully illustrates the passages quoted above from Cellini and Vasari, +showing how a design of the chief view of the statue must have been +chalked upon the marble, and how the unfinished figure gradually +emerged into relief. Were we to place it in a horizontal position on +the ground, that portion of a rounded form which has been disengaged +from the block would emerge just in the same way as a model from a +bath of water not quite deep enough to cover it. At the same time we +learn to appreciate the observations of Vigenere while we study the +titanic chisel-marks, grooved deeply in the body of the stone, and +carried to the length of three or four inches. The direction of these +strokes proves that Michelangelo worked equally with both hands, and +the way in which they are hatched and crossed upon the marble reminds +one of the pen-drawing of a bold draughtsman. The mere +surface-handling of the stone has remarkable affinity in linear effect +to a pair of the master's pen-designs for a naked man, now in the +Louvre. On paper he seems to hew with the pen, on marble to sketch +with the chisel. The saint appears literally to be growing out of his +stone prison, as though he were alive and enclosed there waiting to be +liberated. This recalls Michelangelo's fixed opinion regarding +sculpture, which he defined as the art "that works by force of taking +away." In his writings we often find the idea expressed that a statue, +instead of being a human thought invested with external reality by +stone, is more truly to be regarded as something which the sculptor +seeks and finds inside his marble--a kind of marvellous discovery. +Thus he says in one of his poems: "Lady, in hard and craggy stone the +mere removal of the surface gives being to a figure, which ever grows +the more the stone is hewn away." And again-- + + _The best of artists hath no thought to show + Which the rough stone in its superfluous shell + Doth not include: to break the marble spell + Is all the hand that serves the brain can do._ + +S. Matthew seems to palpitate with life while we scrutinise the +amorphous block; and yet there is little there more tangible than some +such form as fancy loves to image in the clouds. + +To conclude what I have said in this section about Michelangelo's +method of working on the marble, I must confirm what I have stated +about his using both left and right hand while chiselling. Raffaello +da Montelupo, who was well acquainted with him personally, informs us +of the fact: "Here I may mention that I am in the habit of drawing +with my left hand, and that once, at Rome, while I was sketching the +Arch of Trajan from the Colosseum, Michelangelo and Sebastiano del +Piombo, both of whom were naturally left-handed (although they did not +work with the left hand excepting when they wished to use great +strength), stopped to see me, and expressed great wonder, no sculptor +or painter ever having done so before me, as far as I know." + + +V + +If Vasari can be trusted, it was during this residence at Florence, +when his hands were so fully occupied, that Michelangelo found time to +carve the two _tondi_, Madonnas in relief enclosed in circular spaces, +which we still possess. One of them, made for Taddeo Taddei, is now at +Burlington House, having been acquired by the Royal Academy through +the medium of Sir George Beaumont. This ranks among the best things +belonging to that Corporation. The other, made for Bartolommeo Pitti, +will be found in the Palazzo del Bargello at Florence. Of the two, +that of our Royal Academy is the more ambitious in design, combining +singular grace and dignity in the Madonna with action playfully +suggested in the infant Christ and little S. John. That of the +Bargello is simpler, more tranquil, and more stately. The one recalls +the motive of the Bruges Madonna, the other almost anticipates the +Delphic Sibyl. We might fancifully call them a pair of native pearls +or uncut gems, lovely by reason even of their sketchiness. Whether by +intention, as some critics have supposed, or for want of time to +finish, as I am inclined to believe, these two reliefs are left in a +state of incompleteness which is highly suggestive. Taking the Royal +Academy group first, the absolute roughness of the groundwork supplies +an admirable background to the figures, which seem to emerge from it +as though the whole of them were there, ready to be disentangled. The +most important portions of the composition--Madonna's head and throat, +the drapery of her powerful breast, on which the child Christ +reclines, and the naked body of the boy--are wrought to a point which +only demands finish. Yet parts of these two figures remain +undetermined. Christ's feet are still imprisoned in the clinging +marble; His left arm and hand are only indicated, and His right hand +is resting on a mass of broken stone, which hides a portion of His +mother's drapery, but leaves the position of her hand uncertain. The +infant S. John, upright upon his feet, balancing the chief group, is +hazily subordinate. The whole of his form looms blurred through the +veil of stone, and what his two hands and arms are doing with the +hidden right arm and hand of the Virgin may hardly be conjectured. It +is clear that on this side of the composition the marble was to have +been more deeply cut, and that we have the highest surfaces of the +relief brought into prominence at those points where, as I have said, +little is wanting but the finish of the graver and the file. The +Bargello group is simpler and more intelligible. Its composition by +masses being quite apparent, we can easily construct the incomplete +figure of S. John in the background. What results from the study of +these two circular sketches in marble is that, although Michelangelo +believed all sculpture to be imperfect in so far as it approached the +style of painting, yet he did not disdain to labour in stone with +various planes of relief which should produce the effect of +chiaroscuro. Furthermore, they illustrate what Cellini and Vasari have +already taught us about his method. He refused to work by piecemeal, +but began by disengaging the first, the second, then the third +surfaces, following a model and a drawing which controlled the +cutting. Whether he preferred to leave off when his idea was +sufficiently indicated, or whether his numerous engagements prevented +him from excavating the lowest surfaces, and lastly polishing the +whole, is a question which must for ever remain undecided. Considering +the exquisite elaboration given to the Pietà of the Vatican, the +Madonna at Bruges, the Bacchus and the David, the Moses and parts of +the Medicean monuments, I incline to think that, with time enough at +his disposal, he would have carried out these rounds in all their +details. A criticism he made on Donatello, recorded for us by Condivi, +to the effect that this great master's works lost their proper effect +on close inspection through a want of finish, confirms my opinion. +Still there is no doubt that he must have been pleased, as all true +lovers of art are with the picturesque effect--an effect as of things +half seen in dreams or emergent from primeval substances--which the +imperfection of the craftsman's labour leaves upon the memory. + +At this time Michelangelo's mind seems to have been much occupied with +circular compositions. He painted a large Holy Family of this shape +for his friend Angelo Doni, which may, I think, be reckoned the only +easel-picture attributable with absolute certainty to his hand. +Condivi simply says that he received seventy ducats for this fine +work. Vasari adds one of his prattling stories to the effect that Doni +thought forty sufficient; whereupon Michelangelo took the picture +back, and said he would not let it go for less than a hundred: Doni +then offered the original sum of seventy, but Michelangelo replied +that if he was bent on bargaining he should not pay less than 140. Be +this as it may, one of the most characteristic products of the +master's genius came now into existence. The Madonna is seated in a +kneeling position on the ground; she throws herself vigorously +backward, lifting the little Christ upon her right arm, and presenting +him to a bald-headed old man, S. Joseph, who seems about to take him +in his arms. This group, which forms a tall pyramid, is balanced on +both sides by naked figures of young men reclining against a wall at +some distance, while a remarkably ugly little S. John can be discerned +in one corner. There is something very powerful and original in the +composition of this sacred picture, which, as in the case of all +Michelangelo's early work, develops the previous traditions of Tuscan +art on lines which no one but himself could have discovered. The +central figure of the Madonna, too, has always seemed to me a thing of +marvellous beauty, and of stupendous power in the strained attitude +and nobly modelled arms. It has often been asked what the male nudes +have got to do with the subject. Probably Michelangelo intended in +this episode to surpass a Madonna by Luca Signorelli, with whose +genius he obviously was in sympathy, and who felt, like him, the +supreme beauty of the naked adolescent form. Signorelli had painted a +circular Madonna with two nudes in the landscape distance for Lorenzo +de' Medici. The picture is hung now in the gallery of the Uffizi. It +is enough perhaps to remark that Michelangelo needed these figures for +his scheme, and for filling the space at his disposal. He was either +unable or unwilling to compose a background of trees, meadows, and +pastoral folk in the manner of his predecessors. Nothing but the +infinite variety of human forms upon a barren stage of stone or arid +earth would suit his haughty sense of beauty. The nine persons who +make up the picture are all carefully studied from the life, and bear +a strong Tuscan stamp. S. John is literally ignoble, and Christ is a +commonplace child. The Virgin Mother is a magnificent _contadina_ in +the plenitude of adult womanhood. Those, however, who follow Mr. +Ruskin in blaming Michelangelo for carelessness about the human face +and head, should not fail to notice what sublime dignity and grace he +has communicated to his model here. In technical execution the Doni +Madonna is faithful to old Florentine usage, but lifeless and +unsympathetic. We are disagreeably reminded by every portion of the +surface that Lionardo's subtle play of tones and modulated shades, +those _sfumature_, as Italians call them, which transfer the mystic +charm of nature to the canvas, were as yet unknown to the great +draughtsman. There is more of atmosphere, of colour suggestion, and of +chiaroscuro in the marble _tondi_ described above. Moreover, in spite +of very careful modelling, Michelangelo has failed to make us feel the +successive planes of his composition. The whole seems flat, and each +distance, instead of being graduated, starts forward to the eye. He +required, at this period of his career, the relief of sculpture in +order to express the roundness of the human form and the relative +depth of objects placed in a receding order. If anything were needed +to make us believe the story of his saying to Pope Julius II. that +sculpture and not painting was his trade, this superb design, so +deficient in the essential qualities of painting proper, would +suffice. Men infinitely inferior to himself in genius and sense of +form, a Perugino, a Francia, a Fra Bartolommeo, an Albertinelli, +possessed more of the magic which evokes pictorial beauty. +Nevertheless, with all its aridity, rigidity, and almost repulsive +hardness of colour, the Doni Madonna ranks among the great pictures of +the world. Once seen it will never be forgotten: it tyrannises and +dominates the imagination by its titanic power of drawing. No one, +except perhaps Lionardo, could draw like that, and Lionardo would not +have allowed his linear scheme to impose itself so remorselessly upon +the mind. + + +VI + +Just at this point of his development, Michelangelo was brought into +competition with Lionardo da Vinci, the only living rival worthy of +his genius. During the year 1503 Piero Soderini determined to adorn +the hall of the Great Council in the Palazzo Vecchio with huge mural +frescoes, which should represent scenes in Florentine history. +Documents regarding the commencement of these works and the contracts +made with the respective artists are unfortunately wanting. But it +appears that Da Vinci received a commission for one of the long walls +in the autumn of that year. We have items of expenditure on record +which show that the Municipality of Florence assigned him the Sala del +Papa at S. Maria Novella before February 1504, and were preparing the +necessary furniture for the construction of his Cartoon. It seems that +he was hard at work upon the 1st of April, receiving fifteen golden +florins a month for his labour. The subject which he chose to treat +was the battle of Anghiari in 1440, when the Florentine mercenaries +entirely routed the troops of Filippo Maria Visconti, led by Niccolò +Piccinino, one of the greatest generals of his age. In August 1504 +Soderini commissioned Michelangelo to prepare Cartoons for the +opposite wall of the great Sala, and assigned to him a workshop in the +Hospital of the Dyers at S. Onofrio. A minute of expenditure, under +date October 31, 1504, shows that the paper for the Cartoon had been +already provided; and Michelangelo continued to work upon it until his +call to Rome at the beginning of 1505. Lionardo's battle-piece +consisted of two groups on horseback engaged in a fierce struggle for +a standard. Michelangelo determined to select a subject which should +enable him to display all his power as the supreme draughtsman of the +nude. He chose an episode from the war with Pisa, when, on the 28th of +July 1364, a band of 400 Florentine soldiers were surprised bathing by +Sir John Hawkwood and his English riders. It goes by the name of the +Battle of Pisa, though the event really took place at Cascina on the +Arno, some six miles above that city. + +We have every reason to regard the composition of this Cartoon as the +central point in Michelangelo's life as an artist. It was the +watershed, so to speak, which divided his earlier from his later +manner; and if we attach any value to the critical judgment of his +enthusiastic admirer, Cellini, even the roof of the Sistine fell short +of its perfection. Important, however, as it certainly is in the +history of his development, I must defer speaking of it in detail +until the end of the next chapter. For some reason or other, unknown +to us, he left his work unfinished early in 1505, and went, at the +Pope's invitation, to Rome. When he returned, in the ensuing year, to +Florence, he resumed and completed the design. Some notion of its size +may be derived from what we know about the material supplied for +Lionardo's Cartoon. This, say Crowe and Cavalcaselle, "was made up of +one ream and twenty-nine quires, or about 288 square feet of royal +folio paper, the mere pasting of which necessitated a consumption of +eighty-eight pounds of flour, the mere lining of which required three +pieces of Florentine linen." + +Condivi, summing up his notes of this period spent by Michelangelo at +Florence, says: "He stayed there some time without working to much +purpose in his craft, having taken to the study of poets and +rhetoricians in the vulgar tongue, and to the composition of sonnets +for his pleasure." It is difficult to imagine how Michelangelo, with +all his engagements, found the leisure to pursue these literary +amusements. But Condivi's biography is the sole authentic source which +we possess for the great master's own recollections of his past life. +It is, therefore, not improbable that in the sentence I have quoted we +may find some explanation of the want of finish observable in his +productions at this point. Michelangelo was, to a large extent, a +dreamer; and this single phrase throws light upon the expanse of time, +the barren spaces, in his long laborious life. The poems we now +possess by his pen are clearly the wreck of a vast multitude; and most +of those accessible in manuscript and print belong to a later stage of +his development. Still the fact remains that in early manhood he +formed the habit of conversing with writers of Italian and of +fashioning his own thoughts into rhyme. His was a nature capable +indeed of vehement and fiery activity, but by constitution somewhat +saturnine and sluggish, only energetic when powerfully stimulated; a +meditative man, glad enough to be inert when not spurred forward on +the path of strenuous achievement. And so, it seems, the literary bent +took hold upon him as a relief from labour, as an excuse for temporary +inaction. In his own art, the art of design, whether this assumed the +form of sculpture or of painting or of architecture, he did nothing +except at the highest pressure. All his accomplished work shows signs +of the intensest cerebration. But he tried at times to slumber, sunk +in a wise passiveness. Then he communed with the poets, the prophets, +and the prose-writers of his country. We can well imagine, therefore, +that, tired with the labours of the chisel or the brush, he gladly +gave himself to composition, leaving half finished on his easel things +which had for him their adequate accomplishment. + +I think it necessary to make these suggestions, because, in my +opinion, Michelangelo's inner life and his literary proclivities have +been hitherto too much neglected in the scheme of his psychology. +Dazzled by the splendour of his work, critics are content to skip +spaces of months and years, during which the creative genius of the +man smouldered. It is, as I shall try to show, in those intervals, +dimly revealed to us by what remains of his poems and his +correspondence, that the secret of this man, at once so tardy and so +energetic; has to be discovered. + +A great master of a different temperament, less solitary, less +saturnine, less sluggish, would have formed a school, as Raffaello +did. Michelangelo formed no school, and was incapable of confiding the +execution of his designs to any subordinates. This is also a point of +the highest importance to insist upon. Had he been other than he +was--a gregarious man, contented with the _à peu près_ in art--he +might have sent out all those twelve Apostles for the Duomo from his +workshop. Raffaello would have done so; indeed, the work which bears +his name in Rome could not have existed except under these conditions. +Now nothing is left to us of the twelve Apostles except a rough-hewn +sketch of S. Matthew. Michelangelo was unwilling or unable to organise +a band of craftsmen fairly interpretative of his manner. When his own +hand failed, or when he lost the passion for his labour, he left the +thing unfinished. And much of this incompleteness in his life-work +seems to me due to his being what I called a dreamer. He lacked the +merely business faculty, the power of utilising hands and brains. He +could not bring his genius into open market, and stamp inferior +productions with his countersign. Willingly he retired into the +solitude of his own self, to commune with great poets and to meditate +upon high thoughts, while he indulged the emotions arising from forms +of strength and beauty presented to his gaze upon the pathway of +experience. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +I + +Among the many nephews whom Sixtus IV. had raised to eminence, the +most distinguished was Giuliano della Rovere, Cardinal of S. Pietro in +Vincoli, and Bishop of Ostia. This man possessed a fiery temper, +indomitable energy, and the combative instinct which takes delight in +fighting for its own sake. Nature intended him for a warrior; and, +though circumstances made him chief of the Church, he discharged his +duties as a Pontiff in the spirit of a general and a conqueror. When +Julius II. was elected in November 1503, it became at once apparent +that he intended to complete what his hated predecessors, the Borgias, +had begun, by reducing to his sway all the provinces over which the +See of Rome had any claims, and creating a central power in Italy. +Unlike the Borgias, however, he entertained no plan of raising his own +family to sovereignty at the expense of the Papal power. The Della +Roveres were to be contented with their Duchy of Urbino, which came to +them by inheritance from the Montefeltri. Julius dreamed of Italy for +the Italians, united under the hegemony of the Supreme Pontiff, who +from Rome extended his spiritual authority and political influence +over the whole of Western Europe. It does not enter into the scheme of +this book to relate the series of wars and alliances in which this +belligerent Pope involved his country, and the final failure of his +policy, so far as the liberation of Italy from the barbarians was +concerned. Suffice it to say, that at the close of his stormy reign he +had reduced the States of the Church to more or less complete +obedience, bequeathing to his successors an ecclesiastical kingdom +which the enfeebled condition of the peninsula at large enabled them +to keep intact. + +There was nothing petty or mean in Julius II.; his very faults bore a +grandiose and heroic aspect. Turbulent, impatient, inordinate in his +ambition, reckless in his choice of means, prolific of immense +projects, for which a lifetime would have been too short, he filled +the ten years of his pontificate with a din of incoherent deeds and +vast schemes half accomplished. Such was the man who called +Michelangelo to Rome at the commencement of 1505. Why the sculptor was +willing to leave his Cartoon unfinished, and to break his engagement +with the Operai del Duomo, remains a mystery. It is said that the +illustrious architect, Giuliano da San Gallo, who had worked for +Julius while he was cardinal, and was now his principal adviser upon +matters of art, suggested to the Pope that Buonarroti could serve him +admirably in his ambitious enterprises for the embellishment of the +Eternal City. We do not know for certain whether Julius, when he +summoned Michelangelo from Florence, had formed the design of engaging +him upon a definite piece of work. The first weeks of his residence in +Rome are said to have been spent in inactivity, until at last Julius +proposed to erect a huge monument of marble for his own tomb. + +Thus began the second and longest period of Michelangelo's +art-industry. Henceforth he was destined to labour for a series of +Popes, following their whims with distracted energies and a lamentable +waste of time. The incompleteness which marks so much of his +performance was due to the rapid succession of these imperious +masters, each in turn careless about the schemes of his predecessor, +and bent on using the artist's genius for his own profit. It is true +that nowhere but in Rome could Michelangelo have received commissions +on so vast a scale. Nevertheless we cannot but regret the fate which +drove him to consume years of hampered industry upon what Condivi +calls "the tragedy of Julius's tomb," upon quarrying and road-making +for Leo X., upon the abortive plans at S. Lorenzo, and upon +architectural and engineering works, which were not strictly within +his province. At first it seemed as though fortune was about to smile +on him. In Julius he found a patron who could understand and +appreciate his powers. Between the two men there existed a strong bond +of sympathy due to community of temperament. Both aimed at colossal +achievements in their respective fields of action. The imagination of +both was fired by large and simple rather than luxurious and subtle +thoughts. Both were _uomini terribili_, to use a phrase denoting +vigour of character and energy of genius, made formidable by an +abrupt, uncompromising spirit. Both worked with what the Italians call +fury, with the impetuosity of daemonic natures; and both left the +impress of their individuality stamped indelibly upon their age. +Julius, in all things grandiose, resolved to signalise his reign by +great buildings, great sculpture, great pictorial schemes. There was +nothing of the dilettante and collector about him. He wanted creation +at a rapid rate and in enormous quantities. To indulge this craving, +he gathered round him a band of demigods and Titans, led by Bramante, +Raffaello, Michelangelo, and enjoyed the spectacle of a new world of +art arising at his bidding through their industry of brain and hand. + + +II + +What followed upon Michelangelo's arrival in Rome may be told in +Condivi's words: "Having reached Rome, many months elapsed before +Julius decided on what great work he would employ him. At last it +occurred to him to use his genius in the construction of his own tomb. +The design furnished by Michelangelo pleased the Pope so much that he +sent him off immediately to Carrara, with commission to quarry as much +marble as was needful for that undertaking. Two thousand ducats were +put to his credit with Alamanni Salviati at Florence for expenses. He +remained more than eight months among those mountains, with two +servants and a horse, but without any salary except his keep. One day, +while inspecting the locality, the fancy took him to convert a hill +which commands the sea-shore into a Colossus, visible by mariners +afar. The shape of the huge rock, which lent itself admirably to such +a purpose, attracted him; and he was further moved to emulate the +ancients, who, sojourning in the place peradventure with the same +object as himself, in order to while away the time, or for some other +motive, have left certain unfinished and rough-hewn monuments, which +give a good specimen of their craft. And assuredly he would have +carried out this scheme, if time enough had been at his disposal, or +if the special purpose of his visit to Carrara had permitted. I one +day heard him lament bitterly that he had not done so. Well, then, +after quarrying and selecting the blocks which he deemed sufficient, +he had them brought to the sea, and left a man of his to ship them +off. He returned to Rome, and having stopped some days in Florence on +the way, when he arrived there, he found that part of the marble had +already reached the Ripa. There he had them disembarked, and carried +to the Piazza of S. Peter's behind S. Caterina, where he kept his +lodging, close to the corridor connecting the Palace with the Castle +of S. Angelo. The quantity of stone was enormous, so that, when it was +all spread out upon the square, it stirred amazement in the minds of +most folk, but joy in the Pope's. Julius indeed began to heap favours +upon Michelangelo; for when he had begun to work, the Pope used +frequently to betake himself to his house, conversing there with him +about the tomb, and about other works which he proposed to carry out +in concert with one of his brothers. In order to arrive more +conveniently at Michelangelo's lodgings, he had a drawbridge thrown +across from the corridor, by which he might gain privy access." + +The date of Michelangelo's return to Rome is fixed approximately by a +contract signed at Carrara between him and two shipowners of Lavagna. +This deed is dated November 12, 1505. It shows that thirty-four +cartloads of marble were then ready for shipment, together with two +figures weighing fifteen cartloads more. We have a right to assume +that Michelangelo left Carrara soon after completing this transaction. +Allowing, then, for the journey and the halt at Florence, he probably +reached Rome in the last week of that month. + + +III + +The first act in the tragedy of the sepulchre had now begun, and +Michelangelo was embarked upon one of the mightiest undertakings which +a sovereign of the stamp of Julius ever intrusted to a sculptor of his +titanic energy. In order to form a conception of the magnitude of the +enterprise, I am forced to enter into a discussion regarding the real +nature of the monument. This offers innumerable difficulties, for we +only possess imperfect notices regarding the original design, and two +doubtful drawings belonging to an uncertain period. Still it is +impossible to understand those changes in the Basilica of S. Peter's +which were occasioned by the project of Julius, or to comprehend the +immense annoyances to which the tomb exposed Michelangelo, without +grappling with its details. Condivi's text must serve for guide. This, +in fact, is the sole source of any positive value. He describes the +tomb, as he believed it to have been first planned, in the following +paragraph:-- + +"To give some notion of the monument, I will say that it was intended +to have four faces: two of eighteen cubits, serving for the sides, and +two of twelve for the ends, so that the whole formed one great square +and a half. Surrounding it externally were niches to be filled with +statues, and between each pair of niches stood terminal figures, to +the front of which were attached on certain consoles projecting from +the wall another set of statues bound like prisoners. These +represented the Liberal Arts, and likewise Painting, Sculpture, +Architecture, each with characteristic emblems, rendering their +identification easy. The intention was to show that all the talents +had been taken captive by death, together with Pope Julius, since +never would they find another patron to cherish and encourage them as +he had done. Above these figures ran a cornice, giving unity to the +whole work. Upon the flat surface formed by this cornice were to be +four large statues, one of which, that is, the Moses, now exists at S. +Pietro ad Vincula. And so, arriving at the summit, the tomb ended in a +level space, whereon were two angels who supported a sarcophagus. One +of them appeared to smile, rejoicing that the soul of the Pope had +been received among the blessed spirits; the other seemed to weep, as +sorrowing that the world had been robbed of such a man. From one of +the ends, that is, by the one which was at the head of the monument, +access was given to a little chamber like a chapel, enclosed within +the monument, in the midst of which was a marble chest, wherein the +corpse of the Pope was meant to be deposited. The whole would have +been executed with stupendous finish. In short, the sepulchre included +more than forty statues, not counting the histories in half-reliefs, +made of bronze, all of them pertinent to the general scheme and +representative of the mighty Pontiff's actions." + +Vasari's account differs in some minor details from Condivi's, but it +is of no authoritative value. Not having appeared in the edition of +1550, we may regard it as a _réchauffée_ of Condivi, with the usual +sauce provided by the Aretine's imagination. The only addition I can +discover which throws light upon Condivi's narrative is that the +statues in the niches were meant to represent provinces conquered by +Julius. This is important, because it leads us to conjecture that +Vasari knew a drawing now preserved in the Uffizi, and sought, by its +means, to add something to his predecessor's description. The drawing +will occupy our attention shortly; but it may here be remarked that in +1505, the date of the first project, Julius was only entering upon his +conquests. It would have been a gross act of flattery on the part of +the sculptor, a flying in the face of Nemesis on the part of his +patron, to design a sepulchre anticipating length of life and luck +sufficient for these triumphs. + +What then Condivi tells us about the first scheme is, that it was +intended to stand isolated in the tribune of S. Peter's; that it +formed a rectangle of a square and half a square; that the podium was +adorned with statues in niches flanked by projecting dadoes supporting +captive arts, ten in number; that at each corner of the platform above +the podium a seated statue was placed, one of which we may safely +identify with the Moses; and that above this, surmounting the whole +monument by tiers, arose a second mass, culminating in a sarcophagus +supported by two angels. He further adds that the tomb was entered at +its extreme end by a door, which led to a little chamber where lay the +body of the Pope, and that bronze bas-reliefs formed a prominent +feature of the total scheme. He reckons that more than forty statues +would have been required to complete the whole design, although he has +only mentioned twenty-two of the most prominent. + +More than this we do not know about the first project. We have no +contracts and no sketches that can be referred to the date 1505. Much +confusion has been introduced into the matter under consideration by +the attempt to reconcile Condivi's description with the drawing I have +just alluded to. Heath Wilson even used that drawing to impugn +Condivi's accuracy with regard to the number of the captives, and the +seated figures on the platform. The drawing in question, as we shall +presently see, is of great importance for the subsequent history of +the monument; and I believe that it to some extent preserves the +general aspect which the tomb, as first designed, was intended to +present. Two points about it, however, prevent our taking it as a true +guide to Michelangelo's original conception. One is that it is clearly +only part of a larger scheme of composition. The other is that it +shows a sarcophagus, not supported by angels, but posed upon the +platform. Moreover, it corresponds to the declaration appended in 1513 +by Michelangelo to the first extant document we possess about the +tomb. + +Julius died in February 1513, leaving, it is said, to his executors +directions that his sepulchre should not be carried out upon the first +colossal plan. If he did so, they seem at the beginning of their trust +to have disregarded his intentions. Michelangelo expressly states in +one of his letters that the Cardinal of Agen wished to proceed with +the tomb, but on a larger scale. A deed dated May 6, 1513, was signed, +at the end of which Michelangelo specified the details of the new +design. It differed from the former in many important respects, but +most of all in the fact that now the structure was to be attached to +the wall of the church. I cannot do better than translate +Michelangelo's specifications. They run as follows: "Let it be known +to all men that I, Michelangelo, sculptor of Florence, undertake to +execute the sepulchre of Pope Julius in marble, on the commission of +the Cardinal of Agens and the Datary (Pucci), who, after his death, +have been appointed to complete this work, for the sum of 16,500 +golden ducats of the Camera; and the composition of the said sepulchre +is to be in the form ensuing: A rectangle visible from three of its +sides, the fourth of which is attached to the wall and cannot be seen. +The front face, that is, the head of this rectangle, shall be twenty +palms in breadth and fourteen in height, the other two, running up +against the wall, shall be thirty-five palms long and likewise +fourteen palms in height. Each of these three sides shall contain two +tabernacles, resting on a basement which shall run round the said +space, and shall be adorned with pilasters, architrave, frieze, and +cornice, as appears in the little wooden model. In each of the said +six tabernacles will be placed two figures about one palm taller than +life (_i.e._, 6-3/4 feet), twelve in all; and in front of each +pilaster which flanks a tabernacle shall stand a figure of similar +size, twelve in all. On the platform above the said rectangular +structure stands a sarcophagus with four feet, as may be seen in the +model, upon which will be Pope Julius sustained by two angels at his +head, with two at his feet; making five figures on the sarcophagus, +all larger than life, that is, about twice the size. Round about the +said sarcophagus will be placed six dadoes or pedestals, on which six +figures of the same dimensions will sit. Furthermore, from the +platform, where it joins the wall, springs a little chapel about +thirty-five palms high (26 feet 3 inches), which shall contain five +figures larger than all the rest, as being farther from the eye. +Moreover, there shall be three histories, either of bronze or of +marble, as may please the said executors, introduced on each face of +the tomb between one tabernacle and another." All this Michelangelo +undertook to execute in seven years for the stipulated sum. + +The new project involved thirty-eight colossal statues; and, +fortunately for our understanding of it, we may be said with almost +absolute certainty to possess a drawing intended to represent it. Part +of this is a pen-and-ink sketch at the Uffizi, which has frequently +been published, and part is a sketch in the Berlin Collection. These +have been put together by Professor Middleton of Cambridge, who has +also made out a key-plan of the tomb. With regard to its proportions +and dimensions as compared with Michelangelo's specification, there +remain some difficulties, with which I cannot see that Professor +Middleton has grappled. It is perhaps not improbable, as Heath Wilson +suggested, that the drawing had been thrown off as a picturesque +forecast of the monument without attention to scale. Anyhow, there is +no doubt that in this sketch, so happily restored by Professor +Middleton's sagacity and tact, we are brought close to Michelangelo's +conception of the colossal work he never was allowed to execute. It +not only answers to the description translated above from the +sculptor's own appendix to the contract, but it also throws light upon +the original plan of the tomb designed for the tribune of S. Peter's. +The basement of the podium has been preserved, we may assume, in its +more salient features. There are the niches spoken of by Condivi, with +Vasari's conquered provinces prostrate at the feet of winged +Victories. These are flanked by the terminal figures, against which, +upon projecting consoles, stand the bound captives. At the right hand +facing us, upon the upper platform, is seated Moses, with a different +action of the hands, it is true, from that which Michelangelo finally +adopted. Near him is a female figure, and the two figures grouped upon +the left angle seem to be both female. To some extent these statues +bear out Vasari's tradition that the platform in the first design was +meant to sustain figures of the contemplative and active life of the +soul--Dante's Leah and Rachel. + +This great scheme was never carried out. The fragments which may be +safely assigned to it are the Moses at S. Pietro in Vincoli and the +two bound captives of the Louvre; the Madonna and Child, Leah and +Rachel, and two seated statues also at S. Pietro in Vincoli, belong to +the plan, though these have undergone considerable alterations. Some +other scattered fragments of the sculptor's work may possibly be +connected with its execution. Four male figures roughly hewn, which +are now wrought into the rock-work of a grotto in the Boboli Gardens, +together with the young athlete trampling on a prostrate old man +(called the Victory) and the Adonis of the Museo Nazionale at +Florence, have all been ascribed to the sepulchre of Julius in one or +other of its stages. But these attributes are doubtful, and will be +criticised in their proper place and time. Suffice it now to say that +Vasari reports, beside the Moses, Victory, and two Captives at the +Louvre, eight figures for the tomb blocked out by Michelangelo at +Rome, and five blocked out at Florence. + +Continuing the history of this tragic undertaking, we come to the year +1516. On the 8th of July in that year, Michelangelo signed a new +contract, whereby the previous deed of 1513 was annulled. Both of the +executors were alive and parties to this second agreement. "A model +was made, the width of which is stated at twenty-one feet, after the +monument had been already sculptured of a width of almost twenty-three +feet. The architectural design was adhered to with the same pedestals +and niches and the same crowning cornice of the first story. There +were to be six statues in front, but the conquered provinces were now +dispensed with. There was also to be one niche only on each flank, so +that the projection of the monument from the wall was reduced more +than half, and there were to be only twelve statues beneath the +cornice and one relief, instead of twenty-four statues and three +reliefs. On the summit of this basement a shrine was to be erected, +within which was placed the effigy of the Pontiff on his sarcophagus, +with two heavenly guardians. The whole of the statues described in +this third contract amount to nineteen." Heath Wilson observes, with +much propriety, that the most singular fact about these successive +contracts is the departure from certain fixed proportions both of the +architectural parts and the statues, involving a serious loss of +outlay and of work. Thus the two Captives of the Louvre became +useless, and, as we know, they were given away to Ruberto Strozzi in a +moment of generosity by the sculptor. The sitting figures detailed in +the deed of 1516 are shorter than the Moses by one foot. The standing +figures, now at S. Pietro in Vincoli, correspond to the +specifications. What makes the matter still more singular is, that +after signing the contract under date July 8, 1516, Michelangelo in +November of the same year ordered blocks of marble from Carrara, with +measurements corresponding to the specifications of the deed of 1513. + +The miserable tragedy of the sepulchre dragged on for another sixteen +years. During this period the executors of Julius passed away, and the +Duke Francesco Maria della Rovere replaced them. He complained that +Michelangelo neglected the tomb, which was true, although the fault +lay not with the sculptor, but with the Popes, his taskmasters. Legal +proceedings were instituted to recover a large sum of money, which, it +was alleged, had been disbursed without due work delivered by the +master. Michelangelo had recourse to Clement VII., who, being anxious +to monopolise his labour, undertook to arrange matters with the Duke. +On the 29th of April 1532 a third and solemn contract was signed at +Rome in presence of the Pope, witnessed by a number of illustrious +personages. This third contract involved a fourth design for the tomb, +which Michelangelo undertook to furnish, and at the same time to +execute six statues with his own hand. On this occasion the notion of +erecting it in S. Peter's was finally abandoned. The choice lay +between two other Roman churches, that of S. Maria del Popolo, where +monuments to several members of the Della Rovere family existed, and +that of S. Pietro in Vincoli, from which Julius II. had taken his +cardinal's title. Michelangelo decided for the latter, on account of +its better lighting. The six statues promised by Michelangelo are +stated in the contract to be "begun and not completed, extant at the +present date in Rome or in Florence." Which of the several statues +blocked out for the monument were to be chosen is not stated; and as +there are no specifications in the document, we cannot identify them +with exactness. At any rate, the Moses must have been one; and it is +possible that the Leah and Rachel, Madonna, and two seated statues, +now at S. Pietro, were the other five. + +It might have been thought that at last the tragedy had dragged on to +its conclusion. But no; there was a fifth act, a fourth contract, a +fifth design. Paul III. succeeded to Clement VII., and, having seen +the Moses in Michelangelo's workshop, declared that this one statue +was enough for the deceased Pope's tomb. The Duke Francesco Maria +della Rovere died in 1538, and was succeeded by his son, Guidobaldo +II. The new Duke's wife was a granddaughter of Paul III., and this may +have made him amenable to the Pope's influence. At all events, upon +the 20th of August 1542 a final contract was signed, stating that +Michelangelo had been prevented "by just and legitimate impediments +from carrying out" his engagement under date April 29, 1532, releasing +him from the terms of the third deed, and establishing new conditions. +The Moses, finished by the hand of Michelangelo, takes the central +place in this new monument. Five other statues are specified: "to wit, +a Madonna with the child in her arms, which is already finished; a +Sibyl, a Prophet, an Active Life and a Contemplative Life, blocked out +and nearly completed by the said Michelangelo." These four were given +to Raffaello da Montelupo to finish. The reclining portrait-statue of +Julius, which was carved by Maso del Bosco, is not even mentioned in +this contract. But a deed between the Duke's representative and the +craftsmen Montelupo and Urbino exists, in which the latter undertakes +to see that Michelangelo shall retouch the Pope's face. + +Thus ended the tragedy of the tomb of Pope Julius II. It is supposed +to have been finally completed in 1545, and was set up where it still +remains uninjured at S. Pietro in Vincoli. + + +IV + +I judged it needful to anticipate the course of events by giving this +brief history of a work begun in 1505, and carried on with so many +hindrances and alterations through forty years of Michelangelo's life. +We shall often have to return to it, since the matter cannot be +lightly dismissed. The tomb of Julius empoisoned Michelangelo's +manhood, hampered his energy, and brought but small if any profit to +his purse. In one way or another it is always cropping up, and may be +said to vex his biographers and the students of his life as much as it +annoyed himself. We may now return to those early days in Rome, when +the project had still a fascination both for the sculptor and his +patron. + +The old Basilica of S. Peter on the Vatican is said to have been built +during the reign of Constantine, and to have been consecrated in 324 +A.D. It was one of the largest of those Roman buildings, measuring 435 +feet in length from the great door to the end of the tribune. A +spacious open square or atrium, surrounded by a cloister-portico, gave +access to the church. This, in the Middle Ages, gained the name of the +Paradiso. A kind of tabernacle, in the centre of the square, protected +the great bronze fir-cone, which was formerly supposed to have crowned +the summit of Hadrian's Mausoleum, the Castle of S. Angelo. Dante, who +saw it in the courtyard of S. Peter's, used it as a standard for his +giant Nimrod. He says-- + + _La faccia sua ml parea lunga e grossa, + Come la pina di San Pietro a Roma. + --(Inf._ xxxi. 58.) + +This mother-church of Western Christendom was adorned inside and out +with mosaics in the style of those which may still be seen at Ravenna. +Above the lofty row of columns which flanked the central aisle ran +processions of saints and sacred histories. They led the eye onward to +what was called the Arch of Triumph, separating this portion of the +building from the transept and the tribune. The concave roof of the +tribune itself was decorated with a colossal Christ, enthroned between +S. Peter and S. Paul, surveying the vast spaces of his house: the lord +and master, before whom pilgrims from all parts of Europe came to pay +tribute and to perform acts of homage. The columns were of precious +marbles, stripped from Pagan palaces and temples; and the roof was +tiled with plates of gilded bronze, torn in the age of Heraclius from +the shrine of Venus and of Roma on the Sacred Way. + +During the eleven centuries which elapsed between its consecration and +the decree for its destruction, S. Peter's had been gradually enriched +with a series of monuments, inscriptions, statues, frescoes, upon +which were written the annals of successive ages of the Church. Giotto +worked there under Benedict II. in 1340. Pope after Pope was buried +there. In the early period of Renaissance sculpture, Mino da Fiesole, +Pollaiuolo, and Filarete added works in bronze and marble, which blent +the grace of Florentine religious tradition with quaint neo-pagan +mythologies. These treasures, priceless for the historian, the +antiquary, and the artist, were now going to be ruthlessly swept away +at a pontiff's bidding, in order to make room for his haughty and +self-laudatory monument. Whatever may have been the artistic merits of +Michelangelo's original conception for the tomb, the spirit was in no +sense Christian. Those rows of captive Arts and Sciences, those +Victories exulting over prostrate cities, those allegorical colossi +symbolising the mundane virtues of a mighty ruler's character, crowned +by the portrait of the Pope, over whom Heaven rejoiced while Cybele +deplored his loss--all this pomp of power and parade of ingenuity +harmonised but little with the humility of a contrite soul returning +to its Maker and its Judge. The new temple, destined to supersede the +old basilica, embodied an aspect of Latin Christianity which had very +little indeed in common with the piety of the primitive Church. S. +Peter's, as we see it now, represents the majesty of Papal Rome, the +spirit of a secular monarchy in the hands of priests; it is the +visible symbol of that schism between the Teutonic and the Latin +portions of the Western Church which broke out soon after its +foundation, and became irreconcilable before the cross was placed upon +its cupola. It seemed as though in sweeping away the venerable +traditions of eleven hundred years, and replacing Rome's time-honoured +Mother-Church with an edifice bearing the brand-new stamp of hybrid +neo-pagan architecture, the Popes had wished to signalise that rupture +with the past and that atrophy of real religious life which marked the +counter-reformation. + +Julius II. has been severely blamed for planning the entire +reconstruction of his cathedral. It must, however, be urged in his +defence that the structure had already, in 1447, been pronounced +insecure. Nicholas V. ordered his architects, Bernardo Rossellini and +Leo Battista Alberti, to prepare plans for its restoration. It is, of +course, impossible for us to say for certain whether the ancient +fabric could have been preserved, or whether its dilapidation had gone +so far as to involve destruction. Bearing in mind the recklessness of +the Renaissance and the passion which the Popes had for engaging in +colossal undertakings, one is inclined to suspect that the unsound +state of the building was made a pretext for beginning a work which +flattered the architectural tastes of Nicholas, but was not absolutely +necessary. However this may have been, foundations for a new tribune +were laid outside the old apse, and the wall rose some feet above the +ground before the Pope's death. Paul II. carried on the building; but +during the pontificates of Sixtus, Innocent, and Alexander it seems to +have been neglected. Meanwhile nothing had been done to injure the +original basilica; and when Julius announced his intention of +levelling it to the ground, his cardinals and bishops entreated him to +refrain from an act so sacrilegious. The Pope was not a man to take +advice or make concessions. Accordingly, turning a deaf ear to these +entreaties, he had plans prepared by Giuliano da San Gallo and +Bramante. Those eventually chosen were furnished by Bramante; and San +Gallo, who had hitherto enjoyed the fullest confidence of Julius, is +said to have left Rome in disgust. For reasons which will afterwards +appear, he could not have done so before the summer months of 1506. + +It is not yet the proper time to discuss the building of S. Peter's. +Still, with regard to Bramante's plan, this much may here be said. It +was designed in the form of a Greek cross, surmounted with a huge +circular dome and flanked by two towers. Bramante used to boast that +he meant to raise the Pantheon in the air; and the plan, as preserved +for us by Serlio, shows that the cupola would have been constructed +after that type. Competent judges, however, declare that insuperable +difficulties must have arisen in carrying out this design, while the +piers constructed by Bramante were found in effect to be wholly +insufficient for their purpose. For the aesthetic beauty and the +commodiousness of his building we have the strongest evidence in a +letter written by Michelangelo, who was by no means a partial witness. +"It cannot be denied," he says, "that Bramante's talent as an +architect was equal to that of any one from the times of the ancients +until now. He laid the first plan of S. Peter's, not confused, but +clear and simple, full of light and detached from surrounding +buildings, so that it interfered with no part of the palace. It was +considered a very fine design, and indeed any one can see with his own +eyes now that it is so. All the architects who departed from +Bramante's scheme, as did Antonio da San Gallo, have departed from the +truth." Though Michelangelo gave this unstinted praise to Bramante's +genius as a builder, he blamed him severely both for his want of +honesty as a man, and also for his vandalism in dealing with the +venerable church he had to replace. "Bramante," says Condivi, "was +addicted, as everybody knows, to every kind of pleasure. He spent +enormously, and, though the pension granted him by the Pope was large, +he found it insufficient for his needs. Accordingly he made profit out +of the works committed to his charge, erecting the walls of poor +material, and without regard for the substantial and enduring +qualities which fabrics on so huge a scale demanded. This is apparent +in the buildings at S. Peter's, the Corridore of the Belvedere, the +Convent of San Pietro ad Vincula, and other of his edifices, which +have had to be strengthened and propped up with buttresses and similar +supports in order to prevent them tumbling down." Bramante, during his +residence in Lombardy, developed a method of erecting piers with +rubble enclosed by hewn stone or plaster-covered brickwork. This +enabled an unconscientious builder to furnish bulky architectural +masses, which presented a specious aspect of solidity and looked more +costly than they really were. It had the additional merit of being +easy and rapid in execution. Bramante was thus able to gratify the +whims and caprices of his impatient patron, who desired to see the +works of art he ordered rise like the fabric of Aladdin's lamp before +his very eyes. Michelangelo is said to have exposed the architect's +trickeries to the Pope; what is more, he complained with just and +bitter indignation of the wanton ruthlessness with which Bramante set +about his work of destruction. I will again quote Condivi here, for +the passage seems to have been inspired by the great sculptor's verbal +reminiscences: "The worst was, that while he was pulling down the old +S. Peter's, he dashed those marvellous antique columns to the ground, +without paying the least attention, or caring at all when they were +broken into fragments, although he might have lowered them gently and +preserved their shafts intact. Michelangelo pointed out that it was an +easy thing enough to erect piers by placing brick on brick, but that +to fashion a column like one of these taxed all the resources of art." + +On the 18th of April 1506, Julius performed the ceremony of laying the +foundation-stone of the new S. Peter's. The place chosen was the great +sustaining pier of the dome, near which the altar of S. Veronica now +stands. A deep pit had been excavated, into which the aged Pope +descended fearlessly, only shouting to the crowd above that they +should stand back and not endanger the falling in of the earth above +him. Coins and medals were duly deposited in a vase, over which a +ponderous block of marble was lowered, while Julius, bareheaded, +sprinkled the stone with holy water and gave the pontifical +benediction. On the same day he wrote a letter to Henry VII. of +England, informing the King that "by the guidance of our Lord and +Saviour Jesus Christ he had undertaken to restore the old basilica +which was perishing through age." + + +V + +The terms of cordial intimacy which subsisted between Julius and +Michelangelo at the close of 1505 were destined to be disturbed. The +Pope intermitted his visits to the sculptor's workshop, and began to +take but little interest in the monument. Condivi directly ascribes +this coldness to the intrigues of Bramante, who whispered into the +Pontiff's ear that it was ill-omened for a man to construct his own +tomb in his lifetime. It is not at all improbable that he said +something of the sort, and Bramante was certainly no good friend to +Michelangelo. A manoeuvring and managing individual, entirely +unscrupulous in his choice of means, condescending to flattery and +lies, he strove to stand as patron between the Pope and subordinate +craftsmen. Michelangelo had come to Rome under San Gallo's influence, +and Bramante had just succeeded in winning the commission to rebuild +S. Peter's over his rival's head. It was important for him to break up +San Gallo's party, among whom the sincere and uncompromising +Michelangelo threatened to be very formidable. The jealousy which he +felt for the man was envenomed by a fear lest he should speak the +truth about his own dishonesty. To discredit Michelangelo with the +Pope, and, if possible, to drive him out of Rome, was therefore +Bramante's interest: more particularly as his own nephew, Raffaello da +Urbino, had now made up his mind to join him there. We shall see that +he succeeded in expelling both San Gallo and Buonarroti during the +course of 1506, and that in their absence he reigned, together with +Raffaello, almost alone in the art-circles of the Eternal City. + +I see no reason, therefore, to discredit the story told by Condivi and +Vasari regarding the Pope's growing want of interest in his tomb. +Michelangelo himself, writing from Rome in 1542, thirty-six years +after these events, says that "all the dissensions between Pope Julius +and me arose from the envy of Bramante and Raffaello da Urbino, and +this was the cause of my not finishing the tomb in his lifetime. They +wanted to ruin me. Raffaello indeed had good reason; for all he had of +art he owed to me." But, while we are justified in attributing much to +Bramante's intrigues, it must be remembered that the Pope at this time +was absorbed in his plans for conquering Bologna. Overwhelmed with +business and anxious about money, he could not have had much leisure +to converse with sculptors. + +Michelangelo was still in Rome at the end of January. On the 31st of +that month he wrote to his father, complaining that the marbles did +not arrive quickly enough, and that he had to keep Julius in good +humour with promises. At the same time he begged Lodovico to pack up +all his drawings, and to send them, well secured against bad weather, +by the hand of a carrier. It is obvious that he had no thoughts of +leaving Rome, and that the Pope was still eager about the monument. +Early in the spring he assisted at the discovery of the Laocoon. +Francesco, the son of Giuliano da San Gallo, describes how +Michelangelo was almost always at his father's house; and coming there +one day, he went, at the architect's invitation, down to the ruins of +the Palace of Titus. "We set off, all three together; I on my father's +shoulders. When we descended into the place where the statue lay, my +father exclaimed at once, 'That is the Laocoon, of which Pliny +speaks.' The opening was enlarged, so that it could be taken out; and +after we had sufficiently admired it, we went home to breakfast." +Julius bought the marble for 500 crowns, and had it placed in the +Belvedere of the Vatican. Scholars praised it in Latin lines of +greater or lesser merit, Sadoleto writing even a fine poem; and +Michelangelo is said, but without trustworthy authority, to have +assisted in its restoration. + +This is the last glimpse we have of Michelangelo before his flight +from Rome. Under what circumstances he suddenly departed may be +related in the words of a letter addressed by him to Giuliano da San +Gallo in Rome upon the 2nd of May 1506, after his return to Florence. + +"Giuliano,--Your letter informs me that the Pope was angry at my +departure, as also that his Holiness is inclined to proceed with the +works agreed upon between us, and that I may return and not be anxious +about anything. + +"About my leaving Rome, it is a fact that on Holy Saturday I heard the +Pope, in conversation with a jeweller at table and with the Master of +Ceremonies, say that he did not mean to spend a farthing more on +stones, small or great. This caused me no little astonishment. +However, before I left his presence, I asked for part of the money +needed to carry on the work. His Holiness told me to return on Monday. +I did so, and on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, and on Thursday, as the +Pope saw. At last, on Friday morning, I was sent away, or plainly +turned out of doors. The man who did this said he knew me, but that +such were his orders. I, who had heard the Pope's words on Saturday, +and now perceived their result in deeds, was utterly cast down. This +was not, however, quite the only reason of my departure; there was +something else, which I do not wish to communicate; enough that it +made me think that, if I stayed in Rome, that city would be my tomb +before it was the Pope's. And this was the cause of my sudden +departure. + +"Now you write to me at the Pope's instance. So I beg you to read him +this letter, and inform his Holiness that I am even more than ever +disposed to carry out the work." + +Further details may be added from subsequent letters of Michelangelo. +Writing in January 1524 to his friend Giovanni Francesco Fattucci, he +says: "When I had finished paying for the transport of these marbles, +and all the money was spent, I furnished the house I had upon the +Piazza di S. Pietro with beds and utensils at my own expense, trusting +to the commission of the tomb, and sent for workmen from Florence, who +are still alive, and paid them in advance out of my own purse. +Meanwhile Pope Julius changed his mind about the tomb, and would not +have it made. Not knowing this, I applied to him for money, and was +expelled from the chamber. Enraged at such an insult, I left Rome on +the moment. The things with which my house was stocked went to the +dogs. The marbles I had brought to Rome lay till the date of Leo's +creation on the Piazza, and both lots were injured and pillaged." + +Again, a letter of October 1542, addressed to some prelate, contains +further particulars. We learn he was so short of money that he had to +borrow about 200 ducats from his friend Baldassare Balducci at the +bank of Jacopo Gallo. The episode at the Vatican and the flight to +Poggibonsi are related thus:-- + +"To continue my history of the tomb of Julius: I say that when he +changed his mind about building it in his lifetime, some ship-loads of +marble came to the Ripa, which I had ordered a short while before from +Carrara; and as I could not get money from the Pope to pay the +freightage, I had to borrow 150 or 200 ducats from Baldassare +Balducci, that is, from the bank of Jacopo Gallo. At the same time +workmen came from Florence, some of whom are still alive; and I +furnished the house which Julius gave me behind S. Caterina with beds +and other furniture for the men, and what was wanted for the work of +the tomb. All this being done without money, I was greatly +embarrassed. Accordingly, I urged the Pope with all my power to go +forward with the business, and he had me turned away by a groom one +morning when I came to speak upon the matter. A Lucchese bishop, +seeing this, said to the groom: 'Do you not know who that man is?' The +groom replied to me: 'Excuse me, gentleman; I have orders to do this.' +I went home, and wrote as follows to the Pope: 'Most blessed Father, I +have been turned out of the palace to-day by your orders; wherefore I +give you notice that from this time forward, if you want me, you must +look for me elsewhere than at Rome.' I sent this letter to Messer +Agostino, the steward, to give it to the Pope. Then I sent for Cosimo, +a carpenter, who lived with me and looked after household matters, and +a stone-heaver, who is still alive, and said to them: 'Go for a Jew, +and sell everything in the house, and come to Florence.' I went, took +the post, and travelled towards Florence. The Pope, when he had read +my letter, sent five horsemen after me, who reached me at Poggibonsi +about three hours after nightfall, and gave me a letter from the Pope +to this effect: 'When you have seen these present, come back at once +to Rome, under penalty of our displeasure.' The horsemen were anxious +I should answer, in order to prove that they had overtaken me. I +replied then to the Pope, that if he would perform the conditions he +was under with regard to me, I would return; but otherwise he must not +expect to have me again. Later on, while I was at Florence, Julius +sent three briefs to the Signory. At last the latter sent for me and +said: 'We do not want to go to war with Pope Julius because of you. +You must return; and if you do so, we will write you letters of such +authority that, should he do you harm, he will be doing it to this +Signory.' Accordingly I took the letters, and went back to the Pope, +and what followed would be long to tell." + +These passages from Michelangelo's correspondence confirm Condivi's +narrative of the flight from Rome, showing that he had gathered his +information from the sculptor's lips. Condivi differs only in making +Michelangelo send a verbal message, and not a written letter, to the +Pope. "Enraged by this repulse, he exclaimed to the groom: 'Tell the +Pope that if henceforth he wants me, he must look for me elsewhere.'" + +It is worth observing that only the first of these letters, written +shortly after the event, and intended for the Pope's ear, contains a +hint of Michelangelo's dread of personal violence if he remained in +Rome. His words seem to point at poison or the dagger. Cellini's +autobiography yields sufficient proof that such fears were not +unjustified by practical experience; and Bramante, though he preferred +to work by treachery of tongue, may have commanded the services of +assassins, _uomini arditi e facinorosi_, as they were somewhat +euphemistically called. At any rate, it is clear that Michelangelo's +precipitate departure and vehement refusal to return were occasioned +by more pungent motives than the Pope's frigidity. This has to be +noticed, because we learn from several incidents of the same kind in +the master's life that he was constitutionally subject to sudden +fancies and fears of imminent danger to his person from an enemy. He +had already quitted Bologna in haste from dread of assassination or +maltreatment at the hands of native sculptors. + + +VI + +The negotiations which passed between the Pope and the Signory of +Florence about what may be called the extradition of Michelangelo form +a curious episode in his biography, throwing into powerful relief the +importance he had already acquired among the princes of Italy. I +propose to leave these for the commencement of my next chapter, and to +conclude the present with an account of his occupations during the +summer months at Florence. + +Signor Gotti says that he passed three months away from Julius in his +native city. Considering that he arrived before the end of April, and +reached Bologna at the end of November 1506, we have the right to +estimate this residence at about seven months. A letter written to him +from Rome on the 4th of August shows that he had not then left +Florence upon any intermediate journey of importance. Therefore there +is every reason to suppose that he enjoyed a period of half a year of +leisure, which he devoted to finishing his Cartoon for the Battle of +Pisa. + +It had been commenced, as we have seen, in a workshop at the Spedale +dei Tintori. When he went to Bologna in the autumn, it was left, +exposed presumably to public view, in the Sala del Papa at S. Maria +Novella. It had therefore been completed; but it does not appear that +Michelangelo had commenced his fresco in the Sala del Gran Consiglio. + +Lionardo began to paint his Battle of the Standard in March 1505. The +work advanced rapidly; but the method he adopted, which consisted in +applying oil colours to a fat composition laid thickly on the wall, +caused the ruin of his picture. He is said to have wished to reproduce +the encaustic process of the ancients, and lighted fires to harden the +surface of the fresco. This melted the wax in the lower portions of +the paste, and made the colours run. At any rate, no traces of the +painting now remain in the Sala del Gran Consiglio, the walls of which +are covered by the mechanical and frigid brush-work of Vasari. It has +even been suggested that Vasari knew more about the disappearance of +his predecessor's masterpiece than he has chosen to relate. Lionardo's +Cartoon has also disappeared, and we know the Battle of Anghiari only +by Edelinck's engraving from a drawing of Rubens, and by some doubtful +sketches. + +The same fate was in store for Michelangelo's Cartoon. All that +remains to us of that great work is the chiaroscuro transcript at +Holkham, a sketch for the whole composition in the Albertina Gallery +at Vienna, which differs in some important details from the Holkham +group, several interesting pen-and-chalk drawings by Michelangelo's +own hand, also in the Albertina Collection, and a line-engraving by +Marcantonio Raimondi, commonly known as "Les Grimpeurs." + +We do not know at what exact time Michelangelo finished his Cartoon in +1506. He left it, says Condivi, in the Sala del Papa. Afterwards it +must have been transferred to the Sala del Gran Consiglio; for +Albertini, in his _Memoriale_, or Guide-Book to Florence, printed in +1510, speaks of both "the works of Lionardo da Vinci and the designs +of Michelangelo" as then existing in that hall. Vasari asserts that it +was taken to the house of the Medici, and placed in the great upper +hall, but gives no date. This may have taken place on the return of +the princely family in 1512. Cellini confirms this view, since he +declares that when he was copying the Cartoon, which could hardly have +happened before 1513, the Battle of Pisa was at the Palace of the +Medici, and the Battle of Anghiari at the Sala del Papa. The way in +which it finally disappeared is involved in some obscurity, owing to +Vasari's spite and mendacity. In the first, or 1550, edition of the +"Lives of the Painters," he wrote as follows: "Having become a regular +object of study to artists, the Cartoon was carried to the house of +the Medici, into the great upper hall; and this was the reason that it +came with too little safeguard into the hands of those said artists: +inasmuch as, during the illness of the Duke Giuliano, when no one +attended to such matters, it was torn in pieces by them and scattered +abroad, so that fragments may be found in many places, as is proved by +those existing now in the house of Uberto Strozzi, a gentleman of +Mantua, who holds them in great respect." When Vasari published his +second edition, in 1568, he repeated this story of the destruction of +the Cartoon, but with a very significant alteration. Instead of saying +"it was torn in pieces _by them_" he now printed "it was torn in +pieces, _as hath been told elsewhere_." Now Bandinelli, Vasari's +mortal enemy, and the scapegoat for all the sins of his generation +among artists, died in 1559, and Vasari felt that he might safely +defame his memory. Accordingly he introduced a Life of Bandinelli into +the second edition of his work, containing the following passage: +"Baccio was in the habit of frequenting the place where the Cartoon +stood more than any other artists, and had in his possession a false +key; what follows happened at the time when Piero Soderini was deposed +in 1512, and the Medici returned. Well, then, while the palace was in +tumult and confusion through this revolution, Baccio went alone, and +tore the Cartoon into a thousand fragments. Why he did so was not +known; but some surmised that he wanted to keep certain pieces of it +by him for his own use; some, that he wished to deprive young men of +its advantages in study; some, that he was moved by affection for +Lionardo da Vinci, who suffered much in reputation by this design; +some, perhaps with sharper intuition, believed that the hatred he bore +to Michelangelo inspired him to commit the act. The loss of the +Cartoon to the city was no slight one, and Baccio deserved the blame +he got, for everybody called him envious and spiteful." This second +version stands in glaring contradiction to the first, both as regards +the date and the place where the Cartoon was destroyed. It does not, I +think, deserve credence, for Cellini, who was a boy of twelve in 1512, +could hardly have drawn from it before that date; and if Bandinelli +was so notorious for his malignant vandalism as Vasari asserts, it is +most improbable that Cellini, while speaking of the Cartoon in +connection with Torrigiano, should not have taken the opportunity to +cast a stone at the man whom he detested more than any one in +Florence. Moreover, if Bandinelli had wanted to destroy the Cartoon +for any of the reasons above assigned to him, he would not have +dispersed fragments to be treasured up with reverence. At the close of +this tedious summary I ought to add that Condivi expressly states: "I +do not know by what ill-fortune it subsequently came to ruin." He +adds, however, that many of the pieces were found about in various +places, and that all of them were preserved like sacred objects. We +have, then, every reason to believe that the story told in Vasari's +first edition is the literal truth. Copyists and engravers used their +opportunity, when the palace of the Medici was thrown into disorder by +the severe illness of the Duke of Nemours, to take away portions of +Michelangelo's Cartoon for their own use in 1516. + +Of the Cartoon and its great reputation, Cellini gives us this +account: "Michelangelo portrayed a number of foot-soldiers, who, the +season being summer, had gone to bathe in the Arno. He drew them at +the very moment the alarm is sounded, and the men all naked run to +arms; so splendid is their action, that nothing survives of ancient or +of modern art, which touches the same lofty point of excellence; and, +as I have already said, the design of the great Lionardo was itself +most admirably beautiful. These two Cartoons stood, one in the palace +of the Medici, the other in the hall of the Pope. So long as they +remained intact, they were the school of the world. Though the divine +Michelangelo in later life finished that great chapel of Pope Julius +(the Sistine), he never rose halfway to the same pitch of power; his +genius never afterwards attained to the force of those first studies." +Allowing for some exaggeration due to enthusiasm for things enjoyed in +early youth, this is a very remarkable statement. Cellini knew the +frescoes of the Sistine well, yet he maintains that they were inferior +in power and beauty to the Battle of Pisa. It seems hardly credible; +but, if we believe it, the legend of Michelangelo's being unable to +execute his own designs for the vault of that chapel falls to the +ground. + + +VII + +The great Cartoon has become less even than a memory, and so, perhaps, +we ought to leave it in the limbo of things inchoate and +unaccomplished. But this it was not, most emphatically. Decidedly it +had its day, lived and sowed seeds for good or evil through its period +of brief existence: so many painters of the grand style took their +note from it; it did so much to introduce the last phase of Italian +art, the phase of efflorescence, the phase deplored by critics steeped +in mediaeval feeling. To recapture something of its potency from the +description of contemporaries is therefore our plain duty, and for +this we must have recourse to Vasari's text. He says: "Michelangelo +filled his canvas with nude men, who, bathing at the time of summer +heat in Arno, were suddenly called to arms, the enemy assailing them. +The soldiers swarmed up from the river to resume their clothes; and +here you could behold depicted by the master's godlike hands one +hurrying to clasp his limbs in steel and give assistance to his +comrades, another buckling on the cuirass, and many seizing this or +that weapon, with cavalry in squadrons giving the attack. Among the +multitude of figures, there was an old man, who wore upon his head an +ivy wreath for shade. Seated on the ground, in act to draw his hose +up, he was hampered by the wetness of his legs; and while he heard the +clamour of the soldiers, the cries, the rumbling of the drums, he +pulled with all his might; all the muscles and sinews of his body were +seen in strain; and what was more, the contortion of his mouth showed +what agony of haste he suffered, and how his whole frame laboured to +the toe-tips. Then there were drummers and men with flying garments, +who ran stark naked toward the fray. Strange postures too: this fellow +upright, that man kneeling, or bent down, or on the point of rising; +all in the air foreshortened with full conquest over every difficulty. +In addition, you discovered groups of figures sketched in various +methods, some outlined with charcoal, some etched with strokes, some +shadowed with the stump, some relieved in white-lead; the master +having sought to prove his empire over all materials of +draughtsmanship. The craftsmen of design remained therewith astonished +and dumbfounded, recognising the furthest reaches of their art +revealed to them by this unrivalled masterpiece. Those who examined +the forms I have described, painters who inspected and compared them +with works hardly less divine, affirm that never in the history of +human achievement was any product of a man's brain seen like to them +in mere supremacy. And certainly we have the right to believe this; +for when the Cartoon was finished, and carried to the Hall of the +Pope, amid the acclamation of all artists, and to the exceeding fame +of Michelangelo, the students who made drawings from it, as happened +with foreigners and natives through many years in Florence, became men +of mark in several branches. This is obvious, for Aristotele da San +Gallo worked there, as did Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, Raffaello Sanzio da +Urbino, Francesco Granaccio, Baccio Bandinelli, and Alonso Berughetta, +the Spaniard; they were followed by Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio, +Jacopo Sansovino, Rosso, Maturino, Lorenzetto, Tribolo, then a boy, +Jacopo da Pontormo, and Pierin del Vaga: all of them first-rate +masters of the Florentine school." + +It does not appear from this that Vasari pretended to have seen the +great Cartoon. Born in 1512, he could not indeed have done so; but +there breathes through his description a gust of enthusiasm, an +afflatus of concurrent witnesses to its surpassing grandeur. Some of +the details raise a suspicion that Vasari had before his eyes the +transcript _en grisaille_ which he says was made by Aristotele da San +Gallo, and also the engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi. The prominence +given to the ivy-crowned old soldier troubled by his hose confirms the +accuracy of the Holkham picture and the Albertina drawing. But none of +these partial transcripts left to us convey that sense of multitude, +space, and varied action which Vasari's words impress on the +imagination. The fullest, that at Holkham, contains nineteen figures, +and these are schematically arranged in three planes, with outlying +subjects in foreground and background. Reduced in scale, and treated +with the arid touch of a feeble craftsman, the linear composition +suggests no large aesthetic charm. It is simply a bas-relief of +carefully selected attitudes and vigorously studied movements +--nineteen men, more or less unclothed, put together with the +scientific view of illustrating possibilities and conquering +difficulties in postures of the adult male body. The extraordinary +effect, as of something superhuman, produced by the Cartoon upon +contemporaries, and preserved for us in Cellini's and Vasari's +narratives, must then have been due to unexampled qualities of +strength in conception, draughtsmanship, and execution. It stung to +the quick an age of artists who had abandoned the representation of +religious sentiment and poetical feeling for technical triumphs and +masterly solutions of mechanical problems in the treatment of the nude +figure. We all know how much more than this Michelangelo had in him to +give, and how unjust it would be to judge a masterpiece from his hand +by the miserable relics now at our disposal. Still I cannot refrain +from thinking that the Cartoon for the Battle of Pisa, taken up by him +as a field for the display of his ability, must, by its very +brilliancy, have accelerated the ruin of Italian art. Cellini, we saw, +placed it above the frescoes of the Sistine. In force, veracity, and +realism it may possibly have been superior to those sublime +productions. Everything we know about the growth of Michelangelo's +genius leads us to suppose that he departed gradually but surely from +the path of Nature. He came, however, to use what he had learned from +Nature as means for the expression of soul-stimulating thoughts. This, +the finest feature of his genius, no artist of the age was capable of +adequately comprehending. Accordingly, they agreed in extolling a +cartoon which displayed his faculty of dealing with _un bel corpo +ignudo_ as the climax of his powers. + +As might be expected, there was no landscape in the Cartoon. +Michelangelo handled his subject wholly from the point of view of +sculpture. A broken bank and a retreating platform, a few rocks in the +distance and a few waved lines in the foreground, showed that the +naked men were by a river. Michelangelo's unrelenting contempt for the +many-formed and many-coloured stage on which we live and move--his +steady determination to treat men and women as nudities posed in the +void, with just enough of solid substance beneath their feet to make +their attitudes intelligible--is a point which must over and over +again be insisted on. In the psychology of the master, regarded from +any side one likes to take, this constitutes his leading +characteristic. It gives the key, not only to his talent as an artist, +but also to his temperament as a man. + +Marcantonio seems to have felt and resented the aridity of +composition, the isolation of plastic form, the tyranny of anatomical +science, which even the most sympathetic of us feel in Michelangelo. +This master's engraving of three lovely nudes, the most charming +memento preserved to us from the Cartoon, introduces a landscape of +grove and farm, field and distant hill, lending suavity to the +muscular male body and restoring it to its proper place among the +sinuous lines and broken curves of Nature. That the landscape was +adapted from a copper-plate of Lucas van Leyden signifies nothing. It +serves the soothing purpose which sensitive nerves, irritated by +Michelangelo's aloofness from all else but thought and naked flesh and +posture, gratefully acknowledge. + +While Michelangelo was finishing his Cartoon, Lionardo da Vinci was +painting his fresco. Circumstances may have brought the two chiefs of +Italian art frequently together in the streets of Florence. There +exists an anecdote of one encounter, which, though it rests upon the +credit of an anonymous writer, and does not reflect a pleasing light +upon the hero of this biography, cannot be neglected. "Lionardo," +writes our authority, "was a man of fair presence, well-proportioned, +gracefully endowed, and of fine aspect. He wore a tunic of +rose-colour, falling to his knees; for at that time it was the fashion +to carry garments of some length; and down to the middle of his breast +there flowed a beard beautifully curled and well arranged. Walking +with a friend near S. Trinità, where a company of honest folk were +gathered, and talk was going on about some passage from Dante, they +called to Lionardo, and begged him to explain its meaning. It so +happened that just at this moment Michelangelo went by, and, being +hailed by one of them, Lionardo answered: 'There goes Michelangelo; he +will interpret the verses you require.' Whereupon Michelangelo, who +thought he spoke in this way to make fun of him, replied in anger: +'Explain them yourself, you who made the model of a horse to cast in +bronze, and could not cast it, and to your shame left it in the +lurch.' With these words, he turned his back to the group, and went +his way. Lionardo remained standing there, red in the face for the +reproach cast at him; and Michelangelo, not satisfied, but wanting to +sting him to the quick, added: 'And those Milanese capons believed in +your ability to do it!'" + +We can only take anecdotes for what they are worth, and that may +perhaps be considered slight when they are anonymous. This anecdote, +however, in the original Florentine diction, although it betrays a +partiality for Lionardo, bears the aspect of truth to fact. Moreover, +even Michelangelo's admirers are bound to acknowledge that he had a +rasping tongue, and was not incapable of showing his bad temper by +rudeness. From the period of his boyhood, when Torrigiano smashed his +nose, down to the last years of his life in Rome, when he abused his +nephew Lionardo and hurt the feelings of his best and oldest friends, +he discovered signs of a highly nervous and fretful temperament. It +must be admitted that the dominant qualities of nobility and +generosity in his nature were alloyed by suspicion bordering on +littleness, and by petulant yieldings to the irritation of the moment +which are incompatible with the calm of an Olympian genius. + + + +CHAPTER V + + +I + +While Michelangelo was living and working at Florence, Bramante had +full opportunity to poison the Pope's mind in Rome. It is commonly +believed, on the faith of a sentence in Condivi, that Bramante, when +he dissuaded Julius from building the tomb in his own lifetime, +suggested the painting of the Sistine Chapel. We are told that he +proposed Michelangelo for this work, hoping his genius would be +hampered by a task for which he was not fitted. There are many +improbabilities in this story; not the least being our certainty that +the fame of the Cartoon must have reached Bramante before +Michelangelo's arrival in the first months of 1505. But the Cartoon +did not prove that Buonarroti was a practical wall-painter or +colourist; and we have reason to believe that Julius had himself +conceived the notion of intrusting the Sistine to his sculptor. A good +friend of Michelangelo, Pietro Rosselli, wrote this letter on the +subject, May 6, 1506: "Last Saturday evening, when the Pope was at +supper, I showed him some designs which Bramante and I had to test; +so, after supper, when I had displayed them, he called for Bramante, +and said: 'San Gallo is going to Florence to-morrow, and will bring +Michelangelo back with him.' Bramante answered: 'Holy Father, he will +not be able to do anything of the kind. I have conversed much with +Michelangelo, and he has often told me that he would not undertake the +chapel, which you wanted to put upon him; and that, you +notwithstanding, he meant only to apply himself to sculpture, and +would have nothing to do with painting.' To this he added: 'Holy +Father, I do not think he has the courage to attempt the work, because +he has small experience in painting figures, and these will be raised +high above the line of vision, and in foreshortening (i.e., because of +the vault). That is something different from painting on the ground.' +The Pope replied: 'If he does not come, he will do me wrong; and so I +think that he is sure to return.' Upon this I up and gave the man a +sound rating in the Pope's presence, and spoke as I believe you would +have spoken for me; and for the time he was struck dumb, as though he +felt that he had made a mistake in talking as he did. I proceeded as +follows: 'Holy Father, that man never exchanged a word with +Michelangelo, and if what he has just said is the truth, I beg you to +cut my head off, for he never spoke to Michelangelo; also I feel sure +that he is certain to return, if your Holiness requires it.'" + +This altercation throws doubt on the statement that Bramante +originally suggested Michelangelo as painter of the Sistine. He could +hardly have turned round against his own recommendation; and, +moreover, it is likely that he would have wished to keep so great a +work in the hands of his own set, Raffaello, Peruzzi, Sodoma, and +others. + +Meanwhile, Michelangelo's friends in Rome wrote, encouraging him to +come back. They clearly thought that he was hazarding both profit and +honour if he stayed away. But Michelangelo, whether the constitutional +timidity of which I have spoken, or other reasons damped his courage, +felt that he could not trust to the Pope's mercies. What effect San +Gallo may have had upon him, supposing this architect arrived in +Florence at the middle of May, can only be conjectured. The fact +remains that he continued stubborn for a time. In the lengthy +autobiographical letter written to some prelate in 1542, Michelangelo +relates what followed: "Later on, while I was at Florence, Julius sent +three briefs to the Signory. At last the latter sent for me and said: +'We do not want to go to war with Pope Julius because of you. You must +return; and if you do so, we will write you letters of such authority +that, should he do you harm, he will be doing it to this Signory.' +Accordingly I took the letters, and went back to the Pope." + +Condivi gives a graphic account of the transaction which ensued. +"During the months he stayed in Florence three papal briefs were sent +to the Signory, full of threats, commanding that he should be sent +back by fair means or by force. Piero Soderini, who was Gonfalonier +for life at that time, had sent him against his own inclination to +Rome when Julius first asked for him. Accordingly, when the first of +these briefs arrived, he did not compel Michelangelo to go, trusting +that the Pope's anger would calm down. But when the second and the +third were sent, he called Michelangelo and said: 'You have tried a +bout with the Pope on which the King of France would not have +ventured; therefore you must not go on letting yourself be prayed for. +We do not wish to go to war on your account with him, and put our +state in peril. Make your mind up to return.' Michelangelo, seeing +himself brought to this pass, and still fearing the anger of the Pope, +bethought him of taking refuge in the East. The Sultan indeed besought +him with most liberal promises, through the means of certain +Franciscan friars, to come and construct a bridge from Constantinople +to Pera, and to execute other great works. When the Gonfalonier got +wind of this intention he sent for Michelangelo and used these +arguments to dissuade him: 'It were better to choose death with the +Pope than to keep in life by going to the Turk. Nevertheless, there is +no fear of such an ending; for the Pope is well disposed, and sends +for you because he loves you, not to do you harm. If you are afraid, +the Signory will send you with the title of ambassador; forasmuch as +public personages are never treated with violence, since this would be +done to those who send them.'" + +We only possess one brief from Julius to the Signory of Florence. It +is dated Rome, July 8, 1506, and contains this passage: "Michelangelo +the sculptor, who left us without reason, and in mere caprice, is +afraid, as we are informed, of returning, though we for our part are +not angry with him, knowing the humours of such men of genius. In +order, then, that he may lay aside all anxiety, we rely on your +loyalty to convince him in our name, that if he returns to us, he +shall be uninjured and unhurt, retaining our apostolic favour in the +same measure as he formerly enjoyed it." The date, July 8, is +important in this episode of Michelangelo's life. Soderini sent back +an answer to the Pope's brief within a few days, affirming that +"Michelangelo the sculptor is so terrified that, notwithstanding the +promise of his Holiness, it will be necessary for the Cardinal of +Pavia to write a letter signed by his own hand to us, guaranteeing his +safety and immunity. We have done, and are doing, all we can to make +him go back; assuring your Lordship that, unless he is gently handled, +he will quit Florence, as he has already twice wanted to do." This +letter is followed by another addressed to the Cardinal of Volterra +under date July 28. Soderini repeats that Michelangelo will not budge, +because he has as yet received no definite safe-conduct. It appears +that in the course of August the negotiations had advanced to a point +at which Michelangelo was willing to return. On the last day of the +month the Signory drafted a letter to the Cardinal of Pavia in which +they say that "Michelangelo Buonarroti, sculptor, citizen of Florence, +and greatly loved by us, will exhibit these letters present, having at +last been persuaded to repose confidence in his Holiness." They add +that he is coming in good spirits and with good-will. Something may +have happened to renew his terror, for this despatch was not +delivered, and nothing more is heard of the transaction till toward +the close of November. It is probable, however, that Soderini suddenly +discovered how little Michelangelo was likely to be wanted; Julius, on +the 27th of August, having started on what appeared to be his mad +campaign against Perugia and Bologna. On the 21st of November +following the Cardinal of Pavia sent an autograph letter from Bologna +to the Signory, urgently requesting that they would despatch +Michelangelo immediately to that town, inasmuch as the Pope was +impatient for his arrival, and wanted to employ him on important +works. Six days later, November 27, Soderini writes two letters, one +to the Cardinal of Pavia and one to the Cardinal of Volterra, which +finally conclude the whole business. The epistle to Volterra begins +thus: "The bearer of these present will be Michelangelo, the sculptor, +whom we send to please and satisfy his Holiness. We certify that he is +an excellent young man, and in his own art without peer in Italy, +perhaps also in the universe. We cannot recommend him more +emphatically. His nature is such, that with good words and kindness, +if these are given him, he will do everything; one has to show him +love and treat him kindly, and he will perform things which will make +the whole world wonder." The letter to Pavia is written more +familiarly, reading like a private introduction. In both of them +Soderini enhances the service he is rendering the Pope by alluding to +the magnificent design for the Battle of Pisa which Michelangelo must +leave unfinished. + +Before describing his reception at Bologna, it may be well to quote +two sonnets here which throw an interesting light upon Michelangelo's +personal feeling for Julius and his sense of the corruption of the +Roman Curia. The first may well have been written during this +residence at Florence; and the autograph of the second has these +curious words added at the foot of the page: "_Vostro Michelagniolo_, +in Turchia." Rome itself, the Sacred City, has become a land of +infidels, and Michelangelo, whose thoughts are turned to the Levant, +implies that he would find himself no worse off with the Sultan than +the Pope. + + _My Lord! If ever ancient saw spake sooth, + Hear this which saith: Who can doth never will. + Lo, thou hast lent thine ear to fables still. + Rewarding those who hate the name of truth. + I am thy drudge, and have been from my youth-- + Thine, like the rays which the sun's circle fill; + Yet of my dear time's waste thou think'st no ill: + The more I toil, the less I move thy ruth. + Once 'twas my hope to raise me by thy height; + But 'tis the balance and the powerful sword + Of Justice, not false Echo, that we need. + Heaven, as it seems, plants virtue in despite + Here on the earth, if this be our reward-- + To seek for fruit on trees too dry to breed. + + Here helms and swords are made of chalices: + The blood of Christ is sold so much the quart: + His cross and thorns are spears and shields; and short + Must be the time ere even His patience cease._ + _Nay, let Him come no more to raise the fees. + Of this foul sacrilege beyond, report: + For Rome still flays and sells Him at the court, + Where paths are closed, to virtue's fair increase, + Now were fit time for me to scrape a treasure, + Seeing that work and gain are gone; while he + Who wears the robe, is my Medusa still. + God welcomes poverty perchance with pleasure: + But of that better life what hope have we, + When the blessed banner leads to nought but ill?_ + +While Michelangelo was planning frescoes and venting his bile in +sonnets, the fiery Pope had started on his perilous career of +conquest. He called the Cardinals together, and informed them that he +meant to free the cities of Perugia and Bologna from their tyrants. +God, he said, would protect His Church; he could rely on the support +of France and Florence. Other Popes had stirred up wars and used the +services of generals; he meant to take the field in person. Louis XII. +is reported to have jeered among his courtiers at the notion of a +high-priest riding to the wars. A few days afterwards, on the 27th of +August, the Pope left Rome attended by twenty-four cardinals and 500 +men-at-arms. He had previously secured the neutrality of Venice and a +promise of troops from the French court. When Julius reached Orvieto, +he was met by Gianpaolo Baglioni, the bloody and licentious despot of +Perugia. Notwithstanding Baglioni knew that Julius was coming to +assert his supremacy, and notwithstanding the Pope knew that this +might drive to desperation a man so violent and stained with crime as +Baglioni, they rode together to Perugia, where Gianpaolo paid homage +and supplied his haughty guest with soldiers. The rashness of this act +of Julius sent a thrill of admiration throughout Italy, stirring that +sense of _terribilità_ which fascinated the imagination of the +Renaissance. Machiavelli, commenting upon the action of the Baglioni, +remarks that the event proved how difficult it is for a man to be +perfectly and scientifically wicked. Gianpaolo, he says, murdered his +relations, oppressed his subjects, and boasted of being a father by +his sister; yet, when he got his worst enemy into his clutches, he had +not the spirit to be magnificently criminal, and murder or imprison +Julius. From Perugia the Pope crossed the Apennines, and found himself +at Imola upon the 20th of October. There he received news that the +French governor of Milan, at the order of his king, was about to send +him a reinforcement of 600 lances and 3000 foot-soldiers. This +announcement, while it cheered the heart of Julius, struck terror into +the Bentivogli, masters of Bologna. They left their city and took +refuge in Milan, while the people of Bologna sent envoys to the Pope's +camp, surrendering their town and themselves to his apostolic +clemency. On the 11th of November, S. Martin's day, Giuliano della +Rovere made his triumphal entry into Bologna, having restored two +wealthy provinces to the states of the Church by a stroke of sheer +audacity, unparalleled in the history of any previous pontiff. Ten +days afterwards we find him again renewing negotiations with the +Signory for the extradition of Michelangelo. + + +II + +"Arriving then one morning at Bologna, and going to hear Mass at S. +Petronio, there met him the Pope's grooms of the stable, who +immediately recognised him, and brought him into the presence of his +Holiness, then at table in the Palace of the Sixteen. When the Pope +beheld him, his face clouded with anger, and he cried: 'It was your +duty to come to seek us, and you have waited till we came to seek you; +meaning thereby that his Holiness having travelled to Bologna, which +is much nearer to Florence than Rome, he had come to find him out. +Michelangelo knelt, and prayed for pardon in a loud voice, pleading in +his excuse that he had not erred through forwardness, but through +great distress of mind, having been unable to endure the expulsion he +received. The Pope remained holding his head low and answering +nothing, evidently much agitated; when a certain prelate, sent by +Cardinal Soderini to put in a good word for Michelangelo, came forward +and said: 'Your Holiness might overlook his fault; he did wrong +through ignorance: these painters, outside their art, are all like +this.' Thereupon the Pope answered in a fury: 'It is you, not I, who +are insulting him. It is you, not he, who are the ignoramus and the +rascal. Get hence out of my sight, and bad luck to you!' When the +fellow did not move, he was cast forth by the servants, as +Michelangelo used to relate, with good round kicks and thumpings. So +the Pope, having spent the surplus of his bile upon the bishop, took +Michelangelo apart and pardoned him. Not long afterwards he sent for +him and said: 'I wish you to make my statue on a large scale in +bronze. I mean to place it on the façade of San Petronio.' When he +went to Rome in course of time, he left 1000 ducats at the bank of +Messer Antonmaria da Lignano for this purpose. But before he did so +Michelangelo had made the clay model. Being in some doubt how to +manage the left hand, after making the Pope give the benediction with +the right, he asked Julius, who had come to see the statue, if he +would like it to hold a book. 'What book?' replied he: 'a sword! I +know nothing about letters, not I.' Jesting then about the right hand, +which was vehement in action, he said with a smile to Michelangelo: +'That statue of yours, is it blessing or cursing?' To which the +sculptor replied: 'Holy Father, it is threatening this people of +Bologna if they are not prudent.'" + +Michelangelo's letter to Fattucci confirms Condivi's narrative. "When +Pope Julius went to Bologna the first time, I was forced to go there +with a rope round my neck to beg his pardon. He ordered me to make his +portrait in bronze, sitting, about seven cubits (14 feet) in height. +When he asked what it would cost, I answered that I thought I could +cast it for 1000 ducats; but that this was not my trade, and that I +did not wish to undertake it. He answered: 'Go to work; you shall cast +it over and over again till it succeeds; and I will give you enough to +satisfy your wishes.' To put it briefly, I cast the statue twice; and +at the end of two years, at Bologna, I found that I had four and a +half ducats left. I never received anything more for this job; and all +the moneys I paid out during the said two years were the 1000 ducats +with which I promised to cast it. These were disbursed to me in +instalments by Messer Antonio Maria da Legnano, a Bolognese." + +The statue must have been more than thrice life-size, if it rose +fourteen feet in a sitting posture. Michelangelo worked at the model +in a hall called the Stanza del Pavaglione behind the Cathedral. Three +experienced workmen were sent, at his request, from Florence, and he +began at once upon the arduous labour. His domestic correspondence, +which at this period becomes more copious and interesting, contains a +good deal of information concerning his residence at Bologna. His mode +of life, as usual, was miserable and penurious in the extreme. This +man, about whom popes and cardinals and gonfaloniers had been +corresponding, now hired a single room with one bed in it, where, as +we have seen, he slept together with his three assistants. There can +be no doubt that such eccentric habits prevented Michelangelo from +inspiring his subordinates with due respect. The want of control over +servants and workmen, which is a noticeable feature of his private +life, may in part be attributed to this cause. And now, at Bologna, he +soon got into trouble with the three craftsmen he had engaged to help +him. They were Lapo d'Antonio di Lapo, a sculptor at the Opera del +Duomo; Lodovico del Buono, surnamed Lotti, a metal-caster and founder +of cannon; and Pietro Urbano, a craftsman who continued long in his +service. Lapo boasted that he was executing the statue in partnership +with Michelangelo and upon equal terms, which did not seem incredible +considering their association in a single bedroom. Beside this, he +intrigued and cheated in money matters. The master felt that he must +get rid of him, and send the fellow back to Florence. Lapo, not +choosing to go alone, lest the truth of the affair should be apparent, +persuaded Lodovico to join him; and when they reached home, both began +to calumniate their master. Michelangelo, knowing that they were +likely to do so, wrote to his brother Buonarroto on the 1st of +February 1507: "I inform you further how on Friday morning I sent away +Lapo and Lodovico, who were in my service. Lapo, because he is good +for nothing and a rogue, and could not serve me. Lodovico is better, +and I should have been willing to keep him another two months, but +Lapo, in order to prevent blame falling on himself alone, worked upon +the other so that both went away together. I write you this, not that +I regard them, for they are not worth three farthings, the pair of +them, but because if they come to talk to Lodovico (Buonarroti) he +must not be surprised at what they say. Tell him by no means to lend +them his ears; and if you want to be informed about them, go to Messer +Angelo, the herald of the Signory; for I have written the whole story +to him, and he will, out of his kindly feeling, tell you just what +happened." + +In spite of these precautions, Lapo seems to have gained the ear of +Michelangelo's father, who wrote a scolding letter in his usual +puzzle-headed way. Michelangelo replied in a tone of real and ironical +humility, which is exceedingly characteristic: "Most revered father, I +have received a letter from you to-day, from which I learn that you +have been informed by Lapo and Lodovico. I am glad that you should +rebuke me, because I deserve to be rebuked as a ne'er-do-well and +sinner as much as any one, or perhaps more. But you must know that I +have not been guilty in the affair for which you take me to task now, +neither as regards them nor any one else, except it be in doing more +than was my duty." After this exordium he proceeds to give an +elaborate explanation of his dealings with Lapo, and the man's +roguery. + +The correspondence with Buonarroto turns to a considerable extent upon +a sword-hilt which Michelangelo designed for the Florentine, Pietro +Aldobrandini. It was the custom then for gentlemen to carry swords and +daggers with hilt and scabbard wonderfully wrought by first-rate +artists. Some of these, still extant, are among the most exquisite +specimens of sixteenth-century craft. This little affair gave +Michelangelo considerable trouble. First of all, the man who had to +make the blade was long about it. From the day when the Pope came to +Bologna, he had more custom than all the smiths in the city were used +in ordinary times to deal with. Then, when the weapon reached +Florence, it turned out to be too short. Michelangelo affirmed that he +had ordered it exactly to the measure sent, adding that Aldobrandini +was "probably not born to wear a dagger at his belt." He bade his +brother present it to Filippo Strozzi, as a compliment from the +Buonarroti family; but the matter was bungled. Probably Buonarroto +tried to get some valuable equivalent; for Michelangelo writes to say +that he is sorry "he behaved so scurvily toward Filippo in so trifling +an affair." + +Nothing at all transpires in these letters regarding the company kept +by Michelangelo at Bologna. The few stories related by tradition which +refer to this period are not much to the sculptor's credit for +courtesy. The painter Francia, for instance, came to see the statue, +and made the commonplace remark that he thought it very well cast and +of excellent bronze. Michelangelo took this as an insult to his +design, and replied: "I owe the same thanks to Pope Julius who +supplied the metal, as you do to the colourmen who sell you paints." +Then, turning to some gentlemen present there, he added that Francia +was "a blockhead." Francia had a son remarkable for youthful beauty. +When Michelangelo first saw him he asked whose son he was, and, on +being informed, uttered this caustic compliment: "Your father makes +handsomer living figures than he paints them." On some other occasion, +a stupid Bolognese gentleman asked whether he thought his statue or a +pair of oxen were the bigger. Michelangelo replied: "That is according +to the oxen. If Bolognese, oh! then with a doubt ours of Florence are +smaller." Possibly Albrecht Dürer may have met him in the artistic +circles of Bologna, since he came from Venice on a visit during these +years; but nothing is known about their intercourse. + + +III + +Julius left Bologna on the 22nd of February 1507. Michelangelo +remained working diligently at his model. In less than three months it +was nearly ready to be cast. Accordingly, the sculptor, who had no +practical knowledge of bronze-founding, sent to Florence for a man +distinguished in that craft, Maestro dal Ponte of Milan. During the +last three years he had been engaged as Master of the Ordnance under +the Republic. His leave of absence was signed upon the 15th of May +1507. + +Meanwhile the people of Bologna were already planning revolution. The +Bentivogli retained a firm hereditary hold on their affections, and +the government of priests is never popular, especially among the +nobles of a state. Michelangelo writes to his brother Giovan Simone +(May 2) describing the bands of exiles who hovered round the city and +kept its burghers in alarm: "The folk are stifling in their coats of +mail; for during four days past the whole county is under arms, in +great confusion and peril, especially the party of the Church." The +Papal Legate, Francesco Alidosi, Cardinal of Pavia, took such prompt +measures that the attacking troops were driven back. He also executed +some of the citizens who had intrigued with the exiled family. The +summer was exceptionally hot, and plague hung about; all articles of +food were dear and bad. Michelangelo felt miserable, and fretted to be +free; but the statue kept him hard at work. + +When the time drew nigh for the great operation, he wrote in touching +terms to Buonarroto: "Tell Lodovico (their father) that in the middle +of next month I hope to cast my figure without fail. Therefore, if he +wishes to offer prayers or aught else for its good success, let him do +so betimes, and say that I beg this of him." Nearly the whole of June +elapsed, and the business still dragged on. At last, upon the 1st of +July, he advised his brother thus: "We have cast my figure, and it has +come out so badly that I verily believe I shall have to do it all over +again. I reserve details, for I have other things to think of. Enough +that it has gone wrong. Still I thank God, because I take everything +for the best." From the next letter we learn that only the lower half +of the statue, up to the girdle, was properly cast. The metal for the +rest remained in the furnace, probably in the state of what Cellini +called a cake. The furnace had to be pulled down and rebuilt, so as to +cast the upper half. Michelangelo adds that he does not know whether +Master Bernardino mismanaged the matter from ignorance or bad luck. "I +had such faith in him that I thought he could have cast the statue +without fire. Nevertheless, there is no denying that he is an able +craftsman, and that he worked with good-will. Well, he has failed, to +my loss and also to his own, seeing he gets so much blame that he +dares not lift his head up in Bologna." The second casting must have +taken place about the 8th of July; for on the 10th Michelangelo writes +that it is done, but the clay is too hot for the result to be +reported, and Bernardino left yesterday. When the statue was +uncovered, he was able to reassure his brother: "My affair might have +turned out much better, and also much worse. At all events, the whole +is there, so far as I can see; for it is not yet quite disengaged. I +shall want, I think, some months to work it up with file and hammer, +because it has come out rough. Well, well, there is much to thank God +for; as I said, it might have been worse." On making further +discoveries, he finds that the cast is far less bad than he expected; +but the labour of cleaning it with polishing tools proved longer and +more irksome than he expected: "I am exceedingly anxious to get away +home, for here I pass my life in huge discomfort and with extreme +fatigue. I work night and day, do nothing else; and the labour I am +forced to undergo is such, that if I had to begin the whole thing over +again, I do not think I could survive it. Indeed, the undertaking has +been one of enormous difficulty; and if it had been in the hand of +another man, we should have fared but ill with it. However, I believe +that the prayers of some one have sustained and kept me in health, +because all Bologna thought I should never bring it to a proper end." +We can see that Michelangelo was not unpleased with the result; and +the statue must have been finished soon after the New Year. However, +he could not leave Bologna. On the 18th of February 1508 he writes to +Buonarroto that he is kicking his heels, having received orders from +the Pope to stay until the bronze was placed. Three days later--that +is, upon the 21st of February--the Pope's portrait was hoisted to its +pedestal above the great central door of S. Petronio. + +It remained there rather less than three years. When the Papal Legate +fled from Bologna in 1511, and the party of the Bentivogli gained the +upper hand, they threw the mighty mass of sculptured bronze, which had +cost its maker so much trouble, to the ground. That happened on the +30th of December. The Bentivogli sent it to the Duke Alfonso d'Este of +Ferrara, who was a famous engineer and gunsmith. He kept the head +intact, but cast a huge cannon out of part of the material, which took +the name of La Giulia. What became of the head is unknown. It is said +to have weighed 600 pounds. + +So perished another of Michelangelo's masterpieces; and all we know +for certain about the statue is that Julius was seated, in full +pontificals, with the triple tiara on his head, raising the right hand +to bless, and holding the keys of S. Peter in the left. + +Michelangelo reached Florence early in March. On the 18th of that +month he began again to occupy his house at Borgo Pinti, taking it +this time on hire from the Operai del Duomo. We may suppose, +therefore, that he intended to recommence work on the Twelve Apostles. +A new project seems also to have been started by his friend +Soderini--that of making him erect a colossal statue of Hercules +subduing Cacus opposite the David. The Gonfalonier was in +correspondence with the Marquis of Carrara on the 10th of May about a +block of marble for this giant; but Michelangelo at that time had +returned to Rome, and of the Cacus we shall hear more hereafter. + + +IV + +When Julius received news that his statue had been duly cast and set +up in its place above the great door of S. Petronio, he began to be +anxious to have Michelangelo once more near his person. The date at +which the sculptor left Florence again for Rome is fixed approximately +by the fact that Lodovico Buonarroti emancipated his son from parental +control upon the 13th of March 1508. According to Florentine law, +Michelangelo was not of age, nor master over his property and person, +until this deed had been executed. + +In the often-quoted letter to Fattucci he says: "The Pope was still +unwilling that I should complete the tomb, and ordered me to paint the +vault of the Sistine. We agreed for 3000 ducats. The first design I +made for this work had twelve apostles in the lunettes, the remainder +being a certain space filled in with ornamental details, according to +the usual manner. After I had begun, it seemed to me that this would +turn out rather meanly; and I told the Pope that the Apostles alone +would yield a poor effect, in my opinion. He asked me why. I answered, +'Because they too were poor.' Then he gave me commission to do what I +liked best, and promised to satisfy my claims for the work, and told +me to paint down the pictured histories upon the lower row." + +There is little doubt that Michelangelo disliked beginning this new +work, and that he would have greatly preferred to continue the +sepulchral monument, for which he had made such vast and costly +preparations. He did not feel certain how he should succeed in fresco +on a large scale, not having had any practice in that style of +painting since he was a prentice under Ghirlandajo. It is true that +the Cartoon for the Battle of Pisa had been a splendid success; still +this, as we have seen, was not coloured, but executed in various +methods of outline and chiaroscuro. Later on, while seriously engaged +upon the Sistine, he complains to his father: "I am still in great +distress of mind, because it is now a year since I had a farthing from +the Pope; and I do not ask, because my work is not going forward in a +way that seems to me to deserve it. That comes from its difficulty, +and also _from this not being my trade._ And so I waste my time +without results. God help me." + +We may therefore believe Condivi when he asserts that "Michelangelo, +who had not yet practised colouring, and knew that the painting of a +vault is very difficult, endeavoured by all means to get himself +excused, putting Raffaello forward as the proper man, and pleading +that this was not his trade, and that he should not succeed." Condivi +states in the same chapter that Julius had been prompted to intrust +him with the Sistine by Bramante, who was jealous of his great +abilities, and hoped he might fail conspicuously when he left the +field of sculpture. I have given my reasons above for doubting the +accuracy of this tradition; and what we have just read of +Michelangelo's own hesitation confirms the statement made by Bramante +in the Pope's presence, as recorded by Rosselli. In fact, although we +may assume the truth of Bramante's hostility, it is difficult to form +an exact conception of the intrigues he carried on against Buonarroti. + +Julius would not listen to any arguments. Accordingly, Michelangelo +made up his mind to obey the patron whom he nicknamed his Medusa. +Bramante was commissioned to erect the scaffolding, which he did so +clumsily, with beams suspended from the vault by huge cables, that +Michelangelo asked how the holes in the roof would be stopped up when +his painting was finished. The Pope allowed him to take down +Bramante's machinery, and to raise a scaffold after his own design. +The rope alone which had been used, and now was wasted, enabled a poor +carpenter to dower his daughter. Michelangelo built his own scaffold +free from the walls, inventing a method which was afterwards adopted +by all architects for vault-building. Perhaps he remembered the +elaborate drawing he once made of Ghirlandajo's assistants at work +upon the ladders and wooden platforms at S. Maria Novella. + +Knowing that he should need helpers in so great an undertaking, and +also mistrusting his own ability to work in fresco, he now engaged +several excellent Florentine painters. Among these, says Vasari, were +his friends Francesco Granacci and Giuliano Bugiardini, Bastiano da +San Gallo surnamed Aristotele, Angelo di Donnino, Jacopo di Sandro, +and Jacopo surnamed l'Indaco. Vasari is probably accurate in his +statement here; for we shall see that Michelangelo, in his _Ricordi_, +makes mention of five assistants, two of whom are proved by other +documents to have been Granacci and Indaco. We also possess two +letters from Granacci which show that Bugiardini, San Gallo, Angelo di +Donnino, and Jacopo l'Indaco were engaged in July. The second of +Granacci's letters refers to certain disputes and hagglings with the +artists. This may have brought Michelangelo to Florence, for he was +there upon the 11th of August 1508, as appears from the following deed +of renunciation: "In the year of our Lord 1508, on the 11th day of +August, Michelangelo, son of Lodovico di Lionardo di Buonarrota, +repudiated the inheritance of his uncle Francesco by an instrument +drawn up by the hand of Ser Giovanni di Guasparre da Montevarchi, +notary of Florence, on the 27th of July 1508." When the assistants +arrived at Rome is not certain. It must, however, have been after the +end of July. The extracts from Michelangelo's notebooks show that he +had already sketched an agreement as to wages several weeks before. "I +record how on this day, the 10th of May 1508, I, Michelangelo, +sculptor, have received from the Holiness of our Lord Pope Julius II. +500 ducats of the Camera, the which were paid me by Messer Carlino, +chamberlain, and Messer Carlo degli Albizzi, on account of the +painting of the vault of the Sistine Chapel, on which I begin to work +to-day, under the conditions and contracts set forth in a document +written by his Most Reverend Lordship of Pavia, and signed by my hand. + +"For the painter-assistants who are to come from Florence, who will be +five in number, twenty gold ducats of the Camera apiece, on this +condition; that is to say, that when they are here and are working in +harmony with me, the twenty ducats shall be reckoned to each man's +salary; the said salary to begin upon the day they leave Florence. And +if they do not agree with me, half of the said money shall be paid +them for their travelling expenses, and for their time." + +On the strength of this _Ricordo_, it has been assumed that +Michelangelo actually began to paint the Sistine on the 10th of May +1508. That would have been physically and literally impossible. He was +still at Florence, agreeing to rent his house in Borgo Pinti, upon the +18th of March. Therefore he had no idea of going to Rome at that time. +When he arrived there, negotiations went on, as we have seen, between +him and Pope Julius. One plan for the decoration of the roof was +abandoned, and another on a grander scale had to be designed. To +produce working Cartoons for that immense scheme in less than two +months would have been beyond the capacities of any human brain and +hands. But there are many indications that the vault was not prepared +for painting, and the materials for fresco not accumulated, till a +much later date. For instance, we possess a series of receipts by +Piero Rosselli, acknowledging several disbursements for the plastering +of the roof between May 11 and July 27. We learn from one of these +that Granacci was in Rome before June 3; and Michelangelo writes for +fine blue colours to a certain Fra Jacopo Gesuato at Florence upon the +13th of May. All is clearly in the air as yet, and on the point of +preparation. Michelangelo's phrase, "on which I begin work to-day," +will have to be interpreted, therefore, in the widest sense, as +implying that he was engaging assistants, getting the architectural +foundation ready, and procuring a stock of necessary articles. The +whole summer and autumn must have been spent in taking measurements +and expanding the elaborate design to the proper scale of working +drawings; and if Michelangelo had toiled alone without his Florentine +helpers, it would have been impossible for him to have got through +with these preliminary labours in so short a space of time. + +Michelangelo's method in preparing his Cartoons seems to have been the +following. He first made a small-scale sketch of the composition, +sometimes including a large variety of figures. Then he went to the +living models, and studied portions of the whole design in careful +transcripts from Nature, using black and red chalk, pen, and sometimes +bistre. Among the most admirable of his drawings left to us are +several which were clearly executed with a view to one or other of +these great Cartoons. Finally, returning to the first composition, he +repeated that, or so much of it as could be transferred to a single +sheet, on the exact scale of the intended fresco. These enlarged +drawings were applied to the wet surface of the plaster, and their +outlines pricked in with dots to guide the painter in his brush-work. +When we reflect upon the extent of the Sistine vault (it is estimated +at more than 10,000 square feet of surface), and the difficulties +presented by its curves, lunettes, spandrels, and pendentives; when we +remember that this enormous space is alive with 343 figures in every +conceivable attitude, some of them twelve feet in height, those seated +as prophets and sibyls measuring nearly eighteen feet when upright, +all animated with extraordinary vigour, presenting types of the utmost +variety and vivid beauty, imagination quails before the intellectual +energy which could first conceive a scheme so complex, and then carry +it out with mathematical precision in its minutest details. + +The date on which Michelangelo actually began to paint the fresco is +not certain. Supposing he worked hard all the summer, he might have +done so when his Florentine assistants arrived in August; and, +assuming that the letter to his father above quoted (_Lettere_, x.) +bears a right date, he must have been in full swing before the end of +January 1509. In that letter he mentions that Jacopo, probably +l'Indaco, "the painter whom I brought from Florence, returned a few +days ago; and as he complained about me here in Rome, it is likely +that he will do so there. Turn a deaf ear to him; he is a thousandfold +in the wrong, and I could say much about his bad behaviour toward me." +Vasari informs us that these assistants proved of no use; whereupon, +he destroyed all they had begun to do, refused to see them, locked +himself up in the chapel, and determined to complete the work in +solitude. It seems certain that the painters were sent back to +Florence. Michelangelo had already provided for the possibility of +their not being able to co-operate with him; but what the cause of +their failure was we can only conjecture. Trained in the methods of +the old Florentine school of fresco-painting, incapable of entering +into the spirit of a style so supereminently noble and so astoundingly +original as Michelangelo's, it is probable that they spoiled his +designs in their attempts to colour them. Harford pithily remarks: "As +none of the suitors of Penelope could bend the bow of Ulysses, so one +hand alone was capable of wielding the pencil of Buonarroti." Still it +must not be imagined that Michelangelo ground his own colours, +prepared his daily measure of wet plaster, and executed the whole +series of frescoes with his own hand. Condivi and Vasari imply, +indeed, that this was the case; but, beside the physical +impossibility, the fact remains that certain portions are obviously +executed by inferior masters. Vasari's anecdotes, moreover, contradict +his own assertion regarding Michelangelo's singlehanded labour. He +speaks about the caution which the master exercised to guard himself +against any treason of his workmen in the chapel. Nevertheless, far +the larger part, including all the most important figures, and +especially the nudes, belongs to Michelangelo. + +These troubles with his assistants illustrate a point upon which I +shall have to offer some considerations at a future time. I allude to +Michelangelo's inaptitude for forming a school of intelligent +fellow-workers, for fashioning inferior natures into at least a +sympathy with his aims and methods, and finally for living long on +good terms with hired subordinates. All those qualities which the +facile and genial Raffaello possessed in such abundance, and which +made it possible for that young favourite of heaven and fortune to +fill Rome with so much work of mixed merit, were wanting to the stern, +exacting, and sensitive Buonarroti. + +But the assistants were not the only hindrance to Michelangelo at the +outset. Condivi says that "he had hardly begun painting, and had +finished the picture of the Deluge, when the work began to throw out +mould to such an extent that the figures could hardly be seen through +it. Michelangelo thought that this excuse might be sufficient to get +him relieved of the whole job. So he went to the Pope and said: 'I +already told your Holiness that painting is not my trade; what I have +done is spoiled; if you do not believe it, send to see.' The Pope sent +San Gallo, who, after inspecting the fresco, pronounced that the +lime-basis had been put on too wet, and that water oozing out produced +this mouldy surface. He told Michelangelo what the cause was, and bade +him proceed with the work. So the excuse helped him nothing." About +the fresco of the Deluge Vasari relates that, having begun to paint +this compartment first, he noticed that the figures were too crowded, +and consequently changed his scale in all the other portions of the +ceiling. This is a plausible explanation of what is striking--namely, +that the story of the Deluge is quite differently planned from the +other episodes upon the vaulting. Yet I think it must be rejected, +because it implies a total change in all the working Cartoons, as well +as a remarkable want of foresight. + +Condivi continues: "While he was painting, Pope Julius used oftentimes +to go and see the work, climbing by a ladder, while Michelangelo gave +him a hand to help him on to the platform. His nature being eager and +impatient of delay, he decided to have the roof uncovered, although +Michelangelo had not given the last touches, and had only completed +the first half--that is, from the door to the middle of the vault." +Michelangelo's letters show that the first part of his work was +executed in October. He writes thus to his brother Buonarroto: "I am +remaining here as usual, and shall have finished my painting by the +end of the week after next--that is, the portion of it which I began; +and when it is uncovered, I expect to be paid, and shall also try to +get a month's leave to visit Florence." + + +V + +The uncovering took place upon November 1, 1509. All Rome flocked to +the chapel, feeling that something stupendous was to be expected after +the long months of solitude and seclusion during which the silent +master had been working. Nor were they disappointed. The effect +produced by only half of the enormous scheme was overwhelming. As +Vasari says, "This chapel lighted up a lamp for our art which casts +abroad lustre enough to illuminate the World, drowned, for so many +centuries in darkness." Painters saw at a glance that the genius which +had revolutionised sculpture was now destined to introduce a new style +and spirit into their art. This was the case even with Raffaello, who, +in the frescoes he executed at S. Maria della Pace, showed his +immediate willingness to learn from Michelangelo, and his +determination to compete with him. Condivi and Vasari are agreed upon +this point, and Michelangelo himself, in a moment of hasty +indignation, asserted many years afterwards that what Raffaello knew +of art was derived from him. That is, of course, an over-statement; +for, beside his own exquisite originality, Raffaello formed a +composite style successively upon Perugino, Fra Bartolommeo, and +Lionardo. He was capable not merely of imitating, but of absorbing and +assimilating to his lucid genius the excellent qualities of all in +whom he recognised superior talent. At the same time, Michelangelo's +influence was undeniable, and we cannot ignore the testimony of those +who conversed with both great artists--of Julius himself, for +instance, when he said to Sebastian del Piombo: "Look at the work of +Raffaello, who, after seeing the masterpieces of Michelangelo, +immediately abandoned Perugino's manner, and did his utmost to +approach that of Buonarroti." + +Condivi's assertion that the part uncovered in November 1509 was the +first half of the whole vault, beginning from the door and ending in +the middle, misled Vasari, and Vasari misled subsequent biographers. +We now know for certain that what Michelangelo meant by "the portion I +began" was the whole central space of the ceiling--that is to say, the +nine compositions from Genesis, with their accompanying genii and +architectural surroundings. That is rendered clear by a statement in +Albertini's Roman Handbook, to the effect that the "upper portion of +the whole vaulted roof" had been uncovered when he saw it in 1509. +Having established this error in Condivi's narrative, what he proceeds +to relate may obtain some credence. "Raffaello, when he beheld the new +and marvellous style of Michelangelo's work, being extraordinarily apt +at imitation, sought, by Bramante's means, to obtain a commission for +the rest." Had Michelangelo ended at a line drawn halfway across the +breadth of the vault, leaving the Prophets and Sibyls, the lunettes +and pendentives, all finished so far, it would have been a piece of +monstrous impudence even in Bramante, and an impossible discourtesy in +gentle Raffaello, to have begged for leave to carry on a scheme so +marvellously planned. But the history of the Creation, Fall, and +Deluge, when first exposed, looked like a work complete in itself. +Michelangelo, who was notoriously secretive, had almost certainly not +explained his whole design to painters of Bramante's following; and it +is also improbable that he had as yet prepared his working Cartoons +for the lower and larger portion of the vault. Accordingly, there +remained a large vacant space to cover between the older frescoes by +Signorelli, Perugino, Botticelli, and other painters, round the walls +below the windows, and that new miracle suspended in the air. There +was no flagrant impropriety in Bramante's thinking that his nephew +might be allowed to carry the work downward from that altitude. The +suggestion may have been that the Sistine Chapel should become a +Museum of Italian art, where all painters of eminence could deposit +proofs of their ability, until each square foot of wall was covered +with competing masterpieces. But when Michelangelo heard of Bramante's +intrigues, he was greatly disturbed in spirit. Having begun his task +unwillingly, he now felt an equal or greater unwillingness to leave +the stupendous conception of his brain unfinished. Against all +expectation of himself and others, he had achieved a decisive victory, +and was placed at one stroke, Condivi says, "above the reach of envy." +His hand had found its cunning for fresco as for marble. Why should he +be interrupted in the full swing of triumphant energy? "Accordingly, +he sought an audience with the Pope, and openly laid bare all the +persecutions he had suffered from Bramante, and discovered the +numerous misdoings of the man." It was on this occasion, according to +Condivi, that Michelangelo exposed Bramante's scamped work and +vandalism at S. Peter's. Julius, who was perhaps the only man in Rome +acquainted with his sculptor's scheme for the Sistine vault, brushed +the cobwebs of these petty intrigues aside, and left the execution of +the whole to Michelangelo. + +There is something ignoble in the task of recording rivalries and +jealousies between artists and men of letters. Genius, however, like +all things that are merely ours and mortal, shuffles along the path of +life, half flying on the wings of inspiration, half hobbling on the +feet of interest the crutches of commissions. Michelangelo, although +he made the David and the Sistine, had also to make money. He was +entangled with shrewd men of business, and crafty spendthrifts, +ambitious intriguers, folk who used undoubted talents, each in its +kind excellent and pure, for baser purposes of gain or getting on. The +art-life of Rome seethed with such blood-poison; and it would be +sentimental to neglect what entered so deeply and so painfully into +the daily experience of our hero. Raffaello, kneaded of softer and +more facile clay than Michelangelo, throve in this environment, and +was somehow able--so it seems--to turn its venom to sweet uses. I like +to think of the two peers, moving like stars on widely separated +orbits, with radically diverse temperaments, proclivities, and habits, +through the turbid atmosphere enveloping but not obscuring their +lucidity. Each, in his own way, as it seems to me, contrived to keep +himself unspotted by the world; and if they did not understand one +another and make friends, this was due to the different conceptions +they were framed to take of life the one being the exact antipodes to +the other. + +VI + + +Postponing descriptive or aesthetic criticism of the Sistine frescoes, +I shall proceed with the narration of their gradual completion. We +have few documents to guide us through the period of time which +elapsed between the first uncovering of Michelangelo's work on the +roof of the Sistine (November 1, 1509) and its ultimate accomplishment +(October 1512). His domestic correspondence is abundant, and will be +used in its proper place; but nothing transpires from those pages of +affection, anger, and financial negotiation to throw light upon the +working of the master's mind while he was busied in creating the +sibyls and prophets, the episodes and idyls, which carried his great +Bible of the Fate of Man downwards through the vaulting to a point at +which the Last Judgment had to be presented as a crowning climax. For, +the anxious student of his mind and life-work, nothing is more +desolating than the impassive silence he maintains about his doings as +an artist. He might have told us all we want to know, and never shall +know here about them. But while he revealed his personal temperament +and his passions with singular frankness, he locked up the secret of +his art, and said nothing. + +Eventually we must endeavour to grasp Michelangelo's work in the +Sistine as a whole, although it was carried out at distant epochs of +his life. For this reason I have thrown these sentences forward, in +order to embrace a wide span of his artistic energy (from May 10, +1508, to perhaps December 1541). There is, to my mind, a unity of +conception between the history depicted on the vault, the prophets and +forecomers on the pendentives, the types selected for the +spandrels, and the final spectacle of the day of doom. Living, as he +needs must do, under the category of time, Michelangelo was unable to +execute his stupendous picture-book of human destiny in one sustained +manner. Years passed over him of thwarted endeavour and distracted +energies--years of quarrying and sculpturing, of engineering and +obeying the vagaries of successive Popes. Therefore, when he came +at last to paint the Last Judgment, he was a worn man, exhausted in +services of many divers sorts. And, what is most perplexing to the +reconstructive critic, nothing in his correspondence remains to +indicate the stages of his labour. The letters tell plenty about +domestic anxieties, annoyances in his poor craftsman's household, +purchases of farms, indignant remonstrances with stupid brethren; but +we find in them, as I have said, no clue to guide us through that +mental labyrinth in which the supreme artist was continually walking, +and at the end of which he left to us the Sistine as it now is. + + +VII + +The old reckoning of the time consumed by Michelangelo in painting the +roof of the Sistine, and the traditions concerning his mode of work +there, are clearly fabulous. Condivi says: "He finished the whole in +twenty months, without having any assistance whatsoever, not even of a +man to grind his colours." From a letter of September 7, 1510, we +learn that the scaffolding was going to be put up again, and that he +was preparing to work upon the lower portion of the vaulting. Nearly +two years elapse before we hear of it again. He writes to Buonarroto +on the 24th of July 1512: "I am suffering greater hardships than ever +man endured, ill, and with overwhelming labour; still I put up with +all in order to reach the desired end." Another letter on the 21st of +August shows that he expects to complete his work at the end of +September; and at last, in October, he writes to his father: "I have +finished the chapel I was painting. The Pope is very well satisfied." +On the calculation that he began the first part on May 10, 1508, and +finished the whole in October 1512, four years and a half were +employed upon the work. A considerable part of this time was of course +taken up with the preparation of Cartoons; and the nature of +fresco-painting rendered the winter months not always fit for active +labour. The climate of Rome is not so mild but that wet plaster might +often freeze and crack during December, January, and February. +Besides, with all his superhuman energy, Michelangelo could not have +painted straight on daily without rest or stop. It seems, too, that +the master was often in need of money, and that he made two journeys +to the Pope to beg for supplies. In the letter to Fattucci he says: +"When the vault was nearly finished, the Pope was again at Bologna; +whereupon, I went twice to get the necessary funds, and obtained +nothing, and lost all that time until I came back to Rome. When I +reached Rome, I began to make Cartoons--that is, for the ends and +sides of the said chapel, hoping to get money at last and to complete +the work. I never could extract a farthing; and when I complained one +day to Messer Bernardo da Bibbiena and to Atalante, representing that +I could not stop longer in Rome, and that I should be forced to go +away with God's grace, Messer Bernardo told Atalante he must bear this +in mind, for that he wished me to have money, whatever happened." When +we consider, then, the magnitude of the undertaking, the arduous +nature of the preparatory studies, and the waste of time in journeys +and through other hindrances, four and a half years are not too long a +period for a man working so much alone as Michelangelo was wont to do. + +We have reason to believe that, after all, the frescoes of the Sistine +were not finished in their details. "It is true," continues Condivi, +"that I have heard him say he was not suffered to complete the work +according to his wish. The Pope, in his impatience, asked him one day +when he would be ready with the Chapel, and he answered: 'When I shall +be able.' To which his Holiness replied in a rage: 'You want to make +me hurl you from that scaffold!' Michelangelo heard and remembered, +muttering: 'That you shall not do to me.' So he went straightway, and +had the scaffolding taken down. The frescoes were exposed to view on +All Saints' day, to the great satisfaction of the Pope, who went that +day to service there, while all Rome flocked together to admire them. +What Michelangelo felt forced to leave undone was the retouching of +certain parts with ultramarine upon dry ground, and also some gilding, +to give the whole a richer effect. Giulio, when his heat cooled down, +wanted Michelangelo to make these last additions; but he, considering +the trouble it would be to build up all that scaffolding afresh, +observed that what was missing mattered little. 'You ought at least to +touch it up with gold,' replied the Pope; and Michelangelo, with that +familiarity he used toward his Holiness, said carelessly: 'I have not +observed that men wore gold.' The Pope rejoined: 'It will look poor.' +Buonarroti added: 'Those who are painted there were poor men.' So the +matter turned into pleasantry, and the frescoes have remained in their +present state." Condivi goes on to state that Michelangelo received +3000 ducats for all his expenses, and that he spent as much as twenty +or twenty-five ducats on colours alone. Upon the difficult question of +the moneys earned by the great artist in his life-work, I shall have +to speak hereafter, though I doubt whether any really satisfactory +account can now be given of them. + + +VIII + +Michelangelo's letters to his family in Florence throw a light at once +vivid and painful over the circumstances of his life during these +years of sustained creative energy. He was uncomfortable in his +bachelor's home, and always in difficulties with his servants. "I am +living here in discontent, not thoroughly well, and undergoing great +fatigue, without money, and with no one to look after me." Again, when +one of his brothers proposed to visit him in Rome, he writes: "I hear +that Gismondo means to come hither on his affairs. Tell him not to +count on me for anything; not because I do not love him as a brother, +but because I am not in the position to assist him. I am bound to care +for myself first, and I cannot provide myself with necessaries. I live +here in great distress and the utmost bodily fatigue, have no friends, +and seek none. I have not even time enough to eat what I require. +Therefore let no additional burdens be put upon me, for I could not +bear another ounce." In the autumn of 1509 he corresponded with his +father about the severe illness of an assistant workman whom he kept, +and also about a boy he wanted sent from Florence. "I should be glad +if you could hear of some lad at Florence, the son of good parents and +poor, used to hardships, who would be willing to come and live with me +here, to do the work of the house, buy what I want, and go around on +messages; in his leisure time he could learn. Should such a boy be +found, please let me know; because there are only rogues here, and I +am in great need of some one." All through his life, Michelangelo +adopted the plan of keeping a young fellow to act as general servant, +and at the same time to help in art-work. Three of these servants are +interwoven with the chief events of his later years, Pietro Urbano, +Antonio Mini, and Francesco d'Amadore, called Urbino, the last of whom +became his faithful and attached friend till death parted them. Women +about the house he could not bear. Of the serving-maids at Rome he +says: "They are all strumpets and swine." Well, it seems that Lodovico +found a boy, and sent him off to Rome. What followed is related in the +next letter. "As regards the boy you sent me, that rascal of a +muleteer cheated me out of a ducat for his journey. He swore that the +bargain had been made for two broad golden ducats, whereas all the +lads who come here with the muleteers pay only ten carlins. I was more +angry at this than if I had lost twenty-five ducats, because I saw +that his father had resolved to send him on mule-back like a +gentleman. Oh, I had never such good luck, not I! Then both the father +and the lad promised that he would do everything, attend to the mule, +and sleep upon the ground, if it was wanted. And now I am obliged to +look after him. As if I needed more worries than the one I have had +ever since I arrived here! My apprentice, whom I left in Rome, has +been ill from the day on which I returned until now. It is true that +he is getting better; but he lay for about a month in peril of his +life, despaired of by the doctors, and I never went to bed. There are +other annoyances of my own; and now I have the nuisance of this lad, +who says that he does not want to waste time, that he wants to study, +and so on. At Florence he said he would be satisfied with two or three +hours a day. Now the whole day is not enough for him, but he must +needs be drawing all the night. It is all the fault of what his father +tells him. If I complained, he would say that I did not want him to +learn. I really require some one to take care of the house; and if the +boy had no mind for this sort of work, they ought not to have put me +to expense. But they are good-for-nothing, and are working toward a +certain end of their own. Enough, I beg you to relieve me of the boy; +he has bored me so that I cannot bear it any longer. The muleteer has +been so well paid that he can very well take him back to Florence. +Besides, he is a friend of the father. Tell the father to send for him +home. I shall not pay another farthing. I have no money. I will have +patience till he sends; and if he does not send, I will turn the boy +out of doors. I did so already on the second day of his arrival, and +other times also, and the father does not believe it. + +"_P.S._--If you talk to the father of the lad, put the matter to him +nicely: as that he is a good boy, but too refined, and not fit for my +service, and say that he had better send for him home." + +The repentant postscript is eminently characteristic of Michelangelo. +He used to write in haste, apparently just as the thoughts came. +Afterwards he read his letter over, and softened its contents down, if +he did not, as sometimes happened, feel that his meaning required +enforcement; in that case he added a stinging tail to the epigram. How +little he could manage the people in his employ is clear from the last +notice we possess about the unlucky lad from Florence. "I wrote about +the boy, to say that his father ought to send for him, and that I +would not disburse more money. This I now confirm. The driver is paid +to take him back. At Florence he will do well enough, learning his +trade and dwelling with his parents. Here he is not worth a farthing, +and makes me toil like a beast of burden; and my other apprentice has +not left his bed. It is true that I have not got him in the house; for +when I was so tired out that I could not bear it, I sent him to the +room of a brother of his. I have no money." + +These household difficulties were a trifle, however, compared with the +annoyances caused by the stupidity of his father and the greediness of +his brothers. While living like a poor man in Rome, he kept +continually thinking of their welfare. The letters of this period are +full of references to the purchase of land, the transmission of cash +when it was to be had, and the establishment of Buonarroto in a +draper's business. They, on their part, were never satisfied, and +repaid his kindness with ingratitude. The following letter to Giovan +Simone shows how terrible Michelangelo could be when he detected +baseness in a brother:-- + +"Giovan Simone,--It is said that when one does good to a good man, he +makes him become better, but that a bad man becomes worse. It is now +many years that I have been endeavouring with words and deeds of +kindness to bring you to live honestly and in peace with your father +and the rest of us. You grow continually worse. I do not say that you +are a scoundrel; but you are of such sort that you have ceased to give +satisfaction to me or anybody. I could read you a long lesson on your +ways of living; but they would be idle words, like all the rest that I +have wasted. To cut the matter short, I will tell you as a fact beyond +all question that you have nothing in the world: what you spend and +your house-room, I give you, and have given you these many years, for +the love of God, believing you to be my brother like the rest. Now, I +am sure that you are not my brother, else you would not threaten my +father. Nay, you are a beast; and as a beast I mean to treat you. Know +that he who sees his father threatened or roughly handled is bound to +risk his own life in this cause. Let that suffice. I repeat that you +have nothing in the world; and if I hear the least thing about your +ways of going on, I will come to Florence by the post, and show you +how far wrong you are, and teach you to waste your substance, and set +fire to houses and farms you have not earned. Indeed you are not where +you think yourself to be. If I come, I will open your eyes to what +will make you weep hot tears, and recognise on what false grounds you +base your arrogance. + +"I have something else to say to you, which I have said before. If you +will endeavour to live rightly, and to honour and revere your father, +I am willing to help you like the rest, and will put it shortly within +your power to open a good shop. If you act otherwise, I shall come and +settle your affairs in such a way that you will recognise what you are +better than you ever did, and will know what you have to call your +own, and will have it shown to you in every place where you may go. No +more. What I lack in words I will supply with deeds. + +"Michelangelo _in Rome_. + +"I cannot refrain from adding a couple of lines. It is as follows. I +have gone these twelve years past drudging about through Italy, borne +every shame, suffered every hardship, worn my body out in every toil, +put my life to a thousand hazards, and all with the sole purpose of +helping the fortunes of my family. Now that I have begun to raise it +up a little, you only, you alone, choose to destroy and bring to ruin +in one hour what it has cost me so many years and such labour to build +up. By Christ's body this shall not be; for I am the man to put to the +rout ten thousand of your sort, whenever it be needed. Be wise in +time, then, and do not try the patience of one who has other things to +vex him." + +Even Buonarroto, who was the best of the brothers and dearest to his +heart, hurt him by his graspingness and want of truth. He had been +staying at Rome on a visit, and when he returned to Florence it +appears that he bragged about his wealth, as if the sums expended on +the Buonarroti farms were not part of Michelangelo's earnings. The +consequence was that he received a stinging rebuke from his elder +brother. "The said Michele told me you mentioned to him having spent +about sixty ducats at Settignano. I remember your saying here too at +table that you had disbursed a large sum out of your own pocket. I +pretended not to understand, and did not feel the least surprise, +because I know you. I should like to hear from your ingratitude out of +what money you gained them. If you had enough sense to know the truth, +you would not say: 'I spent so and so much of my own;' also you would +not have come here to push your affairs with me, seeing how I have +always acted toward you in the past, but would have rather said: +'Michelangelo remembers what he wrote to us, and if he does not now do +what he promised, he must be prevented by something of which we are +ignorant,' and then have kept your peace; because it is not well to +spur the horse that runs as fast as he is able, and more than he is +able. But you have never known me, and do not know me. God pardon you; +for it is He who granted me the grace to bear what I do bear and have +borne, in order that you might be helped. Well, you will know me when +you have lost me." + +Michelangelo's angry moods rapidly cooled down. At the bottom of his +heart lay a deep and abiding love for his family. There is something +caressing in the tone with which he replies to grumbling letters from +his father. "Do not vex yourself. God did not make us to abandon us." +"If you want me, I will take the post, and be with you in two days. +Men are worth more than money." His warm affection transpires even +more clearly in the two following documents: + +"I should like you to be thoroughly convinced that all the labours I +have ever undergone have not been more for myself than for your sake. +What I have bought, I bought to be yours so long as you live. If you +had not been here, I should have bought nothing. Therefore, if you +wish to let the house and farm, do so at your pleasure. This income, +together with what I shall give you, will enable you to live like a +lord." At a time when Lodovico was much exercised in his mind and +spirits by a lawsuit, his son writes to comfort the old man. "Do not +be discomfited, nor give yourself an ounce of sadness. Remember that +losing money is not losing one's life. I will more than make up to you +what you must lose. Yet do not attach too much value to worldly goods, +for they are by nature untrustworthy. Thank God that this trial, if it +was bound to come, came at a time when you have more resources than +you had in years past. Look to preserving your life and health, but +let your fortunes go to ruin rather than suffer hardships; for I would +sooner have you alive and poor; if you were dead, I should not care +for all the gold in the world. If those chatterboxes or any one else +reprove you, let them talk, for they are men without intelligence and +without affection." + +References to public events are singularly scanty in this +correspondence. Much as Michelangelo felt the woes of Italy--and we +know he did so by his poems--he talked but little, doing his work +daily like a wise man all through the dust and din stirred up by +Julius and the League of Cambrai. The lights and shadows of Italian +experience at that time are intensely dramatic. We must not altogether +forget the vicissitudes of war, plague, and foreign invasion, which +exhausted the country, while its greatest men continued to produce +immortal masterpieces. Aldo Manuzio was quietly printing his complete +edition of Plato, and Michelangelo was transferring the noble figure +of a prophet or a sibyl to the plaster of the Sistine, while young +Gaston de Foix was dying at the point of victory upon the bloody +shores of the Ronco. Sometimes, however, the disasters of his country +touched Michelangelo so nearly that he had to write or speak about +them. After the battle of Ravenna, on the 11th of April 1512, Raimondo +de Cardona and his Spanish troops brought back the Medici to Florence. +On their way, the little town of Prato was sacked with a barbarity +which sent a shudder through the whole peninsula. The Cardinal +Giovanni de' Medici, who entered Florence on the 14th of September, +established his nephews as despots in the city, and intimidated the +burghers by what looked likely to be a reign of terror. These facts +account for the uneasy tone of a letter written by Michelangelo to +Buonarroto. Prato had been taken by assault upon the 30th of August, +and was now prostrate after those hideous days of torment, massacre, +and outrage indescribable which followed. In these circumstances +Michelangelo advises his family to "escape into a place of safety, +abandoning their household gear and property; for life is far more +worth than money." If they are in need of cash, they may draw upon his +credit with the Spedalingo of S. Maria Novella. The constitutional +liability to panic which must be recognised in Michelangelo emerges at +the close of the letter. "As to public events, do not meddle with them +either by deed or word. Act as though the plague were raging. Be the +first to fly." The Buonarroti did not take his advice, but remained at +Florence, enduring agonies of terror. It was a time when disaffection +toward the Medicean princes exposed men to risking life and limb. +Rumours reached Lodovico that his son had talked imprudently at Rome. +He wrote to inquire what truth there was in the report, and +Michelangelo replied: "With regard to the Medici, I have never spoken +a single word against them, except in the way that everybody +talks--as, for instance, about the sack of Prato; for if the stones +could have cried out, I think they would have spoken. There have been +many other things said since then, to which, when I heard them, I have +answered: 'If they are really acting in this way, they are doing +wrong;' not that I believed the reports; and God grant they are not +true. About a month ago, some one who makes a show of friendship for +me spoke very evilly about their deeds. I rebuked him, told him that +it was not well to talk so, and begged him not to do so again to me. +However, I should like Buonarroto quietly to find out how the rumour +arose of my having calumniated the Medici; for if it is some one who +pretends to be my friend, I ought to be upon my guard." + +The Buonarroti family, though well affected toward Savonarola, were +connected by many ties of interest and old association with the +Medici, and were not powerful enough to be the mark of violent +political persecution. Nevertheless, a fine was laid upon them by the +newly restored Government. This drew forth the following epistle from +Michelangelo:-- + +"Dearest Father,--Your last informs me how things are going on at +Florence, though I already knew something. We must have patience, +commit ourselves to God, and repent of our sins; for these trials are +solely due to them, and more particularly to pride and ingratitude. I +never conversed with a people more ungrateful and puffed up than the +Florentines. Therefore, if judgment comes, it is but right and +reasonable. As for the sixty ducats you tell me you are fined, I think +this a scurvy trick, and am exceedingly annoyed. However, we must have +patience as long as it pleases God. I will write and enclose two lines +to Giuliano de' Medici. Read them, and if you like to present them to +him, do so; you will see whether they are likely to be of any use. If +not, consider whether we can sell our property and go to live +elsewhere.... Look to your life and health; and if you cannot share +the honours of the land like other burghers, be contented that bread +does not fail you, and live well with Christ, and poorly, as I do +here; for I live in a sordid way, regarding neither life nor +honours--that is, the world--and suffer the greatest hardships and +innumerable anxieties and dreads. It is now about fifteen years since +I had a single hour of well-being, and all that I have done has been +to help you, and you have never recognised this nor believed it. God +pardon us all! I am ready to go on doing the same so long as I live, +if only I am able." + +We have reason to believe that the petition to Giuliano proved +effectual, for in his next letter he congratulates his father upon +their being restored to favour. In the same communication he mentions +a young Spanish painter whom he knew in Rome, and whom he believes to +be ill at Florence. This was probably the Alonso Berughetta who made a +copy of the Cartoon for the Battle of Pisa. In July 1508 Michelangelo +wrote twice about a Spaniard who wanted leave to study the Cartoon; +first begging Buonarroto to procure the keys for him, and afterwards +saying that he is glad to hear that the permission was refused. It +does not appear certain whether this was the same Alonso; but it is +interesting to find that Michelangelo disliked his Cartoon being +copied. We also learn from these letters that the Battle of Pisa then +remained in the Sala del Papa. + + +IX + +I will conclude this chapter by translating a sonnet addressed to +Giovanni da Pistoja, in which Michelangelo humorously describes the +discomforts he endured while engaged upon the Sistine. Condivi tells +us that from painting so long in a strained attitude, gazing up at the +vault, he lost for some time the power of reading except when he +lifted the paper above his head and raised his eyes. Vasari +corroborates the narrative from his own experience in the vast halls +of the Medicean palace. + + _I've grown a goitre by dwelling in this den-- + As cats from stagnant streams in Lombardy, + Or in what other land they hap to be-- + Which drives the belly close beneath the chin: + My beard turns up to heaven; my nape falls in, + Fixed on my spine: my breast-bone visibly + Grows like a harp: a rich embroidery + Bedews my face from brush-drops thick and thin. + My loins into my paunch like levers grind: + My buttock like a crupper bears my weight; + My feet unguided wander to and fro; + In front my skin grows loose and long; behind, + By bending it becomes more taut and strait; + Crosswise I strain me like a Syrian bow: + Whence false and quaint, I know, + Must be the fruit of squinting brain and eye; + For ill can aim the gun that bends awry. + Come then, Giovanni, try + To succour my dead pictures and my fame, + Since foul I fare and painting is my shame._ + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +I + +The Sistine Chapel was built in 1473 by Baccio Pontelli, a Florentine +architect, for Pope Sixtus IV. It is a simple barn-like chamber, 132 +feet in length, 44 in breadth, and 68 in height from the pavement. The +ceiling consists of one expansive flattened vault, the central portion +of which offers a large plane surface, well adapted to fresco +decoration. The building is lighted by twelve windows, six upon each +side of its length. These are placed high up, their rounded arches +running parallel with the first spring of the vaulting. The ends of +the chapel are closed by flat walls, against the western of which is +raised the altar. + +When Michelangelo was called to paint here, he found both sides of the +building, just below the windows, decorated in fresco by Perugino, +Cosimo Rosselli, Sandro Botticelli, Luca Signorelli, and Domenico +Ghirlandajo. These masters had depicted, in a series of twelve +subjects, the history of Moses and the life of Jesus. Above the lines +of fresco, in the spaces between the windows and along the eastern end +at the same height, Botticelli painted a row of twenty-eight Popes. +The spaces below the frescoed histories, down to the seats which ran +along the pavement, were blank, waiting for the tapestries which +Raffaello afterwards supplied from cartoons now in possession of the +English Crown. At the west end, above the altar, shone three +decorative frescoes by Perugino, representing the Assumption of the +Virgin, between the finding of Moses and the Nativity. The two last of +these pictures opened respectively the history of Moses and the life +of Christ, so that the Old and New Testaments were equally illustrated +upon the Chapel walls. At the opposite, or eastern end, Ghirlandajo +painted the Resurrection, and there was a corresponding picture of +Michael contending with Satan for the body of Moses. + +Such was the aspect of the Sistine Chapel when Michelangelo began his +great work. Perugino's three frescoes on the west wall were afterwards +demolished to make room for his Last Judgment. The two frescoes on the +east wall are now poor pictures by very inferior masters; but the +twelve Scripture histories and Botticelli's twenty-eight Popes remain +from the last years of the fifteenth century. + +Taken in their aggregate, the wall-paintings I have described afforded +a fair sample of Umbrian and Tuscan art in its middle or +_quattrocento_ age of evolution. It remained for Buonarroti to cover +the vault and the whole western end with masterpieces displaying what +Vasari called the "modern" style in its most sublime and imposing +manifestation. At the same time he closed the cycle of the figurative +arts, and rendered any further progress on the same lines impossible. +The growth which began with Niccolò of Pisa and with Cimabue, which +advanced through Giotto and his school, Perugino and Pinturicchio, +Piero della Francesca and Signorelli, Fra Angelico and Benozzo +Gozzoli, the Ghirlandajo brothers, the Lippi and Botticelli, +effloresced in Michelangelo, leaving nothing for aftercomers but +manneristic imitation. + + +II + +Michelangelo, instinctively and on principle, reacted against the +decorative methods of the fifteenth century. If he had to paint a +biblical or mythological subject, he avoided landscapes, trees, +flowers, birds, beasts, and subordinate groups of figures. He eschewed +the arabesques, the labyrinths of foliage and fruit enclosing pictured +panels, the candelabra and gay bands of variegated patterns, which +enabled a _quattrocento_ painter, like Gozzoli or Pinturicchio, to +produce brilliant and harmonious general effects at a small +expenditure of intellectual energy. Where the human body struck the +keynote of the music in a work of art, he judged that such simple +adjuncts and naïve concessions to the pleasure of the eye should be +avoided. An architectural foundation for the plastic forms to rest on, +as plain in structure and as grandiose in line as could be fashioned, +must suffice. These principles he put immediately to the test in his +first decorative undertaking. For the vault of the Sistine he designed +a mighty architectural framework in the form of a hypaethral temple, +suspended in the air on jutting pilasters, with bold cornices, +projecting brackets, and ribbed arches flung across the void of +heaven. Since the whole of this ideal building was painted upon +plaster, its inconsequence, want of support, and disconnection from +the ground-plan of the chapel do not strike the mind. It is felt to be +a mere basis for the display of pictorial art, the theatre for a +thousand shapes of dignity and beauty. + +I have called this imaginary temple hypaethral, because the master +left nine openings in the flattened surface of the central vault. They +are unequal in size, five being short parallelograms, and four being +spaces of the same shape but twice their length. Through these the eye +is supposed to pierce the roof and discover the unfettered region of +the heavens. But here again Michelangelo betrayed the inconsequence of +his invention. He filled the spaces in question with nine dominant +paintings, representing the history of the Creation, the Fall, and the +Deluge. Taking our position at the west end of the chapel and looking +upwards, we see in the first compartment God dividing light from +darkness; in the second, creating the sun and the moon and the solid +earth; in the third, animating the ocean with His brooding influence; +in the fourth, creating Adam; in the fifth, creating Eve. The sixth +represents the temptation of our first parents and their expulsion +from Paradise. The seventh shows Noah's sacrifice before entering the +ark; the eighth depicts the Deluge, and the ninth the drunkenness of +Noah. It is clear that, between the architectural conception of a roof +opening on the skies and these pictures of events which happened upon +earth, there is no logical connection. Indeed, Michelangelo's new +system of decoration bordered dangerously upon the barocco style, and +contained within itself the germs of a vicious mannerism. + +It would be captious and unjust to push this criticism home. The +architectural setting provided for the figures and the pictures of the +Sistine vault is so obviously conventional, every point of vantage has +been so skilfully appropriated to plastic uses, every square inch of +the ideal building becomes so naturally, and without confusion, a +pedestal for the human form, that we are lost in wonder at the +synthetic imagination which here for the first time combined the arts +of architecture, sculpture, and painting in a single organism. Each +part of the immense composition, down to the smallest detail, is +necessary to the total effect. We are in the presence of a most +complicated yet mathematically ordered scheme, which owes life and +animation to one master-thought. In spite of its complexity and +scientific precision, the vault of the Sistine does not strike the +mind as being artificial or worked out by calculation, but as being +predestined to existence, inevitable, a cosmos instinct with vitality. + +On the pendentives between the spaces of the windows, running up to +the ends of each of the five lesser pictures, Michelangelo placed +alternate prophets and sibyls upon firm projecting consoles. Five +sibyls and five prophets run along the side-walls of the chapel. The +end-walls sustain each of them a prophet. These twelve figures are +introduced as heralds and pioneers of Christ the Saviour, whose +presence on the earth is demanded by the fall of man and the renewal +of sin after the Deluge. In the lunettes above the windows and the +arched recesses or spandrels over them are depicted scenes setting +forth the genealogy of Christ and of His Mother. At each of the four +corner-spandrels of the ceiling, Michelangelo painted, in spaces of a +very peculiar shape and on a surface of embarrassing inequality, one +magnificent subject symbolical of man's redemption. The first is the +raising of the Brazen Serpent in the wilderness; the second, the +punishment of Haman; the third, the victory of David over Goliath; the +fourth, Judith with the head of Holofernes. + +Thus, with a profound knowledge of the Bible, and with an intense +feeling for religious symbolism, Michelangelo unrolled the history of +the creation of the world and man, the entrance of sin into the human +heart, the punishment of sin by water, and the reappearance of sin in +Noah's family. Having done this, he intimated, by means of four +special mercies granted to the Jewish people--types and symbols of +God's indulgence--that a Saviour would arise to redeem the erring +human race. In confirmation of this promise, he called twelve potent +witnesses, seven of the Hebrew prophets and five of the Pagan sibyls. +He made appeal to history, and set around the thrones on which these +witnesses are seated scenes detached from the actual lives of our +Lord's human ancestors. + +The intellectual power of this conception is at least equal to the +majesty and sublime strength of its artistic presentation. An awful +sense of coming doom and merited damnation hangs in the thunderous +canopy of the Sistine vault, tempered by a solemn and sober +expectation of the Saviour. It is much to be regretted that Christ, +the Desired of all Nations, the Redeemer and Atoner, appears nowhere +adequately represented in the Chapel. When Michelangelo resumed his +work there, it was to portray him as an angered Hercules, hurling +curses upon helpless victims. The August rhetoric of the ceiling loses +its effective value when we can nowhere point to Christ's life and +work on earth; when there is no picture of the Nativity, none of the +Crucifixion, none of the Resurrection; and when the feeble panels of a +Perugino and a Cosimo Rosselli are crushed into insignificance by the +terrible Last Judgment. In spite of Buonarroti's great creative +strength, and injuriously to his real feeling as a Christian, the +piecemeal production which governs all large art undertakings results +here in a maimed and one-sided rendering of what theologians call the +Scheme of Salvation. + + +III + +So much has been written about the pictorial beauty, the sublime +imagination, the dramatic energy, the profound significance, the exact +science, the shy graces, the terrible force, and finally the vivid +powers of characterisation displayed in these frescoes, that I feel it +would be impertinent to attempt a new discourse upon a theme so +time-worn. I must content myself with referring to what I have already +published, which will, I hope, be sufficient to demonstrate that I do +not avoid the task for want of enthusiasm. The study of much +rhetorical criticism makes me feel strongly that, in front of certain +masterpieces, silence is best, or, in lieu of silence, some simple +pregnant sayings, capable of rousing folk to independent observation. + +These convictions need not prevent me, however, from fixing attention +upon a subordinate matter, but one which has the most important +bearing upon Michelangelo's genius. After designing the architectural +theatre which I have attempted to describe, and filling its main +spaces with the vast religious drama he unrolled symbolically in a +series of primeval scenes, statuesque figures, and countless minor +groups contributing to one intellectual conception, he proceeded to +charge the interspaces--all that is usually left for facile decorative +details--with an army of passionately felt and wonderfully executed +nudes, forms of youths and children, naked or half draped, in every +conceivable posture and with every possible variety of facial type and +expression. On pedestals, cornices, medallions, tympanums, in the +angles made by arches, wherever a vacant plane or unused curve was +found, he set these vivid transcripts from humanity in action. We need +not stop to inquire what he intended by that host of plastic shapes +evoked from his imagination. The triumphant leaders of the crew, the +twenty lads who sit upon their consoles, sustaining medallions by +ribands which they lift, have been variously and inconclusively +interpreted. In the long row of Michelangelo's creations, those young +men are perhaps the most significant--athletic adolescents, with faces +of feminine delicacy and poignant fascination. But it serves no +purpose to inquire what they symbolise. If we did so, we should have +to go further, and ask, What do the bronze figures below them, twisted +into the boldest attitudes the human frame can take, or the twinned +children on the pedestals, signify? In this region, the region of pure +plastic play, when art drops the wand of the interpreter and allows +physical beauty to be a law unto itself, Michelangelo demonstrated +that no decorative element in the hand of a really supreme master is +equal to the nude. + +Previous artists, with a strong instinct for plastic as opposed to +merely picturesque effect, had worked upon the same line. Donatello +revelled in the rhythmic dance and stationary grace of children. Luca +Signorelli initiated the plan of treating complex ornament by means of +the mere human body; and for this reason, in order to define the +position of Michelangelo in Italian art-history, I shall devote the +next section of this chapter to Luca's work at Orvieto. But Buonarroti +in the Sistine carried their suggestions to completion. The result is +a mapped-out chart of living figures--a vast pattern, each detail of +which is a masterpiece of modelling. After we have grasped the +intellectual content of the whole, the message it was meant to +inculcate, the spiritual meaning present to the maker's mind, we +discover that, in the sphere of artistic accomplishment, as distinct +from intellectual suggestion, one rhythm of purely figurative beauty +has been carried throughout--from God creating Adam to the boy who +waves his torch above the censer of the Erythrean sibyl. + + +IV + +Of all previous painters, only Luca Signorelli deserves to be called +the forerunner of Michelangelo, and his Chapel of S. Brizio in the +Cathedral at Orvieto in some remarkable respects anticipates the +Sistine. This eminent master was commissioned in 1499 to finish its +decoration, a small portion of which had been begun by Fra Angelico. +He completed the whole Chapel within the space of two years; so that +the young Michelangelo, upon one of his journeys to or from Rome, may +probably have seen the frescoes in their glory. Although no visit to +Orvieto is recorded by his biographers, the fame of these masterpieces +by a man whose work at Florence had already influenced his youthful +genius must certainly have attracted him to a city which lay on the +direct route from Tuscany to the Campagna. + +The four walls of the Chapel of S. Brizio are covered with paintings +setting forth events immediately preceding and following the day of +judgment. A succession of panels, differing in size and shape, +represent the preaching of Antichrist, the destruction of the world by +fire, the resurrection of the body, the condemnation of the lost, the +reception of saved souls into bliss, and the final states of heaven +and hell. These main subjects occupy the upper spaces of each wall, +while below them are placed portraits of poets, surrounded by rich and +fanciful arabesques, including various episodes from Dante and antique +mythology. Obeying the spirit of the fifteenth century, Signorelli did +not aim at what may be termed an architectural effect in his +decoration of this building. Each panel of the whole is treated +separately, and with very unequal energy, the artist seeming to exert +his strength chiefly in those details which made demands on his +profound knowledge of the human form and his enthusiasm for the nude. +The men and women of the Resurrection, the sublime angels of Heaven +and of the Judgment, the discoloured and degraded fiends of Hell, the +magnificently foreshortened clothed figures of the Fulminati, the +portraits in the preaching of Antichrist, reveal Luca's specific +quality as a painter, at once impressively imaginative and crudely +realistic. There is something in his way of regarding the world and of +reproducing its aspects which dominates our fancy, does violence to +our sense of harmony and beauty, leaves us broken and bewildered, +resentful and at the same moment enthralled. He is a power which has +to be reckoned with; and the reason for speaking about him at length +here is that, in this characteristic blending of intense vision with +impassioned realistic effort after truth to fact, this fascination +mingled with repulsion, he anticipated Michelangelo. Deep at the root +of all Buonarroti's artistic qualities lie these contradictions. +Studying Signorelli, we study a parallel psychological problem. The +chief difference between the two masters lies in the command of +aesthetic synthesis, the constructive sense of harmony, which belonged +to the younger, but which might, we feel, have been granted in like +measure to the elder, had Luca been born, as Michelangelo was, to +complete the evolution of Italian figurative art, instead of marking +one of its most important intermediate moments. + +The decorative methods and instincts of the two men were closely +similar. Both scorned any element of interest or beauty which was not +strictly plastic--the human body supported by architecture or by rough +indications of the world we live in. Signorelli invented an intricate +design for arabesque pilasters, one on each side of the door leading +from his chapel into the Cathedral. They are painted _en grisaille_, +and are composed exclusively of nudes, mostly male, perched or grouped +in a marvellous variety of attitudes upon an ascending series of +slender-stemmed vases, which build up gigantic candelabra by their +aggregation. The naked form is treated with audacious freedom. It +appears to be elastic in the hands of the modeller. Some dead bodies +carried on the backs of brawny porters are even awful by the contrast +of their wet-clay limpness with the muscular energy of brutal life +beneath them. Satyrs giving drink to one another, fauns whispering in +the ears of stalwart women, centaurs trotting with corpses flung +across their cruppers, combatants trampling in frenzy upon prostrate +enemies, men sunk in self-abandonment to sloth or sorrow--such are the +details of these incomparable columns, where our sense of the +grotesque and vehement is immediately corrected by a perception of +rare energy in the artist who could play thus with his plastic +puppets. + +We have here certainly the preludings to Michelangelo's serener, more +monumental work in the Sistine Chapel. The leading motive is the same +in both great masterpieces. It consists in the use of the simple body, +if possible the nude body, for the expression of thought and emotion, +the telling of a tale, the delectation of the eye by ornamental +details. It consists also in the subordination of the female to the +male nude as the symbolic unit of artistic utterance. Buonarroti is +greater than Signorelli chiefly through that larger and truer +perception of aesthetic unity which seems to be the final outcome of a +long series of artistic effort. The arabesques, for instance, with +which Luca wreathed his portraits of the poets, are monstrous, +bizarre, in doubtful taste. Michelangelo, with a finer instinct for +harmony, a deeper grasp on his own dominant ideal, excluded this +element of _quattrocento_ decoration from his scheme. Raffaello, with +the graceful tact essential to the style, developed its crude +rudiments into the choice forms of fanciful delightfulness which charm +us in the Loggie. Signorelli loved violence. A large proportion of the +circular pictures painted _en grisaille_ on these walls represent +scenes of massacre, assassination, torture, ruthless outrage. One of +them, extremely spirited in design, shows a group of three +executioners hurling men with millstones round their necks into a +raging river from the bridge which spans it. The first victim +flounders half merged in the flood; a second plunges head foremost +through the air; the third stands bent upon the parapet, his shoulders +pressed down by the varlets on each side, at the very point of being +flung to death by drowning. In another of these pictures a man seated +upon the ground is being tortured by the breaking of his teeth, while +a furious fellow holds a club suspended over him, in act to shatter +his thigh-bones. Naked soldiers wrestle in mad conflict, whirl staves +above their heads, fling stones, displaying their coarse muscles with +a kind of frenzy. Even the classical subjects suffer from extreme +dramatic energy of treatment. Ceres, seeking her daughter through the +plains of Sicily, dashes frantically on a car of dragons, her hair +dishevelled to the winds, her cheeks gashed by her own crooked +fingers. Eurydice struggles in the clutch of bestial devils; Pluto, +like a mediaeval Satan, frowns above the scene of fiendish riot; the +violin of Orpheus thrills faintly through the infernal tumult. Gazing +on the spasms and convulsions of these grim subjects, we are inclined +to credit a legend preserved at Orvieto to the effect that the painter +depicted his own unfaithful mistress in the naked woman who is being +borne on a demon's back through the air to hell. + +No one who has studied Michelangelo impartially will deny that in this +preference for the violent he came near to Signorelli. We feel it in +his choice of attitude, the strain he puts upon the lines of plastic +composition, the stormy energy of his conception and expression. It is +what we call his _terribilità_. But here again that dominating sense +of harmony, that instinct for the necessity of subordinating each +artistic element to one strain of architectonic music, which I have +already indicated as the leading note of difference between him and +the painter of Cortona, intervened to elevate his terribleness into +the region of sublimity. The violence of Michelangelo, unlike that of +Luca, lay not so much in the choice of savage subjects (cruelty, +ferocity, extreme physical and mental torment) as in a forceful, +passionate, tempestuous way of handling all the themes he treated. The +angels of the Judgment, sustaining the symbols of Christ's Passion, +wrestle and bend their agitated limbs like athletes. Christ emerges +from the sepulchre, not in victorious tranquillity, but with the clash +and clangour of an irresistible energy set free. Even in the +Crucifixion, one leg has been wrenched away from the nail which +pierced its foot, and writhes round the knee of the other still left +riven to the cross. The loves of Leda and the Swan, of Ixion and Juno, +are spasms of voluptuous pain; the sleep of the Night is troubled with +fantastic dreams, and the Dawn starts into consciousness with a +shudder of prophetic anguish. There is not a hand, a torso, a simple +nude, sketched by this extraordinary master, which does not vibrate +with nervous tension, as though the fingers that grasped the pen were +clenched and the eyes that viewed the model glowed beneath knit brows. +Michelangelo, in fact, saw nothing, felt nothing, interpreted nothing, +on exactly the same lines as any one who had preceded or who followed +him. His imperious personality he stamped upon the smallest trifle of +his work. + +Luca's frescoes at Orvieto, when compared with Michelangelo's in the +Sistine, mark the transition from the art of the fourteenth, through +the art of the fifteenth, to that of the sixteenth century, with broad +and trenchant force. They are what Marlowe's dramas were to +Shakespeare's. They retain much of the mediaeval tradition both as +regards form and sentiment. We feel this distinctly in the treatment +of Dante, whose genius seems to have exerted at least as strong an +influence over Signorelli's imagination as over that of Michelangelo. +The episodes from the Divine Comedy are painted in a rude Gothic +spirit. The spirits of Hell seem borrowed from grotesque bas-reliefs +of the Pisan school. The draped, winged, and armed angels of Heaven +are posed with a ceremonious research of suavity or grandeur. These +and other features of his work carry us back to the period of Giotto +and Niccolò Pisano. But the true force of the man, what made him a +commanding master of the middle period, what distinguished him from +all his fellows of the _quattrocento_, is the passionate delight he +took in pure humanity--the nude, the body studied under all its +aspects and with no repugnance for its coarseness--man in his crudity +made the sole sufficient object for figurative art, anatomy regarded +as the crowning and supreme end of scientific exploration. It is this +in his work which carries us on toward the next age, and justifies our +calling Luca "the morning-star of Michelangelo." + +It would be wrong to ascribe too much to the immediate influence of +the elder over the younger artist--at any rate in so far as the +frescoes of the Chapel of S. Brizio may have determined the creation +of the Sistine. Yet Vasari left on record that "even Michelangelo +followed the manner of Signorelli, as any one may see." Undoubtedly, +Buonarroti, while an inmate of Lorenzo de' Medici's palace at +Florence, felt the power of Luca's Madonna with the naked figures in +the background; the leading motive of which he transcended in his Doni +Holy Family. Probably at an early period he had before his eyes the +bold nudities, uncompromising designs, and awkward composition of +Luca's so-called School of Pan. In like manner, we may be sure that +during his first visit to Rome he was attracted by Signorelli's solemn +fresco of Moses in the Sistine. These things were sufficient to +establish a link of connection between the painter of Cortona and the +Florentine sculptor. And when Michelangelo visited the Chapel of S. +Brizio, after he had fixed and formed his style (exhibiting his innate +force of genius in the Pietà, the Bacchus, the Cupid, the David, the +statue of Julius, the Cartoon for the Battle of Pisa), that early bond +of sympathy must have been renewed and enforced. They were men of a +like temperament, and governed by kindred aesthetic instincts. +Michelangelo brought to its perfection that system of working wholly +through the human form which Signorelli initiated. He shared his +violence, his _terribilità_, his almost brutal candour. In the fated +evolution of Italian art, describing its parabola of vital energy, +Michelangelo softened, sublimed, and harmonised his predecessor's +qualities. He did this by abandoning Luca's naïvetés and crudities; +exchanging his savage transcripts from coarse life for profoundly +studied idealisations of form; subordinating his rough and casual +design to schemes of balanced composition, based on architectural +relations; penetrating the whole accomplished work, as he intended it +should be, with a solemn and severe strain of unifying intellectual +melody. + +Viewed in this light, the vault of the Sistine and the later fresco of +the Last Judgment may be taken as the final outcome of all previous +Italian art upon a single line of creative energy, and that line the +one anticipated by Luca Signorelli. In like manner, the Stanze and +Loggie of the Vatican were the final outcome of the same process upon +another line, suggested by Perugino and Fra Bartolommeo. + +Michelangelo adapted to his own uses and bent to his own genius +motives originated by the Pisani, Giotto, Giacopo della Quercia, +Donatello, Masaccio, while working in the spirit of Signorelli. He +fused and recast the antecedent materials of design in sculpture and +painting, producing a quintessence of art beyond which it was +impossible to advance without breaking the rhythm, so intensely +strung, and without contradicting too violently the parent +inspiration. He strained the chord of rhythm to its very utmost, and +made incalculable demands upon the religious inspiration of its +predecessors. His mighty talent was equal to the task of transfusion +and remodelling which the exhibition of the supreme style demanded. +But after him there remained nothing for successors except mechanical +imitation, soulless rehandling of themes he had exhausted by reducing +them to his imperious imagination in a crucible of fiery intensity. + + +V + +No critic with a just sense of phraseology would call Michelangelo a +colourist in the same way as Titian and Rubens were colourists. Still +it cannot be denied with justice that the painter of the Sistine had a +keen perception of what his art required in this region, and of how to +attain it. He planned a comprehensive architectural scheme, which +served as setting and support for multitudes of draped and undraped +human figures. The colouring is kept deliberately low and subordinate +to the two main features of the design--architecture, and the plastic +forms of men and women. Flesh-tints, varying from the strong red tone +of Jonah's athletic manhood, through the glowing browns of the seated +Genii, to the delicate carnations of Adam and the paler hues of Eve; +orange and bronze in draperies, medallions, decorative nudes, russets +like the tints of dead leaves; lilacs, cold greens, blue used +sparingly; all these colours are dominated and brought into harmony by +the greys of the architectural setting. It may indeed be said that the +different qualities of flesh-tints, the architectural greys, and a +dull bronzed yellow strike the chord of the composition. Reds are +conspicuous by their absence in any positive hue. There is no +vermilion, no pure scarlet or crimson, but a mixed tint verging upon +lake. The yellows are brought near to orange, tawny, bronze, except in +the hair of youthful personages, a large majority of whom are blonde. +The only colour which starts out staringly is ultramarine, owing of +course to this mineral material resisting time and change more +perfectly than the pigments with which it is associated. The whole +scheme leaves a grave harmonious impression on the mind, thoroughly in +keeping with the sublimity of the thoughts expressed. No words can +describe the beauty of the flesh-painting, especially in the figures +of the Genii, or the technical delicacy with which the modelling of +limbs, the modulation from one tone to another, have been carried from +silvery transparent shades up to the strongest accents. + + +VI + +Mr. Ruskin has said, and very justly said, that "the highest art can +do no more than rightly represent the human form." This is what the +Italians of the Renaissance meant when, through the mouths of +Ghiberti, Buonarroti, and Cellini, they proclaimed that the perfect +drawing of a fine nude, "un bel corpo ignudo," was the final test of +mastery in plastic art. Mr. Ruskin develops his text in sentences +which have peculiar value from his lips. "This is the simple test, +then, of a perfect school--that it has represented the human form so +that it is impossible to conceive of its being better done. And that, +I repeat, has been accomplished twice only: once in Athens, once in +Florence. And so narrow is the excellence even of these two exclusive +schools, that it cannot be said of either of them that they +represented the entire human form. The Greeks perfectly drew and +perfectly moulded the body and limbs, but there is, so far as I am +aware, no instance of their representing the face as well as any great +Italian. On the other hand, the Italian painted and carved the face +insuperably; but I believe there is no instance of his having +perfectly represented the body, which, by command of his religion, it +became his pride to despise and his safety to mortify." + +We need not pause to consider whether the Italian's inferiority to the +Greek's in the plastic modelling of human bodies was due to the +artist's own religious sentiment. That seems a far-fetched explanation +for the shortcomings of men so frankly realistic and so scientifically +earnest as the masters of the Cinque Cento were. Michelangelo's +magnificent cartoon of Leda and the Swan, if it falls short of some +similar subject in some _gabinetto segreto_ of antique fresco, does +assuredly not do so because the draughtsman's hand faltered in pious +dread or pious aspiration. Nevertheless, Ruskin is right in telling us +that no Italian modelled a female nude equal to the Aphrodite of +Melos, or a male nude equal to the Apoxyomenos of the Braccio Nuovo. +He is also right in pointing out that no Greek sculptor approached the +beauty of facial form and expression which we recognise in Raffaello's +Madonna di San Sisto, in Sodoma's S. Sebastian, in Guercino's Christ +at the Corsini Palace, in scores of early Florentine sepulchral +monuments and pictures, in Umbrian saints and sweet strange +portrait-fancies by Da Vinci. + +The fact seems to be that Greek and Italian plastic art followed +different lines of development, owing to the difference of dominant +ideas in the races, and to the difference of social custom. Religion +naturally played a foremost part in the art-evolution of both epochs. +The anthropomorphic Greek mythology encouraged sculptors to +concentrate their attention upon what Hegel called "the sensuous +manifestation of the idea," while Greek habits rendered them familiar +with the body frankly exhibited. Mediaeval religion withdrew Italian +sculptors and painters from the problems of purely physical form, and +obliged them to study the expression of sentiments and aspirations +which could only be rendered by emphasising psychical qualities +revealed through physiognomy. At the same time, modern habits of life +removed the naked body from their ken. + +We may go further, and observe that the conditions under which Greek +art flourished developed what the Germans call "Allgemeinheit," a +tendency to generalise, which was inimical to strongly marked facial +expression or characterisation. The conditions of Italian art, on the +other hand, favoured an opposite tendency--to particularise, to +enforce detail, to emphasise the artist's own ideal or the model's +quality. When the type of a Greek deity had been fixed, each +successive master varied this within the closest limits possible. For +centuries the type remained fundamentally unaltered, undergoing subtle +transformations, due partly to the artist's temperament, and partly to +changes in the temper of society. Consequently those aspects of the +human form which are capable of most successful generalisation, the +body and the limbs, exerted a kind of conventional tyranny over Greek +art. And Greek artists applied to the face the same rules of +generalisation which were applicable to the body. + +The Greek god or goddess was a sensuous manifestation of the idea, a +particle of universal godhood incarnate in a special fleshly form, +corresponding to the particular psychological attributes of the deity +whom the sculptor had to represent. No deviation from the generalised +type was possible. The Christian God, on the contrary, is a spirit; +and all the emanations from this spirit, whether direct, as in the +person of Christ, or derived, as in the persons of the saints, owe +their sensuous form and substance to the exigencies of mortal +existence, which these persons temporarily and phenomenally obeyed. +Since, then, the sensuous manifestation has now become merely +symbolic, and is no longer an indispensable investiture of the idea, +it may be altered at will in Christian art without irreverence. The +utmost capacity of the artist is now exerted, not in enforcing or +refining a generalised type, but in discovering some new facial +expression which shall reveal psychological quality in a particular +being. Doing so, he inevitably insists upon the face; and having +formed a face expressive of some defined quality, he can hardly give +to the body that generalised beauty which belongs to a Greek nymph or +athlete. + +What we mean by the differences between Classic and Romantic art lies +in the distinctions I am drawing. Classicism sacrifices character to +breadth. Romanticism sacrifices breadth to character. Classic art +deals more triumphantly with the body, because the body gains by being +broadly treated. Romantic art deals more triumphantly with the face, +because the features lose by being broadly treated. + +This brings me back to Mr. Ruskin, who, in another of his treatises, +condemns Michelangelo for a want of variety, beauty, feeling, in his +heads and faces. Were this the case, Michelangelo would have little +claim to rank as one of the world's chief artists. We have admitted +that the Italians did not produce such perfectly beautiful bodes and +limbs as the Greeks did, and have agreed that the Greeks produced less +perfectly beautiful faces than the Italians. Suppose, then, that +Michelangelo failed in his heads and faces, he, being an Italian, and +therefore confessedly inferior to the Greeks in his bodies and limbs, +must, by the force of logic, emerge less meritorious than we thought +him. + + +VII + +To many of my readers the foregoing section will appear superfluous, +polemical, sophistic--three bad things. I wrote it, and I let it +stand, however, because it serves as preface to what I have to say in +general about Michelangelo's ideal of form. He was essentially a +Romantic as opposed to a Classic artist. That is to say, he sought +invariably for character--character in type, character in attitude, +character in every action of each muscle, character in each +extravagance of pose. He applied the Romantic principle to the body +and the limbs, exactly to that region of the human form which the +Greeks had conquered as their province. He did so with consummate +science and complete mastery of physiological law. What is more, he +compelled the body to become expressive, not, as the Greeks had done, +of broad general conceptions, but of the most intimate and poignant +personal emotions. This was his main originality. At the same time, +being a Romantic, he deliberately renounced the main tradition of that +manner. He refused to study portraiture, as Vasari tells us, and as we +see so plainly in the statues of the Dukes at Florence. He generalised +his faces, composing an ideal cast of features out of several types. +In the rendering of the face and head, then, he chose to be a Classic, +while in the treatment of the body he was vehemently modern. In all +his work which is not meant to be dramatic--that is, excluding the +damned souls in the Last Judgment, the bust of Brutus, and some keen +psychological designs--character is sacrificed to a studied ideal of +form, so far as the face is concerned. That he did this wilfully, on +principle, is certain. The proof remains in the twenty heads of those +incomparable genii of the Sistine, each one of whom possesses a beauty +and a quality peculiar to himself alone. They show that, if he had so +chosen, he could have played upon the human countenance with the same +facility as on the human body, varying its expressiveness _ad +infinitum_. + +Why Michelangelo preferred to generalise the face and to particularise +the body remains a secret buried in the abysmal deeps of his +personality. In his studies from the model, unlike Lionardo, he almost +always left the features vague, while working out the trunk and limbs +with strenuous passion. He never seems to have been caught and +fascinated by the problem offered by the eyes and features of a male +or female. He places masks or splendid commonplaces upon frames +palpitant and vibrant with vitality in pleasure or in anguish. + +In order to guard against an apparent contradiction, I must submit +that, when Michelangelo particularised the body and the limbs, he +strove to make them the symbols of some definite passion or emotion. +He seems to have been more anxious about the suggestions afforded by +their pose and muscular employment than he was about the expression of +the features. But we shall presently discover that, so far as pure +physical type is concerned, he early began to generalise the structure +of the body, passing finally into what may not unjustly be called a +mannerism of form. + +These points may be still further illustrated by what a competent +critic has recently written upon Michelangelo's treatment of form. "No +one," says Professor Brücke, "ever knew so well as Michelangelo +Buonarroti how to produce powerful and strangely harmonious effects by +means of figures in themselves open to criticism, simply by his mode +of placing and ordering them, and of distributing their lines. For him +a figure existed only in his particular representation of it; how it +would have looked in any other position was a matter of no concern to +him." We may even go further, and maintain that Michelangelo was +sometimes wilfully indifferent to the physical capacities of the human +body in his passionate research of attitudes which present picturesque +and novel beauty. The ancients worked on quite a different method. +They created standard types which, in every conceivable posture, would +exhibit the grace and symmetry belonging to well-proportioned frames. +Michelangelo looked to the effect of a particular posture. He may have +been seduced by his habit of modelling figures in clay instead of +going invariably to the living subject, and so may have handled nature +with unwarrantable freedom. Anyhow, we have here another demonstration +of his romanticism. + + +VIII + +The true test of the highest art is that it should rightly represent +the human form. Agreed upon this point, it remains for us to consider +in what way Michelangelo conceived and represented the human form. If +we can discover his ideal, his principles, his leading instincts in +this decisive matter, we shall unlock, so far as that is possible, the +secret of his personality as man and artist. The psychological quality +of every great master must eventually be determined by his mode of +dealing with the phenomena of sex. + +In Pheidias we find a large impartiality. His men and women are cast +in the same mould of grandeur, inspired with equal strength and +sweetness, antiphonal notes in dual harmony. Praxiteles leans to the +female, Lysippus to the male; and so, through all the gamut of the +figurative craftsmen, we discover more or less affinity for man or +woman. One is swayed by woman and her gracefulness, the other by man +and his vigour. Few have realised the Pheidian perfection of doing +equal justice. + +Michelangelo emerges as a mighty master who was dominated by the +vision of male beauty, and who saw the female mainly through the +fascination of the other sex. The defect of his art is due to a +certain constitutional callousness, a want of sensuous or imaginative +sensibility for what is specifically feminine. + +Not a single woman carved or painted by the hand of Michelangelo has +the charm of early youth or the grace of virginity. The Eve of the +Sistine, the Madonna of S. Peter's, the Night and Dawn of the Medicean +Sacristy, are female in the anatomy of their large and grandly +modelled forms, but not feminine in their sentiment. This proposition +requires no proof. It is only needful to recall a Madonna by Raphael, +a Diana by Correggio, a Leda by Lionardo, a Venus by Titian, a S. +Agnes by Tintoretto. We find ourselves immediately in a different +region--the region of artists who loved, admired, and comprehended +what is feminine in the beauty and the temperament of women. +Michelangelo neither loved, nor admired, nor yielded to the female +sex. Therefore he could not deal plastically with what is best and +loveliest in the female form. His plastic ideal of the woman is +masculine. He builds a colossal frame of muscle, bone, and flesh, +studied with supreme anatomical science. He gives to Eve the full +pelvis and enormous haunches of an adult matron. It might here be +urged that he chose to symbolise the fecundity of her who was destined +to be the mother of the human race. But if this was his meaning, why +did he not make Adam a corresponding symbol of fatherhood? Adam is an +adolescent man, colossal in proportions, but beardless, hairless; the +attributes of sex in him are developed, but not matured by use. The +Night, for whom no symbolism of maternity was needed, is a woman who +has passed through many pregnancies. Those deeply delved wrinkles on +the vast and flaccid abdomen sufficiently indicate this. Yet when we +turn to Michelangelo's sonnets on Night, we find that he habitually +thought of her as a mysterious and shadowy being, whose influence, +though potent for the soul, disappeared before the frailest of all +creatures bearing light. The Dawn, again, in her deep lassitude, has +nothing of vernal freshness. Built upon the same type as the Night, +she looks like Messalina dragging herself from heavy slumber, for once +satiated as well as tired, stricken for once with the conscience of +disgust. When he chose to depict the acts of passion or of sensual +pleasure, a similar want of sympathy with what is feminine in +womanhood leaves an even more discordant impression on the mind. I +would base the proof of this remark upon the marble Leda of the +Bargello Museum, and an old engraving of Ixion clasping the phantom of +Juno under the form of a cloud. In neither case do we possess +Michelangelo's own handiwork; he must not, therefore, be credited with +the revolting expression, as of a drunken profligate, upon the face of +Leda. Yet in both cases he is indubitably responsible for the general +design, and for the brawny carnality of the repulsive woman. I find it +difficult to resist the conclusion that Michelangelo felt himself +compelled to treat women as though they were another and less graceful +sort of males. The sentiment of woman, what really distinguishes the +sex, whether voluptuously or passionately or poetically apprehended, +emerges in no eminent instance of his work. There is a Cartoon at +Naples for a Bacchante, which Bronzino transferred to canvas and +coloured. This design illustrates the point on which I am insisting. +An athletic circus-rider of mature years, with abnormally developed +muscles, might have posed as model for this female votary of Dionysus. +Before he made this drawing, Michelangelo had not seen those frescoes +of the dancing Bacchantes from Pompeii; nor had he perhaps seen the +Maenads on Greek bas-reliefs tossing wild tresses backwards, swaying +virginal lithe bodies to the music of the tambourine. We must not, +therefore, compare his concept with those masterpieces of the later +classical imagination. Still, many of his contemporaries, vastly +inferior to him in penetrative insight, a Giovanni da Udine, a Perino +del Vaga, a Primaticcio, not to speak of Raffaello or of Lionardo, +felt what the charm of youthful womanhood upon the revel might be. He +remained insensible to the melody of purely feminine lines; and the +only reason why his transcripts from the female form are not gross +like those of Flemish painters, repulsive like Rembrandt's, fleshly +like Rubens's, disagreeable like the drawings made by criminals in +prisons, is that they have little womanly about them. + +Lest these assertions should appear too dogmatic, I will indicate the +series of works in which I recognise Michelangelo's sympathy with +genuine female quality. All the domestic groups, composed of women and +children, which fill the lunettes and groinings between the windows in +the Sistine Chapel, have a charming twilight sentiment of family life +or maternal affection. They are among the loveliest and most tranquil +of his conceptions. The Madonna above the tomb of Julius II. cannot be +accused of masculinity, nor the ecstatic figure of the Rachel beneath +it. Both of these statues represent what Goethe called "das ewig +Weibliche" under a truly felt and natural aspect. The Delphian and +Erythrean Sibyls are superb in their majesty. Again, in those numerous +designs for Crucifixions, Depositions from the Cross, and Pietàs, +which occupied so much of Michelangelo's attention during his old age, +we find an intense and pathetic sympathy with the sorrows of Mary, +expressed with noble dignity and a pious sense of godhead in the human +mother. It will be remarked that throughout the cases I have reserved +as exceptions, it is not woman in her plastic beauty and her radiant +charm that Michelangelo has rendered, but woman in her tranquil or her +saddened and sorrow-stricken moods. What he did not comprehend and +could not represent was woman in her girlishness, her youthful joy, +her physical attractiveness, her magic of seduction. + +Michelangelo's women suggest demonic primitive beings, composite and +undetermined products of the human race in evolution, before the +specific qualities of sex have been eliminated from a general +predominating mass of masculinity. At their best, they carry us into +the realm of Lucretian imagination. He could not have incarnated in +plastic form Shakespeare's Juliet and Imogen, Dante's Francesca da +Rimini, Tasso's Erminia and Clorinda; but he might have supplied a +superb illustration to the opening lines of the Lucretian epic, where +Mars lies in the bed of Venus, and the goddess spreads her ample limbs +above her Roman lover. He might have evoked images tallying the vision +of primal passion in the fourth book of that poem. As I have elsewhere +said, writing about Lucretius: "There is something almost tragic in +these sighs and pantings and pleasure-throes, these incomplete +fruitions of souls pent within their frames of flesh. We seem to see a +race of men and women such as never lived, except perhaps in Rome or +in the thought of Michelangelo, meeting in leonine embracements that +yield pain, whereof the climax is, at best, relief from rage and +respite for a moment from consuming fire. There is a life elemental +rather than human in those mighty limbs; and the passion that twists +them on the marriage-bed has in it the stress of storms, the rampings +and roarings of leopards at play. Take this single line:-- + + _et Venus in silvis jungebat corpora amantum._ + +What a picture of primeval breadth and vastness! The forest is the +world, and the bodies of the lovers are things natural and unashamed, +and Venus is the tyrannous instinct that controls the blood in +spring." + +What makes Michelangelo's crudity in his plastic treatment of the +female form the more remarkable is that in his poetry he seems to feel +the influence of women mystically. I shall have to discuss this topic +in another place. It is enough here to say that, with very few +exceptions, we remain in doubt whether he is addressing a woman at +all. There are none of those spontaneous utterances by which a man +involuntarily expresses the outgoings of his heart to a beloved +object, the throb of irresistible emotion, the physical ache, the +sense of wanting, the joys and pains, the hopes and fears, the +ecstasies and disappointments, which belong to genuine passion. The +woman is, for him, an allegory, something he has not approached and +handled. Of her personality we learn nothing. Of her bodily +presentment, the eyes alone are mentioned; and the eyes are treated as +the path to Paradise for souls which seek emancipation from the flesh. +Raffaello's few and far inferior sonnets vibrate with an intense and +potent sensibility to this woman or to that. + +Michelangelo's "donna" might just as well be a man; and indeed the +poems he addressed to men, though they have nothing sensual about +them, reveal a finer touch in the emotion of the writer. It is +difficult to connect this vaporous incorporeal "donna" of the poems +with those brawny colossal adult females of the statues, unless we +suppose that Michelangelo remained callous both to the physical +attractions and the emotional distinction of woman as she actually is. + +I have tried to demonstrate that, plastically, he did not understand +women, and could not reproduce their form in art with sympathetic +feeling for its values of grace, suavity, virginity, and frailty. He +imported masculine qualities into every female theme he handled. The +case is different when we turn to his treatment of the male figure. It +would be impossible to adduce a single instance, out of the many +hundreds of examples furnished by his work, in which a note of +femininity has been added to the masculine type. He did not think +enough of women to reverse the process, and create hermaphroditic +beings like the Apollino of Praxiteles or the S. Sebastian of Sodoma. +His boys and youths and adult men remain, in the truest and the purest +sense of the word, virile. Yet with what infinite variety, with what a +deep intelligence of its resources, with what inexhaustible riches of +enthusiasm and science, he played upon the lyre of the male nude! How +far more fit for purposes of art he felt the man to be than the woman +is demonstrated, not only by his approaching woman from the masculine +side, but also by his close attention to none but male qualities in +men. I need not insist or enlarge upon this point. The fact is +apparent to every one with eyes to see. It would be futile to expound +Michelangelo's fertility in dealing with the motives of the male +figure as minutely as I judged it necessary to explain the poverty of +his inspiration through the female. But it ought to be repeated that, +over the whole gamut of the scale, from the grace of boyhood, through +the multiform delightfulness of adolescence into the firm force of +early manhood, and the sterner virtues of adult age, one severe and +virile spirit controls his fashioning of plastic forms. He even +exaggerates what is masculine in the male, as he caricatures the +female by ascribing impossible virility to her. But the exaggeration +follows here a line of mental and moral rectitude. It is the +expression of his peculiar sensibility to physical structure. + + +IX + +When we study the evolution of Michelangelo's ideal of form, we find +at the beginning of his life a very short period in which he followed +the traditions of Donatello and imitated Greek work. The seated +Madonna in bas-relief and the Giovannino belong to this first stage. +So does the bas-relief of the Centaurs. It soon becomes evident, +however, that Michelangelo was not destined to remain a continuator of +Donatello's manner or a disciple of the classics. The next period, +which includes the Madonna della Febbre, the Bruges Madonna, the +Bacchus, the Cupid, and the David, is marked by an intense search +after the truth of Nature. Both Madonnas might be criticised for +unreality, owing to the enormous development of the thorax and +something artificial in the type of face. But all the male figures +seem to have been studied from the model. There is an individuality +about the character of each, a naturalism, an aiming after realistic +expression, which separate this group from previous and subsequent +works by Buonarroti. Traces of Donatello's influence survive in the +treatment of the long large hands of David, the cast of features +selected for that statue, and the working of the feet. Indeed it may +be said that Donatello continued through life to affect the genius of +Michelangelo by a kind of sympathy, although the elder master's +naïveté was soon discarded by the younger. + +The second period culminated in the Cartoon for the Battle of Pisa. +This design appears to have fixed the style now known to us as +Michelangelesque, and the loss of it is therefore irreparable. It +exercised the consummate science which he had acquired, his complete +mastery over the male nude. It defined his firm resolve to treat +linear design from the point of view of sculpture rather than of +painting proper. It settled his determination to work exclusively +through and by the human figure, rejecting all subordinate elements of +decoration. Had we possessed this epoch-making masterpiece, we should +probably have known Michelangelo's genius in its flower-period of +early ripeness, when anatomical learning was still combined with a +sustained dependence upon Nature. The transition from the second to +the third stage in this development of form-ideal remains imperfectly +explained, because the bathers in the Arno were necessary to account +for the difference between the realistic David and the methodically +studied genii of the Sistine. + +The vault of the Sistine shows Michelangelo's third manner in +perfection. He has developed what may be called a scheme of the human +form. The apparently small head, the enormous breadth of shoulder, the +thorax overweighing the whole figure, the finely modelled legs, the +large and powerful extremities, which characterise his style +henceforward, culminate in Adam, repeat themselves throughout the +genii, govern the prophets. But Nature has not been neglected. Nothing +is more remarkable in that vast decorative mass of figures than the +variety of types selected, the beauty and animation of the faces, the +extraordinary richness, elasticity, and freshness of the attitudes +presented to the eye. Every period of life has been treated with +impartial justice, and both sexes are adequately handled. The +Delphian, Erythrean, and Libyan Sibyls display a sublime sense of +facial beauty. The Eve of the Temptation has even something of +positively feminine charm. This is probably due to the fact that +Michelangelo here studied expression and felt the necessity of +dramatic characterisation in this part of his work. He struck each +chord of what may be called the poetry of figurative art, from the +epic cantos of Creation, Fall, and Deluge, through the tragic odes +uttered by prophets and sibyls down to the lyric notes of the genii, +and the sweet idyllic strains of the groups in the lunettes and +spandrels. + +It cannot be said that even here Michelangelo felt the female nude as +sympathetically as he felt the male. The women in the picture of the +Deluge are colossal creatures, scarcely distinguishable from the men +except by their huge bosoms. His personal sense of beauty finds +fullest expression in the genii. The variations on one theme of +youthful loveliness and grace are inexhaustible; the changes rung on +attitude, and face, and feature are endless. The type, as I have said, +has already become schematic. It is adolescent, but the adolescence is +neither that of the Greek athlete nor that of the nude model. Indeed, +it is hardly natural; nor yet is it ideal in the Greek sense of that +term. The physical gracefulness of a slim ephebus was never seized by +Michelangelo. His Ganymede displays a massive trunk and brawny thighs. +Compare this with the Ganymede of Titian. Compare the Cupid at South +Kensington with the Praxitelean Genius of the Vatican--the Adonis and +the Bacchus of the Bargello with Hellenic statues. The bulk and force +of maturity are combined with the smoothness of boyhood and with a +delicacy of face that borders on the feminine. + +It is an arid region, the region of this mighty master's spirit. There +are no heavens and no earth or sea in it; no living creatures, +forests, flowers; no bright colours, brilliant lights, or cavernous +darks. In clear grey twilight appear a multitude of naked forms, both +male and female, yet neither male nor female of the actual world; +rather the brood of an inventive intellect, teeming with +preoccupations of abiding thoughts and moods of feeling, which become +for it incarnate in these stupendous figures. It is as though +Michelangelo worked from the image in his brain outwards to a physical +presentment supplied by his vast knowledge of life, creating forms +proper to his own specific concept. + +Nowhere else in plastic art does the mental world peculiar to the +master press in so immediately, without modification and without +mitigation, upon our sentient imagination. I sometimes dream that the +inhabitants of the moon may be like Michelangelo's men and women, as I +feel sure its landscape resembles his conception of the material +universe. + +What I have called Michelangelo's third manner, the purest +manifestation of which is to be found in the vault of the Sistine, +sustained itself for a period of many years. The surviving fragments +of sculpture for the tomb of Julius, especially the Captives of the +Louvre and the statues in the Sacristy at S. Lorenzo, belong to this +stage. A close and intimate _rapport_ with Nature can be perceived in +all the work he designed and executed during the pontificates of Leo +and Clement. The artist was at his fullest both of mental energy and +physical vigour. What he wrought now bears witness to his plenitude of +manhood. Therefore, although the type fixed for the Sistine +prevailed--I mean that generalisation of the human form in certain +wilfully selected proportions, conceived to be ideally beautiful or +necessary for the grand style in vast architectonic schemes of +decoration--still it is used with an exquisite sensitiveness to the +pose and structure of the natural body, a delicate tact in the +definition of muscle and articulation, an acute feeling for the +qualities of flesh and texture. None of the creations of this period, +moreover, are devoid of intense animating emotions and ideas. + +Unluckily, during all the years which intervened between the Sistine +vault and the Last Judgment, Michelangelo was employed upon +architectural problems and engineering projects, which occupied his +genius in regions far removed from that of figurative art. It may, +therefore, be asserted, that although he did not retrograde from want +of practice, he had no opportunity of advancing further by the +concentration of his genius on design. This accounts, I think, for the +change in his manner which we notice when he began to paint in Rome +under Pope Paul III. The fourth stage in his development of form is +reached now. He has lost nothing of his vigour, nothing of his +science. But he has drifted away from Nature. All the innumerable +figures of the Last Judgment, in all their varied attitudes, with +divers moods of dramatic expression, are diagrams wrought out +imaginatively from the stored-up resources of a lifetime. It may be +argued that it was impossible to pose models, in other words, to +appeal to living men and women, for the foreshortenings of falling or +soaring shapes in that huge drift of human beings. This is true; and +the strongest testimony to the colossal powers of observation +possessed by Michelangelo is that none of all those attitudes are +wrong. We may verify them, if we take particular pains to do so, by +training the sense of seeing to play the part of a detective camera. +Michelangelo was gifted with a unique faculty for seizing momentary +movements, fixing them upon his memory, and transferring them to +fresco by means of his supreme acquaintance with the bony structure +and the muscular capacities of the human frame. Regarded from this +point of view, the Last Judgment was an unparalleled success. As such +the contemporaries of Buonarroti hailed it. Still, the breath of life +has exaled from all those bodies, and the tyranny of the schematic +ideal of form is felt in each of them. Without meaning to be +irreverent, we might fancy that two elastic lay-figures, one male, the +other female, both singularly similar in shape, supplied the materials +for the total composition. Of the dramatic intentions and suggestions +underlying these plastic and elastic shapes I am not now speaking. It +is my present business to establish the phases through which my +master's sense of form passed from its cradle to its grave. + +In the frescoes of the Cappella Paolina, so ruined at this day that we +can hardly value them, the mechanic manner of the fourth stage seems +to reach its climax. Ghosts of their former selves, they still reveal +the poverty of creative and spontaneous inspiration which presided +over their nativity. + +Michelangelo's fourth manner might be compared with that of Milton in +"Paradise Regained" and "Samson Agonistes." Both of these great +artists in old age exaggerate the defects of their qualities. +Michelangelo's ideal of line and proportion in the human form becomes +stereotyped and strained, as do Milton's rhythms and his Latinisms. +The generous wine of the Bacchus and of "Comus," so intoxicating in +its newness, the same wine in the Sistine and "Paradise Lost," so +overwhelming in its mature strength, has acquired an austere aridity. +Yet, strange to say, amid these autumn stubbles of declining genius we +light upon oases more sweet, more tenderly suggestive, than aught the +prime produced. It is not my business to speak of Milton here. I need +not recall his "Knights of Logres and of Lyonesse," or resume his +Euripidean garlands showered on Samson's grave. But, for my master +Michelangelo, it will suffice to observe that all the grace his genius +held, refined, of earthly grossness quit, appeared, under the +dominance of this fourth manner, in the mythological subjects he +composed for Tommaso Cavalieri, and, far more nobly, in his countless +studies for the celebration of Christ's Passion. The designs +bequeathed to us from this period are very numerous. They were never +employed in the production of any monumental work of sculpture or of +painting. For this very reason, because they were occasional +improvisations, preludes, dreams of things to be, they preserve the +finest bloom, the Indian summer of his fancy. Lovers of Michelangelo +must dedicate their latest and most loving studies to this phase of +his fourth manner. + + +X + +If we seek to penetrate the genius of an artist, not merely forming a +correct estimate of his technical ability and science, but also +probing his personality to the core, as near as this is possible for +us to do, we ought to give our undivided study to his drawings. It is +there, and there alone, that we come face to face with the real man, +in his unguarded moments, in his hours of inspiration, in the +laborious effort to solve a problem of composition, or in the happy +flow of genial improvisation. Michelangelo was wont to maintain that +all the arts are included in the art of design. Sculpture, painting, +architecture, he said, are but subordinate branches of +draughtsmanship. And he went so far as to assert that the mechanical +arts, with engineering and fortification, nay, even the minor arts of +decoration and costume, owe their existence to design. The more we +reflect upon this apparent paradox, the more shall we feel it to be +true. At any rate, there are no products of human thought and feeling +capable of being expressed by form which do not find their common +denominator in a linear drawing. The simplicity of a sketch, the +comparative rapidity with which it is produced, the concentration of +meaning demanded by its rigid economy of means, render it more +symbolical, more like the hieroglyph of its maker's mind, than any +finished work can be. We may discover a greater mass of interesting +objects in a painted picture or a carved statue; but we shall never +find exactly the same thing, never the involuntary revelation of the +artist's soul, the irrefutable witness to his mental and moral +qualities, to the mysteries of his genius and to its limitations. + +If this be true of all artists, it is in a peculiar sense true of +Michelangelo. Great as he was as sculptor, painter, architect, he was +only perfect and impeccable as draughtsman. Inadequate realisation, +unequal execution, fatigue, satiety, caprice of mood, may sometimes be +detected in his frescoes and his statues; but in design we never find +him faulty, hasty, less than absolute master over the selected realm +of thought. His most interesting and instructive work remains what he +performed with pen and chalk in hand. Deeply, therefore, must we +regret the false modesty which made him destroy masses of his +drawings, while we have reason to be thankful for those marvellous +photographic processes which nowadays have placed the choicest of his +masterpieces within the reach of every one. + +The following passages from Vasari's and Condivi's Lives deserve +attention by those who approach the study of Buonarroti's drawings. +Vasari says: "His powers of imagination were such, that he was +frequently compelled to abandon his purpose, because he could not +express by the hand those grand and sublime ideas which he had +conceived in his mind; nay, he has spoiled and destroyed many works +for this cause; and I know, too, that some short time before his death +he burnt a large number of his designs, sketches, and cartoons, that +none might see the labours he had endured, and the trials to which he +had subjected his spirit, in his resolve not to fall short of +perfection. I have myself secured some drawings by his hand, which +were found in Florence, and are now in my book of designs, and these, +although they give evidence of his great genius, yet prove also that +the hammer of Vulcan was necessary to bring Minerva from the head of +Jupiter. He would construct an ideal shape out of nine, ten and even +twelve different heads, for no other purpose than to obtain a certain +grace of harmony and composition which is not to be found in the +natural form, and would say that the artist must have his measuring +tools, not in the hand, but in the eye, because the hands do but +operate, it is the eye that judges; he pursued the same idea in +architecture also." Condivi adds some information regarding his +extraordinary fecundity and variety of invention: "He was gifted with +a most tenacious memory, the power of which was such that, though he +painted so many thousands of figures, as any one can see, he never +made one exactly like another or posed in the same attitude. Indeed, I +have heard him say that he never draws a line without remembering +whether he has drawn it before; erasing any repetition, when the +design was meant to be exposed to public view. His force of +imagination is also most extraordinary. This has been the chief reason +why he was never quite satisfied with his own work, and always +depreciated its quality, esteeming that his hand failed to attain the +idea which he had formed within his brain." + + +XI + +The four greatest draughtsmen of this epoch were Lionardo da Vinci, +Michelangelo, Raffaello, and Andrea del Sarto. They are not to be +reckoned as equals; for Lionardo and Michelangelo outstrip the other +two almost as much as these surpass all lesser craftsmen. Each of the +four men expressed his own peculiar vision of the world with pen, or +chalk, or metal point, finding the unique inevitable line, the exact +touch and quality of stroke, which should present at once a lively +transcript from real Nature, and a revelation of the artist's +particular way of feeling Nature. In Lionardo it is a line of subtlety +and infinite suggestiveness; in Michelangelo it compels attention, and +forcibly defines the essence of the object; in Raffaello it carries +melody, the charm of an unerring rhythm; in Andrea it seems to call +for tone, colour, atmosphere, and makes their presence felt. Raffaello +was often faulty: even in the wonderful pen-drawing of two nudes he +sent to Albrecht Dürer as a sample of his skill, we blame the knees +and ankles of his models. Lionardo was sometimes wilful, whimsical, +seduced by dreamland, like a god born amateur. Andrea allowed his +facility to lead him into languor, and lacked passion. Michelangelo's +work shows none of these shortcomings; it is always technically +faultness, instinct with passion, supereminent in force. But we crave +more of grace, of sensuous delight, of sweetness, than he chose, or +perhaps was able, to communicate. We should welcome a little more of +human weakness if he gave a little more of divine suavity. + +Michelangelo's style of design is that of a sculptor, Andrea's of a +colourist, Lionardo's of a curious student, Raffaello's of a musician +and improvisatore. These distinctions are not merely fanciful, nor +based on what we know about the men in their careers. We feel similar +distinctions in the case of all great draughtsmen. Titian's +chalk-studies, Fra Bartolommeo's, so singularly akin to Andrea del +Sarto's, Giorgione's pen-and-ink sketch for a Lucretia, are seen at +once by their richness and blurred outlines to be the work of +colourists. Signorelli's transcripts from the nude, remarkably similar +to those of Michelangelo, reveal a sculptor rather than a painter. +Botticelli, with all his Florentine precision, shows that, like +Lionardo, he was a seeker and a visionary in his anxious feeling after +curve and attitude. Mantegna seems to be graving steel or cutting into +marble. It is easy to apply this analysis in succession to any +draughtsman who has style. To do so would, however, be superfluous: we +should only be enforcing what is a truism to all intelligent students +of art--namely, that each individual stamps his own specific quality +upon his handiwork; reveals even in the neutral region of design his +innate preference for colour or pure form as a channel of expression; +betrays the predominance of mental energy or sensuous charm, of +scientific curiosity or plastic force, of passion or of tenderness, +which controls his nature. This inevitable and unconscious revelation +of the man in art-work strikes us as being singularly modern. We do +not apprehend it to at all the same extent in the sculpture of the +ancients, whether it be that our sympathies are too remote from Greek +and Roman ways of feeling, or whether the ancients really conceived +art more collectively in masses, less individually as persons. + +No master exhibits this peculiarly modern quality more decisively than +Michelangelo, and nowhere is the personality of his genius, what marks +him off and separates him from all fellow-men, displayed with fuller +emphasis than in his drawings. To use the words of a penetrative +critic, from whom it is a pleasure to quote: "The thing about +Michelangelo is this; he is not, so to say, at the head of a class, +but he stands apart by himself: he is not possessed of a skill which +renders him unapproached or unapproachable; but rather, he is of so +unique an order, that no other artist whatever seems to suggest +comparison with him." Mr. Selwyn Image goes on to define in what a +true sense the words "creator" and "creative" may be applied to him: +how the shows and appearances of the world were for him but +hieroglyphs of underlying ideas, with which his soul was familiar, and +from which he worked again outward; "his learning and skill in the +arts supplying to his hand such large and adequate symbols of them as +are otherwise beyond attainment." This, in a very difficult and +impalpable region of aesthetic criticism, is finely said, and accords +with Michelangelo's own utterances upon art and beauty in his poems. +Dwelling like a star apart, communing with the eternal ideas, the +permanent relations of the universe, uttering his inmost thoughts +about these mysteries through the vehicles of science and of art, for +which he was so singularly gifted, Michelangelo, in no loose or +trivial sense of that phrase, proved himself to be a creator. He +introduces us to a world seen by no eyes except his own, compels us to +become familiar with forms unapprehended by our senses, accustoms us +to breathe a rarer and more fiery atmosphere than we were born into. + +The vehicles used by Michelangelo in his designs were mostly pen and +chalk. He employed both a sharp-nibbed pen of some kind, and a broad +flexible reed, according to the exigencies of his subject or the +temper of his mood. The chalk was either red or black, the former +being softer than the latter. I cannot remember any instances of those +chiaroscuro washes which Raffaello handled in so masterly a manner, +although Michelangelo frequently combined bistre shading with pen +outlines. In like manner he does not seem to have favoured the metal +point upon prepared paper, with which Lionardo produced unrivalled +masterpieces. Some drawings, where the yellow outline bites into a +parchment paper, blistering at the edges, suggest a rusty metal in the +instrument. We must remember, however, that the inks of that period +were frequently corrosive, as is proved by the state of many documents +now made illegible through the gradual attrition of the paper by +mineral acids. It is also not impossible that artists may have already +invented what we call steel pens. Sarpi, in the seventeenth century, +thanks a correspondent for the gift of one of these mechanical +devices. Speaking broadly, the reed and the quill, red and black +chalk, or _matita,_ were the vehicles of Michelangelo's expression as +a draughtsman. I have seen very few examples of studies heightened +with white chalk, and none produced in the fine Florentine style of +Ghirlandajo by white chalk alone upon a dead-brown surface. In this +matter it is needful to speak with diffidence; for the sketches of our +master are so widely scattered that few students can have examined the +whole of them; and photographic reproductions, however admirable in +their fidelity to outline, do not always give decisive evidence +regarding the materials employed. + +One thing seems manifest. Michelangelo avoided those mixed methods +with which Lionardo, the magician, wrought wonders. He preferred an +instrument which could be freely, broadly handled, inscribing form in +strong plain strokes upon the candid paper. The result attained, +whether wrought by bold lines, or subtly hatched, or finished with the +utmost delicacy of modulated shading, has always been traced out +conscientiously and firmly, with one pointed stylus (pen, chalk, or +matita), chosen for the purpose. As I have said, it is the work of a +sculptor, accustomed to wield chisel and mallet upon marble, rather +than that of a painter, trained to secure effects by shadows and +glazings. + +It is possible, I think, to define, at least with some approximation +to precision, Michelangelo's employment of his favourite vehicles for +several purposes and at different periods of his life. A broad-nibbed +pen was used almost invariably in making architectural designs of +cornices, pilasters, windows, also in plans for military engineering. +Sketches of tombs and edifices, intended to be shown to patrons, were +partly finished with the pen; and here we find a subordinate and very +limited use of the brush in shading. Such performances may be regarded +as products of the workshop rather than as examples of the artist's +mastery. The style of them is often conventional, suggesting the +intrusion of a pupil or the deliberate adoption of an office +mannerism. The pen plays a foremost part in all the greatest and most +genial creations of his fancy when it worked energetically in +preparation for sculpture or for fresco. The Louvre is rich in +masterpieces of this kind--the fiery study of a David; the heroic +figures of two male nudes, hatched into stubborn salience like pieces +of carved wood; the broad conception of the Madonna at S. Lorenzo in +her magnificent repose and passionate cascade of fallen draperies; the +repulsive but superabundantly powerful profile of a goat-like faun. +These, and the stupendous studies of the Albertina Collection at +Vienna, including the supine man with thorax violently raised, are +worked with careful hatchings, stroke upon stroke, effecting a +suggestion of plastic roundness. But we discover quite a different use +of the pen in some large simple outlines of seated female figures at +the Louvre; in thick, almost muddy, studies at Vienna, where the form +emerges out of oft-repeated sodden blotches; in the grim light and +shade, the rapid suggestiveness of the dissection scene at Oxford. The +pen in the hand of Michelangelo was the tool by means of which he +realised his most trenchant conceptions and his most picturesque +impressions. In youth and early manhood, when his genius was still +vehement, it seems to have been his favourite vehicle. + +The use of chalk grew upon him in later life, possibly because he +trusted more to his memory now, and loved the dreamier softer medium +for uttering his fancies. Black chalk was employed for rapid notes of +composition, and also for the more elaborate productions of his +pencil. To this material we owe the head of Horror which he gave to +Gherardo Perini (in the Uffizi), the Phaethon, the Tityos, the +Ganymede he gave to Tommaso Cavalieri (at Windsor). It is impossible +to describe the refinements of modulated shading and the precision of +predetermined outlines by means of which these incomparable drawings +have been produced. They seem to melt and to escape inspection, yet +they remain fixed on the memory as firmly as forms in carven basalt. + +The whole series of designs for Christ's Crucifixion and Deposition +from the Cross are executed in chalk, sometimes black, but mostly red. +It is manifest, upon examination, that they are not studies from the +model, but thoughts evoked and shadowed forth on paper. Their +perplexing multiplicity and subtle variety--as though a mighty +improvisatore were preluding again and yet again upon the clavichord +to find his theme, abandoning the search, renewing it, altering the +key, changing the accent--prove that this continued seeking with the +crayon after form and composition was carried on in solitude and +abstract moments. Incomplete as the designs may be, they reveal +Michelangelo's loftiest dreams and purest visions. The nervous energy, +the passionate grip upon the subject, shown in the pen-drawings, are +absent here. These qualities are replaced by meditation and an air of +rapt devotion. The drawings for the Passion might be called the +prayers and pious thoughts of the stern master. + +Red chalk he used for some of his most brilliant conceptions. It is +not necessary to dwell upon the bending woman's head at Oxford, or the +torso of the lance-bearer at Vienna. Let us confine our attention to +what is perhaps the most pleasing and most perfect of all +Michelangelo's designs--the "Bersaglio," or the "Arcieri," in the +Queen's collection at Windsor. + +It is a group of eleven naked men and one woman, fiercely footing the +air, and driving shafts with all their might to pierce a classical +terminal figure, whose face, like that of Pallas, and broad breast are +guarded by a spreading shield. The draughtsman has indicated only one +bow, bent with fury by an old man in the background. Yet all the +actions proper to archery are suggested by the violent gestures and +strained sinews of the crowd. At the foot of the terminal statue, +Cupid lies asleep upon his wings, with idle bow and quiver. Two little +genii of love, in the background, are lighting up a fire, puffing its +flames, as though to drive the archers onward. Energy and ardour, +impetuous movement and passionate desire, could not be expressed with +greater force, nor the tyranny of some blind impulse be more +imaginatively felt. The allegory seems to imply that happiness is not +to be attained, as human beings mostly strive to seize it, by the +fierce force of the carnal passions. It is the contrast between +celestial love asleep in lustful souls, and vulgar love inflaming +tyrannous appetites:-- + + _The one love soars, the other downward tends; + The soul lights this, while that the senses stir, + And still lust's arrow at base quarry flies._ + +This magnificent design was engraved during Buonarroti's lifetime, or +shortly afterwards, by Niccolò Beatrizet. Some follower of Raffaello +used the print for a fresco in the Palazzo Borghese at Rome. It forms +one of the series in which Raffaello's marriage of Alexander and +Roxana is painted. This has led some critics to ascribe the drawing +itself to the Urbinate. Indeed, at first sight, one might almost +conjecture that the original chalk study was a genuine work of +Raffaello, aiming at rivalry with Michelangelo's manner. The calm +beauty of the statue's classic profile, the refinement of all the +faces, the exquisite delicacy of the adolescent forms, and the +dominant veiling of strength with grace, are not precisely +Michelangelesque. The technical execution of the design, however, +makes its attribution certain. Well as Raffaello could draw, he could +not draw like this. He was incapable of rounding and modelling the +nude with those soft stipplings and granulated shadings which bring +the whole surface out like that of a bas-relief in polished marble. +His own drawing for Alexander and Roxana, in red chalk, and therefore +an excellent subject for comparison with the Arcieri, is hatched all +over in straight lines; a method adopted by Michelangelo when working +with the pen, but, so far as I am aware, never, or very rarely, used +when he was handling chalk. The style of this design and its exquisite +workmanship correspond exactly with the finish of the Cavalieri series +at Windsor. The paper, moreover, is indorsed in Michelangelo's +handwriting with a memorandum bearing the date April 12, 1530. We have +then in this masterpiece of draughtsmanship an example, not of +Raffaello in a Michelangelising mood, but of Michelangelo for once +condescending to surpass Raffaello on his own ground of loveliness and +rhythmic grace. + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +I + +Julius died upon the 21st of February 1513. "A prince," says +Guicciardini, "of inestimable courage and tenacity, but headlong, and +so extravagant in the schemes he formed, that his own prudence and +moderation had less to do with shielding him from ruin than the +discord of sovereigns and the circumstances of the times in Europe: +worthy, in all truth, of the highest glory had he been a secular +potentate, or if the pains and anxious thought he employed in +augmenting the temporal greatness of the Church by war had been +devoted to her spiritual welfare in the arts of peace." + +Italy rejoiced when Giovanni de' Medici was selected to succeed him, +with the title of Leo X. "Venus ruled in Rome with Alexander, Mars +with Julius, now Pallas enters on her reign with Leo." Such was the +tenor of the epigrams which greeted Leo upon his triumphal progress to +the Lateran. It was felt that a Pope of the house of Medici would be a +patron of arts and letters, and it was hoped that the son of Lorenzo +the Magnificent might restore the equilibrium of power in Italy. Leo +X. has enjoyed a greater fame than he deserved. Extolled as an +Augustus in his lifetime, he left his name to what is called the +golden age of Italian culture. Yet he cannot be said to have raised +any first-rate men of genius, or to have exercised a very wise +patronage over those whom Julius brought forward. Michelangelo and +Raffaello were in the full swing of work when Leo claimed their +services. We shall see how he hampered the rare gifts of the former by +employing him on uncongenial labours; and it was no great merit to +give a free rein to the inexhaustible energy of Raffaello. The project +of a new S. Peter's belonged to Julius. Leo only continued the scheme, +using such assistants as the times provided after Bramante's death in +1514. Julius instinctively selected men of soaring and audacious +genius, who were capable of planning on a colossal scale. Leo +delighted in the society of clever people, poetasters, petty scholars, +lutists, and buffoons. Rome owes no monumental work to his inventive +brain, and literature no masterpiece to his discrimination. Ariosto, +the most brilliant poet of the Renaissance, returned in disappointment +from the Vatican. "When I went to Rome and kissed the foot of Leo," +writes the ironical satirist, "he bent down from the holy chair, and +took my hand and saluted me on both cheeks. Besides, he made me free +of half the stamp-dues I was bound to pay; and then, breast full of +hope, but smirched with mud, I retired and took my supper at the Ram." + +The words which Leo is reported to have spoken to his brother Giuliano +when he heard the news of his election, express the character of the +man and mark the difference between his ambition and that of Julius. +"Let us enjoy the Papacy, since God has given it us." To enjoy life, +to squander the treasures of the Church on amusements, to feed a +rabble of flatterers, to contract enormous debts, and to disturb the +peace of Italy, not for some vast scheme of ecclesiastical +aggrandisement, but in order to place the princes of his family on +thrones, that was Leo's conception of the Papal privileges and duties. +The portraits of the two Popes, both from the hand of Raffaello, are +eminently characteristic. Julius, bent, white-haired, and emaciated, +has the nervous glance of a passionate and energetic temperament. Leo, +heavy-jawed, dull-eyed, with thick lips and a brawny jowl, betrays the +coarser fibre of a sensualist. + + +II + +We have seen already that Julius, before his death, provided for his +monument being carried out upon a reduced scale. Michelangelo entered +into a new contract with the executors, undertaking to finish the work +within the space of seven years from the date of the deed, May 6, +1513. He received in several payments, during that year and the years +1514, 1515, 1516, the total sum of 6100 golden ducats. This proves +that he must have pushed the various operations connected with the +tomb vigorously forward, employing numerous workpeople, and ordering +supplies of marble. In fact, the greater part of what remains to us of +the unfinished monument may be ascribed to this period of +comparatively uninterrupted labour. Michelangelo had his workshop in +the Macello de' Corvi, but we know very little about the details of +his life there. His correspondence happens to be singularly scanty +between the years 1513 and 1516. One letter, however, written in May +1518, to the Capitano of Cortona throws a ray of light upon this +barren tract of time, and introduces an artist of eminence, whose +intellectual affinity to Michelangelo will always remain a matter of +interest. "While I was at Rome, in the first year of Pope Leo, there +came the Master Luca Signorelli of Cortona, painter. I met him one day +near Monte Giordano, and he told me that he was come to beg something +from the Pope, I forget what: he had run the risk of losing life and +limb for his devotion to the house of Medici, and now it seemed they +did not recognise him: and so forth, saying many things I have +forgotten. After these discourses, he asked me for forty giulios [a +coin equal in value to the more modern paolo, and worth perhaps eight +shillings of present money], and told me where to send them to, at the +house of a shoemaker, his lodgings. I not having the money about me, +promised to send it, and did so by the hand of a young man in my +service, called Silvio, who is still alive and in Rome, I believe. +After the lapse of some days, perhaps because his business with the +Pope had failed, Messer Luca came to my house in the Macello de' +Corvi, the same where I live now, and found me working on a marble +statue, four cubits in height, which has the hands bound behind the +back, and bewailed himself with me, and begged another forty, saying +that he wanted to leave Rome. I went up to my bedroom, and brought the +money down in the presence of a Bolognese maid I kept, and I think the +Silvio above mentioned was also there. When Luca got the cash, he went +away, and I have never seen him since; but I remember complaining to +him, because I was out of health and could not work, and he said: +'Have no fear, for the angels from heaven will come to take you in +their arms and aid you.'" This is in several ways an interesting +document. It brings vividly before our eyes magnificent expensive +Signorelli and his meanly living comrade, each of them mighty masters +of a terrible and noble style, passionate lovers of the nude, devoted +to masculine types of beauty, but widely and profoundly severed by +differences in their personal tastes and habits. It also gives us a +glimpse into Michelangelo's workshop at the moment when he was +blocking out one of the bound Captives at the Louvre. It seems from +what follows in the letter that Michelangelo had attempted to recover +the money through his brother Buonarroto, but that Signorelli refused +to acknowledge his debt. The Capitano wrote that he was sure it had +been discharged. "That," adds Michelangelo, "is the same as calling me +the biggest blackguard; and so I should be, if I wanted to get back +what had been already paid. But let your Lordship think what you like +about it, I am bound to get the money, and so I swear." The remainder +of the autograph is torn and illegible; it seems to wind up with a +threat. + +The records of this period are so scanty that every detail acquires a +certain importance for Michelangelo's biographer. By a deed executed +on the 14th of June 1514, we find that he contracted to make a figure +of Christ in marble, "life-sized, naked, erect, with a cross in his +arms, and in such attitude as shall seem best to Michelangelo." The +persons who ordered the statue were Bernardo Cencio (a Canon of S. +Peter's), Mario Scappucci, and Metello Varj dei Porcari, a Roman of +ancient blood. They undertook to pay 200 golden ducats for the work; +and Michelangelo promised to finish it within the space of four years, +when it was to be placed in the Church of S. Maria sopra Minerva. +Metello Varj, though mentioned last in the contract, seems to have +been the man who practically gave the commission, and to whom +Michelangelo was finally responsible for its performance. He began to +hew it from a block, and discovered black veins in the working. This, +then, was thrown aside, and a new marble had to be attacked. The +statue, now visible at the Minerva, was not finished until the year +1521, when we shall have to return to it again. + +There is a point of some interest in the wording of this contract, on +which, as facts to dwell upon are few and far between at present, I +may perhaps allow myself to digress. The master is here described as +_Michelangelo (di Lodovico) Simoni, Scultore_. Now Michelangelo always +signed his own letters Michelangelo Buonarroti, although he addressed +the members of his family by the surname of Simoni. This proves that +the patronymic usually given to the house at large was still Simoni, +and that Michelangelo himself acknowledged that name in a legal +document. The adoption of Buonarroti by his brother's children and +descendants may therefore be ascribed to usage ensuing from the +illustration of their race by so renowned a man. It should also be +observed that at this time Michelangelo is always described in deeds +as sculptor, and that he frequently signs with Michelangelo, Scultore. +Later on in life he changed his views. He wrote in 1548 to his nephew +Lionardo: "Tell the priest not to write to me again as _Michelangelo +the sculptor_, for I am not known here except as Michelangelo +Buonarroti. Say, too, that if a citizen of Florence wants to have an +altar-piece painted, he must find some painter; for I was never either +sculptor or painter in the way of one who keeps a shop. I have always +avoided that, for the honour of my father and my brothers. True, I +have served three Popes; but that was a matter of necessity." Earlier, +in 1543, he had written to the same effect: "When you correspond with +me, do not use the superscription _Michelangelo Simoni_, nor +_sculptor_; it is enough to put _Michelangelo Buonarroti_, for that is +how I am known here." On another occasion, advising his nephew what +surname the latter ought to adopt, he says: "I should certainly use +_Simoni_, and if the whole (that is, the whole list of patronymics in +use at Florence) is too long, those who cannot read it may leave it +alone." These communications prove that, though he had come to be +known as Buonarroti, he did not wish the family to drop their old +surname of Simoni. The reason was that he believed in their legendary +descent from the Counts of Canossa through a Podestà of Florence, +traditionally known as Simone da Canossa. This opinion had been +confirmed in 1520, as we have seen above, by a letter he received from +the Conte Alessandro da Canossa, addressing him as "Honoured kinsman." +In the correspondence with Lionardo, Michelangelo alludes to this act +of recognition: "You will find a letter from the Conte Alessandro da +Canossa in the book of contracts. He came to visit me at Rome, and +treated me like a relative. Take care of it." The dislike expressed by +Michelangelo to be called _sculptor_, and addressed upon the same +terms as other artists, arose from a keen sense of his nobility. The +feeling emerges frequently in his letters between 1540 and 1550. I +will give a specimen: "As to the purchase of a house, I repeat that +you ought to buy one of honourable condition, at 1500 or 2000 crowns; +and it ought to be in our quarter (Santa Croce), if possible. I say +this, because an honourable mansion in the city does a family great +credit. It makes more impression than farms in the country; and we are +truly burghers, who claim a very noble ancestry. I always strove my +utmost to resuscitate our house, but I had not brothers able to assist +me. Try then to do what I write you, and make Gismondo come back to +live in Florence, so that I may not endure the shame of hearing it +said here that I have a brother at Settignano who trudges after oxen. +One day, when I find the time, I will tell you all about our origin, +and whence we sprang, and when we came to Florence. Perhaps you know +nothing about it; still we ought not to rob ourselves of what God gave +us." The same feeling runs through the letters he wrote Lionardo about +the choice of a wife. One example will suffice: "I believe that in +Florence there are many noble and poor families with whom it would be +a charity to form connections. If there were no dower, there would +also be no arrogance. Pay no heed should people say you want to +ennoble yourself, since it is notorious that we are ancient citizens +of Florence, and as noble as any other house." + +Michelangelo, as we know now, was mistaken in accepting his supposed +connection with the illustrious Counts of Canossa, whose castle played +so conspicuous a part in the struggle between Hildebrand and the +Empire, and who were imperially allied through the connections of the +Countess Matilda. Still he had tradition to support him, confirmed by +the assurance of the head of the Canossa family. Nobody could accuse +him of being a snob or parvenu. He lived like a poor man, indifferent +to dress, establishment, and personal appearances. Yet he prided +himself upon his ancient birth; and since the Simoni had been +indubitably noble for several generations, there was nothing +despicable in his desire to raise his kinsfolk to their proper +station. Almost culpably careless in all things that concerned his +health and comfort, he spent his earnings for the welfare of his +brothers, in order that an honourable posterity might carry on the +name he bore, and which he made illustrious. We may smile at his +peevishness in repudiating the title of sculptor after bearing it +through so many years of glorious labour; but when he penned the +letters I have quoted, he was the supreme artist of Italy, renowned as +painter, architect, military engineer; praised as a poet; befriended +with the best and greatest of his contemporaries; recognised as +unique, not only in the art of sculpture. If he felt some pride of +race, we cannot blame the plain-liver and high-thinker, who, robbing +himself of luxuries and necessaries even, enabled his kinsmen to +maintain their rank among folk gently born and nobly nurtured. + + +III + +In June 1515 Michelangelo was still working at the tomb of Julius. But +a letter to Buonarroto shows that he was already afraid of being +absorbed for other purposes by Leo: "I am forced to put great strain +upon myself this summer in order to complete my undertaking; for I +think that I shall soon be obliged to enter the Pope's service. For +this reason, I have bought some twenty migliaia [measure of weight] of +brass to cast certain figures." The monument then was so far advanced +that, beside having a good number of the marble statues nearly +finished, he was on the point of executing the bronze reliefs which +filled their interspaces. We have also reason to believe that the +architectural basis forming the foundation of the sepulchre had been +brought well forward, since it is mentioned, in the next ensuing +contracts. + +Just at this point, however, when two or three years of steady labour +would have sufficed to terminate this mount of sculptured marble, Leo +diverted Michelangelo's energies from the work, and wasted them in +schemes that came to nothing. When Buonarroti penned that sonnet in +which he called the Pope his Medusa, he might well have been thinking +of Leo, though the poem ought probably to be referred to the earlier +pontificate of Julius. Certainly the Medici did more than the Delia +Rovere to paralyse his power and turn the life within him into stone. +Writing to Sebastiano del Piombo in 1521, Michelangelo shows how fully +he was aware of this. He speaks of "the three years I have lost." + +A meeting had been arranged for the late autumn of 1515 between Leo X. +and Francis I. at Bologna. The Pope left Rome early in November, and +reached Florence on the 30th. The whole city burst into a tumult of +jubilation, shouting the Medicean cry of _"Palle"_ as Leo passed +slowly through the streets, raised in his pontifical chair upon the +shoulders of his running footmen. Buonarroto wrote a long and +interesting account of this triumphal entry to his brother in Rome. He +describes how a procession was formed by the Pope's court and guard +and the gentlemen of Florence. "Among the rest, there went a bevy of +young men, the noblest in our commonwealth, all dressed alike with +doublets of violet satin, holding gilded staves in their hands. They +paced before the Papal chair, a brave sight to see. And first there +marched his guard, and then his grooms, who carried him aloft beneath +a rich canopy of brocade, which was sustained by members of the +College, while round about the chair walked the Signory." The +procession moved onward to the Church of S. Maria del Fiore, where the +Pope stayed to perform certain ceremonies at the high altar, after +which he was carried to his apartments at S. Maria Novella. Buonarroto +was one of the Priors during this month, and accordingly he took an +official part in all the entertainments and festivities, which +continued for three days. On the 3rd of December Leo left Florence for +Bologna, where Francis arrived upon the 11th. Their conference lasted +till the 15th, when Francis returned to Milan. On the 18th Leo began +his journey back to Florence, which he re-entered on the 22nd. On +Christmas day (Buonarroto writes _Pasgua_) a grand Mass was celebrated +at S. Maria Novella, at which the Signory attended. The Pope +celebrated in person, and, according to custom on high state +occasions, the water with which he washed his hands before and during +the ceremony had to be presented by personages of importance. "This +duty," says Buonarroto, "fell first to one of the Signori, who was +Giannozzo Salviati; and as I happened that morning to be Proposto, I +went the second time to offer water to his Holiness; the third time, +this was done by the Duke of Camerino, and the fourth time by the +Gonfalonier of Justice." Buonarroto remarks that "he feels pretty +certain it will be all the same to Michelangelo whether he hears or +does not hear about these matters. Yet, from time to time, when I have +leisure, I scribble a few lines." + +Buonarroto himself was interested in this event; for, having been one +of the Priors, he received from Leo the title of Count Palatine, with +reversion to all his posterity. Moreover, for honourable addition to +his arms, he was allowed to bear a chief charged with the Medicean +ball and fleur-de-lys, between the capital letters L. and X. + +Whether Leo conceived the plan of finishing the façade of S. Lorenzo +at Florence before he left Rome, or whether it occurred to him during +this visit, is not certain. The church had been erected by the Medici +and other magnates from Brunelleschi's designs, and was perfect except +for the façade. In its sacristy lay the mortal remains of Cosimo, +Lorenzo the Magnificent, and many other members of the Medicean +family. Here Leo came on the first Sunday in Advent to offer up +prayers, and the Pope is said to have wept upon his father's tomb. It +may possibly have been on this occasion that he adopted the scheme so +fatal to the happiness of the great sculptor. Condivi clearly did not +know what led to Michelangelo's employment on the façade of S. +Lorenzo, and Vasari's account of the transaction is involved. Both, +however, assert that he was wounded, even to tears, at having to +abandon the monument of Julius, and that he prayed in vain to be +relieved of the new and uncongenial task. + + +IV + +Leo at first intended to divide the work between several masters, +giving Buonarroti the general direction of the whole. He ordered +Giuliano da San Gallo, Raffaello da Urbino, Baccio d'Agnolo, Andrea +and Jacopo Sansovino to prepare plans. While these were in progress, +Michelangelo also thought that he would try his hand at a design. As +ill-luck ruled, Leo preferred his sketch to all the rest. Vasari adds +that his unwillingness to be associated with any other artist in the +undertaking, and his refusal to follow the plans of an architect, +prevented the work from being executed, and caused the men selected by +Leo to return in desperation to their ordinary pursuits. There may be +truth in the report; for it is certain that, after Michelangelo had +been forced to leave the tomb of Julius and to take part in the +façade, he must have claimed to be sole master of the business. The +one thing we know about his mode of operation is, that he brooked no +rival near him, mistrusted collaborators, and found it difficult to +co-operate even with the drudges whom he hired at monthly wages. + +Light is thrown upon these dissensions between Michelangelo and his +proposed assistants by a letter which Jacopo Sansovino wrote to him at +Carrara, on the 30th of June 1517. He betrays his animus at the +commencement by praising Baccio Bandinelli, to mention whom in the +same breath with Buonarroti was an insult. Then he proceeds: "The +Pope, the Cardinal, and Jacopo Salviati are men who when they say yes, +it is a written contract, inasmuch as they are true to their word, and +not what you pretend them to be. You measure them with your own rod; +for neither contracts nor plighted troth avail with you, who are +always saying nay and yea, according as you think it profitable. I +must inform you, too, that the Pope promised me the sculptures, and so +did Salviati; and they are men who will maintain me in my right to +them. In what concerns you, I have done all I could to promote your +interests and honour, not having earlier perceived that you never +conferred a benefit on any one, and that, beginning with myself, to +expect kindness from you, would be the same as wanting water not to +wet. I have reason for what I say, since we have often met together in +familiar converse, and may the day be cursed on which you ever said +any good about anybody on earth." How Michelangelo answered this +intemperate and unjust invective is not known to us. In some way or +other the quarrel between the two sculptors must have been made +up--probably through a frank apology on Sansovino's part. When +Michelangelo, in 1524, supplied the Duke of Sessa with a sketch for +the sepulchral monument to be erected for himself and his wife, he +suggested that Sansovino should execute the work, proving thus by acts +how undeserved the latter's hasty words had been. + +The Church of S. Lorenzo exists now just as it was before the scheme +for its façade occurred to Leo. Not the smallest part of that scheme +was carried into effect, and large masses of the marbles quarried for +the edifice lay wasted on the Tyrrhene sea-shore. We do not even know +what design Michelangelo adopted. A model may be seen in the Accademia +at Florence ascribed to Baccio d'Agnolo, and there is a drawing of a +façade in the Uffizi attributed, to Michelangelo, both of which have +been supposed to have some connection with S. Lorenzo. It is hardly +possible, however, that Buonarroti's competitors could have been +beaten from the field by things so spiritless and ugly. A pen-and-ink +drawing at the Museo Buonarroti possesses greater merit, find may +perhaps have been a first rough sketch for the façade. It is not drawn +to scale or worked out in the manner of practical architects; but the +sketch exhibits features which we know to have existed in Buonarroti's +plan--masses of sculpture, with extensive bas-reliefs in bronze. In +form the façade would not have corresponded to Brunelleschi's +building. That, however, signified nothing to Italian architects, who +were satisfied when the frontispiece to a church or palace agreeably +masked what lay behind it. As a frame for sculpture, the design might +have served its purpose, though there are large spaces difficult to +account for; and spiteful folk were surely justified in remarking to +the Pope that no one life sufficed for the performance of the whole. + +Nothing testifies more plainly to the ascendancy which this strange +man acquired over the imagination of his contemporaries, while yet +comparatively young, than the fact that Michelangelo had to relinquish +work for which he was pre-eminently fitted (the tomb of Julius) for +work to which his previous studies and his special inclinations in +no-wise called him. He undertook the façade of S. Lorenzo reluctantly, +with tears in his eyes and dolour in his bosom, at the Pope Medusa's +bidding. He was compelled to recommence art at a point which hitherto +possessed for him no practical importance. The drawings of the tomb, +the sketch of the façade, prove that in architecture he was still a +novice. Hitherto, he regarded building as the background to sculpture, +or the surface on which frescoes might be limned. To achieve anything +great in this new sphere implied for him a severe course of +preliminary studies. It depends upon our final estimate of +Michelangelo as an architect whether we regard the three years spent +in Leo's service for S. Lorenzo as wasted. Being what he was, it is +certain that, when the commission had been given, and he determined to +attack his task alone, the man set himself down to grasp the +principles of construction. There was leisure enough for such studies +in the years during which we find him moodily employed among Tuscan +quarries. The question is whether this strain upon his richly gifted +genius did not come too late. When called to paint the Sistine, he +complained that painting was no art of his. He painted, and produced a +masterpiece; but sculpture still remained the major influence in all +he wrought there. Now he was bidden to quit both sculpture and +painting for another field, and, as Vasari hints, he would not work +under the guidance of men trained to architecture. The result was that +Michelangelo applied himself to building with the full-formed spirit +of a figurative artist. The obvious defects and the salient qualities +of all he afterwards performed as architect seem due to the forced +diversion of his talent at this period to a type of art he had not +properly assimilated. Architecture was not the natural mistress of his +spirit. He bent his talents to her service at a Pontiff's word, and, +with the honest devotion to work which characterised the man, he +produced renowned monuments stamped by his peculiar style. +Nevertheless, in building, he remains a sublime amateur, aiming at +scenical effect, subordinating construction to decoration, seeking +ever back toward opportunities for sculpture or for fresco, and +occasionally (as in the cupola of S. Peter's) hitting upon a thought +beyond the reach of inferior minds. + +The paradox implied in this diversion of our hero from the path he +ought to have pursued may be explained in three ways. First, he had +already come to be regarded as a man of unique ability, from whom +everything could be demanded. Next, it was usual for the masters of +the Renaissance, from Leo Battista Alberti down to Raffaello da Urbino +and Lionardo da Vinci, to undertake all kinds of technical work +intrusted to their care by patrons. Finally, Michelangelo, though he +knew that sculpture was his goddess, and never neglected her first +claim upon his genius, felt in him that burning ambition for +greatness, that desire to wrestle with all forms of beauty and all +depths of science, which tempted him to transcend the limits of a +single art and try his powers in neighbour regions. He was a man born +to aim at all, to dare all, to embrace all, to leave his personality +deep-trenched on all the provinces of art he chose to traverse. + + +V + +The whole of 1516 and 1517 elapsed before Leo's plans regarding S. +Lorenzo took a definite shape. Yet we cannot help imagining that when +Michelangelo cancelled his first contract with the executors of +Julius, and adopted a reduced plan for the monument, he was acting +under Papal pressure. This was done at Rome in July, and much against +the will of both parties. Still it does not appear that any one +contemplated the abandonment of the scheme; for Buonarroti bound +himself to perform his new contract within the space of nine years, +and to engage "in no work of great importance which should interfere +with its fulfilment." He spent a large part of the year 1516 at +Carrara, quarrying marbles, and even hired the house of a certain +Francesco Pelliccia in that town. On the 1st of November he signed an +agreement with the same Pelliccia involving the purchase of a vast +amount of marble, whereby the said Pelliccia undertook to bring down +four statues of 4-1/2 cubits each and fifteen of 4-1/4 cubits from the +quarries where they were being rough-hewn. It was the custom to block +out columns, statues, &c., on the spot where the stone had been +excavated, in order, probably, to save weight when hauling. Thus the +blocks arrived at the sea-shore with rudely adumbrated outlines of the +shape they were destined to assume under the artist's chisel. It has +generally been assumed that the nineteen figures in question were +intended for the tomb. What makes this not quite certain, however, is +that the contract of July specifies a greatly reduced quantity and +scale of statues. Therefore they may have been intended for the +façade. Anyhow, the contract above-mentioned with Francesco Pelliccia +was cancelled on the 7th of April following, for reasons which will +presently appear. + +During the month of November 1516 Michelangelo received notice from +the Pope that he was wanted in Rome. About the same time news reached +him from Florence of his father's severe illness. On the 23rd he wrote +as follows to Buonarroto: "I gathered from your last that Lodovico was +on the point of dying, and how the doctor finally pronounced that if +nothing new occurred he might be considered out of danger. Since it is +so, I shall not prepare to come to Florence, for it would be very +inconvenient. Still, if there is danger, I should desire to see him, +come what might, before he died, if even I had to die together with +him. I have good hope, however, that he will get well, and so I do not +come. And if he should have a relapse--from which may God preserve him +and us--see that he lacks nothing for his spiritual welfare and the +sacraments of the Church, and find out from him if he wishes us to do +anything for his soul. Also, for the necessaries of the body, take +care that he lacks nothing; for I have laboured only and solely for +him, to help him in his needs before he dies. So bid your wife look +with loving-kindness to his household affairs. I will make everything +good to her and all of you, if it be necessary. Do not have the least +hesitation, even if you have to expend all that we possess." + +We may assume that the subsequent reports regarding Lodovico's health +were satisfactory; for on the 5th of December Michelangelo set out for +Rome. The executors of Julius had assigned him free quarters in a +house situated in the Trevi district, opposite the public road which +leads to S. Maria del Loreto. Here, then, he probably took up his +abode. We have seen that he had bound himself to finish the monument +of Julius within the space of nine years, and to engage "in no work of +great moment which should interfere with its performance." How this +clause came to be inserted in a deed inspired by Leo is one of the +difficulties with which the whole tragedy of the sepulchre bristles. +Perhaps we ought to conjecture that the Pope's intentions with regard +to the façade of S. Lorenzo only became settled in the late autumn. At +any rate, he had now to transact with the executors of Julius, who +were obliged to forego the rights over Michelangelo's undivided +energies which they had acquired by the clause I have just cited. They +did so with extreme reluctance, and to the bitter disappointment of +the sculptor, who saw the great scheme of his manhood melting into +air, dwindling in proportions, becoming with each change less capable +of satisfactory performance. + +Having at last definitely entered the service of Pope Leo, +Michelangelo travelled to Florence, and intrusted Baccio d'Agnolo with +the construction of the model of his façade. It may have been upon the +occasion of this visit that one of his father's whimsical fits of +temper called out a passionate and sorry letter from his son. It +appears that Pietro Urbano, Michelangelo's trusty henchman at this +period, said something which angered Lodovico, and made him set off in +a rage to Settignano:-- + +"Dearest Father,--I marvelled much at what had happened to you the +other day, when I did not find you at home. And now, hearing that you +complain of me, and say that I have turned you out of doors, I marvel +much the more, inasmuch as I know for certain that never once from the +day that I was born till now had I a single thought of doing anything +or small or great which went against you; and all this time the +labours I have undergone have been for the love of you alone. Since I +returned from Rome to Florence, you know that I have always cared for +you, and you know that all that belongs to me I have bestowed on you. +Some days ago, then, when you were ill, I promised solemnly never to +fail you in anything within the scope of my whole faculties so long as +my life lasts; and this I again affirm. Now I am amazed that you +should have forgotten everything so soon. And yet you have learned to +know me by experience these thirty years, you and your sons, and are +well aware that I have always thought and acted, so far as I was able, +for your good. How can you go about saying I have turned you out of +doors? Do you not see what a reputation you have given me by saying I +have turned you out? Only this was wanting to complete my tale of +troubles, all of which I suffer for your love. You repay me well, +forsooth. But let it be as it must: I am willing to acknowledge that I +have always brought shame and loss on you, and on this supposition I +beg your pardon. Reckon that you are pardoning a son who has lived a +bad life and done you all the harm which it is possible to do. And so +I once again implore you to pardon me, scoundrel that I am, and not +bring on me the reproach of having turned you out of doors; for that +matters more than you imagine to me. After all, I am your son." + +From Florence Michelangelo proceeded again to Carrara for the +quarrying of marble. This was on the last day of December. From his +domestic correspondence we find that he stayed there until at least +the 13th of March 1517; but he seems to have gone to Florence just +about that date, in order to arrange matters with Baccio d'Agnolo +about the model. A fragmentary letter to Buonarroto, dated March 13, +shows that he had begun a model of his own at Carrara, and that he no +longer needed Baccio's assistance. On his arrival at Florence he wrote +to Messer Buoninsegni, who acted as intermediary at Rome between +himself and the Pope in all things that concerned the façade: "Messer +Domenico, I have come to Florence to see the model which Baccio has +finished, and find it a mere child's plaything. If you think it best +to have it sent, write to me. I leave again to-morrow for Carrara, +where I have begun to make a model in clay with Grassa [a stone-hewer +from Settignano]." Then he adds that, in the long run, he believes +that he shall have to make the model himself, which distresses him on +account of the Pope and the Cardinal Giulio. Lastly, he informs his +correspondent that he has contracted with two separate companies for +two hundred cartloads of Carrara marble. + +An important letter to the same Domenico Buoninsegni, dated Carrara, +May 2, 1517, proves that Michelangelo had become enthusiastic about +his new design. "I have many things to say to you. So I beg you to +take some patience when you read my words, because it is a matter of +moment. Well, then, I feel it in me to make this façade of S. Lorenzo +such that it shall be a mirror of architecture and of sculpture to all +Italy. But the Pope and the Cardinal must decide at once whether they +want to have it done or not. If they desire it, then they must come to +some definite arrangement, either intrusting the whole to me on +contract, and leaving me a free hand, or adopting some other plan +which may occur to them, and about which I can form no idea." He +proceeds at some length to inform Buoninsegni of various transactions +regarding the purchase of marble, and the difficulties he encounters +in procuring perfect blocks. His estimate for the costs of the whole +façade is 35,000 golden ducats, and he offers to carry the work +through for that sum in six years. Meanwhile he peremptorily demands +an immediate settlement of the business, stating that he is anxious to +leave Carrara. The vigorous tone of this document is unmistakable. It +seems to have impressed his correspondents; for Buoninsegni replies +upon the 8th of May that the Cardinal expressed the highest +satisfaction at "the great heart he had for conducting the work of the +façade." At the same time the Pope was anxious to inspect the model. + +Leo, I fancy, was always more than half-hearted about the façade. He +did not personally sympathise with Michelangelo's character; and, +seeing what his tastes were, it is impossible that he can have really +appreciated the quality of his genius. Giulio de' Medici, afterwards +Pope Clement VII., was more in sympathy with Buonarroti both as artist +and as man. To him we may with probability ascribe the impulse given +at this moment to the project. After several visits to Florence during +the summer, and much correspondence with the Medici through their +Roman agent, Michelangelo went finally, upon the 31st of August, to +have the model completed under his own eyes by a workman in his native +city. It was carefully constructed of wood, showing the statuary in +wax-relief. Nearly four months were expended on this miniature. The +labour was lost, for not a vestige of it now remains. Near the end of +December he despatched his servant, Pietro Urbano, with the finished +work to Rome. On the 29th of that month, Urbano writes that he exposed +the model in Messer Buoninsegni's apartment, and that the Pope and +Cardinal were very well pleased with it. Buoninsegni wrote to the same +effect, adding, however, that folk said it could never be finished in +the sculptor's lifetime, and suggesting that Michelangelo should hire +assistants from Milan, where he, Buoninsegni, had seen excellent +stonework in progress at the Duomo. + +Some time in January 1518, Michelangelo travelled to Rome, conferred +with Leo, and took the façade of S. Lorenzo on contract. In February +he returned by way of Florence to Carrara, where the quarry-masters +were in open rebellion against him, and refused to carry out their +contracts. This forced him to go to Genoa, and hire ships there for +the transport of his blocks. Then the Carraresi corrupted the captains +of these boats, and drove Michelangelo to Pisa (April 7), where he +finally made an arrangement with a certain Francesco Peri to ship the +marbles lying on the sea-shore at Carrara. + +The reason of this revolt against him at Carrara may be briefly +stated. The Medici determined to begin working the old marble quarries +of Pietra Santa, on the borders of the Florentine domain, and this +naturally aroused the commercial jealousy of the folk at Carrara. +"Information," says Condivi, "was sent to Pope Leo that marbles could +be found in the high-lands above Pietra Santa, fully equal in quality +and beauty to those of Carrara. Michelangelo, having been sounded on +the subject, chose to go on quarrying at Carrara rather than to take +those belonging to the State of Florence. This he did because he was +befriended with the Marchese Alberigo, and lived on a good +understanding with him. The Pope wrote to Michelangelo, ordering him +to repair to Pietra Santa, and see whether the information he had +received from Florence was correct. He did so, and ascertained that +the marbles were very hard to work, and ill-adapted to their purpose; +even had they been of the proper kind, it would be difficult and +costly to convey them to the sea. A road of many miles would have to +be made through the mountains with pick and crowbar, and along the +plain on piles, since the ground there was marshy. Michelangelo wrote +all this to the Pope, who preferred, however, to believe the persons +who had written to him from Florence. So he ordered him to construct +the road." The road, it may parenthetically be observed, was paid for +by the wealthy Wool Corporation of Florence, who wished to revive this +branch of Florentine industry. "Michelangelo, carrying out the Pope's +commands, had the road laid down, and transported large quantities of +marbles to the sea-shore. Among these were five columns of the proper +dimensions, one of which may be seen upon the Piazza di S. Lorenzo. +The other four, forasmuch as the Pope changed his mind and turned his +thoughts elsewhere, are still lying on the sea-beach. Now the Marquis +of Carrara, deeming that Michelangelo had developed the quarries at +Pietra Santa out of Florentine patriotism, became his enemy, and would +not suffer him to return to Carrara, for certain blocks which had been +excavated there: all of which proved the source of great loss to +Michelangelo." + +When the contract with Francesco Pellicia was cancelled, April 7, +1517, the project for developing the Florentine stone-quarries does +not seem to have taken shape. We must assume, therefore, that the +motive for this step was the abandonment of the tomb. The _Ricordi_ +show that Michelangelo was still buying marbles and visiting Carrara +down to the end of February 1518. His correspondence from Pietra Santa +and Serravezza, where he lived when he was opening the Florentine +quarries of Monte Altissimo, does not begin, with any certainty, until +March 1518. We have indeed one letter written to Girolamo del Bardella +of Porto Venere upon the 6th of August, without date of year. This was +sent from Serravezza, and Milanesi, when he first made use of it, +assigned it to 1517. Gotti, following that indication, asserts that +Michelangelo began his operations at Monte Altissimo in July 1517; but +Milanesi afterwards changed his opinion, and assigned it to the year +1519. I believe he was right, because the first letter, bearing a +certain date from Pietra Santa, was written in March 1518 to Pietro +Urbano. It contains the account of Michelangelo's difficulties with +the Carraresi, and his journey to Genoa and Pisa. We have, therefore, +every reason to believe that he finally abandoned Carrara, for Pietra +Santa at the end of February 1518. + +Pietra Santa is a little city on the Tuscan seaboard; Serravezza is a +still smaller fortress-town at the foot of the Carrara mountains. +Monte Altissimo rises above it; and on the flanks of that great hill +lie the quarries Della Finocchiaja, which Michelangelo opened at the +command of Pope Leo. It was not without reluctance that Michelangelo +departed from Carrara, offending the Marquis Malaspina, breaking his +contracts, and disappointing the folk with whom he had lived on +friendly terms ever since his first visit in 1505. A letter from the +Cardinal Giulio de' Medici shows that great pressure was put upon him. +It runs thus: "We have received yours, and shown it to our Lord the +Pope. Considering that all your doings are in favour of Carrara, you +have caused his Holiness and us no small astonishment. What we heard +from Jacopo Salviati contradicts your opinion. He went to examine the +marble-quarries at Pietra Santa, and informed us that there are +enormous quantities of stone, excellent in quality and easy to bring +down. This being the case, some suspicion has arisen in our minds that +you, for your own interests, are too partial to the quarries of +Carrara, and want to depreciate those of Pietra Santa. This of a +truth, would be wrong in you, considering the trust we have always +reposed in your honesty. Wherefore we inform you that, regardless of +any other consideration, his Holiness wills that all the work to be +done at S. Peter's or S. Reparata, or on the façade of S. Lorenzo, +shall be carried out with marbles supplied from Pietra Santa, and no +others, for the reasons above written. Moreover, we hear that they +will cost less than those of Carrara; but, even should they cost more, +his Holiness is firmly resolved to act as I have said, furthering the +business of Pietra Santa for the public benefit of the city. Look to +it, then, that you carry out in detail all that we have ordered +without fail; for if you do otherwise, it will be against the +expressed wishes of his Holiness and ourselves, and we shall have good +reason to be seriously wroth with you. Our agent Domenico +(Buoninsegni) is bidden to write to the same effect. Reply to him how +much money you want, and quickly, banishing from your mind every kind +of obstinacy." + +Michelangelo began to work with his usual energy at roadmaking and +quarrying. What he learned of practical business as engineer, +architect, master of works, and paymaster during these years among the +Carrara mountains must have been of vast importance for his future +work. He was preparing himself to organise the fortifications of +Florence and the Leonine City, and to crown S. Peter's with the +cupola. Quarrying, as I have said, implied cutting out and +rough-hewing blocks exactly of the right dimensions for certain +portions of a building or a piece of statuary. The master was +therefore obliged to have his whole plan perfect in his head before he +could venture to order marble. Models, drawings made to scale, careful +measurements, were necessary at each successive step. Day and night +Buonarroti was at work; in the saddle early in the morning, among +stone-cutters and road-makers; in the evening, studying, projecting, +calculating, settling up accounts by lamplight. + + +VI + +The narrative of Michelangelo's personal life and movements must here +be interrupted in order to notice an event in which he took no common +interest. The members of the Florentine Academy addressed a memorial +to Leo X., requesting him to authorise the translation of Dante +Alighieri's bones from Ravenna to his native city. The document was +drawn up in Latin, and dated October 20, 1518. Among the names and +signatures appended, Michelangelo's alone is written in Italian: "I, +Michelangelo, the sculptor, pray the like of your Holiness, offering +my services to the divine poet for the erection of a befitting +sepulchre to him in some honourable place in this city." Nothing +resulted from this petition, and the supreme poet's remains still rest +beneath "the little cupola, more neat than solemn," guarded by Pietro +Lombardi's half-length portrait. + +Of Michelangelo's special devotion to Dante and the "Divine Comedy" we +have plenty of proof. In the first place, there exist the two fine +sonnets to his memory, which were celebrated in their author's +lifetime, and still remain among the best of his performances in +verse. It does not appear when they were composed. The first is +probably earlier than the second; for below the autograph of the +latter is written, "Messer Donato, you ask of me what I do not +possess." The Donato is undoubtedly Donato Giannotti, with whom +Michelangelo lived on very familiar terms at Rome about 1545. I will +here insert my English translation of these sonnets:-- + + _From heaven his spirit came, and, robed in clay, + The realms of justice and of mercy trod: + Then rose a living man to gaze on God, + That he might make the truth as clear as day._ + _For that pure star, that brightened with his ray + The undeserving nest where I was born, + The whole wide world would be a prize to scorn; + None but his Maker can due guerdon pay. + I speak of Dante, whose high work remains + Unknown, unhonoured by that thankless brood, + Who only to just men deny their wage. + Were I but he! Born for like lingering pains, + Against his exile coupled with his good + I'd gladly change the world's best heritage! + + No tongue can tell of him what should be told, + For on blind eyes his splendour shines too strong; + 'Twere easier to blame those who wrought him wrong, + Than sound his least praise with a mouth of gold. + He to explore the place of pain was bold, + Then soared to God, to teach our souls by song; + The gates heaven oped to bear his feet along, + Against his just desire his country rolled. + Thankless I call her, and to her own pain + The nurse of fell mischance; for sign take this, + That ever to the best she deals more scorn; + Among a thousand proofs let one remain; + Though ne'er was fortune more unjust than his, + His equal or his better ne'er was born._ + +The influence of Dante over Buonarroti's style of composition +impressed his contemporaries. Benedetto Varchi, in the proemium to a +lecture upon one of Michelangelo's poems, speaks of it as "a most +sublime sonnet, full of that antique purity and Dantesque gravity." +Dante's influence over the great artist's pictorial imagination is +strongly marked in the fresco of the Last Judgment, where Charon's +boat, and Minos with his twisted tail, are borrowed direct from the +_Inferno._ Condivi, moreover, informs us that the statues of the Lives +Contemplative and Active upon the tomb of Julius were suggested by the +Rachel and Leah of the _Purgatorio._ We also know that he filled a +book with drawings illustrative of the "Divine Comedy." By a miserable +accident this most precious volume, while in the possession of Antonio +Montauti, the sculptor, perished at sea on a journey from Livorno to +Rome. + +But the strongest proof of Michelangelo's reputation as a learned +student of Dante is given in Donato Giannotti's Dialogue upon the +number of days spent by the poet during his journey through Hell and +Purgatory. Luigi del Riccio, who was a great friend of the sculptor's, +is supposed to have been walking one day toward the Lateran with +Antonio Petreo. Their conversation fell upon Cristoforo Landino's +theory that the time consumed by Dante in this transit was the whole +of the night of Good Friday, together with the following day. While +engaged in this discussion, they met Donato Giannotti taking the air +with Michelangelo. The four friends joined company, and Petreo +observed that it was a singular good fortune to have fallen that +morning upon two such eminent Dante scholars. Donato replied: "With +regard to Messer Michelangelo, you have abundant reason to say that he +is an eminent Dantista, since I am acquainted with no one who +understands him better and has a fuller mastery over his works." It is +not needful to give a detailed account of Buonarroti's Dantesque +criticism, reported in these dialogues, although there are good +grounds for supposing them in part to represent exactly what Giannotti +heard him say. This applies particularly to his able interpretation of +the reason why Dante placed Brutus and Cassius in hell--not as being +the murderers of a tyrant, but as having laid violent hands upon the +sacred majesty of the Empire in the person of Caesar. The narrative of +Dante's journey through Hell and Purgatory, which is put into +Michelangelo's mouth, if we are to believe that he really made it +extempore and without book, shows a most minute knowledge of the +_Inferno_. + + +VII + +Michelangelo's doings at Serravezza can be traced with some accuracy +during the summers of 1518 and 1519. An important letter to +Buonarroto, dated April 2, 1518, proves that the execution of the road +had not yet been decided on. He is impatient to hear whether the Wool +Corporation has voted the necessary funds and appointed him to +engineer it. "With regard to the construction of the road here, please +tell Jacopo Salviati that I shall carry out his wishes, and he will +not be betrayed by me. I do not look after any interests of my own in +this matter, but seek to serve my patrons and my country. If I begged +the Pope and Cardinal to give me full control over the business, it +was that I might be able to conduct it to those places where the best +marbles are. Nobody here knows anything about them. I did not ask for +the commission in order to make money; nothing of the sort is in my +head." This proves conclusively that much which has been written about +the waste of Michelangelo's abilities on things a lesser man might +have accomplished is merely sentimental. On the contrary, he was even +accused of begging for the contract from a desire to profit by it. In +another letter, of April 18, the decision of the Wool Corporation was +still anxiously expected. Michelangelo gets impatient. "I shall mount +my horse, and go to find the Pope and Cardinal, tell them how it is +with me, leave the business here, and return to Carrara. The folk +there pray for my return as one is wont to pray to Christ." Then he +complains of the worthlessness and disloyalty of the stone-hewers he +brought from Florence, and winds up with an angry postscript: "Oh, +cursed a thousand times the day and hour when I left Carrara! This is +the cause of my utter ruin. But I shall go back there soon. Nowadays +it is a sin to do one's duty." On the 22nd of April the Wool +Corporation assigned to Michelangelo a contract for the quarries, +leaving him free to act as he thought best. Complaints follow about +his workmen. One passage is curious: "Sandro, he too has gone away +from here. He stopped several months with a mule and a little mule in +grand style, doing nothing but fish and make love. He cost me a +hundred ducats to no purpose; has left a certain quantity of marble, +giving me the right to take the blocks that suit my purpose. However, +I cannot find among them what is worth twenty-five ducats, the whole +being a jumble of rascally work. Either maliciously or through +ignorance, he has treated me very ill." + +Upon the 17th April 1517, Michelangelo had bought a piece of ground in +Via Mozza, now Via S. Zanobi, at Florence, from the Chapter of S. +Maria del Fiore, in order to build a workshop there. He wished, about +the time of the last letter quoted, to get an additional lot of land, +in order to have larger space at his command for the finishing of +marbles. The negotiations went on through the summer of 1518, and on +the 24th of November he records that the purchase was completed. +Premises adapted to the sculptor's purpose were erected, which +remained in Michelangelo's possession until the close of his life. + +In August 1518 he writes to a friend at Florence that the road is now +as good as finished, and that he is bringing down his columns. The +work is more difficult than he expected. One man's life had been +already thrown away, and Michelangelo himself was in great danger. +"The place where we have to quarry is exceedingly rough, and the +workmen are very stupid at their business. For some months I must make +demands upon my powers of patience until the mountains are tamed and +the men instructed. Afterwards we shall proceed more quickly. Enough, +that I mean to do what I promised, and shall produce the finest thing +that Italy has ever seen, if God assists me." + +There is no want of heart and spirit in these letters. Irritable at +moments, Michelangelo was at bottom enthusiastic, and, like Napoleon +Buonaparte, felt capable of conquering the world with his sole arm. + +In September we find him back again at Florence, where he seems to +have spent the winter. His friends wanted him to go to Rome; they +thought that his presence there was needed to restore the confidence +of the Medici and to overpower calumniating rivals. In reply to a +letter of admonition written in this sense by his friend Lionardo di +Compagno, the saddle-maker, he writes: "Your urgent solicitations are +to me so many stabs of the knife. I am dying of annoyance at not being +able to do what I should like to do, through my ill-luck." At the same +time he adds that he has now arranged an excellent workshop, where +twenty statues can be set up together. The drawback is that there are +no means of covering the whole space in and protecting it against the +weather. This yard, encumbered with the marbles for S. Lorenzo, must +have been in the Via Mozza. + +Early in the spring he removed to Serravezza, and resumed the work of +bringing down his blocked-out columns from the quarries. One of these +pillars, six of which he says were finished, was of huge size, +intended probably for the flanks to the main door at S. Lorenzo. It +tumbled into the river, and was smashed to pieces. Michelangelo +attributed the accident solely to the bad quality of iron which a +rascally fellow had put into the lewis-ring by means of which the +block was being raised. On this occasion he again ran considerable +risk of injury, and suffered great annoyance. The following letter of +condolence, written by Jacopo Salviati, proves how much he was +grieved, and also shows that he lived on excellent terms with the +Pope's right-hand man and counsellor: "Keep up your spirits and +proceed gallantly with your great enterprise, for your honour requires +this, seeing you have commenced the work. Confide in me; nothing will +be amiss with you, and our Lord is certain to compensate you for far +greater losses than this. Have no doubt upon this point, and if you +want one thing more than another, let me know, and you shall be served +immediately. Remember that your undertaking a work of such magnitude +will lay our city under the deepest obligation, not only to yourself, +but also to your family for ever. Great men, and of courageous spirit, +take heart under adversities, and become more energetic." + +A pleasant thread runs through Michelangelo's correspondence during +these years. It is the affection he felt for his workman Pietro +Urbano. When he leaves the young man behind him at Florence, he writes +frequently, giving him advice, bidding him mind his studies, and also +telling him to confess. It happened that Urbano fell ill at Carrara, +toward the end of August. Michelangelo, on hearing the news, left +Florence and travelled by post to Carrara. Thence he had his friend +transported on the backs of men to Serravezza, and after his recovery +sent him to pick up strength in his native city of Pistoja. In one of +the _Ricordi_ he reckons the cost of all this at 33-1/2 ducats. + +While Michelangelo was residing at Pietra Santa in 1518, his old +friend and fellow-worker, Pietro Rosselli, wrote to him from Rome, +asking his advice about a tabernacle of marble which Pietro Soderini +had ordered. It was to contain the head of S. John the Baptist, and to +be placed in the Church of the Convent of S. Silvestro. On the 7th of +June Soderini wrote upon the same topic, requesting a design. This +Michelangelo sent in October, the execution of the shrine being +intrusted to Federigo Frizzi. The incident would hardly be worth +mentioning, except for the fact that it brings to mind one of +Michelangelo's earliest patrons, the good-hearted Gonfalonier of +Justice, and anticipates the coming of the only woman he is known to +have cared for, Vittoria Colonna. It was at S. Silvestro that she +dwelt, retired in widowhood, and here occurred those Sunday morning +conversations of which Francesco d'Olanda has left us so interesting a +record. + +During the next year, 1519, a certain Tommaso di Dolfo invited him to +visit Adrianople. He reminded him how, coming together in Florence, +when Michelangelo lay there in hiding from Pope Julius, they had +talked about the East, and he had expressed a wish to travel into +Turkey. Tommaso di Dolfo dissuaded him on that occasion, because the +ruler of the province was a man of no taste and careless about the +arts. Things had altered since, and he thought there was a good +opening for an able sculptor. Things, however, had altered in Italy +also, and Buonarroti felt no need to quit the country where his fame +was growing daily. + +Considerable animation is introduced into the annals of Michelangelo's +life at this point by his correspondence with jovial Sebastiano del +Piombo. We possess one of this painter's letters, dating as early as +1510, when he thanks Buonarroti for consenting to be godfather to his +boy Luciano; a second of 1512, which contains the interesting account +of his conversation with Pope Julius about Michelangelo and Raffaello; +and a third, of 1518, turning upon the rivalry between the two great +artists. But the bulk of Sebastiano's gossipy and racy communications +belongs to the period of thirteen years between 1520 and 1533; then it +suddenly breaks off, owing to Michelangelo's having taken up his +residence at Rome during the autumn of 1533. A definite rupture at +some subsequent period separated the old friends. These letters are a +mine of curious information respecting artistic life at Rome. They +prove, beyond the possibility of doubt, that, whatever Buonarroti and +Sanzio may have felt, their flatterers, dependants, and creatures +cherished the liveliest hostility and lived in continual rivalry. It +is somewhat painful to think that Michelangelo could have lent a +willing ear to the malignant babble of a man so much inferior to +himself in nobleness of nature--have listened when Sebastiano taunted +Raffaello as "Prince of the Synagogue," or boasted that a picture of +his own was superior to "the tapestries just come from Flanders." Yet +Sebastiano was not the only friend to whose idle gossip the great +sculptor indulgently stooped. Lionardo, the saddle-maker, was even +more offensive. He writes, for instance, upon New Year's Day, 1519, to +say that the Resurrection of Lazarus, for which Michelangelo had +contributed some portion of the design, was nearly finished, and adds: +"Those who understand art rank it far above Raffaello. The vault, too, +of Agostino Chigi has been exposed to view, and is a thing truly +disgraceful to a great artist, far worse than the last hall of the +Palace. Sebastiano has nothing to fear." + +We gladly turn from these quarrels to what Sebastiano teaches us about +Michelangelo's personal character. The general impression in the world +was that he was very difficult to live with. Julius, for instance, +after remarking that Raffaello changed his style in imitation of +Buonarroti, continued: "'But he is terrible, as you see; one cannot +get on with him.' I answered to his Holiness that your terribleness +hurt nobody, and that you only seem to be terrible because of your +passionate devotion to the great works you have on hand." Again, he +relates Leo's estimate of his friend's character: + +"I know in what esteem the Pope holds you, and when he speaks of you, +it would seem that he were talking about a brother, almost with tears +in his eyes; for he has told me you were brought up together as boys" +(Giovanni de' Medici and the sculptor were exactly of the same age), +"and shows that he knows and loves you. But you frighten everybody, +even Popes!" Michelangelo must have complained of this last remark, +for Sebastiano, in a letter dated a few days later, reverts to the +subject: "Touching what you reply to me about your terribleness, I, +for my part, do not esteem you terrible; and if I have not written on +this subject do not be surprised, seeing you do not strike me as +terrible, except only in art--that is to say, in being the greatest +master who ever lived: that is my opinion; if I am in error, the loss +is mine." Later on, he tells us what Clement VII. thought: "One letter +to your friend (the Pope) would be enough; you would soon see what +fruit it bore; because I know how he values you. He loves you, knows +your nature, adores your work, and tastes its quality as much as it is +possible for man to do. Indeed, his appreciation is miraculous, and +such as ought to give great satisfaction to an artist. He speaks of +you so honourably, and with such loving affection, that a father could +not say of a son what he does of you. It is true that he has been +grieved at times by buzzings in his ear about you at the time of the +siege of Florence. He shrugged his shoulders and cried, 'Michelangelo +is in the wrong; I never did him any injury.'" It is interesting to +find Sebastiano, in the same letter, complaining of Michelangelo's +sensitiveness. "One favour I would request of you, that is, that you +should come to learn your worth, and not stoop as you do to every +little thing, and remember that eagles do not prey on flies. Enough! I +know that you will laugh at my prattle; but I do not care; Nature has +made me so, and I am not Zuan da Rezzo." + + +VIII + +The year 1520 was one of much importance for Michelangelo. A _Ricordo_ +dated March 10 gives a brief account of the last four years, winding +up with the notice that "Pope Leo, perhaps because he wants to get the +façade at S. Lorenzo finished quicker than according to the contract +made with me, and I also consenting thereto, sets me free ... and so +he leaves me at liberty, under no obligation of accounting to any one +for anything which I have had to do with him or others upon his +account." It appears from the draft of a letter without date that some +altercation between Michelangelo and the Medici preceded this rupture. +He had been withdrawn from Serravezza to Florence in order that he +might plan the new buildings at S. Lorenzo; and the workmen of the +Opera del Duomo continued the quarrying business in his absence. +Marbles which he had excavated for S. Lorenzo were granted by the +Cardinal de' Medici to the custodians of the cathedral, and no attempt +was made to settle accounts. Michelangelo's indignation was roused by +this indifference to his interests, and he complains in terms of +extreme bitterness. Then he sums up all that he has lost, in addition +to expected profits. "I do not reckon the wooden model for the said +façade, which I made and sent to Rome; I do not reckon the period of +three years wasted in this work; I do not reckon that I have been +ruined (in health and strength perhaps) by the undertaking; I do not +reckon the enormous insult put on me by being brought here to do the +work, and then seeing it taken away from me, and for what reason I +have not yet learned; I do not reckon my house in Rome, which I left, +and where marbles, furniture and blocked-out statues have suffered to +upwards of 500 ducats. Omitting all these matters, out of the 2300 +ducats I received, only 500 remain in my hands." + +When he was an old man, Michelangelo told Condivi that Pope Leo +changed his mind about S. Lorenzo. In the often-quoted letter to the +prelate he said: "Leo, not wishing me to work at the tomb of Julius, +_pretended that he wanted to complete_ the façade of S. Lorenzo at +Florence." What was the real state of the case can only be +conjectured. It does not seem that the Pope took very kindly to the +façade; so the project may merely have been dropped through +carelessness. Michelangelo neglected his own interests by not going to +Rome, where his enemies kept pouring calumnies into the Pope's ears. +The Marquis of Carrara, as reported by Lionardo, wrote to Leo that "he +had sought to do you honour, and had done so to his best ability. It +was your fault if he had not done more--the fault of your sordidness, +your quarrelsomeness, your eccentric conduct." When, then, a dispute +arose between the Cardinal and the sculptor about the marbles, Leo may +have felt that it was time to break off from an artist so impetuous +and irritable. Still, whatever faults of temper Michelangelo may have +had, and however difficult he was to deal with, nothing can excuse the +Medici for their wanton waste of his physical and mental energies at +the height of their development. + +On the 6th of April 1520 Raffaello died, worn out with labour and with +love, in the flower of his wonderful young manhood. It would be rash +to assert that he had already given the world the best he had to +offer, because nothing is so incalculable as the evolution of genius. +Still we perceive now that his latest manner, both as regards style +and feeling, and also as regards the method of execution by +assistants, shows him to have been upon the verge of intellectual +decline. While deploring Michelangelo's impracticability--that +solitary, self-reliant, and exacting temperament which made him reject +collaboration, and which doomed so much of his best work to +incompleteness--we must remember that to the very end of his long life +he produced nothing (except perhaps in architecture) which does not +bear the seal and superscription of his fervent self. Raffaello, on +the contrary, just before his death, seemed to be exhaling into a +nebulous mist of brilliant but unsatisfactory performances. Diffusing +the rich and facile treasures of his genius through a host of lesser +men, he had almost ceased to be a personality. Even his own work, as +proved by the Transfiguration, was deteriorating. The blossom was +overblown, the bubble on the point of bursting; and all those pupils +who had gathered round him, drawing like planets from the sun their +lustre, sank at his death into frigidity and insignificance. Only +Giulio Romano burned with a torrid sensual splendour all his own. +Fortunately for the history of the Renaissance, Giulio lived to evoke +the wonder of the Mantuan villa, that climax of associated crafts of +decoration, which remains for us the symbol of the dream of art +indulged by Raffaello in his Roman period. + +These pupils of the Urbinate claimed now, on their master's death, and +claimed with good reason, the right to carry on his great work in the +Borgian apartments of the Vatican. The Sala de' Pontefici, or the Hall +of Constantine, as it is sometimes called, remained to be painted. +They possessed designs bequeathed by Raffaello for its decoration, and +Leo, very rightly, decided to leave it in their hands. Sebastiano del +Piombo, however, made a vigorous effort to obtain the work for +himself. His Raising of Lazarus, executed in avowed competition with +the Transfiguration, had brought him into the first rank of Roman +painters. It was seen what the man, with Michelangelo to back him up, +could do. We cannot properly appreciate this picture in its present +state. The glory of the colouring has passed away; and it was +precisely here that Sebastiano may have surpassed Raffaello, as he was +certainly superior to the school. Sebastiano wrote letter after letter +to Michelangelo in Florence. He first mentions Raffaello's death, +"whom may God forgive;" then says that the _"garzoni"_ of the Urbinate +are beginning to paint in oil upon the walls of the Sala de' +Pontefici. "I pray you to remember me, and to recommend me to the +Cardinal, and if I am the man to undertake the job, I should like you +to set me to work at it; for I shall not disgrace you, as indeed I +think I have not done already. I took my picture (the Lazarus) once +more to the Vatican, and placed it beside Raffaello's (the +Transfiguration), and I came without shame out of the comparison." In +answer, apparently, to this first letter on the subject, Michelangelo +wrote a humorous recommendation of his friend and gossip to the +Cardinal Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena. It runs thus: "I beg your most +reverend Lordship, not as a friend or servant, for I am not worthy to +be either, but as a low fellow, poor and brainless, that you will +cause Sebastian, the Venetian painter, now that Rafael is dead, to +have some share in the works, at the Palace. If it should seem to your +Lordship that kind offices are thrown away upon a man like me, I might +suggest that on some rare occasions a certain sweetness may be found +in being kind even to fools, as onions taste well, for a change of +food, to one who is tired of capons. You oblige men of mark every day. +I beg your Lordship to try what obliging me is like. The obligation +will be a very great one, and Sebastian is a worthy man. If, then, +your kind offers are thrown away on me, they will not be so on +Sebastian, for I am certain he will prove a credit to your Lordship." + +In his following missives Sebastiano flatters Michelangelo upon the +excellent effect produced by the letter. "The Cardinal informed me +that the Pope had given the Hall of the Pontiffs to Raffaello's +'prentices, and they have begun with a figure in oils upon the wall, a +marvellous production which eclipses all the rooms painted by their +master, and proves that when it is finished, this hall will beat the +record, and be the finest thing done in painting since the ancients. +Then he asked if I had read your letter. I said, No. He laughed +loudly, as though at a good joke, and I quitted him with compliments. +Bandinelli, who is copying the Laocoon, tells me that the Cardinal +showed him your letter, and also showed it to the Pope; in fact, +nothing is talked about at the Vatican except your letter, and it +makes everybody laugh." He adds that he does not think the hall ought +to be committed to young men. Having discovered what sort of things +they meant to paint there, battle-pieces and vast compositions, he +judges the scheme beyond their scope. Michelangelo alone is equal to +the task. Meanwhile, Leo, wishing to compromise matters, offered +Sebastiano the great hall in the lower apartments of the Borgias, +where Alexander VI. used to live, and where Pinturicchio +painted--rooms shut up in pious horror by Julius when he came to +occupy the palace of his hated and abominable predecessor. +Sebastiano's reliance upon Michelangelo, and his calculation that the +way to get possession of the coveted commission would depend on the +latter's consenting to supply him with designs, emerge in the +following passage: "The Cardinal told me that he was ordered by the +Pope to offer me the lower hall. I replied that I could accept nothing +without your permission, or until your answer came, which is not to +hand at the date of writing. I added that, unless I were engaged to +Michelangelo, even if the Pope commanded me to paint that hall, I +would not do so, because I do not think myself inferior to Raffaello's +'prentices, especially after the Pope, with his own mouth, had offered +me half of the upper hall; and anyhow, I do not regard it as +creditable to myself to paint the cellars, and they to have the gilded +chambers. I said they had better be allowed to go on painting. He +answered that the Pope had only done this to avoid rivalries. The men +possessed designs ready for that hall, and I ought to remember that +the lower one was also a hall of the Pontiffs. My reply was that I +would have nothing to do with it; so that now they are laughing at me, +and I am so worried that I am well-nigh mad." Later on he adds: "It +has been my object, through you and your authority, to execute +vengeance for myself and you too, letting malignant fellows know that +there are other demigods alive beside Raffael da Urbino and his +'prentices." The vacillation of Leo in this business, and his desire +to make things pleasant, are characteristic of the man, who acted just +in the same way while negotiating with princes. + + +IX + +When Michelangelo complained that he was "rovinato per detta opera di +San Lorenzo," he probably did not mean that he was ruined in purse, +but in health and energy. For some while after Leo gave him his +liberty, he seems to have remained comparatively inactive. During this +period the sacristy at S. Lorenzo and the Medicean tombs were probably +in contemplation. Giovanni Cambi says that they were begun at the end +of March 1520. But we first hear something definite about them in a +_Ricordo_ which extends from April 9 to August 19, 1521. Michelangelo +says that on the former of these dates he received money from the +Cardinal de' Medici for a journey to Carrara, whither he went and +stayed about three weeks, ordering marbles for "the tombs which are to +be placed in the new sacristy at S. Lorenzo. And there I made out +drawings to scale, and measured models in clay for the said tombs." He +left his assistant Scipione of Settignano at Carrara as overseer of +the work and returned to Florence. On the 20th of July following he +went again to Carrara, and stayed nine days. On the 16th of August the +contractors for the blocks, all of which were excavated from the old +Roman quarry of Polvaccio, came to Florence, and were paid for on +account. Scipione returned on the 19th of August. It may be added that +the name of Stefano, the miniaturist, who acted as Michelangelo's +factotum through several years, is mentioned for the first time in +this minute and interesting record. + +That the commission for the sacristy came from the Cardinal Giulio, +and not from the Pope, appears in the document I have just cited. The +fact is confirmed by a letter written to Fattucci in 1523: "About two +years have elapsed since I returned from Carrara, whither I had gone +to purchase marbles for the tombs of the Cardinal." The letter is +curious in several respects, because it shows how changeable through +many months Giulio remained about the scheme; at one time bidding +Michelangelo prepare plans and models, at another refusing to listen +to any proposals; then warming up again, and saying that, if he lived +long enough, he meant to erect the façade as well. The final issue of +the affair was, that after Giulio became Pope Clement VII., the +sacristy went forward, and Michelangelo had to put the sepulchre of +Julius aside. During the pontificate of Adrian, we must believe that +he worked upon his statues for that monument, since a Cardinal was +hardly powerful enough to command his services; but when the Cardinal +became Pope, and threatened to bring an action against him for moneys +received, the case was altered. The letter to Fattucci, when carefully +studied, leads to these conclusions. + +Very little is known to us regarding his private life in the year +1521. We only possess one letter, relating to the purchase of a house. +In October he stood godfather to the infant son of Niccolò Soderini, +nephew of his old patron, the Gonfalonier. + +This barren period is marked by only one considerable event--that is, +the termination of the Cristo Risorto, or Christ Triumphant, which had +been ordered by Metello Varj de' Porcari in 1514. The statue seems to +have been rough-hewn at the quarries, packed up, and sent to Pisa on +its way to Florence as early as December 1518, but it was not until +March 1521 that Michelangelo began to occupy himself about it +seriously. He then despatched Pietro Urbano to Rome with orders to +complete it there, and to arrange with the purchaser for placing it +upon a pedestal. Sebastiano's letters contain some references to this +work, which enable us to understand how wrong it would be to accept it +as a representative piece of Buonarroti's own handicraft. On the 9th +of November 1520 he writes that his gossip, Giovanni da Reggio, "goes +about saying that you did not execute the figure, but that it is the +work of Pietro Urbano. Take good care that it should be seen to be +from your hand, so that poltroons and babblers may burst." On the 6th +of September 1521 he returns to the subject. Urbano was at this time +resident in Rome, and behaving himself so badly, in Sebastiano's +opinion, that he feels bound to make a severe report. "In the first +place, you sent him to Rome with the statue to finish and erect it. +What he did and left undone you know already. But I must inform you +that he has spoiled the marble wherever he touched it. In particular, +he shortened the right foot and cut the toes off; the hands too, +especially the right hand, which holds the cross, have been mutilated +in the fingers. Frizzi says they seem to have been worked by a +biscuit-maker, not wrought in marble, but kneaded by some one used to +dough. I am no judge, not being familiar with the method of +stone-cutting; but I can tell you that the fingers look to me very +stiff and dumpy. It is clear also that he has been peddling at the +beard; and I believe my little boy would have done so with more sense, +for it looks as though he had used a knife without a point to chisel +the hair. This can easily be remedied, however. He has also spoiled +one of the nostrils. A little more, and the whole nose would have been +ruined, and only God could have restored it." Michelangelo apparently +had already taken measures to transfer the Christ from Urbano's hands +to those of the sculptor Federigo Frizzi. This irritated his former +friend and workman. "Pietro shows a very ugly and malignant spirit +after finding himself cast off by you. He does not seem to care for +you or any one alive, but thinks he is a great master. He will soon +find out his mistake, for the poor young man will never be able to +make statues. He has forgotten all he knew of art, and the knees of +your Christ are worth more than all Rome together." It was +Sebastiano's wont to run babbling on this way. Once again he returns +to Pietro Urbano. "I am informed that he has left Rome; he has not +been seen for several days, has shunned the Court, and I certainly +believe that he will come to a bad end. He gambles, wants all the +women of the town, struts like a Ganymede in velvet shoes through +Rome, and flings his cash about. Poor fellow! I am sorry for him +since, after all, he is but young." + +Such was the end of Pietro Urbano. Michelangelo was certainly +unfortunate with his apprentices. One cannot help fancying he may have +spoiled them by indulgence. Vasari, mentioning Pietro, calls him "a +person of talent, but one who never took the pains to work." + +Frizzi brought the Christ Triumphant into its present state, patching +up what "the lither lad" from Pistoja had boggled. Buonarroti, who was +sincerely attached to Varj, and felt his artistic reputation now at +stake, offered to make a new statue. But the magnanimous Roman +gentleman replied that he was entirely satisfied with the one he had +received. He regarded and esteemed it "as a thing of gold," and, in +refusing Michelangelo's offer, added that "this proved his noble soul +and generosity, inasmuch as, when he had already made what could not +be surpassed and was incomparable, he still wanted to serve his friend +better." The price originally stipulated was paid, and Varj added an +autograph testimonial, strongly affirming his contentment with the +whole transaction. + +These details prove that the Christ of the Minerva must be regarded as +a mutilated masterpiece. Michelangelo is certainly responsible for the +general conception, the pose, and a large portion of the finished +surface, details of which, especially in the knees, so much admired by +Sebastiano, and in the robust arms, are magnificent. He designed the +figure wholly nude, so that the heavy bronze drapery which now +surrounds the loins, and bulges drooping from the left hip, breaks the +intended harmony of lines. Yet, could this brawny man have ever +suggested any distinctly religious idea? Christ, victor over Death and +Hell, did not triumph by ponderosity and sinews. The spiritual nature +of his conquest, the ideality of a divine soul disencumbered from the +flesh, to which it once had stooped in love for sinful man, ought +certainly to have been emphasised, if anywhere through art, in the +statue of a Risen Christ. Substitute a scaling-ladder for the cross, +and here we have a fine life-guardsman, stripped and posing for some +classic battle-piece. We cannot quarrel with Michelangelo about the +face and head. Those vulgarly handsome features, that beard, pomaded +and curled by a barber's 'prentice, betray no signs of his +inspiration. Only in the arrangement of the hair, hyacinthine locks +descending to the shoulders, do we recognise the touch of the divine +sculptor. + +The Christ became very famous. Francis I. had it cast and sent to +Paris, to be repeated in bronze. What is more strange, it has long +been the object of a religious cult. The right foot, so mangled by +poor Pietro, wears a fine brass shoe, in order to prevent its being +kissed away. This almost makes one think of Goethe's hexameter: +"Wunderthätige Bilder sind meist nur schlechte Gemälde." Still it must +be remembered that excellent critics have found the whole work +admirable. Gsell-Fels says: "It is his second Moses; in movement and +physique one of the greatest masterpieces; as a Christ-ideal, the +heroic conception of a humanist." That last observation is just. We +may remember that Vida was composing his _Christiad_ while Frizzi was +curling the beard of the Cristo Risorto. Vida always speaks of Jesus +as _Heros_ and of God the Father as _Superum Pater Nimbipotens_ or +_Regnator Olympi_. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +I + +Leo X. expired upon the 1st day of December 1521. The vacillating game +he played in European politics had just been crowned with momentary +success. Some folk believed that the Pope died of joy after hearing +that his Imperial allies had entered the town of Milan; others thought +that he succumbed to poison. We do not know what caused his death. But +the unsoundness of his constitution, over-taxed by dissipation and +generous living, in the midst of public cares for which the man had +hardly nerve enough, may suffice to account for a decease certainly +sudden and premature. Michelangelo, born in the same year, was +destined to survive him through more than eight lustres of the life of +man. + +Leo was a personality whom it is impossible to praise without reserve. +The Pope at that time in Italy had to perform three separate +functions. His first duty was to the Church. Leo left the See of Rome +worse off than he found it: financially bankrupt, compromised by vague +schemes set on foot for the aggrandisement of his family, discredited +by many shameless means for raising money upon spiritual securities. +His second duty was to Italy. Leo left the peninsula so involved in a +mesh of meaningless entanglements, diplomatic and aimless wars, that +anarchy and violence proved to be the only exit from the situation. +His third duty was to that higher culture which Italy dispensed to +Europe, and of which the Papacy had made itself the leading +propagator. Here Leo failed almost as conspicuously as in all else he +attempted. He debased the standard of art and literature by his +ill-placed liberalities, seeking quick returns for careless +expenditure, not selecting the finest spirits of his age for timely +patronage, diffusing no lofty enthusiasm, but breeding round him +mushrooms of mediocrity. + +Nothing casts stronger light upon the low tone of Roman society +created by Leo than the outburst of frenzy and execration which +exploded when a Fleming was elected as his successor. Adrian Florent, +belonging to a family surnamed Dedel, emerged from the scrutiny of the +Conclave into the pontifical chair. He had been the tutor of Charles +V., and this may suffice to account for his nomination. Cynical wits +ascribed that circumstance to the direct and unexpected action of the +Holy Ghost. He was the one foreigner who occupied the seat of S. Peter +after the period when the metropolis of Western Christendom became an +Italian principality. Adrian, by his virtues and his failings, proved +that modern Rome, in her social corruption and religious indifference, +demanded an Italian Pontiff. Single-minded and simple, raised +unexpectedly by circumstances into his supreme position, he shut his +eyes absolutely to art and culture, abandoned diplomacy, and +determined to act only as the chief of the Catholic Church. In +ecclesiastical matters Adrian was undoubtedly a worthy man. He +returned to the original conception of his duty as the Primate of +Occidental Christendom; and what might have happened had he lived to +impress his spirit upon Rome, remains beyond the reach of calculation. +Dare we conjecture that the sack of 1527 would have been averted? + +Adrian reigned only a year and eight months. He had no time to do +anything of permanent value, and was hardly powerful enough to do it, +even if time and opportunity had been afforded. In the thunderstorm +gathering over Rome and the Papacy, he represents that momentary lull +during which men hold their breath and murmur. All the place-seekers, +parasites, flatterers, second-rate artificers, folk of facile talents, +whom Leo gathered round him, vented their rage against a Pope who +lived sparsely, shut up the Belvedere, called statues "idols of the +Pagans," and spent no farthing upon twangling lutes and frescoed +chambers. Truly Adrian is one of the most grotesque and significant +figures upon the page of modern history. His personal worth, his +inadequacy to the needs of the age, and his incompetence to control +the tempest loosed by Della Roveres, Borgias, and Medici around him, +give the man a tragic irony. + +After his death, upon the 23rd of September 1523, the Cardinal Giulio +de' Medici was made Pope. He assumed the title of Clement VII. upon +the 9th of November. The wits who saluted Adrian's doctor with the +title of "Saviour of the Fatherland," now rejoiced at the election of +an Italian and a Medici. The golden years of Leo's reign would +certainly return, they thought; having no foreknowledge of the tragedy +which was so soon to be enacted, first at Rome, and afterwards at +Florence, Michelangelo wrote to his friend Topolino at Carrara: "You +will have heard that Medici is made Pope; all the world seems to me to +be delighted, and I think that here at Florence great things will soon +be set on foot in our art. Therefore, serve well and faithfully." + + +II + +Our records are very scanty, both as regards personal details and +art-work, for the life of Michelangelo during the pontificate of +Adrian VI. The high esteem in which he was held throughout Italy is +proved by three incidents which may shortly be related. In 1522, the +Board of Works for the cathedral church of S. Petronio at Bologna +decided to complete the façade. Various architects sent in designs; +among them Peruzzi competed with one in the Gothic style, and another +in that of the Classical revival. Great differences of opinion arose +in the city as to the merits of the rival plans, and the Board in July +invited Michelangelo, through their secretary, to come and act as +umpire. They promised to reward him magnificently. It does not appear +that Michelangelo accepted the offer. In 1523, Cardinal Grimani, who +was a famous collector of art-objects, wrote begging for some specimen +of his craft. Grimani left it open to him "to choose material and +subject; painting, bronze, or marble, according to his fancy." +Michelangelo must have promised to fulfill the commission, for we have +a letter from Grimani thanking him effusively. He offers to pay fifty +ducats at the commencement of the work, and what Michelangelo thinks +fit to demand at its conclusion: "for such is the excellence of your +ability, that we shall take no thought of money-value." Grimani was +Patriarch of Aquileja. In the same year, 1523, the Genoese entered +into negotiations for a colossal statue of Andrea Doria, which they +desired to obtain from the hand of Michelangelo. Its execution must +have been seriously contemplated, for the Senate of Genoa banked 300 +ducats for the purpose. We regret that Michelangelo could not carry +out a work so congenial to his talent as this ideal portrait of the +mighty Signer Capitano would have been; but we may console ourselves +by reflecting that even his energies were not equal to all tasks +imposed upon him. The real matter for lamentation is that they +suffered so much waste in the service of vacillating Popes. + +To the year 1523 belongs, in all probability, the last extant letter +which Michelangelo wrote to his father. Lodovico was dissatisfied with +a contract which had been drawn up on the 16th of June in that year, +and by which a certain sum of money, belonging to the dowry of his +late wife, was settled in reversion upon his eldest son. Michelangelo +explains the tenor of the deed, and then breaks forth into the, +following bitter and ironical invective: "If my life is a nuisance to +you, you have found the means of protecting yourself, and will inherit +the key of that treasure which you say that I possess. And you will be +acting rightly; for all Florence knows how mighty rich you were, and +how I always robbed you, and deserve to be chastised. Highly will men +think of you for this. Cry out and tell folk all you choose about me, +but do not write again, for you prevent my working. What I have now to +do is to make good all you have had from me during the past +five-and-twenty years. I would rather not tell you this, but I cannot +help it. Take care, and be on your guard against those whom it +concerns you. A man dies but once, and does not come back again to +patch up things ill done. You have put off till the death to do this. +May God assist you!" + +In another draft of this letter Lodovico is accused of going about the +town complaining that he was once a rich man, and that Michelangelo +had robbed him. Still, we must not take this for proved; one of the +great artist's main defects was an irritable suspiciousness, which +caused him often to exaggerate slights and to fancy insults. He may +have attached too much weight to the grumblings of an old man, whom at +the bottom of his heart he loved dearly. + + +III + +Clement, immediately after his election, resolved on setting +Michelangelo at work in earnest on the Sacristy. At the very beginning +of January he also projected the building of the Laurentian Library, +and wrote, through his Roman agent, Giovanni Francesco Fattucci, +requesting to have two plans furnished, one in the Greek, the other in +the Latin style. Michelangelo replied as follows: "I gather from your +last that his Holiness our Lord wishes that I should furnish the +design for the library. I have received no information, and do not +know where it is to be erected. It is true that Stefano talked to me +about the scheme, but I paid no heed. When he returns from Carrara I +will inquire, and will do all that is in my power, _albeit +architecture is not my profession_." There is something pathetic in +this reiterated assertion that his real art was sculpture. At the same +time Clement wished to provide for him for life. He first proposed +that Buonarroti should promise not to marry, and should enter into +minor orders. This would have enabled him to enjoy some ecclesiastical +benefice, but it would also have handed him over firmly bound to the +service of the Pope. Circumstances already hampered him enough, and +Michelangelo, who chose to remain his own master, refused. As Berni +wrote: "Voleva far da se, non comandato." As an alternative, a pension +was suggested. It appears that he only asked for fifteen ducats a +month, and that his friend Pietro Gondi had proposed twenty-five +ducats. Fattucci, on the 13th of January 1524, rebuked him in +affectionate terms for his want of pluck, informing him that "Jacopo +Salviati has given orders that Spina should be instructed to pay you a +monthly provision of fifty ducats." Moreover, all the disbursements +made for the work at S. Lorenzo were to be provided by the same agent +in Florence, and to pass through Michelangelo's hands. A house was +assigned him, free of rent, at S. Lorenzo, in order that he might be +near his work. Henceforth he was in almost weekly correspondence with +Giovanni Spina on affairs of business, sending in accounts and drawing +money by means of his then trusted servant, Stefano, the miniaturist. + +That Stefano did not always behave himself according to his master's +wishes appears from the following characteristic letter addressed by +Michelangelo to his friend Pietro Gondi: "The poor man, who is +ungrateful, has a nature of this sort, that if you help him in his +needs, he says that what you gave him came out of superfluities; if +you put him in the way of doing work for his own good, he says you +were obliged, and set him to do it because you were incapable; and all +the benefits which he received he ascribes to the necessities of the +benefactor. But when everybody can see that you acted out of pure +benevolence, the ingrate waits until you make some public mistake, +which gives him the opportunity of maligning his benefactor and +winning credence, in order to free himself from the obligation under +which he lies. This has invariably happened in my case. No one ever +entered into relations with me--I speak of workmen--to whom I did not +do good with all my heart. Afterwards, some trick of temper, or some +madness, which they say is in my nature, which hurts nobody except +myself, gives them an excuse for speaking evil of me and calumniating +my character. Such is the reward of all honest men." + +These general remarks, he adds, apply to Stefano, whom he placed in a +position of trust and responsibility, in order to assist him. "What I +do is done for his good, because I have undertaken to benefit the man, +and cannot abandon him; but let him not imagine or say that I am doing +it because of my necessities, for, God be praised, I do not stand in +need of men." He then begs Gondi to discover what Stefano's real mind +is. This is a matter of great importance to him for several reasons, +and especially for this: "If I omitted to justify myself, and were to +put another in his place, I should be published among the Piagnoni for +the biggest traitor who ever lived, even though I were in the right." + +We conclude, then, that Michelangelo thought of dismissing Stefano, +but feared lest he should get into trouble with the powerful political +party, followers of Savonarola, who bore the name of Piagnoni at +Florence. Gondi must have patched the quarrel up, for we still find +Stefano's name in the _Ricordi_ down to April 4, 1524. Shortly after +that date, Antonio Mini seems to have taken his place as +Michelangelo's right-hand man of business. These details are not so +insignificant as they appear. They enable us to infer that the +Sacristy of S. Lorenzo may have been walled and roofed in before the +end of April 1524; for, in an undated letter to Pope Clement, +Michelangelo says that Stefano has finished the lantern, and that it +is universally admired. With regard to this lantern, folk told him +that he would make it better than Brunelleschi's. "Different perhaps, +but better, no!" he answered. The letter to Clement just quoted is +interesting in several respects. The boldness of the beginning makes +one comprehend how Michelangelo was terrible even to Popes:-- + +"Most Blessed Father,--Inasmuch as intermediates are often the cause +of grave misunderstandings, I have summoned up courage to write +without their aid to your Holiness about the tombs at S. Lorenzo. I +repeat, I know not which is preferable, the evil that does good, or +the good that hurts. I am certain, mad and wicked as I may be, that if +I had been allowed to go on as I had begun, all the marbles needed for +the work would have been in Florence to-day, and properly blocked out, +with less cost than has been expended on them up to this date; and +they would have been superb, as are the others I have brought here." + +After this he entreats Clement to give him full authority in carrying +out the work, and not to put superiors over him. Michelangelo, we +know, was extremely impatient of control and interference; and we +shall see, within a short time, how excessively the watching and +spying of busybodies worried and disturbed his spirits. + +But these were not his only sources of annoyance. The heirs of Pope +Julius, perceiving that Michelangelo's time and energy were wholly +absorbed at S. Lorenzo, began to threaten him with a lawsuit. Clement, +wanting apparently to mediate between the litigants, ordered Fattucci +to obtain a report from the sculptor, with a full account of how +matters stood. This evoked the long and interesting document which has +been so often cited. There is no doubt whatever that Michelangelo +acutely felt the justice of the Duke of Urbino's grievances against +him. He was broken-hearted at seeming to be wanting in his sense of +honour and duty. People, he says, accused him of putting the money +which had been paid for the tomb out at usury, "living meanwhile at +Florence and amusing himself." It also hurt him deeply to be +distracted from the cherished project of his early manhood in order to +superintend works for which he had no enthusiasm, and which lay +outside his sphere of operation. + +It may, indeed, be said that during these years Michelangelo lived in +a perpetual state of uneasiness and anxiety about the tomb of Julius. +As far back as 1518 the Cardinal Leonardo Grosso, Bishop of Agen, and +one of Julius's executors, found it necessary to hearten him with +frequent letters of encouragement. In one of these, after commending +his zeal in extracting marbles and carrying on the monument, the +Cardinal proceeds: "Be then of good courage, and do not yield to any +perturbations of the spirit, for we put more faith in your smallest +word than if all the world should say the contrary. We know your +loyalty, and believe you to be wholly devoted to our person; and if +there shall be need of aught which we can supply, we are willing, as +we have told you on other occasions, to do so; rest then in all +security of mind, because we love you from the heart, and desire to do +all that may be agreeable to you." This good friend was dead at the +time we have now reached, and the violent Duke Francesco Maria della +Rovere acted as the principal heir of Pope Julius. + +In a passion of disgust he refused to draw his pension, and abandoned +the house at S. Lorenzo. This must have happened in March 1524, for +his friend Leonardo writes to him from Rome upon the 24th: "I am also +told that you have declined your pension, which seems to me mere +madness, and that you have thrown the house up, and do not work. +Friend and gossip, let me tell you that you have plenty of enemies, +who speak their worst; also that the Pope and Pucci and Jacopo +Salviati are your friends, and have plighted their troth to you. It is +unworthy of you to break your word to them, especially in an affair of +honour. Leave the matter of the tomb to those who wish you well, and +who are able to set you free without the least encumbrance, and take +care you do not come short in the Pope's work. Die first. And take the +pension, for they give it with a willing heart." How long he remained +in contumacy is not quite certain; apparently until the 29th of +August. We have a letter written on that day to Giovanni Spina: "After +I left you yesterday, I went back thinking over my affairs; and, +seeing that the Pope has set his heart on S. Lorenzo, and how he +urgently requires my service, and has appointed me a good provision in +order that I may serve him with more convenience and speed; seeing +also that not to accept it keeps me back, and that I have no good +excuse for not serving his Holiness; I have changed my mind, and +whereas I hitherto refused, I now demand it (_i.e._, the salary), +considering this far wiser, and for more reasons than I care to write; +and, more especially, I mean to return to the house you took for me at +S. Lorenzo, and settle down there like an honest man: inasmuch as it +sets gossip going, and does me great damage not to go back there." +From a _Ricordo_ dated October 19, 1524, we learn in fact that he then +drew his full pay for eight months. + + +IV + +Since Michelangelo was now engaged upon the Medicean tombs at S. +Lorenzo, it will be well to give some account of the several plans he +made before deciding on the final scheme, which he partially executed. +We may assume, I think, that the sacristy, as regards its general form +and dimensions, faithfully represents the first plan approved by +Clement. This follows from the rapidity and regularity with which the +structure was completed. But then came the question of filling it with +sarcophagi and statues. As early as November 28, 1520, Giulio de' +Medici, at that time Cardinal, wrote from the Villa Magliana. to +Buonarroti, addressing him thus: "_Spectabilis vir, amice noster +charissime_." He says that he is pleased with the design for the +chapel, and with the notion of placing the four tombs in the middle. +Then he proceeds to make some sensible remarks upon the difficulty of +getting these huge masses of statuary into the space provided for +them. Michelangelo, as Heath Wilson has pointed out, very slowly +acquired the sense of proportion on which technical architecture +depends. His early sketches only show a feeling for mass and +picturesque effect, and a strong inclination to subordinate the +building to sculpture. + +It may be questioned who were the four Medici for whom these tombs +were intended. Cambi, in a passage quoted above, writing at the end of +March 1520(?), says that two were raised for Giuliano, Duke of +Nemours, and Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, and that the Cardinal meant one +to be for himself. The fourth he does not speak about. It has been +conjectured that Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano, +fathers respectively of Leo and of Clement, were to occupy two of the +sarcophagi; and also, with greater probability, that the two Popes, +Leo and Clement, were associated with the Dukes. + +Before 1524 the scheme expanded, and settled into a more definite +shape. The sarcophagi were to support statue-portraits of the Dukes +and Popes, with Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano. At +their base, upon the ground, were to repose six rivers, two for each +tomb, showing that each sepulchre would have held two figures. The +rivers were perhaps Arno, Tiber, Metauro, Po, Taro, and Ticino. This +we gather from a letter written to Michelangelo on the 23rd of May in +that year. Michelangelo made designs to meet this plan, but whether +the tombs were still detached from the wall does not appear. Standing +inside the sacristy, it seems impossible that six statue-portraits and +six river-gods on anything like a grand scale could have been crowded +into the space, especially when we remember that there was to be an +altar, with other objects described as ornaments--"gli altri +ornamenti." Probably the Madonna and Child, with SS. Cosimo and +Damiano, now extant in the chapel, formed an integral part of the +successive schemes. + +One thing is certain, that the notion of placing the tombs in the +middle of the sacristy was soon abandoned. All the marble panelling, +pilasters, niches, and so forth, which at present clothe the walls and +dominate the architectural effect, are clearly planned for mural +monuments. A rude sketch preserved in the Uffizi throws some light +upon the intermediate stages of the scheme. It is incomplete, and was +not finally adopted; but we see in it one of the four sides of the +chapel, divided vertically above into three compartments, the middle +being occupied by a Madonna, the two at the sides filled in with +bas-reliefs. At the base, on sarcophagi or _cassoni_, recline two nude +male figures. The space between these and the upper compartments seems +to have been reserved for allegorical figures, since a colossal naked +boy, ludicrously out of scale with the architecture and the recumbent +figures, has been hastily sketched in. In architectural proportion and +sculpturesque conception this design is very poor. It has the merit, +however, of indicating a moment in the evolution of the project when +the mural scheme had been adopted. The decorative details which +surmount the composition confirm the feeling every one must have, +that, in their present state, the architecture of the Medicean +monuments remains imperfect. + +In this process of endeavouring to trace the development of +Michelangelo's ideas for the sacristy, seven original drawings at the +British Museum are of the greatest importance. They may be divided +into three groups. One sketch seems to belong to the period when the +tombs were meant to be placed in the centre of the chapel. It shows a +single facet of the monument, with two sarcophagi placed side by side +and seated figures at the angles. Five are variations upon the mural +scheme, which was eventually adopted. They differ considerably in +details, proving what trouble the designer took to combine a large +number of figures in a single plan. He clearly intended at some time +to range the Medicean statues in pairs, and studied several types of +curve for their sepulchral urns. The feature common to all of them is +a niche, of door or window shape, with a powerfully indented +architrave. Reminiscences of the design for the tomb of Julius are not +infrequent; and it may be remarked, as throwing a side-light upon that +irrecoverable project of his earlier manhood, that the figures posed +upon the various spaces of architecture differ in their scale. Two +belonging to this series are of especial interest, since we learn from +them how he thought of introducing the rivers at the basement of the +composition. It seems that he hesitated long about the employment of +circular spaces in the framework of the marble panelling. These were +finally rejected. One of the finest and most comprehensive of the +drawings I am now describing contains a rough draft of a curved +sarcophagus, with an allegorical figure reclining upon it, indicating +the first conception of the Dawn. Another, blurred and indistinct, +with clumsy architectural environment, exhibits two of these +allegories, arranged much as we now see them at S. Lorenzo. A +river-god, recumbent beneath the feet of a female statue, carries the +eye down to the ground, and enables us to comprehend how these +subordinate figures were wrought into the complex harmony of flowing +lines he had imagined. The seventh study differs in conception from +the rest; it stands alone. There are four handlings of what begins +like a huge portal, and is gradually elaborated into an architectural +scheme containing three great niches for statuary. It is powerful and +simple in design, governed by semicircular arches--a feature which is +absent from the rest. + +All these drawings are indubitably by the hand of Michelangelo, and +must be reckoned among his first free efforts to construct a working +plan. The Albertina Collection at Vienna yields us an elaborate design +for the sacristy, which appears to have been worked up from some of +the rougher sketches. It is executed in pen, shaded with bistre, and +belongs to what I have ventured to describe as office work. It may +have been prepared for the inspection of Leo and the Cardinal. Here we +have the sarcophagi in pairs, recumbent figures stretched upon a +shallow curve inverted, colossal orders of a bastard Ionic type, a +great central niche framing a seated Madonna, two male figures in side +niches, suggestive of Giuliano and Lorenzo as they were at last +conceived, four allegorical statues, and, to crown the whole +structure, candelabra of a peculiar shape, with a central round, +supported by two naked genii. It is difficult, as I have before +observed, to be sure how much of the drawings executed in this way can +be ascribed with safety to Michelangelo himself. They are carefully +outlined, with the precision of a working architect; but the +sculptural details bear the aspect of what may be termed a generic +Florentine style of draughtsmanship. + +Two important letters from Michelangelo to Fattucci, written in +October 1525 and April 1526, show that he had then abandoned the +original scheme, and adopted one which was all but carried into +effect. "I am working as hard as I can, and in fifteen days I shall +begin the other captain. Afterwards the only important things left +will be the four rivers. The four statues on the sarcophagi, the four +figures on the ground which are the rivers, the two captains, and Our +Lady, who is to be placed upon the tomb at the head of the chapel; +these are what I mean to do with my own hand. Of these I have begun +six; and I have good hope of finishing them in due time, and carrying +the others forward in part, which do not signify so much." The six he +had begun are clearly the Dukes and their attendant figures of Day, +Night, Dawn, Evening. The Madonna, one of his noblest works, came +within a short distance of completion. SS. Cosimo and Damiano passed +into the hands of Montelupo and Montorsoli. Of the four rivers we have +only fragments in the shape of some exquisite little models. Where +they could have been conveniently placed is difficult to imagine; +possibly they were abandoned from a feeling that the chapel would be +overcrowded. + + +V + +According to the plan adopted in this book, I shall postpone such +observations as I have to make upon the Medicean monuments until the +date when Michelangelo laid down his chisel, and shall now proceed +with the events of his life during the years 1525 and 1526. + +He continued to be greatly troubled about the tomb of Julius II. The +lawsuit instituted by the Duke of Urbino hung over his head; and +though he felt sure of the Pope's powerful support, it was extremely +important, both for his character and comfort, that affairs should be +placed upon a satisfactory basis. Fattucci in Rome acted not only as +Clement's agent in business connected with S. Lorenzo; he also was +intrusted with negotiations for the settlement of the Duke's claims. +The correspondence which passed between them forms, therefore, our +best source of information for this period. On Christmas Eve in 1524 +Michelangelo writes from Florence to his friend, begging him not to +postpone a journey he had in view, if the only business which detained +him was the trouble about the tomb. A pleasant air of manly affection +breathes through this document, showing Michelangelo to have been +unselfish in a matter which weighed heavily and daily on his spirits. +How greatly he was affected can be inferred from a letter written to +Giovanni Spina on the 19th of April 1525. While reading this, it must +be remembered that the Duke laid his action for the recovery of a +considerable balance, which he alleged to be due to him upon +disbursements made for the monument. Michelangelo, on the contrary, +asserted that he was out of pocket, as we gather from the lengthy +report he forwarded in 1524 to Fattucci. The difficulty in the +accounts seems to have arisen from the fact that payments for the +Sistine Chapel and the tomb had been mixed up. The letter to Spina +runs as follows: "There is no reason for sending a power of attorney +about the tomb of Pope Julius, because I do not want to plead. They +cannot bring a suit if I admit that I am in the wrong; so I assume +that I have sued and lost, and have to pay; and this I am disposed to +do, if I am able. Therefore, if the Pope will help me in the +matter--and this would be the greatest satisfaction to me, seeing I am +too old and ill to finish the work--he might, as intermediary, express +his pleasure that I should repay what I have received for its +performance, so as to release me from this burden, and to enable the +relatives of Pope Julius to carry out the undertaking by any master +whom they may choose to employ. In this way his Holiness could be of +very great assistance to me. Of course I desire to reimburse as little +as possible, always consistently with justice. His Holiness might +employ some of my arguments, as, for instance, the time spent for the +Pope at Bologna, and other times wasted without any compensation, +according to the statements I have made in full to Ser Giovan +Francesco (Fattucci). Directly the terms of restitution have been +settled, I will engage my property, sell, and put myself in a position +to repay the money. I shall then be able to think of the Pope's orders +and to work; as it is, I can hardly be said to live, far less to work. +There is no other way of putting an end to the affair more safe for +myself, nor more agreeable, nor more certain to ease my mind. It can +be done amicably without a lawsuit. I pray to God that the Pope may be +willing to accept the mediation, for I cannot see that any one else is +fit to do it." + +Giorgio Vasari says that he came in the year 1525 for a short time as +pupil to Michelangelo. In his own biography he gives the date, more +correctly, 1524. At any rate, the period of Vasari's brief +apprenticeship was closed by a journey which the master made to Rome, +and Buonarroti placed the lad in Andrea del Sarto's workshop. "He left +for Rome in haste. Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, was again +molesting him, asserting that he had received 16,000 ducats to +complete the tomb, while he stayed idling at Florence for his own +amusement. He threatened that, if he did not attend to the work, he +would make him suffer. So, when he arrived there, Pope Clement, who +wanted to command his services, advised him to reckon with the Duke's +agents, believing that, for what he had already done, he was rather +creditor than debtor. The matter remained thus." We do not know when +this journey to Rome took place. From a hint in the letter of December +24, 1524, to Fattucci, where Michelangelo observes that only he in +person would be able to arrange matters, it is possible that we may +refer it to the beginning of 1525. Probably he was able to convince, +not only the Pope, but also the Duke's agents that he had acted with +scrupulous honesty, and that his neglect of the tomb was due to +circumstances over which he had no control, and which he regretted as +acutely as anybody. There is no shadow of doubt that this was really +the case. Every word written by Michelangelo upon the subject shows +that he was heart-broken at having to abandon the long-cherished +project. + +Some sort of arrangement must have been arrived at. Clement took the +matter into his own hands, and during the summer of 1525 amicable +negotiations were in progress. On the 4th of September Michelangelo +writes again to Fattucci, saying that he is quite willing to complete +the tomb upon the same plan as that of the Pope Pius (now in the +Church of S. Andrea della Valle)--that is, to adopt a mural system +instead of the vast detached monument. This would take less time. He +again urges his friend not to stay at Rome for the sake of these +affairs. He hears that the plague is breaking out there. "And I would +rather have you alive than my business settled. If I die before the +Pope, I shall not have to settle any troublesome affairs. If I live, I +am sure the Pope will settle them, if not now, at some other time. So +come back. I was with your mother yesterday, and advised her, in the +presence of Granacci and John the turner, to send for you home." + +While in Rome Michelangelo conferred with Clement about the sacristy +and library at S. Lorenzo. For a year after his return to Florence he +worked steadily at the Medicean monuments, but not without severe +annoyances, as appears from the following to Fattucci: "The four +statues I have in hand are not yet finished, and much has still to be +done upon them. The four rivers are not begun, because the marble is +wanting, and yet it is here. I do not think it opportune to tell you +why. With regard to the affairs of Julius, I am well disposed to make +the tomb like that of Pius in S. Peter's, and will do so little by +little, now one piece and now another, and will pay for it out of my +own pocket, if I keep my pension and my house, as you promised me. I +mean, of course, the house at Rome, and the marbles and other things I +have there. So that, in fine, I should not have to restore to the +heirs of Julius, in order to be quit of the contract, anything which I +have hitherto received; the tomb itself, completed after the pattern +of that of Pius, sufficing for my full discharge. Moreover, I +undertake to perform the work within a reasonable time, and to finish +the statues with my own hand." He then turns to his present troubles +at Florence. The pension was in arrears, and busybodies annoyed him +with interferences of all sorts. "If my pension were paid, as was +arranged, I would never stop working for Pope Clement with all the +strength I have, small though that be, since I am old. At the same +time I must not be slighted and affronted as I am now, for such +treatment weighs greatly on my spirits. The petty spites I speak of +have prevented me from doing what I want to do these many months; one +cannot work at one thing with the hands, another with the brain, +especially in marble. 'Tis said here that these annoyances are meant +to spur me on; but I maintain that those are scurvy spurs which make a +good steed jib. I have not touched my pension during the past year, +and struggle with poverty. I am left in solitude to bear my troubles, +and have so many that they occupy me more than does my art; I cannot +keep a man to manage my house through lack of means." + +Michelangelo's dejection caused serious anxiety to his friends. Jacopo +Salviati, writing on the 30th October from Rome, endeavoured to +restore his courage. "I am greatly distressed to hear of the fancies +you have got into your head. What hurts me most is that they should +prevent your working, for that rejoices your ill-wishers, and confirms +them in what they have always gone on preaching about your habits." He +proceeds to tell him how absurd it is to suppose that Baccio +Bandinelli is preferred before him. "I cannot perceive how Baccio +could in any way whatever be compared to you, or his work be set on +the same level as your own." The letter winds up with exhortations to +work. "Brush these cobwebs of melancholy away; have confidence in his +Holiness; do not give occasion to your enemies to blaspheme, and be +sure that your pension will be paid; I pledge my word for it." +Buonarroti, it is clear, wasted his time, not through indolence, but +through allowing the gloom of a suspicious and downcast +temperament--what the Italians call _accidia_--to settle on his +spirits. + +Skipping a year, we find that these troublesome negotiations about the +tomb were still pending. He still hung suspended between the devil and +the deep sea, the importunate Duke of Urbino and the vacillating Pope. +Spina, it seems, had been writing with too much heat to Rome, probably +urging Clement to bring the difficulties about the tomb to a +conclusion. Michelangelo takes the correspondence up again with +Fattucci on November 6, 1526. What he says at the beginning of the +letter is significant. He knows that the political difficulties in +which Clement had become involved were sufficient to distract his +mind, as Julius once said, from any interest in "stones small or big." +Well, the letter starts thus: "I know that Spina wrote in these days +past to Rome very hotly about my affairs with regard to the tomb of +Julius. If he blundered, seeing the times in which we live, I am to +blame, for I prayed him urgently to write. It is possible that the +trouble of my soul made me say more than I ought. Information reached +me lately about the affair which alarmed me greatly. It seems that the +relatives of Julius are very ill-disposed towards me. And not without +reason.--The suit is going on, and they are demanding capital and +interest to such an amount that a hundred of my sort could not meet +the claims. This has thrown me into terrible agitation, and makes me +reflect where I should be if the Pope failed me. I could not live a +moment. It is that which made me send the letter alluded to above. +Now, I do not want anything but what the Pope thinks right. I know +that he does not desire my ruin and my disgrace." + +He proceeds to notice that the building work at S. Lorenzo is being +carried forward very slowly, and money spent upon it with increasing +parsimony. Still he has his pension and his house; and these imply no +small disbursements. He cannot make out what the Pope's real wishes +are. If he did but know Clement's mind, he would sacrifice everything +to please him. "Only if I could obtain permission to begin something +either here or in Rome, for the tomb of Julius, I should be extremely +glad; for, indeed, I desire to free myself from that obligation more +than to live." The letter closes on a note of sadness: "If I am unable +to write what you will understand, do not be surprised, for I have +lost my wits entirely." + +After this we hear nothing more about the tomb in Michelangelo's +correspondence till the year 1531. During the intervening years Italy +was convulsed by the sack of Rome, the siege of Florence, and the +French campaigns in Lombardy and Naples. Matters only began to mend +when Charles V. met Clement at Bologna in 1530, and established the +affairs of the peninsula upon a basis which proved durable. That fatal +lustre (1526-1530) divided the Italy of the Renaissance from the Italy +of modern times with the abruptness of an Alpine watershed. Yet +Michelangelo, aged fifty-one in 1526, was destined to live on another +thirty-eight years, and, after the death of Clement, to witness the +election of five successive Popes. The span of his life was not only +extraordinary in its length, but also in the events it comprehended. +Born in the mediaeval pontificate of Sixtus IV., brought up in the +golden days of Lorenzo de' Medici, he survived the Franco-Spanish +struggle for supremacy, watched the progress of the Reformation, and +only died when a new Church and a new Papacy had been established by +the Tridentine Council amid states sinking into the repose of +decrepitude. + + +VI + +We must return from this digression and resume the events of +Michelangelo's life in 1525. + +The first letter to Sebastiano del Piombo is referred to April of that +year. He says that a picture, probably the portrait of Anton Francesco +degli Albizzi, is eagerly expected at Florence. When it arrived in +May, he wrote again under the influence of generous admiration for his +friend's performance: "Last evening our friend the Captain Cuio and +certain other gentlemen were so kind as to invite me to sup with them. +This gave me exceeding great pleasure, since it drew me forth a little +from my melancholy, or shall we call it my mad mood. Not only did I +enjoy the supper, which was most agreeable, but far more the +conversation. Among the topics discussed, what gave me most delight +was to hear your name mentioned by the Captain; nor was this all, for +he still added to my pleasure, nay, to a superlative degree, by saying +that, in the art of painting he held you to be sole and without peer +in the whole world, and that so you were esteemed at Rome. I could not +have been better pleased. You see that my judgment is confirmed; and +so you must not deny that you are peerless, when I write it, since I +have a crowd of witnesses to my opinion. There is a picture too of +yours here, God be praised, which wins credence for me with every one +who has eyes." + +Correspondence was carried on during this year regarding the library +at S. Lorenzo; and though I do not mean to treat at length about that +building in this chapter, I cannot omit an autograph postscript added +by Clement to one of his secretary's missives: "Thou knowest that +Popes have no long lives; and we cannot yearn more than we do to +behold the chapel with the tombs of our kinsmen, or at any rate to +hear that it is finished. Likewise, as regards the library. Wherefore +we recommend both to thy diligence. Meantime we will betake us (as +thou saidst erewhile) to a wholesome patience, praying God that He may +put it into thy heart to push the whole forward together. Fear not +that either work to do or rewards shall fail thee while we live. +Farewell, with the blessing of God and ours.--Julius." [Julius was the +Pope's baptismal name.--ED.] + +Michelangelo began the library in 1526, as appears from his _Ricordi._ +Still the work went on slowly, not through his negligence, but, as we +have seen, from the Pope's preoccupation with graver matters. He had a +great many workmen in his service at this period, and employed +celebrated masters in their crafts, as Tasso and Carota for +wood-carving, Battista del Cinque and Ciapino for carpentry, upon the +various fittings of the library. All these details he is said to have +designed; and it is certain that he was considered responsible for +their solidity and handsome appearance. Sebastiano, for instance, +wrote to him about the benches: "Our Lord wishes that the whole work +should be of carved walnut. He does not mind spending three florins +more; for that is a trifle, if they are Cosimesque in style, I mean +resemble the work done for the magnificent Cosimo." Michelangelo could +not have been the solitary worker of legend and tradition. The nature +of his present occupations rendered this impossible. For the +completion of his architectural works he needed a band of able +coadjutors. Thus in 1526 Giovanni da Udine came from Rome to decorate +the vault of the sacristy with frescoed arabesques. His work was +nearly terminated in 1533, when some question arose about painting the +inside of the lantern. Sebastiano, apparently in good faith, made the +following burlesque suggestion: "For myself, I think that the Ganymede +would go there very well; one could put an aureole about him, and turn +him into a S. John of the Apocalypse when he is being caught up into +the heavens." The whole of one side of the Italian Renaissance, its +so-called neo-paganism, is contained in this remark. + +While still occupied with thoughts about S. Lorenzo, Clement ordered +Michelangelo to make a receptacle for the precious vessels and +reliques collected by Lorenzo the Magnificent. It was first intended +to place this chest, in the form of a ciborium, above the high altar, +and to sustain it on four columns. Eventually, the Pope resolved that +it should be a sacrarium, or cabinet for holy things, and that this +should stand above the middle entrance door to the church. The chest +was finished, and its contents remained there until the reign of the +Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo, when they were removed to the chapel next +the old sacristy. + +Another very singular idea occurred to his Holiness in the autumn of +1525. He made Fattucci write that he wished to erect a colossal statue +on the piazza of S. Lorenzo, opposite the Stufa Palace. The giant was +to surmount the roof of the Medicean Palace, with its face turned in +that direction and its back to the house of Luigi della Stufa. Being +so huge, it would have to be composed of separate pieces fitted +together. Michelangelo speedily knocked this absurd plan on the head +in a letter which gives a good conception of his dry and somewhat +ponderous humour. + +"About the Colossus of forty cubits, which you tell me is to go or to +be placed at the corner of the loggia in the Medicean garden, opposite +the corner of Messer Luigi della Stufa, I have meditated not a little, +as you bade me. In my opinion that is not the proper place for it, +since it would take up too much room on the roadway. I should prefer +to put it at the other, where the barber's shop is. This would be far +better in my judgment, since it has the square in front, and would not +encumber the street. There might be some difficulty about pulling down +the shop, because of the rent. So it has occurred to me that the +statue might be carved in a sitting position; the Colossus would be so +lofty that if we made it hollow inside, as indeed is the proper method +for a thing which has to be put together from pieces, the shop might +be enclosed within it, and the rent be saved. And inasmuch as the shop +has a chimney in its present state, I thought of placing a cornucopia +in the statue's hand, hollowed out for the smoke to pass through. The +head too would be hollow, like all the other members of the figure. +This might be turned to a useful purpose, according to the suggestion +made me by a huckster on the square, who is my good friend. He privily +confided to me that it would make an excellent dovecote. Then another +fancy came into my head, which is still better, though the statue +would have to be considerably heightened. That, however, is quite +feasible, since towers are built up of blocks; and then the head might +serve as bell-tower to San Lorenzo, which is much in need of one. +Setting up the bells inside, and the sound booming through the mouth, +it would seem as though the Colossus were crying mercy, and mostly +upon feast-days, when peals are rung most often and with bigger +bells." + +Nothing more is heard of this fantastic project; whence we may +conclude that the irony of Michelangelo's epistle drove it out of the +Pope's head. + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +I + +It lies outside the scope of this work to describe the series of +events which led up to the sack of Rome in 1527. Clement, by his +tortuous policy, and by the avarice of his administration, had +alienated every friend and exasperated all his foes. The Eternal City +was in a state of chronic discontent and anarchy. The Colonna princes +drove the Pope to take refuge in the Castle of S. Angelo; and when the +Lutheran rabble raised by Frundsberg poured into Lombardy, the Duke of +Ferrara assisted them to cross the Po, and the Duke of Urbino made no +effort to bar the passes of the Apennines. Losing one leader after the +other, these ruffians, calling themselves an Imperial army, but being +in reality the scum and offscourings of all nations, without any aim +but plunder and ignorant of policy, reached Rome upon the 6th of May. +They took the city by assault, and for nine months Clement, leaning +from the battlements of Hadrian's Mausoleum, watched smoke ascend from +desolated palaces and desecrated temples, heard the wailing of women +and the groans of tortured men, mingling with the ribald jests of +German drunkards and the curses of Castilian bandits. Roaming those +galleries and gazing from those windows, he is said to have exclaimed +in the words of Job: "Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give +up the ghost when I came out of the belly?" + +The immediate effect of this disaster was that the Medici lost their +hold on Florence. The Cardinal of Cortona, with the young princes +Ippolito and Alessandro de' Medici, fled from the city on the 17th of +May, and a popular government was set up under the presidency of +Niccolò Capponi. + +During this year and the next, Michelangelo was at Florence; but we +know very little respecting the incidents of his life. A _Ricordo_ +bearing the date April 29 shows the disturbed state of the town. "I +record how, some days ago, Piero di Filippo Gondi asked for permission +to enter the new sacristy at S. Lorenzo, in order to hide there +certain goods belonging to his family, by reason of the perils in +which we are now. To-day, upon the 29th of April 1527, he has begun to +carry in some bundles, which he says are linen of his sisters; and I, +not wishing to witness what he does or to know where he hides the gear +away, have given him the key of the sacristy this evening." + +There are only two letters belonging to the year 1527. Both refer to a +small office which had been awarded to Michelangelo with the right to +dispose of the patronage. He offered it to his favourite brother, +Buonarroto, who does not seem to have thought it worth accepting. + +The documents for 1528 are almost as meagre. We do not possess a +single letter, and the most important _Ricordi_ relate to Buonarroto's +death and the administration of his property. He died of the plague +upon the 2nd of July, to the very sincere sorrow of his brother. It is +said that Michelangelo held him in his arms while he was dying, +without counting the risk to his own life. Among the minutes of +disbursements made for Buonarroto's widow and children after his +burial, we find that their clothes had been destroyed because of the +infection. All the cares of the family now fell on Michelangelo's +shoulders. He placed his niece Francesca in a convent till the time +that she should marry, repaid her dowry to the widow Bartolommea, and +provided for the expenses of his nephew Lionardo. + +For the rest, there is little to relate which has any bearing on the +way in which he passed his time before the siege of Florence began. +One glimpse, however, is afforded of his daily life and conversation +by Benvenuto Cellini, who had settled in Florence after the sack of +Rome, and was working in a shop he opened at the Mercato Nuovo. The +episode is sufficiently interesting to be quoted. A Sienese gentleman +had commissioned Cellini to make him a golden medal, to be worn in the +hat. "The subject was to be Hercules wrenching the lion's mouth. While +I was working at this piece, Michel Agnolo Buonarroti came oftentimes +to see it. I had spent infinite pains upon the design, so that the +attitude of the figure and the fierce passion of the beast were +executed in quite a different style from that of any craftsman who had +hitherto attempted such groups. This, together with the fact that the +special branch of art was totally unknown to Michel Agnolo, made the +divine master give such praises to my work that I felt incredibly +inspired for further effort. + +"Just then I met with Federigo Ginori, a young man of very lofty +spirit. He had lived some years in Naples and being endowed with great +charms of person and presence, had been the lover of a Neapolitan +princess. He wanted to have a medal made with Atlas bearing the world +upon his shoulders, and applied to Michel Agnolo for a design. Michel +Agnolo made this answer: 'Go and find out a young goldsmith named +Benvenuto; he will serve you admirably, and certainly he does not +stand in need of sketches by me. However, to prevent your thinking +that I want to save myself the trouble of so slight a matter, I will +gladly sketch you something; but meanwhile speak to Benvenuto, and let +him also make a model; he can then execute the better of the two +designs.' Federigo Ginori came to me and told me what he wanted, +adding thereto how Michel Agnolo had praised me, and how he had +suggested I should make a waxen model while he undertook to supply a +sketch. The words of that great man so heartened me, that I set myself +to work at once with eagerness upon the model; and when I had finished +it, a painter who was intimate with Michel Agnolo, called Giuliano +Bugiardini, brought me the drawing of Atlas. On the same occasion I +showed Giuliano my little model in wax, which was very different from +Michel Agnolo's drawing; and Federigo, in concert with Bugiardini, +agreed that I should work upon my model. So I took it in hand, and +when Michel Agnolo saw it, he praised me to the skies." + +The courtesy shown by Michelangelo on this occasion to Cellini may be +illustrated by an inedited letter addressed to him from Vicenza. The +writer was Valerio Belli, who describes himself as a cornelian-cutter. +He reminds the sculptor of a promise once made to him in Florence of a +design for an engraved gem. A remarkably fine stone has just come into +his hands, and he should much like to begin to work upon it. These +proofs of Buonarroti's liberality to brother artists are not +unimportant, since he was unjustly accused during his lifetime of +stinginess and churlishness. + + +II + +At the end of the year 1528 it became clear to the Florentines that +they would have to reckon with Clement VII. As early as August 18, +1527, France and England leagued together, and brought pressure upon +Charles V., in whose name Rome had been sacked. Negotiations were +proceeding, which eventually ended in the peace of Barcelona (June 20, +1529), whereby the Emperor engaged to sacrifice the Republic to the +Pope's vengeance. It was expected that the remnant of the Prince of +Orange's army would be marched up to besiege the town. Under the +anxiety caused by these events, the citizens raised a strong body of +militia, enlisted Malatesta Baglioni and Stefano Colonna as generals, +and began to take measures for strengthening the defences. What may be +called the War Office of the Florentine Republic bore the title of +Dieci della Guerra, or the Ten. It was their duty to watch over and +provide for all the interests of the commonwealth in military matters, +and now at this juncture serious measures had to be taken for putting +the city in a state of defence. Already in the year 1527, after the +expulsion of the Medici, a subordinate board had been created, to whom +very considerable executive and administrative faculties were +delegated. This board, called the Nove della Milizia, or the Nine, +were empowered to enrol all the burghers under arms, and to take +charge of the walls, towers, bastions, and other fortifications. It +was also within their competence to cause the destruction of +buildings, and to compensate the evicted proprietors at a valuation +which they fixed themselves. In the spring of 1529 the War Office +decided to gain the services of Michelangelo, not only because he was +the most eminent architect of his age in Florence, but also because +the Buonarroti family had always been adherents of the Medicean party, +and the Ten judged that his appointment to a place on the Nove di +Milizia would be popular with the democracy. The patent conferring +this office upon him, together with full authority over the work of +fortification, was issued on the 6th of April. Its terms were highly +complimentary. "Considering the genius and practical attainments of +Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti, our citizen, and knowing how +excellent he is in architecture, beside his other most singular +talents in the liberal arts, by virtue whereof the common consent of +men regards him as unsurpassed by any masters of our times; and, +moreover, being assured that in love and affection toward the country +he is the equal of any other good and loyal burgher; bearing in mind, +too, the labour he has undergone and the diligence he has displayed, +gratis and of his free will, in the said work (of fortification) up to +this day; and wishing to employ his industry and energies to the like +effect in future; we, of our motion and initiative, do appoint him to +be governor and procurator-general over the construction and +fortification of the city walls, as well as every other sort of +defensive operation and munition for the town of Florence, for one +year certain, beginning with the present date; adding thereto full +authority over all persons in respect to the said work of reparation +or pertaining to it." From this preamble it appears that Michelangelo +had been already engaged in volunteer service connected with the +defence of Florence. A stipend of one golden florin per diem was fixed +by the same deed; and upon the 22nd of April following a payment of +thirty florins was decreed, for one month's salary, dating from the +6th of April. + +If the Government thought to gain popular sympathy by Michelangelo's +appointment, they made the mistake of alienating the aristocracy. It +was the weakness of Florence at this momentous crisis in her fate, to +be divided into parties, political, religious, social; whose internal +jealousies deprived her of the strength which comes alone from unity. +When Giambattista Busini wrote that interesting series of letters to +Benedetto Varchi from which the latter drew important materials for +his annals of the siege, he noted this fact. "Envy must always be +reckoned as of some account in republics, especially when the nobles +form a considerable element, as in ours: for they were angry, among +other matters, to see a Carducci made Gonfalonier, Michelangelo a +member of the Nine, a Cei or a Giugni elected to the Ten." + +Michelangelo had scarcely been chosen to control the general scheme +for fortifying Florence, when the Signory began to consider the +advisability of strengthening the citadels of Pisa and Livorno, and +erecting lines along the Arno. Their commissary at Pisa wrote urging +the necessity of Buonarroti's presence on the spot. In addition to +other pressing needs, the Arno, when in flood, threatened the ancient +fortress of the city. Accordingly we find that Michelangelo went to +Pisa on the 5th of June, and that he stayed there over the 13th, +returning to Florence perhaps upon the 17th of the month. The +commissary, who spent several days in conferring with him and in +visiting the banks of the Arno, was perturbed in mind because +Michelangelo refused to exchange the inn where he alighted for an +apartment in the official residence. This is very characteristic of +the artist. We shall soon find him, at Ferrara, refusing to quit his +hostelry for the Duke's palace, and, at Venice, hiring a remote +lodging on the Giudecca in order to avoid the hospitality of S. Mark. + +An important part of Michelangelo's plan for the fortification of +Florence was to erect bastions covering the hill of S. Miniato. Any +one who stands upon the ruined tower of the church there will see at a +glance that S. Miniato is the key to the position for a beleaguering +force; and "if the enemy once obtained possession of the hill, he +would become immediately master of the town." It must, I think, have +been at this spot that Buonarroti was working before he received the +appointment of controller-general of the works. Yet he found some +difficulty in persuading the rulers of the state that his plan was the +right one. Busini, using information supplied by Michelangelo himself +at Rome in 1549, speaks as follows: "Whatever the reason may have +been, Niccolò Capponi, while he was Gonfalonier, would not allow the +hill of S. Miniato to be fortified, and Michelangelo, who is a man of +absolute veracity, tells me that he had great trouble in convincing +the other members of the Government, but that he could never convince +Niccolò. However, he began the work, in the way you know, with those +fascines of tow. But Niccolò made him abandon it, and sent him to +another post; and when he was elected to the Nine, they despatched him +twice or thrice outside the city. Each time, on his return, he found +the hill neglected, whereupon he complained, feeling this a blot upon +his reputation and an insult to his magistracy. Eventually, the works +went on, until, when the besieging army arrived, they were tenable." + +Michelangelo had hitherto acquired no practical acquaintance with the +art of fortification. That the system of defence by bastions was an +Italian invention (although Albert Dürer first reduced it to written +theory in his book of 1527, suggesting improvements which led up to +Vauban's method) is a fact acknowledged by military historians. But it +does not appear that Michelangelo did more than carry out defensive +operations in the manner familiar to his predecessors. Indeed, we +shall see that some critics found reason to blame him for want of +science in the construction of his outworks. When, therefore, a +difference arose between the controller-general of defences and the +Gonfalonier upon this question of strengthening S. Miniato, it was +natural that the War Office should have thought it prudent to send +their chief officer to the greatest authority upon fortification then +alive in Italy. This was the Duke of Ferrara. Busini must serve as our +text in the first instance upon this point. "Michelangelo says that, +when neither Niccolò Capponi nor Baldassare Carducci would agree to +the outworks at S. Miniato, he convinced all the leading men except +Niccolò of their necessity, showing that Florence could not hold out a +single day without them. Accordingly he began to throw up bastions +with fascines of tow; but the result was far from perfect, as he +himself confessed. Upon this, the Ten resolved to send him to Ferrara +to inspect that renowned work of defence. Thither accordingly he went; +nevertheless, he believes that Niccolò did this in order to get him +out of the way, and to prevent the construction of the bastion. In +proof thereof he adduces the fact that, upon his return, he found the +whole work interrupted." + +Furnished with letters to the Duke, and with special missives from the +Signory and the Ten to their envoy, Galeotto Giugni, Michelangelo left +Florence for Ferrara after the 28th of July, and reached it on the and +of August. He refused, as Giugni writes with some regret, to abandon +his inn, but was personally conducted with great honour by the Duke +all round the walls and fortresses of Ferrara. On what day he quitted +that city, and whither he went immediately after his departure, is +uncertain. The Ten wrote to Giugni on the 8th of August, saying that +his presence was urgently required at Florence, since the work of +fortification was going on apace, "a multitude of men being employed, +and no respect being paid to feast-days and holidays." It would also +seem that, toward the close of the month, he was expected at Arezzo, +in order to survey and make suggestions on the defences of the city. + +These points are not insignificant, since we possess a _Ricordo_ by +Michelangelo, written upon an unfinished letter bearing the date +"Venice, September 10," which has been taken to imply that he had been +resident in Venice fourteen days--that is, from the 28th of August. +None of his contemporaries or biographers mention a visit to Venice at +the end of August 1529. It has, therefore, been conjectured that he +went there after leaving Ferrara, but that his mission was one of a +very secret nature. This seems inconsistent with the impatient desire +expressed by the War Office for his return to Florence after the 8th +of August. Allowing for exchange of letters and rate of travelling, +Michelangelo could not have reached home much before the 15th. It is +also inconsistent with the fact that he was expected in Arezzo at the +beginning of September. I shall have to return later on to the +_Ricordo_ in question, which has an important bearing on the next and +most dramatic episode in his biography. + + +III + +Michelangelo must certainly have been at Florence soon after the +middle of September. One of those strange panics to which he was +constitutionally subject, and which impelled him to act upon a +suddenly aroused instinct, came now to interrupt his work at S. +Miniato, and sent him forth into outlawry. It was upon the 21st of +September that he fled from Florence, under circumstances which have +given considerable difficulty to his biographers. I am obliged to +disentangle the motives and to set forth the details of this escapade, +so far as it is possible for criticism to connect them into a coherent +narrative. With this object in view, I will begin by translating what +Condivi says upon the subject. + +"Michelangelo's sagacity with regard to the importance of S. Miniato +guaranteed the safety of the town, and proved a source of great damage +to the enemy. Although he had taken care to secure the position, he +still remained at his post there, in case of accidents; and after +passing some six months, rumours began to circulate among the soldiers +about expected treason. Buonarroti, then, noticing these reports, and +being also warned by certain officers who were his friends, approached +the Signory, and laid before them what he had heard and seen. He +explained the danger hanging over the city, and told them there was +still time to provide against it, if they would. Instead of receiving +thanks for this service, he was abused, and rebuked as being timorous +and too suspicious. The man who made him this answer would have done +better had he opened his ears to good advice; for when the Medici +returned he was beheaded, whereas he might have kept himself alive. +When Michelangelo perceived how little his words were worth, and in +what certain peril the city stood, he caused one of the gates to be +opened, by the authority which he possessed, and went forth with two +of his comrades, and took the road for Venice." + +As usual with Condivi, this paragraph gives a general and yet +substantially accurate account of what really took place. The decisive +document, however, which throws light upon Michelangelo's mind in the +transaction, is a letter written by him from Venice to his friend +Battista della Palla on the 25th of September. Palla, who was an agent +for Francis I. in works of Italian art, antiques, and bric-a-brac, had +long purposed a journey into France; and Michelangelo, considering the +miserable state of Italian politics, agreed to join him. These +explanations will suffice to make the import of Michelangelo's letter +clear. + +"Battista, dearest friend, I left Florence, as I think you know, +meaning to go to France. When I reached Venice, I inquired about the +road, and they told me I should have to pass through German territory, +and that the journey is both perilous and difficult. Therefore I +thought it well to ask you, at your pleasure, whether you are still +inclined to go, and to beg you; and so I entreat you, let me know, and +say where you want me to wait for you, and we will travel together, I +left home without speaking to any of my friends, and in great +confusion. You know that I wanted in any case to go to France, and +often asked for leave, but did not get it. Nevertheless I was quite +resolved, and without any sort of fear, to see the end of the war out +first. But on Tuesday morning, September 21, a certain person came out +by the gate at S. Niccolò, where I was attending to the bastions, and +whispered in my ear that, if I meant to save my life, I must not stay +at Florence. He accompanied me home, dined there, brought me horses, +and never left my side till he got me outside the city, declaring that +this was my salvation. Whether God or the devil was the man, I do not +know. + +"Pray answer the questions in this letter as soon as possible, because +I am burning with impatience to set out. If you have changed your +mind, and do not care to go, still let me know, so that I may provide +as best I can for my own journey." + +What appears manifest from this document is that Michelangelo was +decoyed away from Florence by some one, who, acting on his sensitive +nervous temperament, persuaded him that his life was in danger. Who +the man was we do not know, but he must have been a person delegated +by those who had a direct interest in removing Buonarroti from the +place. If the controller-general of the defences already scented +treason in the air, and was communicating his suspicions to the +Signory, Malatesta Baglioni, the archtraitor, who afterwards delivered +Florence over for a price to Clement, could not but have wished to +frighten him away. + +From another of Michelangelo's letters we learn that he carried 3000 +ducats in specie with him on the journey. It is unlikely that he could +have disposed so much cash upon his person. He must have had +companions. + +Talking with Michelangelo in 1549--that is, twenty years after the +event--Busini heard from his lips this account of the flight. "I asked +Michelangelo what was the reason of his departure from Florence. He +spoke as follows: 'I was one of the Nine when the Florentine troops +mustered within our lines under Malatesta Baglioni and Mario Orsini +and the other generals: whereupon the Ten distributed the men along +the walls and bastions, assigning to each captain his own post, with +victuals and provisions; and among the rest, they gave eight pieces of +artillery to Malatesta for the defence of part of the bastions at S. +Miniato. He did not, however, mount these guns within the bastions, +but below them, and set no guard.' Michelangelo, as architect and +magistrate, having to inspect the lines at S. Miniato, asked Mario +Orsini how it was that Malatesta treated his artillery so carelessly. +The latter answered: 'You must know that the men of his house are all +traitors, and in time he too will betray this town.' These words +inspired him with such terror that he was obliged to fly, impelled by +dread lest the city should come to misfortune, and he together with +it. Having thus resolved, he found Rinaldo Corsini, to whom he +communicated his thought, and Corsini replied lightly: 'I will go with +you.' So they mounted horse with a sum of money, and road to the Gate +of Justice, where the guards would not let them pass. While waiting +there, some one sung out: 'Let him by, for he is of the Nine, and it +is Michelangelo.' So they went forth, three on horseback, he, Rinaldo, +and that man of his who never left him. They came to Castelnuovo (in +the Garfagnana), and heard that Tommaso Soderini and Niccolò Capponi +were staying there. Michelangelo refused to go and see them, but +Rinaldo went, and when he came back to Florence, as I shall relate, he +reported how Niccolò had said to him: 'O Rinaldo, I dreamed to-night +that Lorenzo Zampalochi had been made Gonfalonier;' alluding to +Lorenzo Giacomini, who had a swollen leg, and had been his adversary +in the Ten. Well, they took the road for Venice; but when they came to +Polesella, Rinaldo proposed to push on to Ferrara and have an +interview with Galeotto Giugni. This he did, and Michelangelo awaited +him, for so he promised. Messer Galeotto, who was spirited and sound +of heart, wrought so with Rinaldo that he persuaded him to turn back +to Florence. But Michelangelo pursued his journey to Venice, where he +took a house, intending in due season to travel into France." + +Varchi follows this report pretty closely, except that he represents +Rinaldo Corsini as having strongly urged him to take flight, +"affirming that the city in a few hours, not to say days, would be in +the hands of the Medici." Varchi adds that Antonio Mini rode in +company with Michelangelo, and, according to his account of the +matter, the three men came together to Ferrara. There the Duke offered +hospitality to Michelangelo, who refused to exchange his inn for the +palace, but laid all the cash he carried with him at the disposition +of his Excellency. + +Segni, alluding briefly to this flight of Michelangelo from Florence, +says that he arrived at Castelnuovo with Rinaldo Corsini, and that +what they communicated to Niccolò Capponi concerning the treachery of +Malatesta and the state of the city, so affected the ex-Gonfalonier +that he died of a fever after seven days. Nardi, an excellent +authority on all that concerns Florence during the siege, confirms the +account that Michelangelo left his post together with Corsini under a +panic; "by common agreement, or through fear of war, as man's +fragility is often wont to do." Vasari, who in his account of this +episode seems to have had Varchi's narrative under his eyes, adds a +trifle of information, to the effect that Michelangelo was accompanied +upon his flight, not only by Antonio Mini, but also by his old friend +Piloto. It may be worth adding that while reading in the Archivio +Buonarroti, I discovered two letters from a friend named Piero Paesano +addressed to Michelangelo on January 1, 1530, and April 21, 1532, both +of which speak of his having "fled from Florence." The earlier plainly +says: "I heard from Santi Quattro (the Cardinal, probably) that you +have left Florence in order to escape from the annoyance and also from +the evil fortune of the war in which the country is engaged." These +letters, which have not been edited, and the first of which is +important, since it was sent to Michelangelo in Florence, help to +prove that Michelangelo's friends believed he had run away from +Florence. + +It was necessary to enter into these particulars, partly in order that +the reader may form his own judgment of the motives which prompted +Michelangelo to desert his official post at Florence, and partly +because we have now to consider the _Ricordo_ above mentioned, with +the puzzling date, September 10. This document is a note of expenses +incurred during a residence of fourteen days at Venice. It runs as +follows:-- + +"Honoured Sir. In Venice, this tenth day of September.... Ten ducats +to Rinaldo Corsini. Five ducats to Messer Loredan for the rent of the +house. Seventeen lire for the stockings of Antonio (Mini, perhaps). +For two stools, a table to eat on, and a coffer, half a ducat. Eight +soldi for straw. Forty soldi for the hire of the bed. Ten lire to the +man (_fante_) who came from Florence. Three ducats to Bondino for the +journey to Venice with boats. Twenty soldi to Piloto for a pair of +shoes. Fourteen days' board in Venice, twenty lire." + +It has been argued from the date of the unfinished letter below which +these items are jotted down, that Michelangelo must have been in +Venice early in September, before his flight from Florence at the end +of that month. But whatever weight we may attach to this single date, +there is no corroborative proof that he travelled twice to Venice, and +everything in the _Ricordo_ indicates that it refers to the period of +his flight from Florence. The sum paid to Corsini comes first, because +it must have been disbursed when that man broke the journey at +Ferrara. Antonio Mini and Piloto are both mentioned: a house has been +engaged, and furnished with Michelangelo's usual frugality, as though +he contemplated a residence of some duration. All this confirms +Busini, Varchi, Segni, Nardi, and Vasari in the general outlines of +their reports. I am of opinion that, unassisted by further evidence, +the _Ricordo_, in spite of its date, will not bear out Gotti's view +that Michelangelo sought Venice on a privy mission at the end of +August 1529. He was not likely to have been employed as ambassador +extraordinary; the Signory required his services at home; and after +Ferrara, Venice had little of importance to show the +controller-general of defences in the way of earthworks and bastions. + + +IV + +Varchi says that Michelangelo, when he reached Venice, "wishing to +avoid visits and ceremonies, of which he was the greatest enemy, and +in order to live alone, according to his custom, far away from +company, retired quietly to the Giudecca; but the Signory, unable to +ignore the advent of so eminent a man, sent two of their first +noblemen to visit him in the name of the Republic, and to offer kindly +all things which either he or any persons of his train might stand in +need of. This public compliment set forth the greatness of his fame as +artist, and showed in what esteem the arts are held by their +magnificent and most illustrious lordships." Vasari adds that the +Doge, whom he calls Gritti, gave him commission to design a bridge for +the Rialto, marvellous alike in its construction and its ornament. + +Meanwhile the Signory of Florence issued a decree of outlawry against +thirteen citizens who had quitted the territory without leave. It was +promulgated on the 30th of September, and threatened them with extreme +penalties if they failed to appear before the 8th of October. On the +7th of October a second decree was published, confiscating the +property of numerous exiles. But this document does not contain the +name of Michelangelo; and by a third decree, dated November 16, it +appears that the Government were satisfied with depriving him of his +office and stopping his pay. We gather indeed, from what Condivi and +Varchi relate, that they displayed great eagerness to get him back, +and corresponded to this intent with their envoy at Ferrara. +Michelangelo's flight from Florence seemed a matter of sufficient +importance to be included in the despatches of the French ambassador +resident at Venice. Lazare de Baïf, knowing his master's desire to +engage the services of the great sculptor, and being probably informed +of Buonarroti's own wish to retire to France, wrote several letters in +the month of October, telling Francis that Michelangelo might be +easily persuaded to join his court. We do not know, however, whether +the King acted on this hint. + +His friends at home took the precaution of securing his effects, +fearing that a decree for their confiscation might be issued. We +possess a schedule of wine, wheat, and furniture found in his house, +and handed over by the servant Caterina to his old friend Francesco +Granacci for safe keeping. They also did their best to persuade +Michelangelo that he ought to take measures for returning under a +safe-conduct. Galeotto Giugni wrote upon this subject to the War +Office, under date October 13, from Ferrara. He says that Michelangelo +has begged him to intercede in his favour, and that he is willing to +return and lay himself at the feet of their lordships. In answer to +this despatch, news was sent to Giugni on the 20th that the Signory +had signed a safe-conduct for Buonarroti. On the 22nd Granacci paid +Sebastiano di Francesco, a stone-cutter, to whom Michelangelo was much +attached, money for his journey to Venice. It appears that this man +set out upon the 23rd, carrying letters from Giovan Battista della +Palla, who had now renounced all intention of retiring to France, and +was enthusiastically engaged in, the defence of Florence. On the +return of the Medici, Palla was imprisoned in the castle of Pisa, and +paid the penalty of his patriotism by death. A second letter which he +wrote to Michelangelo on this occasion deserves to be translated, +since it proves the high spirit with which the citizens of Florence +were now awaiting the approach of the Prince of Orange and his veteran +army. "Yesterday I sent you a letter, together with ten from other +friends, and the safe-conduct granted by the Signory for the whole +month of November and though I feel sure that it will reach you +safely, I take the precaution of enclosing a copy under this cover. I +need hardly repeat what I wrote at great length in my last, nor shall +I have recourse to friends for the same purpose. They all of them, I +know, with one voice, without the least disagreement or hesitation, +have exhorted you, immediately upon the receipt of their letters and +the safe-conduct, to return home, in order to preserve your life, your +country, your friends, your honour, and your property, and also to +enjoy those times so earnestly desired and hoped for by you. If any +one had foretold that I could listen without the least affright to +news of an invading army marching on our walls, this would have seemed +to me impossible. And yet I now assure you that I am not only quite +fearless, but also full of confidence in a glorious victory. For many +days past my soul has been filled with such gladness, that if God, +either for our sins or for some other reason, according to the +mysteries of His just judgment, does not permit that army to be broken +in our hands, my sorrow will be the same as when one loses, not a good +thing hoped for, but one gained and captured. To such an extent am I +convinced in my fixed imagination of our success, and have put it to +my capital account. I already foresee our militia system, established +on a permanent basis, and combined with that of the territory, +carrying our city to the skies. I contemplate a fortification of +Florence, not temporary, as it now is, but with walls and bastions to +be built hereafter. The principal and most difficult step has been +already taken; the whole space round the town swept clean, without +regard for churches or for monasteries, in accordance with the public +need. I contemplate in these our fellow-citizens a noble spirit of +disdain for all their losses and the bygone luxuries of villa-life; an +admirable unity and fervour for the preservation of liberty; fear of +God alone; confidence in Him and in the justice of our cause; +innumerable other good things, certain to bring again the age of gold, +and which I hope sincerely you will enjoy in company with all of us +who are your friends. For all these reasons, I most earnestly entreat +you, from the depth of my heart, to come at once and travel through +Lucca, where I will meet you, and attend you with due form and +ceremony until here: such is my intense desire that our country should +not lose you, nor you her. If, after your arrival at Lucca, you should +by some accident fail to find me, and you should not care to come to +Florence without my company, write a word, I beg. I will set out at +once, for I feel sure that I shall get permission.... God, by His +goodness, keep you in good health, and bring you back to us safe and +happy." + +Michelangelo set forth upon his journey soon after the receipt of this +letter. He was in Ferrara on the 9th of November, as appears from a +despatch written by Galeotto Giugni, recommending him to the +Government of Florence. Letters patent under the seal of the Duke +secured him free passage through the city of Modena and the province +of Garfagnana. In spite of these accommodations, he seems to have met +with difficulties on the way, owing to the disturbed state of the +country. His friend Giovan Battista Palla was waiting for him at +Lucca, without information of his movements, up to the 18th of the +month. He had left Florence on the 11th, and spent the week at Pisa +and Lucca, expecting news in vain. Then, "with one foot in the +stirrup," as he says, "the license granted by the Signory" having +expired, he sends another missive to Venice, urging Michelangelo not +to delay a day longer. "As I cannot persuade myself that you do not +intend to come, I urgently request you to reflect, if you have not +already started, that the property of those who incurred outlawry with +you is being sold, and if you do not arrive within the term conceded +by your safe-conduct--that is, during this month--the same will happen +to yourself without the possibility of any mitigation. If you do come, +as I still hope and firmly believe, speak with my honoured friend +Messer Filippo Calandrini here, to whom I have given directions for +your attendance from this town without trouble to yourself. God keep +you safe from harm, and grant we see you shortly in our country, by +His aid, victorious." + +With this letter, Palla, who was certainly a good friend to the +wayward artist, and an amiable man to boot, disappears out of this +history. At some time about the 20th of November, Michelangelo +returned to Florence. We do not know how he finished the journey, and +how he was received; but the sentence of outlawry was commuted, on the +23rd, into exclusion from the Grand Council for three years. He set to +work immediately at S. Miniato, strengthening the bastions, and +turning the church-tower into a station for sharpshooters. Florence by +this time had lost all her territory except a few strong places, Pisa, +Livorno, Arezzo, Empoli, Volterra. The Emperor Charles V. signed her +liberties away to Clement by the peace of Barcelona (June 20,1529), +and the Republic was now destined to be the appanage of his +illegitimate daughter in marriage with the bastard Alessandro de' +Medici. It only remained for the army of the Prince of Orange to +reduce the city. When Michelangelo arrived, the Imperial troops were +leaguered on the heights above the town. The inevitable end of the +unequal struggle could be plainly foreseen by those who had not +Palla's enthusiasm to sustain their faith. In spite of Ferrucci's +genius and spirit, in spite of the good-will of the citizens, Florence +was bound to fall. While admitting that Michelangelo abandoned his +post in a moment of panic, we must do him the justice of remembering +that he resumed it when all his darkest prognostications were being +slowly but surely realised. The worst was that his old enemy, +Malatesta Baglioni, had now opened a regular system of intrigue with +Clement and the Prince of Orange, terminating in the treasonable +cession of the city. It was not until August 1530 that Florence +finally capitulated. Still the months which intervened between that +date and Michelangelo's return from Venice were but a dying close, a +slow agony interrupted by spasms of ineffectual heroism. + +In describing the works at S. Miniato, Condivi lays great stress upon +Michelangelo's plan for arming the bell-tower. "The incessant +cannonade of the enemy had broken it in many places, and there was a +serious risk that it might come crashing down, to the great injury of +the troops within the bastion. He caused a large number of mattresses +well stuffed with wool to be brought, and lowered these by night from +the summit of the tower down to its foundations, protecting those +parts which were exposed to fire. Inasmuch as the cornice projected, +the mattresses hung free in the air, at the distance of six cubits +from the wall; so that when the missiles of the enemy arrived, they +did little or no damage, partly owing to the distance they had +travelled, and partly to the resistance offered by this swinging, +yielding panoply." An anonymous writer, quoted by Milanesi, gives a +fairly intelligible account of the system adopted by Michelangelo. +"The outer walls of the bastion were composed of unbaked bricks, the +clay of which was mingled with chopped tow. Its thickness he filled in +with earth; and," adds this critic, "of all the buildings which +remained, this alone survived the siege." It was objected that, in +designing these bastions, he multiplied the flanking lines and +embrasures beyond what was either necessary or safe. But, observes the +anonymous writer, all that his duty as architect demanded was that he +should lay down a plan consistent with the nature of the ground, +leaving details to practical engineers and military men. "If, then, he +committed any errors in these matters, it was not so much his fault as +that of the Government, who did not provide him with experienced +coadjutors. But how can mere merchants understand the art of war, +which needs as much science as any other of the arts, nay more, +inasmuch as it is obviously more noble and more perilous?" The +confidence now reposed in him is further demonstrated by a license +granted on the 22nd of February 1530, empowering him to ascend the +cupola of the Duomo on one special occasion with two companions, in +order to obtain a general survey of the environs of Florence. + +Michelangelo, in the midst of these serious duties, could not have had +much time to bestow upon his art. Still there is no reason to doubt +Vasari's emphatic statement that he went on working secretly at the +Medicean monuments. To have done so openly while the city was in +conflict to the death with Clement, would have been dangerous; and yet +every one who understands the artist's temperament must feel that a +man like Buonarroti was likely to seek rest and distraction from +painful anxieties in the tranquillising labour of the chisel. It is +also certain that, during the last months of the siege, he found +leisure to paint a picture of Leda for the Duke of Ferrara, which will +be mentioned in its proper place. + +Florence surrendered in the month of August 1530. The terms were drawn +up by Don Ferrante Gonzaga, who commanded the Imperial forces after +the death of Filiberto, Prince of Orange, in concert with the Pope's +commissary-general, Baccio Valori. Malatesta Baglioni, albeit he went +about muttering that Florence "was no stable for mules" (alluding to +the fact that all the Medici were bastards), approved of the articles, +and showed by his conduct that he had long been plotting treason. The +act of capitulation was completed on the 12th, and accepted +unwillingly by the Signory. Valori, supported by Baglioni's military +force, reigned supreme in the city, and prepared to reinstate the +exiled family of princes. It said that Marco Dandolo of Venice, when +news reached the Pregadi of the fall of Florence, exclaimed aloud: +"Baglioni has put upon his head the cap of the biggest traitor upon +record." + + +V + +The city was saved from wreckage by a lucky quarrel between the +Italian and Spanish troops in the Imperial camp. But no sooner was +Clement aware that Florence lay at his mercy, than he disregarded the +articles of capitulation, and began to act as an autocratic despot. +Before confiding the government to his kinsmen, the Cardinal Ippolito +and Alessandro Duke of Penna, he made Valori institute a series of +criminal prosecutions against the patriots. Battista della Palla and +Raffaello Girolami were sent to prison and poisoned. Five citizens +were tortured and decapitated in one day of October. Those who had +managed to escape from Florence were sentenced to exile, outlawry, and +confiscation of goods by hundreds. Charles V. had finally to interfere +and put a stop to the fury of the Pope's revenges. How cruel and +exasperated the mind of Clement was, may be gathered from his +treatment of Fra Benedetto da Foiano, who sustained the spirit of the +burghers by his fiery preaching during the privations of the siege. +Foiano fell into the clutches of Malatesta Baglioni, who immediately +sent him down to Rome. By the Pope's orders the wretched friar was +flung into the worst dungeon in the Castle of S. Angelo, and there +slowly starved to death by gradual diminution of his daily dole of +bread and water. Readers of Benvenuto Cellini's Memoirs will remember +the horror with which he speaks of this dungeon and of its dreadful +reminiscences, when it fell to his lot to be imprisoned there. + +Such being the mood of Clement, it is not wonderful that Michelangelo +should have trembled for his own life and liberty. As Varchi says, "He +had been a member of the Nine, had fortified the hill and armed the +bell-tower of S. Miniato. What was more annoying, he was accused, +though falsely, of proposing to raze the palace of the Medici, where +in his boyhood Lorenzo and Piero de' Medici had shown him honour as a +guest at their own tables, and to name the space on which it stood the +Place of Mules." For this reason he hid himself, as Condivi and Varchi +assert, in the house of a trusty friend. The Senator Filippo +Buonarroti, who diligently collected traditions about his illustrious +ancestor, believed that his real place of retreat was the bell-tower +of S. Nicolò, beyond the Arno. "When Clement's fury abated," says +Condivi, "he wrote to Florence ordering that search should be made for +Michelangelo, and adding that when he was found, if he agreed to go on +working at the Medicean monuments, he should be left at liberty and +treated with due courtesy. On hearing news of this, Michelangelo came +forth from his hiding-place, and resumed the statues in the sacristy +of S. Lorenzo, moved thereto more by fear of the Pope than by love for +the Medici." From correspondence carried on between Rome and Florence +during November and December, we learn that his former pension of +fifty crowns a month was renewed, and that Giovan Battista Figiovanni, +a Prior of S. Lorenzo, was appointed the Pope's agent and paymaster. + +An incident of some interest in the art-history of Florence is +connected with this return of the Medici, and probably also with +Clement's desire to concentrate Michelangelo's energies upon the +sacristy. So far back as May 10, 1508, Piero Soderini wrote to the +Marquis of Massa-Carrara, begging him to retain a large block of +marble until Michelangelo could come in person and superintend its +rough-hewing for a colossal statue to be placed on the Piazza. After +the death of Leo, the stone was assigned to Baccio Bandinelli; but +Michelangelo, being in favour with the Government at the time of the +expulsion of the Medici, obtained the grant of it. His first +intention, in which Bandinelli followed him, was to execute a Hercules +trampling upon Cacus, which should stand as pendant to his own David. + +By a deliberation of the Signory, under date August 22, 1528, we are +informed that the marble had been brought to Florence about three +years earlier, and that Michelangelo now received instructions, +couched in the highest terms of compliment, to proceed with a group of +two figures until its accomplishment. If Vasari can be trusted, +Michelangelo made numerous designs and models for the Cacus, but +afterwards changed his mind, and thought that he would extract from +the block a Samson triumphing over two prostrate Philistines. The +evidence for this change of plan is not absolutely conclusive. The +deliberation of August 22, 1528, indeed left it open to his discretion +whether he should execute a Hercules and Cacus, or any other group of +two figures; and the English nation at South Kensington possesses one +of his noble little wax models for a Hercules. We may perhaps, +therefore, assume that while Bandinelli adhered to the Hercules and +Cacus, Michelangelo finally decided on a Samson. At any rate, the +block was restored in 1530 to Bandinelli, who produced the misbegotten +group which still deforms the Florentine Piazza. + +Michelangelo had some reason to be jealous of Bandinelli, who +exercised considerable influence at the Medicean court, and was an +unscrupulous enemy both in word and deed. A man more widely and worse +hated than Bandinelli never lived. If any piece of mischief happened +which could be fixed upon him with the least plausibility, he bore the +blame. Accordingly, when Buonarroti's workshop happened to be broken +open, people said that Bandinelli was the culprit. Antonio Mini left +the following record of the event: "Three months before the siege, +Michelangelo's studio in Via Mozza was burst into with chisels, about +fifty drawings of figures were stolen, and among them the designs for +the Medicean tombs, with others of great value; also four models in +wax and clay. The young men who did it left by accident a chisel +marked with the letter M., which led to their discovery. When they +knew they were detected, they made off or hid themselves, and sent to +say they would return the stolen articles, and begged for pardon." Now +the chisel branded with an M. was traced to Michelangelo, the father +of Baccio Bandinelli, and no one doubted that he was the burglar. + +The history of Michelangelo's Leda, which now survives only in +doubtful reproductions, may be introduced by a passage from Condivi's +account of his master's visit to Ferrara in 1529. "The Duke received +him with great demonstrations of joy, no less by reason of his eminent +fame than because Don Ercole, his son, was Captain of the Signory of +Florence. Riding forth with him in person, there was nothing +appertaining to the business of his mission which the Duke did not +bring beneath his notice, whether fortifications or artillery. Beside +this, he opened his own private treasure-room, displaying all its +contents, and particularly some pictures and portraits of his +ancestors, executed by masters in their time excellent. When the hour +approached for Michelangelo's departure, the Duke jestingly said to +him: 'You are my prisoner now. If you want me to let you go free, I +require that you shall promise to make me something with your own +hand, according to your will and fancy, be it sculpture or painting.' +Michelangelo agreed; and when he arrived at Florence, albeit he was +overwhelmed with work for the defences, he began a large piece for a +saloon, representing the congress of the swan with Leda. The breaking +of the egg was also introduced, from which sprang Castor and Pollux, +according to the ancient fable. The Duke heard of this; and on the +return of the Medici, he feared that he might lose so great a treasure +in the popular disturbance which ensued. Accordingly he despatched one +of his gentlemen, who found Michelangelo at home, and viewed the +picture. After inspecting it, the man exclaimed: 'Oh! this is a mere +trifle.' Michelangelo inquired what his own art was, being aware that +men can only form a proper judgment in the arts they exercise. The +other sneered and answered: 'I am a merchant.' Perhaps he felt +affronted at the question, and at not being recognised in his quality +of nobleman; he may also have meant to depreciate the industry of the +Florentines, who for the most part are occupied with trade, as though +to say: 'You ask me what my art is? Is it possible you think a man +like me could be a trader?' Michelangelo, perceiving his drift, +growled out: 'You are doing bad business for your lord! Take yourself +away!' Having thus dismissed the ducal messenger, he made a present of +the picture, after a short while, to one of his serving-men, who, +having two sisters to marry, begged for assistance. It was sent to +France, and there bought by King Francis, where it still exists." + +As a matter of fact, we know now that Antonio Mini, for a long time +Michelangelo's man of all work, became part owner of this Leda, and +took it with him to France. A certain Francesco Tedaldi acquired +pecuniary interest in the picture, of which one Benedetto Bene made a +copy at Lyons in 1532. The original and the copy were carried by Mini +to Paris in 1533, and deposited in the house of Giuliano Buonaccorsi, +whence they were transferred in some obscure way to the custody of +Luigi Alamanni, and finally passed into the possession of the King. +Meanwhile, Antonio Mini died, and Tedaldi wrote a record of his losses +and a confused account of money matters and broker business, which he +sent to Michelangelo in 1540. The Leda remained at Fontainebleau till +the reign of Louis XIII., when M. Desnoyers, Minister of State, +ordered the picture to be destroyed because of its indecency. Pierre +Mariette says that this order was not carried into effect; for the +canvas, in a sadly mutilated state, reappeared some seven or eight +years before his date of writing, and was seen by him. In spite of +injuries, he could trace the hand of a great master; "and I confess +that nothing I had seen from the brush of Michelangelo showed better +painting." He adds that it was restored by a second-rate artist and +sent to England. What became of Mini's copy is uncertain. We possess a +painting in the Dresden Gallery, a Cartoon in the collection of the +Royal Academy of England, and a large oil picture, much injured, in +the vaults of the National Gallery. In addition to these works, there +is a small marble statue in the Museo Nazionale at Florence. All of +them represent Michelangelo's design. If mere indecency could justify +Desnoyers in his attempt to destroy a masterpiece, this picture +deserved its fate. It represented the act of coition between a swan +and a woman; and though we cannot hold Michelangelo responsible for +the repulsive expression on the face of Leda, which relegates the +marble of the Bargello to a place among pornographic works of art, +there is no reason to suppose that the general scheme of his +conception was abandoned in the copies made of it. + +Michelangelo, being a true artist, anxious only for the presentation +of his subject, seems to have remained indifferent to its moral +quality. Whether it was a crucifixion, or a congress of the swan with +Leda, or a rape of Ganymede, or the murder of Holofernes in his tent, +or the birth of Eve, he sought to seize the central point in the +situation, and to accentuate its significance by the inexhaustible +means at his command for giving plastic form to an idea. Those, +however, who have paid attention to his work will discover that he +always found emotional quality corresponding to the nature of the +subject. His ways of handling religious and mythological motives +differ in sentiment, and both are distinguished from his treatment of +dramatic episodes. The man's mind made itself a mirror to reflect the +vision gloating over it; he cared not what that vision was, so long as +he could render it in lines of plastic harmony, and express the utmost +of the feeling which the theme contained. + +Among the many statues left unfinished by Michelangelo is one +belonging to this period of his life. "In order to ingratiate himself +with Baccio Valori," says Vasari, "he began a statue of three cubits +in marble. It was an Apollo drawing a shaft from his quiver. This he +nearly finished. It stands now in the chamber of the Prince of +Florence; a thing of rarest beauty, though not quite completed." This +noble piece of sculpture illustrates the certainty and freedom of the +master's hand. Though the last touches of the chisel are lacking, +every limb palpitates and undulates with life. The marble seems to be +growing into flesh beneath the hatched lines left upon its surface. +The pose of the young god, full of strength and sinewy, is no less +admirable for audacity than for ease and freedom. Whether Vasari was +right in his explanation of the action of this figure may be +considered more than doubtful. Were we not accustomed to call it an +Apollo, we should rather be inclined to class it with the Slaves of +the Louvre, to whom in feeling and design it bears a remarkable +resemblance. Indeed, it might be conjectured with some probability +that, despairing of bringing his great design for the tomb of Julius +to a conclusion, he utilised one of the projected captives for his +present to the all-powerful vizier of the Medicean tyrants. It ought, +in conclusion, to be added, that there was nothing servile in +Michelangelo's desire to make Valori his friend. He had accepted the +political situation; and we have good reason, from letters written at +a later date by Valori from Rome, to believe that this man took a +sincere interest in the great artist. Moreover, Varchi, who is +singularly severe in his judgment on the agents of the Medici, +expressly states that Baccio Valori was "less cruel than the other +Palleschi, doing many and notable services to some persons out of +kindly feeling, and to others for money (since he had little and spent +much); and this he was well able to perform, seeing he was then the +lord of Florence, and the first citizens of the land paid court to him +and swelled his train." + + +VI + +During the siege Lodovico Buonarroti passed his time at Pisa. His +little grandson, Lionardo, the sole male heir of the family, was with +him. Born September 25, 1519, the boy was now exactly eleven years +old, and by his father's death in 1528 he had been two years an +orphan. Lionardo was ailing, and the old man wearied to return. His +two sons, Gismondo and Giansimone, had promised to fetch him home when +the country should be safe for travelling. But they delayed; and at +last, upon the 30th of September, Lodovico wrote as follows to +Michelangelo: "Some time since I directed a letter to Gismondo, from +whom you have probably learned that I am staying here, and, indeed, +too long; for the flight of Buonarroto's pure soul to heaven, and my +own need and earnest desire to come home, and Nardo's state of health, +all makes me restless. The boy has been for some days out of health +and pining, and I am anxious about him." It is probable that some +means were found for escorting them both safely to Settignano. We hear +no more about Lodovico till the period of his death, the date of which +has not been ascertained with certainty. + +From the autumn of 1530 on to the end of 1533 Michelangelo worked at +the Medicean monuments. His letters are singularly scanty during all +this period, but we possess sufficient information from other sources +to enable us to reconstruct a portion of his life. What may be called +the chronic malady of his existence, that never-ending worry with the +tomb of Julius, assumed an acute form again in the spring of 1531. The +correspondence with Sebastiano del Piombo, which had been interrupted +since 1525, now becomes plentiful, and enables us to follow some of +the steps which led to the new and solemn contract of May 1532. + +It is possible that Michelangelo thought he ought to go to Rome in the +beginning of the year. If we are right in ascribing a letter written +by Benvenuto della Volpaia from Rome upon the 18th of January to the +year 1531, and not to 1532, he must have already decided on this step. +The document is curious in several respects. "Yours of the 13th +informs me that you want a room. I shall be delighted if I can be of +service to you in this matter; indeed, it is nothing in respect to +what I should like to do for you. I can offer you a chamber or two +without the least inconvenience; and you could not confer on me a +greater pleasure than by taking up your abode with me in either of the +two places which I will now describe. His Holiness has placed me in +the Belvedere, and made me guardian there. To-morrow my things will be +carried thither, for a permanent establishment; and I can place at +your disposal a room with a bed and everything you want. You can even +enter by the gate outside the city, which opens into the spiral +staircase, and reach your apartment and mine without passing through +Rome. From here I can let you into the palace, for I keep a key at +your service; and what is better, the Pope comes every day to visit +us. If you decide on the Belvedere, you must let me know the day of +your departure, and about when you will arrive. In that case I will +take up my post at the spiral staircase of Bramante, where you will be +able to see me. If you wish, nobody but my brother and Mona Lisabetta +and I shall know that you are here, and you shall do just as you +please; and, in short, I beg you earnestly to choose this plan. +Otherwise, come to the Borgo Nuovo, to the houses which Volterra +built, the fifth house toward S. Angelo. I have rented it to live +there, and my brother Fruosino is also going to live and keep shop in +it. There you will have a room or two, if you like, at your disposal. +Please yourself, and give the letter to Tommaso di Stefano Miniatore, +who will address it to Messer Lorenzo de' Medici, and I shall have it +quickly." + +Nothing came of these proposals. But that Michelangelo did not abandon +the idea of going to Rome appears from a letter of Sebastiano's +written on the 24th of February. It was the first which passed between +the friends since the terrible events of 1527 and 1530. For once, the +jollity of the epicurean friar has deserted him. He writes as though +those awful months of the sack of Rome were still present to his +memory. "After all those trials, hardships, and perils, God Almighty +has left us alive and in health, by His mercy and piteous kindness. A +thing, in sooth, miraculous, when I reflect upon it; wherefore His +Majesty be ever held in gratitude.... Now, gossip mine, since we have +passed through fire and water, and have experienced things we never +dreamed of, let us thank God for all; and the little remnant left to +us of life, may we at least employ it in such peace as can be had. For +of a truth, what fortune does or does not do is of slight importance, +seeing how scurvy and how dolorous she is. I am brought to this, that +if the universe should crumble round me, I should not care, but laugh +at all. Menighella will inform you what my life is, how I am. I do not +yet seem to myself to be the same Bastiano I was before the Sack. I +cannot yet get back into my former frame of mind." In a postscript to +this letter, eloquent by its very naivete, Sebastiano says that he +sees no reason for Michelangelo's coming to Rome, except it be to look +after his house, which is going to ruin, and the workshop tumbling to +pieces. In another letter, of April 29, Sebastiano repeats that there +is no need for Michelangelo to come to Rome, if it be only to put +himself right with the Pope. Clement is sincerely his friend, and has +forgiven the part he played during the siege of Florence. He then +informs his gossip that, having been lately at Pesaro, he met the +painter Girolamo Genga, who promised to be serviceable in the matter +of the tomb of Julius. The Duke of Urbino, according to this man's +account, was very eager to see it finished. "I replied that the work +was going forward, but that 8000 ducats were needed for its +completion, and we did not know where to get this money. He said that +the Duke would provide, but his Lordship was afraid of losing both the +ducats and the work, and was inclined to be angry. After a good deal +of talking, he asked whether it would not be possible to execute the +tomb upon a reduced scale, so as to satisfy both parties. I answered +that you ought to be consulted." We have reason to infer from this +that the plan which was finally adopted, of making a mural monument +with only a few figures from the hand of Michelangelo, had already +been suggested. In his next letter, Sebastiano communicates the fact +that he has been appointed to the office of Piombatore; "and if you +could see me in my quality of friar, I am sure you would laugh. I am +the finest friar loon in Rome." The Duke of Urbino's agent, Hieronimo +Staccoli, now appears for the first time upon the stage. It was +through his negotiations that the former contracts for the tomb of +Julius were finally annulled and a new design adopted. Michelangelo +offered, with the view of terminating all disputes, to complete the +monument on a reduced scale at his own cost, and furthermore to +disburse the sum of 2000 ducats in discharge of any claims the Della +Rovere might have against him. This seemed too liberal, and when +Clement was informed of the project, he promised to make better terms. +Indeed, during the course of these negotiations the Pope displayed the +greatest interest in Michelangelo's affairs. Staccoli, on the Duke's +part, raised objections; and Sebastiano had to remind him that, unless +some concessions were made, the scheme of the tomb might fall through: +"for it does not rain Michelangelos, and men could hardly be found to +preserve the work, far less to finish it." In course of time the +Duke's ambassador at Rome, Giovan Maria della Porta, intervened, and +throughout the whole business Clement was consulted upon every detail. + +Sebastiano kept up his correspondence through the summer of 1531. +Meanwhile the suspense and anxiety were telling seriously on +Michelangelo's health. Already in June news must have reached Rome +that his health was breaking down; for Clement sent word recommending +him to work less, and to relax his spirits by exercise. Toward the +autumn he became alarmingly ill. We have a letter from Paolo Mini, the +uncle of his servant Antonio, written to Baccio Valori on the 29th of +September. After describing the beauty of two statues for the Medicean +tombs, Mini says he fears that "Michelangelo will not live long, +unless some measures are taken for his benefit. He works very hard, +eats little and poorly, and sleeps less. In fact, he is afflicted with +two kinds of disorder, the one in his head, the other in his heart. +Neither is incurable, since he has a robust constitution; but for the +good of his head, he ought to be restrained by our Lord the Pope from +working through the winter in the sacristy, the air of which is bad +for him; and for his heart, the best remedy would be if his Holiness +could accommodate matters with the Duke of Urbino." In a second +letter, of October 8, Mini insists again upon the necessity of freeing +Michelangelo's mind from his anxieties. The upshot was that Clement, +on the 21st of November, addressed a brief to his sculptor, whereby +Buonarroti was ordered, under pain of excommunication, to lay aside +all work except what was strictly necessary for the Medicean +monuments, and to take better care of his health. On the 26th of the +same month Benvenuto della Volpaia wrote, repeating what the Pope had +written in his brief, and adding that his Holiness desired him to +select some workshop more convenient for his health than the cold and +cheerless sacristy. + +In spite of Clement's orders that Michelangelo should confine himself +strictly to working on the Medicean monuments, he continued to be +solicited with various commissions. Thus the Cardinal Cybo wrote in +December begging him to furnish a design for a tomb which he intended +to erect. Whether Michelangelo consented is not known. + +Early in December Sebastiano resumed his communications on the subject +of the tomb of Julius, saying that Michelangelo must not expect to +satisfy the Duke without executing the work, in part at least, +himself. "There is no one but yourself that harms you: I mean, your +eminent fame and the greatness of your works. I do not say this to +flatter you. Therefore, I am of opinion that, without some shadow of +yourself, we shall never induce those parties to do what we want. It +seems to me that you might easily make designs and models, and +afterwards assign the completion to any master whom you choose. But +the shadow of yourself there must be. If you take the matter in this +way, it will be a trifle; you will do nothing, and seem to do all; but +remember that the work must be carried out under your shadow." A +series of despatches, forwarded between December 4, 1531, and April +29, 1532, by Giovan Maria della Porta to the Duke of Urbino, confirm +the particulars furnished by the letters which Sebastiano still +continued to write from Rome. At the end of 1531 Michelangelo +expressed his anxiety to visit Rome, now that the negotiations with +the Duke were nearly complete. Sebastiano, hearing this, replies: "You +will effect more in half an hour than I can do in a whole year. I +believe that you will arrange everything after two words with his +Holiness; for our Lord is anxious to meet your wishes." He wanted to +be present at the drawing up and signing of the contract. Clement, +however, although he told Sebastiano that he should be glad to see +him, hesitated to send the necessary permission, and it was not until +the month of April 1532 that he set out. About the 6th, as appears +from the indorsement of a letter received in his absence, he must have +reached Rome. The new contract was not ready for signature before the +29th, and on that date Michelangelo left for Florence, having, as he +says, been sent off by the Pope in a hurry on the very day appointed +for its execution. In his absence it was duly signed and witnessed +before Clement; the Cardinals Gonzaga and da Monte and the Lady Felice +della Rovere attesting, while Giovan Maria della Porta and Girolamo +Staccoli acted for the Duke of Urbino. When Michelangelo returned and +saw the instrument, he found that several clauses prejudicial to his +interests had been inserted by the notary. "I discovered more than +1000 ducats charged unjustly to my debit, also the house in which I +live, and certain other hooks and crooks to ruin me. The Pope would +certainly not have tolerated this knavery, as Fra Sebastiano can bear +witness, since he wished me to complain to Clement and have the notary +hanged. I swear I never received the moneys which Giovan Maria della +Porta wrote against me, and caused to be engrossed upon the contract." + +It is difficult to understand why Michelangelo should not have +immediately taken measures to rectify these errors. He seems to have +been well aware that he was bound to refund 2000 ducats, since the +only letter from his pen belonging to the year 1532 is one dated May, +and addressed to Andrea Quarantesi in Pisa. In this document he +consults Quarantesi about the possibility of raising that sum, with +1000 ducats in addition. "It was in my mind, in order that I might not +be left naked, to sell houses and possessions, and to let the lira go +for ten soldi." As the contract was never carried out, the fraudulent +passages inserted in the deed did not prove of practical importance. +Delia Porta, on his part, wrote in high spirits to his master: +"Yesterday we executed the new contract with Michelangelo, for the +ratification of which by your Lordship we have fixed a limit of two +months. It is of a nature to satisfy all Rome, and reflects great +credit on your Lordship for the trouble you have taken in concluding +it. Michelangelo, who shows a very proper respect for your Lordship, +has promised to make and send you a design. Among other items, I have +bound him to furnish six statues by his own hand, which will be a +world in themselves, because they are sure to be incomparable. The +rest he may have finished by some sculptor at his own choice, provided +the work is done under his direction. The Pope allows him to come +twice a year to Rome, for periods of two months each, in order to push +the work forward. And he is to execute the whole at his own costs." He +proceeds to say, that since the tomb cannot be put up in S. Peter's, +S. Pietro in Vincoli has been selected as the most suitable church. It +appears that the Duke's ratification was sent upon the 5th of June and +placed in the hands of Clement, so that Michelangelo probably did not +see it for some months. Della Porta, writing to the Duke again upon +the 19th of June, says that Clement promised to allow Michelangelo to +come to Rome in the winter, and to reside there working at the tomb. +But we have no direct information concerning his doings after the +return to Florence at the end of April 1532. + +It will be worth while to introduce Condivi's account of these +transactions relating to the tomb of Julius, since it throws some +light upon the sculptor's private feelings and motives, as well as +upon the falsification of the contract as finally engrossed. + +"When Michelangelo had been called to Rome by Pope Clement, he began +to be harassed by the agents of the Duke of Urbino about the sepulchre +of Julius. Clement, who wished to employ him in Florence, did all he +could to set him free, and gave him for his attorney in this matter +Messer Tommaso da Prato, who was afterwards datary. Michelangelo, +however, knowing the devil disposition of Duke Alessandro toward him, +and being in great dread on this account, also because he bore love +and reverence to the memory of Pope Julius and to the illustrious +house of Della Rovere, strained every nerve to remain in Rome and busy +himself about the tomb. What made him more anxious was that every one +accused him of having received from Pope Julius at least 16,000 +crowns, and of having spent them on himself without fulfilling his +engagements. Being a man sensitive about his reputation, he could not +bear the dishonour of such reports, and wanted the whole matter to be +cleared up; nor, although he was now old, did he shrink from the very +onerous task of completing what he had begun so long ago. Consequently +they came to strife together, and his antagonists were unable to prove +payments to anything like the amount which had first been noised +abroad; indeed, on the contrary, more than two thirds of the whole sum +first stipulated by the two Cardinals was wanting. Clement then +thinking he had found an excellent opportunity for setting him at +liberty and making use of his whole energies, called Michelangelo to +him, and said: 'Come, now, confess that you want to make this tomb, +but wish to know who will pay you the balance.' Michelangelo, knowing +well that the Pope was anxious to employ him on his own work, +answered: 'Supposing some one is found to pay me.' To which Pope +Clement: 'You are a great fool if you let yourself believe that any +one will come forward to offer you a farthing.' Accordingly, his +attorney, Messer Tommaso, and the agents of the Duke, after some +negotiations, came to an agreement that a tomb should at least be made +for the amount he had received. Michelangelo, thinking the matter had +arrived at a good conclusion, consented with alacrity. He was much +influenced by the elder Cardinal di Monte, who owed his advancement to +Julius II., and was uncle of Julius III., our present Pope by grace of +God. The arrangement was as follows: That he should make a tomb of one +façade only; should utilise those marbles which he had already blocked +out for the quadrangular monument, adapting them as well as +circumstances allowed; and finally, that he should be bound to furnish +six statues by his own hand. In spite of this arrangement, Pope +Clement was allowed to employ Michelangelo in Florence or where he +liked during four months of the year, that being required by his +Holiness for his undertakings at S. Lorenzo. Such then was the +contract made between the Duke and Michelangelo. But here it has to be +observed, that after all accounts had been made up, Michelangelo +secretly agreed with the agents of his Excellency that it should be +reported that he had received some thousands of crowns above what had +been paid to him; the object being to make his obligation to the Duke +of Urbino seem more considerable, and to discourage Pope Clement from +sending him to Florence, whither he was extremely unwilling to go. +This acknowledgment was not only bruited about in words, but, without +his knowledge or consent, was also inserted into the deed; not when +this was drawn up, but when it was engrossed; a falsification which +caused Michelangelo the utmost vexation. The ambassador, however, +persuaded him that this would do him no real harm: it did not signify, +he said, whether the contract specified a thousand or twenty thousand +crowns, seeing they were agreed that the tomb should be reduced to +suit the sums actually received; adding, that nobody was concerned in +the matter except himself, and that Michelangelo might feel safe with +him on account of the understanding between them. Upon this +Michelangelo grew easy in his mind, partly because he thought he might +have confidence, and partly because he wished the Pope to receive the +impression I have described above. In this way the thing was settled +for the time, but it did not end there; for when he had worked his +four months in Florence and came back to Rome, the Pope set him to +other tasks, and ordered him to paint the wall above the altar in the +Sistine Chapel. He was a man of excellent judgment in such matters, +and had meditated many different subjects for this fresco. At last he +fixed upon the Last Judgment, considering that the variety and +greatness of the theme would enable the illustrious artist to exhibit +his powers in their full extent. Michelangelo, remembering the +obligation he was under to the Duke of Urbino, did all he could to +evade this new engagement; but when this proved impossible, he began +to procrastinate, and, pretending to be fully occupied with the +cartoons for his huge picture, he worked in secret at the statues +intended for the monument." + + +VII + +Michelangelo's position at Florence was insecure and painful, owing to +the undisguised animosity of the Duke Alessandro. This man ruled like +a tyrant of the worst sort, scandalising good citizens by his brutal +immoralities, and terrorising them by his cruelties. "He remained," +says Condivi, "in continual alarm; because the Duke, a young man, as +is known to every one, of ferocious and revengeful temper, hated him +exceedingly. There is no doubt that, but for the Pope's protection, he +would have been removed from this world. What added to Alessandro's +enmity was that when he was planning the fortress which he afterwards +erected, he sent Messer Vitelli for Michelangelo, ordering him to ride +with them, and to select a proper position for the building. +Michelangelo refused, saying that he had received no commission from +the Pope. The Duke waxed very wroth; and so, through this new +grievance added to old grudges and the notorious nature of the Duke, +Michelangelo not unreasonably lived in fear. It was certainly by God's +aid that he happened to be away from Florence when Clement died." +Michelangelo was bound under solemn obligations to execute no work but +what the Pope ordered for himself or permitted by the contract with +the heirs of Julius. Therefore he acted in accordance with duty when +he refused to advise the tyrant in this scheme for keeping the city +under permanent subjection. The man who had fortified Florence against +the troops of Clement could not assist another bastard Medici to build +a strong place for her ruin. It may be to this period of his life that +we owe the following madigral, written upon the loss of Florentine +liberty and the bad conscience of the despot:-- + + _Lady, for joy of lovers numberless + Thou wast created fair as angels are. + Sure God hath fallen asleep in heaven afar + When one man calls the bliss of many his! + Give back to streaming eyes + The daylight of thy face, that seems to shun + Those who must live defrauded of their bliss! + + Vex not your pure desire with tears and sighs: + For he who robs you of my light hath none. + Dwelling in fear, sin hath no happiness; + Since, amid those who love, their joy is less, + Whose great desire great plenty still curtails, + Than theirs who, poor, have hope that never fails._ + +During the siege Michelangelo had been forced to lend the Signory a +sum of about 1500 ducats. In the summer of 1533 he corresponded with +Sebastiano about means for recovering this loan. On the 16th of August +Sebastiano writes that he has referred the matter to the Pope. "I +repeat, what I have already written, that I presented your memorial to +his Holiness. It was about eight in the evening, and the Florentine +ambassador was present. The Pope then ordered the ambassador to write +immediately to the Duke; and this he did with such vehemence and +passion as I do not think he has displayed on four other occasions +concerning the affairs of Florence. His rage and fury were tremendous, +and the words he used to the ambassador would stupefy you, could you +hear them. Indeed, they are not fit to be written down, and I must +reserve them for _viva voce_. I burn to have half an hour's +conversation with you, for now I know our good and holy master to the +ground. Enough, I think you must have already seen something of the +sort. In brief, he has resolved that you are to be repaid the 400 +ducats of the guardianship and the 500 ducats lent to the old +Government." It may be readily imagined that this restitution of a +debt incurred by Florence when she was fighting for her liberties, to +which act of justice her victorious tyrant was compelled by his Papal +kinsman, did not soften Alessandro's bad feeling for the creditor. + +Several of Sebastiano's letters during the summer and autumn of 1533 +refer to an edition of some madrigals by Michelangelo, which had been +set to music by Bartolommeo Tromboncino, Giacomo Archadelt, and +Costanzo Festa. We have every reason to suppose that the period we +have now reached was the richest in poetical compositions. It was also +in 1532 or 1533 that he formed the most passionate attachment of which +we have any knowledge in his life; for he became acquainted about this +time with Tommaso Cavalieri. A few years later he was destined to meet +with Vittoria Colonna. The details of these two celebrated friendships +will be discussed in another chapter. + +Clement VII. journeyed from Rome in September, intending to take ship +at Leghorn for Nice and afterwards Marseilles, where his young cousin, +Caterina de' Medici, was married to the Dauphin. He had to pass +through S. Miniato al Tedesco, and thither Michelangelo went to wait +upon him on the 22nd. This was the last, and not the least imposing, +public act of the old Pope, who, six years after his imprisonment and +outrage in the Castle of S. Angelo, was now wedding a daughter of his +plebeian family to the heir of the French crown. What passed between +Michelangelo and his master on this occasion is not certain. + +The years 1532-1534 form a period of considerable chronological +perplexity in Michelangelo's life. This is in great measure due to the +fact that he was now residing regularly part of the year in Rome and +part in Florence. We have good reason to believe that he went to Rome +in September 1532, and stayed there through the winter. It is probable +that he then formed the friendship with Cavalieri, which played so +important a part in his personal history. A brisk correspondence +carried on between him and his two friends, Bartolommeo Angelini and +Sebastiano del Piombo, shows that he resided at Florence during the +summer and early autumn of 1533. From a letter addressed to Figiovanni +on the 15th of October, we learn that he was then impatient to leave +Florence for Rome. But a _Ricordo,_ bearing date October 29, 1533, +renders it almost certain that he had not then started. Angelini's +letters, which had been so frequent, stop suddenly in that month. This +renders it almost certain that Michelangelo must have soon returned to +Rome. Strangely enough there are no letters or _Ricordi_ in his +handwriting which bear the date 1534. When we come to deal with this +year, 1534, we learn from Michelangelo's own statement to Vasari that +he was in Florence during the summer, and that he reached Rome two +days before the death of Clement VII., _i.e._, upon September 23. +Condivi observes that it was lucky for him that the Pope did not die +while he was still at Florence, else he would certainly have been +exposed to great peril, and probably been murdered or imprisoned by +Duke Alessandro. + +Nevertheless, Michelangelo was again in Florence toward the close of +1534. An undated letter to a certain Febo (di Poggio) confirms this +supposition. It may probably be referred to the month of December. In +it he says that he means to leave Florence next day for Pisa and Rome, +and that he shall never return. Febo's answer, addressed to Rome, is +dated January 14, 1534, which, according to Florentine reckoning, +means 1535. + +We may take it, then, as sufficiently well ascertained that +Michelangelo departed from Florence before the end of 1534, and that +he never returned during the remainder of his life. There is left, +however, another point of importance referring to this period, which +cannot be satisfactorily cleared up. We do not know the exact date of +his father, Lodovico's, death. It must have happened either in 1533 or +in 1534. In spite of careful researches, no record of the event has +yet been discovered, either at Settignano or in the public offices of +Florence. The documents of the Buonarroti family yield no direct +information on the subject. We learn, however, from the Libri delle +Età, preserved at the Archivio di Stato, that Lodovico di Lionardo di +Buonarrota Simoni was born upon the 11th of June 1444. Now +Michelangelo, in his poem on Lodovico's death, says very decidedly +that his father was ninety when he breathed his last. If we take this +literally, it must be inferred that he died after the middle of June +1534. There are many reasons for supposing that Michelangelo was in +Florence when this happened. The chief of these is that no +correspondence passed between the Buonarroti brothers on the occasion, +while Michelangelo's minutes regarding the expenses of his father's +burial seem to indicate that he was personally responsible for their +disbursement. I may finally remark that the schedule of property +belonging to Michelangelo, recorded under the year 1534 in the +archives of the Decima at Florence, makes no reference at all to +Lodovico. We conclude from it that, at the time of its redaction, +Michelangelo must have succeeded to his father's estate. + +The death of Lodovico and Buonarroto, happening within a space of +little more than five years, profoundly affected Michelangelo's mind, +and left an indelible mark of sadness on his life. One of his best +poems, a _capitolo_, or piece of verse in _terza rima_ stanzas, was +written on the occasion of his father's decease. In it he says that +Lodovico had reached the age of ninety. If this statement be literally +accurate, the old man must have died in 1534, since he was born upon +the 11th of June 1444. But up to the present time, as I have observed +above, the exact date of his death has not been discovered. One +passage of singular and solemn beauty may be translated from the +original:-- + + _Thou'rt dead of dying, and art made divine, + Nor fearest now to change or life or will; + Scarce without envy can I call this thine. + Fortune and time beyond your temple-sill + Dare not advance, by whom is dealt for us + A doubtful gladness, and too certain ill. + Cloud is there none to dim you glorious: + The hours distinct compel you not to fade: + Nor chance nor fate o'er you are tyrannous. + Your splendour with the night sinks not in shade, + Nor grows with day, howe'er that sun ride high + Which on our mortal hearts life's heat hath rayed. + Thus from thy dying I now learn to die, + Dear father mine! In thought I see thy place, + Where earth but rarely lets men climb the sky._ + _Not, as some deem, is death the worst disgrace + For one whose last day brings him to the first, + The next eternal throne to God's by grace. + There by God's grace I trust that thou art nursed, + And hope to find thee, If but my cold heart + High reason draw from earthly slime accursed._ + + + +CHAPTER X + + +I + +The collegiate church of S. Lorenzo at Florence had long been +associated with the Medicean family, who were its most distinguished +benefactors, Giovanni d'Averardo de' Medici, together with the heads +of six other Florentine houses, caused it to be rebuilt at the +beginning of the fifteenth century. He took upon himself the entire +costs of the sacristy and one chapel; it was also owing to his +suggestion that Filippo Brunelleschi, in the year 1421, designed the +church and cloister as they now appear. When he died, Giovanni was +buried in its precincts, while his son Cosimo de' Medici, the father +of his country, continued these benevolences, and bestowed a capital +of 40,000 golden florins on the Chapter. He too was buried in the +church, a simple monument in the sacristy being erected to his memory. +Lorenzo the Magnificent followed in due course, and found his last +resting-place at S. Lorenzo. + +We have seen in a previous chapter how and when Leo X. conceived the +idea of adding a chapel which should serve as mausoleum for several +members of the Medicean family at S. Lorenzo, and how Clement +determined to lodge the famous Medicean library in a hall erected over +the west side of the cloister. Both of these undertakings, as well as +the construction of a façade for the front of the church, were +assigned to Michelangelo. The ground plan of the monumental chapel +corresponds to Brunelleschi's sacristy, and is generally known as the +Sagrestia Nuova. Internally Buonarroti altered its decorative +panellings, and elevated the vaulting of the roof into a more +ambitious cupola. This portion of the edifice was executed in the +rough during his residence at Florence. The façade was never begun in +earnest, and remains unfinished. The library was constructed according +to his designs, and may be taken, on the whole, as a genuine specimen +of his style in architecture. + +The books which Clement lodged there were the priceless manuscripts +brought together by Cosimo de' Medici in the first enthusiasm of the +Revival, at that critical moment when the decay of the Eastern Empire +transferred the wrecks of Greek literature from Constantinople to +Italy. Cosimo built a room to hold them in the Convent of S. Marco, +which Flavio Biondo styled the first library opened for the use of +scholars. Lorenzo the Magnificent enriched the collection with +treasures acquired during his lifetime, buying autographs wherever it +was possible to find them, and causing copies to be made. In the year +1508 the friars of S. Marco sold this inestimable store of literary +documents, in order to discharge the debts contracted by them during +their ill-considered interference in the state affairs of the +Republic. It was purchased for the sum of 2652 ducats by the Cardinal +Giovanni de' Medici, a second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and +afterwards Pope Leo X. He transferred them to his Roman villa, where +the collection was still further enlarged by all the rarities which a +prince passionate for literature and reckless in expenditure could +there assemble. Leo's cousin and executor, Giulio de' Medici, Pope +Clement VII., fulfilled his last wishes by transferring them to +Florence, and providing the stately receptacle in which they still +repose. + +The task assigned to Michelangelo, when he planned the library, was +not so simple as that of the new sacristy. Some correspondence took +place before the west side of the cloister was finally decided on. +What is awkward in the approach to the great staircase must be +ascribed to the difficulty of fitting this building into the old +edifice; and probably, if Michelangelo had carried out the whole work, +a worthier entrance from the piazza into the loggia, and from the +loggia into the vestibule, might have been devised. + + +II + +Vasari, in a well-known passage of his Life of Michelangelo, reports +the general opinion of his age regarding the novelties introduced by +Buonarroti into Italian architecture. The art of building was in a +state of transition. Indeed, it cannot be maintained that the +Italians, after they abandoned the traditions of the Romanesque +manner, advanced with certitude on any line of progress in this art. +Their work, beautiful as it often is, ingenious as it almost always +is, marked invariably by the individuality of the district and the +builder, seems to be tentative, experimental. The principles of the +Pointed Gothic style were never seized or understood by Italian +architects. Even such cathedrals as those of Orvieto and Siena are +splendid monuments of incapacity, when compared with the Romanesque +churches of Pisa, S. Miniato, S. Zenone at Verona, the Cathedral of +Parma. The return from Teutonic to Roman standards of taste, which +marked the advent of humanism, introduced a hybrid manner. This, in +its first commencement, was extremely charming. The buildings of Leo +Battista Alberti, of Brunelleschi, and of Bramante are distinguished +by an exquisite purity and grace combined with picturesqueness. No +edifice in any style is more stately, and at the same time more +musical in linear proportions, than the Church of S. Andrea at Mantua. +The Cappella dei Pazzi and the Church of S. Spirito at Florence are +gems of clear-cut and harmonious dignity. The courtyard of the +Cancelleria at Rome, the Duomo at Todi, show with what supreme ability +the great architect of Casteldurante blended sublimity with suavity, +largeness and breadth with naïveté and delicately studied detail. But +these first endeavours of the Romantic spirit to assimilate the +Classic mannerism--essays no less interesting than those of Boiardo in +poetry, of Botticelli in painting, of Donatello and Omodei in +sculpture--all of them alike, whether buildings, poems, paintings, or +statues, displaying the genius of the Italic race, renascent, +recalcitrant against the Gothic style, while still to some extent +swayed by its influence (at one and the same time both Christian and +chivalrous, Pagan and precociously cynical; yet charmingly fresh, +unspoiled by dogma, uncontaminated by pedantry)--these first +endeavours of the Romantic spirit to assimilate the Classic mannerism +could not create a new style representative of the national life. They +had the fault inherent in all hybrids, however fanciful and graceful. +They were sterile and unprocreative. The warring elements, so deftly +and beautifully blent in them, began at once to fall asunder. The San +Galli attempted to follow classical precedent with stricter severity. +Some buildings of their school may still be reckoned among the purest +which remain to prove the sincerity of the Revival of Learning. The +Sansovini exaggerated the naïveté of the earlier Renaissance manner, +and pushed its picturesqueness over into florid luxuriance or +decorative detail. Meanwhile, humanists and scholars worked slowly but +steadily upon the text of Vitruvius, impressing the paramount +importance of his theoretical writings upon practical builders. +Neither students nor architects reflected that they could not +understand Vitruvius; that, if they could understand him, it was by no +means certain he was right; and that, if he was right for his own age, +he would not be right for the sixteenth century after Christ. It was +just at this moment, when Vitruvius began to dominate the Italian +imagination, that Michelangelo was called upon to build. The genial +adaptation of classical elements to modern sympathies and uses, which +had been practised by Alberti, Brunelleschi, Bramante, yielded now to +painful efforts after the appropriation of pedantic principles. +Instead of working upon antique monuments with their senses and +emotions, men approached them through the medium of scholastic +erudition. Instead of seeing and feeling for themselves, they sought +by dissection to confirm the written precepts of a defunct Roman +writer. This diversion of a great art from its natural line of +development supplies a striking instance of the fascination which +authority exercises at certain periods of culture. Rather than trust +their feeling for what was beautiful and useful, convenient and +attractive, the Italians of the Renaissance surrendered themselves to +learning. Led by the spirit of scholarship, they thought it their duty +to master the text of Vitruvius, to verify his principles by the +analysis of surviving antique edifices, and, having formed their own +conception of his theory, to apply this, as well as they were able, to +the requirements of contemporary life. + +Two exits from the false situation existed: one was the +picturesqueness of the Barocco style; the other was the specious vapid +purity of the Palladian. Michelangelo, who was essentially the genius +of this transition, can neither be ascribed to the Barocco architects, +although he called them into being, nor yet can he be said to have +arrived at the Palladian solution. He held both types within himself +in embryo, arriving at a moment of profound and complicated difficulty +for the practical architect; without technical education, but gifted +with supreme genius, bringing the imperious instincts of a sublime +creative amateur into every task appointed him. We need not wonder if +a man of his calibre left the powerful impress of his personality upon +an art in chaos, luring lesser craftsmen into the Barocco mannerism, +while he provoked reaction in the stronger, who felt more +scientifically what was needed to secure firm standing-ground. Bernini +and the superb fountain of Trevi derive from Michelangelo on one side; +Vignola's cold classic profiles and Palladio's resuscitation of old +Rome in the Palazzo della Ragione at Vicenza emerge upon the other. It +remained Buonarroti's greatest-glory that, lessoned by experience and +inspired for high creation by the vastness of the undertaking, he +imagined a world's wonder in the cupola of S. Peter's. + + +III + +Writing in the mid-stream of this architectural regurgitation, Vasari +explains what contemporaries thought about Michelangelo's innovations. +"He wished to build the new sacristy upon the same lines as the older +one by Brunelleschi, but at the same time to clothe the edifice with a +different style of decoration. Accordingly, he invented for the +interior a composite adornment, of the newest and most varied manner +which antique and modern masters joined together could have used. The +novelty of his style consisted in those lovely cornices, capitals, +basements, doors, niches, and sepulchres which transcended all that +earlier builders, working by measurements, distribution of parts, and +rule, had previously effected, following Vitruvius and the ancient +relics. Such men were afraid to supplement tradition with original +invention. The license he introduced gave great courage to those who +studied his method, and emboldened them to follow on his path. Since +that time, new freaks of fancy have been seen, resembling the style of +arabesque and grotesque more than was consistent with tradition. For +this emancipation of the art, all craftsmen owe him an infinite and +everduring debt of gratitude, since he at one blow broke down the +bands and chains which barred the path they trod in common." + +If I am right in thus interpreting an unusually incoherent passage of +Vasari's criticism, no words could express more clearly the advent of +Barocco mannerism. But Vasari proceeds to explain his meaning with +still greater precision. Afterwards he made a plainer demonstration +of his intention in the library of S. Lorenzo, by the splendid +distribution of the windows, the arrangement of the upper chamber, and +the marvellous entrance-hall into that enclosed building. + +"The grace and charm of art were never seen more perfectly displayed +in the whole and in the parts of any edifice than here. I may refer in +particular to the corbels, the recesses for statues, and the cornices. +The staircase, too, deserves attention for its convenience, with the +eccentric breakage of its flights of steps; the whole construction +being so altered from the common usage of other architects as to +excite astonishment in all who see it." + +What emerges with distinctness from Vasari's account of Michelangelo's +work at S. Lorenzo is that a practical Italian architect, who had been +engaged on buildings of importance since this work was carried out, +believed it to have infused freedom and new vigour into architecture. +That freedom and new vigour we now know to have implied the Barocco +style. + + +IV + +In estimating Michelangelo's work at S. Lorenzo, we must not forget +that at this period of his life he contemplated statuary, bronze +bas-relief, and painting, as essential adjuncts to architecture. The +scheme is, therefore, not so much constructive as decorative, and a +great many of its most offensive qualities may be ascribed to the fact +that the purposes for which it was designed have been omitted. We know +that the façade of S. Lorenzo was intended to abound in bronze and +marble carvings. Beside the Medicean tombs, the sacristy ought to have +contained a vast amount of sculpture, and its dome was actually +painted in fresco by Giovanni da Udine under Michelangelo's own eyes. +It appears that his imagination still obeyed those leading principles +which he applied in the rough sketch for the first sepulchre of +Julius. The vestibule and staircase of the library cannot therefore be +judged fairly now; for if they had been finished according to their +maker's plan, the faults of their construction would have been +compensated by multitudes of plastic shapes. + +M. Charles Gamier, in _L'OEuvre et la Vie_, speaking with the +authority of a practical architect, says: "Michelangelo was not, +properly speaking, an architect. He made architecture, which is quite +a different thing; and most often it was the architecture of a painter +and sculptor, which points to colour, breadth, imagination, but also +to insufficient studies and incomplete education. The thought may be +great and strong, but the execution of it is always feeble and +naïve.... He had not learned the language of the art. He has all the +qualities of imagination, invention, will, which form a great +composer; but he does not know the grammar, and can hardly write.... +In seeking the great, he has too often found the tumid; seeking the +original, he has fallen upon the strange, and also on bad taste." + +There is much that is true in this critique, severe though it may seem +to be. The fact is that Michelangelo aimed at picturesque effect in +his buildings; not, as previous architects had done, by a lavish use +of loosely decorative details, but by the piling up and massing +together of otherwise dry orders, cornices, pilasters, windows, all of +which, in his conception, were to serve as framework and pedestals for +statuary. He also strove to secure originality and to stimulate +astonishment by bizarre modulations of accepted classic forms, by +breaking the lines of architraves, combining angularities with curves, +adopting a violently accented rhythm and a tortured multiplicity of +parts, wherever this was possible. + + +V + +In this new style, so much belauded by Vasari, the superficial design +is often rich and grandiose, making a strong pictorial appeal to the +imagination. Meanwhile, the organic laws of structure have been +sacrificed; and that chaste beauty which emerges from a perfectly +harmonious distribution of parts, embellished by surface decoration +only when the limbs and members of the building demand emphasis, may +be sought for everywhere in vain. The substratum is a box, a barn, an +inverted bottle; built up of rubble, brick, and concrete; clothed with +learned details, which have been borrowed from the pseudo-science of +the humanist. There is nothing here of divine Greek candour, of +dominant Roman vigour, of Gothic vitality, of fanciful invention +governed by a sincere sense of truth. Nothing remains of the shy +graces, the melodious simplicities, the pure seeking after musical +proportion, which marked the happier Italian effort of the early +Renaissance, through Brunelleschi and Alberti, Bramante, Giuliano da +Sangallo, and Peruzzi. Architecture, in the highest sense of that +word, has disappeared. A scenic scheme of panelling for empty walls +has superseded the conscientious striving to construct a living and +intelligible whole. + +The fault inherent in Italian building after the close of the Lombard +period, reaches its climax here. That fault was connected with the +inability of the Italians to assimilate the true spirit of the Gothic +style, while they attempted its imitation in practice. The fabrication +of imposing and lovely façades at Orvieto, at Siena, at Cremona, and +at Crema, glorious screens which masked the poverty of the edifice, +and corresponded in no point to the organism of the structure, taught +them to overrate mere surface-beauty. Their wonderful creativeness in +all the arts which can be subordinated to architectural effect seduced +them further. Nothing, for instance, taken by itself alone, can be +more satisfactory than the façade of the Certosa at Pavia; but it is +not, like the front of Chartres or Rheims or Amiens, a natural +introduction to the inner sanctuary. At the end of the Gothic period +architecture had thus come to be conceived as the art of covering +shapeless structures with a wealth of arabesques in marble, fresco, +bronze, mosaic. + +The revival of learning and a renewed interest in the antique withdrew +the Italians for a short period from this false position. With more or +less of merit, successive builders, including those I have above +mentioned, worked in a pure style: pure because it obeyed the laws of +its own music, because it was intelligible and self-consistent, aiming +at construction as the main end, subordinating decoration of richer +luxuriance or of sterner severity to the prime purpose of the total +scheme. But this style was too much the plaything of particular minds +to create a permanent tradition. It varied in the several provinces of +Italy, and mingled personal caprice with the effort to assume a +classic garb. Meanwhile the study of Vitruvius advanced, and that +pedantry which infected all the learned movements of the Renaissance +struck deep and venomous roots into the art of building. + +Michelangelo arrived at the moment I am attempting to indicate. He +protested that architecture was not his trade. Over and over again he +repeated this to his Medicean patrons; but they compelled him to +build, and he applied himself with the predilections and +prepossessions of a plastic artist to the task. The result was a +retrogression from the point reached by his immediate predecessors to +the vicious system followed by the pseudo-Gothic architects in Italy. +That is to say, he treated the structure as an inert mass, to be made +as substantial as possible, and then to be covered with details +agreeable to the eye. At the beginning of his career he had a +defective sense of the harmonic ratios upon which a really musical +building may be constructed out of mere bricks and mortar--such, for +example, as the Church of S. Giustina at Padua. He was overweighted +with ill-assimilated erudition; and all the less desirable licenses of +Brunelleschi's school, especially in the abuse of square recesses, he +adopted without hesitation. It never seems to have occurred to him +that doors which were intended for ingress and egress, windows which +were meant to give light, and attics which had a value as the means of +illumination from above, could not with any propriety be applied to +the covering of blank dead spaces in the interiors of buildings. + +The vestibule of the Laurentian Library illustrates his method of +procedure. It is a rectangular box of about a cube and two thirds, set +length-way up. The outside of the building, left unfinished, exhibits +a mere blank space of bricks. The interior might be compared to a +temple in the grotesque-classic style turned outside in: colossal +orders, meaningless consoles, heavy windows, square recesses, numerous +doors--the windows, doors, and attics having no right to be there, +since they lead to nothing, lend view to nothing, clamour for bronze +and sculpture to explain their existence as niches and receptacles for +statuary. It is nevertheless indubitably true that these incongruous +and misplaced elements, crowded together, leave a strong impression of +picturesque force upon the mind. From certain points and angles, the +effect of the whole, considered as a piece of deception and +insincerity, is magnificent. It would be even finer than it is, were +not the Florentine _pietra serena_ of the stonework so repellent in +its ashen dulness, the plaster so white, and the false architectural +system so painfully defrauded of the plastic forms for which it was +intended to subserve as setting. + +We have here no masterpiece of sound constructive science, but a freak +of inventive fancy using studied details for the production of a +pictorial effect. The details employed to compose this curious +illusion are painfully dry and sterile; partly owing to the scholastic +enthusiasm for Vitruvius, partly to the decline of mediaeval delight +in naturalistic decoration, but, what seems to me still more apparent, +through Michelangelo's own passionate preoccupation with the human +figure. He could not tolerate any type of art which did not concede a +predominant position to the form of man. Accordingly, his work in +architecture at this period seems waiting for plastic illustration, +demanding sculpture and fresco for its illumination and justification. + +It is easy, one would think, to make an appeal to the eye by means of +colossal orders, bold cornices, enormous consoles, deeply indented +niches. How much more easy to construct a box, and then say, "Come, +let us cover its inside with an incongruous and inappropriate but +imposing parade of learning," than to lift some light and genial thing +of beauty aloft into the air, as did the modest builder of the +staircase to the hall at Christ Church, Oxford! The eye of the vulgar +is entranced, the eye of the artist bewildered. That the imagination +which inspired that decorative scheme was powerful, original, and +noble, will not be denied; but this does not save us from the +desolating conviction that the scheme itself is a specious and +pretentious mask, devised to hide a hideous waste of bricks and +mortar. + +Michelangelo's imagination, displayed in this distressing piece of +work, was indeed so masterful that, as Vasari says, a new delightful +style in architecture seemed to be revealed by it. A new way of +clothing surfaces, falsifying façades, and dealing picturesquely with +the lifeless element of Vitruvian tradition had been demonstrated by +the genius of one who was a mighty amateur in building. In other +words, the _Barocco_ manner had begun; the path was opened to prank, +caprice, and license. It required the finer tact and taste of a +Palladio to rectify the false line here initiated, and to bring the +world back to a sense of seriousness in its effort to deal +constructively and rationally with the pseudo-classic mannerism. + +The qualities of wilfulness and amateurishness and seeking after +picturesque effect, upon which I am now insisting, spoiled +Michelangelo's work as architect, until he was forced by circumstance, +and after long practical experience, to confront a problem of pure +mathematical construction. In the cupola of S. Peter's he rose to the +stern requirements of his task. There we find no evasion of the +builder's duty by mere surface-decoration, no subordination of the +edifice to plastic or pictorial uses. Such side-issues were excluded +by the very nature of the theme. An immortal poem resulted, an aërial +lyric of melodious curves and solemn harmonies, a thought combining +grace and audacity translated into stone uplifted to the skies. After +being cabined in the vestibule to the Laurentian Library, our soul +escapes with gladness to those airy spaces of the dome, that great +cloud on the verge of the Campagna, and feels thankful that we can +take our leave of Michelangelo as architect elsewhere. + + +VI + +While seeking to characterise what proved pernicious to contemporaries +in Michelangelo's work as architect, I have been led to concentrate +attention upon the Library at S. Lorenzo. This was logical; for, as we +have seen, Vasari regarded that building as the supreme manifestation +of his manner. Vasari never saw the cupola of S. Peter's in all its +glory, and it may be doubted whether he was capable of learning much +from it. + +The sacristy demands separate consideration. It was an earlier work, +produced under more favourable conditions of place and space, and is +in every way a purer specimen of the master's style. As Vasari +observed, the Laurentian Library indicated a large advance upon the +sacristy in the development of Michelangelo's new manner. + +At this point it may not unprofitably be remarked, that none of the +problems offered for solution at S. Lorenzo were in the strictest +sense of that word architectural. The façade presented a problem of +pure panelling. The ground-plan of the sacristy was fixed in +correspondence with Brunelleschi's; and here again the problem +resolved itself chiefly into panelling. A builder of genius, working +on the library, might indeed have displayed his science and his taste +by some beautiful invention adapted to the awkward locality; as +Baldassare Peruzzi, in the Palazzo Massimo at Rome, converted the +defects of the site into graces by the exquisite turn he gave to the +curved portion of the edifice. Still, when the scheme was settled, +even the library became more a matter of panelling and internal +fittings than of structural design. Nowhere at S. Lorenzo can we +affirm that Michelangelo enjoyed, the opportunity of showing what he +could achieve in the production of a building independent in itself +and planned throughout with a free hand. Had he been a born architect, +he would probably have insisted upon constructing the Medicean +mausoleum after his own conception instead of repeating Brunelleschi's +ground-plan, and he would almost certainly have discovered a more +genial solution for the difficulties of the library. But he protested +firmly against being considered an architect by inclination or by +education. Therefore he accepted the most obvious conditions of each +task, and devoted himself to schemes of surface decoration. + +The interior of the sacristy is planned with a noble sense of unity. +For the purpose of illuminating a gallery of statues, the lighting may +be praised without reserve; and there is no doubt whatever that +Michelangelo intended every tabernacle to be filled with figures, and +all the whitewashed spaces of the walls to be encrusted with +bas-reliefs in stucco or painted in fresco. The recesses or niches, +taking the form of windows, are graduated in three degrees of depth to +suit three scales of sculptural importance. The sepulchres of the +Dukes had to emerge into prominence; the statues subordinate to these +main masses occupied shallower recesses; the shallowest of all, +reserved for minor statuary, are adorned above with garlands, which +suggest the flatness of the figures to be introduced. Architecturally +speaking, the building is complete; but it sadly wants the plastic +decoration for which it was designed, together with many finishing +touches of importance. It is clear, for instance, that the square +pedestals above the double pilasters flanking each of the two Dukes +were meant to carry statuettes or candelabra, which would have +connected the marble panelling with the cornices and stucchi and +frescoed semicircles of the upper region. Our eyes are everywhere +defrauded of the effect calculated by Michelangelo when he planned +this chapel. Yet the total impression remains harmonious. Proportion +has been observed in all the parts, especially in the relation of the +larger to the smaller orders, and in the balance of the doors and +windows. Merely decorative carvings are used with parsimony, and +designed in a pure style, although they exhibit originality of +invention. The alternation of white marble surfaces and mouldings with +_pietra serena_ pilasters, cornices, and arches, defines the +structural design, and gives a grave but agreeable sense of variety. +Finally, the recess behind the altar adds lightness and space to what +would otherwise have been a box. What I have already observed when +speaking of the vestibule to the library must be repeated here: the +whole scheme is that of an exterior turned outside in, and its +justification lies in the fact that it demanded statuary and colour +for its completion. Still the bold projecting cornices, the deeper and +shallower niches resembling windows, have the merit of securing broken +lights and shadows under the strong vertical illumination, all of +which are eminently picturesque. No doubt remains now that tradition +is accurate in identifying the helmeted Duke with Lorenzo de' Medici, +and the more graceful seated hero opposite with Giuliano. The +recumbent figures on the void sepulchres beneath them are with equal +truth designated as Night and Day, Morning and Evening. But +Michelangelo condescended to no realistic portraiture in the statues +of the Dukes, and he also meant undoubtedly to treat the phases of +time which rule man's daily life upon the planet as symbols for +far-reaching thoughts connected with our destiny. These monumental +figures are not men, not women, but vague and potent allegories of our +mortal fate. They remain as he left them, except that parts of +Giuliano's statue, especially the hands, seem to have been worked over +by an assistant. The same is true of the Madonna, which will ever be +regarded, in her imperfectly finished state, as one of the finest of +his sculptural conceptions. To Montelupo belongs the execution of S. +Damiano, and to Montorsoli that of S. Cosimo. Vasari says that Tribolo +was commissioned by Michelangelo to carve statues of Earth weeping for +the loss of Giuliano, and Heaven rejoicing over his spirit. The death +of Pope Clement, however, put a stop to these subordinate works, +which, had they been accomplished, might perhaps have shown us how +Buonarroti intended to fill the empty niches on each side of the +Dukes. + +When Michelangelo left Florence for good at the end of 1534, his +statues had not been placed; but we have reason to think that the +Dukes and the four allegorical figures were erected in his lifetime. +There is something singular in the maladjustment of the recumbent men +and women to the curves of the sarcophagi, and in the contrast between +the roughness of their bases and the smooth polish of the chests they +rest on. These discrepancies do not, however, offend the eye, and they +may even have been deliberately adopted from a keen sense of what the +Greeks called _asymmetreia_ as an adjunct to effect. It is more +difficult to understand what he proposed to do with the Madonna and +her two attendant saints. Placed as they now are upon a simple ledge, +they strike one as being too near the eye, and out of harmony with the +architectural tone of the building. It is also noticeable that the +saints are more than a head taller than the Dukes, while the Madonna +overtops the saints by more than another head. We are here in a region +of pure conjecture; and if I hazard an opinion, it is only thrown out +as a possible solution of a now impenetrable problem. I think, then, +that Michelangelo may have meant to pose these three figures where +they are, facing the altar; to raise the Madonna upon a slightly +projecting bracket above the level of SS. Damiano and Cosimo, and to +paint the wall behind them with a fresco of the Crucifixion. That he +had no intention of panelling that empty space with marble may be +taken for granted, considering the high finish which has been given to +every part of this description of work in the chapel. Treated as I +have suggested, the statue of the Madonna, with the patron saints of +the House of Medici, overshadowed by a picture of Christ's sacrifice, +would have confronted the mystery of the Mass during every celebration +at the altar. There are many designs for the Crucifixion, made by +Michelangelo in later life, so lofty as almost to suggest a group of +figures in the foreground, cutting the middle distance. + +At the close of Michelangelo's life the sacristy was still unfinished. +It contained the objects I have described--the marble panelling, the +altar with its candelabra, the statues of the Dukes and their +attendant figures, the Madonna and two Medicean patron saints--in +fact, all that we find there now, with the addition of Giovanni da +Udine's frescoes in the cupola, the relics of which have since been +buried under cold Florentine whitewash. + +All the views I have advanced in the foregoing paragraphs as to the +point at which Michelangelo abandoned this chapel, and his probable +designs for its completion, are in the last resort based upon an +important document penned at the instance of the Duke of Florence by +Vasari to Buonarroti, not long before the old man's death in Rome. +This epistle has so weighty a bearing upon the matter in hand that I +shall here translate it. Careful study of its fluent periods will +convince an unprejudiced mind that the sacristy, as we now see it, is +even less representative of its maker's design than it was when Vasari +wrote. The frescoes of Giovanni da Udine are gone. It will also show +that the original project involved a wealth of figurative decoration, +statuary, painting, stucco, which never arrived at realisation. + + +VII + +Vasari, writing in the spring of 1562, informs Michelangelo concerning +the Academy of Design founded by Duke Cosimo de' Medici, and of the +Duke's earnest desire that he should return to Florence in order that +the sacristy at S. Lorenzo may be finished. "Your reasons for not +coming are accepted as sufficient. He is therefore considering +--forasmuch as the place is being used now for religious services by day +and night, according to the intention of Pope Clement--he is +considering, I say, a plan for erecting the statues which are missing in +the niches above the sepulchres and the tabernacles above the doors. The +Duke then wishes that all the eminent sculptors of this academy, in +competition man with man, should each of them make one statue, and that +the painters in like manner should exercise their art upon the chapel. +Designs are to be prepared for the arches according to your own project, +including works of painting and of stucco; the other ornaments and the +pavement are to be provided; in short, he intends that the new +academicians shall complete the whole imperfect scheme, in order that +the world may see that, while so many men of genius still exist among +us, the noblest work which was ever yet conceived on earth has not been +left unfinished. He has commissioned me to write to you and unfold his +views, begging you at the same time to favour him by communicating to +himself or to me what your intentions were, or those of the late Pope +Clement, with regard to the name and title of the chapel; moreover, to +inform us what designs you made for the four tabernacles on each side of +the Dukes Lorenzo and Giuliano; also what you projected for the eight +statues above the doors and in the tabernacles of the corners; and, +finally, what your idea was of the paintings to adorn the flat walls and +the semicircular spaces of the chapel. He is particularly anxious that +you should be assured of his determination to alter nothing you have +already done or planned, but, on the contrary, to carry out the whole +work according to your own conception. The academicians too are +unanimous in their hearty desire to abide by this decision. I am +furthermore instructed to tell you, that if you possess sketches, +working cartoons, or drawings made for this purpose, the same would be +of the greatest service in the execution of his project; and he promises +to be a good and faithful administrator, so that honour may ensue. In +case you do not feel inclined to do all this, through the burden of old +age or for any other reason, he begs you at least to communicate with +some one who shall write upon the subject; seeing that he would be +greatly grieved, as indeed would the whole of our academy, to have no +ray of light from your own mind, and possibly to add things to your +masterpiece which were not according to your designs and wishes. We all +of us look forward to being comforted by you, if not with actual work, +at least with words. His Excellency founds this hope upon your former +willingness to complete the edifice by allotting statues to Tribolo, +Montelupo, and the Friar (Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli). The last named of +these masters is here, eagerly desirous to have the opportunity of doing +you honour. So are Francesco Sangallo, Giovanni Bologna, Benvenuto +Cellini, Ammanato, Rossi and Vincenzio Danti of Perugia, not to mention +other sculptors of note. The painters, headed by Bronzino, include many +talented young men, skilled in design, and colourists, quite capable of +establishing an honourable reputation. Of myself I need not speak. You +know well that in devotion, attachment, love, and loyalty (and let me +say this with prejudice to no one) I surpass the rest of your admirers +by far. Therefore, I entreat you, of your goodness, to console his +Excellency, and all these men of parts, and our city, as well as to show +this particular favour to myself, who have been selected by the Duke to +write to you, under the impression that, being your familiar and loving +friend, I might obtain from you some assistance of sterling utility for +the undertaking. His Excellency is prepared to spend both substance and +labour on the task, in order to honour you. Pray then, albeit age is +irksome, endeavour to aid him by unfolding your views; for, in doing so, +you will confer benefits on countless persons, and will be the cause of +raising all these men of parts to higher excellence, each one of whom +has learned what he already knows in the sacristy, or rather let me say +our school." + +This eloquent despatch informs us very clearly that the walls of the +sacristy, above the tall Corinthian order which, encloses the part +devoted to sculpture, were intended to be covered with stucco and +fresco paintings, completing the polychromatic decoration begun by +Giovanni da Udine in the cupola. Twelve statues had been designed for +the niches in the marble panelling; and one word used by Vasari, +_facciate_, leaves the impression that the blank walls round and +opposite the altar were also to be adorned with pictures. We remain +uncertain how Michelangelo originally meant to dispose of the colossal +Madonna with SS. Damian and Cosimo. + +Unhappily, nothing came of the Duke's project. Michelangelo was either +unable or unwilling--probably unable--to furnish the necessary plans +and drawings. In the eighth chapter of this book I have discussed the +hesitations with regard to the interior of the sacristy which are +revealed by some of his extant designs for it. We also know that he +was not in the habit of preparing accurate working cartoons for the +whole of a large scheme, but that he proceeded from point to point, +trusting to slight sketches and personal supervision of the work. +Thus, when Vasari wrote to him from Rome about the staircase of the +library, he expressed a perfect readiness to help, but could only +remember its construction in a kind of dream. We may safely assume, +then, that he had not sufficient material to communicate; plans +definite enough in general scope and detailed incident to give a true +conception of his whole idea were lacking. + + +VIII + +Passing to aesthetical considerations, I am forced to resume here what +I published many years ago about the Sacristy of S. Lorenzo, as it now +exists. Repeated visits to that shrine have only renewed former +impressions, which will not bear to be reproduced in other language, +and would lose some of their freshness by the stylistic effort. No +other course remains then but to quote from my own writings, indorsing +them with such weight as my signature may have acquired since they +were first given to the world. + +"The sacristy may be looked on either as the masterpiece of a sculptor +who required fit setting for his statues, or of an architect who +designed statues to enhance the structure he had planned. Both arts +are used with equal ease, nor has the genius of Michelangelo dealt +more masterfully with the human frame than with the forms of Roman +architecture in this chapel. He seems to have paid no heed to classic +precedent, and to have taken no pains to adapt the parts to the +structural purpose of the building. It was enough for him to create a +wholly novel framework for the modern miracle of sculpture it +enshrines, attending to such rules of composition as determine light +and shade, and seeking by the relief of mouldings and pilasters to +enhance the terrible and massive forms that brood above the Medicean +tombs. The result is a product of picturesque and plastic art as true +to the Michelangelesque spirit as the Temple of the Wingless Victory +to that of Pheidias. But where Michelangelo achieved a triumph of +boldness, lesser natures were betrayed into bizarrerie; and this +chapel of the Medici, in spite of its grandiose simplicity, proved a +stumbling-block to subsequent architects by encouraging them to +despise propriety and violate the laws of structure. + +"We may assume then that the colossal statues of Giuliano and Lorenzo +were studied with a view to their light and shadow as much as to their +form; and this is a fact to be remembered by those who visit the +chapel where Buonarroti laboured both as architect and sculptor. Of +the two Medici, it is not fanciful to say that the Duke of Urbino is +the most immovable of spectral shapes eternalised in marble; while the +Duke of Nemours, more graceful and elegant, seems intended to present +a contrast to this terrible thought-burdened form. The allegorical +figures, stretched on segments of ellipses beneath the pedestals of +the two Dukes, indicate phases of darkness and of light, of death and +life. They are two women and two men; tradition names them Night and +Day, Twilight and Dawning. Thus in the statues themselves and in their +attendant genii we have a series of abstractions, symbolising the +sleep and waking of existence, action and thought, the gloom of death, +the lustre of life, and the intermediate states of sadness and of hope +that form the borderland of both. Life is a dream between two +slumbers; sleep is death's twin-brother; night is the shadow of death; +death is the gate of life:--such is the mysterious mythology wrought +by the sculptor of the modern world in marble. All these figures, by +the intensity of their expression, the vagueness of their symbolism, +force us to think and question. What, for example, occupies Lorenzo's +brain? Bending forward, leaning his chin upon his wrist, placing the +other hand upon his knee, on what does he for ever ponder? + +"The sight, as Rogers said well, 'fascinates and is intolerable.' +Michelangelo has shot the beaver of the helmet forward on his +forehead, and bowed his head, so as to clothe the face in darkness. +But behind the gloom there lurks no fleshless skull, as Rogers +fancied. The whole frame of the powerful man is instinct with some +imperious thought. Has he outlived his life and fallen upon +everlasting contemplation? Is he brooding, injured and indignant, over +his own doom and the extinction of his race? Is he condemned to +witness in immortal immobility the woes of Italy he helped to cause? +Or has the sculptor symbolised in him the burden of that personality +we carry with us in this life, and bear for ever when we wake into +another world? Beneath this incarnation of oppressive thought there +lie, full length and naked, the figures of Dawn and Twilight, Morn and +Evening. So at least they are commonly called, and these names are not +inappropriate; for the breaking of the day and the approach of night +are metaphors for many transient conditions of the soul. It is only as +allegories in a large sense, comprehending both the physical and +intellectual order, and capable of various interpretation, that any of +these statues can be understood. Even the Dukes do not pretend to be +portraits, and hence in part perhaps the uncertainty that has gathered +round them. Very tranquil and noble is Twilight: a giant in repose, he +meditates, leaning upon his elbow, looking down. But Dawn starts from +her couch, as though some painful summons had reached her, sunk in +dreamless sleep, and called her forth to suffer. Her waking to +consciousness is like that of one who has been drowned, and who finds +the return to life agony. Before her eyes, seen even through the mists +of slumber, are the ruin and the shame of Italy. Opposite lies Night, +so sorrowful, so utterly absorbed in darkness and the shade of death, +that to shake off that everlasting lethargy seems impossible. Yet she +is not dead. If we raise our voices, she too will stretch her limbs, +and, like her sister, shudder into sensibility with sighs. Only we +must not wake her; for he who fashioned her has told us that her sleep +of stone is great good fortune. Both of these women are large and +brawny, unlike the Fates of Pheidias, in their muscular maturity. The +burden of Michelangelo's thought was too tremendous to be borne by +virginal and graceful beings. He had to make women no less capable of +suffering, no less world-wearied, than his country. + +"Standing before these statues, we do not cry, How beautiful! We +murmur, How terrible, how grand! Yet, after long gazing, we find them +gifted with beauty beyond grace. In each of them there is a +palpitating thought, torn from the artist's soul and crystallised in +marble. It has been said that architecture is petrified music. In the +Sacristy of S. Lorenzo we feel impelled to remember phrases of +Beethoven. Each of these statues becomes for us a passion, fit for +musical expression, but turned like Niobe to stone. They have the +intellectual vagueness, the emotional certainty, that belong to the +motives of a symphony. In their allegories, left without a key, +sculpture has passed beyond her old domain of placid concrete form. +The anguish of intolerable emotion, the quickening of the +consciousness to a sense of suffering, the acceptance of the +inevitable, the strife of the soul with destiny, the burden and the +passion of mankind:--that is what they contain in their cold +chisel-tortured marble. It is open to critics of the school of Lessing +to object that here is the suicide of sculpture. It is easy to remark +that those strained postures and writhen limbs may have perverted the +taste of lesser craftsmen. Yet if Michelangelo was called to carve +Medicean statues after the sack of Rome and the fall of Florence--if +he was obliged in sober sadness to make sculpture a fit language for +his sorrow-laden heart--how could he have wrought more truthfully than +this? To imitate him without sharing his emotion or comprehending his +thoughts, as the soulless artists of the decadence attempted, was +without all doubt a grievous error. Surely also we may regret, not +without reason, that in the evil days upon which he had fallen, the +fair antique _Heiterkeit_ and _Allgemeinheit_ were beyond his reach." + +That this regret is not wholly sentimental may be proved, I think, by +an exchange of verses, which we owe to Vasari's literary sagacity. He +tells us that when the statue of the Night was opened to the public +view, it drew forth the following quatrain from an author unknown to +himself by name:-- + + _The Night thou seest here, posed gracefully + In act of slumber, was by an Angel wrought + Out of this stone; sleeping, with life she's fraught: + Wake her, incredulous wight; she'll speak to thee._ + +Michelangelo would have none of these academical conceits and +compliments. He replied in four verses, which show well enough what +thoughts were in his brain when he composed the nightmare-burdened, +heavy-sleeping women: + + _Dear is my sleep, but more to be mere stone, + So long as ruin and dishonour reign: + To hear naught, to feel naught, is my great gain; + Then wake me not; speak in an undertone._ + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +I + +After the death of Clement VII., Michelangelo never returned to reside +for any length of time at Florence. The rest of his life was spent in +Rome, and he fell almost immediately under the kind but somewhat +arbitrary patronage of Alessandro Farnese, who succeeded to the Papal +chair in October 1534, with the title of Paul III. + +One of the last acts of Clement's life had been to superintend the +second contract with the heirs of Julius, by which Michelangelo +undertook to finish the tomb upon a reduced scale within the space of +three years. He was allowed to come to Rome and work there during four +months annually. Paul, however, asserted his authority by upsetting +these arrangements and virtually cancelling the contract. + +"In the meanwhile," writes Condivi, "Pope Clement died, and Paul III. +sent for him, and requested him to enter his service. Michelangelo saw +at once that he would be interrupted in his work upon the Tomb of +Julius. So he told Paul that he was not his own master, being bound to +the Duke of Urbino until the monument was finished. The Pope grew +angry, and exclaimed: 'It is thirty years that I have cherished this +desire, and now that I am Pope, may I not indulge it? Where is the +contract? I mean to tear it up.' Michelangelo, finding himself reduced +to these straits, almost resolved to leave Rome and take refuge in the +Genoese, at an abbey held by the Bishop of Aleria, who had been a +creature of Julius, and was much attached to him. He hoped that the +neighbourhood of the Carrara quarries, and the facility of +transporting marbles by sea, would help him to complete his +engagements. He also thought of settling at Urbino, which he had +previously selected as a tranquil retreat, and where he expected to be +well received for the sake of Pope Julius. Some months earlier, he +even sent a man of his to buy a house and land there. Still he dreaded +the greatness of the Pontiff, as indeed he had good cause to do; and +for this reason he abandoned the idea of quitting Rome, hoping to +pacify his Holiness with fair words. + +"The Pope, however, stuck to his opinion; and one day he visited +Michelangelo at his house, attended by eight or ten Cardinals. He +first of all inspected the cartoon prepared in Clement's reign for the +great work of the Sistine; then the statues for the tomb, and +everything in detail. The most reverend Cardinal of Mantua, standing +before the statue of Moses, cried out: 'That piece alone is sufficient +to do honour to the monument of Julius.' Pope Paul, having gone +through the whole workshop, renewed his request that Michelangelo +should enter his service; and when the latter still resisted, he +clinched the matter by saying: 'I will provide that the Duke of Urbino +shall be satisfied with three statues from your hand, and the +remaining three shall be assigned to some other sculptor.' +Accordingly, he settled on the terms of a new contract with the agents +of the Duke, which were confirmed by his Excellency, who did not care +to displeasure the Pope. Michelangelo, albeit he was now relieved from +the obligation of paying for the three statues, preferred to take this +cost upon himself, and deposited 1580 ducats for the purpose. And so +the Tragedy of the Tomb came at last to an end. This may now be seen +at S. Pietro ad Vincula; and though, truth to tell, it is but a +mutilated and botched-up remnant of Michelangelo's original design, +the monument is still the finest to be found in Rome, and perhaps +elsewhere in the world, if only for the three statues finished by the +hand of the great master." + + +II + +In this account, Condivi, has condensed the events of seven years. The +third and last contract with the heirs of Julius was not ratified +until the autumn of 1542, nor was the tomb erected much before the +year 1550. We shall see that the tragedy still cost its hero many +anxious days during this period. + +Paul III., having obtained his object, issued a brief, whereby he +appointed Michelangelo chief architect, sculptor, and painter at the +Vatican. The instrument is dated September 1, 1535, and the terms with +which it describes the master's eminence in the three arts are highly +flattering. Allusion is directly made to the fresco of the Last +Judgment, which may therefore have been begun about this date. +Michelangelo was enrolled as member of the Pontifical household, with +a permanent pension of 1200 golden crowns, to be raised in part on the +revenues accruing from a ferry across the Po at Piacenza. He did not, +however, obtain possession of this ferry until 1537, and the benefice +proved so unremunerative that it was exchanged for a little post in +the Chancery at Rimini. + +When Michelangelo began to work again in the Sistine Chapel, the wall +above the altar was adorned with three great sacred subjects by the +hand of Pietro Perugino. In the central fresco of the Assumption +Perugino introduced a portrait of Sixtus IV. kneeling in adoration +before the ascending Madonna. The side panels were devoted to the +Nativity and the finding of Moses. In what condition Michelangelo +found these frescoes before the painting of the Last Judgment we do +not know. Vasari says that he caused the wall to be rebuilt with +well-baked carefully selected bricks, and sloped inwards so that the +top projected half a cubit from the bottom. This was intended to +secure the picture from dust. Vasari also relates that Sebastiano del +Piombo, acting on his own responsibility, prepared this wall with a +ground for oil-colours, hoping to be employed by Michelangelo, but +that the latter had it removed, preferring the orthodox method of +fresco-painting. The story, as it stands, is not very probable; yet we +may perhaps conjecture that, before deciding on the system to be +adopted for his great work, Buonarroti thought fit to make experiments +in several surfaces. The painters of that period, as is proved by +Sebastiano's practice, by Lionardo da Vinci's unfortunate innovations +at Florence, and by the experiments of Raffaello's pupils in the hall +of Constantine, not unfrequently invented methods for mural decoration +which should afford the glow and richness of oil-colouring. +Michelangelo may even have proposed at one time to intrust a large +portion of his fresco to Sebastiano's executive skill, and afterwards +have found the same difficulties in collaboration which reduced him to +the necessity of painting the Sistine vault in solitude. + +Be that as it may, when the doors of the chapel once closed behind the +master, we hear nothing whatsoever about his doings till they opened +again on Christmas Day in 1541. The reticence of Michelangelo +regarding his own works is one of the most trying things about him. It +is true indeed that his correspondence between 1534 and 1541 almost +entirely fails; still, had it been abundant, we should probably have +possessed but dry and laconic references to matters connected with the +business of his art. + +He must have been fully occupied on the Last Judgment during 1536 and +1537. Paul III. was still in correspondence with the Duke of Urbino, +who showed himself not only willing to meet the Pope's wishes with +regard to the Tomb of Julius, but also very well disposed toward the +sculptor. In July 1537, Hieronimo Staccoli wrote to the Duke of +Camerino about a silver salt-cellar which Michelangelo had designed at +his request. This prince, Guidobaldo della Rovere, when he afterwards +succeeded to the Duchy of Urbino, sent a really warm-hearted despatch +to his "dearest Messer Michelangelo." He begins by saying that, though +he still cherishes the strongest wish to see the monument of his uncle +completed, he does not like to interrupt the fresco in the Sistine +Chapel, upon which his Holiness has set his heart. He thoroughly +trusts in Michelangelo's loyalty, and is assured that his desire to +finish the tomb, for the honour of his former patron's memory, is keen +and sincere. Therefore, he hopes that when the picture of the Last +Judgment is terminated, the work will be resumed and carried to a +prosperous conclusion. In the meantime, let Buonarroti attend to his +health, and not put everything again to peril by overstraining his +energies. + +Signer Gotti quotes a Papal brief, issued on the 18th of September +1537, in which the history of the Tomb of Julius up to date is set +forth, and Michelangelo's obligations toward the princes of Urbino are +recited. It then proceeds to declare that Clement VII. ordered him to +paint the great wall of the Sistine, and that Paul desires this work +to be carried forward with all possible despatch. He therefore lets it +be publicly known that Michelangelo has not failed to perform his +engagements in the matter of the tomb through any fault or action of +his own, but by the express command of his Holiness. Finally, he +discharges him and his heirs from all liabilities, pecuniary or other, +to which he may appear exposed by the unfulfilled contracts. + + +III + +While thus engaged upon his fresco, Michelangelo received a letter, +dated Venice, September 15, 1537, from that rogue of genius, Pietro +Aretino. It opens in the strain of hyperbolical compliment and florid +rhetoric which Aretino affected when he chose to flatter. The man, +however, was an admirable stylist, the inventor of a new epistolary +manner. Like a volcano, his mind blazed with wit, and buried sound +sense beneath the scoriae and ashes it belched forth. Gifted with a +natural feeling for rhetorical contrast, he knew the effect of some +simple and impressive sentence, placed like a gem of value in the +midst of gimcrack conceits. Thus: "I should not venture to address +you, had not my name, accepted by the ears of every prince in Europe, +outworn much of its native indignity. And it is but meet that that I +should approach you with this reverence; for the world has many kings, +and one only Michelangelo. + +"Strange miracle, that Nature, who cannot place aught so high but that +you explore it with your art, should be impotent to stamp upon her +works that majesty which she contains within herself, the immense +power of your style and your chisel! Wherefore, when we gaze on you, +we regret no longer that we may not meet with Pheidias, Apelles, or +Vitruvius, whose spirits were the shadow of your spirit." He piles the +panegyric up to its climax, by adding it is fortunate for those great +artists of antiquity that their masterpieces cannot be compared with +Michelangelo's, since, "being arraigned before the tribunal of our +eyes, we should perforce proclaim you unique as sculptor, unique as +painter, and as architect unique." After the blare of this exordium, +Aretino settles down to the real business of his letter, and +communicates his own views regarding the Last Judgment, which he hears +that the supreme master of all arts is engaged in depicting. "Who +would not quake with terror while dipping his brush into the dreadful +theme? I behold Anti-christ in the midst of thronging multitudes, with +an aspect such as only you could limn. I behold affright upon the +forehead of the living; I see the signs of the extinction of the sun, +the moon, the stars; I see the breath of life exhaling from the +elements; I see Nature abandoned and apart, reduced to barrenness, +crouching in her decrèpitude; I see Time sapless and trembling, for +his end has come, and he is seated on an arid throne; and while I hear +the trumpets of the angels with their thunder shake the hearts of all, +I see both Life and Death convulsed with horrible confusion, the one +striving to resuscitate the dead, the other using all his might to +slay the living; I see Hope and Despair guiding the squadrons of the +good and the cohorts of the wicked; I see the theatre of clouds, +blazing with rays that issue from the purest fires of heaven, upon +which among his hosts Christ sits, ringed round with splendours and +with terrors; I see the radiance of his face, coruscating flames of +light both glad and awful, filling the blest with joy, the damned with +fear intolerable. Then I behold the satellites of the abyss, who with +horrid gestures, to the glory of the saints and martyrs, deride Caesar +and the Alexanders; for it is one thing to have trampled on the world, +but more to have conquered self. I see Fame, with her crowns and palms +trodden under foot, cast out among the wheels of her own chariots. And +to conclude all, I see the dread sentence issue from the mouth of the +Son of God. I see it in the form of two darts, the one of salvation, +the other of damnation; and as they hustle down, I hear the fury of +its onset shock the elemental frame of things, and, with the roar of +thunderings and voices, smash the universal scheme to fragments. I see +the vault of ether merged in gloom, illuminated only by the lights of +Paradise and the furnaces of hell. My thoughts, excited by this vision +of the day of Doom, whisper: 'If we quake in terror before the +handiwork of Buonarroti, how shall we shake and shrink affrighted when +He who shall judge passes sentence on our souls?'" + +This description of the Last Day, in which it is more than doubtful +whether a man like Aretino had any sincere faith, possesses +considerable literary interest. In the first place, it is curious as +coming from one who lived on terms of closest intimacy with painters, +and who certainly appreciated art; for this reason, that nothing less +pictorial than the images evoked could be invented. Then, again, in +the first half of the sixteenth century it anticipated the rhetoric of +the _barocco_ period--the eloquence of seventeenth-century divines, +Dutch poets, Jesuit pulpiteers. Aretino's originality consisted in his +precocious divination of a whole new age of taste and style, which was +destined to supersede the purer graces of the Renaissance. + +The letter ends with an assurance that if anything could persuade him +to break a resolution he had formed, and to revisit Rome, it would be +his great anxiety to view the Last Judgment of the Sistine Chapel with +his own eyes. Michelangelo sent an answer which may be cited as an +example of his peculiar irony. Under the form of elaborate compliment +it conceals the scorn he must have conceived for Aretino and his +insolent advice. Yet he knew how dangerous the man could be, and felt +obliged to humour him. + +"Magnificent Messer Pietro, my lord and brother,--The receipt of your +letter gave me both joy and sorrow. I rejoiced exceedingly, since it +came from you, who are without peer in all the world for talent. Yet +at the same time I grieved, inasmuch as, having finished a large part +of the fresco, I cannot realise your conception, which is so complete, +that if the Day of Judgment had come, and you had been present and +seen it with your eyes, your words could not have described it better. +Now, touching an answer to my letter, I reply that I not only desire +it, but I entreat you to write one, seeing that kings and emperors +esteem it the highest favour to be mentioned by your pen. Meanwhile, +if I have anything that you would like, I offer it with all my heart. +In conclusion, do not break your resolve of never revisiting Rome on +account of the picture I am painting, for this would be too much." + +Aretino's real object was to wheedle some priceless sketch or drawing +out of the great master. This appears from a second letter written by +him on the 20th of January 1538. "Does not my devotion deserve that I +should receive from you, the prince of sculpture and of painting, one +of those cartoons which you fling into the fire, to the end that +during life I may enjoy it, and in death carry it with me to the +tomb?" After all, we must give Aretino credit for genuine feelings of +admiration toward illustrious artists like Titian, Sansovino, and +Michelangelo. Writing many years after the date of these letters, when +he has seen an engraving of the Last Judgment, he uses terms, +extravagant indeed, but apparently sincere, about its grandeur of +design. Then he repeats his request for a drawing. "Why will you not +repay my devotion to your divine qualities by the gift of some scrap +of a drawing, the least valuable in your eyes? I should certainly +esteem two strokes of the chalk upon a piece of paper more than all +the cups and chains which all the kings and princes gave me." It seems +that Michelangelo continued to correspond with him, and that Benvenuto +Cellini took part in their exchange of letters. But no drawings were +sent; and in course of time the ruffian got the better of the virtuoso +in Aretino's rapacious nature. Without ceasing to fawn and flatter +Michelangelo, he sought occasion to damage his reputation. Thus we +find him writing in January 1546 to the engraver Enea Vico, bestowing +high praise upon a copper-plate which a certain Bazzacco had made from +the Last Judgment, but criticising the picture as "licentious and +likely to cause scandal with the Lutherans, by reason of its immodest +exposure of the nakedness of persons of both sexes in heaven and +hell." It is not clear what Aretino expected from Enea Vico. A +reference to the Duke of Florence seems to indicate that he wished to +arouse suspicions among great and influential persons regarding the +religious and moral quality of Michelangelo's work. + +This malevolent temper burst out at last in one of the most remarkable +letters we possess of his. It was obviously intended to hurt and +insult Michelangelo as much as lay within his power of innuendo and +direct abuse. The invective offers so many points of interest with +regard to both men, that I shall not hesitate to translate it here in +full. + +"Sir, when I inspected the complete sketch of the whole of your Last +Judgment, I arrived at recognising the eminent graciousness of +Raffaello in its agreeable beauty of invention. + +"Meanwhile, as a baptized Christian, I blush before the license, so +forbidden to man's intellect, which you have used in expressing ideas +connected with the highest aims and final ends to which our faith +aspires. So, then, that Michelangelo stupendous in his fame, that +Michelangelo renowned for prudence, that Michelangelo whom all admire, +has chosen to display to the whole world an impiety of irreligion only +equalled by the perfection of his painting! Is it possible that you, +who, since you are divine, do not condescend to consort with human +beings, have done this in the greatest temple built to God, upon the +highest altar raised to Christ, in the most sacred chapel upon earth, +where the mighty hinges of the Church, the venerable priests of our +religion, the Vicar of Christ, with solemn ceremonies and holy +prayers, confess, contemplate, and adore his body, his blood, and his +flesh? + +"If it were not infamous to introduce the comparison, I would plume +myself upon my virtue when I wrote _La Nanna_. I would demonstrate the +superiority of my reserve to your indiscretion, seeing that I, while +handling themes lascivious and immodest, use language comely and +decorous, speak in terms beyond reproach and inoffensive to chaste +ears. You, on the contrary, presenting so awful a subject, exhibit +saints and angels, these without earthly decency, and those without +celestial honours. + +"The pagans, when they modelled a Diana, gave her clothes; when they +made a naked Venus, hid the parts which are not shown with the hand of +modesty. And here there comes a Christian, who, because he rates art +higher than the faith, deems it a royal spectacle to portray martyrs +and virgins in improper attitudes, to show men dragged down by their +shame, before which things houses of ill-fame would shut the eyes in +order not to see them. Your art would be at home in some voluptuous +bagnio, certainly not in the highest chapel of the world. Less +criminal were it if you were an infidel, than, being a believer, thus +to sap the faith of others. Up to the present time the splendour of +such audacious marvels hath not gone unpunished; for their very +superexcellence is the death of your good name. Restore them to repute +by turning the indecent parts of the damned to flames, and those of +the blessed to sunbeams; or imitate the modesty of Florence, who hides +your David's shame beneath some gilded leaves. And yet that statue is +exposed upon a public square, not in a consecrated chapel. + +"As I wish that God may pardon you, I do not write this out of any +resentment for the things I begged of you. In truth, if you had sent +me what you promised, you would only have been doing what you ought to +have desired most eagerly to do in your own interest; for this act of +courtesy would silence the envious tongues which say that only certain +Gerards and Thomases dispose of them. + +"Well, if the treasure bequeathed you by Pope Julius, in order that +you might deposit his ashes in an urn of your own carving, was not +enough to make you keep your plighted word, what can I expect from +you? It is not your ingratitude, your avarice, great painter, but the +grace and merit of the Supreme Shepherd, which decide his fame. God +wills that Julius should live renowned for ever in a simple tomb, +inurned in his own merits, and not in some proud monument dependent on +your genius. Meantime, your failure to discharge your obligations is +reckoned to you as an act of thieving. + +"Our souls need the tranquil emotions of piety more than the lively +impressions of plastic art. May God, then, inspire his Holiness Paul +with the same thoughts as he instilled into Gregory of blessed memory, +who rather chose to despoil Rome of the proud statues of the Pagan +deities than to let their magnificence deprive the humbler images of +the saints of the devotion of the people. + +"Lastly, when you set about composing your picture of the universe and +hell and heaven, if you had steeped your heart with those suggestions +of glory, of honour, and of terror proper to the theme which I +sketched out and offered to you in the letter I wrote you and the +whole world reads, I venture to assert that not only would nature and +all kind influences cease to regret the illustrious talents they +endowed you with, and which to-day render you, by virtue of your art, +an image of the marvellous: but Providence, who sees all things, would +herself continue to watch over such a masterpiece, so long as order +lasts in her government of the hemispheres. + + "Your servant, + "The Aretine. + +"Now that I have blown off some of the rage I feel against you for the +cruelty you used to my devotion, and have taught you to see that, +while you may be divine, I am not made of water, I bid you tear up +this letter, for I have done the like, and do not forget that I am one +to whose epistles kings and emperors reply. + +"To the great Michelangelo Buonarroti in Rome." + +The malignancy of this letter is only equalled by its stylistic +ingenuity. Aretino used every means he could devise to wound and +irritate a sensitive nature. The allusion to Raffaello, the comparison +of his own pornographic dialogues with the Last Judgment in the +Sistine, the covert hint that folk gossiped about Michelangelo's +relations to young men, his sneers at the great man's exclusiveness, +his cruel insinuations with regard to the Tomb of Julius, his devout +hope that Paul will destroy the fresco, and the impudent eulogy of his +precious letter on the Last Day, were all nicely calculated to annoy. +Whether the missive was duly received by Buonarroti we do not know. +Gaye asserts that it appears to have been sent through the post. He +discovered it in the Archives of the Strozzi Palace. + +The virtuous Pietro Aretino was not the only one to be scandalised by +the nudities of the Last Judgment; and indeed it must be allowed that +when Michelangelo treated such a subject in such a manner, he was +pushing the principle of art for art's sake to its extremity. One of +the most popular stories told about this work shows that it early +began to create a scandal. When it was three fourths finished, Pope +Paul went to see the fresco, attended by Messer Biagio da Cesena, his +Master of the Ceremonies. On being asked his opinion of the painting, +Messer Biagio replied that he thought it highly improper to expose so +many naked figures in a sacred picture, and that it was more fit for a +place of debauchery than for the Pope's chapel. Michelangelo, nettled +by this, drew the prelate's portrait to the life, and placed him in +hell with horns on his head and a serpent twisted round his loins. +Messer Biagio, finding himself in this plight, and being no doubt +laughed at by his friends, complained to the Pope, who answered that +he could do nothing to help him. "Had the painter sent you to +Purgatory, I would have used my best efforts to get you released; but +I exercise no influence in hell; _ubi nulla est redemptio_." Before +Michelangelo's death, his follower, Daniele da Volterra, was employed +to provide draperies for the most obnoxious figures, and won thereby +the name of _Il Braghettone_, or the breeches-maker. Paul IV. gave the +painter this commission, having previously consulted Buonarroti on the +subject. The latter is said to have replied to the Pope's messenger: +"Tell his Holiness that this is a small matter, and can easily be set +straight. Let him look to setting the world in order: to reform a +picture costs no great trouble." Later on, during the Pontificate of +Pio V., a master named Girolamo da Fano continued the process begun by +Daniele da Volterra. As a necessary consequence of this tribute to +modesty, the scheme of Michelangelo's colouring and the balance of his +masses have been irretrievably damaged. + + +IV + +Vasari says that not very long before the Last Judgment was finished, +Michelangelo fell from the scaffolding, and seriously hurt his leg. +The pain he suffered and his melancholy made him shut himself up at +home, where he refused to be treated by a doctor. There was a +Florentine physician in Rome, however, of capricious humour, who +admired the arts, and felt a real affection for Buonarroti. This man +contrived to creep into the house by some privy entrance, and roamed +about it till he found the master. He then insisted upon remaining +there on watch and guard until he had effected a complete cure. The +name of this excellent friend, famous for his skill and science in +those days, was Baccio Rontini. + +After his recovery Michelangelo returned to work, and finished the +Last Judgment in a few months. It was exposed to the public on +Christmas Day in 1541. + +Time, negligence, and outrage, the dust of centuries, the burned +papers of successive conclaves, the smoke of altar-candles, the +hammers and the hangings of upholsterers, the brush of the +breeches-maker and restorer, have so dealt with the Last Judgment that +it is almost impossible to do it justice now. What Michelangelo +intended by his scheme of colour is entirely lost. Not only did +Daniele da Volterra, an execrable colourist, dab vividly tinted +patches upon the modulated harmonies of flesh-tones painted by the +master; but the whole surface has sunk into a bluish fog, deepening to +something like lamp-black around the altar. Nevertheless, in its +composition the fresco may still be studied; and after due inspection, +aided by photographic reproductions of each portion, we are not unable +to understand the enthusiasm which so nobly and profoundly planned a +work of art aroused among contemporaries. + +It has sometimes been asserted that this enormous painting, the +largest and most comprehensive in the world, is a tempest of +contending forms, a hurly-burly of floating, falling, soaring, and +descending figures. Nothing can be more opposed to the truth. +Michelangelo was sixty-six years of age when he laid his brush down at +the end of the gigantic task. He had long outlived the spontaneity of +youthful ardour. His experience through half a century in the planning +of monuments, the painting of the Sistine vault, the designing of +façades and sacristies and libraries, had developed the architectonic +sense which was always powerful in his conceptive faculty. +Consequently, we are not surprised to find that, intricate and +confused as the scheme may appear to an unpractised eye, it is in +reality a design of mathematical severity, divided into four bands or +planes of grouping. The wall, since it occupies one entire end of a +long high building, is naturally less broad than lofty. The pictorial +divisions are therefore horizontal in the main, though so combined and +varied as to produce the effect of multiplied curves, balancing and +antiphonally inverting their lines of sinuosity. The pendentive upon +which the prophet Jonah sits, descends and breaks the surface at the +top, leaving a semicircular compartment on each side of its corbel. +Michelangelo filled these upper spaces with two groups of wrestling +angels, the one bearing a huge cross, the other a column, in the air. +The cross and whipping-post are the chief emblems of Christ's Passion. +The crown of thorns is also there, the sponge, the ladder, and the +nails. It is with no merciful intent that these signs of our Lord's +suffering are thus exhibited. Demonic angels, tumbling on clouds like +Leviathans, hurl them to and fro in brutal wrath above the crowd of +souls, as though to demonstrate the justice of damnation. In spite of +a God's pain and shameful death, mankind has gone on sinning. The +Judge is what the crimes of the world and Italy have made him. +Immediately below the corbel, and well detached from the squadrons of +attendant saints, Christ rises from His throne. His face is turned in +the direction of the damned, His right hand is lifted as though loaded +with thunderbolts for their annihilation. He is a ponderous young +athlete; rather say a mass of hypertrophied muscles, with the features +of a vulgarised Apollo. The Virgin sits in a crouching attitude at His +right side, slightly averting her head, as though in painful +expectation of the coming sentence. The saints and martyrs who +surround Christ and His Mother, while forming one of the chief planes +in the composition, are arranged in four unequal groups of subtle and +surprising intricacy. All bear the emblems of their cruel deaths, and +shake them in the sight of Christ as though appealing to His +judgment-seat. It has been charitably suggested that they intend to +supplicate for mercy. I cannot, however, resist the impression that +they are really demanding rigid justice. S. Bartholomew flourishes his +flaying-knife and dripping skin with a glare of menace. S. Catherine +struggles to raise her broken wheel. S. Sebastian frowns down on hell +with a sheaf of arrows quivering in his stalwart arm. The saws, the +carding-combs, the crosses, and the grid-irons, all subserve the same +purpose of reminding Christ that, if He does not damn the wicked, +confessors will have died with Him in vain. It is singular that, while +Michelangelo depicted so many attitudes of expectation, eagerness, +anxiety, and astonishment in the blest, he has given to none of them +the expression of gratitude, or love, or sympathy, or shrinking awe. +Men and women, old and young alike, are human beings of Herculean +build. Paradise, according to Buonarroti's conception, was not meant +for what is graceful, lovely, original, and tender. The hosts of +heaven are adult and over-developed gymnasts. Yet, while we record +these impressions, it would be unfair to neglect the spiritual beauty +of some souls embracing after long separation in the grave, with +folding arms, and clasping hands, and clinging lips. While painting +these, Michelangelo thought peradventure of his father and his +brother. + +The two planes which I have attempted to describe occupy the upper and +the larger portion of the composition. The third in order is made up +of three masses. In the middle floats a band of Titanic cherubs, +blowing their long trumpets over earth and sea to wake the dead. +Dramatically, nothing can be finer than the strained energy and +superhuman force of these superb creatures. Their attitudes compel our +imagination to hear the crashing thunders of the trump of doom. To the +left of the spectator are souls ascending to be judged, some floating +through vague ether, enwrapped with grave-clothes, others assisted by +descending saints and angels, who reach a hand, a rosary, to help the +still gross spirit in its flight. To the right are the condemned, +sinking downwards to their place of torment, spurned by seraphs, +cuffed by angelic grooms, dragged by demons, hurling, howling, huddled +in a mass of horror. It is just here, and still yet farther down, that +Michelangelo put forth all his power as a master of expression. While +the blessed display nothing which is truly proper to their state of +holiness and everlasting peace, the damned appear in every realistic +aspect of most stringent agony and terror. The colossal forms of flesh +with which the multitudes of saved and damned are equally endowed, +befit that extremity of physical and mental anguish more than they +suit the serenity of bliss eternal. There is a wretch, twined round +with fiends, gazing straight before him as he sinks; one half of his +face is buried in his hand, the other fixed in a stony spasm of +despair, foreshadowing perpetuity of hell. Nothing could express with +sublimity of a higher order the sense of irremediable loss, eternal +pain, a future endless without hope, than the rigid dignity of this +not ignoble sinner's dread. Just below is the place to which the +doomed are sinking. Michelangelo reverted to Dante for the symbolism +chosen to portray hell. Charon, the demon, with eyes of burning coal, +compels a crowd of spirits in his ferryboat. They land and are +received by devils, who drag them before Minos, judge of the infernal +regions. He towers at the extreme right end of the fresco, indicating +that the nether regions yawn infinitely deep, beyond our ken; just as +the angels above Christ suggest a region of light and glory, extending +upward through illimitable space. The scene of judgment on which +attention is concentrated forms but an episode in the universal, +sempiternal scheme of things. Balancing hell, on the left hand of the +spectator, is brute earth, the grave, the forming and the swallowing +clay, out of which souls, not yet acquitted or condemned, emerge with +difficulty, in varied forms of skeletons or corpses, slowly thawing +into life eternal. + +Vasari, in his description of the Last Judgment, seized upon what +after all endures as the most salient aspect of this puzzling work, at +once so fascinating and so repellent. "It is obvious," he says, "that +the peerless painter did not aim at anything but the portrayal of the +human body in perfect proportions and most varied attitudes, together +with the passions and affections of the soul. That was enough for him, +and here he has no equal. He wanted to exhibit the grand style: +consummate draughtsmanship in the nude, mastery over all problems of +design. He concentrated his power upon the human form, attending to +that alone, and neglecting all subsidiary things, as charm of colour, +capricious inventions, delicate devices and novelties of fancy." +Vasari might have added that Michelangelo also neglected what ought to +have been a main object of his art: convincing eloquence, the +solemnity proper to his theme, spirituality of earthly grossness quit. +As a collection of athletic nudes in all conceivable postures of rest +and action, of foreshortening, of suggested movement, the Last +Judgment remains a stupendous miracle. Nor has the aged master lost +his cunning for the portrayal of divinely simple faces, superb limbs, +masculine beauty, in the ideal persons of young men. The picture, when +we dwell long enough upon its details, emerges into prominence, +moreover, as indubitably awe-inspiring, terrifying, dreadful in its +poignant expression of wrath, retaliation, thirst for vengeance, +cruelty, and helpless horror. But the supreme point even of Doomsday, +of the Dies Irae, has not been seized. We do not hear the still small +voice of pathos and of human hope which thrills through Thomas a +Celano's hymn:-- + + _Quaerens me sedisti lassus, + Redemisti crucem passus: + Tantus labor non sit cassus._ + +The note is one of sustained menace and terror, and the total scheme +of congregated forms might be compared to a sense-deafening solo on a +trombone. While saying this, we must remember that it was the constant +impulse of Michelangelo to seize one moment only, and what he deemed +the most decisive moment, in the theme he had to develop. Having +selected the instant of time at which Christ, half risen from his +Judgment-seat of cloud, raises an omnific hand to curse, the master +caused each fibre of his complex composition to thrill with the +tremendous passion of that coming sentence. The long series of designs +for Crucifixions, Depositions from the Cross, and Pietàs which we +possess, all of them belonging to a period of his life not much later +than 1541, prove that his nature was quite as sensitive to pathos as +to terror; only, it was not in him to attempt a combination of terror +and pathos. + +"He aimed at the portrayal of the human body. He wanted to exhibit the +grand style." So says Vasari, and Vasari is partly right. But we must +not fall into the paradox, so perversely maintained by Ruskin in his +lecture on Tintoretto and Michelangelo, that the latter was a cold and +heartless artist, caring chiefly for the display of technical skill +and anatomical science. Partial and painful as we may find the meaning +of the Last Judgment, that meaning has been only too powerfully and +personally felt. The denunciations of the prophets, the woes of the +Apocalypse, the invectives of Savonarola, the tragedies of Italian +history, the sense of present and indwelling sin, storm through and +through it. Technically, the masterpiece bears signs of fatigue and +discontent, in spite of its extraordinary vigour of conception and +execution. The man was old and tired, thwarted in his wishes and +oppressed with troubles. His very science had become more formal, his +types more arid and schematic, than they used to be. The thrilling +life, the divine afflatus, of the Sistine vault have passed out of the +Last Judgment. Wholly admirable, unrivalled, and unequalled by any +other human work upon a similar scale as this fresco may be in its +command over the varied resources of the human body, it does not +strike our mind as the production of a master glorying in carnal pride +and mental insolence, but rather as that of one discomfited and +terrified, upon the point of losing heart. + +Henri Beyle, jotting down his impressions in the Sistine Chapel, was +reminded of the Grand Army's flight after the burning of Moscow. +"When, in our disastrous retreat from Russia, it chanced that we were +suddenly awakened in the middle of the dark night by an obstinate +cannonading, which at each moment seemed to gain in nearness, then all +the forces of a man's nature gathered close around his heart; he felt +himself in the presence of fate, and having no attention left for +things of vulgar interest, he made himself ready to dispute his life +with destiny. The sight of Michelangelo's picture has brought back to +my consciousness that almost forgotten sensation." This is a piece of +just and sympathetic criticism, and upon its note I am fain to close. + + +V + +It is probable that the fame of the Last Judgment spread rapidly +abroad through Italy, and that many visits to Rome were made for the +purpose of inspecting it. Complimentary sonnets must also have been +addressed to the painter. I take it that Niccolò Martelli sent some +poems on the subject from Florence, for Michelangelo replied upon the +20th of January 1542 in the following letter of singular modesty and +urbane kindness:-- + +"I received from Messer Vincenzo Perini your letter with two sonnets +and a madrigal. The letter and the sonnet addressed to me are so +marvellously fine, that if a man should find in them anything to +castigate, it would be impossible to castigate him as thoroughly as +they are castigated. It is true they praise me so much, that had I +Paradise in my bosom, less of praise would suffice. I perceive that +you suppose me to be just what God wishes that I were. I am a poor man +and of little merit, who plod along in the art which God gave me, to +lengthen out my life as far as possible. Such as I am, I remain your +servant and that of all the house of Martelli. I thank you for your +letter and the poems, but not as much as duty bids, for I cannot soar +to such heights of courtesy." + +When the Last Judgment was finished, Michelangelo not unreasonably +hoped that he might resume his work upon the Tomb of Julius. But this +was not to be. Antonio da San Gallo had just completed the Chapel of +the Holy Sacrament in the Vatican, which is known as the Cappella +Paolina, and the Pope resolved that its frescoes should be painted by +Buonarroti. The Duke of Urbino, yielding to his wishes, wrote to +Michelangelo upon the 6th of March 1542, saying that he should be +quite satisfied if the three statues by his hand, including the Moses, +were assigned to the tomb, the execution of the rest being left to +competent workmen under his direction. + +In effect, we possess documents proving that the tomb was consigned to +several masters during this year, 1542. The first is a contract dated +February 27, whereby Raffaello da Montelupo undertakes to finish three +statues, two of these being the Active Life and the Contemplative. The +second is a contract dated May 16, in which Michelangelo assigns the +architectural and ornamental portion of the monument conjointly to +Giovanni de' Marchesi and Francesco d' Amadore, called Urbino, +providing that differences which may arise between them shall be +referred to Donato Giannotti. There is a third contract, under date +June 1, about the same work intrusted to the same two craftsmen, +prescribing details with more exactitude. It turned out that the +apprehension of disagreement between the masters about the division of +their labour was not unfounded, for Michelangelo wrote twice in July +to his friend Luigi del Riccio, complaining bitterly of their +dissensions, and saying that he has lost two months in these trifles. +He adds that one of them is covetous, the other mad, and he fears +their quarrel may end in wounds or murder. The matter disturbs his +mind greatly, chiefly on account of Urbino, because he has brought him +up, and also because of the time wasted over "their ignorance and +bestial stupidity." The dispute was finally settled by the +intervention of three master-masons (acting severally for +Michelangelo, Urbino, and Giovanni), who valued the respective +portions of the work. + +I must interrupt this narrative of the tomb to explain who some of the +persons just mentioned were, and how they came to be connected with +Buonarroti. Donato Giannotti was the famous writer upon political and +literary topics, who, after playing a conspicuous part in the +revolution of Florence against the Medici, now lived in exile at Rome. +His dialogues on Dante, and Francesco d'Olanda's account of the +meetings at S. Silvestro, prove that he formed a member of that little +circle which included Michelangelo and Vittoria Colonna. Luigi del +Riccio was a Florentine merchant, settled in the banking-house of the +Strozzi at Rome. For many years he acted as Michelangelo's man of +business; but their friendship was close and warm in many other ways. +They were drawn together by a common love of poetry, and by the charm +of a rarely gifted youth called Cecchino dei Bracci. Urbino was the +great sculptor's servant and man of all work, the last and best of +that series, which included Stefano Miniatore, Pietro Urbino, Antonio +Mini. Michelangelo made Urbino's fortune, mourned his death, and +undertook the guardianship of his children, as will appear in due +course. All through his life the great sculptor was dependent upon +some trusted servant, to whom he became personally attached, and who +did not always repay his kindness with gratitude. After Urbino's +death, Ascanio Condivi filled a similar post, and to this circumstance +we owe the most precious of our contemporary biographies. + +Our most important document with regard to the Tomb of Julius is an +elaborate petition addressed by Michelangelo to Paul III. upon the +20th of July. It begins by referring to the contract of April 18, +1532, and proceeds to state that the Pope's new commission for the +Cappella Paolina has interfered once more with the fulfilment of the +sculptor's engagements. Then it recites the terms suggested by the +Duke of Urbino in his letter of March 6, 1542, according to which +three of the statues of the tomb may be assigned to capable craftsmen, +while the other three, including the Moses, will have to be finished +by Michelangelo himself. Raffaello da Montelupo has already undertaken +the Madonna and Child, a Prophet, and a Sibyl. Giovanni de' Marchese +and Francesco da Urbino are at work upon the architecture. It remains +for Michelangelo to furnish the Moses and two Captives, all three of +which are nearly completed. The Captives, however, were designed for a +much larger monument, and will not suit the present scheme. +Accordingly, he has blocked out two other figures, representing the +Active and Contemplative Life. But even these he is unable to finish, +since the painting of the chapel absorbs his time and energy. He +therefore prays the Pope to use his influence with the Duke of Urbino, +so that he may be henceforward wholly and absolutely freed from all +obligations in the matter of the tomb. The Moses he can deliver in a +state of perfection, but he wishes to assign the Active and +Contemplative Life to Raffaello or to any other sculptor who may be +preferred by the Duke. Finally, he is prepared to deposit a sum of +1200 crowns for the total costs, and to guarantee that the work shall +be efficiently executed in all its details. + +It is curious that in this petition and elsewhere no mention is made +of what might be considered the most important portion of the +tomb--namely, the portrait statue of Julius. + +The document was presented to Messer Piero Giovanni Aliotti, Bishop of +Forli, and keeper of the wardrobe to Pope Paul. Accordingly, the final +contract regarding the tomb was drawn up and signed upon the 20th of +August. I need not recapitulate its terms, for I have already printed +a summary of them in a former chapter of this work. Suffice it to say +that Michelangelo was at last released from all active responsibility +with regard to the tomb, and that the vast design of his early manhood +now dwindled down to the Moses. To Raffaello da Montelupo was left the +completion of the remaining five statues. + +This lamentable termination to the cherished scheme of his lifetime +must have preyed upon Michelangelo's spirits. The letters in which he +alludes to it, after the contract had been signed, breathe a spirit of +more than usual fretfulness. Moreover, the Duke of Urbino now delayed +to send his ratification, by which alone the deed could become valid. +In October, writing to Del Riccio, Michelangelo complains that Messer +Aliotti is urging him to begin painting in the chapel; but the plaster +is not yet fit to work on. Meanwhile, although he has deposited 1400 +crowns, "which would have kept him working for seven years, and would +have enabled him to finish two tombs," the Duke's ratification does +not come. "It is easy enough to see what that means without writing it +in words! Enough; for the loyalty of thirty-six years, and for having +given myself of my own free will to others, I deserve no better. +Painting and sculpture, labour and good faith, have been my ruin, and +I go continually from bad to worse. Better would it have been for me +if I had set myself to making matches in my youth! I should not be in +such distress of mind.... I will not remain under this burden, nor be +vilified every day for a swindler by those who have robbed my life and +honour. Only death or the Pope can extricate me." It appears that at +this time the Duke of Urbino's agents were accusing him of having lent +out moneys which he had received on account for the execution of the +monument. Then follows, in the same month of October, that stormy +letter to some prelate, which is one of the most weighty +autobiographical documents from the hand of Michelangelo in our +possession. + +"Monsignore,--Your lordship sends to tell me that I must begin to +paint, and have no anxiety. I answer that one paints with the brain +and not with the hands; and he who has not his brains at his command +produces work that shames him. Therefore, until my business is +settled, I can do nothing good. The ratification of the last contract +does not come. On the strength of the other, made before Clement, I am +daily stoned as though I had crucified Christ.... My whole youth and +manhood have been lost, tied down to this tomb.... I see multitudes +with incomes of 2000 or 3000 crowns lying in bed, while I with all my +immense labour toil to grow poor.... I am not a thief and usurer, but +a citizen of Florence, noble, the son of an honest man, and do not +come from Cagli." (These and similar outbursts of indignant passion +scattered up and down the epistle, show to what extent the sculptor's +irritable nature had been exasperated by calumnious reports. As he +openly declares, he is being driven mad by pin-pricks. Then follows +the detailed history of his dealings with Julius, which, as I have +already made copious use of it, may here be given in outline.) "In the +first year of his pontificate, Julius commissioned me to make his +tomb, and I stayed eight months at Carrara quarrying marbles and +sending them to the Piazza of S. Peter's, where I had my lodgings +behind S. Caterina. Afterwards the Pope decided not to build his tomb +during his lifetime, and set me down to painting. Then he kept me two +years at Bologna casting his statue in bronze, which has been +destroyed. After that I returned to Rome and stayed with him until his +death, always keeping my house open without post or pension, living on +the money for the tomb, since I had no other income. After the death +of Julius, Aginensis wanted me to go on with it, but on a larger +scale. So I brought the marbles to the Macello dei Corvi, and got that +part of the mural scheme finished which is now walled in at S. Pietro +in Vincoli, and made the figures which I have at home still. +Meanwhile, Leo, not wishing me to work at the tomb, pretended that he +wanted to complete the façade of S. Lorenzo at Florence, and begged me +of the Cardinal. + +"To continue my history of the tomb of Julius, I say that when he +changed his mind about building it in his lifetime, some shiploads of +marble came to the Ripa, which I had ordered a short while before from +Carrara, and as I could not get money from the Pope to pay the +freightage, I had to borrow 150 or 200 ducats from Baldassare +Balducci--that is, from the bank of Jacopo Gallo. At the same time +workmen came from Florence, some of whom are still alive; and I +furnished the house which Julius gave me behind S. Caterina with beds +and other furniture for the men, and what was wanted for the work of +the tomb. All this being done without money, I was greatly +embarrassed. Accordingly, I urged the Pope with all my power to go +forward with the business, and he had me turned away by a groom one +morning when I came to speak upon the matter." (Here intervenes the +story of the flight to Florence, which has been worked up in the +course of Chapter IV.) "Later on, while I was at Florence, Julius sent +three briefs to the Signory. At last the latter sent for me and said: +'We do not want to go to war with Pope Julius because of you. You must +return; and if you do so, we will write you letters of such authority +that if he does you harm, he will be doing it to this Signory.' +Accordingly, I took the letters, and went back to the Pope, and what +followed would be long to tell! + +"All the dissensions between Pope Julius and me arose from the envy of +Bramante and Raffaello da Urbino; and this was the cause of my not +finishing the tomb in his lifetime. They wanted to ruin me. Raffaello +had indeed good reason, for all he had of art, he had from me." + +Twice again in October Michelangelo wrote to Luigi del Riccio about +the ratification of his contract. "I cannot live, far less paint." "I +am resolved to stop at home and finish the three figures, as I agreed +to do. This would be better for me than to drag my limbs daily to the +Vatican. Let him who likes get angry. If the Pope wants me to paint, +he must send for the Duke's ambassador and procure the ratification." + +What happened at this time about the tomb can be understood by help of +a letter written to Salvestro da Montauto on the 3rd of February 1545. +Michelangelo refers to the last contract, and says that the Duke of +Urbino ratified the deed. Accordingly, five statues were assigned to +Raffaello da Montelupo. "But while I was painting the new chapel for +Pope Paul III., his Holiness, at my earnest prayer, allowed me a +little time, during which I finished two of them, namely, the Active +and Contemplative Life, with my own hand." + +With all his good-will, however, Michelangelo did not wholly extricate +himself from the anxieties of this miserable affair. As late as the +year 1553, Annibale Caro wrote to Antonio Gallo entreating him to +plead for the illustrious old man with the Duke of Urbino. "I assure +you that the extreme distress caused him by being in disgrace with his +Excellency is sufficient to bring his grey hairs to the grave before +his time." + + +VI + +The Tomb of Julius, as it now appears in the Church of S. Pietro in +Vincoli in Rome, is a monument composed of two discordant parts, by +inspecting which a sympathetic critic is enabled to read the dreary +history of its production. As Condivi allows, it was a thing +"rattoppata e rifatta," patched together and hashed up. + +The lower half represents what eventually survived from the grandiose +original design for one façade of that vast mount of marble which was +to have been erected in the Tribune of St. Peter's. The socles, upon +which captive Arts and Sciences were meant to stand, remain; but +instead of statues, inverted consoles take their places, and lead +lamely up to the heads and busts of terminal old men. The pilasters of +these terms have been shortened. There are four of them, enclosing two +narrow niches, where beautiful female figures, the Active Life and the +Contemplative Life, still testify to the enduring warmth and vigour of +the mighty sculptor's genius. As single statues duly worked into a +symmetrical scheme, these figures would be admirable, since grace of +line and symbolical contrast of attitude render both charming. In +their present position they are reduced to comparative insignificance +by heavy architectural surroundings. The space left free between the +niches and the terms is assigned to the seated statue of Moses, which +forms the main attraction of the monument, and of which, as a +masterpiece of Michelangelo's best years, I shall have to speak later +on. + +The architectural plan and the surface decoration of this lower half +are conceived in a style belonging to the earlier Italian Renaissance. +Arabesques and masks and foliated patterns adorn the flat slabs. The +recess of each niche is arched with a concave shell. The terminal +busts are boldly modelled, and impose upon the eye. The whole is rich +in detail, and, though somewhat arid in fanciful invention, it carries +us back to the tradition of Florentine work by Mino da Fiesole and +Desiderio da Settignano. + +When we ascend to the upper portion, we seem to have passed, as indeed +we do pass, into the region of the new manner created by Michelangelo +at S. Lorenzo. The orders of the pilasters are immensely tall in +proportion to the spaces they enclose. Two of these spaces, those on +the left and right side, are filled in above with meaningless +rectangular recesses, while seated statues occupy less than a whole +half in altitude of the niches. The architectural design is +nondescript, corresponding to no recognised style, unless it be a +bastard Roman Doric. There is absolutely no decorative element except +four shallow masks beneath the abaci of the pilasters. All is cold and +broad and dry, contrasting strangely with the accumulated details of +the lower portion. In the central niche, immediately above the Moses, +stands a Madonna of fine sculptural quality, beneath a shallow arch, +which repeats the shell-pattern. At her feet lies the extended figure +of Pope Julius II., crowned with the tiara, raising himself in a +half-recumbent attitude upon his right arm. + +Of the statues in the upper portion, by far the finest in artistic +merit is the Madonna. This dignified and gracious lady, holding the +Divine Child in her arms, must be reckoned among Buonarroti's triumphs +in dealing with the female form. There is more of softness and +sweetness here than in the Madonna of the Medicean sacristy, while the +infant playing with a captured bird is full of grace. Michelangelo +left little in this group for the chisel of Montelupo to deform by +alteration. The seated female, a Sibyl, on the left, bears equally the +stamp of his design. Executed by himself, this would have been a +masterpiece for grandeur of line and dignified repose. As it is, the +style, while seeming to aim at breadth, remains frigid and formal. The +so-called Prophet on the other side counts among the signal failures +of Italian sculpture. It has neither beauty nor significance. Like a +heavy Roman consul of the Decadence, the man sits there, lumpy and +meaningless; we might take it for a statue-portrait erected by some +provincial municipality to celebrate a local magnate; but of prophecy +or inspiration there is nothing to detect in this inert figure. We +wonder why he should be placed so near a Pope. + +It is said that Michelangelo expressed dissatisfaction with +Montelupo's execution of the two statues finally committed to his +charge, and we know from documents that the man was ill when they were +finished. Still we can hardly excuse the master himself for the cold +and perfunctory performance of a task which had such animated and +heroic beginnings. Competent judges, who have narrowly surveyed the +monument, say that the stones are badly put together, and the +workmanship is defective in important requirements of the +sculptor-mason's craft. Those who defend Buonarroti must fall back +upon the theory that weariness and disappointment made him at last +indifferent to the fate of a design which had cost him so much +anxiety, pecuniary difficulties, and frustrated expectations in past +years. He let the Tomb of Julius, his first vast dream of art, be +botched up out of dregs and relics by ignoble hands, because he was +heart-sick and out of pocket. + +As artist, Michelangelo might, one thinks, have avoided the glaring +discord of styles between the upper and the lower portions of the +tomb; but sensitiveness to harmony of manner lies not in the nature of +men who rapidly evolve new forms of thought and feeling from some +older phase. Probably he felt the width and the depth of that gulf +which divided himself in 1505 from the same self in 1545, less than we +do. Forty years in a creative nature introduce subtle changes, which +react upon the spirit of the age, and provoke subsequent criticism to +keen comments and comparisons. The individual and his contemporaries +are not so well aware of these discrepancies as posterity. + +The Moses, which Paul and his courtiers thought sufficient to +commemorate a single Pope, stands as the eminent jewel of this +defrauded tomb. We may not be attracted by it. We may even be repelled +by the goat-like features, the enormous beard, the ponderous muscles, +and the grotesque garments of the monstrous statue. In order to do it +justice, Jet us bear in mind that the Moses now remains detached from +a group of environing symbolic forms which Michelangelo designed. +Instead of taking its place as one among eight corresponding and +counterbalancing giants, it is isolated, thrust forward on the eye; +whereas it was intended to be viewed from below in concert with a +scheme of balanced figures, male and female, on the same colossal +scale. + +Condivi writes not amiss, in harmony with the gusto of his age, and +records what a gentle spirit thought about the Moses then: "Worthy of +all admiration is the statue of Moses, duke and captain of the +Hebrews. He sits posed in the attitude of a thinker and a sage, +holding beneath his right arm the tables of the law, and with the left +hand giving support to his chin, like one who is tired and full of +anxious cares. From the fingers of this hand escape long flowing lines +of beard, which are very beautiful in their effect upon the eye. The +face is full of vivid life and spiritual force, fit to inspire both +love and terror, as perhaps the man in truth did. He bears, according +to the customary wont of artists while portraying Moses, two horns +upon the head, not far removed from the summit of the brows. He is +robed and girt about the legs with hosen, the arms bare, and all the +rest after the antique fashion. It is a marvellous work, and full of +art: mostly in this, that underneath those subtleties of raiment one +can perceive the naked form, the garments detracting nothing from the +beauty of the body; as was the universal way of working with this +master in all his clothed figures, whether painted or sculptured." + +Except that Condivi dwelt too much upon the repose of this +extraordinary statue, too little upon its vivacity and agitating +unrest, his description serves our purpose as well as any other. He +does not seem to have felt the turbulence and carnal insolence which +break our sense of dignity and beauty now. + +Michelangelo left the Moses incomplete in many details, after bringing +the rest of the figure to a high state of polish. Tooth-marks of the +chisel are observable upon the drapery, the back, both hands, part of +the neck, the hair, and the salient horns. It seems to have been his +habit, as Condivi and Cellini report, to send a finished statue forth +with some sign-manual of roughness in the final touches. That gave his +work the signature of the sharp tools he had employed upon it. And +perhaps he loved the marble so well that he did not like to quit the +good white stone without sparing a portion of its clinging strength +and stubbornness, as symbol of the effort of his brain and hand to +educe live thought from inert matter. + +In the century after Michelangelo's death a sonnet was written by +Giovanni Battista Felice Zappi upon this Moses. It is famous in +Italian literature, and expresses adequately the ideas which occur to +ordinary minds when they approach the Moses. For this reason I think +that it is worthy of being introduced in a translation here:-- + + _Who is the man who, carved in this huge stone, + Sits giant, all renowned things of art + Transcending? he whose living lips, that start, + Speak eager words? I hear, and take their tone. + + He sure is Moses. That the chin hath shown + By its dense honour, the brows' beam bipart: + 'Tis Moses, when he left the Mount, with part, + A great-part, of God's glory round him thrown. + + Such was the prophet when those sounding vast + Waters he held suspense about him; such + When he the sea barred, made it gulph his foe. + + And you, his tribes, a vile calf did you cast? + Why not an idol worth like this so much? + To worship that had wrought you lesser woe._ + + +VII + +Before quitting the Tomb of Julius, I must discuss the question of +eight scattered statues, partly unfinished, which are supposed, on +more or less good grounds, to have been designed for this monument. +About two of them, the bound Captives in the Louvre, there is no +doubt. Michelangelo mentions these in his petition to Pope Paul, +saying that the change of scale implied by the last plan obliged him +to abstain from using them. We also know their history. When the +sculptor was ill at Rome in 1544, Luigi del Riccio nursed him in the +palace of the Strozzi. Gratitude for this hospitality induced him to +make a present of the statues to Ruberto degli Strozzi, who took them +to France and offered them to the King. Francis gave them to the +Constable de Montmorenci; and he placed them in his country-house of +Ecouen. In 1793 the Republic offered them for sale, when they were +bought for the French nation by M. Lenoir. + +One of these Captives deserves to be called the most fascinating +creation of the master's genius. Together with the Adam, it may be +taken as fixing his standard of masculine beauty. He is a young man, +with head thrown back, as though in swoon or slumber; the left arm +raised above the weight of massy curls, the right hand resting on his +broad full bosom. There is a divine charm in the tranquil face, tired +but not fatigued, sad but not melancholy, suggesting that the sleeping +mind of the immortal youth is musing upon solemn dreams. Praxiteles +might have so expressed the Genius of Eternal Repose; but no Greek +sculptor would have given that huge girth to the thorax, or have +exaggerated the mighty hand with such delight in sinewy force. These +qualities, peculiar to Buonarroti's sense of form, do not detract from +the languid pose and supple rhythm of the figure, which flows down, a +sinuous line of beauty, through the slightly swelling flanks, along +the finely moulded thighs, to loveliest feet emerging from the marble. +It is impossible, while gazing on this statue, not to hear a strain of +intellectual music. Indeed, like melody, it tells no story, awakes no +desire, but fills the soul with something beyond thought or passion, +subtler and more penetrating than words. + +The companion figure has not equal grace. Athletically muscular, +though adolescent, the body of this young man, whose hands are tied +behind his back, is writhed into an attitude of vehement protest and +rebellion. He raises his face with appealing pain to heaven. The head, +which is only blocked out, overweighs the form, proving that +Michelangelo, unlike the Greeks, did not observe a fixed canon of +proportion for the human frame. This statue bears a strong resemblance +in feeling and conception to the Apollo designed for Baccio Valori. + +There are four rough-hewn male figures, eccentrically wrought into the +rock-work of a grotto in the Boboli Gardens, which have been assigned +to the Tomb of Julius. This attribution involves considerable +difficulties. In the first place, the scale is different, and the +stride of one of them, at any rate, is too wide for the pedestals of +that monument. Then their violent contortions and ponderous adult +forms seem to be at variance with the spirit of the Captives. Mr. +Heath Wilson may perhaps be right in his conjecture that Michelangelo +began them for the sculptural decoration on the façade of S. Lorenzo. +Their incompleteness baffles criticism; yet we feel instinctively that +they were meant for the open air and for effect at a considerable +distance. They remind us of Deucalion's men growing out of the stones +he threw behind his back. We could not wish them to be finished, or to +lose their wild attraction, as of primeval beings, the remnants of dim +generations nearer than ourselves to elemental nature. No better +specimens of Buonarroti's way of working in the marble could be +chosen. Almost savage hatchings with the point blend into finer +touches from the toothed chisel; and here and there the surface has +been treated with innumerable smoothing lines that round it into skin +and muscle. To a man who chiselled thus, marble must have yielded like +softest freestone beneath his tools; and how recklessly he wrought is +clear from the defective proportions of one old man's figure, whose +leg below the knee is short beyond all excuse. + +A group of two figures, sometimes called the Victory, now in the +Bargello Palace, was catalogued without hesitation by Vasari among the +statues for the tomb. A young hero, of gigantic strength and height, +stands firmly poised upon one foot, while his other leg, bent at the +knee, crushes the back of an old man doubled up beneath him. In the +face of the vanquished warrior critics have found a resemblance to +Michelangelo. The head of the victorious youth seems too small for his +stature, and the features are almost brutally vacuous, though burning +with an insolent and carnal beauty. The whole forcible figure +expresses irresistible energy and superhuman litheness combined with +massive strength. This group cannot be called pleasing, and its great +height renders it almost inconceivable that it was meant to range upon +one monument with the Captives of the Louvre. There are, however, so +many puzzles and perplexities connected with that design in its +several stages, that we dare affirm or deny nothing concerning it. M. +Guillaume, taking it for granted that the Victory was intended for the +tomb, makes the plausible suggestion that some of the peculiarities +which render it in composition awkward, would have been justified by +the addition of bronze wings. Mr. Heath Wilson, seeking after an +allegory, is fain to believe that it represents Michelangelo's own +state of subjection while employed upon the Serravezza quarries. + +Last comes the so-called Adonis of the Bargello Palace, which not +improbably was designed for one of the figures prostrate below the +feet of a victorious Genius. It bears, indeed, much resemblance to a +roughly indicated nude at the extreme right of the sketch for the +tomb. Upon this supposition, Michelangelo must have left it in a very +unfinished state, with an unshaped block beneath the raised right +thigh. This block has now been converted into a boar. Extremely +beautiful as the Adonis undoubtedly is, the strained, distorted +attitude seems to require some explanation. That might have been given +by the trampling form and robes of a Genius. Still it is difficult to +comprehend why the left arm and hand, finished, I feel almost sure, by +Michelangelo, should have been so carefully executed. The Genius, if +draped, would have hidden nearly the whole of that part of the statue. +The face of this Adonis displays exactly the same type as that of the +so-called Victory and of Giuliano de' Medici. Here the type assumes +singular loveliness. + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +I + +After the death of Clement VII. Michelangelo never returned to reside +at Florence. The rest of his life was spent in Rome. In the year 1534 +he had reached the advanced age of fifty-nine, and it is possible that +he first became acquainted with the noble lady Vittoria Colonna about +1538. Recent students of his poetry and friendships have suggested +that their famous intimacy began earlier, during one of his not +infrequent visits to Rome. But we have no proof of this. On the +contrary, the only letters extant which he sent to her, two in number, +belong to the year 1545. It is certain that anything like friendship +between them grew up at some considerable time after his final +settlement in Rome. + +Vittoria was the daughter of Fabrizio Colonna, Grand Constable of +Naples, by his marriage with Agnesina di Montefeltro, daughter of +Federigo, Duke of Urbino. Blood more illustrious than hers could not +be found in Italy. When she was four years old, her parents betrothed +her to Ferrante Francesco d'Avalos, a boy of the same age, the only +son of the Marchese di Pescara. In her nineteenth year the affianced +couple were married at Ischia, the fief and residence of the house of +D'Avalos. Ferrante had succeeded to his father's title early in +boyhood, and was destined for a brilliant military career. On the +young bride's side at least it was a love-match. She was tenderly +attached to her handsome husband, ignorant of his infidelities, and +blind to his fatal faults of character. Her happiness proved of short +duration. In 1512 Pescara was wounded and made prisoner at the battle +of Ravenna, and, though he returned to his wife for a short interval, +duty called him again to the field of war in Lombardy in 1515. After +this date Vittoria saw him but seldom. The last time they met was in +October 1522. As general of the Imperial forces, Pescara spent the +next years in perpetual military operations. Under his leadership the +battle of Pavia was won in 1525, and King Francis became his master's +prisoner. So far, nothing but honour, success, and glory waited on the +youthful hero. But now the tide turned. Pescara, when he again settled +down at Milan, began to plot with Girolamo Morone, Grand Chancellor of +Francesco Sforza's duchy. Morone had conceived a plan for reinstating +his former lord in Milan by the help of an Italian coalition. He +offered Pescara the crown of Naples if he would turn against the +Emperor. The Marquis seems at first to have lent a not unwilling ear +to these proposals, but seeing reason to doubt the success of the +scheme, he finally resolved to betray Morone to Charles V., and did +this with cold-blooded ingenuity. A few months afterwards, on November +25, 1525, he died, branded as a traitor, accused of double treachery, +both to his sovereign and his friend. + +If suspicions of her husband's guilt crossed Vittoria's mind, as we +have some reason to believe they did, these were not able to destroy +her loyalty and love. Though left so young a widow and childless, she +determined to consecrate her whole life to his memory and to religion. +His nephew and heir, the Marchese del Vasto, became her adopted son. +The Marchioness survived Pescara two-and-twenty years, which were +spent partly in retirement at Ischia, partly in journeys, partly in +convents at Orvieto and Viterbo, and finally in a semi-monastic +seclusion at Rome. The time spared from pious exercises she devoted to +study, the composition of poetry, correspondence with illustrious men +of letters, and the society of learned persons. Her chief friends +belonged to that group of earnest thinkers who felt the influences of +the Reformation without ceasing to be loyal children of the Church. +With Vittoria's name are inseparably connected those of Gasparo +Contarini, Reginald Pole, Giovanni Morone, Jacopo Sadoleto, +Marcantonio Flaminio, Pietro Carnesecchi, and Fra Bernardino Ochino. +The last of these avowed his Lutheran principles, and was severely +criticised by Vittoria Colonna for doing so. Carnesecchi was burned +for heresy. Vittoria never adopted Protestantism, and died an orthodox +Catholic. Yet her intimacy with men of liberal opinions exposed her to +mistrust and censure in old age. The movement of the +Counter-Reformation had begun, and any kind of speculative freedom +aroused suspicion. This saintly princess was accordingly placed under +the supervision of the Holy Office, and to be her friend was slightly +dangerous. It is obvious that Vittoria's religion was of an +evangelical type, inconsistent with the dogmas developed by the +Tridentine Council; and it is probable that, like her friend +Contarini, she advocated a widening rather than a narrowing of Western +Christendom. To bring the Church back to purer morals and sincerity of +faith was their aim. They yearned for a reformation and regeneration +from within. + +In all these matters, Michelangelo, the devout student of the Bible +and the disciple of Savonarola, shared Vittoria's sentiments. His +nature, profoundly and simply religious from the outset, assumed a +tone of deeper piety and habitual devotion during the advance of +years. Vittoria Colonna's influence at this period strengthened his +Christian emotions, which remained untainted by asceticism or +superstition. They were further united by another bond, which was +their common interest in poetry. The Marchioness of Pescara was justly +celebrated during her lifetime as one of the most natural writers of +Italian verse. Her poems consist principally of sonnets consecrated to +the memory of her husband, or composed on sacred and moral subjects. +Penetrated by genuine feeling, and almost wholly free from literary +affectation, they have that dignity and sweetness which belong to the +spontaneous utterances of a noble heart. Whether she treats of love or +of religion, we find the same simplicity and sincerity of style. There +is nothing in her pious meditations that a Christian of any communion +may not read with profit, as the heartfelt outpourings of a soul +athirst for God and nourished on the study of the gospel. + +Michelangelo preserved a large number of her sonnets, which he kept +together in one volume. Writing to his nephew Lionardo in 1554, he +says: "Messer Giovan Francesco (Fattucci) asked me about a month ago +if I possessed any writings of the Marchioness. I have a little book +bound in parchment, which she gave me some ten years ago. It has one +hundred and three sonnets, not counting another forty she afterwards +sent on paper from Viterbo. I had these bound into the same book, and +at that time I used to lend them about to many persons, so that they +are all of them now in print. In addition to these poems I have many +letters which she wrote from Orvieto and Viterbo. These then are the +writings I possess of the Marchioness." He composed several pieces, +madrigals and sonnets, under the genial influence of this exchange of +thoughts. It was a period at which his old love of versifying revived +with singular activity. Other friends, like Tommaso Cavalieri, Luigi +del Riccio, and afterwards Vasari, enticed his Muse to frequent +utterance. Those he wrote for the Marchioness were distributed in +manuscript among his private friends, and found their way into the +first edition of his collected poems. But it is a mistake to suppose +that she was the sole or even the chief source of his poetical +inspiration. + +We shall see that it was his custom to mark his feeling for particular +friends by gifts of drawings as well as of poems. He did this notably +in the case of both Vittoria Colonna and Tommaso dei Cavalieri. For +the latter he designed subjects from Greek mythology; for the former, +episodes in the Passion of our Lord. "At the request of this lady," +says Condivi, "he made a naked Christ, at the moment when, taken from +the cross, our Lord would have fallen like an abandoned corpse at the +feet of his most holy Mother, if two angels did not support him in +their arms. She sits below the cross with a face full of tears and +sorrow, lifting both her widespread arms to heaven, while on the stem +of the tree above is written this legend, 'Non vi si pensa quanto +sangue costa.' The cross is of the same kind as that which was carried +in procession by the White Friars at the time of the plague of 1348, +and afterwards deposited in the Church of S. Croce at Florence. He +also made, for love of her, the design of a Jesus Christ upon the +cross, not with the aspect of one dead, as is the common wont, but in +a divine attitude, with face raised to the Father, seeming to exclaim, +'Eli! Eli!' In this drawing the body does not appear to fall, like an +abandoned corpse, but as though in life to writhe and quiver with the +agony it feels." + +Of these two designs we have several more or less satisfactory +mementoes. The Pietà was engraved by Giulio Bonasoni and Tudius +Bononiensis (date 1546), exactly as Condivi describes it. The +Crucifixion survives in a great number of pencil-drawings, together +with one or two pictures painted by men like Venusti, and many early +engravings of the drawings. One sketch in the Taylor Museum at Oxford +is generally supposed to represent the original designed for Vittoria. + + +II + +What remains of the correspondence between Michelangelo and the +Marchioness opens with a letter referring to their interchange of +sonnets and drawings. It is dated Rome, 1545. Vittoria had evidently +sent him poems, and he wishes to make her a return in kind: "I +desired, lady, before I accepted the things which your ladyship has +often expressed the will to give me--I desired to produce something +for you with my own hand, in order to be as little as possible +unworthy of this kindness. I have now come to recognise that the grace +of God is not to be bought, and that to keep it waiting is a grievous +sin. Therefore I acknowledge my error, and willingly accept your +favours. When I possess them, not indeed because I shall have them in +my house, but for that I myself shall dwell in them, the place will +seem to encircle me with Paradise. For which felicity I shall remain +ever more obliged to your ladyship than I am already, if that is +possible. + +"The bearer of this letter will be Urbino, who lives in my service. +Your ladyship may inform him when you would like me to come and see +the head you promised to show me." + +This letter is written under the autograph copy of a sonnet which must +have been sent with it, since it expresses the same thought in its +opening quatrain. My translation of the poem runs thus: + + _Seeking at least to be not all unfit + For thy sublime and-boundless courtesy, + My lowly thoughts at first were fain to try + What they could yield for grace so infinite. + But now I know my unassisted wit + Is all too weak to make me soar so high, + For pardon, lady, for this fault I cry, + And wiser still I grow, remembering it. + Yea, well I see what folly 'twere to think + That largess dropped from thee like dews from heaven + Could e'er be paid by work so frail as mine! + To nothingness my art and talent sink; + He fails who from his mortal stores hath given + A thousandfold to match one gift divine_. + +Michelangelo's next letter refers to the design for the Crucified +Christ, described by Condivi. It is pleasant to find that this was +sent by the hand of Cavalieri: "Lady Marchioness,--Being myself in +Rome, I thought it hardly fitting to give the Crucified Christ to +Messer Tommaso, and to make him an intermediary between your ladyship +and me, your servant; especially because it has been my earnest wish +to perform more for you than for any one I ever knew upon the world. +But absorbing occupations, which still engage me, have prevented my +informing your ladyship of this. Moreover, knowing that you know that +love needs no taskmaster, and that he who loves doth not sleep, I +thought the less of using go-betweens. And though I seemed to have +forgotten, I was doing what I did not talk about in order to effect a +thing that was not looked for. My purpose has been spoiled: _He sins +who faith like this so soon forgets._" + +A sonnet which may or may not have been written at this time, but +seems certainly intended for the Marchioness, shall here be given as a +pendant to the letter:-- + + _Blest spirit, who with loving tenderness + Quickenest my heart, so old and near to die, + Who 'mid thy joys on me dost bend an eye, + Though many nobler men around thee press! + As thou wert erewhile wont my sight to bless, + So to console, my mind thou now dost fly; + Hope therefore stills the pangs of memory, + Which, coupled with desire, my soul distress. + So finding in thee grace to plead for me-- + Thy thoughts for me sunk in so sad a case-- + He who now writes returns thee thanks for these. + Lo! it were foul and monstrous usury + To send thee ugliest paintings in the place + Of thy fair spirit's living phantasies. + +Unfortunately we possess no other document in prose addressed +immediately to Vittoria. But four of her letters to him exist, and +from these I will select some specimens reflecting light upon the +nature of the famous intimacy. The Marchioness writes always in the +tone and style of a great princess, adding that peculiar note of +religious affectionateness which the French call "_onction_," and +marking her strong admiration of the illustrious artist. The letters +are not dated; but this matters little, since they only turn on +literary courtesies exchanged, drawings presented, and pious interests +in common. + +"Unique Master Michelangelo, and my most singular friend,--I have +received your letter, and examined the crucifix, which truly hath +crucified in my memory every other picture I ever saw. Nowhere could +one find another figure of our Lord so well executed, so living, and +so exquisitely finished. Certes, I cannot express in words how subtly +and marvellously it is designed. Wherefore I am resolved to take the +work as coming from no other hand but yours, and accordingly I beg you +to assure me whether this is really yours or another's. Excuse the +question. If it is yours, I must possess it under any conditions. In +case it is not yours, and you want to have it carried out by your +assistant, we will talk the matter over first. I know how extremely +difficult it would be to copy it, and therefore I would rather let him +finish something else than this. But if it be in fact yours, rest +assured, and make the best of it, that it will never come again into +your keeping. I have examined it minutely in full light and by the +lens and mirror, and never saw anything more perfect.--Yours to +command, + + "The Marchioness of Pescara." + +Like many grand ladies of the highest rank, even though they are +poetesses, Vittoria Colonna did not always write grammatically or +coherently. I am not therefore sure that I have seized the exact +meaning of this diplomatical and flattering letter. It would appear, +however, that Michelangelo had sent her the drawing for a crucifix, +intimating that, if she liked it, he would intrust its execution to +one of his workmen, perhaps Urbino. This, as we know, was a common +practice adopted by him in old age, in order to avoid commissions +which interfered with his main life-work at S. Peter's. The noble +lady, fully aware that the sketch is an original, affects some doubt +upon the subject, declines the intervention of a common craftsman, and +declares her firm resolve to keep it, leaving an impression that she +would gladly possess the crucifix if executed by the same hand which +had supplied the masterly design. + +Another letter refers to the drawing of a Christ upon the cross +between two angels. + +"Your works forcibly stimulate the judgment of all who look at them. +My study of them made me speak of adding goodness to things perfect in +themselves, and I have seen now that 'all is possible to him who +believes.' I had the greatest faith in God that He would bestow upon +you supernatural grace for the making of this Christ. When I came to +examine it, I found it so marvellous that it surpasses all my +expectations. Wherefore, emboldened by your miracles, I conceived a +great desire for that which I now see marvellously accomplished: I +mean that the design is in all parts perfect and consummate, and one +could not desire more, nor could desire attain to demanding so much. I +tell you that I am mighty pleased that the angel on the right hand is +by far the fairer, since Michael will place you, Michelangelo, upon +the right hand of our Lord at that last day. Meanwhile, I do not know +how else to serve you than by making orisons to this sweet Christ, +whom you have drawn so well and exquisitely, and praying you to hold +me yours to command as yours in all and for all." + +The admiration and the good-will of the great lady transpire in these +somewhat incoherent and studied paragraphs. Their verbiage leaves much +to be desired in the way of logic and simplicity. It is pleasanter +perhaps to read a familiar note, sent probably by the hand of a +servant to Buonarroti's house in Rome. + +"I beg you to let me have the crucifix a short while in my keeping, +even though it be unfinished. I want to show it to some gentlemen who +have come from the Most Reverend the Cardinal of Mantua. If you are +not working, will you not come to-day at your leisure and talk with +me?--Yours to command, + + "The Marchioness of Pescara." + +It seems that Michelangelo's exchange of letters and poems became at +last too urgent. We know it was his way (as in the case of Luigi del +Riccio) to carry on an almost daily correspondence for some while, and +then to drop it altogether when his mood changed. Vittoria, writing +from Viterbo, gives him a gentle and humorous hint that he is taking +up too much of her time: + +"Magnificent Messer Michelangelo,--I did not reply earlier to your +letter, because it was, as one might say, an answer to my last: for I +thought that if you and I were to go on writing without intermission +according to my obligation and your courtesy, I should have to neglect +the Chapel of S. Catherine here, and be absent at the appointed hours +for company with my sisterhood, while you would have to leave the +Chapel of S. Paul, and be absent from morning through the day from +your sweet usual colloquy with painted forms, the which with their +natural accents do not speak to you less clearly than the living +persons round me speak to me. Thus we should both of us fail in our +duty, I to the brides, you to the vicar of Christ. For these reasons, +inasmuch as I am well assured of our steadfast friendship and firm +affection, bound by knots of Christian kindness, I do not think it +necessary to obtain the proof of your good-will in letters by writing +on my side, but rather to await with well-prepared mind some +substantial occasion for serving you. Meanwhile I address my prayers +to that Lord of whom you spoke to me with so fervent and humble a +heart when I left Rome, that when I return thither I may find you with +His image renewed and enlivened by true faith in your soul, in like +measure as you have painted it with perfect art in my Samaritan. +Believe me to remain always yours and your Urbino's." + +This letter must have been written when Michelangelo was still working +on the frescoes of the Cappella Paolina, and therefore before 1549. +The check to his importunacy, given with genial tact by the +Marchioness, might be taken, by those who believe their _liaison_ to +have had a touch of passion in it, as an argument in favour of that +view. The great age which Buonarroti had now reached renders this, +however, improbable; while the general tenor of their correspondence +is that of admiration for a great artist on the lady's side, and of +attraction to a noble nature on the man's side, cemented by religious +sentiment and common interests in serious topics. + + +III + +All students of Michelangelo's biography are well acquainted with the +Dialogues on Painting, composed by the Portuguese miniature artist, +Francis of Holland. Written in the quaint style of the sixteenth +century, which curiously blent actual circumstance and fact with the +author's speculation, these essays present a vivid picture of +Buonarroti's conferences with Vittoria Colonna and her friends. The +dialogues are divided into four parts, three of which profess to give +a detailed account of three several Sunday conversations in the +Convent of S. Silvestro on Monte Cavallo. After describing the objects +which brought him to Rome, Francis says: "Above all, Michelangelo +inspired me with such esteem, that when I met him in the palace of the +Pope or on the streets, I could not make my mind up to leave him until +the stars forced us to retire." Indeed, it would seem from his frank +admissions in another place that the Portuguese painter had become a +little too attentive to the famous old man, and that Buonarroti "did +all he could to shun his company, seeing that when they once came +together, they could not separate." It happened one Sunday that +Francis paid a visit to his friend Lattanzio Tolomei, who had gone +abroad, leaving a message that he would be found in the Church of S. +Silvestro, where he was hoping to hear a lecture by Brother Ambrose of +Siena on the Epistles of S. Paul, in company with the Marchioness. +Accordingly he repaired to this place, and was graciously received by +the noble lady. She courteously remarked that he would probably enjoy +a conversation with Michelangelo more than a sermon from Brother +Ambrose, and after an interval of compliments a servant was sent to +find him. It chanced that Buonarroti was walking with the man whom +Francis of Holland calls "his old friend and colour-grinder," Urbino, +in the direction of the Thermae. So the lackey, having the good chance +to meet him, brought him at once to the convent. The Marchioness made +him sit between her and Messer Tolomei, while Francis took up his +position at a little distance. The conversation then began, but +Vittoria Colonna had to use the tact for which she was celebrated +before she could engage the wary old man on a serious treatment of his +own art. + +He opened his discourse by defending painters against the common +charge of being "eccentric in their habits, difficult to deal with, +and unbearable; whereas, on the contrary, they are really most +humane." Common people do not consider, he remarked, that really +zealous artists are bound to abstain from the idle trivialities and +current compliments of society, not because they are haughty or +intolerant by nature, but because their art imperiously claims the +whole of their energies. "When such a man shall have the same leisure +as you enjoy, then I see no objection to your putting him to death if +he does not observe your rules of etiquette and ceremony. You only +seek his company and praise him in order to obtain honour through him +for yourselves, nor do you really mind what sort of man he is, so long +as kings and emperors converse with him. I dare affirm that any artist +who tries to satisfy the better vulgar rather than men of his own +craft, one who has nothing singular, eccentric, or at least reputed to +be so, in his person, will never become a superior talent. For my +part, I am bound to confess that even his Holiness sometimes annoys +and wearies me by begging for too much of my company. I am most +anxious to serve him, but, when there is nothing important going +forward, I think I can do so better by studying at home than by +dancing attendance through a whole day on my legs in his +reception-rooms. He allows me to tell him so; and I may add that the +serious occupations of my life have won for me such liberty of action +that, in talking to the Pope, I often forget where I am, and place my +hat upon my head. He does not eat me up on that account, but treats me +with indulgence, knowing that it is precisely at such times that I am +working hard to serve him. As for solitary habits, the world is right +in condemning a man who, out of pure affectation or eccentricity, +shuts himself up alone, loses his friends, and sets society against +him. Those, however, who act in this way naturally, because their +profession obliges them to lead a recluse life, or because their +character rebels against feigned politenesses and conventional usage, +ought in common justice to be tolerated. What claim by right have you +on him? Why should you force him to take part in those vain pastimes, +which his love for a quiet life induces him to shun? Do you not know +that there are sciences which demand the whole of a man, without +leaving the least portion of his spirit free for your distractions?" +This apology for his own life, couched in a vindication of the +artistic temperament, breathes an accent of sincerity, and paints +Michelangelo as he really was, with his somewhat haughty sense of +personal dignity. What he says about his absence of mind in the +presence of great princes might be illustrated by a remark attributed +to Clement VII. "When Buonarroti comes to see me, I always take a seat +and bid him to be seated, feeling sure that he will do so without +leave or license." + +The conversation passed by natural degrees to a consideration of the +fine arts in general. In the course of this discussion, Michelangelo +uttered several characteristic opinions, strongly maintaining the +superiority of the Italian to the Flemish and German schools, and +asserting his belief that, while all objects are worthy of imitation +by the artist, the real touch stone of excellence lies in his power to +represent the human form. His theory of the arts in their reciprocal +relations and affinities throws interesting light upon the qualities +of his own genius and his method in practice. "The science of design, +or of line-drawing, if you like to use this term, is the source and +very essence of painting, sculpture, architecture, and of every form +of representation, as well too as of all the sciences. He who has made +himself a master in this art possesses a great treasure. Sometimes, +when I meditate upon these topics, it seems to me that I can discover +but one art or science, which is design, and that all the works of the +human brain and hand are either design itself or a branch of that +art." This theme he develops at some length, showing how a complete +mastery of drawing is necessary not only to the plastic arts of +painting and sculpture, but also to the constructive and mechanical +arts of architecture, fortification, gun-foundry, and so forth, +applying the same principle to the minutest industries. + +With regard to the personal endowments of the artist, he maintained +that "a lofty style, grave and decorous, was essential to great work. +Few artists understand this, and endeavour to appropriate these +qualities. Consequently we find many members of the confraternity who +are only artists in name. The world encourages this confusion of +ideas, since few are capable of distinguishing between a fellow who +has nothing but his colour-box and brushes to make him a painter, and +the really gifted natures who appear only at wide intervals." He +illustrates the position that noble qualities in the artist are +indispensable to nobility in the work of art, by a digression on +religious painting and sculpture. "In order to represent in some +degree the adored image of our Lord, it is not enough that a master +should be great and able. I maintain that he must also be a man of +good conduct and morals, if possible a saint, in order that the Holy +Ghost may rain down inspiration on his understanding. Ecclesiastical +and secular princes ought, therefore, to permit only the most +illustrious among the artists of their realm to paint the benign +sweetness of our Saviour, the purity of our Lady, and the virtues of +the saints. It often happens that ill-executed images distract the +minds of worshippers and ruin their devotion, unless it be firm and +fervent. Those, on the contrary, which are executed in the high style +I have described, excite the soul to contemplation and to tears, even +among the least devout, by inspiring reverence and fear through the +majesty of their aspect." This doctrine is indubitably sound. To our +minds, nevertheless, it rings a little hollow on the lips of the great +master who modelled the Christ of the Minerva and painted the Christ +and Madonna of the Last Judgment. Yet we must remember that, at the +exact period when these dialogues took place, Buonarroti, under the +influence of his friendship with Vittoria Colonna, was devoting his +best energies to the devout expression of the Passion of our Lord. It +is deeply to be regretted that, out of the numerous designs which +remain to us from this endeavour, all of them breathing the purest +piety, no monumental work except the Pietà at Florence emerged for +perpetuity. + +Many curious points, both of minute criticism and broad opinion, might +still be gleaned from the dialogues set down by Francis of Holland. It +must suffice here to resume what Michelangelo maintained about the +artist's method. One of the interlocutors begged to be informed +whether he thought that a master ought to aim at working slowly or +quickly. "I will tell you plainly what I feel about this matter. It is +both good and useful to be able to work with promptitude and address. +We must regard it as a special gift from God to be able to do that in +a few hours which other men can only perform in many days of labour. +Consequently, artists who paint rapidly, without falling in quality +below those who paint but slowly, deserve the highest commendation. +Should this rapidity of execution, however, cause a man to transgress +the limits of sound art, it would have been better to have proceeded +with more tardiness and study. A good artist ought never to allow the +impetuosity of his nature to overcome his sense of the main end of +art, perfection. Therefore we cannot call slowness of execution a +defect, nor yet the expenditure of much time and trouble, if this be +employed with the view of attaining greater perfection. The one +unpardonable fault is bad work. And here I would remind you of a thing +essential to our art, which you will certainly not ignore, and to +which I believe you attach the full importance it deserves. In every +kind of plastic work we ought to strive with all our might at making +what has cost time and labour look as though it had been produced with +facility and swiftness. It sometimes happens, but rarely, that a +portion of our work turns out excellent with little pains bestowed +upon it. Most frequently, however, it is the expenditure of care and +trouble which conceals our toil. Plutarch relates that a bad painter +showed Apelles a picture, saying: 'This is from my hand; I have just +made it in a moment.' The other replied: 'I should have recognised the +fact without your telling me; and I marvel that you do not make a +multitude of such things every day.'" Michelangelo is reported to have +made a similar remark to Vasari when the latter took him to inspect +some frescoes he had painted, observing that they had been dashed off +quickly. + +We must be grateful to Francis of Holland for this picture of the +Sunday-morning interviews at S. Silvestro. The place was cool and +tranquil. The great lady received her guests with urbanity, and led +the conversation with highbred courtesy and tact. Fra Ambrogio, having +discoursed upon the spiritual doctrines of S. Paul's Epistles, was at +liberty to turn an attentive ear to purely aesthetical speculations. +The grave and elderly Lattanzio Tolomei added the weight of philosophy +and literary culture to the dialogue. Michelangelo, expanding in the +genial atmosphere, spoke frankly on the arts which he had mastered, +not dictating _ex cathedra_ rules, but maintaining a note of modesty +and common-sense and deference to the opinion of others. Francis +engaged on equal terms in the discussion. His veneration for +Buonarroti, and the eagerness with which he noted all the great man's +utterances, did not prevent him from delivering lectures at a somewhat +superfluous length. In short, we may fairly accept his account of +these famous conferences as a truthful transcript from the refined and +witty social gatherings of which Vittoria Colonna formed the centre. + + +IV + +This friendship with Vittoria Colonna forms a very charming episode in +the history of Michelangelo's career, and it was undoubtedly one of +the consolations of his declining years. Yet too great stress has +hitherto been laid on it by his biographers. Not content with +exaggerating its importance in his life, they have misinterpreted its +nature. The world seems unable to take interest in a man unless it can +contrive to discover a love-affair in his career. The singular thing +about Michelangelo is that, with the exception of Vittoria Colonna, no +woman is known to have influenced his heart or head in any way. In his +correspondence he never mentions women, unless they be aunts, cousins, +grand-nieces, or servants. About his mother he is silent. We have no +tradition regarding amours in youth or middle age; and only two words +dropped by Condivi lead us to conjecture that he was not wholly +insensible to the physical attractions of the female. Romancers and +legend-makers have, therefore, forced Vittoria Colonna to play the +rôle of Juliet in Michelangelo's life-drama. It has not occurred to +these critics that there is something essentially disagreeable in the +thought of an aged couple entertaining an amorous correspondence. I +use these words deliberately, because poems which breathe obvious +passion of no merely spiritual character have been assigned to the +number he composed for Vittoria Colonna. This, as we shall see, is +chiefly the fault of his first editor, who printed all the sonnets and +madrigals as though they were addressed to one woman or another. It is +also in part due to the impossibility of determining their exact date +in the majority of instances. Verses, then, which were designed for +several objects of his affection, male or female, have been +indiscriminately referred to Vittoria Colonna, whereas we can only +attribute a few poems with certainty to her series. + +This mythus of Michelangelo's passion for the Marchioness of Pescara +has blossomed and brought forth fruit abundantly from a single and +pathetic passage in Condivi. "In particular, he greatly loved the +Marchioness of Pescara, of whose divine spirit he was enamoured, being +in return dearly beloved by her. He still preserves many of her +letters, breathing honourable and most tender affection, and such as +were wont to issue from a heart like hers. He also wrote to her a +great number of sonnets, full of wit and sweet longing. She frequently +removed from Viterbo and other places, whither she had gone for solace +or to pass the summer, and came to Rome with the sole object of seeing +Michelangelo. He for his part, loved her so, that I remember to have +heard him say that he regretted nothing except that when he went to +visit her upon the moment of her passage from this life, he did not +kiss her forehead or her face, as he did kiss her hand. Her death was +the cause that oftentimes he dwelt astonied, thinking of it, even as a +man bereft of sense." + +Michelangelo himself, writing immediately after Vittoria's death, +speaks of her thus: "She felt the warmest affection for me, and I not +less for her. Death has robbed me of a great friend." It is curious +that he here uses the masculine gender: "un grande amico." He also +composed two sonnets, which were in all probability inspired by the +keen pain of this bereavement. To omit them here would be unjust to +the memory of their friendship:-- + + _When my rude hammer to the stubborn stone + Gives human shape, now that, now this, at will, + Following his hand who wields and guides it still, + It moves upon another's feet alone:_ + +The third illustrates in a singular manner that custom of +sixteenth-century literature which Shakespeare followed in his +sonnets, of weaving poetical images out of thoughts borrowed from law +and business. It is also remarkable in this respect, that Michelangelo +has here employed precisely the same conceit for Vittoria Colonna +which he found serviceable when at an earlier date he wished to +deplore the death of the Florentine, Cecchino dei Bracci. For both of +them he says that Heaven bestowed upon the beloved object all its +beauties, instead of scattering these broad-cast over the human race, +which, had it done so, would have entailed the bankruptcy and death of +all:-- + + _So that high heaven should have not to distrain + From several that vast beauty ne'er yet shown, + To one exalted dame alone + The total sum was lent in her pure self:-- + Heaven had made sorry gain, + Recovering from the crowd its scattered pelf. + Now in a puff of breath, + Nay, in one second, God + Hath ta'en her back through death, + Back from the senseless folk and from our eyes. + Yet earth's oblivious sod, + Albeit her body dies, + Will bury not her live words fair and holy. + Ah, cruel mercy! Here thou showest solely + How, had heaven lent us ugly what she took, + And death the debt reclaimed, all men were broke_. + +Without disputing the fact that a very sincere emotion underlay these +verses, it must be submitted that, in the words of Samuel Johnson +about "Lycidas," "he who thus grieves will excite no sympathy; he who +thus praises will confer no honour." This conviction will be enforced +when we reflect that the thought upon which the madrigal above +translated has been woven (1547) had been already used for Cecchino +dei Bracci in 1544. It is clear that, in dealing with Michelangelo's +poetical compositions, we have to accept a mass of conventional +utterances, penetrated with a few firmly grasped Platonical ideas. It +is only after long familiarity with his work that a man may venture to +distinguish between the accents of the heart and the head-notes in the +case of so great a master using an art he practised mainly as an +amateur. I shall have to return to these considerations when I discuss +the value of his poetry taken as a whole. + +The union of Michelangelo and Vittoria was beautiful and noble, based +upon the sympathy of ardent and high-feeling natures. Nevertheless we +must remember that when Michelangelo lost his old servant Urbino, his +letters and the sonnet written upon that occasion express an even +deeper passion of grief. + +Love is an all-embracing word, and may well be used to describe this +exalted attachment, as also to qualify the great sculptor's affection +for a faithful servant or for a charming friend. We ought not, +however, to distort the truth of biography or to corrupt criticism, +from a personal wish to make more out of his feeling than fact and +probability warrant. This is what has been done by all who approached +the study of Michelangelo's life and writings. Of late years, the +determination to see Vittoria Colonna through every line written by +him which bears the impress of strong emotion, and to suppress other +aspects of his sensibility, has been so deliberate, that I am forced +to embark upon a discussion which might otherwise have not been +brought so prominently forward. For the understanding of his +character, and for a proper estimate of his poetry, it has become +indispensable to do so. + + +V + +Michelangelo's best friend in Rome was a young nobleman called Tommaso +Cavalieri. Speaking of his numerous allies and acquaintances, Vasari +writes: "Immeasurably more than all the rest, he loved Tommaso dei +Cavalieri, a Roman gentleman, for whom, as he was young and devoted to +the arts, Michelangelo made many stupendous drawings of superb heads +in black and red chalk, wishing him to learn the method of design. +Moreover, he drew for him a Ganymede carried up to heaven by Jove's +eagle, a Tityos with the vulture feeding on his heart, the fall of +Phaeton with the sun's chariot into the river Po, and a Bacchanal of +children; all of them things of the rarest quality, and drawings the +like of which were never seen. Michelangelo made a cartoon portrait of +Messer Tommaso, life-size, which was the only portrait that he ever +drew, since he detested to imitate the living person, unless it was +one of incomparable beauty." Several of Michelangelo's sonnets are +addressed to Tommaso Cavalieri. Benedetto Varchi, in his commentary, +introduces two of them with these words: "The first I shall present is +one addressed to M. Tommaso Cavalieri, a young Roman of very noble +birth, in whom I recognised, while I was sojourning at Rome, not only +incomparable physical beauty, but so much elegance of manners, such +excellent intelligence, and such graceful behaviour, that he well +deserved, and still deserves, to win the more love the better he is +known." Then Varchi recites the sonnet:-- + + Why should I seek to ease intense desire + With still more tears and windy words of grief, + When heaven, or late or soon, sends no relief + To souls whom love hath robed around with fire? + + Why need my aching heart to death aspire, + When all must die? Nay, death beyond belief + Unto these eyes would be both sweet and brief, + Since in my sum of woes all joys expire! + + Therefore, because I cannot shun the blow + I rather seek, say who must rule my breast, + Gliding between her gladness and her woe? + + If only chains and bands can make me blest, + No marvel if alone and bare I go, + An armèd KNIGHT'S captive and slave confessed. + +"The other shall be what follows, written perhaps for the same person, +and worthy, in my opinion, not only of the ripest sage, but also of a +poet not unexercised in writing verse:-- + + With your fair eyes a charming light I see, + For which my own blind eyes would peer in vain; + Stayed by your feet, the burden I sustain + Which my lame feet find all too strong for me; + + Wingless upon your pinions forth I fly; + Heavenward your sprit stirreth me to strain; + E'en as you will, I blush and blanch again, + Freeze in the sun, burn 'neath a frosty sky. + + Your will includes and is the lord of mine; + Life to my thoughts within your heart is given; + My words begin to breathe upon your breath: + Like to the-moon am I, that cannot shine + Alone; for, lo! our eyes see naught in heaven + Save what the living sun illumineth." + +The frank and hearty feeling for a youth of singular distinction which +is expressed in these sonnets, gave no offence to society during the +period of the earlier Renaissance; but after the Tridentine Council +social feeling altered upon this and similar topics. While morals +remained what they had been, language and manners grew more nice and +hypocritical. It happened thus that grievous wrong was done to the +text of Michelangelo's poems, with the best intentions, by their first +editor. Grotesque misconceptions, fostered by the same mistaken zeal, +are still widely prevalent. + +When Michelangelo the younger arranged his grand-uncle's poems for the +press, he was perplexed by the first of the sonnets quoted by Varchi. +The last line, which runs in the Italian thus-- + + Resto prigion d'un Cavalier armato, + +has an obvious play of words upon Cavalieri's surname. This he altered +into + + Resto prigion d'un cor di virtù armato. + +The reason was that, if it stood unaltered, "the ignorance of men +would have occasion to murmur." "Varchi," he adds, "did wrong in +printing it according to the text." "Remember well," he observes, +"that this sonnet, as well as the preceding number and some others, +are concerned, as is manifest, with a masculine love of the Platonic +species." Michelangelo the younger's anxiety for his granduncle's +memory induced him thus to corrupt the text of his poems. The same +anxiety has led their latest editor to explain away the obvious sense +of certain words. Signor Guasti approves of the first editor's pious +fraud, on the ground that morality has higher claims than art; but he +adds that the expedient was not necessary: "for these sonnets do not +refer to masculine love, nor yet do any others. In the first (xxxi.) +the lady is compared to an armed knight, because she carries the +weapons of her sex and beauty; and while I think on it, an example +occurs to my mind from Messer Cino in support of the argument. As +regards the second (lxii.), those who read these pages of mine will +possibly remember that Michelangelo, writing of the dead Vittoria +Colonna, called her _amico;_ and on reflection, this sounds better +than _amica,_ in the place where it occurs. Moreover, there are not +wanting in these poems instances of the term signore, or lord, applied +to the beloved lady; which is one of the many periphrastical +expressions used by the Romance poets to indicate their mistress." It +is true that Cino compares his lady in one sonnet to a knight who has +carried off the prize of beauty in the lists of love and grace by her +elegant dancing. But he never calls a lady by the name of _cavaliere._ +It is also indubitable that the Tuscans occasionally addressed the +female or male object of their adoration under the title of _signore,_ +lord of my heart and soul. But such instances weigh nothing against +the direct testimony of a contemporary like Varchi, into whose hands +Michelangelo's poems came at the time of their composition, and who +was well acquainted with the circumstances of their composition. There +is, moreover, a fact of singular importance bearing on this question, +to which Signor Guasti has not attached the value it deserves. In a +letter belonging to the year 1549, Michelangelo thanks Luca Martini +for a copy of Varchi's commentary on his sonnet, and begs him to +express his affectionate regards and hearty thanks to that eminent +scholar for the honour paid him. In a second letter addressed to G.F. +Fattucci, under date October 1549, he conveys "the thanks of Messer +Tomao de' Cavalieri to Varchi for a certain little book of his which +has been printed, and in which he speaks very honourably of himself, +and not less so of me." In neither of these letters does Michelangelo +take exception to Varchi's interpretation of Sonnet xxxi. Indeed, the +second proves that both he and Cavalieri were much pleased with it. +Michelangelo even proceeds to inform Fattucci that Cavalieri "has +given me a sonnet which I made for him in those same years, begging me +to send it on as a proof and witness that he really is the man +intended. This I will enclose in my present letter." Furthermore, we +possess an insolent letter of Pietro Aretino, which makes us imagine +that the "ignorance of the vulgar" had already begun to "murmur." +After complaining bitterly that Michelangelo refused to send him any +of his drawings, he goes on to remark that it would be better for the +artist if he did so, "inasmuch as such an act of courtesy would quiet +the insidious rumours which assert that only Gerards and Thomases can +dispose of them." We have seen from Vasari that Michelangelo executed +some famous designs for Tommaso Cavalieri. The same authority asserts +that he presented "Gherardo Perini, a Florentine gentleman, and his +very dear friend," with three splendid drawings in black chalk. +Tommaso Cavalieri and Gherardo Perini, were, therefore, the "Gerards +and Thomases" alluded to by Aretino. + +Michelangelo the younger's and Cesare Guasti's method of defending +Buonarroti from a malevolence which was only too well justified by the +vicious manners of the time, seems to me so really injurious to his +character, that I feel bound to carry this investigation further. +First of all, we ought to bear in mind what Buonarroti admitted +concerning his own temperament. "You must know that I am, of all men +who were ever born, the most inclined to love persons. Whenever I +behold some one who possesses any talent or displays any dexterity of +mind, who can do or say something more appropriately than the rest of +the world, I am compelled to fall in love with him; and then I give +myself up to him so entirely that I am no longer my own property, but +wholly his." He mentions this as a reason for not going to dine with +Luigi del Riccio in company with Donate Giannotti and Antonio Petrejo. +"If I were to do so, as all of you are adorned with talents and +agreeable graces, each of you would take from me a portion of myself, +and so would the dancer, and so would the lute-player, if men with +distinguished gifts in those arts were present. Each person would +filch away a part of me, and instead of being refreshed and restored +to health and gladness, as you said, I should be utterly bewildered +and distraught, in such wise that for many days to come I should not +know in what world I was moving." This passage serves to explain the +extreme sensitiveness of the great artist to personal charm, grace, +accomplishments, and throws light upon the self-abandonment with which +he sometimes yielded to the attractions of delightful people. + +We possess a series of Michelangelo's letters addressed to or +concerned with Tommaso Cavalieri, the tone of which is certainly +extravagant. His biographer, Aurelio Gotti, moved by the same anxiety +as Michelangelo the younger and Guasti, adopted the extraordinary +theory that they were really directed to Vittoria Colonna, and were +meant to be shown to her by the common friend of both, Cavalieri. +"There is an epistle to this young man," he says, "so studied in its +phrases, so devoid of all naturalness, that we cannot extract any +rational sense from it without supposing that Cavalieri was himself a +friend of the Marchioness, and that Michelangelo, while writing to +him, intended rather to address his words to the Colonna." Of this +letter, which bears the date of January 1, 1533, three drafts exist, +proving the great pains taken by Michelangelo in its composition. + +"Without due consideration, Messer Tomao, my very dear lord, I was +moved to write to your lordship, not by way of answer to any letter +received from you, but being myself the first to make advances, as +though I felt bound to cross a little stream with dry feet, or a ford +made manifest by paucity of water. But now that I have left the shore, +instead of the trifling river I expected, the ocean with its towering +waves appears before me, so that, if it were possible, in order to +avoid drowning, I would gladly retrace my steps to the dry land whence +I started. Still, as I am here, I will e'en make of my heart a rock, +and proceed farther; and if I shall not display the art of sailing on +the sea of your powerful genius, that genius itself will excuse me, +nor will be disdainful of my inferiority in parts, nor desire from me +that which I do not possess, inasmuch as he who is unique in all +things can have peers in none. Therefore your lordship, the light of +our century without paragon upon this world, is unable to be satisfied +with the productions of other men, having no match or equal to +yourself. And if, peradventure, something of mine, such as I hope and +promise to perform, give pleasure to your mind, I shall esteem it more +fortunate than excellent; and should I be ever sure of pleasing your +lordship, as is said, in any particular, I will devote the present +time and all my future to your service; indeed, it will grieve me much +that I cannot regain the past, in order to devote a longer space to +you than the future only will allow, seeing I am now too old. I have +no more to say. Read the heart, and not the letter, because 'the pen +toils after man's good-will in vain.' + +"I have to make excuses for expressing in my first letter a marvellous +astonishment at your rare genius; and thus I do so, having recognised +the error I was in; for it is much the same to wonder at God's working +miracles as to wonder at Rome producing divine men. Of this the +universe confirms us in our faith." + +It is clear that Michelangelo alludes in this letter to the designs +which he is known to have made for Cavalieri, and the last paragraph +has no point except as an elaborate compliment addressed to a Roman +gentleman. It would be quite out of place if applied to Vittoria +Colonna. Gotti finds the language strained and unnatural. We cannot +deny that it differs greatly from the simple diction of the writer's +ordinary correspondence. But Michelangelo did sometimes seek to +heighten his style, when he felt that the occasion demanded a special +effort; and then he had recourse to the laboured images in vogue at +that period, employing them with something of the ceremonious +cumbrousness displayed in his poetry. The letters to Pietro Aretino, +Niccolo Martelli, Vittoria Colonna, Francis I., Luca Martini, and +Giorgio Vasari might be quoted as examples. + +As a postscript to this letter, in the two drafts which were finally +rejected, the following enigmatical sentence is added:--"It would be +permissible to give the name of the things a man presents, to him who +receives them; but proper sense of what is fitting prevents it being +done in this letter." + +Probably Michelangelo meant that he should have liked to call +Cavalieri his friend, since he had already given him friendship. The +next letter, July 28, 1533, begins thus:--"My dear Lord,--Had I not +believed that I had made you certain of the very great, nay, +measureless love I bear you, it would not have seemed strange to me +nor have roused astonishment to observe the great uneasiness you show +in your last letter, lest, through my not having written, I should +have forgotten you. Still it is nothing new or marvellous when so many +other things go counter, that this also should be topsy-turvy. For +what your lordship says to me, I could say to yourself: nevertheless, +you do this perhaps to try me, or to light a new and stronger flame, +if that indeed were possible: but be it as it wills: I know well that, +at this hour, I could as easily forget your name as the food by which +I live; nay, it were easier to forget the food, which only nourishes +my body miserably, than your name, which nourishes both body and soul, +filling the one and the other with such sweetness that neither +weariness nor fear of death is felt by me while memory preserves you +to my mind. Think, if the eyes could also enjoy their portion, in what +condition I should find myself." + +This second letter has also been extremely laboured; for we have three +other turns given in its drafts to the image of food and memory. That +these two documents were really addressed to Cavalieri, without any +thought of Vittoria Colonna, is proved by three letters sent to +Michelangelo by the young man in question. One is dated August 2, +1533, another September 2, and the third bears no date. The two which +I have mentioned first belong to the summer of 1533; the third seems +to be the earliest. It was clearly written on some occasion when both +men were in Rome together, and at the very beginning of their +friendship. I will translate them in their order. The first undated +letter was sent to Michelangelo in Rome, in answer to some writing of +the illustrious sculptor which we do not possess:-- + +"I have received from you a letter, which is the more acceptable +because it was so wholly unexpected. I say unexpected, because I hold +myself unworthy of such condescension in a man of your eminence. With +regard to what Pierantonio spoke to you in my praise, and those things +of mine which you have seen, and which you say have aroused in you no +small affection for me, I answer that they were insufficient to impel +a man of such transcendent genius, without a second, not to speak of a +peer, upon this earth, to address a youth who was born but yesterday, +and therefore is as ignorant as it is possible to be. At the same time +I cannot call you a liar. I rather think then, nay, am certain, that +the love you bear me is due to this, that you being a man most +excellent in art, nay, art itself, are forced to love those who follow +it and love it, among whom am I; and in this, according to my +capacity, I yield to few. I promise you truly that you shall receive +from me for your kindness affection equal, and perhaps greater, in +exchange; for I never loved a man more than I do you, nor desired a +friendship more than I do yours. About this, though my judgment may +fail in other things, it is unerring; and you shall see the proof, +except only that fortune is adverse to me in that now, when I might +enjoy you, I am far from well. I hope, however, if she does not begin +to trouble me again, that within a few days I shall be cured, and +shall come to pay you my respects in person. Meanwhile I shall spend +at least two hours a day in studying two of your drawings, which +Pierantonio brought me: the more I look at them, the more they delight +me; and I shall soothe my complaint by cherishing the hope which +Pierantonio gave me, of letting me see other things of yours. In order +not to be troublesome, I will write no more. Only I beg you remember, +on occasion, to make use of me; and recommend myself in perpetuity to +you.--Your most affectionate servant. + + "Thomao Cavaliere." + +The next letters were addressed to Michelangelo in Florence:--"Unique, +my Lord,--I have received from you a letter, very acceptable, from +which I gather that you are not a little saddened at my having written +to you about forgetting. I answer that I did not write this for either +of the following reasons: to wit, because you have not sent me +anything, or in order to fan the flame of your affection. I only wrote +to jest with you, as certainly I think I may do. Therefore, do not be +saddened, for I am quite sure you will not be able to forget me. +Regarding what you write to me about that young Nerli, he is much my +friend, and having to leave Rome, he came to ask whether I needed +anything from Florence. I said no, and he begged me to allow him to go +in my name to pay you my respects, merely on account of his own desire +to speak with you. I have nothing more to write, except that I beg you +to return quickly. When you come you will deliver me from prison, +because I wish to avoid bad companions; and having this desire, I +cannot converse with any one but you. I recommend myself to you a +thousand times.--Yours more than his own, + + "Thomao Cavaliere. + "Rome, _August 2, 1533_." + + +It appears from the third letter, also sent to Florence, that during +the course of the month Michelangelo had despatched some of the +drawings he made expressly for his friend:--"Unique, my Lord,--Some +days ago I received a letter from you, which was very welcome, both +because I learned from it that you were well, and also because I can +now be sure that you will soon return. I was very sorry not to be able +to answer at once. However, it consoles me to think that, when you +know the cause, you will hold me excused. On the day your letter +reached me, I was attacked with vomiting and such high fever that I +was on the point of death; and certainly I should have died, if it +(i.e., the letter) had not somewhat revived me. Since then, thank God, +I have been always well. Messer Bartolommeo (Angelini) has now brought +me a sonnet sent by you, which has made me feel it my duty to write. +Some three days since I received my Phaëthon, which is exceedingly +well done. The Pope, the Cardinal de' Medici, and every one, have seen +it; I do not know what made them want to do so. The Cardinal expressed +a wish to inspect all your drawings, and they pleased him so much that +he said he should like to have the Tityos and Ganymede done in +crystal. I could not manage to prevent him from using the Tityos, and +it is now being executed by Maestro Giovanni. Hard I struggled to save +the Ganymede. The other day I went, as you requested, to Fra +Sebastiano. He sends a thousand messages, but only to pray you to come +back.--Your affectionate, + + "Thomao Cavaliere. + "Rome, _September 6_." + +All the drawings mentioned by Vasari as having been made for Cavalieri +are alluded to here, except the Bacchanal of Children. Of the Phaëthon +we have two splendid examples in existence, one at Windsor, the other +in the collection of M. Emile Galichon. They differ considerably in +details, but have the same almost mathematical exactitude of pyramidal +composition. That belonging to M. Galichon must have been made in +Rome, for it has this rough scrawl in Michelangelo's hand at the +bottom, "Tomao, se questo scizzo non vi piace, ditelo a Urbino." He +then promises to make another. Perhaps Cavalieri sent word back that +he did not like something in the sketch--possibly the women writhing +into trees--and that to this circumstance we owe the Windsor drawing, +which is purer in style. There is a fine Tityos with the vulture at +Windsor, so exquisitely finished and perfectly preserved that one can +scarcely believe it passed through the hands of Maestro Giovanni. +Windsor, too, possesses a very delicate Ganymede, which seems intended +for an intaglio. The subject is repeated in an unfinished pen-design +at the Uffizi, incorrectly attributed to Michelangelo, and is +represented by several old engravings. The Infant Bacchanals again +exist at Windsor, and fragmentary jottings upon the margin of other +sketches intended for the same theme survive. + + +VI + +A correspondence between Bartolommeo Angelini in Rome and Michelangelo +in Florence during the summers of 1532 and 1533 throws some light upon +the latter's movements, and also upon his friendship for Tommaso +Cavalieri. The first letter of this series, written on the 21st of +August 1532, shows that Michelangelo was then expected in Rome. "Fra +Sebastiano says that you wish to dismount at your own house. Knowing +then that there is nothing but the walls, I hunted up a small amount +of furniture, which I have had sent thither, in order that you may be +able to sleep and sit down and enjoy some other conveniences. For +eating, you will be able to provide yourself to your own liking in the +neighbourhood." From the next letter (September 18, 1532) it appears +that Michelangelo was then in Rome. There ensues a gap in the +correspondence, which is not resumed until July 12, 1533. It now +appears that Buonarroti had recently left Rome at the close of another +of his visits. Angelini immediately begins to speak of Tommaso +Cavalieri. "I gave that soul you wrote of to M. Tommao, who sends you +his very best regards, and begs me to communicate any letters I may +receive from you to him. Your house is watched continually every +night, and I often go to visit it by day. The hens and master cock are +in fine feather, and the cats complain greatly over your absence, +albeit they have plenty to eat." Angelini never writes now without +mentioning Cavalieri. Since this name does not occur in the +correspondence before the date of July 12, 1533, it is possible that +Michelangelo made the acquaintance during his residence at Rome in the +preceding winter. His letters to Angelini must have conveyed frequent +expressions of anxiety concerning Cavalieri's affection; for the +replies invariably contain some reassuring words (July 26): "Yours +makes me understand how great is the love you bear him; and in truth, +so far as I have seen, he does not love you less than you love him." +Again (August 11, 1533): "I gave your letter to M. Thomao, who sends +you his kindest remembrances, and shows the very strongest desire for +your return, saying that when he is with you, then he is really happy, +because he possesses all that he wishes for upon this world. So then, +it seems to me that, while you are fretting to return, he is burning +with desire for you to do so. Why do you not begin in earnest to make +plans for leaving Florence? It would give peace to yourself and all of +us, if you were here. I have seen your soul, which is in good health +and under good guardianship. The body waits for your arrival." + +This mysterious reference to the soul, which Angelini gave, at +Buonarroti's request, to young Cavalieri, and which he now describes +as prospering, throws some light upon the passionate phrases of the +following mutilated letter, addressed to Angelini by Michelangelo upon +the 11th of October. The writer, alluding to Messer Tommao, says that, +having given him his heart, he can hardly go on living in his absence: +"And so, if I yearn day and night without intermission to be in Rome, +it is only in order to return again to life, which I cannot enjoy +without the soul." This conceit is carried on for some time, and the +letter winds up with the following sentence: "My dear Bartolommeo, +although you may think that I am joking with you, this is not the +case. I am talking sober sense, for I have grown twenty years older +and twenty pounds lighter since I have been here." This epistle, as we +shall see in due course, was acknowledged. All Michelangelo's +intimates in Rome became acquainted with the details of this +friendship. Writing to Sebastiano from Florence in this year, he says: +"I beg you, if you see Messer T. Cavalieri, to recommend me to him +infinitely; and when you write, tell me something about him to keep +him in my memory; for if I were to lose him from my mind, I believe +that I should fall down dead straightway." In Sebastiano's letters +there is one allusion to Cavalieri, who had come to visit him in the +company of Bartolommeo Angelini, when he was ill. + +It is not necessary to follow all the references to Tommaso Cavalieri +contained in Angelini's letters. They amount to little more than kind +messages and warm wishes for Michelangelo's return. Soon, however, +Michelangelo began to send poems, which Angelini acknowledges +(September 6): "I have received the very welcome letter you wrote me, +together with your graceful and beautiful sonnet, of which I kept a +copy, and then sent it on to M. Thomao. He was delighted to possess +it, being thereby assured that God has deigned to bestow upon him the +friendship of a man endowed with so many noble gifts as you are." +Again he writes (October 18): "Yours of the 12th is to hand, together +with M. Thomao's letter and the most beautiful sonnets. I have kept +copies, and sent them on to him for whom they were intended, because I +know with what affection he regards all things that pertain to you. He +promised to send an answer which shall be enclosed in this I now am +writing. He is counting not the days merely, but the hours, till you +return." In another letter, without date, Angelini says, "I gave your +messages to M. Thomao, who replied that your presence would be dearer +to him than your writing, and that if it seems to you a thousand +years, to him it seems ten thousand, till you come. I received your +gallant (galante) and beautiful sonnet; and though you said nothing +about it, I saw at once for whom it was intended, and gave it to him. +Like everything of yours, it delighted him. The tenor of the sonnet +shows that love keeps you perpetually restless. I do not think this +ought to be the effect of love, and so I send you one of my poor +performances to prove the contrary opinion." We may perhaps assume +that this sonnet was the famous No. xxxi., from the last line of which +every one could perceive that Michelangelo meant it for Tommaso +Cavalieri. + + +VII + +It is significant that, while Michelangelo's affection for the young +Roman was thus acquiring force, another friendship, which must have +once been very dear to him, sprang up and then declined, but not +apparently through his own fault or coldness. We hear of Febo di +Poggio in the following autumn for the first and last time. Before +proceeding to speak of him, I will wind up what has to be said about +Tommaso Cavalieri. Not long after the date of the last letter quoted +above, Michelangelo returned to Rome, and settled there for the rest +of his life. He continued to the end of his days in close friendship +with Cavalieri, who helped to nurse him during his last illness, who +took charge of his effects after his death, and who carried on the +architectural work he had begun at the Capitol. + +Their friendship seems to have been uninterrupted by any disagreement, +except on one occasion when Michelangelo gave way to his suspicious +irritability, quite at the close of his long life. This drew forth +from Cavalieri the following manly and touching letter:-- + +"Very magnificent, my Lord,--I have noticed during several days past +that you have some grievance--what, I do not know--against me. +Yesterday I became certain of it when I went to your house. As I +cannot imagine the cause, I have thought it best to write this, in +order that, if you like, you may inform me. I am more than positive +that I never offended you. But you lend easy credence to those whom +perhaps you ought least to trust; and some one has possibly told you +some lie, for fear I should one day reveal the many knaveries done +under your name, the which do you little honour; and if you desire to +know about them, you shall. Only I cannot, nor, if I could, should I +wish to force myself--but I tell you frankly that if you do not want +me for a friend, you can do as you like, but you cannot compel me not +to be a friend to you. I shall always try to do you service; and only +yesterday I came to show you a letter written by the Duke of Florence, +and to lighten your burdens, as I have ever done until now. Be sure +you have no better friend than me; but on this I will not dwell. +Still, if you think otherwise, I hope that in a short time you will +explain matters; and I know that you know I have always been your +friend without the least interest of my own. Now I will say no more, +lest I should seem to be excusing myself for something which does not +exist, and which I am utterly unable to imagine. I pray and conjure +you, by the love you bear to God, that you tell me what you have +against me, in order that I may disabuse you. Not having more to +write, I remain your servant, + + "Thomao De' Cavalieri. + "From my house, November 15, 1561." + +It is clear from this letter, and from the relations which subsisted +between Michelangelo and Cavalieri up to the day of his death, that +the latter was a gentleman of good repute and honour, whose affection +did credit to his friend. I am unable to see that anything but an +injury to both is done by explaining away the obvious meaning of the +letters and the sonnets I have quoted. The supposition that +Michelangelo intended the Cavalieri letters to reach Vittoria Colonna +through that friend's hands does not, indeed, deserve the complete +refutation which I have given it. I am glad, however, to be able to +adduce the opinion of a caustic Florentine scholar upon this topic, +which agrees with my own, and which was formed without access to the +original documents which I have been enabled to make use of. Fanfani +says: "I have searched, but in vain, for documentary proofs of the +passion which Michelangelo is supposed to have felt for Vittoria +Colonna, and which she returned with ardour according to the assertion +of some critics. My own belief, concurring with that of better judges +than myself, is that we have here to deal with one of the many +baseless stories told about him. Omitting the difficulties presented +by his advanced age, it is wholly contrary to all we know about the +Marchioness, and not a little damaging to her reputation for +austerity, to suppose that this admirable matron, who, after the death +of her husband, gave herself up to God, and abjured the commerce of +the world, should, later in life, have carried on an intrigue, as the +saying is, upon the sly, particularly when a third person is imposed +on our credulity, acting the part of go-between and cloak in the +transaction, as certain biographers of the great artist, and certain +commentators of his poetry, are pleased to assert, with how much +common-sense and what seriousness I will not ask." + + +VIII + +The history of Luigi del Riccio's affection for a lad of Florence +called Cecchino dei Bracci, since this is interwoven with +Michelangelo's own biography and the criticism of his poems, may be +adduced in support of the argument I am developing. Cecchino was a +youth of singular promise and personal charm. His relative, the +Florentine merchant, Luigi del Riccio, one of Buonarroti's most +intimate friends and advisers, became devotedly attached to the boy. +Michelangelo, after his return to Rome in 1534, shared this friend +Luigi's admiration for Cecchino; and the close intimacy into which the +two elder men were drawn, at a somewhat later period of Buonarroti's +life, seems to have been cemented by their common interest in poetry +and their common feeling for a charming personality. We have a letter +of uncertain date, in which Michelangelo tells Del Riccio that he has +sent him a madrigal, begging him, if he thinks fit, to commit the +verses "to the fire--that is, to what consumes me." Then he asks him +to resolve a certain problem which has occurred to his mind during the +night, "for while I was saluting _our idol_ in a dream, it seemed to +me that he laughed, and in the same instant threatened me; and not +knowing which of these two moods I have to abide by, I beg you to find +out from him; and on Sunday, when we meet again, you will inform me." +Cecchino, who is probably alluded to in this letter, died at Rome on +the 8th of January 1542, and was buried in the Church of Araceli. +Luigi felt the blow acutely. Upon the 12th of January he wrote to his +friend Donate Giannotti, then at Vicenza, in the following words:-- + +"Alas, my friend Donato! Our Cecchino is dead. All Rome weeps. +Michelangelo is making for me the design of a decent sepulture in +marble; and I pray you to write me the epitaph, and to send it to me +with a consolatory letter, if time permits, for my grief has +distraught me. Patience! I live with a thousand and a thousand deaths +each hour. O God! How has Fortune changed her aspect!" Giannotti +replied, enclosing three fine sonnets, the second of which, +beginning-- + + _Messer Luigi mio, di noi che fia + Che sian restati senza il nostro sole?_ + +seems to have taken Michelangelo's fancy. Many good pens in Italy +poured forth laments on this occasion. We have verses written by +Giovanni Aldobrandini, Carlo Gondi, Fra Paolo del Rosso, and Anton +Francesco Grazzini, called Il Lasca. Not the least touching is Luigi's +own threnody, which starts upon this note:-- + + _Idol mio, che la tua leggiadra spoglia + Mi lasciasti anzi tempo._ + +Michelangelo, seeking to indulge his own grief and to soothe that of +his friend Luigi, composed no fewer than forty-two epigrams of four +lines each, in which he celebrated the beauty and rare personal +sweetness of Cecchino in laboured philosophical conceits. They rank +but low among his poems, having too much of scholastic trifling and +too little of the accent of strong feeling in them. Certainly these +pieces did not deserve the pains which Michelangelo the younger +bestowed, when he altered the text of a selection from them so as to +adapt their Platonic compliments to some female. Far superior is a +sonnet written to Del Riccio upon the death of the youth, showing how +recent had been Michelangelo's acquaintance with Cecchino, and +containing an unfulfilled promise to carve his portrait:-- + + _Scarce had I seen for the first time his eyes, + Which to your living eyes were life and light, + When, closed at last in death's injurious night, + He opened them on God in Paradise. + I know it, and I weep--too late made wise: + Yet was the fault not mine; for death's fell spite + Robbed my desire of that supreme delight + Which in your better memory never dies. + Therefore, Luigi, if the task be mine + To make unique Cecchino smile in stone + For ever, now that earth hath made him dim, + If the beloved within the lover shine, + Since art without him cannot work alone, + You must I carve to tell the world of him._ + +The strange blending of artificial conceits with spontaneous feeling +in these poetical effusions, the deep interest taken in a mere lad +like Cecchino by so many eminent personages, and the frank publicity +given to a friendship based apparently upon the beauty of its object, +strike us now as almost unintelligible. Yet we have the history of +Shakespeare's Sonnets, and the letters addressed by Languet to young +Sidney, in evidence that fashion at the end of the sixteenth century +differed widely from that which prevails at the close of the +nineteenth. + + +IX + +Some further light may here be thrown upon Michelangelo's intimacy +with young men by two fragments extracted independently from the +Buonarroti Archives by Milanesi and Guasti. In the collection of the +letters we find the following sorrowful epistle, written in December +1533, upon the eve of Michelangelo's departure from Florence. It is +addressed to a certain Febo:-- + +"Febo,--Albeit you bear the greatest hatred toward my person--I know +not why--I scarcely believe, because of the love I cherish for you, +but probably through the words of others, to which you ought to give +no credence, having proved me--yet I cannot do otherwise than write to +you this letter. I am leaving Florence to-morrow, and am going to +Pescia to meet the Cardinal di Cesis and Messer Baldassare. I shall +journey with them to Pisa, and thence to Rome, and I shall never +return again to Florence. I wish you to understand that, so long as I +live, wherever I may be, I shall always remain at your service with +loyalty and love, in a measure unequalled by any other friend whom you +may have upon this world. + +"I pray God to open your eyes from some other quarter, in order that +you may come to comprehend that he who desires your good more than his +own welfare, is able to love, not to hate like an enemy." + +Milanesi prints no more of the manuscript in his edition of the +Letters. But Guasti, conscientiously collecting fragments of +Michelangelo's verses, gives six lines, which he found at the foot of +the epistle:-- + + _Vo' sol del mie morir contento veggio: + La terra piange, e'l ciel per me si muove; + E vo' men pietà stringe ov' io sto peggio._ + _O sol che scaldi il mondo in ogni dove, + O Febo, o luce eterna de' mortali, + Perchè a me sol ti scuri e non altrove? + + * * * * * + + Naught comforts you, I see, unless I die: + Earth weeps, the heavens for me are moved to woe; + You feel of grief the less, the more grieve I. + O sun that warms the world where'er you go, + O Febo, light eterne for mortal eyes! + Why dark to me alone, elsewhere not so?_ + +These verses seem to have been written as part of a long Capitolo +which Michelangelo himself, the elder, used indifferently in +addressing Febo and his abstract "donna." Who Febo was, we do not +know. But the sincere accent of the letter and the lyric cry of the +rough lines leave us to imagine that he was some one for whom +Michelangelo felt very tenderly in Florence. + +Milanesi prints this letter to Febo with the following title, "_A Febo +(di Poggio)_." This proves that he at any rate knew it had been +answered by some one signing "Febo di Poggio." The autograph, in an +illiterate hand and badly spelt, is preserved among the Buonarroti +Archives, and bears date January 14, 1534. Febo excuses himself for +not having been able to call on Michelangelo the night before he left +Florence, and professes to have come the next day and found him +already gone. He adds that he is in want of money, both to buy clothes +and to go to see the games upon the Monte. He prays for a gratuity, +and winds up: "Vostro da figliuolo (yours like a son), Febo di +Poggio." I will add a full translation here:-- + +"Magnificent M. Michelangelo, to be honoured as a father,--I came back +yesterday from Pisa, whither I had gone to see my father. Immediately +upon my arrival, that friend of yours at the bank put a letter from +you into my hands, which I received with the greatest pleasure, having +heard of your well-being. God be praised, I may say the same about +myself. Afterwards I learned what you say about my being angry with +you. You know well I could not be angry with you, since I regard you +in the place of a father. Besides, your conduct toward me has not been +of the sort to cause in me any such effect. That evening when you left +Florence, in the morning I could not get away from M. Vincenzo, though +I had the greatest desire to speak with you. Next morning I came to +your house, and you were already gone, and great was my disappointment +at your leaving Florence without my seeing you. + +"I am here in Florence; and when you left, you told me that if I +wanted anything, I might ask it of that friend of yours; and now that +M. Vincenzo is away, I am in want of money, both to clothe myself, and +also to go to the Monte, to see those people fighting, for M. Vincenzo +is there. Accordingly, I went to visit that friend at the bank, and he +told me that he had no commission whatsoever from you; but that a +messenger was starting to-night for Rome, and that an answer could +come back within five days. So then, if you give him orders, he will +not fail, I beseech you, then, to provide and assist me with any sum +you think fit, and do not fail to answer. + +"I will not write more, except that with all my heart and power I +recommend myself to you, praying God to keep you from harm.--Yours in +the place of a son, + + "Febo Di Poggio. + "Florence, _January 4, 154_." + + +X + +In all the compositions I have quoted as illustrative of +Michelangelo's relations with young men, there is a singular humility +which gives umbrage to his editors. The one epistle to Gherardo +Perini, cited above, contains the following phrases: "I do not feel +myself of force enough to correspond to your kind letter;" "Your most +faithful and poor friend." + +Yet there was nothing extraordinary in Cavalieri, Cecchino, Febo, or +Perini, except their singularity of youth and grace, good parts and +beauty. The vulgar are offended when an illustrious man pays homage to +these qualities, forgetful of Shakespeare's self-abasement before Mr. +W.H. and of Languet's prostration at the feet of Sidney. In the case +of Michelangelo, we may find a solution of this problem, I think, in +one of his sonnets. He says, writing a poem belonging very probably to +the series which inspires Michelangelo the younger with alarm:-- + + _As one who will re-seek her home of light, + Thy form immortal to this prison-house + Descended, like an angel-piteous, + To heal all hearts and make the whole world bright, + 'Tis this that thralls my soul in love's delight, + Not thy clear face of beauty glorious; + For he who harbours virtue still will choose + To love what neither years nor death can blight. + So fares it ever with things high and rare + Wrought in the sweat of nature; heaven above + Showers on their birth the blessings of her prime: + Nor hath God deigned to show Himself elsewhere + More clearly than in human forms sublime, + Which, since they image Him, alone I love._ + +It was not, then, to this or that young man, to this or that woman, +that Michelangelo paid homage, but to the eternal beauty revealed in +the mortal image of divinity before his eyes. The attitude of the +mind, the quality of passion, implied in these poems, and conveyed +more clumsily through the prose of the letters, may be difficult to +comprehend. But until we have arrived at seizing them we shall fail to +understand the psychology of natures like Michelangelo. No language of +admiration is too strong, no self-humiliation too complete, for a soul +which has recognised deity made manifest in one of its main +attributes, beauty. In the sight of a philosopher, a poet, and an +artist, what are kings, popes, people of importance, compared with a +really perfect piece of God's handiwork? + + _From thy fair face I learn, O my loved lord, + That which no mortal tongue can rightly say; + The soul imprisoned in her house of clay, + Holpen by thee, to God hath often soared. + And though the vulgar, vain, malignant horde + Attribute what their grosser wills obey, + Yet shall this fervent homage that I pay, + This love, this faith, pure joys for us afford. + Lo, all the lovely things we find on earth, + Resemble for the soul that rightly sees + That source of bliss divine which gave us birth: + Nor have we first-fruits or remembrances + Of heaven elsewhere. Thus, loving loyally, + I rise to God, and make death sweet by thee._ + +We know that, in some way or other, perhaps during those early years +at Florence among the members of the Platonic Academy, Michelangelo +absorbed the doctrines of the _Phoedrus_ and _Symposium_. His poems +abound in references to the contrast between Uranian and Pandemic, +celestial and vulgar, Eros. We have even one sonnet in which he +distinctly states the Greek opinion that the love of women is unworthy +of a soul bent upon high thoughts and virile actions. It reads like a +verse transcript from the main argument of the _Symposium_:-- + + _Love is not always harsh and deadly sin, + When love for boundless beauty makes us pine; + The heart, by love left soft and infantine, + Will let the shafts of God's grace enter in. + Love wings and wakes the soul, stirs her to win + Her flight aloft, nor e'er to earth decline; + 'Tis the first step that leads her to the shrine + Of Him who slakes the thirst that burns within._ + + _The love of that whereof I speak ascends: + Woman is different far; the love of her + But ill befits a heart manly and wise. + The one love soars, the other earthward tends; + The soul lights this, while that the senses stir; + And still lust's arrow at base quarry flies._ + +The same exalted Platonism finds obscure but impassioned expression in +this fragment of a sonnet (No. lxxix.):---- + + _For Love's fierce wound, and for the shafts that harm, + True medicine 'twould have been to pierce my heart; + But my soul's Lord owns only one strong charm, + Which makes life grow where grows life's mortal smart. + My Lord dealt death, when with his-powerful arm + He bent Love's bow. Winged with that shaft, from Love + An angel flew, cried, "Love, nay Burn! Who dies, + Hath but Love's plumes whereby to soar above! + Lo, I am He who from thine earliest years + Toward, heaven-born Beauty raised thy faltering eyes. + Beauty alone lifts live man to heaven's spheres."_ + +Feeling like this, Michelangelo would have been justly indignant with +officious relatives and critics, who turned his _amici_ into _animi_, +redirected his Cavalieri letters to the address of Vittoria Colonna, +discovered Florence in Febo di Poggio, and ascribed all his emotional +poems to some woman. + +There is no doubt that both the actions and the writings of +contemporaries justified a considerable amount of scepticism regarding +the purity of Platonic affections. The words and lives of many +illustrious persons gave colour to what Segni stated in his History of +Florence, and what Savonarola found it necessary to urge upon the +people from his pulpit. + +But we have every reason to feel certain that, in a malicious age, +surrounded by jealous rivals, with the fierce light of his +transcendent glory beating round his throne, Buonarroti suffered from +no scandalous reports, and maintained an untarnished character for +sobriety of conduct and purity of morals. + +The general opinion regarding him may be gathered from Scipione +Ammirati's History (under the year 1564). This annalist records the +fact that "Buonarotti having lived for ninety years, there was never +found through all that length of time, and with all that liberty to +sin, any one who could with right and justice impute to him a stain or +any ugliness of manners." + +How he appeared to one who lived and worked with him for a long period +of intimacy, could not be better set forth than in the warm and +ingenuous words of Condivi: "He has loved the beauty of the human body +with particular devotion, as is natural with one who knows that beauty +so completely; and has loved it in such wise that certain carnally +minded men, who do not comprehend the love of beauty, except it be +lascivious and indecorous, have been led thereby to think and to speak +evil of him: just as though Alcibiades, that comeliest young man, had +not been loved in all purity by Socrates, from whose side, when they +reposed together, he was wont to say that he arose not otherwise than +from the side of his own father. Oftentimes have I heard Michelangelo +discoursing and expounding on the theme of love, and have afterwards +gathered from those who were present upon these occasions that he +spoke precisely as Plato wrote, and as we may read in Plato's works +upon this subject. I, for myself, do not know what Plato says; but I +know full well that, having so long and so intimately conversed with +Michelangelo, I never once heard issue from that mouth words that were +not of the truest honesty, and such as had virtue to extinguish in the +heart of youth any disordered and uncurbed desire which might assail +it. I am sure, too, that no vile thoughts were born in him, by this +token, that he loved not only the beauty of human beings, but in +general all fair things, as a beautiful horse, a beautiful dog, a +beautiful piece of country, a beautiful plant, a beautiful mountain, a +beautiful wood, and every site or thing in its kind fair and rare, +admiring them with marvellous affection. This was his way; to choose +what is beautiful from nature, as bees collect the honey from flowers, +and use it for their purpose in their workings: which indeed was +always the method of those masters who have acquired any fame in +painting. That old Greek artist, when he wanted to depict a Venus, was +not satisfied with the sight of one maiden only. On the contrary, he +sought to study many; and culling from each the particular in which +she was most perfect, to make use of these details in his Venus. Of a +truth, he who imagines to arrive at any excellence without following +this system (which is the source of a true theory in the arts), shoots +very wide indeed of his mark." + +Condivi perhaps exaggerated the influence of lovely nature, horses, +dogs, flowers, hills, woods, &c., on Michelangelo's genius. His work, +as we know, is singularly deficient in motives drawn from any province +but human beauty; and his poems and letters contain hardly a trace of +sympathy with the external world. Yet, in the main contention, Condivi +told the truth. Michelangelo's poems and letters, and the whole series +of his works in fresco and marble, suggest no single detail which is +sensuous, seductive, enfeebling to the moral principles. Their tone +may be passionate; it is indeed often red-hot with a passion like that +of Lucretius and Beethoven; but the genius of the man transports the +mind to spiritual altitudes, where the lust of the eye and the +longings of the flesh are left behind us in a lower region. Only a +soul attuned to the same chord of intellectual rapture can breathe in +that fiery atmosphere and feel the vibrations of its electricity. + + +XI + +I have used Michelangelo's poems freely throughout this work as +documents illustrative of his opinions and sentiments, and also in +their bearing on the events of his life. I have made them reveal the +man in his personal relations to Pope Julius II., to Vittoria Colonna, +to Tommaso dei Cavalieri, to Luigi del Riccio, to Febo di Poggio. I +have let them tell their own tale, when sorrow came upon him in the +death of his father and Urbino, and when old age shook his lofty +spirit with the thought of approaching death. I have appealed to them +for lighter incidents: matters of courtesy, the completion of the +Sistine vault, the statue of Night at S. Lorenzo, the subjection of +Florence to the Medici, his heart-felt admiration for Dante's genius. +Examples of his poetic work, so far as these can be applied to the +explanation of his psychology, his theory of art, his sympathies, his +feeling under several moods of passion, will consequently be found +scattered up and down by volumes. Translation, indeed, is difficult to +the writer, and unsatisfactory to the reader. But I have been at pains +to direct an honest student to the original sources, so that he may, +if he wishes, compare my versions with the text. Therefore I do not +think it necessary to load this chapter with voluminous citations. +Still, there remains something to be said about Michelangelo as poet, +and about the place he occupies as poet in Italian literature. + +The value of Michelangelo's poetry is rather psychological than purely +literary. He never claimed to be more than an amateur, writing to +amuse himself. His style is obscure, crabbed, ungrammatical. +Expression only finds a smooth and flowing outlet when the man's +nature is profoundly stirred by some powerful emotion, as in the +sonnets to Cavalieri, or the sonnets on the deaths of Vittoria Colonna +and Urbino, or the sonnets on the thought of his own death. For the +most part, it is clear that he found great difficulty in mastering his +thoughts and images. This we discover from the innumerable variants of +the same madrigal or sonnet which he made, and his habit of returning +to them at intervals long after their composition. A good fourth of +the Codex Vaticanus consists of repetitions and _rifacimenti_. He was +also wont to submit what he wrote to the judgment of his friends, +requesting them to alter and improve. He often had recourse to Luigi +del Riccio's assistance in such matters. I may here adduce an inedited +letter from two friends in Rome, Giovanni Francesco Bini and Giovanni +Francesco Stella, who returned a poem they had handled in this manner: +"We have done our best to alter some things in your sonnet, but not to +set it all to rights, since there was not much wanting. Now that it is +changed or put in order, according as the kindness of your nature +wished, the result will be more due to your own judgment than to ours, +since you have the true conception of the subject in your mind. We +shall be greatly pleased if you find yourself as well served as we +earnestly desire that you should command us." It was the custom of +amateur poets to have recourse to literary craftsmen before they +ventured to circulate their compositions. An amusing instance of this +will be found in Professor Biagi's monograph upon Tullia d'Aragona, +all of whose verses passed through the crucible of Benedetto Varchi's +revision. + +The thoughts and images out of which Michelangelo's poetry is woven +are characteristically abstract and arid. He borrows no illustrations +from external nature. The beauty of the world and all that lives in it +might have been non-existent so far as he was concerned. Nor do his +octave stanzas in praise of rural life form an exception to this +statement; for these are imitated from Poliziano, so far as they +attempt pictures of the country, and their chief poetical feature is +the masque of vices belonging to human nature in the city. His +stock-in-trade consists of a few Platonic notions and a few Petrarchan +antitheses. In the very large number of compositions which are devoted +to love, this one idea predominates: that physical beauty is a direct +beam sent from the eternal source of all reality, in order to elevate +the lover's soul and lead him on the upward path toward heaven. Carnal +passion he regards with the aversion of an ascetic. It is impossible +to say for certain to whom these mystical love-poems were addressed. +Whether a man or a woman is in the case (for both were probably the +objects of his aesthetical admiration), the tone of feeling, the +language, and the philosophy do not vary. He uses the same imagery, +the same conceits, the same abstract ideas for both sexes, and adapts +the leading motive which he had invented for a person of one sex to a +person of the other when it suits his purpose. In our absolute +incapacity to fix any amative connection upon Michelangelo, or to link +his name with that of any contemporary beauty, we arrive at the +conclusion, strange as this may be, that the greater part of his +love-poetry is a scholastic exercise upon emotions transmuted into +metaphysical and mystical conceptions. Only two pieces in the long +series break this monotony by a touch of realism. They are divided by +a period of more than thirty years. The first seems to date from an +early epoch of his life:-- + + _What joy hath yon glad wreath of flowers that is + Around her golden hair so deftly twined, + Each blossom pressing forward from behind, + As though to be the first her brows to kiss! + The livelong day her dress hath perfect bliss, + That now reveals her breast, now seems to bind: + And that fair woven net of gold refined + Rests on her cheek and throat in happiness! + Yet still more blissful seems to me the band, + Gilt at the tips, so sweetly doth it ring, + And clasp the bosom that it serves to lace: + Yea, and the belt, to such as understand, + Bound round her waist, saith: Here I'd ever cling! + What would my arms do in that girdle's place?_ + +The second can be ascribed with probability to the year 1534 or 1535. +It is written upon the back of a rather singular letter addressed to +him by a certain Pierantonio, when both men were in Rome together:-- + + _Kind to the world, but to itself unkind, + A worm is born, that, dying noiselessly, + Despoils itself to clothe fair limbs, and be + In its true worth alone by death divined. + Would I might die for my dear lord to find + Raiment in my outworn mortality; + That, changing like the snake, I might be free + To cast the slough wherein I dwell confined! + Nay, were it mine, that shaggy fleece that stays, + Woven and wrought into a vestment fair, + Around yon breast so beauteous in such bliss! + All through the day thou'd have me! Would I were + The shoes that bear that burden! when the ways + Were wet with rain, thy feet I then should kiss!_ + +I have already alluded to the fact that we can trace two widely +different styles of writing in Michelangelo's poetry. Some of his +sonnets, like the two just quoted, and those we can refer with +certainty to the Cavalieri series, together with occasional +compositions upon the deaths of Cecchino and Urbino, seem to come +straight from the heart, and their manuscripts offer few variants to +the editor. Others, of a different quality, where he is dealing with +Platonic subtleties or Petrarchan conceits, have been twisted into so +many forms, and tortured by such frequent re-handlings, that it is +difficult now to settle a final text. The Codex Vaticanus is +peculiarly rich in examples of these compositions. Madrigal lvii. and +Sonnet lx., for example, recur with wearisome reiteration. These +laboured and scholastic exercises, unlike the more spontaneous +utterances of his feelings, are worked up into different forms, and +the same conceits are not seldom used for various persons and on +divers occasions. + +One of the great difficulties under which a critic labours in +discussing these personal poems is that their chronology cannot be +ascertained in the majority of instances. Another is that we are +continually hampered by the false traditions invented by Michelangelo +the younger. Books like Lannan Rolland's "Michel-Ange et Vittoria +Colonna" have no value whatsoever, because they are based upon that +unlucky grand-nephew's deliberately corrupted text. Even Wadsworth's +translations, fine as they are, have lost a large portion of their +interest since the publication of the autographs by Cesare Guasti in +1863. It is certain that the younger Michelangelo meant well to his +illustrious ancestor. He was anxious to give his rugged compositions +the elegance and suavity of academical versification. He wished also +to defend his character from the imputation of immorality. Therefore +he rearranged the order of stanzas in the longer poems, pieced +fragments together, changed whole lines, ideas, images, amplified and +mutilated, altered phrases which seemed to him suspicious. Only one +who has examined the manuscripts of the Buonarroti Archives knows what +pains he bestowed upon this ungrateful and disastrous task. But the +net result of his meddlesome benevolence is that now for nearly three +centuries the greatest genius of the Italian Renaissance has worn a +mask concealing the real nature of his emotion, and that a false +legend concerning his relations to Vittoria Colonna has become +inextricably interwoven with the story of his life. + +The extraordinary importance attached by Michelangelo in old age to +the passions of his youth is almost sufficient to justify those +psychological investigators who regard him as the subject of a nervous +disorder. It does not seem to be accounted for by anything known to us +regarding his stern and solitary life, his aloofness from the vulgar, +and his self-dedication to study. In addition to the splendid +devotional sonnets addressed to Vasari, which will appear in their +proper place, I may corroborate these remarks by the translation of a +set of three madrigals bearing on the topic. + + _Ah me, ah me! how have I been betrayed + By my swift-flitting years, and by the glass, + Which yet tells truth to those who firmly gaze! + Thus happens it when one too long delays, + As I have done, nor feels time fleet and, fade:-- + One morn he finds himself grown old, alas! + To gird my loins, repent, my path repass, + Sound counsel take, I cannot, now death's near; + Foe to myself, each tear, + Each sigh, is idly to the light wind sent, + For there's no loss to equal time ill-spent. + + Ah me, ah me! I wander telling o'er + Past years, and yet in all I cannot view + One day that might be rightly reckoned mine. + Delusive hopes and vain desires entwine + My soul that loves, weeps, burns, and sighs full sore. + Too well I know and prove that this is true, + Since of man's passions none to me are new. + Far from the truth my steps have gone astray, + In peril now I stay, + For, lo! the brief span of my life is o'er. + Yet, were it lengthened, I should love once more. + + Ah me! I wander tired, and know not whither: + I fear to sight my goal, the years gone by + Point it too plain; nor will closed eyes avail. + Now Time hath changed and gnawed this mortal veil, + Death and the soul in conflict strive together + About my future fate that looms so nigh. + Unless my judgment greatly goes awry, + Which God in mercy grant, I can but see + Eternal penalty + Waiting my wasted will, my misused mind, + And know not, Lord, where health and hope to find._ + +After reading these lamentations, it is well to remember that +Michelangelo at times indulged a sense of humour. As examples of his +lighter vein, we might allude to the sonnet on the Sistine and the +capitolo in answer to Francesco Berni, written in the name of Fra +Sebastiano. Sometimes his satire becomes malignant, as in the sonnet +against the people of Pistoja, which breathes the spirit of Dantesque +invective. Sometimes the fierceness of it is turned against himself, +as in the capitolo upon old age and its infirmities. The grotesqueness +of this lurid descant on senility and death is marked by something +rather Teutonic than Italian, a "Danse Macabre" intensity of loathing; +and it winds up with the bitter reflections, peculiar to him in his +latest years, upon the vanity of art. "My much-prized art, on which I +relied and which brought me fame, has now reduced me to this. I am +poor and old, the slave of others. To the dogs I must go, unless I die +quickly." + +A proper conclusion to this chapter may be borrowed from the +peroration of Varchi's discourse upon the philosophical love-poetry of +Michelangelo. This time he chooses for his text the second of those +sonnets (No. lii.) which caused the poet's grand-nephew so much +perplexity, inducing him to alter the word _amici_ in the last line +into _animi_. It runs as follows:-- + + _I saw no mortal beauty with these eyes + When perfect peace in thy fair eyes I found; + But far within, where all is holy ground, + My soul felt Love, her comrade of the skies: + For she was born with God in Paradise; + Else should we still to transient love be bound; + But, finding these so false, we pass beyond + Unto the Love of loves that never dies. + Nay, things that die cannot assuage the thirst + Of souls undying; nor Eternity + Serves Time, where all must fade that flourisheth + _Sense is not love, but lawlessness accurst: + This kills the soul; while our love lifts on high + Our friends on earth--higher in heaven through death._ + +"From this sonnet," says Varchi, "I think that any man possessed of +judgment will be able to discern to what extent this angel, or rather +archangel, in addition to his three first and most noble professions +of architecture, sculpture, and painting, wherein without dispute he +not only eclipses all the moderns, but even surpasses the ancients, +proves himself also excellent, nay singular, in poetry, and in the +true art of loving; the which art is neither less fair nor less +difficult, albeit it be more necessary and more profitable than the +other four. Whereof no one ought to wonder: for this reason; that, +over and above what is manifest to everybody, namely that nature, +desirous of exhibiting her utmost power, chose to fashion a complete +man, and (as the Latins say) one furnished in all proper parts; he, in +addition to the gifts of nature, of such sort and so liberally +scattered, added such study and a diligence so great that, even had he +been by birth most rugged, he might through these means have become +consummate in all virtue: and supposing he were born, I do not say in +Florence and of a very noble family, in the time too of Lorenzo the +Magnificent, who recognised, willed, knew, and had the power to +elevate so vast a genius; but in Scythia, of any stock or stem you +like, under some commonplace barbarian chief, a fellow not disdainful +merely, but furiously hostile to all intellectual ability; still, in +all circumstances, under any star, he would have been Michelangelo, +that is to say, the unique painter, the singular sculptor, the most +perfect architect, the most excellent poet, and a lover of the most +divinest. For the which reasons I (it is now many years ago), holding +his name not only in admiration, but also in veneration, before I knew +that he was architect already, made a sonnet; with which (although it +be as much below the supreme greatness of his worth as it is unworthy +of your most refined and chastened ears) I mean to close this present +conference; reserving the discussion on the arts (in obedience to our +Consul's orders) for another lecture. + + _Illustrious sculptor, 'twas enough and more, + Not with the chisel-and bruised bronze alone, + But also with brush, colour, pencil, tone, + To rival, nay, surpass that fame of yore. + But now, transcending what those laurels bore + Of pride and beauty for our age and zone. + You climb of poetry the third high throne, + Singing love's strife and-peace, love's sweet and sore. + O wise, and dear to God, old man well born, + Who in so many, so fair ways, make fair + This world, how shall your dues be dully paid? + Doomed by eternal charters to adorn + Nature and art, yourself their mirror are, + None, first before, nor second after, made."_ + +In the above translation of Varchi's peroration I have endeavoured to +sustain those long-winded periods of which he was so perfect and +professed a master. We must remember that he actually read this +dissertation before the Florentine Academy on the second Sunday in +Lent, in the year 1546, when Michelangelo was still alive and hearty. +He afterwards sent it to the press; and the studied trumpet-tones of +eulogy, conferring upon Michelangelo the quintuple crown of +pre-eminence in painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry, and loving, +sounded from Venice down to Naples. The style of the oration may +strike us as _rococo_ now, but the accent of praise and appreciation +is surely genuine. Varchi's enthusiastic comment on the sonnets xxx, +xxxi, and lii, published to men of letters, taste, and learning in +Florence and all Italy, is the strongest vindication of their +innocence against editors and scholars who in various ways have +attempted to disfigure or to misconstrue them. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +I + +The correspondence which I used in the eleventh chapter, while +describing Michelangelo's difficulties regarding the final contract +with the Duke of Urbino, proves that he had not begun to paint the +frescoes of the Cappella Paolina in October 1542. They were carried on +with interruptions during the next seven years. These pictures, the +last on which his talents were employed, are two large subjects: the +Conversion of S. Paul, and the Martyrdom of S. Peter. They have +suffered from smoke and other injuries of time even more than the +frescoes of the Sistine, and can now be scarcely appreciated owing to +discoloration. Nevertheless, at no period, even when fresh from the +master's hand, can they have been typical of his style. It is true +that contemporaries were not of this opinion. Condivi calls both of +them "stupendous not only in the general exposition of the histories +but also in the details of each figure." It is also true that the +technical finish of these large compositions shows a perfect mastery +of painting, and that the great designer has not lost his power of +dealing at will with the human body. But the frigidity of old age had +fallen on his feeling and imagination. The faces of his saints and +angels here are more inexpressive than those of the Last Judgment. The +type of form has become still more rigidly schematic. All those +figures in violent attitudes have been invented in the artist's brain +without reference to nature; and the activity of movement which he +means to suggest, is frozen, petrified, suspended. The suppleness, the +elasticity, the sympathy with which Michelangelo handled the nude, +when he began to paint in the Sistine Chapel, have disappeared. We +cannot refrain from regretting that seven years of his energetic old +age should have been devoted to work so obviously indicative of +decaying faculties. + +The Cappella Paolina ran a risk of destruction by fire during the +course of his operations there. Michelangelo wrote to Del Riccio in +1545, reminding him that part of the roof had been consumed, and that +it would be necessary to cover it in roughly at once, since the rain +was damaging the frescoes and weakening the walls. When they were +finished, Paul III. appointed an official guardian with a fixed +salary, whose sole business it should be "to clean the frescoes well +and keep them in a state of cleanliness, free from dust and other +impurities, as also from the smoke of candles lighted in both chapels +during divine service." This man had charge of the Sistine as well as +the Pauline Chapel; but his office does not seem to have been +continued after the death of the Farnese. The first guardian nominated +was Buonarroti's favourite servant Urbino. + +Vasari, after describing these frescoes in some detail, but without +his customary enthusiasm, goes on to observe: "Michelangelo attended +only, as I have elsewhere said, to the perfection of art. There are no +landscapes, nor trees, nor houses; nor again do we find in his work +that variety of movement and prettiness which may be noticed in the +pictures of other men. He always neglected such decoration, being +unwilling to lower his lofty genius to these details." This is indeed +true of the arid desert of the Pauline frescoes. Then he adds: "They +were his last productions in painting. He was seventy-five years old +when he carried them to completion; and, as he informed me, he did so +with great effort and fatigue--painting, after a certain age, and +especially fresco-painting, not being in truth fit work for old men." + +The first of two acute illnesses, which showed that Michelangelo's +constitution was beginning to give way, happened in the summer of +1544. On this occasion Luigi del Riccio took him into his own +apartments at the Casa Strozzi; and here he nursed him with such +personal devotion that the old man afterwards regarded Del Riccio as +the saviour of his life. We learn this from the following pathetic +sonnet:-- + + _It happens that the sweet unfathomed sea + Of seeming courtesy sometimes doth hide + Offence to life and honour. This descried, + I hold less dear the health restored to me. + He who lends wings of hope, while secretly + He spreads a traitorous snare by the wayside, + Hath dulled the flame of love, and mortified + Friendship where friendship burns most fervently. + Keep then, my dear Luigi, clear and fare, + That ancient love to which my life I owe, + That neither wind nor storm its calm may mar. + For wrath and pain our gratitude obscure; + And if the truest truth of love I know, + One pang outweighs a thousand pleasures far._ + +Ruberto Strozzi, who was then in France, wrote anxiously inquiring +after his health. In reply, Michelangelo sent Strozzi a singular +message by Luigi del Riccio, to the effect that "if the king of France +restored Florence to liberty, he was ready to make his statue on +horseback out of bronze at his own cost, and set it up in the Piazza." +This throws some light upon a passage in a letter addressed +subsequently to Lionardo Buonarroti, when the tyrannous law, termed +"La Polverina," enacted against malcontents by the Duke Cosimo de' +Medici, was disturbing the minds of Florentine citizens. Michelangelo +then wrote as follows: "I am glad that you gave me news of the edict; +because, if I have been careful up to this date in my conversation +with exiles, I shall take more precautions for the future. As to my +having been laid up with an illness in the house of the Strozzi, I do +not hold that I was in their house, but in the apartment of Messer +Luigi del Riccio, who was my intimate friend; and after the death of +Bartolommeo Angelini, I found no one better able to transact my +affairs, or more faithfully, than he did. When he died, I ceased to +frequent the house, as all Rome can bear me witness; as they can also +with regard to the general tenor of my life, inasmuch as I am always +alone, go little around, and talk to no one, least of all to +Florentines. When I am saluted on the open street, I cannot do less +than respond with fair words and pass upon my way. Had I knowledge of +the exiles, who they are, I would not reply to them in any manner. As +I have said, I shall henceforward protect myself with diligence, the +more that I have so much else to think about that I find it difficult +to live." + +This letter of 1548, taken in connection with the circumstances of +Michelangelo's illness in 1544, his exchange of messages with Ruberto +degli Strozzi, his gift of the two Captives to that gentleman, and his +presence in the house of the Strozzi during his recovery, shows the +delicacy of the political situation at Florence under Cosimo's rule. +Slight indications of a reactionary spirit in the aged artist exposed +his family to peril. Living in Rome, Michelangelo risked nothing with +the Florentine government. But "La Polverina" attacked the heirs of +exiles in their property and persons. It was therefore of importance +to establish his non-complicity in revolutionary intrigues. Luckily +for himself and his nephew, he could make out a good case and defend +his conduct. Though Buonarroti's sympathies and sentiments inclined +him to prefer a republic in his native city, and though he threw his +weight into that scale at the crisis of the siege, he did not forget +his early obligations to the House of Medici. Clement VII. accepted +his allegiance when the siege was over, and set him immediately to +work at the tasks he wished him to perform. What is more, the Pope +took pains and trouble to settle the differences between him and the +Duke of Urbino. The man had been no conspirator. The architect and +sculptor was coveted by every pope and prince in Italy. Still there +remained a discord between his political instincts, however prudently +and privately indulged, and his sense of personal loyalty to the +family at whose board he sat in youth, and to whom he owed his +advancement in life. Accordingly, we shall find that, though the Duke +of Tuscany made advances to win him back to Florence, Michelangelo +always preferred to live and die on neutral ground in Rome. Like the +wise man that he was, he seems to have felt through these troublous +times that his own duty, the service laid on him by God and nature, +was to keep his force and mental faculties for art; obliging old +patrons in all kindly offices, suppressing republican aspirations--in +one word, "sticking to his last," and steering clear of shoals on +which the main raft of his life might founder. + +From this digression, which was needful to explain his attitude toward +Florence and part of his psychology, I return to the incidents of +Michelangelo's illness at Rome in 1544. Lionardo, having news of his +uncle's danger, came post-haste to Rome. This was his simple duty, as +a loving relative. But the old man, rendered suspicious by previous +transactions with his family, did not take the action in its proper +light. We have a letter, indorsed by Lionardo in Rome as received upon +the 11th of July, to this effect: "Lionardo, I have been ill; and you, +at the instance of Ser Giovan Francesco (probably Fattucci), have come +to make me dead, and to see what I have left. Is there not enough of +mine at Florence to content you? You cannot deny that you are the +image of your father, who turned me out of my own house in Florence. +Know that I have made a will of such tenor that you need not trouble +your head about what I possess at Rome. Go then with God, and do not +present yourself before me; and do not write to me again, and act like +the priest in the fable." + +The correspondence between uncle and nephew during the next months +proves that this furious letter wrought no diminution of mutual regard +and affection. Before the end of the year he must have recovered, for +we find him writing to Del Riccio: "I am well again now, and hope to +live yet some years, seeing that God has placed my health under the +care of Maestro Baccio Rontini and the trebbian wine of the Ulivieri." +This letter is referred to January 1545, and on the 9th of that month +he dictated a letter to his friend Del Riccio, in which he tells +Lionardo Buonarroti: "I do not feel well, and cannot write. +Nevertheless I have recovered from my illness, and suffer no pain +now." We have reason to think that Michelangelo fell gravely ill again +toward the close of 1545. News came to Florence that he was dying; and +Lionardo, not intimidated by his experience on the last occasion, set +out to visit him. His _ricordo_ of the journey was as follows: "I note +how on the 15th of January 1545 (Flor. style, _i.e._ 1546) I went to +Rome by post to see Michelangelo, who was ill, and returned to-day, +the 26th." + +It is not quite easy to separate the records of these two acute +illnesses of Michelangelo, falling between the summer of 1544 and the +early spring of 1546. Still, there is no doubt that they signalised +his passage from robust old age into a period of physical decline. +Much of life survived in the hero yet; he had still to mould S. +Peter's after his own mind, and to invent the cupola. Intellectually +he suffered no diminution, but he became subject to a chronic disease +of the bladder, and adopted habits suited to decaying faculty. + + +II + +We have seen that Michelangelo regarded Luigi del Riccio as his most +trusty friend and adviser. The letters which he wrote to him during +these years turn mainly upon business or poetical compositions. Some, +however, throw light upon the private life of both men, and on the +nature of their intimacy. I will select a few for special comment +here. The following has no date; but it is interesting, because we may +connect the feeling expressed in it with one of Michelangelo's +familiar sonnets. "Dear Messer Luigi, since I know you are as great a +master of ceremonies as I am unfit for that trade, I beg you to help +me in a little matter. Monsignor di Todi (Federigo Cesi, afterwards +Cardinal of S. Pancrazio) has made me a present, which Urbino will +describe to you. I think you are a friend of his lordship: will you +then thank him in my name, when you find a suitable occasion, and do +so with those compliments which come easily to you, and to me are very +hard? Make me too your debtor for some tartlet." + +The sonnet is No. ix of Signor Guasti's edition. I have translated it +thus:-- + + _The sugar, candles, and the saddled mule, + Together with your cask of malvoisie, + So far exceed all my necessity + That Michael and not I my debt must rule. + In such a glassy calm the breezes fool + My sinking sails, so that amid the sea + My bark hath missed her way, and seems to be + A wisp of straw whirled on a weltering pool. + To yield thee gift for gift and grace for grace, + For food and drink and carriage to and fro, + For all my need in every time and place, + O my dear lord, matched with the much I owe, + All that I am were no real recompense: + Paying a debt is not munificence._ + +In the chapter upon Michelangelo's poetry I dwelt at length upon Luigi +del Riccio's passionate affection for his cousin, Cecchino dei Bracci. +This youth died at the age of sixteen, on January 8, 1545. +Michelangelo undertook to design "the modest sepulchre of marble" +erected to his memory by Del Riccio in the church of Araceli. He also +began to write sonnets, madrigals, and epitaphs, which were sent from +day to day. One of his letters gives an explanation of the eighth +epitaph: "Our dead friend speaks and says: if the heavens robbed all +beauty from all other men on earth to make me only, as indeed they +made me, beautiful; and if by the divine decree I must return at +doomsday to the shape I bore in life, it follows that I cannot give +back the beauty robbed from others and bestowed on me, but that I must +remain for ever more beautiful than the rest, and they be ugly. This +is just the opposite of the conceit you expressed to me yesterday; the +one is a fable, the other is the truth." + +Some time in 1545 Luigi went to Lyons on a visit to Ruberto Strozzi +and Giuliano de' Medici. This seems to have happened toward the end of +the year; for we possess a letter indorsed by him, "sent to Lyons, and +returned upon the 22nd of December." This document contains several +interesting details. "All your friends are extremely grieved to hear +about your illness, the more so that we cannot help you; especially +Messer Donato (Giannotti) and myself. However, we hope that it may +turn out to be no serious affair, God willing. In another letter I +told you that, if you stayed away long, I meant to come to see you. +This I repeat; for now that I have lost the Piacenza ferry, and cannot +live at Rome without income, I would rather spend the little that I +have in hostelries, than crawl about here, cramped up like a penniless +cripple. So, if nothing happens, I have a mind to go to S. James of +Compostella after Easter; and if you have not returned, I should like +to travel through any place where I shall hear that you are staying. +Urbino has spoken to Messer Aurelio, and will speak again. From what +he tells me, I think that you will get the site you wanted for the +tomb of Cecchino. It is nearly finished, and will turn out handsome." + +Michelangelo's project of going upon pilgrimage to Galicia shows that +his health was then good. But we know that he soon afterwards had +another serious illness; and the scheme was abandoned. + +This long and close friendship with Luigi comes to a sudden +termination in one of those stormy outbursts of petulant rage which +form a special feature of Michelangelo's psychology. Some angry words +passed between them about an engraving, possibly of the Last Judgment, +which Buonarroti wanted to destroy, while Del Riccio refused to +obliterate the plate:-- + +"Messer Luigi,--You seem to think I shall reply according to your +wishes, when the case is quite the contrary. You give me what I have +refused, and refuse me what I begged. And it is not ignorance which +makes you send it me through Ercole, when you are ashamed to give it +me yourself. One who saved my life has certainly the power to +disgrace me; but I do not know which is the heavier to bear, disgrace +or death. Therefore I beg and entreat you, by the true friendship +which exists between us, to spoil that print (_stampa_), and to burn +the copies that are already printed off. And if you choose to buy and +sell me, do not so to others. If you hack me into a thousand pieces, I +will do the same, not indeed to yourself, but to what belongs to you. + + "Michelangelo Buonarroti. + +"Not painter, nor sculptor, nor architect, but what you will, but not +a drunkard, as you said at your house." + +Unfortunately, this is the last of the Del Riccio's letters. It is +very probable that the irascible artist speedily recovered his usual +tone, and returned to amity with his old friend. But Del Riccio +departed this life toward the close of this year, 1546. + +Before resuming the narrative of Michelangelo's art-work at this +period, I must refer to the correspondence which passed between him +and King Francis I. The King wrote an epistle in the spring of 1546, +requesting some fine monument from the illustrious master's hand. +Michelangelo replied upon the 26th of April, in language of simple and +respectful dignity, fine, as coming from an aged artist to a monarch +on the eve of death:-- + +"Sacred Majesty,--I know not which is greater, the favour, or the +astonishment it stirs in me, that your Majesty should have deigned to +write to a man of my sort, and still more to ask him for things of his +which are all unworthy of the name of your Majesty. But be they what +they may, I beg your Majesty to know that for a long while since I +have desired to serve you; but not having had an opportunity, owing to +your not being in Italy, I have been unable to do so. Now I am old, +and have been occupied these many months with the affairs of Pope +Paul. But if some space of time is still granted to me after these +engagements, I will do my utmost to fulfil the desire which, as I have +said above, has long inspired me: that is, to make for your Majesty +one work in marble, one in bronze, and one in painting. And if death +prevents my carrying out this wish, should it be possible to make +statues or pictures in the other world, I shall not fail to do so +there, where there is no more growing old. And I pray God that He +grant your Majesty a long and a happy life." + +Francis died in 1547; and we do not know that any of Michelangelo's +works passed directly into his hands, with the exception of the Leda, +purchased through the agency of Luigi Alamanni, and the two Captives, +presented by Ruberto Strozzi. + + +III + +The absorbing tasks imposed upon Buonarroti's energies by Paul III., +which are mentioned in this epistle to the French king, were not +merely the frescoes of the Cappella Paolina, but also various +architectural and engineering schemes of some importance. It is clear, +I think, that at this period of his hale old age, Michelangelo +preferred to use what still survived in him of vigour and creative +genius for things requiring calculation, or the exercise of meditative +fancy. The time had gone by when he could wield the brush and chisel +with effective force. He was tired of expressing his sense of beauty +and the deep thoughts of his brain in sculptured marble or on frescoed +surfaces. He had exhausted the human form as a symbol of artistic +utterance. But the extraordinary richness of his vein enabled him +still to deal with abstract mathematical proportions in the art of +building, and with rhythms in the art of writing. His best work, both +as architect and poet, belongs to the period when he had lost power as +sculptor and painter. This fact is psychologically interesting. Up to +the age of seventy, he had been working in the plastic and the +concrete. The language he had learned, and used with overwhelming +mastery, was man: physical mankind, converted into spiritual vehicle +by art. His grasp upon this region failed him now. Perhaps there was +not the old sympathy with lovely shapes. Perhaps he knew that he had +played on every gamut of that lyre. Emerging from the sphere of the +sensuous, where ideas take plastic embodiment, he grappled in this +final stage of his career with harmonical ratios and direct verbal +expression, where ideas are disengaged from figurative form. The men +and women, loved by him so long, so wonderfully wrought into +imperishable shapes, "nurslings of immortality," recede. In their room +arise, above the horizon of his intellect, the cupola of S. Peter's +and a few imperishable poems, which will live as long as Italian +claims a place among the languages. There is no comparison to be +instituted between his actual achievements as a builder and a +versifier. The whole tenor of his life made him more competent to deal +with architecture than with literature. Nevertheless, it is +significant that the versatile genius of the man was henceforth +restricted to these two channels of expression, and that in both of +them his last twenty years of existence produced bloom and fruit of +unexpected rarity. + +After writing this paragraph, and before I engage in the narrative of +what is certainly the final manifestation of Michelangelo's genius as +a creative artist, I ought perhaps to pause, and to give some account +of those survivals from his plastic impulse, which occupied the old +man's energies for several years. They were entirely the outcome of +religious feeling; and it is curious to notice that he never +approached so nearly to true Christian sentiment as in the fragmentary +designs which we may still abundantly collect from this late autumn of +his artist's life. There are countless drawings for some great picture +of the Crucifixion, which was never finished: exquisite in delicacy of +touch, sublime in conception, dignified in breadth and grand repose of +style. Condivi tells us that some of these were made for the +Marchioness of Pescara. But Michelangelo must have gone on producing +them long after her death. With these phantoms of stupendous works to +be, the Museums of Europe abound. We cannot bring them together, or +condense them into a single centralised conception. Their interest +consists in their divergence and variety, showing the continuous +poring of the master's mind upon a theme he could not definitely +grasp. For those who love his work, and are in sympathy with his +manner, these drawings, mostly in chalk, and very finely handled, have +a supreme interest. They show him, in one sense, at his highest and +his best, not only as a man of tender feeling, but also as a mighty +draughtsman. Their incompleteness testifies to something pathetic--the +humility of the imperious man before a theme he found to be beyond the +reach of human faculty. + +The tone, the _Stimmung_, of these designs corresponds so exactly to +the sonnets of the same late period, that I feel impelled at this +point to make his poetry take up the tale. But, as I cannot bring the +cloud of witnesses of all those drawings into this small book, so am I +unwilling to load its pages with poems which may be found elsewhere. +Those who care to learn the heart of Michelangelo, when he felt near +to God and face to face with death, will easily find access to the +originals. + +Concerning the Deposition from the Cross, which now stands behind the +high altar of the Florentine Duomo, Condivi writes as follows: "At the +present time he has in hand a work in marble, which he carries on for +his pleasure, as being one who, teeming with conceptions, must needs +give birth each day to some of them. It is a group of four figures +larger than life. A Christ taken from the cross, sustained in death by +his Mother, who is represented in an attitude of marvellous pathos, +leaning up against the corpse with breast, with arms, and lifted knee. +Nicodemus from above assists her, standing erect and firmly planted, +propping the dead Christ with a sturdy effort; while one of the +Maries, on the left side, though plunged in sorrow, does all she can +to assist the afflicted Mother, failing under the attempt to raise her +Son. It would be quite impossible to describe the beauty of style +displayed in this group, or the sublime emotions expressed in those +woe-stricken countenances. I am confident that the Pietà is one of his +rarest and most difficult masterpieces; particularly because the +figures are kept apart distinctly, nor does the drapery of the one +intermingle with that of the others." + +This panegyric is by no means pitched too high. Justice has hardly +been done in recent times to the noble conception, the intense +feeling, and the broad manner of this Deposition. That may be due in +part to the dull twilight in which the group is plunged, depriving all +its lines of salience and relief. It is also true that in certain +respects the composition is fairly open to adverse criticism. The +torso of Christ overweighs the total scheme; and his legs are +unnaturally attenuated. The kneeling woman on the left side is +slender, and appears too small in proportion to the other figures; +though, if she stood erect, it is probable that her height would be +sufficient. + +The best way to study Michelangelo's last work in marble is to take +the admirable photograph produced under artificial illumination by +Alinari. No sympathetic mind will fail to feel that we are in +immediate contact with the sculptor's very soul, at the close of his +life, when all his thoughts were weaned from earthly beauty, and he +cried-- + + Painting nor sculpture now can lull to rest + My soul, that turns to his great love on high, + Whose arms to clasp us on the cross were spread. + +As a French critic has observed: "It is the most intimately personal +and the most pathetic of his works. The idea of penitence exhales from +it. The marble preaches the sufferings of the Passion; it makes us +listen to an act of bitter contrition and an act of sorrowing love." + +Michelangelo is said to have designed the Pietà for his own monument. +In the person of Nicodemus, it is he who sustains his dead Lord in the +gloom of the sombre Duomo. His old sad face, surrounded by the heavy +cowl, looks down for ever with a tenderness beyond expression, +repeating mutely through the years how much of anguish and of blood +divine the redemption of man's soul hath cost. + +The history of this great poem in marble, abandoned by its maker in +some mood of deep dejection, is not without interest. We are told that +the stone selected was a capital from one of the eight huge columns of +the Temple of Peace. Besides being hard and difficult to handle, the +material betrayed flaws in working. This circumstance annoyed the +master; also, as he informed Vasari, Urbino kept continually urging +him to finish it. One of his reasons for attacking the block had been +to keep himself in health by exercise. Accordingly he hewed away with +fury, and bit so deep into the marble that he injured one of the +Madonna's elbows. When this happened, it was his invariable practice +to abandon the piece he had begun upon, feeling that an incomplete +performance was preferable to a lame conclusion. In his old age he +suffered from sleeplessness; and it was his habit to rise from bed and +work upon the Pietà, wearing a thick paper cap, in which he placed a +lighted candle made of goat's tallow. This method of chiselling by the +light of one candle must have complicated the technical difficulties +of his labour. But what we may perhaps surmise to have been his final +motive for the rejection of the work, was a sense of his inability, +with diminished powers of execution, and a still more vivid sense of +the importance of the motive, to accomplish what the brain conceived. +The hand failed. The imagination of the subject grew more intimate and +energetic. Losing patience then at last, he took a hammer and began to +break the group up. Indeed, the right arm of the Mary shows a +fracture. The left arm of the Christ is mutilated in several places. +One of the nipples has been repaired, and the hand of the Madonna +resting on the breast above it is cracked across. It would have been +difficult to reduce the whole huge block to fragments; and when the +work of destruction had advanced so far, Michelangelo's servant +Antonio, the successor to Urbino, begged the remnants from his master. +Tiberio Calcagni was a good friend of Buonarroti's at this time. He +heard that Francesco Bandini, a Florentine settled in exile at Rome, +earnestly desired some relic of the master's work. Accordingly, +Calgagni, with Michelangelo's consent, bought the broken marble from +Antonio for 200 crowns, pieced it together, and began to mend it. +Fortunately, he does not seem to have elaborated the surface in any +important particular; for both the finished and unfinished parts bear +indubitable marks of Michelangelo's own handling. After the death of +Calcagni and Bandini, the Pietà remained for some time in the garden +of Antonio, Bandini's heir, at Montecavallo. It was transferred to +Florence, and placed among the marbles used in erecting the new +Medicean Chapel, until at last, in 1722, the Grand Duke Cosimo III. +finally set it up behind the altar of the Duomo. + +Vasari adds that Michelangelo began another Pietà in marble on a much +smaller scale. It is possible that this may have been the unfinished +group of two figures (a dead Christ sustained by a bending man), of +which there is a cast in the Accademia at Florence. In some respects +the composition of this fragment bears a strong resemblance to the +puzzling Deposition from the Cross in our National Gallery. The +trailing languor of the dead Christ's limbs is almost identical in the +marble and the painting. + +While speaking of these several Pietàs, I must not forget the +medallion in high relief of the Madonna clasping her dead Son, which +adorns the Albergo dei Poveri at Genoa. It is ascribed to +Michelangelo, was early believed to be his, and is still accepted +without hesitation by competent judges. In spite of its strongly +marked Michelangelesque mannerism, both as regards feeling, facial +type, and design, I cannot regard the bas-relief, in its present +condition at least, as a genuine work, but rather as the production of +some imitator, or the _rifacimento_ of a restorer. A similar +impression may here be recorded regarding the noble portrait-bust in +marble of Pope Paul III. at Naples. This too has been attributed to +Michelangelo. But there is no external evidence to support the +tradition, while the internal evidence from style and technical +manipulation weighs strongly against it. The medallions introduced +upon the heavily embroidered cope are not in his style. The treatment +of the adolescent female form in particular indicates a different +temperament. Were the ascription made to Benvenuto Cellini, we might +have more easily accepted it. But Cellini would certainly have +enlarged upon so important a piece of sculpture in his Memoirs. If +then we are left to mere conjecture, it would be convenient to suggest +Guglielmo della Porta, who executed the Farnese monument in S. +Peter's. + + +IV + +While still a Cardinal, Paul III. began to rebuild the old palace of +the Farnesi on the Tiber shore. It closes one end of the great open +space called the Campo di Fiore, and stands opposite to the Villa +Farnesina, on the right bank of the river. Antonio da Sangallo was the +architect employed upon this work, which advanced slowly until +Alessandro Farnese's elevation to the Papacy. He then determined to +push the building forward, and to complete it on a scale of +magnificence befitting the supreme Pontiff. Sangallo had carried the +walls up to the second story. The third remained to be accomplished, +and the cornice had to be constructed. Paul was not satisfied with +Sangallo's design, and referred it to Michelangelo for criticism +--possibly in 1544. The result was a report, which we still +possess, in which Buonarroti, basing his opinion on principles derived +from Vitruvius, severely blames Sangallo's plan under six separate +heads. He does not leave a single merit, as regards either harmony of +proportion, or purity of style, or elegance of composition, or +practical convenience, or decorative beauty, or distribution of parts. +He calls the cornice barbarous, confused, bastard in style, discordant +with the rest of the building, and so ill suited to the palace as, if +carried out, to threaten the walls with destruction. This document has +considerable interest, partly as illustrating Michelangelo's views on +architecture in general, and displaying a pedantry of which he was +never elsewhere guilty, partly as explaining the bitter hostility +aroused against him in Sangallo and the whole tribe of that great +architect's adherents. We do not, unfortunately, possess the design +upon which the report was made. But, even granting that it must have +been defective, Michelangelo, who professed that architecture was not +his art, might, one thinks, have spared his rival such extremity of +adverse criticism. It exposed him to the taunts of rivals and +ill-wishers; justified them in calling him presumptuous, and gave them +a plausible excuse when they accused him of jealousy. What made it +worse was, that his own large building, the Laurentian Library, +glaringly exhibits all the defects he discovered in Sangallo's +cornice. + +I find it difficult to resist the impression that Michelangelo was +responsible, to a large extent, for the ill-will of those artists whom +Vasari calls "la setta Sangallesca." His life became embittered by +their animosity, and his industry as Papal architect continued to be +hampered for many years by their intrigues. But he alone was to blame +at the beginning, not so much for expressing an honest opinion, as for +doing so with insulting severity. + +That Michelangelo may have been right in his condemnation of +Sangallo's cornice is of course possible. Paul himself was +dissatisfied, and eventually threw that portion of the building open +to competition. Perino del Vaga, Sebastiano del Piombo, and the young +Giorgio Vasari are said to have furnished designs. Michelangelo did so +also; and his plan was not only accepted, but eventually carried out. +Nevertheless Sangallo, one of the most illustrious professional +architects then alive, could not but have felt deeply wounded by the +treatment he received. It was natural for his followers to exclaim +that Buonarroti had contrived to oust their aged master, and to get a +valuable commission into his own grasp, by the discourteous exercise +of his commanding prestige in the world of art. + +In order to be just to Michelangelo, we must remember that he was +always singularly modest in regard to his own performances, and severe +in self-criticism. Neither in his letters nor in his poems does a +single word of self-complacency escape his pen. He sincerely felt +himself to be an unprofitable servant: that was part of his +constitutional depression. We know, too, that he allowed strong +temporary feelings to control his utterance. The cruel criticism of +Sangallo may therefore have been quite devoid of malice; and if it was +as well founded as the criticism of that builder's plan for S. +Peter's, then Michelangelo stands acquitted. Sangallo's model exists; +it is so large that you can walk inside it, and compare your own +impressions with the following judgment:-- + +"It cannot be denied that Bramante's talent as an architect was equal +to that of any one from the times of the ancients until now. He laid +the first plan of S. Peter, not confused, but clear and simple, full +of light and detached from surrounding buildings, so that it +interfered with no part of the palace. It was considered a very fine +design, and indeed any one can see now that it is so. All the +architects who departed from Bramante's scheme, as Sangallo has done, +have departed from the truth; and those who have unprejudiced eyes can +observe this in his model. Sangallo's ring of chapels takes light from +the interior as Bramante planned it; and not only this, but he has +provided no other means of lighting, and there are so many +hiding-places, above and below, all dark, which lend themselves to +innumerable knaveries, that the church would become a secret den for +harbouring bandits, false coiners, for debauching nuns, and doing all +sorts of rascality; and when it was shut up at night, twenty-five men +would be needed to search the building for rogues hidden there, and it +would be difficult enough to find them. There is, besides, another +inconvenience: the interior circle of buildings added to Bramante's +plan would necessitate the destruction of the Paoline Chapel, the +offices of the Piombo and the Ruota, and more besides. I do not think +that even the Sistine would escape." + +After this Michelangelo adds that to remove the out-works and +foundations begun upon Sangallo's plan would not cost 100,000 crowns, +as the sect alleged, but only 16,000, The material would be infinitely +useful, the foundations important for the building, and the whole +fabric would profit in something like 200,000 crowns and 300 years of +time. "This is my dispassionate opinion; and I say this in truth, for +to gain a victory here would be my own incalculable loss." +Michelangelo means that, at the time when he wrote the letter in +question, it was still in doubt whether Sangallo's design should be +carried out or his own adopted; and, as usual, he looked forward with +dread to undertaking a colossal architectural task. + + +V + +Returning to the Palazzo Farnese, it only remains to be said that +Michelangelo lived to complete the edifice. His genius was responsible +for the inharmonious window above the main entrance. According to +Vasari, he not only finished the exterior from the second story +upwards, but designed the whole of the central courtyard above the +first story, "making it the finest thing of its sort in Europe." The +interior, with the halls painted by Annibale Caracci, owed its +disposition into chambers and galleries to his invention. The cornice +has always been reckoned among his indubitable successes, combining as +it does salience and audacity with a grand heroic air of grace. It has +been criticised for disproportionate projection; and Michelangelo +seems to have felt uneasy on this score, since he caused a wooden +model of the right size to be made and placed upon the wall, in order +to judge of its effect. + +Taken as a whole, the Palazzo Farnese remains the most splendid of the +noble Roman houses, surpassing all the rest in pomp and pride, though +falling short of Peruzzi's Palazzo Massimo in beauty. + +The catastrophe of 1527, when Rome was taken by assault on the side of +the Borgo without effective resistance being possible, rendered the +fortification of the city absolutely necessary. Paul III determined to +secure a position of such vital importance to the Vatican by bastions. +Accordingly he convened a diet of notables, including his +architect-in-chief, Antonio da Sangallo. He also wished to profit by +Michelangelo's experience, remembering the stout resistance offered to +the Prince of Orange by his outworks at S. Miniato. Vasari tells an +anecdote regarding this meeting which illustrates the mutual bad +feeling of the two illustrious artists. "After much discussion, the +opinion of Buonarroti was requested. He had conceived views widely +differing on those of Sangallo and several others, and these he +expressed frankly. Whereupon Sangallo told him that sculpture and +painting were his trade, not fortification. He replied that about them +he knew but little, whereas the anxious thought he had given to city +defences, the time he had spent, and the experience he had practically +gained in constructing them, made him superior in that art to Sangallo +and all the masters of his family. He proceeded to point out before +all present numerous errors in the works. Heated words passed on both +sides, and the Pope had to reduce the men to silence. Before long he +brought a plan for the fortification of the whole Borgo, which opened +the eyes of those in power to the scheme which was finally adopted. +Owing to changes he suggested, the great gate of Santo Spirito, +designed by Sangallo and nearly finished, was left incomplete." + +It is not clear what changes were introduced into Sangallo's scheme. +They certainly involved drawing the line of defence much closer to the +city than he intended. This approved itself to Pier Luigi Farnese, +then Duke of Castro, who presided over the meetings of the military +committee. It was customary in carrying out the works of fortification +to associate a practical engineer with the architect who provided +designs; and one of these men, Gian Francesco Montemellino, a trusted +servant of the Farnesi, strongly supported the alteration. That +Michelangelo agreed with Montemellino, and felt that they could work +together, appears from a letter addressed to the Castellano of S. +Angelo. It seems to have been written soon after the dispute recorded +by Vasari. In it he states, that although he differs in many respects +from the persons who had hitherto controlled the works, yet he thinks +it better not to abandon them altogether, but to correct them, alter +the superintendence, and put Montemellino at the head of the +direction. This would prevent the Pope from becoming disgusted with +such frequent changes. "If affairs took the course he indicated, he +was ready to offer his assistance, not in the capacity of colleague, +but as a servant to command in all things." Nothing is here said +openly about Sangallo, who remained architect-in-chief until his +death. Still the covert wish expressed that the superintendence might +be altered, shows a spirit of hostility against him; and a new plan +for the lines must soon have been adopted. A despatch written to the +Duke of Parma in September 1545 informs him that the old works were +being abandoned, with the exception of the grand Doric gateway of S. +Spirito. This is described at some length in another despatch of +January 1546. Later on, in 1557, we find Michelangelo working as +architect-in-chief with Jacopo Meleghino under his direction, but the +fortifications were eventually carried through by a more competent +engineer, one Jacopo Fusto Castriotto of Urbino. + + +VI + +Antonio da Sangallo died on October 3, 1546, at Terni, while engaged +in engineering works intended to drain the Lake Velino. Michelangelo +immediately succeeded to the offices and employments he had held at +Rome. Of these, the most important was the post of architect-in-chief +at S. Peter's. Paul III. conferred it upon him for life by a brief +dated January 1, 1547. He is there named "commissary, prefect, +surveyor of the works, and architect, with full authority to change +the model, form, and structure of the church at pleasure, and to +dismiss and remove the working-men and foremen employed upon the +same." The Pope intended to attach a special stipend to the onerous +charge, but Michelangelo declined this honorarium, declaring that he +meant to labour without recompense, for the love of God and the +reverence he felt for the Prince of the Apostles. Although he might +have had money for the asking, and sums were actually sent as presents +by his Papal master, he persisted in this resolution, working steadily +at S. Peter's without pay, until death gave him rest. + +Michelangelo's career as servant to a Pope began with the design of +that tomb which led Julius II. to destroy the old S. Peter's. He was +now entering, after forty-two years, upon the last stage of his long +life. Before the end came, he gave final form to the main features of +the great basilica, raising the dome which dominates the Roman +landscape like a stationary cloud upon the sky-line. What had happened +to the edifice in the interval between 1505 and 1547 must be briefly +narrated, although it is not within the scope of this work to give a +complete history of the building. + +Bramante's original design had been to construct the church in the +form of a Greek cross, with four large semi-circular apses. The four +angles made by the projecting arms of the cross were to be filled in +with a complex but well-ordered scheme of shrines and chapels, so that +externally the edifice would have presented the aspect of a square. +The central piers, at the point of junction between the arms of the +cross, supported a broad shallow dome, modelled upon that of the +Pantheon. Similar domes of lesser dimensions crowned the +out-buildings. He began by erecting the piers which were intended to +support the central dome; but working hastily and without due regard +to solid strength, Bramante made these piers too weak to sustain the +ponderous mass they had to carry. How he would have rectified this +error cannot be conjectured. Death cut his labours short in 1514, and +only a small portion of his work remains embedded at the present day +within the mightier masses raised beneath Buonarroti's cupola. + +Leo X. commissioned Raffaello da Urbino to continue his kinsman's +work, and appointed Antonio da Sangallo to assist him in the month of +January 1517. Whether it was judged impossible to carry out Bramante's +project of the central dome, or for some other reason unknown to us, +Raffaello altered the plan so essentially as to design a basilica upon +the conventional ground-plan of such churches. He abandoned the Greek +cross, and adopted the Latin form by adding an elongated nave. The +central piers were left in their places; the three terminal apses of +the choir and transepts were strengthened, simplified, reduced to +commonplace. Bramante's ground-plan is lucid, luminous, and +exquisitely ordered in its intricacy. The true creation of a +builder-poet's brain, it illustrates Leo Battista Alberti's definition +of the charm of architecture, _tutta quella musica_, that melody and +music of a graceful edifice. We are able to understand what +Michelangelo meant when he remarked that all subsequent designers, by +departing from it, had gone wrong. Raffaello's plan, if carried out, +would have been monotonous and tame inside and out. + +After the death of Raffaello in 1520, Baldassare Peruzzi was appointed +to be Sangallo's colleague. This genial architect, in whose style all +the graces were combined with dignity and strength, prepared a new +design at Leo's request. Vasari, referring to this period of Peruzzi's +life, says: "The Pope, thinking Bramante's scheme too large and not +likely to be in keeping, obtained a new model from Baldassare; +magnificent and truly full of fine invention, also so wisely +constructed that certain portions have been adopted by subsequent +builders." He reverted to Bramante's main conception of the Greek +cross, but altered the details in so many important points, both by +thickening the piers and walls, and also by complicating the internal +disposition of the chapels, that the effect would have been quite +different. The ground-plan, which is all I know of Peruzzi's project, +has always seemed to me by far the most beautiful and interesting of +those laid down for S. Peter's. It is richer, more imaginative and +suggestive, than Bramante's. The style of Bramante, in spite of its +serene simplicity, had something which might be described as shallow +clearness. In comparison with Peruzzi's style, it is what Gluck's +melody is to Mozart's. The course of public events prevented this +scheme from being carried out. First came the pontificate of Adrian +VI., so sluggish in art-industry; then the pontificate of Clement +VII., so disastrous for Italy and Rome. Many years elapsed before art +and literature recovered from the terror and the torpor of 1527. +Peruzzi indeed returned to his office at S. Peter's in 1535, but his +death followed in 1537, when Antonio da Sangallo remained master of +the situation. + +Sangallo had the good sense to preserve many of Peruzzi's constructive +features, especially in the apses of the choir and transepts; but he +added a vast vestibule, which gave the church a length equal to that +of Raffaello's plan. Externally, he designed a lofty central cupola +and two flanking spires, curiously combining the Gothic spirit with +Classical elements of style. In order to fill in the huge spaces of +this edifice, he superimposed tiers of orders one above the other. +Church, cupola, and spires are built up by a succession of Vitruvian +temples, ascending from the ground into the air. The total impression +produced by the mass, as we behold it now in the great wooden model at +S. Peter's, is one of bewildering complexity. Of architectural repose +it possesses little, except what belongs to a very original and vast +conception on a colossal scale. The extent of the structure is +frittered by its multiplicity of parts. Internally, as Michelangelo +pointed out, the church would have been dark, inconvenient, and +dangerous to public morals. + + +VII + +Whatever we may think of Michelangelo's failings as an architect, +there is no doubt that at this period of his life he aimed at +something broad and heroic in style. He sought to attain grandeur by +greatness in the masses and by economy of the constituent parts. His +method of securing amplitude was exactly opposite to that of Sangallo, +who relied upon the multiplication rather than the simplification of +details. A kind of organic unity was what Michelangelo desired. For +this reason, he employed in the construction of S. Peter's those +stupendous orders which out-soar the columns of Baalbec, and those +grandiose curves which make the cupola majestic. A letter written to +the Cardinal Ridolfo Pio of Carpi contains this explanation of his +principles. The last two sentences are highly significant:-- + +"Most Reverend Monsignor,--If a plan has divers parts, those which are +of one type in respect to quality and quantity have to be decorated in +the same way and the same fashion. The like is true of their +counterparts. But when the plan changes form entirely, it is not only +allowable, but necessary, to change the decorative appurtenances, as +also with their counterparts. The intermediate parts are always free, +left to their own bent. The nose, which stands in the middle of the +forehead, is not bound to correspond with either of the eyes; but one +hand must balance the other, and one eye be like its fellow. Therefore +it may be assumed as certain that the members of an architectural +structure follow the laws exemplified in the human body. He who has +not been or is not a good master of the nude, and especially of +anatomy, cannot understand the principles of architecture." + +It followed that Michelangelo's first object, when he became Papal +architect-in-chief, was to introduce order into the anarchy of +previous plans, and to return, so far as this was now possible, to +Bramante's simpler scheme. He adopted the Greek cross, and substituted +a stately portico for the long vestibule invented by Sangallo. It was +not, however, in his nature, nor did the changed taste of the times +permit him to reproduce Bramante's manner. So far as S. Peter's bears +the mark of Michelangelo at all, it represents his own peculiar +genius. "The Pope," says Vasari, "approved his model, which reduced +the cathedral to smaller dimensions, but also to a more essential +greatness. He discovered that four principal piers, erected by +Bramante and left standing by Antonio da Sangallo, which had to bear +the weight of the tribune, were feeble. These he fortified in part, +constructing two winding staircases at the side, with gently sloping +steps, up which beasts of burden ascend with building material, and +one can ride on horseback to the level above the arches. He carried +the first cornice, made of travertine, round the arches: a wonderful +piece of work, full of grace, and very different from the others; nor +could anything be better done in its kind. He began the two great +apses of the transept; and whereas Bramante Raffaello, and Peruzzi had +designed eight tabernacles toward the Campo Santo, which arrangement +Sangallo adhered to, he reduced them to three, with three chapels +inside. Suffice it to say that he began at once to work with diligence +and accuracy at all points where the edifice required alteration; to +the end that its main features might be fixed, and that no one might +be able to change what he had planned." Vasari adds that this was the +provision of a wise and prudent mind. So it was; but it did not +prevent Michelangelo's successors from defeating his intentions in +almost every detail, except the general effect of the cupola. This +will appear in the sequel. + +Antonio da Sangallo had controlled the building of S. Peter's for +nearly thirty years before Michelangelo succeeded to his office. +During that long space of time he formed a body of architects and +workmen who were attached to his person and interested in the +execution of his plans. There is good reason to believe that in +Sangallo's days, as earlier in Bramante's, much money of the Church +had been misappropriated by a gang of fraudulent and mutually +indulgent craftsmen. It was not to be expected that these people +should tamely submit to the intruder who put their master's cherished +model on the shelf, and set about, in his high-handed way, to +refashion the whole building from the bottom to the top. During +Sangallo's lifetime no love had been lost between him and Buonarroti, +and after his death it is probable that the latter dealt severely with +the creatures of his predecessor. The Pope had given him unlimited +powers of appointing and dismissing subordinates, controlling +operations, and regulating expenditure. He was a man who abhorred jobs +and corruption. A letter written near the close of his life, when he +was dealing only with persons nominated by himself, proves this. He +addressed the Superintendents of the Fabric of S. Peter's as follows: +"You know that I told Balduccio not to send his lime unless it were +good. He has sent bad quality, and does not seem to think he will be +forced to take it back; which proves that he is in collusion with the +person who accepted it. This gives great encouragement to the men I +have dismissed for similar transactions. One who accepts bad goods +needed for the fabric, when I have forbidden them, is doing nothing +else but making friends of people whom I have turned into enemies +against myself. I believe there will be a new conspiracy. Promises, +fees, presents, corrupt justice. Therefore I beg you from this time +forward, by the authority I hold from the Pope, not to accept anything +which is not suitable, even though it comes to you from heaven. I must +not be made to appear, what I am not, partial in my dealings." This +fiery despatch, indicating not only Michelangelo's probity, but also +his attention to minute details at the advanced age of eighty-six, +makes it evident that he must have been a stern overseer in the first +years of his office, terrible to the "sect of Sangallo," who were +bent, on their part, to discredit him. + +The sect began to plot and form conspiracies, feeling the violent old +man's bit and bridle on their mouths, and seeing the firm seat he took +upon the saddle. For some reason, which is not apparent, they had the +Superintendents of the Fabric (a committee, including cardinals, +appointed by the Pope) on their side. Probably these officials, +accustomed to Sangallo and the previous course of things, disliked to +be stirred up and sent about their business by the masterful +new-comer. Michelangelo's support lay, as we shall see, in the four +Popes who followed Paul III. They, with the doubtful exception of +Marcellus II., accepted him on trust as a thoroughly honest servant, +and the only artist capable of conducting the great work to its +conclusion. In the last resort, when he was driven to bay, he offered +to resign, and was invariably coaxed back by the final arbiter. The +disinterested spirit in which he fulfilled his duties, accepting no +pay while he gave his time and energy to their performance, stood him +in good stead. Nothing speaks better for his perfect probity than that +his enemies were unable to bring the slightest charge of peculation or +of partiality against him. Michelangelo's conduct of affairs at S. +Peter's reflects a splendid light upon the tenor of his life, and +confutes those detractors who have accused him of avarice. + +The duel between Michelangelo and the sect opened in 1547. A letter +written by a friend in Florence on the 14th of May proves that his +antagonists had then good hopes of crushing him. Giovan Francesco Ughi +begins by saying that he has been silent because he had nothing +special to report. "But now Jacopo del Conte has come here with the +wife of Nanni di Baccio Bigio, alleging that he has brought her +because Nanni is so occupied at S. Peter's. Among other things, he +says that Nanni means to make a model for the building which will +knock yours to nothing. He declares that what you are about is mad and +babyish. He means to fling it all down, since he has quite as much +credit with the Pope as you have. You throw oceans of money away and +work by night, so that nobody may see what you are doing. You follow +in the footsteps of a Spaniard, having no knowledge of your own about +the art of building, and he less than nothing. Nanni stays there in +your despite: you did everything to get him removed; but the Pope +keeps him, being convinced that nothing good can be done without him." +After this Ughi goes on to relate how Michelangelo's enemies are +spreading all kinds of reports against his honour and good fame, +criticising the cornice of the Palazzo Farnese, and hoping that its +weight will drag the walls down. At the end he adds, that although he +knows one ought not to write about such matters, yet the man's +"insolence and blackguardly shamelessness of speech" compel him to put +his friend on his guard against such calumnies. + +After the receipt of this letter, Michelangelo sent it to one of the +Superintendents of the Fabric, on whose sympathy he could reckon, with +the following indorsement in his own handwriting: "Messer Bartolommeo +(Ferrantino), please read this letter, and take thought who the two +rascals are who, lying thus about what I did at the Palazzo Farnese, +are now lying in the matter of the information they are laying before +the deputies of S. Peter's. It comes upon me in return for the +kindness I have shown them. But what else can one expect from a couple +of the basest scoundrelly villains?" + +Nanni di Baccio Bigio had, as it seems, good friends at court in Rome. +He was an open enemy of Michelangelo, who, nevertheless, found it +difficult to shake him off. In the history of S. Peter's the man's +name will frequently occur. + +Three years elapsed. Paul III. died, and Michelangelo wrote to his +nephew Lionardo on the occasion: "It is true that I have suffered +great sorrow, and not less loss, by the Pope's death. I received +benefits from his Holiness, and hoped for more and better. God willed +it so, and we must have patience. His passage from this life was +beautiful, in full possession of his faculties up to the last word. +God have mercy on his soul." The Cardinal Giovan Maria Ciocchi, of +Monte San Savino, was elected to succeed Paul, and took the title of +Julius III. This change of masters was duly noted by Michelangelo in a +letter to his "dearest friend," Giovan Francesco Fattucci at Florence. +It breathes so pleasant and comradely a spirit, that I will translate +more than bears immediately on the present topic: "Dear friend, +although we have not exchanged letters for many months past, still our +long and excellent friendship has not been forgotten. I wish you well, +as I have always done, and love you with all my heart, for your own +sake, and for the numberless pleasant things in life you have afforded +me. As regards old age, which weighs upon us both alike, I should be +glad to know how yours affects you; mine, I must say, does not make me +very happy. I beg you, then, to write me something about this. You +know, doubtless, that we have a new Pope, and who he is. All Rome is +delighted, God be thanked; and everybody expects the greatest good +from his reign, especially for the poor, his generosity being so +notorious." + +Michelangelo had good reason to rejoice over this event, for Julius +III. felt a real attachment to his person, and thoroughly appreciated +both his character and his genius. Nevertheless, the enemies he had in +Rome now made a strong effort to dislodge Buonarroti from his official +position at S. Peter's. It was probably about this time that the +Superintendents of the Fabric drew up a memorial expressive of their +grievances against him. We possess a document in Latin setting forth a +statement of accounts in rough. "From the year 1540, when expenditures +began to be made regularly and in order, from the very commencement as +it were, up to the year 1547, when Michelangelo, at his own will and +pleasure, undertook partly to build and partly to destroy, 162,624 +ducats were expended. Since the latter date on to the present, during +which time the deputies have served like the pipe at the organ, +knowing nothing, nor what, nor how moneys were spent, but only at the +orders of the said Michelangelo, such being the will of Paul III. of +blessed memory, and also of the reigning Pontiff, 136,881 ducats have +been paid out, as can be seen from our books. With regard to the +edifice, what it is going to be, the deputies can make no statement, +all things being hidden from them, as though they were outsiders. They +have only been able to protest at several times, and do now again +protest, for the easement of their conscience, that they do not like +the ways used by Michelangelo, especially in what he keeps on pulling +down. The demolition has been, and to-day is so great, that all who +witness it are moved to an extremity of pity. Nevertheless, if his +Holiness be satisfied, we, his deputies, shall have no reason to +complain." It is clear that Michelangelo was carrying on with a high +hand at S. Peter's. Although the date of this document is uncertain, I +think it may be taken in connection with a general meeting called by +Julius III., the incidents of which are recorded by Vasari. +Michelangelo must have demonstrated his integrity, for he came out of +the affair victorious, and obtained from the Pope a brief confirming +him in his office of architect-in-chief, with even fuller powers than +had been granted by Paul III. + + +VIII + +Vasari at this epoch becomes one of our most reliable authorities +regarding the life of Michelangelo. He corresponded and conversed with +him continuously, and enjoyed the master's confidence. We may +therefore accept the following narrative as accurate: "It was some +little while before the beginning of 1551, when Vasari, on his return +from Florence to Rome, found that the sect of Sangallo were plotting +against Michelangelo; they induced the Pope to hold a meeting in S. +Peter's, where all the overseers and workmen connected with the +building should attend, and his Holiness should be persuaded by false +insinuations that Michelangelo had spoiled the fabric. He had already +walled in the apse of the King where the three chapels are, and +carried out the three upper windows. But it was not known what he +meant to do with the vault. They then, misled by their shallow +judgment, made Cardinal Salviati the elder, and Marcello Cervini, who +was afterwards Pope, believe that S. Peter's would be badly lighted. +When all were assembled, the Pope told Michelangelo that the deputies +were of opinion the apse would have but little light. He answered: 'I +should like to hear these deputies speak.' The Cardinal Marcello +rejoined: 'Here we are.' Michelangelo then remarked: 'My lord, above +these three windows there will be other three in the vault, which is +to be built of travertine.' 'You never told us anything about this,' +said the Cardinal. Michelangelo responded: 'I am not, nor do I mean to +be obliged to tell your lordship or anybody what I ought or wish to +do. It is your business to provide money, and to see that it is not +stolen. As regards the plans of the building, you have to leave those +to me.' Then he turned to the Pope and said: 'Holy Father, behold what +gains are mine! Unless the hardships I endure prove beneficial to my +soul, I am losing time and labour.' The Pope, who loved him, laid his +hands upon his shoulders and exclaimed: 'You are gaining both for soul +and body, have no fear!' Michelangelo's spirited self-defence +increased the Pope's love, and he ordered him to repair next day with +Vasari to the Vigna Giulia, where they held long discourses upon art." +It is here that Vasari relates how Julius III. was in the habit of +seating Michelangelo by his side while they talked together. + +Julius then maintained the cause of Michelangelo against the deputies. +It was during his pontificate that a piece of engineering work +committed to Buonarroti's charge by Paul III. fell into the hands of +Nanni di Baccio Bigio. The old bridge of Santa Maria had long shown +signs of giving way, and materials had been collected for rebuilding +it. Nanni's friends managed to transfer the execution of this work to +him from Michelangelo. The man laid bad foundations, and Buonarroti +riding over the new bridge one day with Vasari, cried out: "George, +the bridge is quivering beneath us; let us spur on, before it gives +way with us upon it." Eventually, the bridge did fall to pieces, at +the time of a great inundation. Its ruins have long been known as the +Ponte Rotto. + +On the death of Julius III. in 1555, Cardinal Cervini was made Pope, +with the title of Marcellus II. This event revived the hopes of the +sect, who once more began to machinate against Michelangelo. The Duke +of Tuscany at this time was exceedingly anxious that he should take up +his final abode at Florence; and Buonarroti, feeling he had now no +strong support in Rome, seems to have entertained these proposals with +alacrity. The death of Marcellus after a few weeks, and the election +of Paul IV., who besought the great architect not to desert S. +Peter's, made him change his mind. Several letters written to Vasari +and the Grand Duke in this and the next two years show that his heart +was set on finishing S. Peter's, however much he wished to please his +friends and longed to end his days in peace at home. "I was set to +work upon S. Peter's against my will, and I have served now eight +years gratis, and with the utmost injury and discomfort to myself. Now +that the fabric has been pushed forward and there is money to spend, +and I am just upon the point of vaulting in the cupola, my departure +from Rome would be the ruin of the edifice, and for me a great +disgrace throughout all Christendom, and to my soul a grievous sin. +Pray ask his lordship to give me leave of absence till S. Peter's has +reached a point at which it cannot be altered in its main features. +Should I leave Rome earlier, I should be the cause of a great ruin, a +great disgrace, and a great sin." To the Duke he writes in 1557 that +his special reasons for not wishing to abandon S. Peter's were, first, +that the work would fall into the hands of thieves and rogues; +secondly, that it might probably be suspended altogether; thirdly, +that he owned property in Rome to the amount of several thousand +crowns, which, if he left without permission, would be lost; fourthly, +that he was suffering from several ailments. He also observed that the +work had just reached its most critical stage (i.e., the erection of +the cupola), and that to desert it at the present moment would be a +great disgrace. + +The vaulting of the cupola had now indeed become the main +preoccupation of Michelangelo's life. Early in 1557 a serious illness +threatened his health, and several friends, including the Cardinal of +Carpi, Donato Giannotti, Tommaso Cavalieri, Francesco Bandini, and +Lottino, persuaded him that he ought to construct a large model, so +that the execution of this most important feature of the edifice might +not be impeded in the event of his death. It appears certain that up +to this date no models of his on anything like a large intelligible +scale had been provided for S. Peter's; and the only extant model +attributable to Michelangelo's own period is that of the cupola. This +may help to account for the fact that, while the cupola was finished +much as he intended, the rest of his scheme suffered a thorough and +injurious remodelling. + +He wrote to his nephew Lionardo on the 13th of February 1557 about the +impossibility of meeting the Grand Duke's wishes and leaving Rome. "I +told his Lordship that I was obliged to attend to S. Peter's until I +could leave the work there at such a point that my plans would not be +subsequently altered. This point has not been reached; and in +addition, I am now obliged to construct a large wooden model for the +cupola and lantern, in order that I may secure its being finished as +it was meant to be. The whole of Rome, and especially the Cardinal of +Carpi, puts great pressure on me to do this. Accordingly, I reckon +that I shall have to remain here not less than a year; and so much +time I beg the Duke to allow me for the love of Christ and S. Peter, +so that I may not come home to Florence with a pricking conscience, +but a mind easy about Rome." The model took about a year to make. It +was executed by a French master named Jean. + +All this while Michelangelo's enemies, headed by Nanni di Baccio +Bigio, continued to calumniate and backbite. In the end they poisoned +the mind of his old friend the Cardinal of Carpi. We gather this from +a haughty letter written on the 13th of February 1560: "Messer +Francesco Bandini informed me yesterday that your most illustrious and +reverend lordship told him that the building of S. Peter's could not +possibly go on worse than it is doing. This has grieved me deeply, +partly because you have not been informed of the truth, and also +because I, as my duty is, desire more than all men living that it +should proceed well. Unless I am much deceived, I think I can assure +you that it could not possibly go on better than it now is doing. It +may, however, happen that my own interests and old age expose me to +self-deception, and consequently expose the fabric of S. Peter's to +harm or injury against my will. I therefore intend to ask permission +on the first occasion from his Holiness to resign my office. Or +rather, to save time, I wish to request your most illustrious and +reverend lordship by these present to relieve me of the annoyance to +which I have been subject seventeen years, at the orders of the Popes, +working without remuneration. It is easy enough to see what has been +accomplished by my industry during this period. I conclude by +repeating my request that you will accept my resignation. You could +not confer on me a more distinguished favour." + +Giovanni Angelo Medici, of an obscure Milanese family, had succeeded +to Paul IV. in 1559. Pius IV. felt a true admiration for Michelangelo. +He confirmed the aged artist in his office by a brief which granted +him the fullest authority in life, and strictly forbade any departure +from his designs for S. Peter's after death. Notwithstanding this +powerful support, Nanni di Baccio Bigio kept trying to eject him from +his post. He wrote to the Grand Duke in 1562, arguing that Buonarroti +was in his dotage, and begging Cosimo to use his influence to obtain +the place for himself. In reply the Grand Duke told Nanni that he +could not think of doing such a thing during Michelangelo's lifetime, +but that after his death he would render what aid was in his power. An +incident happened in 1563 which enabled Nanni to give his enemy some +real annoyance. Michelangelo was now so old that he felt obliged to +leave the personal superintendence of the operations at S. Peter's to +a clerk of the works. The man employed at this time was a certain +Cesare da Castel Durante, who was murdered in August under the +following circumstances, communicated by Tiberio Calcagni to Lionardo +Buonarroti on the 14th of that month: "I have only further to speak +about the death of Cesare, clerk of the works, who was found by the +cook of the Bishop of Forli with his wife. The man gave Cesare +thirteen stabs with his poignard, and four to his wife. The old man +(i.e., Michelangelo) is in much distress, seeing that he wished to +give the post to that Pier Luigi, and has been unable to do so owing +to the refusal of the deputies." This Pier Luigi, surnamed Gaeta, had +been working since November 1561 as subordinate to Cesare; and we have +a letter from Michelangelo to the deputies recommending him very +warmly in that capacity. He was also the house-servant and personal +attendant of the old master, running errands for him and transacting +ordinary business, like Pietro Urbano and Stefano in former years. The +deputies would not consent to nominate Pier Luigi as clerk of the +works. They judged him to be too young, and were, moreover, persuaded +that Michelangelo's men injured the work at S. Peter's. Accordingly +they appointed Nanni di Baccio Bigio, and sent in a report, inspired +by him, which severely blamed Buonarroti. Pius IV., after the receipt +of this report, had an interview with Michelangelo, which ended in his +sending his own relative, Gabrio Serbelloni, to inspect the works at +S. Peter's. It was decided that Nanni had been calumniating the great +old man. Accordingly he was dismissed with indignity. Immediately +after the death of Michelangelo, however, Nanni renewed his +applications to the Grand Duke. He claimed nothing less than the post +of architect-in-chief. His petition was sent to Florence under cover +of a despatch from the Duke's envoy, Averardo Serristori. The +ambassador related the events of Michelangelo's death, and supported +Nanni as "a worthy man, your vassal and true servant." + + +IX + +Down to the last days of his life, Michelangelo was thus worried with +the jealousies excited by his superintendence of the building at S. +Peter's; and when he passed to the majority, he had not secured his +heart's desire, to wit, that the fabric should be forced to retain the +form he had designed for it. This was his own fault. Popes might issue +briefs to the effect that his plans should be followed; but when it +was discovered that, during his lifetime, he kept the builders in +ignorance of his intentions, and that he left no working models fit +for use, except in the case of the cupola, a free course was opened +for every kind of innovation. So it came to pass that subsequent +architects changed the essential features of his design by adding what +might be called a nave, or, in other words, by substituting the Latin +for the Greek cross in the ground-plan. He intended to front the mass +of the edifice with a majestic colonnade, giving externally to one +limb of the Greek cross a rectangular salience corresponding to its +three semicircular apses. From this decastyle colonnade projected a +tetrastyle portico, which introduced the people ascending from a +flight of steps to a gigantic portal. The portal opened on the church, +and all the glory of the dome was visible when they approached the +sanctuary. Externally, according to his conception, the cupola +dominated and crowned the edifice when viewed from a moderate or a +greater distance. The cupola was the integral and vital feature of the +structure. By producing one limb of the cross into a nave, destroying +the colonnade and portico, and erecting a huge façade of _barocco_ +design, his followers threw the interior effect of the cupola into a +subordinate position, and externally crushed it out of view, except at +a great distance. In like manner they dealt with every particular of +his plan. As an old writer has remarked: "The cross which Michelangelo +made Greek is now Latin; and if it be thus with the essential form, +judge ye of the details!" It was not exactly their fault, but rather +that of the master, who chose to work by drawings and small clay +models, from which no accurate conception of his thought could be +derived by lesser craftsmen. + +We cannot, therefore, regard S. Peter's in its present state as the +creation of Buonarroti's genius. As a building, it is open to +criticism at every point. In spite of its richness and overwhelming +size, no architect of merit gives it approbation. It is vast without +being really great, magnificent without touching the heart, proudly +but not harmoniously ordered. The one redeeming feature in the +structure is the cupola; and that is the one thing which Michelangelo +bequeathed to the intelligence of his successors. The curve which it +describes finds no phrase of language to express its grace. It is +neither ellipse nor parabola nor section of the circle, but an +inspiration of creative fancy. It outsoars in vital force, in elegance +of form, the dome of the Pantheon and the dome of Brunelleschi, upon +which it was actually modelled. As a French architect, adverse to +Michelangelo, has remarked: "This portion is simple, noble, grand. It +is an unparalleled idea, and the author of this marvellous cupola had +the right to be proud of the thought which controlled his pencil when +he traced it." An English critic, no less adverse to the Italian +style, is forced to admit that architecture "has seldom produced a +more magnificent object" than the cupola, "if its bad connection with +the building is overlooked." He also adds that, internally, "the +sublime concave" of this immense dome is the one redeeming feature of +S. Peter's. + +Michelangelo's reputation, not only as an imaginative builder, but +also as a practical engineer in architecture, depends in a very large +measure upon the cupola of S. Peter's. It is, therefore, of great +importance to ascertain exactly how far the dome in its present form +belongs to his conception. Fortunately for his reputation, we still +possess the wooden model constructed under his inspection by a man +called Giovanni Franzese. It shows that subsequent architects, +especially Giacomo della Porta, upon whom the task fell of raising the +vaults and lantern from the point where Michelangelo left the +building, that is, from the summit of the drum, departed in no +essential particular from his design. Della Porta omitted one feature, +however, of Michelangelo's plan, which would have added greatly to the +dignity and elegance of the exterior. The model shows that the +entablature of the drum broke into projections above each of the +buttresses. Upon these projections or consoles Buonarroti intended to +place statues of saints. He also connected their pedestals with the +spring of the vault by a series of inverted curves sweeping upwards +along the height of the shallow attic. The omission of these details +not only weakened the support given to the arches of the dome, but it +also lent a stilted effect to the cupola by abruptly separating the +perpendicular lines of the drum and attic from the segment of the +vaulting. This is an error which could even now be repaired, if any +enterprising Pope undertook to complete the plan of the model. It may, +indeed, be questioned whether the omission was not due to the +difficulty of getting so many colossal statues adequately finished at +a period when the fabric still remained imperfect in more essential +parts. + +Vasari, who lived in close intimacy with Michelangelo, and undoubtedly +was familiar with the model, gives a confused but very minute +description of the building. It is clear from this that the dome was +designed with two shells, both of which were to be made of carefully +selected bricks, the space between them being applied to the purpose +of an interior staircase. The dormer windows in the outer sheath not +only broke the surface of the vault, but also served to light this +passage to the lantern. Vasari's description squares with the model, +now preserved in a chamber of the Vatican basilica, and also with the +present fabric. + +It would not have been necessary to dwell at greater length upon the +vaulting here but for difficulties which still surround the criticism +of this salient feature of S. Peter's. Gotti published two plans of +the cupola, which were made for him, he says, from accurate +measurements of the model taken by Cavaliere Cesare Castelli, +Lieut.-Col. of Engineers. The section drawing shows three shells +instead of two, the innermost or lowest being flattened out like the +vault of the Pantheon. Professor Josef Durm, in his essay upon the +Domes of Florence and S. Peter's, gives a minute description of the +model for the latter, and prints a carefully executed copperplate +engraving of its section. It is clear from this work that at some time +or other a third semi-spherical vault, corresponding to that of the +Pantheon, had been contemplated. This would have been structurally of +no value, and would have masked the two upper shells, which at present +crown the edifice. The model shows that the dome itself was from the +first intended to be composed of two solid vaults of masonry, in the +space between which ran the staircase leading to the lantern. The +lower and flatter shell, which appears also in the model, had no +connection with the substantial portions of the edifice. It was an +addition, perhaps an afterthought, designed possibly to serve as a +ground for surface-decoration, or to provide an alternative scheme for +the completion of the dome. Had Michelangelo really planned this +innermost sheath, we could not credit him with the soaring sweep +upwards of the mighty dome, its height and lightness, luminosity and +space. The roof that met the eye internally would have been +considerably lower and tamer, superfluous in the construction of the +church, and bearing no right relation to the external curves of the +vaulting. There would, moreover, have been a long dark funnel leading +to the lantern. Heath Wilson would then have been justified in certain +critical conclusions which may here be stated in his own words. +"According to Michelangelo's idea, the cupola was formed of three +vaults over each other. Apparently the inner one was intended to +repeat the curves of the Pantheon, whilst the outer one was destined +to give height and majesty to the building externally. The central +vault, more pyramidal in form, was constructed to bear the weight of +the lantern, and approached in form the dome of the Cathedral at +Florence by Brunelleschi. Judging by the model, he meant the outer +dome to be of wood, thus anticipating the construction of Sir +Christopher Wren." Farther on, he adds that the architects who carried +out the work "omitted entirely the inner lower vault, evidently to +give height internally, and made the external cupola of brick as well +as the internal; and, to prevent it expanding, had recourse to +encircling chains of iron, which bind it at the weakest parts of the +curve." These chains, it may be mentioned parenthetically, were +strengthened by Poleni, after the lapse of some years, when the second +of the two shells showed some signs of cracking. + +From Dr. Durm's minute description of the cupola, there seems to be no +doubt about the existence of this third vault in Michelangelo's wooden +model. He says that the two outer shells are carved out of one piece +of wood, while the third or innermost is made of another piece, which +has been inserted. The sunk or hollow compartments, which form the +laquear of this depressed vault, differ considerably in shape and +arrangement from those which were adopted when it was finally +rejected. The question now remains, whether the semi-spherical shell +was abandoned during Michelangelo's lifetime and with his approval. +There is good reason to believe that this may have been the case: +first, because the tambour, which he executed, differs from the model +in the arching of its windows; secondly, because Fontana and other +early writers on the cupola insist strongly on the fact that +Michelangelo's own plans were strictly followed, although they never +allude to the third or innermost vault. It is almost incredible that +if Della Porta departed in so vital a point from Michelangelo's +design, no notice should have been taken of the fact. On the other +hand, the tradition that Della Porta improved the curve of the cupola +by making the spring upward from the attic more abrupt, is due +probably to the discrepancy between the internal aspects of the model +and the dome itself. The actual truth is that the cupola in its curve +and its dimensions corresponds accurately to the proportions of the +double outer vaulting of the model. + +Taking, then, Vasari's statement in conjunction with the silence of +Fontana, Poleni, and other early writers, and duly observing the care +with which the proportions of the dome have been preserved, I think we +may safely conclude that Michelangelo himself abandoned the third or +semi-spherical vault, and that the cupola, as it exists, ought to be +ascribed entirely to his conception. It is, in fact, the only portion +of the basilica which remains as he designed it. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +I + +There is great difficulty in dealing chronologically with the last +twenty years of Michelangelo's life. This is due in some measure to +the multiplicity of his engagements, but more to the tardy rate at +which his work, now almost wholly architectural, advanced. I therefore +judged it best to carry the history of his doings at S. Peter's down +to the latest date; and I shall take the same course now with regard +to the lesser schemes which occupied his mind between 1545 and 1564, +reserving for the last the treatment of his private life during this +period. + +A society of gentlemen and artists, to which Buonarroti belonged, +conceived the plan of erecting buildings of suitable size and grandeur +on the Campidoglio. This hill had always been dear to the Romans, as +the central point of urban life since the foundation of their city, +through the days of the Republic and the Empire, down to the latest +Middle Ages. But it was distinguished only by its ancient name and +fame. No splendid edifices and majestic squares reminded the spectator +that here once stood the shrine of Jupiter Capitolinus, to which +conquering generals rode in triumph with the spoils and captives of +the habitable world behind their laurelled chariots. Paul III. +approved of the design, and Michelangelo, who had received the +citizenship of Rome on March 20, 1546, undertook to provide a scheme +for its accomplishment. We are justified in believing that the +disposition of the parts which now compose the Capitol is due to his +conception: the long steep flight of steps leading up from the Piazza +Araceli; the irregular open square, flanked on the left hand by the +Museum of Sculpture, on the right by the Palazzo dei Conservatori, and +closed at its farther end by the Palazzo del Senatore. He also placed +the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus on its noble +pedestal, and suggested the introduction of other antique specimens of +sculpture into various portions of the architectural plan. The +splendid double staircase leading to the entrance hall of the Palazzo +del Senatore, and part of the Palazzo dei Conservatori, were completed +during Michelangelo's lifetime. When Vasari wrote in 1568, the dead +sculptor's friend, Tommaso dei Cavalieri, was proceeding with the +work. There is every reason, therefore, to assume that the latter +building, at any rate, fairly corresponds to his intention. Vignola +and Giacomo della Porta, both of them excellent architects, carried +out the scheme, which must have been nearly finished in the +pontificate of Innocent X. (1644-1655). + +Like the cupola of S. Peter's, the Campidoglio has always been +regarded as one of Michelangelo's most meritorious performances in +architecture. His severe critic, M. Charles Garnier, says of the +Capitol: "The general composition of the edifice is certainly worthy +of Buonarroti's powerful conception. The balustrade which crowns the +façade is indeed bad and vulgar; the great pilasters are very poor in +invention, and the windows of the first story are extremely mediocre +in style. Nevertheless, there is a great simplicity of lines in these +palaces; and the porticoes of the ground-floor might be selected for +the beauty of their leading motive. The opposition of the great +pilasters to the little columns is an idea at once felicitous and +original. The whole has a fine effect; and though I hold the +proportions of the ground-floor too low in relation to the first +story, I consider this façade of the Capitol not only one of +Michelangelo's best works, but also one of the best specimens of the +building of that period. Deduction must, of course, be made for +heaviness and improprieties of taste, which are not rare." + +Next to these designs for the Capitol, the most important +architectural work of Michelangelo's old age was the plan he made of a +new church to be erected by the Florentines in Rome to the honour of +their patron, S. Giovanni. We find him writing to his nephew on the +15th of July 1559: "The Florentines are minded to erect a great +edifice--that is to say, their church; and all of them with one accord +put pressure on me to attend to this. I have answered that I am living +here by the Duke's permission for the fabric of S. Peter's, and that +unless he gives me leave, they can get nothing from me." The consul +and counsellors of the Florentine nation in Rome wrote upon this to +the Duke, who entered with enthusiasm into their scheme, not only +sending a favourable reply, but also communicating personally upon the +subject with Buonarroti. Three of Michelangelo's letters on the +subject to the Duke have been preserved. After giving a short history +of the project, and alluding to the fact that Leo X. began the church, +he says that the Florentines had appointed a building committee of +five men, at whose request he made several designs. One of these they +selected, and according to his own opinion it was the best. "This I +will have copied and drawn out more clearly than I have been able to +do it, on account of old age, and will send it to your Most +Illustrious Lordship." The drawings were executed and carried to +Florence by the hand of Tiberio Calcagni. Vasari, who has given a long +account of this design, says that Calcagni not only drew the plans, +but that he also completed a clay model of the whole church within the +space of two days, from which the Florentines caused a larger wooden +model to be constructed. Michelangelo must have been satisfied with +his conception, for he told the building-committee that "if they +carried it out, neither the Romans nor the Greeks ever erected so fine +an edifice in any of their temples. Words the like of which neither +before nor afterwards issued from his lips; for he was exceedingly +modest." Vasari, who had good opportunities for studying the model, +pronounced it to be "superior in beauty, richness and variety of +invention to any temple which was ever seen." The building was begun, +and 5000 crowns were spent upon it. Then money or will failed. The +model and drawings perished. Nothing remains for certain to show what +Michelangelo's intentions were. The present church of S. Giovanni dei +Fiorentini in Strada Giulia is the work of Giacomo della Porta, with a +façade by Alessandro Galilei. + +Of Tiberio Calcagni, the young Florentine sculptor and architect, who +acted like a kind of secretary or clerk to Michelangelo, something may +here be said. The correspondence of this artist with Lionardo +Buonarroti shows him to have been what Vasari calls him, "of gentle +manners and discreet behaviour." He felt both veneration and +attachment for the aged master, and was one of the small group of +intimate friends who cheered his last years. We have seen that +Michelangelo consigned the shattered Pietà to his care; and Vasari +tells us that he also wished him to complete the bust of Brutus, which +had been begun, at Donato Giannotti's request, for the Cardinal +Ridolfi. This bust is said to have been modelled from an ancient +cornelian in the possession of a certain Giuliano Ceserino. +Michelangelo not only blocked the marble out, but brought it nearly to +completion, working the surface with very fine-toothed chisels. The +sweetness of Tiberio Calcagni's nature is proved by the fact that he +would not set his own hand to this masterpiece of sculpture. As in the +case of the Pietà, he left Buonarroti's work untouched, where mere +repairs were not required. Accordingly we still can trace the +fine-toothed marks of the chisel alluded to by Vasari, hatched and +cross-hatched with right and left handed strokes in the style peculiar +to Michelangelo. The Brutus remains one of the finest specimens of his +creative genius. It must have been conceived and executed in the +plenitude of his vigour, probably at the time when Florence fell +beneath the yoke of Alessandro de' Medici, or rather when his murderer +Lorenzino gained the name of Brutus from the exiles (1539). Though +Vasari may be right in saying that a Roman intaglio suggested the +stamp of face and feature, yet we must regard this Brutus as an ideal +portrait, intended to express the artist's conception of resolution +and uncompromising energy in a patriot eager to sacrifice personal +feelings and to dare the utmost for his country's welfare. Nothing can +exceed the spirit with which a violent temperament, habitually +repressed, but capable of leaping forth like sudden lightning, has +been rendered. We must be grateful to Calcagni for leaving it in its +suggestively unfinished state. + + +II + +During these same years Michelangelo carried on a correspondence with +Ammanati and Vasari about the completion of the Laurentian Library. +His letters illustrate what I have more than once observed regarding +his unpractical method of commencing great works, without more than +the roughest sketches, intelligible to himself alone, and useless to +an ordinary craftsman. The Florentine artists employed upon the fabric +wanted very much to know how he meant to introduce the grand staircase +into the vestibule. Michelangelo had forgotten all about it. "With +regard to the staircase of the library, about which so much has been +said to me, you may believe that if I could remember how I had +arranged it, I should not need to be begged and prayed for +information. There comes into my mind, as in a dream, the image of a +certain staircase; but I do not think this can be the one I then +designed, for it seems so stupid. However, I will describe it." Later +on he sends a little clay model of a staircase, just enough to +indicate his general conception, but not to determine details. He +suggests that the work would look better if carried out in walnut. We +have every reason to suppose that the present stone flight of steps is +far from being representative of his idea. + +He was now too old to do more than furnish drawings when asked to +design some monument. Accordingly, when Pius IV. resolved to erect a +tomb in Milan Cathedral to the memory of his brother, Giangiacomo de' +Medici, Marquis of Marignano, commonly called Il Medeghino, he +requested Michelangelo to supply the bronze-sculptor Leone Leoni of +Menaggio with a design. This must have been insufficient for the +sculptor's purpose--a mere hand-sketch not drawn to scale. The +monument, though imposing in general effect, is very defective in its +details and proportions. The architectural scheme has not been +comprehended by the sculptor, who enriched it with a great variety of +figures, excellently wrought in bronze, and faintly suggesting +Michelangelo's manner. + +The grotesque _barocco_ style of the Porta Pia, strong in its total +outline, but whimsical and weak in decorative detail, may probably be +ascribed to the same cause. It was sketched out by Michelangelo during +the pontificate of Pius IV., and can hardly have been erected under +his personal supervision. Vasari says: "He made three sketches, +extravagant in style and most beautiful, of which the Pope selected +the least costly; this was executed much to his credit, as may now be +seen." To what extent he was responsible for the other +sixteenth-century gates of Rome, including the Porta del Popolo, which +is commonly ascribed to him, cannot be determined; though Vasari +asserts that Michelangelo supplied the Pope with "many other models" +for the restoration of the gates. Indeed it may be said of all his +later work that we are dealing with uncertain material, the original +idea emanating perhaps from Buonarroti's mind, but the execution +having devolved upon journeymen. + +Pius IV. charged Michelangelo with another great undertaking, which +was the restoration of the Baths of Diocletian in the form of a +Christian church. Criticism is reduced to silence upon his work in +this place, because S. Maria degli Angeli underwent a complete +remodelling by the architect Vanvitelli in 1749. This man altered the +ground-plan from the Latin to the Greek type, and adopted the +decorative style in vogue at the beginning of the eighteenth century. +All that appears certain is that Michelangelo had very considerable +remains of the Roman building to make use of. We may also perhaps +credit tradition, when it tells us that the vast Carthusian cloister +belongs to him, and that the three great cypress-trees were planted by +his hand. + +Henri the Second's death occurred in 1559; and his widow, Catherine +de' Medici, resolved to erect an equestrian statue to his memory. She +bethought her of the aged sculptor, who had been bred in the palace of +her great-grandfather, who had served two Pontiffs of her family, and +who had placed the mournful image of her father on the tomb at San +Lorenzo. Accordingly she wrote a letter on the 14th of November in +that year, informing Michelangelo of her intention, and begging him to +supply at least a design upon which the best masters in the realm of +France might work. The statue was destined for the courtyard of the +royal château at Blois, and was to be in bronze. Ruberto degli +Strozzi, the Queen's cousin, happened about this time to visit Rome. +Michelangelo having agreed to furnish a sketch, it was decided between +them that the execution should be assigned to Daniele da Volterra. +After nearly a year's interval, Catherine wrote again, informing +Michelangelo that she had deposited a sum of 6000 golden crowns at the +bank of Gianbattista Gondi for the work, adding: "Consequently, since +on my side nothing remains to be done, I entreat you by the affection +you have always shown to my family, to our Florence, and lastly to +art, that you will use all diligence and assiduity, so far as your +years permit, in pushing forward this noble work, and making it a +living likeness of my lord, as well as worthy of your own unrivalled +genius. It is true that this will add nothing to the fame you now +enjoy; yet it will at least augment your reputation for most +acceptable and affectionate devotion toward myself and my ancestors, +and prolong through centuries the memory of my lawful and sole love; +for the which I shall be eager and liberal to reward you." It is +probable that by this time (October 30, 1560) Michelangelo had +forwarded his sketch to France, for the Queen criticised some details +relating to the portrait of her husband. She may have remembered with +what idealistic freedom the statues of the Dukes of Nemours and Urbino +had been treated in the Medicean Sacristy. Anyhow, she sent a picture, +and made her agent, Baccio del Bene, write a postscript to her letter, +ordering Michelangelo to model the King's head without curls, and to +adopt the rich modern style for his armour and the trappings of his +charger. She particularly insisted upon the likeness being carefully +brought out. + +Michelangelo died before the equestrian statue of Henri II. was +finished. Cellini, in his Memoirs, relates that Daniele da Volterra +worked slowly, and caused much annoyance to the Queen-mother of +France. In 1562 her agent, Baccio del Bene, came to Florence on +financial business with the Duke. He then proposed that Cellini should +return to Paris and undertake the ornamental details of the tomb. The +Duke would not consent, and Catherine de' Medici did not choose to +quarrel with her cousin about an artist. So this arrangement, which +might have secured the completion of the statue on a splendid scale, +fell through. When Daniele died in 1566, only the horse was cast; and +this part served finally for Biard's statue of Louis XIII. + + +III + +The sculptor Leone Leoni, who was employed upon the statue of +Giangiacomo de' Medici in Milan, wrote frequently to Michelangelo, +showing by his letters that a warm friendship subsisted between them, +which was also shared by Tommaso Cavalieri. In the year 1560, +according to Vasari, Leoni modelled a profile portrait of the great +master, which he afterwards cast in medal form. This is almost the +most interesting, and it is probably the most genuine contemporary +record which we possess regarding Michelangelo's appearance in the +body. I may therefore take it as my basis for inquiring into the +relative value of the many portraits said to have been modelled, +painted, or sketched from the hero in his lifetime. So far as I am +hitherto aware, no claim has been put in for the authenticity of any +likeness, except Bonasoni's engraving, anterior to the date we have +arrived at. While making this statement, I pass over the prostrate old +man in the Victory, and the Nicodemus of the Florentine Pietà, both of +which, with more or less reason, have been accepted as efforts after +self-portraiture. + +After making due allowance for Vasari's too notorious inaccuracies, +deliberate misstatements, and random jumpings at conclusions, we have +the right to accept him here as a first-rate authority. He was living +at this time in close intimacy with Buonarroti, enjoyed his +confidence, plumed himself upon their friendship, and had no reason to +distort truth, which must have been accessible to one in his position. +He says, then: "At this time the Cavaliere Leoni made a very lively +portrait of Michelangelo upon a medal, and to meet his wishes, +modelled on the reverse a blind man led by a dog, with this legend +round the rim: DOCEBO INIQUOS VIAS TUAS, ET IMPII AD TE CONVERTENTUR. +It pleased Michelangelo so much that he gave him a wax model of a +Hercules throttling Antaeus, by his own hand, together with some +drawings. Of Michelangelo there exist no other portraits, except two +in painting--one by Bugiardini, the other by Jacopo del Conte; and one +in bronze, in full relief, made by Daniele da Volterra: these, and +Leoni's medal, from which (in the plural) many copies have been made, +and a great number of them have been seen by me in several parts of +Italy and abroad." + +Leoni's medal, on the obverse, shows the old artist's head in profile, +with strong lines of drapery rising to the neck and gathering around +the shoulders. It carries this legend: MICHELANGELUS BUONARROTUS, FLO. +R.A.E.T.S. ANN. 88, and is signed LEO. Leoni then assumed that +Michelangelo was eighty-eight years of age when he cast the die. But +if this was done in 1560, the age he had then attained was +eighty-five. We possess a letter from Leoni in Milan to Buonarroti in +Rome, dated March 14, 1561. In it he says: "I am sending to your +lordship, by the favour of Lord Carlo Visconti, a great man in this +city, and beloved by his Holiness, four medals of your portrait: two +in silver, and two in bronze. I should have done so earlier but for my +occupation with the monument (of Medeghino), and for the certainty I +feel that you will excuse my tardiness, if not a sin of ingratitude in +me. The one enclosed within the little box has been worked up to the +finest polish. I beg you to accept and keep this for the love of me. +With the other three you will do as you think best. I say this because +ambition has prompted me to send copies into Spain and Flanders, as I +have also done to Rome and other places. I call it ambition, forasmuch +as I have gained an overplus of benefits by acquiring the good-will of +your lordship, whom I esteem so highly. Have I not received in little +less than three months two letters written to me by you, divine man; +and couched not in terms fit for a servant of good heart and will, but +for one beloved as a son? I pray you to go on loving me, and when +occasion serves, to favour me; and to Signer Tomao dei Cavalieri say +that I shall never be unmindful of him." + +It is clear, then, I think, that Leoni's model was made at Rome in +1560, cast at Milan, and sent early in the spring of 1561 to +Michelangelo. The wide distribution of the medals, two of which exist +still in silver, while several in bronze may be found in different +collections, is accounted for by what Leoni says about his having +given them away to various parts of Europe. We are bound to suppose +that AET. 88 in the legend on the obverse is due to a misconception +concerning Michelangelo's age. Old men are often ignorant or careless +about the exact tale of years they have performed. + +There is reason to believe that Leoni's original model of the profile, +the likeness he shaped from life, and which he afterwards used for the +medallion, is extant and in excellent preservation. Mr. C. Drury E. +Fortnum (to whose monographs upon Michelangelo's portraits, kindly +communicated by himself, I am deeply indebted at this portion of my +work), tells us how he came into possession of an exquisite cameo, in +flesh-coloured wax upon a black oval ground. This fragile work of art +is framed in gilt metal and glazed, carrying upon its back an Italian +inscription, which may be translated: "Portrait of Michelangelo +Buonarroti, taken from the life, by Leone Aretino, his friend." +Comparing the relief in wax with the medal, we cannot doubt that both +represent the same man; and only cavillers will raise the question +whether both were fashioned by one hand. Such discrepancies as occur +between them are just what we should expect in the work of a craftsman +who sought first to obtain an accurate likeness of his subject, and +then treated the same subject on the lines of numismatic art. The wax +shows a lean and subtly moulded face--the face of a delicate old man, +wiry and worn with years of deep experience. The hair on head and +beard is singularly natural; one feels it to be characteristic of the +person. Transferring this portrait to bronze necessitated a general +broadening of the masses, with a coarsening of outline to obtain bold +relief. Something of the purest truth has been sacrificed to plastic +effect by thickening the shrunken throat; and this induced a +corresponding enlargement of the occiput for balance. Writing with +photographs of these two models before me, I feel convinced that in +the wax we have a portrait from the life of the aged Buonarroti as +Leoni knew him, and in the bronze a handling of that portrait as the +craftsman felt his art of metal-work required its execution. There was +a grand manner of medallion-portraiture in Italy, deriving from the +times of Pisanello; and Leoni's bronze is worthy of that excellent +tradition. He preserved the salient features of Buonarroti in old age. +But having to send down to posterity a monumental record of the man, +he added, insensibly or wilfully, both bulk and mass to the head he +had so keenly studied. What confirms me in the opinion that Mr. +Fornum's cameo is the most veracious portrait we possess of +Michelangelo in old age, is that its fragility of structure, the +tenuity of life vigorous but infinitely refined, reappears in the weak +drawing made by Francesco d'Olanda of Buonarroti in hat and mantle. +This is a comparatively poor and dreamy sketch. Yet it has an air of +veracity; and what the Flemish painter seized in the divine man he so +much admired, was a certain slender grace and dignity of +person--exactly the quality which Mr. Fortnum's cameo possesses. + +Before leaving this interesting subject, I ought to add that the blind +man on the reverse of Leoni's medal is clearly a rough and ready +sketch of Michelangelo, not treated like a portrait, but with +indications sufficient to connect the figure with the highly wrought +profile on the obverse. + +Returning now to the passage cited from Vasari, we find that he +reckons only two authentic portraits in painting of Michelangelo, one +by Bugiardini, the other by Jacopo del Conte. He has neglected to +mention two which are undoubtedly attempts to reproduce the features +of the master by scholars he had formed. Probably Vasari overlooked +them, because they did not exist as easel-pictures, but were +introduced into great compositions as subordinate adjuncts. One of +them is the head painted by Daniele da Volterra in his picture of the +Assumption at the church of the Trinità de' Monti in Rome. It belongs +to an apostle, draped in red, stretching arms aloft, close to a +column, on the right hand of the painting as we look at it. This must +be reckoned among the genuine likenesses of the great man by one who +lived with him and knew him intimately. The other is a portrait placed +by Marcello Venusti in the left-hand corner of his copy of the Last +Judgment, executed, under Michelangelo's direction, for the Cardinal +Farnese. It has value for the same reasons as those which make us +dwell upon Daniele da Volterra's picture. Moreover, it connects itself +with a series of easel-paintings. One of these, ascribed to Venusti, +is preserved in the Museo Buonarroti at Florence; another at the +Capitol in Rome. Several repetitions of this type exist: they look +like studies taken by the pupil from his master, and reproduced to +order when death closed the scene, making friends wish for mementoes +of the genius who had passed away. The critique of such works will +always remain obscure. + +What has become of the portrait of Del Conte mentioned by Vasari +cannot now be ascertained. We have no external evidence to guide us. + +On the other hand, certain peculiarities about the portrait in the +Uffizi, especially the exaggeration of one eye, lend some colouring to +the belief that we here possess the picture ascribed by Vasari to +Bugiardini. + +Michelangelo's type of face was well accentuated, and all the more or +less contemporary portraits of him reproduce it. Time is wasted in the +effort to assign to little men their special part in the creation of a +prevalent tradition. It seems to me, therefore, the function of sane +criticism not to be particular about the easel-pictures ascribed to +Venusti, Del Conte, and Bugiardini. + +The case is different with a superb engraving by Giulio Bonasoni, a +profile in a circle, dated 1546, and giving Buonarroti's age as +seventy-two. This shows the man in fuller vigour than the portraits we +have hitherto been dealing with. From other prints which bear the +signature of Bonasoni, we see that he was interested in faithfully +reproducing Michelangelo's work. What the relations between the two +men were remains uncertain, but Bonasoni may have had opportunities of +studying the master's person. At any rate, as a product of the burin, +this profile is comparable for fidelity and veracity with Leoni's +model, and is executed in the same medallion spirit. + +So far, then, as I have yet pursued the analysis of Michelangelo's +portraits, I take Bonasoni's engraving to be decisive for +Michelangelo's appearance at the age of seventy; Leoni's model as of +equal or of greater value at the age of eighty; Venusti's and Da +Volterra's paintings as of some importance for this later period; +while I leave the attribution of minor easel-pictures to Del Conte or +to Bugiardini open. + +It remains to speak of that "full relief in bronze made by Daniele da +Volterra," which Vasari mentions among the four genuine portraits of +Buonarroti. From the context we should gather that this head was +executed during the lifetime of Michelangelo, and the conclusion is +supported by the fact that only a few pages later on Vasari mentions +two other busts modelled after his death. Describing the catafalque +erected to his honour in S. Lorenzo, he says that the pyramid which +crowned the structure exhibited within two ovals (one turned toward +the chief door, and the other toward the high altar) "the head of +Michelangelo in relief, taken from nature, and very excellently +carried out by Santi Buglioni." The words _ritratta dal naturale_ do +not, I think, necessarily imply that it was modelled from the life. +Owing to the circumstances under which Michelangelo's obsequies were +prepared, there was not time to finish it in bronze of stone; it may +therefore have been one of those Florentine terra-cotta effigies which +artists elaborated from a cast taken after death. That there existed +such a cast is proved by what we know about the monument designed by +Vasari in S. Croce. "One of the statues was assigned to Battista +Lorenzi, an able sculptor, together with the head of Michelangelo." We +learn from another source that this bust in marble "was taken from the +mask cast after his death." + +The custom of taking plaster casts from the faces of the illustrious +dead, in order to perpetuate their features, was so universal in +Italy, that it could hardly have been omitted in the case of +Michelangelo. The question now arises whether the bronze head ascribed +by Vasari to Daniele da Volterra was executed during Michelangelo's +lifetime or after his decease, and whether we possess it. There are +eight heads of this species known to students of Michelangelo, which +correspond so nicely in their measurements and general features as to +force the conclusion that they were all derived from an original +moulded by one masterly hand. Three of these heads are unmounted, +namely, those at Milan, Oxford, and M. Piot's house in Paris. One, +that of the Capitoline Museum, is fixed upon a bust of _bigio morato_ +marble. The remaining four examples are executed throughout in bronze +as busts, agreeing in the main as to the head, but differing in minor +details of drapery. They exist respectively in the Museo Buonarroti, +the Accademia, and the Bargello at Florence, and in the private +collection of M. Cottier of Paris. It is clear, then, that we are +dealing with bronze heads cast from a common mould, worked up +afterwards according to the fancy of the artist. That this original +head was the portrait ascribed to Daniele da Volterra will be conceded +by all who care to trace the history of the bust; but whether he +modelled it after Michelangelo's death cannot be decided. Professional +critics are of the opinion that a mask was followed by the master; and +this may have been the case. Michelangelo died upon the 17th of +February 1564. His face was probably cast in the usual course of +things, and copies may have been distributed among his friends in Rome +and Florence. Lionardo Buonarroti showed at once a great anxiety to +obtain his uncle's bust from Daniele da Volterra. Possibly he ordered +it while resident in Rome, engaged in winding up Michelangelo's +affairs. At any rate, Daniele wrote on June 11 to this effect: "As +regards the portraits in metal, I have already completed a model in +wax, and the work is going on as fast as circumstances permit; you may +rely upon its being completed with due despatch and all the care I can +bestow upon it." Nearly four months had elapsed since Michelangelo's +decease, and this was quite enough time for the wax model to be made. +The work of casting was begun, but Daniele's health at this time +became so wretched that he found it impossible to work steadily at any +of his undertakings. He sank slowly, and expired in the early spring +of 1566. + +What happened to the bronze heads in the interval between June 1564 +and April 1566 may be partly understood from Diomede Leoni's +correspondence. This man, a native of San Quirico, was Daniele's +scholar, and an intimate friend of the Buonarroti family. On the 9th +of September 1564 he wrote to Lionardo: "Your two heads of that +sainted man are coming to a good result, and I am sure you will be +satisfied with them." It appears, then, that Lionardo had ordered two +copies from Daniele. On the 21st of April 1565 Diomede writes again: +"I delivered your messages to Messer Daniele, who replies that you are +always in his mind, as also the two heads of your lamented uncle. They +will soon be cast, as also will my copy, which I mean to keep by me +for my honour." The casting must have taken place in the summer of +1565, for Diomede writes upon the 6th of October: "I will remind him +(Daniele) of your two heads; and he will find mine well finished, +which will make him wish to have yours chased without further delay." +The three heads had then been cast; Diomede was polishing his up with +the file; Daniele had not yet begun to do this for Lionardo's. We hear +nothing more until the death of Daniele da Volterra. After this event +occurred, Lionardo Buonarroti received a letter from Jacopo del Duca, +a Sicilian bronze-caster of high merit, who had enjoyed Michelangelo's +confidence and friendship. He was at present employed upon the +metal-work for Buonarroti's monument in the Church of the SS. Apostoli +in Rome, and on the 18th of April he sent important information +respecting the two heads left by Daniele. "Messer Danielo had cast +them, but they are in such a state as to require working over afresh +with chisels and files. I am not sure, then, whether they will suit +your purpose; but that is your affair. I, for my part, should have +liked you to have the portrait from the hand of the lamented master +himself, and not from any other. Your lordship must decide: appeal to +some one who can inform you better than I do. I know that I am +speaking from the love I bear you; and perhaps, if Danielo had been +alive, he would have had them brought to proper finish. As for those +men of his, I do not know what they will do." On the same day, a +certain Michele Alberti wrote as follows: "Messer Jacopo, your gossip, +has told me that your lordship wished to know in what condition are +the heads of the late lamented Michelangelo. I inform you that they +are cast, and will be chased within the space of a month, or rather +more. So your lordship will be able to have them; and you may rest +assured that you will be well and quickly served." Alberti, we may +conjecture, was one of Daniele's men alluded to by Jacopo del Duca. It +is probable that just at this time they were making several _replicas_ +from their deceased master's model, in order to dispose of them at an +advantage while Michelangelo's memory was still fresh. Lionardo grew +more and more impatient. He appealed again to Diomede Leoni, who +replied from San Quirico upon the 4th of June: "The two heads were in +existence when I left Rome, but not finished up. I imagine you have +given orders to have them delivered over to yourself. As for the work +of chasing them, if you can wait till my return, we might intrust them +to a man who succeeded very well with my own copy." Three years later, +on September 17, 1569, Diomede wrote once again about his copy of Da +Volterra's model: "I enjoy the continual contemplation of his effigy +in bronze, which is now perfectly finished and set up in my garden, +where you will see it, if good fortune favours me with a visit from +you." + +The net result of this correspondence seems to be that certainly three +bronze heads, and probably more, remained unfinished in Daniele da +Volterra's workshop after his death, and that these were gradually +cleaned and polished by different craftsmen, according to the pleasure +of their purchasers. The strong resemblance of the eight bronze heads +at present known to us, in combination with their different states of +surface-finish, correspond entirely to this conclusion. Mr. Fortnum, +in his classification, describes four as being not chased, one as +"rudely and broadly chased," three as "more or less chased." + +Of these variants upon the model common to them all, we can only trace +one with relative certainty. It is the bust at present in the Bargello +Palace, whither it came from the Grand Ducal villa of Poggio +Imperiale. By the marriage of the heiress of the ducal house of Della +Rovere with a Duke of Tuscany, this work of art passed, with other art +treasures, notably with a statuette of Michelangelo's Moses, into the +possession of the Medici. A letter written in 1570 to the Duke of +Urbino by Buonarroti's house-servant, Antonio del Franzese of Castel +Durante, throws light upon the matter. He begins by saying that he is +glad to hear the Duke will accept the little Moses, though the object +is too slight in value to deserve his notice. Then he adds: "The head +of which your Excellency spoke in the very kind letter addressed to me +at your command is the true likeness of Michelangelo Buonarroti, my +old master; and it is of bronze, designed by himself. I keep it here +in Rome, and now present it to your Excellency." Antonio then, in all +probability, obtained one of the Daniele da Volterra bronzes; for it +is wholly incredible that what he writes about its having been made by +Michelangelo should be the truth. Had Michelangelo really modelled his +own portrait and cast it in bronze, we must have heard of this from +other sources. Moreover, the Medicean bust of Michelangelo which is +now placed in the Bargello, and which we believe to have come from +Urbino, belongs indubitably to the series of portraits made from +Daniele da Volterra's model. + +To sum up this question of Michelangelo's authentic portraits: I +repeat that Bonasoni's engraving represents him at the age of seventy; +Leoni's wax model and medallions at eighty; the eight bronze heads, +derived from Daniele's model, at the epoch of his death. In painting, +Marco Venusti and Daniele da Volterra helped to establish a +traditional type by two episodical likenesses, the one worked into +Venusti's copy of the Last Judgment (at Naples), the other into +Volterra's original picture of the Assumption (at Trinità de' Monti, +Rome). For the rest, the easel-pictures, which abound, can hardly now +be distributed, by any sane method of criticism, between Bugiardini, +Jacopo del Conte, and Venusti. They must be taken _en masse_, as +contributions to the study of his personality; and, as I have already +said, the oil-painting of the Uffizi may perhaps be ascribed with some +show of probability to Bugiardini. + + +IV + +Michelangelo's correspondence with his nephew Lionardo gives us ample +details concerning his private life and interests in old age. It turns +mainly upon the following topics: investment of money in land near +Florence, the purchase of a mansion in the city, Lionardo's marriage, +his own illnesses, the Duke's invitation, and the project of making a +will, which was never carried out. Much as Michelangelo loved his +nephew, he took frequent occasions of snubbing him. For instance, news +reached Rome that the landed property of a certain Francesco Corboli +was going to be sold. Michelangelo sent to Lionardo requesting him to +make inquiries; and because the latter showed some alacrity in doing +so, his uncle wrote him the following querulous epistle: "You have +been very hasty in sending me information regarding the estates of the +Corboli. I did not think you were yet in Florence. Are you afraid lest +I should change my mind, as some one may perhaps have put it into your +head? I tell you that I want to go slowly in this affair, because the +money I must pay has been gained here with toil and trouble +unintelligible to one who was born clothed and shod as you were. About +your coming post-haste to Rome, I do not know that you came in such a +hurry when I was a pauper and lacked bread. Enough for you to throw +away the money that you did not earn. The fear of losing what you +might inherit on my death impelled you. You say it was your duty to +come, by reason of the love you bear me. The love of a woodworm! If +you really loved me, you would have written now: 'Michelangelo, spend +those 3000 ducats there upon yourself, for you have given us enough +already: your life is dearer to us than your money.' You have all of +you lived forty years upon me, and I have never had from you so much +as one good word. 'Tis true that last year I scolded and rebuked you +so that for very shame you sent me a load of trebbiano. I almost wish +you hadn't! I do not write this because I am unwilling to buy. Indeed +I have a mind to do so, in order to obtain an income for myself, now +that I cannot work more. But I want to buy at leisure, so as not to +purchase some annoyance. Therefore do not hurry." + +Lionardo was careless about his handwriting, and this annoyed the old +man terribly. + +"Do not write to me again. Each time I get one of your letters, a +fever takes me with the trouble I have in reading it. I do not know +where you learned to write. I think that if you were writing to the +greatest donkey in the world you would do it with more care. Therefore +do not add to the annoyances I have, for I have already quite enough +of them." + +He returns to the subject over and over again, and once declares that +he has flung a letter of Lionardo's into the fire unread, and so is +incapable of answering it. This did not prevent a brisk interchange of +friendly communications between the uncle and nephew. + +Lionardo was now living in the Buonarroti house in Via Ghibellina. +Michelangelo thought it advisable that he should remove into a more +commodious mansion, and one not subject to inundations of the +basement. He desired, however, not to go beyond the quarter of S. +Croce, where the family had been for centuries established. The matter +became urgent, for Lionardo wished to marry, and could not marry until +he was provided with a residence. Eventually, after rejecting many +plans and proffers of houses, they decided to enlarge and improve the +original Buonarroti mansion in Via Ghibellina. This house continued to +be their town-mansion until the year 1852, when it passed by +testamentary devise to the city of Florence. It is now the Museo +Buonarroti. + +Lionardo was at this time thirty, and was the sole hope of the family, +since Michelangelo and his two surviving brothers had no expectation +of offspring. His uncle kept reminding the young man that, if he did +not marry and get children, the whole property of the Buonarroti would +go to the Hospital or to S. Martino. This made his marriage +imperative; and Michelangelo's letters between March 5, 1547, and May +16, 1553, when the desired event took place, are full of the subject. +He gives his nephew excellent advice as to the choice of a wife. She +ought to be ten years younger than himself, of noble birth, but not of +a very rich or powerful family; Lionardo must not expect her to be too +handsome, since he is no miracle of manly beauty; the great thing is +to obtain a good, useful, and obedient helpmate, who will not try to +get the upper hand in the house, and who will be grateful for an +honourable settlement in life. The following passages may be selected, +as specimens of Michelangelo's advice: "You ought not to look for a +dower, but only to consider whether the girl is well brought up, +healthy, of good character and noble blood. You are not yourself of +such parts and person as to be worthy of the first beauty of +Florence." "You have need of a wife who would stay with you, and whom +you could command, and who would not want to live in grand style or to +gad about every day to marriages and banquets. Where a court is, it is +easy to become a woman of loose life; especially for one who has no +relatives." + +Numerous young ladies were introduced by friends or matrimonial +agents. Six years, however, elapsed before the suitable person +presented herself in the shape of Cassandra, daughter of Donato +Ridolfi. Meanwhile, in 1548, Michelangelo lost the elder of his +surviving brothers. Giovan Simone died upon the 9th of January; and +though he had given but little satisfaction in his lifetime, his death +was felt acutely by the venerable artist. "I received news in your +last of Giovan Simone's death. It has caused me the greatest sorrow; +for though I am old, I had yet hoped to see him before he died, and +before I died. God has willed it so. Patience! I should be glad to +hear circumstantially what kind of end he made, and whether he +confessed and communicated with all the sacraments of the Church. If +he did so, and I am informed of it, I shall suffer less." A few days +after the date of this letter, Michelangelo writes again, blaming +Lionardo pretty severely for negligence in giving particulars of his +uncle's death and affairs. Later on, it seems that he was satisfied +regarding Giovan Simone's manner of departure from this world. A +grudge remained against Lionardo because he had omitted to inform him +about the property. "I heard the details from other persons before you +sent them, which angered me exceedingly." + + +V + +The year 1549 is marked by an exchange of civilities between +Michelangelo and Benedetto Varchi. The learned man of letters and +minute historiographer of Florence probably enjoyed our great +sculptor's society in former years: recently they had been brought +into closer relations at Rome. Varchi, who was interested in critical +and academical problems, started the question whether sculpture or +painting could justly claim a priority in the plastic arts. He +conceived the very modern idea of collecting opinions from practical +craftsmen, instituting, in fact, what would now be called a +"Symposium" upon the subject. A good number of the answers to his +query have been preserved, and among them is a letter from +Michelangelo. It contains the following passage, which proves in how +deep a sense Buonarroti was by temperament and predilection a +sculptor: "My opinion is that all painting is the better the nearer it +approaches to relief, and relief is the worse in proportion as it +inclines to painting. And so I have been wont to think that sculpture +is the lamp of painting, and that the difference between them might be +likened to the difference between the sun and moon. Now that I have +read your essay, in which you maintain that, philosophically speaking, +things which fulfil the same purpose are essentially the same, I have +altered my view. Therefore I say that, if greater judgment and +difficulty, impediment and labour, in the handling of material do not +constitute higher nobility, then painting and sculpture form one art. +This being granted, it follows that no painter should underrate +sculpture, and no sculptor should make light of painting. By sculpture +I understand an art which operates by taking away superfluous +material; by painting, one that attains its result by laying on. It is +enough that both emanate from the same human intelligence, and +consequently sculpture and painting ought to live in amity together, +without these lengthy disputations. More time is wasted in talking +about the problem than would go to the making of figures in both +species. The man who wrote that painting was superior to sculpture, if +he understood the other things he says no better, might be called a +writer below the level of my maid-servant. There are infinite points +not yet expressed which might be brought out regarding these arts; +but, as I have said, they want too much time; and of time I have but +little, being not only old, but almost numbered with the dead. +Therefore, I pray you to have me excused. I recommend myself to you, +and thank you to the best of my ability for the too great honour you +have done me, which is more than I deserve." + +Varchi printed this letter in a volume which he published at Florence +in 1549, and reissued through another firm in 1590. It contained the +treatise alluded to above, and also a commentary upon one of +Michelangelo's sonnets, "Non ha l'ottimo artista alcun concetto." The +book was duly sent to Michelangelo by the favour of a noble Florentine +gentleman, Luca Martini. He responded to the present in a letter which +deserves here to be recited. It is an eminent example of the urbanity +observed by him in the interchange of these and similar courtesies:-- + +"I have received your letter, together with a little book containing a +commentary on a sonnet of mine. The sonnet does indeed proceed from +me, but the commentary comes from heaven. In truth it is a marvellous +production; and I say this not on my own judgment only, but on that of +able men, especially of Messer Donato Giannotti, who is never tired of +reading it. He begs to be remembered to you. About the sonnet, I know +very well what that is worth. Yet be it what it may, I cannot refrain +from piquing myself a little on having been the cause of so beautiful +and learned a commentary. The author of it, by his words and praises, +shows clearly that he thinks me to be other than I am; so I beg you to +express me to him in terms corresponding to so much love, affection, +and courtesy. I entreat you to do this, because I feel myself +inadequate, and one who has gained golden opinions ought not to tempt +fortune; it is better to keep silence than to fall from that height. I +am old, and death has robbed me of the thoughts of my youth. He who +knows not what old age is, let him wait till it arrives: he cannot +know beforehand. Remember me, as I said, to Varchi, with deep +affection for his fine qualities, and as his servant wherever I may +be." + +Three other letters belonging to the same year show how deeply +Michelangelo was touched and gratified by the distinguished honour +Varchi paid him. In an earlier chapter of this book I have already +pointed out how this correspondence bears upon the question of his +friendship with Tommaso dei Cavalieri, and also upon an untenable +hypothesis advanced by recent Florentine students of his biography. +The incident is notable in other ways because Buonarroti was now +adopted as a poet by the Florentine Academy. With a width of sympathy +rare in such bodies, they condoned the ruggedness of his style and the +uncouthness of his versification in their admiration for the high +quality of his meditative inspiration. To the triple crown of +sculptor, painter, architect, he now added the laurels of the bard; +and this public recognition of his genius as a writer gave him +well-merited pleasure in his declining years. + +While gathering up these scattered fragments of Buonarroti's later +life, I may here introduce a letter addressed to Benvenuto Cellini, +which illustrates his glad acceptance of all good work in +fellow-craftsmen:-- + +"My Benvenuto,--I have known you all these years as the greatest +goldsmith of whom the world ever heard, and now I am to know you for a +sculptor of the same quality. Messer Bindo Altoviti took me to see his +portrait bust in bronze, and told me it was by your hand. I admired it +much, but was sorry to see that it has been placed in a bad light. If +it had a proper illumination, it would show itself to be the fine work +it is." + + +VI + +Lionardo Buonarroti was at last married to Cassandra, the daughter of +Donato Ridolfi, upon the 16th of May 1553. One of the dearest wishes +which had occupied his uncle's mind so long, came thus to its +accomplishment. His letters are full of kindly thoughts for the young +couple, and of prudent advice to the husband, who had not arranged all +matters connected with the settlements to his own satisfaction. +Michelangelo congratulated Lionardo heartily upon his happiness, and +told him that he was minded to send the bride a handsome present, in +token of his esteem. "I have not been able to do so yet, because +Urbino was away. Now that he has returned, I shall give expression to +my sentiments. They tell me that a fine pearl necklace of some value +would be very proper. I have sent a goldsmith, Urbino's friend, in +search of such an ornament, and hope to find it; but say nothing to +her, and if you would like me to choose another article, please let me +know." This letter winds up with a strange admonition: "Look to +living, reflect and weigh things well; for the number of widows in the +world is always larger than that of the widowers." Ultimately he +decided upon two rings, one a diamond, the other a ruby. He tells +Lionardo to have the stones valued in case he has been cheated, +because he does not understand such things; and is glad to hear in due +course that the jewels are genuine. After the proper interval, +Cassandra expected her confinement, and Michelangelo corresponded with +his nephew as to the child's name in case it was a boy. "I shall be +very pleased if the name of Buonarroto does not die out of our family, +it having lasted three hundred years with us." The child was born upon +the 16th of May 1544, turned out a boy, and received the name of +Buonarroto. Though Lionardo had seven other children, including +Michelangelo the younger (born November 4, 1568), this Buonarroto +alone continued the male line of the family. The old man in Rome +remarked resignedly during his later years, when he heard the news of +a baby born and dead, that "I am not surprised; there was never in our +family more than one at a time to keep it going." + +Buonarroto was christened with some pomp, and Vasari wrote to +Michelangelo describing the festivities. In the year 1554, Cosimo de' +Medici had thrown his net round Siena. The Marquis of Marignano +reduced the city first to extremities by famine, and finally to +enslavement by capitulation. These facts account for the tone of +Michelangelo's answer to Vasari's letter: "Yours has given me the +greatest pleasure, because it assures me that you remember the poor +old man; and more perhaps because you were present at the triumph you +narrate, of seeing another Buonarroto reborn. I thank you heartily for +the information. But I must say that I am displeased with so much pomp +and show. Man ought not to laugh when the whole world weeps. So I +think that Lionardo has not displayed great judgment, particularly in +celebrating a nativity with all that joy and gladness which ought to +be reserved for the decease of one who has lived well." There is what +may be called an Elizabethan note--something like the lyrical +interbreathings of our dramatists--in this blending of jubilation and +sorrow, discontent and satisfaction, birth and death thoughts. + +We have seen that Vasari worked for a short time as pupil under +Michelangelo, and that during the pontificate of Paul III. they were +brought into frequent contact at Rome. With years their friendship +deepened into intimacy, and after the date 1550 their correspondence +forms one of our most important sources of information. Michelangelo's +letters begin upon the 1st of August in that year. Vasari was then +living and working for the Duke at Florence; but he had designed a +chapel for S. Pietro a Montorio in Rome, where Julius III. wished to +erect tombs to the memory of his ancestors; and the work had been +allotted to Bartolommeo Ammanati under Michelangelo's direction. + +This business, otherwise of no importance in his biography, +necessitated the writing of despatches, one of which is interesting, +since it acknowledges the receipt of Vasari's celebrated book:-- + +"Referring to your three letters which I have received, my pen refuses +to reply to such high compliments. I should indeed be happy if I were +in some degree what you make me out to be, but I should not care for +this except that then you would have a servant worth something. +However, I am not surprised that you, who resuscitate the dead, should +prolong the life of the living, or that you should steal the half-dead +from death for an endless period." + +It seems that on this occasion he also sent Vasari the sonnet composed +upon his Lives of the Painters. Though it cannot be called one of his +poetical masterpieces, the personal interest attaching to the verses +justifies their introduction here:-- + + _With pencil and with palette hitherto + You made your art high Nature's paragon; + Nay more, from Nature her own prize you won, + Making what she made fair more fair to view_. + + _Now that your learned hand with labour new + Of pen and ink a worthier work hath done, + What erst you lacked, what still remained her own, + The power of giving life, is gained for you_. + + _If men in any age with Nature vied + In beauteous workmanship, they had to yield + When to the fated end years brought their name_. + + _You, re-illuming memories that died, + In spite of Time and Nature have revealed + For them and for yourself eternal fame_. + +Vasari's official position at the ducal court of Florence brought him +into frequent and personal relations with Cosimo de' Medici. The Duke +had long been anxious to lure the most gifted of his subjects back to +Florence; but Michelangelo, though he remained a loyal servant to the +Medicean family, could not approve of Cosimo's despotic rule. +Moreover, he was now engaged by every tie of honour, interest, and +artistic ambition to superintend the fabric of S. Peter's. He showed +great tact, through delicate negotiations carried on for many years, +in avoiding the Duke's overtures without sacrificing his friendship. +Wishing to found his family in Florence and to fund the earnings of +his life there, he naturally assumed a courteous attitude. A letter +written by the Bishop Tornabuoni to Giovanni Francesco Lottini in Rome +shows that these overtures began as early as 1546. The prelate says +the Duke is so anxious to regain "Michelangelo, the divine sculptor," +that he promises "to make him a member of the forty-eight senators, +and to give him any office he may ask for." The affair was dropped for +some years, but in 1552 Cosimo renewed his attempts, and now began to +employ Vasari and Cellini as ambassadors. Soon after finishing his +Perseus, Benvenuto begged for leave to go to Rome; and before +starting, he showed the Duke Michelangelo's friendly letter on the +bust of Bindo Altoviti. "He read it with much kindly interest, and +said to me: 'Benvenuto, if you write to him, and can persuade him to +return to Florence, I will make him a member of the Forty-eight.' +Accordingly I wrote a letter full of warmth, and offered in the Duke's +name a hundred times more than my commission carried; but not wanting +to make any mistake, I showed this to the Duke before I sealed it, +saying to his most illustrious Excellency: 'Prince, perhaps I have +made him too many promises.' He replied: 'Michel Agnolo deserves more +than you have promised, and I will bestow on him still greater +favours.' To this letter he sent no answer, and I could see that the +Duke was much offended with him." + +While in Rome, Cellini went to visit Michelangelo, and renewed his +offers in the Duke's name. What passed in that interview is so +graphically told, introducing the rustic personality of Urbino on the +stage, and giving a hint of Michelangelo's reasons for not returning +in person to Florence, that the whole passage may be transcribed as +opening a little window on the details of our hero's domestic life:-- + +"Then I went to visit Michel Agnolo Buonarroti, and repeated what I +had written from Florence to him in the Duke's name. He replied that +he was engaged upon the fabric of S. Peter's, and that this would +prevent him from leaving Rome. I rejoined that, as he had decided on +the model of that building, he could leave its execution to his man +Urbino, who would carry out his orders to the letter. I added much +about future favours, in the form of a message from the Duke. Upon +this he looked me hard in the face, and said with a sarcastic smile: +'And you! to what extent are you satisfied with him?' Although I +replied that I was extremely contented and was very well treated by +his Excellency, he showed that he was acquainted with the greater part +of my annoyances, and gave as his final answer that it would be +difficult for him to leave Rome. To this I added that he could not do +better than to return to his own land, which was governed by a prince +renowned for justice, and the greatest lover of the arts and sciences +who ever saw the light of this world. As I have remarked above, he had +with him a servant of his who came from Urbino, and had lived many +years in his employment, rather as valet and housekeeper than anything +else; this indeed was obvious, because he had acquired no skill in the +arts. Consequently, while I was pressing Michel Agnolo with arguments +he could not answer, he turned round sharply to Urbino, as though to +ask him his opinion. The fellow began to bawl out in his rustic way: +'I will never leave my master Michel Agnolo's side till I shall have +flayed him or he shall have flayed me.' These stupid words forced me +to laugh, and without saying farewell, I lowered my shoulders and +retired." + +This was in 1552. The Duke was loth to take a refusal, and for the +next eight years he continued to ply Michelangelo with invitations, +writing letters by his own hand, employing his agents in Rome and +Florence, and working through Vasari. The letters to Vasari during +this period are full of the subject. Michelangelo remains firm in his +intention to remain at Rome and not abandon S. Peter's. As years went +on, infirmities increased, and the solicitations of the Duke became +more and more irksome to the old man. His discomfort at last elicited +what may be called a real cry of pain in a letter to his nephew:-- + +"As regards my condition, I am ill with all the troubles which are +wont to afflict old men. The stone prevents me passing water. My loins +and back are so stiff that I often cannot climb upstairs. What makes +matters worse is that my mind is much worried with anxieties. If I +leave the conveniences I have here for my health, I can hardly live +three days. Yet I do not want to lose the favour of the Duke, nor +should I like to fail in my work at S. Peter's, nor in my duty to +myself. I pray God to help and counsel me; and if I were taken ill by +some dangerous fever, I would send for you at once." + +Meanwhile, in spite of his resistance to the Duke's wishes, +Michelangelo did not lose the favour of the Medicean family. The +delicacy of behaviour by means of which he contrived to preserve and +strengthen it, is indeed one of the strongest evidences of his +sincerity, sagacity, and prudence. The Cardinal Giovanni, son of +Cosimo, travelled to Rome in March 1560, in order to be invested with +the purple by the Pope's hands. On this occasion Vasari, who rode in +the young prince's train, wrote despatches to Florence which contain +some interesting passages about Buonarroti. In one of them (March 29) +he says: "My friend Michelangelo is so old that I do not hope to +obtain much from him." Beside the reiterated overtures regarding a +return to Florence, the Church of the Florentines was now in progress, +and Cosimo also required Buonarroti's advice upon the decoration of +the Great Hall in the Palazzo della Signoria. In a second letter +(April 8) Vasari tells the Duke: "I reached Rome, and immediately +after the most reverend and illustrious Medici had made his entrance +and received the hat from our lord's hands, a ceremony which I wished +to see with a view to the frescoes in the Palace, I went to visit my +friend, the mighty Michelangelo. He had not expected me, and the +tenderness of his reception was such as old men show when lost sons +unexpectedly return to them. He fell upon my neck with a thousand +kisses, weeping for joy. He was so glad to see me, and I him, that I +have had no greater pleasure since I entered the service of your +Excellency, albeit I enjoy so many through your kindness. We talked +about the greatness and the wonders which our God in heaven has +wrought for you, and he lamented that he could not serve you with his +body, as he is ready to do with his talents at the least sign of your +will. He also expressed his sorrow at being unable to wait upon the +Cardinal, because he now can move about but little, and is grown so +old that he gets small rest, and is so low in health I fear he will +not last long, unless the goodness of God preserves him for the +building of S. Peter's." After some further particulars, Vasari adds +that he hopes "to spend Monday and Tuesday discussing the model of the +Great Hall with Michelangelo, as well as the composition of the +several frescoes. I have all that is necessary with me, and will do my +utmost, while remaining in his company, to extract useful information +and suggestions." We know from Vasari's Life of Michelangelo that the +plans for decorating the Palace were settled to his own and the Duke's +satisfaction during these colloquies at Rome. + +Later on in the year, Cosimo came in person to Rome, attended by the +Duchess Eleonora. Michelangelo immediately waited on their Highnesses, +and was received with special marks of courtesy by the Duke, who bade +him to be seated at his side, and discoursed at length about his own +designs for Florence and certain discoveries he had made in the method +of working porphyry. These interviews, says Vasari, were repeated +several times during Cosimo's sojourn in Rome; and when the +Crown-Prince of Florence, Don Francesco, arrived, this young nobleman +showed his high respect for the great man by conversing with him cap +in hand. + +The project of bringing Buonarroti back to Florence was finally +abandoned; but he had the satisfaction of feeling that, after the +lapse of more than seventy years, his long connection with the House +of Medici remained as firm and cordial as it had ever been. It was +also consolatory to know that the relations established between +himself and the reigning dynasty in Florence would prove of service to +Lionardo, upon whom he now had concentrated the whole of his strong +family affection. + +In estimating Michelangelo as man, independent of his eminence as +artist, the most singular point which strikes us is this persistent +preoccupation with the ancient house he desired so earnestly to +rehabilitate. He treated Lionardo with the greatest brutality. Nothing +that this nephew did, or did not do, was right. Yet Lionardo was the +sole hope of the Buonarroti-Simoni stock. When he married and got +children, the old man purred with satisfaction over him, but only as a +breeder of the race; and he did all in his power to establish Lionardo +in a secure position. + + +VII + +Returning to the history of Michelangelo's domestic life, we have to +relate two sad events which happened to him at the end of 1555. On the +28th of September he wrote to Lionardo: "The bad news about Gismondo +afflicts me deeply. I am not without my own troubles of health, and +have many annoyances besides. In addition to all this, Urbino has been +ill in bed with me three months, and is so still, which causes me much +trouble and anxiety." Gismondo, who had been declining all the summer, +died upon the 13th of November. His brother in Rome was too much taken +up with the mortal sickness of his old friend and servant Urbino to +express great sorrow. "Your letter informs me of my brother Gismondo's +death, which is the cause to me of serious grief. We must have +patience; and inasmuch as he died sound of mind and with all the +sacraments of the Church, let God be praised. I am in great affliction +here. Urbino is still in bed, and very seriously ill. I do not know +what will come of it. I feel this trouble as though he were my own +son, because he has lived in my service twenty-five years, and has +been very faithful. Being old, I have no time to form another servant +to my purpose; and so I am sad exceedingly. If then, you know of some +devout person, I beg you to have prayers offered up to God for his +recovery." + +The next letter gives a short account of his death:-- + +"I inform you that yesterday, the 3rd of December, at four o'clock, +Francesco called Urbino passed from this life, to my very great +sorrow. He has left me sorely stricken and afflicted; nay, it would +have been sweeter to have died with him, such is the love I bore him. +Less than this love he did not deserve; for he had grown to be a +worthy man, full of faith and loyalty. So, then, I feel as though his +death had left me without life, and I cannot find heart's ease. I +should be glad to see you, therefore; only I cannot think how you can +leave Florence because of your wife." + +To Vasari he wrote still more passionately upon this occasion:-- + +"I cannot write well; yet, in answer to your letter, I will say a few +words. You know that Urbino is dead. I owe the greatest thanks to God, +at the same time that my own loss is heavy and my sorrow infinite. The +grace He gave me is that, while Urbino kept me alive in life, his +death taught me to die without displeasure, rather with a deep and +real desire. I had him with me twenty-six years, and found him above +measure faithful and sincere. Now that I had made him rich, and +thought to keep him as the staff and rest of my old age, he has +vanished from my sight; nor have I hope left but that of seeing him +again in Paradise. God has given us good foundation for this hope in +the exceedingly happy ending of his life. Even more than dying, it +grieved him to leave me alive in this treacherous world, with so many +troubles; and yet the better part of me is gone with him, nor is there +left to me aught but infinite distress. I recommend myself to you, and +beg you, if it be not irksome, to make my excuses to Messer Benvenuto +(Cellini) for omitting to answer his letter. The trouble of soul I +suffer in thought about these things prevents me from writing. +Remember me to him, and take my best respects to yourself." + +How tenderly Michelangelo's thought dwelt upon Urbino appears from +this sonnet, addressed in 1556 to Monsignor Lodovico Beccadelli:-- + + _God's grace, the cross, our troubles multiplied, + Will make us meet in heaven, full well I know: + Yet ere we yield, our breath on earth below, + Why need a little solace be denied? + Though seas and mountains and rough ways divide + Our feet asunder, neither frost nor snow + Can make the soul her ancient love; or ego; + Nor chains nor bonds the wings of thought have tied. + Borne by these wings, with thee I dwell for aye, + And weep, and of my dead Urbino talk, + Who, were he living, now perchance would be-- + For so 'twas planned--thy guest as well as I. + Warned by his death, another way I walk + To meet him where he waits to live with me._ + +By his will, dated November 24, 1555, Urbino, whose real name was +Francesco degli Amadori of Castel Durante, appointed his old friend +and master one of his executors and the chief guardian of his widow +and children. A certain Roso de Rosis and Pietro Filippo Vandini, both +of Castel Durante, are named in the trust; and they managed the +estate. Yet Michelangelo was evidently the principal authority. A +voluminous correspondence preserved in the Buonarroti Archives proves +this; for it consists of numerous letters addressed by Urbino's +executors and family from Castel Durante and elsewhere to the old +sculptor in Rome. Urbino had married a woman of fine character and +high intelligence, named Cornelia Colonnelli. Two of her letters are +printed by Gotti, and deserve to be studied for the power of their +style and the elevation of their sentiments. He has not made use, +however, of the other documents, all of which have some interest as +giving a pretty complete view of a private family and its vexations, +while they illustrate the conscientious fidelity with which +Michelangelo discharged his duties as trustee. Urbino had a brother, +also resident at Castel Durante, Raffaello's celebrated pupil in +fresco-painting, Il Fattorino. This man and Vandini, together with +Cornelia and her parents and her second husband, Giulio Brunelli, all +wrote letters to Rome about the welfare of the children and the +financial affairs of the estate. The coexecutor Roso de Rosis did not +write; it appears from one of Cornelia's despatches that he took no +active interest in the trust, while Brunelli even complains that he +withheld moneys which were legally due to the heirs. One of +Michelangelo's first duties was to take care that Cornelia got a +proper man for her second husband. Her parents were eager to see her +married, being themselves old, and not liking to leave a comparatively +young widow alone in the world with so many children to look after. +Their choice fell first upon a very undesirable person called +Santagnolo, a young man of dissolute habits, ruined constitution, bad +character, and no estate. She refused, with spirit, to sign the +marriage contract; and a few months later wrote again to inform her +guardian that a suitable match had been found in the person of Giulio +Brunelli of Gubbio, a young doctor of laws, then resident at Castel +Durante in the quality of podestà. Michelangelo's suspicions must have +been aroused by the unworthy conduct of her parents in the matter of +Santagnolo; for we infer that he at first refused to sanction this +second match. Cornelia and the parents wrote once more, assuring him +that Brunelli was an excellent man, and entreating him not to open his +ears to malignant gossip. On the 15th of June Brunelli himself appears +upon the scene, announcing his marriage with Cornelia, introducing +himself in terms of becoming modesty to Michelangelo, and assuring him +that Urbino's children have found a second father. He writes again +upon the 29th of July, this time to announce the fact that Il +Fattorino has spread about false rumours to the effect that Cornelia +and himself intend to leave Castel Durante and desert the children. +Their guardian must not credit such idle gossip, for they are both +sincerely attached to the children, and intend to do the best they can +for them. Family dissensions began to trouble their peace. In the +course of the next few months Brunelli discovers that he cannot act +with the Fattorino or with Vandini; Cornelia's dowry is not paid; Roso +refuses to refund money due to the heirs; Michelangelo alone can +decide what ought to be done for the estate and his wards. The +Fattorino writes that Vandini has renounced the trust, and that all +Brunelli's and his own entreaties cannot make him resume it. For +himself, he is resolved not to bear the burden alone. He has his own +shop to look after, and will not let himself be bothered. Unluckily, +none of Michelangelo's answers have been preserved. We possess only +one of his letters to Cornelia, which shows that she wished to place +her son and his godson, Michelangelo, under his care at Rome. He +replied that he did not feel himself in a position to accept the +responsibility. "It would not do to send Michelangelo, seeing that I +have nobody to manage the house and no female servants; the boy is +still of tender age, and things might happen which would cause me the +utmost annoyance. Moreover, the Duke of Florence has during the last +month been making me the greatest offers, and putting strong pressure +upon me to return home. I have begged for time to arrange my affairs +here and leave S. Peter's in good order. So I expect to remain in Rome +all the summer; and when I have settled my business, and yours with +the Monte della Fede, I shall probably remove to Florence this winter +and take up my abode there for good. I am old now, and have not the +time to return to Rome. I will travel by way of Urbino; and if you +like to give me Michelangelo, I will bring him to Florence, with more +love than the sons of my nephew Lionardo, and will teach him all the +things which I know that his father desired that he should learn." + + +VIII + +The year 1556 was marked by an excursion which took Michelangelo into +the mountain district of Spoleto. Paul IV.'s anti-Spanish policy had +forced the Viceroy of Naples to make a formidable military +demonstration. Accordingly the Duke of Alva, at the head of a powerful +force, left Naples on the 1st of September and invaded the Campagna. +The Romans dreaded a second siege and sack; not without reason, +although the real intention of the expedition was to cow the fiery +Pope into submission. It is impossible, when we remember +Michelangelo's liability to panics, not to connect his autumn journey +with a wish to escape from trouble in Rome. On the 31st of October he +wrote to Lionardo that he had undertaken a pilgrimage to Loreto, but +feeling tired, had stopped to rest at Spoleto. While he was there, a +messenger arrived post-haste from Rome, commanding his immediate +return. He is now once more at home there, and as well as the +troublous circumstances of the times permit. + +Later on he told Vasari: "I have recently enjoyed a great pleasure, +though purchased at the cost of great discomfort and expense, among +the mountains of Spoleto, on a visit to those hermits. Consequently, I +have come back less than half myself to Rome; for of a truth there is +no peace to be found except among the woods." This is the only passage +in the whole of Michelangelo's correspondence which betrays the least +feeling for wild nature. We cannot pretend, even here, to detect an +interest in landscape or a true appreciation of country life. Compared +with Rome and the Duke of Alva, those hermitages of the hills among +their chestnut groves seemed to him haunts of ancient peace. That is +all; but when dealing with a man so sternly insensible to the charm of +the external world, we have to be contented with a little. + +In connection with this brief sojourn at Spoleto I will introduce two +letters written to Michelangelo by the Archbishop of Ragusa from his +See. The first is dated March 28, 1557. and was sent to Spoleto, +probably under the impression that Buonarroti had not yet returned to +Rome. After lamenting the unsettled state of public affairs, the +Archbishop adds: "Keep well in your bodily health; as for that of your +soul, I am sure you cannot be ill, knowing what prudence and piety +keep you in perpetual companionship." The second followed at the +interval of a year, April 6, 1558. and gave a pathetic picture of the +meek old prelate's discomfort in his Dalmatian bishopric. He calls +Ragusa "this exceedingly ill-cultivated vineyard of mine. Oftentimes +does the carnal man in me revolt and yearn for Italy, for relatives +and friends; but the spirit keeps desire in check, and compels it to +be satisfied with that which is the pleasure of our Lord." Though the +biographical importance of these extracts is but slight, I am glad, +while recording the outlines of Buonarroti's character, to cast a +side-light on his amiable qualities, and to show how highly valued he +was by persons of the purest life. + + +IX + +There was nothing peculiarly severe about the infirmities of +Michelangelo's old age. We first hear of the dysuria from which he +suffered, in 1548. He writes to Lionardo thanking him for pears: "I +duly received the little barrel of pears you sent me. There were +eighty-six. Thirty-three of them I sent to the Pope, who praised them +as fine, and who enjoyed them. I have lately been in great difficulty +from dysuria. However, I am better now. And thus I write to you, +chiefly lest some chatterbox should scribble a thousand lies to make +you jump." In the spring of 1549 he says that the doctors believe he +is suffering from calculus: "The pain is great, and prevents me from +sleeping. They propose that I should try the mineral waters of +Viterbo; but I cannot go before the beginning of May. For the rest, as +concerns my bodily condition, I am much the same as I was at thirty. +This mischief has crept upon me through the great hardships of my life +and heedlessness." A few days later he writes that a certain water he +is taking, whether mineral or medicine, has been making a beneficial +change. The following letters are very cheerful, and at length he is +able to write: "With regard to my disease, I am greatly improved in +health, and have hope, much to the surprise of many; for people +thought me a lost man, and so I believed. I have had a good doctor, +but I put more faith in prayers than I do in medicines." His physician +was a very famous man, Realdo Colombo. In the summer of the same year +he tells Lionardo that he has been drinking for the last two months +water from a fountain forty miles distant from Rome. "I have to lay in +a stock of it, and to drink nothing else, and also to use it in +cooking, and to observe rules of living to which I am not used." + +Although the immediate danger from the calculus passed away, +Michelangelo grew feebler yearly. We have already seen how he wrote to +Lionardo while Cosimo de' Medici was urging him to come to Florence in +1557. Passages in his correspondence with Lionardo like the following +are frequent: "Writing is the greatest annoyance to my hand, my sight, +my brains. So works old age!" "I go on enduring old age as well as I +am able, with all the evils and discomforts it brings in its train; +and I recommend myself to Him who can assist me." It was natural, +after he had passed the ordinary term of life and was attacked with a +disease so serious as the stone, that his thoughts should take a +serious tone. Thus he writes to Lionardo: "This illness has made me +think of setting the affairs of my soul and body more in order than I +should have done. Accordingly, I have drawn up a rough sketch of a +will, which I will send you by the next courier if I am able, and you +can tell me what you think." The will provided that Gismondo and +Lionardo Buonarroti should be his joint-heirs, without the power of +dividing the property. This practically left Lionardo his sole heir +after Gismondo's life-tenancy of a moiety. It does not, however, seem +to have been executed, for Michelangelo died intestate. Probably, he +judged it simplest to allow Lionardo to become his heir-general by the +mere course of events. At the same time, he now displayed more than +his usual munificence in charity. Lionardo was frequently instructed +to seek out a poor and gentle family, who were living in decent +distress, _poveri vergognosi_, as the Italians called such persons. +Money was to be bestowed upon them with the utmost secrecy; and the +way which Michelangelo proposed, was to dower a daughter or to pay for +her entrance into a convent. It has been suggested that this method of +seeking to benefit the deserving poor denoted a morbid tendency in +Michelangelo's nature; but any one who is acquainted with Italian +customs in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance must be aware that +nothing was commoner than to dower poor girls or to establish them in +nunneries by way of charity. Urbino, for example, by his will bound +his executors to provide for the marriage of two honest girls with a +dowry of twenty florins apiece within the space of four years from his +death. + +The religious sonnets, which are certainly among the finest of +Michelangelo's compositions, belong to this period. Writing to Vasari +on the 10th of September 1554, he begins: "You will probably say that +I am old and mad to think of writing sonnets; yet since many persons +pretend that I am in my second childhood, I have thought it well to +act accordingly." Then follows this magnificent piece of verse, in +which the sincerest feelings of the pious heart are expressed with a +sublime dignity:-- + + _Now hath my life across a stormy sea, + Like a frail bark, reached that wide fort where all + Are bidden, ere the final reckoning fall + Of good and evil for eternity. + Now know I well how that fond phantasy + Which made my soul the worshipper and thrall + Of earthly art is vain; how criminal + Is that which all men seek unwillingly. + Those amorous thoughts which were so lightly dressed, + What are they when the double death is nigh? + The one I know for sure, the other dread. + Painting nor sculpture now can lull to rest + My soul, that turns to His great love on high, + Whose arms to clasp us on the cross were spread._ + +A second sonnet, enclosed in a letter to Vasari, runs as follows:-- + + _The fables of the world have filched away + The time I had for thinking upon God; + His grace lies buried 'neath oblivion's sod, + Whence springs an evil crop of sins alway._ + + _What makes another wise, leads me astray, + Slow to discern the bad path I have trod: + Hope fades, but still desire ascends that God + May free me from self-love, my sure decay. + Shorten half-way my road to heaven from earth! + Dear Lord, I cannot even half-way rise + Unless Thou help me on this pilgrimage. + Teach me to hate the world so little worth, + And, all the lovely things I clasp and prize, + That endless life, ere death, may be my wage._ + +While still in his seventieth year, Michelangelo had educated himself +to meditate upon the thought of death as a prophylactic against vain +distractions and the passion of love. "I may remind you that a man who +would fain return unto and enjoy his own self ought not to indulge so +much in merrymakings and festivities, but to think on death. This +thought is the only one which makes us know our proper selves, which +holds us together in the bond of our own nature, which prevents us +from being stolen away by kinsmen, friends, great men of genius, +ambition, avarice, and those other sins and vices which filch the man +from himself, keep him distraught and dispersed, without ever +permitting him to return unto himself and reunite his scattered parts. +Marvellous is the operation of this thought of death, which, albeit +death, by his nature, destroys all things, preserves and supports +those who think on death, and defends them from all human passions." +He supports this position by reciting a madrigal he had composed, to +show how the thought of death is the greatest foe to love:-- + + _Not death indeed, but the dread thought of death + Saveth and severeth + Me from the heartless fair who doth me slay: + And should, perchance, some day_ + _The fire consuming blaze o'er measure bright, + I find for my sad plight + No help but from death's form fixed in my heart; + Since, where death reigneth, love must dwell apart._ + +In some way or another, then, Michelangelo used the thought of death +as the mystagogue of his spirit into the temple of eternal +things--[Greek: ta aidia], _die bleibenden Verhältnisse_--and as the +means of maintaining self-control and self-coherence amid the +ever-shifting illusions of human life. This explains why in his +love-sonnets he rarely speaks of carnal beauty except as the +manifestation of the divine idea, which will be clearer to the soul +after death than in the body. + +When his life was drawing toward its close, Michelangelo's friends +were not unnaturally anxious about his condition. Though he had a +fairly good servant in Antonio del Franzese, and was surrounded by +well-wishers like Tommaso Cavalieri, Daniele da Volterra, and Tiberio +Calcagni, yet he led a very solitary life, and they felt he ought to +be protected. Vasari tells us that he communicated privately with +Averardo Serristori, the Duke's ambassador in Rome, recommending that +some proper housekeeper should be appointed, and that due control +should be instituted over the persons who frequented his house. It was +very desirable, in case of a sudden accident, that his drawings and +works of art should not be dispersed, but that what belonged to S. +Peter's, to the Laurentian Library, and to the Sacristy should be duly +assigned. Lionardo Buonarroti must have received similar advice from +Rome, for a furious letter is extant, in which Michelangelo, impatient +to the last of interference, literally rages at him:-- + +"I gather from your letter that you lend credence to certain envious +and scoundrelly persons, who, since they cannot manage me or rob me, +write you a lot of lies. They are a set of sharpers, and you are so +silly as to believe what they say about my affairs, as though I were a +baby. Get rid of them, the scandalous, envious, ill-lived rascals. As +for my suffering the mismanagement you write about, I tell you that I +could not be better off, or more faithfully served and attended to in +all things. As for my being robbed, to which I think you allude, I +assure you that I have people in my house whom I can trust and repose +on. Therefore, look to your own life, and do not think about my +affairs, because I know how to take care of myself if it is needful, +and am not a baby. Keep well." + +This is the last letter to Lionardo. It is singular that +Michelangelo's correspondence with his father, with Luigi del Riccio, +with Tommaso dei Cavalieri, and with his nephew, all of whom he +sincerely loved, should close upon a note of petulance and wrath. The +fact is no doubt accidental. But it is strange. + + +X + +We have frequently had occasion to notice the extreme pain caused to +Michelangelo's friends by his unreasonable irritability and readiness +to credit injurious reports about them. These defects of temper +justified to some extent his reputation for savagery, and they must be +reckoned among the most salient features of his personality. I shall +therefore add three other instances of the same kind which fell under +my observation while studying the inedited documents of the Buonarroti +Archives. Giovanni Francesco Fattucci was, as we well know, his most +intimate friend and trusted counsellor during long and difficult +years, when the negotiations with the heirs of Pope Julius were being +carried on; yet there exists one letter of unaffected sorrow from this +excellent man, under date October 14, 1545, which shows that for some +unaccountable reason Michelangelo had suddenly chosen to mistrust him. +Fattucci begins by declaring that he is wholly guiltless of things +which his friend too credulously believed upon the strength of gossip. +He expresses the deepest grief at this unjust and suspicious +treatment. The letter shows him to have been more hurt than resentful. +Another document signed by Francesco Sangallo (the son of his old +friend Giuliano), bearing no date, but obviously written when they +were both in Florence, and therefore before the year 1535, carries the +same burden of complaint. The details are sufficiently picturesque to +warrant the translation of a passage. After expressing astonishment at +Michelangelo's habit of avoiding his society, he proceeds: "And now, +this morning, not thinking that I should annoy you, I came up and +spoke to you, and you received me with a very surly countenance. That +evening, too, when I met you on the threshold with Granacci, and you +left me by the shop of Pietro Osaio, and the other forenoon at S. +Spirito, and to-day, it struck me as extremely strange, especially in +the presence of Piloto and so many others. I cannot help thinking that +you must have some grudge against me; but I marvel that you do not +open out your mind to me, because it may be something which is wholly +false." The letter winds up with an earnest protest that he has always +been a true and faithful friend. He begs to be allowed to come and +clear the matter up in conversation, adding that he would rather lose +the good-will of the whole world than Michelangelo's. + +The third letter is somewhat different in tone, and not so personally +interesting. Still it illustrates the nervousness and apprehension +under which Michelangelo's acquaintances continually lived. The +painter commonly known as Rosso Fiorentino was on a visit to Rome, +where he studied the Sistine frescoes. They do not appear to have +altogether pleased him, and he uttered his opinion somewhat too freely +in public. Now he pens a long elaborate epistle, full of adulation, to +purge himself of having depreciated Michelangelo's works. People said +that "when I reached Rome, and entered the chapel painted by your +hand, I exclaimed that I was not going to adopt that manner." One of +Buonarroti's pupils had been particularly offended. Rosso protests +that he rather likes the man for his loyalty; but he wishes to remove +any impression which Michelangelo may have received of his own +irreverence or want of admiration. The one thing he is most solicitous +about is not to lose the great man's good-will. + +It must be added, at the close of this investigation, that however hot +and hasty Michelangelo may have been, and however readily he lent his +ear to rumours, he contrived to renew the broken threads of friendship +with the persons he had hurt by his irritability. + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +I + +During the winter of 1563-64 Michelangelo's friends in Rome became +extremely anxious about his health, and kept Lionardo Buonarroti from +time to time informed of his proceedings. After New Year it was clear +that he could not long maintain his former ways of life. Though within +a few months of ninety, he persisted in going abroad in all weathers, +and refused to surround himself with the comforts befitting a man of +his eminence and venerable age. On the 14th of February he seems to +have had a kind of seizure. Tiberio Calcagni, writing that day to +Lionardo, gives expression to his grave anxiety: "Walking through Rome +to-day, I heard from many persons that Messer Michelangelo was ill. +Accordingly I went at once to visit him, and although it was raining I +found him out of doors on foot. When I saw him, I said that I did not +think it right and seemly for him to be going about in such weather +'What do you want?' he answered; 'I am ill, and cannot find rest +anywhere.' The uncertainty of his speech, together with the look and +colour of his face, made me feel extremely uneasy about his life. The +end may not be just now, but I fear greatly that it cannot be far +off." Michelangelo did not leave the house again, but spent the next +four days partly reclining in an arm-chair, partly in bed. Upon the +15th following, Diomede Leoni wrote to Lionardo, enclosing a letter by +the hand of Daniele da Volterra, which Michelangelo had signed. The +old man felt his end approaching, and wished to see his nephew. "You +will learn from the enclosure how ill he is, and that he wants you to +come to Rome. He was taken ill yesterday. I therefore exhort you to +come at once, but do so with sufficient prudence. The roads are bad +now, and you are not used to travel by post. This being so, you would +run some risk if you came post-haste. Taking your own time upon the +way, you may feel at ease when you remember that Messer Tommaso dei +Cavalieri, Messer Daniele, and I are here to render every possible +assistance in your absence. Beside us, Antonio, the old and faithful +servant of your uncle, will be helpful in any service that may be +expected from him." Diomede reiterates his advice that Lionardo should +run no risks by travelling too fast. "If the illness portends +mischief, which God forbid, you could not with the utmost haste arrive +in time.... I left him just now, a little after 8 P.M., in full +possession of his faculties and quiet in his mind, but oppressed with +a continued sleepiness. This has annoyed him so much that, between +three and four this afternoon, he tried to go out riding, as his wont +is every evening in good weather. The coldness of the weather and the +weakness of his head and legs prevented him; so he returned to the +fire-side, and settled down into an easy chair, which he greatly +prefers to the bed." No improvement gave a ray of hope to +Michelangelo's friends, and two days later, on the 17th, Tiberio +Calcagni took up the correspondence with Lionardo: "This is to beg you +to hasten your coming as much as possible, even though the weather be +unfavourable. It is certain now that our dear Messer Michelangelo must +leave us for good and all, and he ought to have the consolation of +seeing you." Next day, on the 18th, Diomede Leoni wrote again: "He +died without making a will, but in the attitude of a perfect +Christian, this evening, about the Ave Maria. I was present, together +with Messer Tommaso dei Cavalieri and Messer Daniele da Volterra, and +we put everything in such order that you may rest with a tranquil +mind. Yesterday Michelangelo sent for our friend Messer Daniele, and +besought him to take up his abode in the house until such time as you +arrive, and this he will do." + +It was at a little before five o'clock on the afternoon of February +18, 1564, that Michelangelo breathed his last. The physicians who +attended him to the end were Federigo Donati, and Gherardo +Fidelissimi, of Pistoja. It is reported by Vasari that, during his +last moments, "he made his will in three sentences, committing his +soul into the hands of God, his body to the earth, and his substance +to his nearest relatives; enjoining upon these last, when their hour +came, to think upon the sufferings of Jesus Christ." + +On the following day, February 19, Averardo Serristori, the Florentine +envoy in Rome, sent a despatch to the Duke, informing him of +Michelangelo's decease: "This morning, according to an arrangement I +had made, the Governor sent to take an inventory of all the articles +found in his house. These were few, and very few drawings. However, +what was there they duly registered. The most important object was a +box sealed with several seals, which the Governor ordered to be opened +in the presence of Messer Tommaso dei Cavalieri and Maestro Daniele da +Volterra, who had been sent for by Michelangelo before his death. Some +seven or eight thousand crowns were found in it, which have now been +deposited with the Ubaldini bankers. This was the command issued by +the Governor, and those whom it concerns will have to go there to get +the money. The people of the house will be examined as to whether +anything has been carried away from it. This is not supposed to have +been the case. As far as drawings are concerned, they say that he +burned what he had by him before he died. What there is shall be +handed over to his nephew when he comes, and this your Excellency can +inform him." + +The objects of art discovered in Michelangelo's house were a +blocked-out statue of S. Peter, an unfinished Christ with another +figure, and a statuette of Christ with the cross, resembling the +Cristo Risorto of S. Maria Sopra Minerva. Ten original drawings were +also catalogued, one of which (a Pietà) belonged to Tommaso dei +Cavalieri; another (an Epiphany) was given to the notary, while the +rest came into the possession of Lionardo Buonarroti. The cash-box, +which had been sealed by Tommaso dei Cavalieri and Diomede Leoni, was +handed over to the Ubaldini, and from them it passed to Lionardo +Buonarroti at the end of February. + + +II + +Lionardo travelled by post to Rome, but did not arrive until three +days after his uncle's death. He began at once to take measures for +the transport of Michelangelo's remains to Florence, according to the +wish of the old man, frequently expressed and solemnly repeated two +days before his death. The corpse had been deposited in the Church of +the SS. Apostoli, where the funeral was celebrated with becoming pomp +by all the Florentines in Rome, and by artists of every degree. The +Romans had come to regard Buonarroti as one of themselves, and, when +the report went abroad that he had expressed a wish to be buried in +Florence, they refused to believe it, and began to project a decent +monument to his memory in the Church of the SS. Apostoli. In order to +secure his object, Lionardo was obliged to steal the body away, and to +despatch it under the guise of mercantile goods to the custom-house of +Florence. Vasari wrote to him from that city upon the 10th of March, +informing him that the packing-case had duly arrived, and had been +left under seals until his, Lionardo's, arrival at the custom-house. + +About this time two plans were set on foot for erecting monuments to +Michelangelo's memory. The scheme started by the Romans immediately +after his death took its course, and the result is that tomb at the +SS. Apostoli, which undoubtedly was meant to be a statue-portrait of +the man. Vasari received from Lionardo Buonarroti commission to erect +the tomb in S. Croce. The correspondence of the latter, both with +Vasari and with Jacopo del Duca, who superintended the Roman monument, +turns for some time upon these tombs. It is much to Vasari's credit +that he wanted to place the Pietà which Michelangelo had broken, above +the S. Croce sepulchre. He writes upon the subject in these words: +"When I reflect that Michelangelo asserted, as is well known also to +Daniele, Messer Tommaso dei Cavalieri, and many other of his friends, +that he was making the Pietà of five figures, which he broke, to serve +for his own tomb, I think that his heir ought to inquire how it came +into the possession of Bandini. Besides, there is an old man in the +group who represents the person of the sculptor. I entreat you, +therefore, to take measures for regaining this Pietà, and I will make +use of it in my design. Pierantonio Bandini is very courteous, and +will probably consent. In this way you will gain several points. You +will assign to your uncle's sepulchre the group he planned to place +there, and you will be able to hand over the statues in Via Mozza to +his Excellency, receiving in return enough money to complete the +monument." Of the marbles in the Via Mozza at Florence, where +Michelangelo's workshop stood, I have seen no catalogue, but they +certainly comprised the Victory, probably also the Adonis and the +Apollino. There had been some thought of adapting the Victory to the +tomb in S. Croce. Vasari, however, doubted whether this group could be +applied in any forcible sense allegorically to Buonarroti as man or as +artist. + +Eventually, as we know, the very mediocre monument designed by Vasari, +which still exists at S. Croce, was erected at Lionardo Buonarroti's +expense, the Duke supplying a sufficiency of marble. + + +III + +It ought here to be mentioned that, in the spring of 1563, Cosimo +founded an Academy of Fine Arts, under the title of "Arte del +Disegno." It embraced all the painters, architects, and sculptors of +Florence in a kind of guild, with privileges, grades, honours, and +officers. The Duke condescended to be the first president of this +academy. Next to him, Michelangelo was elected unanimously by all the +members as their uncontested principal and leader, "inasmuch as this +city, and peradventure the whole world, hath not a master more +excellent in the three arts." The first great work upon which the Duke +hoped to employ the guild was the completion of the sacristy at S. +Lorenzo. Vasari's letter to Michelangelo shows that up to this date +none of the statues had been erected in their proper places, and that +it was intended to add a great number of figures, as well as to adorn +blank spaces in the walls with frescoes. All the best artists of the +time, including Gian Bologna, Cellini, Bronzino, Tribolo, Montelupo, +Ammanati, offered their willing assistance, "forasmuch as there is not +one of us but hath learned in this sacristy, or rather in this our +school, whatever excellence he possesses in the arts of design." We +know already only too well that the scheme was never carried out, +probably in part because Michelangelo's rapidly declining strength +prevented him from furnishing these eager artists with the necessary +working drawings. Cosimo's anxiety to gain possession of any sketches +left in Rome after Buonarroti's death may be ascribed to this project +for completing the works begun at S. Lorenzo. + +Well then, upon the news of Michelangelo's death, the academicians +were summoned by their lieutenant, Don Vincenzo Borghini, to +deliberate upon the best way of paying him honour, and celebrating his +obsequies with befitting pomp. It was decided that all the leading +artists should contribute something, each in his own line, to the +erection of a splendid catafalque, and a sub-committee of four men was +elected to superintend its execution. These were Angelo Bronzino and +Vasari, Benvenuto Cellini and Ammanati, friends of the deceased, and +men of highest mark in the two fields of painting and sculpture. The +church selected for the ceremony was S. Lorenzo; the orator appointed +was Benedetto Varchi. Borghini, in his capacity of lieutenant or +official representative, obtained the Duke's assent to the plan, which +was subsequently carried out, as we shall see in due course. + +Notwithstanding what Vasari wrote to Lionardo about his uncle's coffin +having been left at the Dogana, it seems that it was removed upon the +very day of its arrival, March II, to the Oratory of the Assunta, +underneath the church of S. Pietro Maggiore. On the following day the +painters, sculptors, and architects of the newly founded academy met +together at this place, intending to transfer the body secretly to S. +Croce. They only brought a single pall of velvet, embroidered with +gold, and a crucifix, to place upon the bier. When night fell, the +elder men lighted torches, while the younger crowded together, vying +one with another for the privilege of carrying the coffin. Meantime +the Florentines, suspecting that something unusual was going forward +at S. Pietro, gathered round, and soon the news spread through the +city that Michelangelo was being borne to S. Croce. A vast concourse +of people in this way came unexpectedly together, following the +artists through the streets, and doing pathetic honour to the memory +of the illustrious dead. The spacious church of S. Croce was crowded +in all its length and breadth, so that the pall-bearers had +considerable difficulty in reaching the sacristy with their precious +burden. In that place Don Vincenzo Borghini, who was lieutenant of the +academy, ordered that the coffin should be opened. "He thought he +should be doing what was pleasing to many of those present; and, as he +afterwards admitted, he was personally anxious to behold in death one +whom he had never seen in life, or at any rate so long ago as to have +quite forgotten the occasion. All of us who stood by expected to find +the corpse already defaced by the outrage of the sepulchre, inasmuch +as twenty-five days had elapsed since Michelangelo's death, and +twenty-one since his consignment to the coffin; but, to our great +surprise, the dead man lay before us perfect in all his parts, and +without the evil odours of the grave; indeed, one might have thought +that he was resting in a sweet and very tranquil slumber. Not only did +the features of his countenance bear exactly the same aspect as in +life, except for some inevitable pallor, but none of his limbs were +injured, or repulsive to the sight. The head and cheeks, to the touch, +felt just as though he had breathed his last but a few hours since." +As soon as the eagerness of the multitude calmed down a little, the +bier was carried into the church again, and the coffin was deposited +in a proper place behind the altar of the Cavalcanti. + +When the academicians decreed a catafalque for Michelangelo's solemn +obsequies in S. Lorenzo, they did not aim so much at worldly splendour +or gorgeous trappings as at an impressive monument, combining the +several arts which he had practised in his lifetime. Being made of +stucco, woodwork, plaster, and such perishable materials, it was +unfortunately destined to decay. But Florence had always been liberal, +nay, lavish, of her genius in triumphs, masques, magnificent street +architecture, evoked to celebrate some ephemeral event. A worthier +occasion would not occur again; and we have every reason to believe +that the superb structure, which was finally exposed to view upon the +14th of July, displayed all that was left at Florence of the grand +style in the arts of modelling and painting. They were decadent +indeed; during the eighty-nine years of Buonarroti's life upon earth +they had expanded, flourished, and flowered with infinite variety in +rapid evolution. He lived to watch their decline; yet the sunset of +that long day was still splendid to the eyes and senses. + +The four deputies appointed by the academy held frequent sittings +before the plan was fixed, and the several parts had been assigned to +individual craftsmen. Ill health prevented Cellini from attending, but +he sent a letter to the lieutenant, which throws some interesting +light upon the project in its earlier stages. A minute description of +the monument was published soon after the event. Another may be read +in the pages of Vasari. Varchi committed his oration to the press, and +two other panegyrical discourses were issued, under the names of +Leonardo Salviati and Giovan Maria Tarsia. Poems composed on the +occasion were collected into one volume, and distributed by the +Florentine firm of Sermatelli. To load these pages with the details of +allegorical statues and pictures which have long passed out of +existence, and to cite passages from funeral speeches, seems to me +useless. It is enough to have directed the inquisitive to sources +where their curiosity may be gratified. + + +IV + +It would be impossible to take leave of Michelangelo without some +general survey of his character and qualities. With this object in +view I do not think I can do better than to follow what Condivi says +at the close of his biography, omitting those passages which have been +already used in the body of this book, and supplementing his summary +with illustrative anecdotes from Vasari. Both of these men knew him +intimately during the last years of his life; and if it is desirable +to learn how a man strikes his contemporaries, we obtain from them a +lively and veracious, though perhaps a slightly flattered, picture of +the great master whom they studied with love and admiration from +somewhat different points of view. This will introduce a critical +examination of the analysis to which the psychology; of Michelangelo +has recently been subjected. + +Condivi opens his peroration with the following paragraphs:-- + +"Now, to conclude this gossiping discourse of mine, I say that it is +my opinion that in painting and sculpture nature bestowed all her +riches with a full hand upon Michelangelo. I do not fear reproach or +contradiction when I repeat that his statues are, as it were, +inimitable. Nor do I think that I have suffered myself to exceed the +bounds of truth while making this assertion. In the first place, he is +the only artist who has handled both brush and mallet with equal +excellence. Then we have no relics left of antique paintings to +compare with his; and though many classical works in statuary survive, +to whom among the ancients does he yield the palm in sculpture? In the +judgment of experts and practical artists, he certainly yields to +none; and were, we to consult the vulgar, who admire antiquity without +criticism, through a kind of jealousy toward the talents and the +industry of their own times, even here we shall find none who say the +contrary; to such a height has this great man soared above the scope +of envy. Raffaello of Urbino, though he chose to strive in rivalry +with Michelangelo, was wont to say that he thanked God for having been +born in his days, since he learned from him a manner very different +from that which his father, who was a painter, and his master, +Perugino, taught him. Then, too, what proof of his singular excellence +could be wished for, more convincing and more valid, than the +eagerness with which the sovereigns of the world contended for him? +Beside four pontiffs, Julius, Leo, Clement, and Paul, the Grand Turk, +father of the present Sultan, sent certain Franciscans with letters +begging him to come and reside at his court. By orders on the bank of +the Gondi at Florence, he provided that whatever sums were asked for +should be disbursed to pay the expenses of his journey; and when he +should have reached Cossa, a town near Ragusa, one of the greatest +nobles of the realm was told off to conduct him in most honourable +fashion to Constantinople. Francis of Valois, King of France, tried to +get him by many devices, giving instructions that, whenever he chose +to travel, 3000 crowns should be told out to him in Rome. The Signory +of Venice sent Bruciolo to Rome with an invitation to their city, +offering a pension of 600 crowns if he would settle there. They +attached no conditions to this offer, only desiring that he should +honour the republic with his presence, and stipulating that whatever +he might do in their service should be paid as though he were not in +receipt of a fixed income. These are not ordinary occurrences, or such +as happen every day, but strange and out of common usage; nor are they +wont to befall any but men of singular and transcendent ability, as +was Homer, for whom many cities strove in rivalry, each desirous of +acquiring him and making him its own. + +"The reigning Pope, Julius III., holds him in no less esteem than the +princes I have mentioned. This sovereign, distinguished for rare taste +and judgment, loves and promotes all arts and sciences, but is most +particularly devoted to painting, sculpture, and architecture, as may +be clearly seen in the buildings which his Holiness has erected in the +Vatican and the Belvedere, and is now raising at his Villa Giulia (a +monument worthy of a lofty and generous nature, as indeed his own is), +where he has gathered together so many ancient and modern statues, +such a variety of the finest pictures, precious columns, works in +stucco, wall-painting, and every kind of decoration, of the which I +must reserve a more extended account for some future occasion, since +it deserves a particular study, and has not yet reached completion. +This Pope has not used the services of Michelangelo for any active +work, out of regard for his advanced age. He is fully alive to his +greatness, and appreciates it, but refrains from adding burdens beyond +those which Michelangelo himself desires; and this regard, in my +opinion, confers more honour on him than any of the great +under-takings which former pontiffs exacted from his genius. It is +true that his Holiness almost always consults him on works of painting +or of architecture he may have in progress, and very often sends the +artists to confer with him at his own house. I regret, and his +Holiness also regrets, that a certain natural shyness, or shall I say +respect or reverence, which some folk call pride, prevents him from +having recourse to the benevolence, goodness, and liberality of such a +pontiff, and one so much his friend. For the Pope, as I first heard +from the Most Rev. Monsignor of Forli, his Master of the Chamber, has +often observed that, were this possible, he, would gladly give some of +his own years and his own blood to add to Michelangelo's life, to the +end that the world should not so soon be robbed of such a man. And +this, when I had access to his Holiness, I heard with my own ears from +his mouth. Moreover, if he happens to survive him, as seems reasonable +in the course of nature, he has a mind to embalm him and keep him ever +near to his own person, so that his body in death shall be as +everlasting as his works. This he said to Michelangelo himself at the +commencement of his reign, in the presence of many persons. I know not +what could be more honourable to Michelangelo than such words, or a +greater proof of the high account in which he is held by his Holiness. + +"So then Michelangelo, while he was yet a youth, devoted himself not +only to sculpture and painting, but also to all those other arts which +to them are allied or subservient, and this he did with such absorbing +energy that for a time he almost entirely cut himself off from human +society, conversing with but very few intimate friends. On this +account some folk thought him proud, others eccentric and capricious, +although he was tainted with none of these defects; but, as hath +happened to many men of great abilities, the love of study and the +perpetual practice of his art rendered him solitary, being so taken up +with the pleasure and delight of these things that society not only +afforded him no solace, but even caused him annoyance by diverting him +from meditation, being (as the great Scipio used to say) never less +alone than when he was alone. Nevertheless, he very willingly embraced +the friendship of those whose learned and cultivated conversation +could be of profit to his mind, and in whom some beams of genius shone +forth: as, for example, the most reverend and illustrious Monsignor +Pole, for his rare virtues and singular goodness; and likewise the +most reverend, my patron, Cardinal Crispo, in whom he discovered, +beside his many excellent qualities, a distinguished gift of acute +judgment; he was also warmly attached to the Cardinal of S. Croce, a +man of the utmost gravity and wisdom, whom I have often heard him name +in the highest terms; and to the most reverend Maffei, whose goodness +and learning he has always praised: indeed, he loves and honours all +the dependants of the house of Farnese, owing to the lively memory he +cherishes of Pope Paul, whom he invariably mentions with the deepest +reverence as a good and holy old man; and in like manner the most +reverend Patriarch of Jerusalem, sometime Bishop of Cesena, has lived +for some time in close intimacy with him, finding peculiar pleasure in +so open and generous a nature. He was also on most friendly terms with +my very reverend patron the Cardinal Ridolfi, of blessed memory, that +refuge of all men of parts and talent. There are several others whom I +omit for fear of being prolix, as Monsignor Claudio Tolomei, Messer +Lorenzo Ridolfi, Messer Donato Giannotti, Messer Lionardo Malespini, +Lottino, Messer Tommaso dei Cavalieri, and other honoured gentlemen. +Of late years he has become deeply attached to Annibale Caro, of whom +he told me that it grieves him not to have come to know him earlier, +seeing that he finds him much to his taste." + +"In like manner as he enjoyed the converse of learned men, so also did +he take pleasure in the study of eminent writers, whether of prose or +verse. Among these he particularly admired Dante, whose marvellous +poems he hath almost all by heart. Nevertheless, the same might +perhaps be said about his love for Petrarch. These poets he not only +delighted in studying, but he also was wont to compose from time to +time upon his own account. There are certain sonnets among those he +wrote which give a very good notion of his great inventive power and +judgment. Some of them have furnished Varchi with the subject of +Discourses. It must be remembered, however, that he practised poetry +for his amusement, and not as a profession, always depreciating his +own talent, and appealing to his ignorance in these matters. Just in +the same way he has perused the Holy Scriptures with great care and +industry, studying not merely the Old Testament, but also the New, +together with their commentators, as, for example, the writings of +Savonarola, for whom he always retained a deep affection, since the +accents of the preacher's living voice rang in his memory. + +"He has given away many of his works, the which, if he had chosen to +sell them, would have brought him vast sums of money. A single +instance of this generosity will suffice--namely, the two statues +which he presented to his dearest friend, Messer Ruberto Strozzi. Nor +was it only of his handiwork that he has been liberal. He opened his +purse readily to poor men of talent in literature or art, as I can +testify, having myself been the recipient of his bounty. He never +showed an envious spirit toward the labours of other masters in the +crafts he practised, and this was due rather to the goodness of his +nature than to any sense of his own superiority. Indeed, he always +praised all men of excellence without exception, even Raffaello of +Urbino, between whom and himself there was of old time some rivalry in +painting. I have only heard him say that Raffaello did not derive his +mastery in that art so much from nature as from prolonged study. Nor +is it true, as many persons assert to his discredit, that he has been +unwilling to impart instruction. On the contrary, he did so readily, +as I know by personal experience, for to me he unlocked all the +secrets of the arts he had acquired. Ill-luck, however, willed that he +should meet either with subjects ill adapted to such studies, or else +with men of little perseverance, who, when they had been working a few +months under his direction, began to think themselves past-masters. +Moreover, although he was willing to teach, he did not like it to be +known that he did so, caring more to do good than to seem to do it. I +may add that he always attempted to communicate the arts to men of +gentle birth, as did the ancients, and not to plebeians." + + +V + +To this passage about Michelangelo's pupils we may add the following +observation by Vasari: "He loved his workmen, and conversed with them +on friendly terms. Among these I will mention Jacopo Sansovino, Rosso, +Pontormo, Daniele da Volterra, and Giorgio Vasari. To the last of +these men he showed unbounded kindness, and caused him to study +architecture, with the view of employing his services in that art. He +exchanged thoughts readily with him, and discoursed upon artistic +topics. Those are in the wrong who assert that he refused to +communicate his stores of knowledge. He always did so to his personal +friends, and to all who sought his advice. It ought, however, to be +mentioned that he was not lucky in the craftsmen who lived with him, +since chance brought him into contact with people unfitted to profit +by his example. Pietro Urbano of Pistoja was a man of talent but no +industry. Antonio Mini had the will but not the brains, and hard wax +takes a bad impression. Ascanio dalla Ripa Transone (_i.e._, Condivi) +took great pains, but brought nothing to perfection either in finished +work or in design. He laboured many years upon a picture for which +Michelangelo supplied the drawing. At last the expectations based upon +this effort vanished into smoke. I remember that Michelangelo felt +pity for his trouble, and helped him with his own hand. Nothing, +however, came of it. He often told me that if he had found a proper +subject he should have liked, old as he was, to have recommended +anatomy, and to have written on it for the use of his workmen. +However, he distrusted his own powers of expressing what he wanted in +writing, albeit his letters show that he could easily put forth his +thoughts in a few brief words." + +About Michelangelo's kindness to his pupils and servants there is no +doubt. We have only to remember his treatment of Pietro Urbano and +Antonio Mini, Urbino and Condivi, Tiberio Calcagni and Antonio del +Franzese. A curious letter from Michelangelo to Andrea Quarantesi, +which I have quoted in another connection, shows that people were +eager to get their sons placed under his charge. The inedited +correspondence in the Buonarroti Archives abounds in instances +illustrating the reputation he had gained for goodness. We have two +grateful letters from a certain Pietro Bettino in Castel Durante +speaking very warmly of Michelangelo's attention to his son Cesare. +Two to the same effect from Amilcare Anguissola in Cremona acknowledge +services rendered to his daughter Sofonisba, who was studying design +in Rome. Pietro Urbano wrote twenty letters between the years 1517 and +1525, addressing him in terms like "carissimo quanto padre." After +recovering from his illness at Pistoja, he expresses the hope that he +will soon be back again at Florence (September 18, 1519): "Dearest to +me like the most revered of fathers, I send you salutations, +announcing that I am a little better, but not yet wholly cured of that +flux; still I hope before many days are over to find myself at +Florence." A certain Silvio Falcone, who had been in his service, and +who had probably been sent away because of some misconduct, addressed +a letter from Rome to him in Florence, which shows both penitence and +warm affection. "I am and shall always be a good servant to you in +every place where I may be. Do not remember my stupidity in those past +concerns, which I know that, being a prudent man, you will not impute +to malice. If you were to do so, this would cause me the greatest +sorrow; for I desire nothing but to remain in your good grace, and if +I had only this in the world, it would suffice me." He begs to be +remembered to Pietro Urbano, and requests his pardon if he has +offended him. Another set of letters, composed in the same tone by a +man who signs himself Silvio di Giovanni da Cepparello, was written by +a sculptor honourably mentioned in Vasari's Life of Andrea da Fiesole +for his work at S. Lorenzo, in Genoa, and elsewhere. They show how +highly the fame of having been in Michelangelo's employ was valued. He +says that he is now working for Andrea Doria, Prince of Melfi, at +Genoa. Still he should like to return, if this were possible, to his +old master's service: "For if I lost all I had in the world, and found +myself with you, I should think myself the first of men." A year later +Silvio was still at work for Prince Doria and the Fieschi, but he +again begs earnestly to be taken back by Michelangelo. "I feel what +obligations I am under for all the kindness received from you in past +times. When I remember the love you bore me while I was in your +service, I do not know how I could repay it; and I tell you that only +through having been in your service, wherever I may happen now to be, +honour and courtesy are paid me; and that is wholly due to your +excellent renown, and not to any merit of my own." + +The only letter from Ascanio Condivi extant in the Buonarroti Archives +may here be translated in full, since its tone does honour both to +master and servant:-- + +"Unique lord and my most to be observed patron,--I have already +written you two letters, but almost think you cannot have received +them, since I have heard no news of you. This I write merely to beg +that you will remember to command me, and to make use not of me alone, +but of all my household, since we are all your servants. Indeed, my +most honoured and revered master, I entreat you deign to dispose of me +and do with me as one is wont to do with the least of servants. You +have the right to do so, since I owe more to you than to my own +father, and I will prove my desire to repay your kindness by my deeds. +I will now end this letter, in order not to be irksome, recommending +myself humbly, and praying you to let me have the comfort of knowing +that you are well: for a greater I could not receive. Farewell." + +It cannot be denied that Michelangelo sometimes treated his pupils and +servants with the same irritability, suspicion, and waywardness of +temper as he showed to his relatives and friends. It is only necessary +to recall his indignation against Lapo and Lodovico at Bologna, +Stefano at Florence, Sandro at Serravalle, all his female drudges, and +the anonymous boy whom his father sent from Rome. That he was a man +"gey ill to live with" seems indisputable. This may in part account +for the fact that, unlike other great Italian masters, he formed no +school. The _frescanti_ who came from Florence to assist him in the +Sistine Chapel were dismissed with abruptness, perhaps even with +brutality. Montelupo and Montorsoli, among sculptors, Marcello Venusti +and Pontormo, Daniele da Volterra and Sebastiano del Piombo, among +painters, felt his direct influence. But they did not stand in the +same relation to him as Raffaello's pupils to their master. The work +of Giulio Romano, Giovanni da Udine, Francesco Penni, Perino del Vaga, +Primaticcio, at Rome, at Mantua, and elsewhere, is a genial +continuation of Raffaello's spirit and manner after his decease. +Nothing of the sort can be maintained about the statues and the +paintings which display a study of the style of Michelangelo. And this +holds good in like manner of his imitators in architecture. For worse +rather than for better, he powerfully and permanently affected Italian +art; but he did not create a body of intelligent craftsmen, capable of +carrying on his inspiration, as Giulio Romano expanded the Loggie of +the Vatican into the Palazzo del Te. I have already expressed my +opinions regarding the specific quality of the Michelangelo tradition +in a passage which I may perhaps be here permitted to resume:-- + +"Michelangelo formed no school in the strict sense of the word; yet +his influence was not the less felt on that account, nor less powerful +than Raffaello's. During his manhood a few painters endeavoured to add +the charm of oil-colouring to his designs, and long before his death +the seduction of his mighty mannerism began to exercise a fatal charm +for all the schools of Italy. Painters incapable of fathoming his +intention, unsympathetic to his rare type of intellect, and gifted +with less than a tithe of his native force, set themselves to +reproduce whatever may be justly censured in his works. To heighten +and enlarge their style was reckoned a chief duty of aspiring +craftsmen, and it was thought that recipes for attaining to this final +perfection of the modern arts might be extracted without trouble from +Michelangelo's masterpieces. Unluckily, in proportion as his fame +increased, his peculiarities became with the advance of age more +manneristic and defined, so that his imitators fixed precisely upon +that which sober critics now regard as a deduction from his greatness. +They failed to perceive that he owed his grandeur to his personality, +and that the audacities which fascinated them became mere whimsical +extravagances when severed from his _terribilità_ and sombre +simplicity of impassioned thought. His power and his spirit were alike +unique and incommunicable, while the admiration of his youthful +worshippers betrayed them into imitating the externals of a style that +was rapidly losing spontaneity. Therefore they fancied they were +treading in his footsteps and using the grand manner when they covered +church-roofs and canvases with sprawling figures in distorted +attitudes. Instead of studying nature, they studied Michelangelo's +cartoons, exaggerating by their unintelligent discipleship his +willfulness and arbitrary choice of form. + +"Vasari's and Cellini's criticisms of a master they both honestly +revered may suffice to illustrate the false method adopted by these +mimics of Michelangelo's ideal. To charge him with faults proceeding +from the weakness and blindness of the Decadence--the faults of men +too blind to read his art aright, too weak to stand on their own feet +without him--would be either stupid or malicious. If at the close of +the sixteenth century the mannerists sought to startle and entrance +the world by empty exhibitions of muscular anatomy misunderstood, and +by a braggadocio display of meaningless effects--crowding their +compositions with studies from the nude, and painting agitated groups +without a discernible cause for agitation--the crime surely lay with +the patrons who liked such decoration, and with the journeymen who +provided it. Michelangelo himself always made his manner serve his +thought. We may fail to appreciate his manner and may be incapable of +comprehending his thought, but only insincere or conceited critics +will venture to gauge the latter by what they feel to be displeasing +in the former. What seems lawless in him follows the law of a profound +and peculiar genius, with which, whether we like it or not, we must +reckon. His imitators were devoid of thought, and too indifferent to +question whether there was any law to be obeyed. Like the jackass in +the fable, they assumed the dead lion's skin, and brayed beneath it, +thinking they could roar." + + +VI + +Continuing these scattered observations upon Michelangelo's character +and habits, we may collect what Vasari records about his social +intercourse with brother-artists. Being himself of a saturnine humour, +he took great delight in the society of persons little better than +buffoons. Writing the Life of Jacopo surnamed L'Indaco, a Florentine +painter of some merit, Vasari observes: "He lived on very familiar +terms of intimacy with Michelangelo; for that great artist, great +above all who ever were, when he wished to refresh his mind, fatigued +by studies and incessant labours of the body and the intellect, found +no one more to his liking and more congenial to his humour than was +Indaco." Nothing is recorded concerning their friendship, except that +Buonarroti frequently invited Indaco to meals; and one day, growing +tired of the man's incessant chatter, sent him out to buy figs, and +then locked the house-door, so that he could not enter when he had +discharged his errand. A boon-companion of the same type was +Menighella, whom Vasari describes as "a mediocre and stupid painter of +Valdarno, but extremely amusing." He used to frequent Michelangelo's +house, "and he, who could with difficulty be induced to work for +kings, would lay aside all other occupations in order to make drawings +for this fellow." What Menighella wanted was some simple design or +other of S. Rocco, S. Antonio, or S. Francesco, to be coloured for one +of his peasant patrons. Vasari says that Michelangelo modelled a very +beautiful Christ for this humble friend, from which Menighella made a +cast, and repeated it in papier-mâché, selling these crucifixes +through the country-side. What would not the world give for one of +them, even though Michelangelo is said to have burst his sides with +laughing at the man's stupidity! Another familiar of the same sort was +a certain stone-cutter called Domenico Fancelli, and nicknamed +Topolino. From a letter addressed to him by Buonarroti in 1523 it +appears that he was regarded as a "very dear friend." According to +Vasari, Topolino thought himself an able sculptor, but was in reality +extremely feeble. He blocked out a marble Mercury, and begged the +great master to pronounce a candid opinion on its merits. "You are a +madman, Topolino," replied Michelangelo, "to attempt this art of +statuary. Do you not see that your Mercury is too short by more than a +third of a cubit from the knees to the feet? You have made him a +dwarf, and spoiled the whole figure." "Oh, that is nothing! If there +is no other fault, I can easily put that to rights. Leave the matter +to me." Michelangelo laughed at the man's simplicity, and went upon +his way. Then Topolino took a piece of marble, and cut off the legs of +his Mercury below the knees. Next he fashioned a pair of buskins of +the right height, and joined these on to the truncated limbs in such +wise that the tops of the boots concealed the lines of juncture. When +Buonarroti saw the finished statue, he remarked that fools were gifted +with the instinct for rectifying errors by expedients which a wise man +would not have hit upon. + +Another of Michelangelo's buffoon friends was a Florentine celebrity, +Piloto, the goldsmith. We know that he took this man with him when he +went to Venice in 1530; but Vasari tells no characteristic stories +concerning their friendship. It may be remarked that Il Lasca +describes Piloto as a "most entertaining and facetious fellow," +assigning him the principal part in one of his indecent novels. The +painter Giuliano Bugiardini ought to be added to the same list. Messer +Ottaviano de' Medici begged him to make a portrait of Michelangelo, +who gave him a sitting without hesitation, being extremely partial to +the man's company. At the end of two hours Giuliano exclaimed: +"Michelangelo, if you want to see yourself, stand up; I have caught +the likeness." Michelangelo did as he was bidden, and when he had +examined the portrait, he laughed and said: "What the devil have you +been about? You have painted me with one of my eyes up in the temple." +Giuliano stood some time comparing the drawing with his model's face, +and then remarked: "I do not think so; but take your seat again, and I +shall be able to judge better when I have you in the proper pose." +Michelangelo, who knew well where the fault lay, and how little +judgment belonged to his friend Bugiardini, resumed his seat, +grinning. After some time of careful contemplation, Giuliano rose to +his feet and cried: "It seems to me that I have drawn it right, and +that the life compels me to do so." "So then," replied Buonarroti, +"the defect is nature's, and see you spare neither the brush nor art." + +Both Sebastiano del Piombo and Giorgio Vasari were appreciated by +Michelangelo for their lively parts and genial humour. The latter has +told an anecdote which illustrates the old man's eccentricity. He was +wont to wear a cardboard hat at night, into which he stuck a candle, +and then worked by its light upon his statue of the Pietà. Vasari +observing this habit, wished to do him a kindness by sending him 40 +lbs. of candles made of goat's fat, knowing that they gutter less than +ordinary dips of tallow. His servant carried them politely to the +house two hours after nightfall, and presented them to Michelangelo. +He refused, and said he did not want them. The man answered, "Sir, +they have almost broken my arms carrying them all this long way from +the bridge, nor will I take them home again. There is a heap of mud +opposite your door, thick and firm enough to hold them upright. Here +then will I set them all up, and light them." When Michelangelo heard +this, he gave way: "Lay them down; I do not mean you to play pranks at +my house-door." Varsari tells another anecdote about the Pietà. Pope +Julius III. sent him late one evening to Michelangelo's house for some +drawing. The old man came down with a lantern, and hearing what was +wanted, told Urbino to look for the cartoon. Meanwhile, Vasari turned +his attention to one of the legs of Christ, which Michelangelo had +been trying to alter. In order to prevent his seeing, Michelangelo let +the lamp fall, and they remained in darkness. He then called for a +light, and stepped forth from the enclosure of planks behind which he +worked. As he did so, he remarked, "I am so old that Death oftentimes +plucks me by the cape to go with him, and one day this body of mine +will fall like the lantern, and the light of life will be put out." Of +death he used to say, that "if life gives us pleasure, we ought not to +expect displeasure from death, seeing as it is made by the hand of the +same master." + +Among stories relating to craftsmen, these are perhaps worth gleaning. +While he was working on the termini for the tomb of Julius, he gave +directions to a certain stone-cutter: "Remove such and such parts here +to-day, smooth out in this place, and polish up in that." In the +course of time, without being aware of it, the man found that he had +produced a statue, and stared astonished at his own performance. +Michelangelo asked, "What do you think of it?" "I think it very good," +he answered, "and I owe you a deep debt of gratitude." "Why do you say +that?" "Because you have caused me to discover in myself a talent +which I did not know that I possessed."--A certain citizen, who wanted +a mortar, went to a sculptor and asked him to make one. The fellow, +suspecting some practical joke, pointed out Buonarroti's house, and +said that if he wanted mortars, a man lived there whose trade it was +to make them. The customer accordingly addressed himself to +Michelangelo, who, in his turn suspecting a trick, asked who had sent +him. When he knew the sculptor's name, he promised to carve the +mortar, on the condition that it should be paid for at the sculptor's +valuation. This was settled, and the mortar turned out a miracle of +arabesques and masks and grotesque inventions, wonderfully wrought and +polished. In due course of time the mortar was taken to the envious +and suspicious sculptor, who stood dumbfounded before it, and told the +customer that there was nothing left but to carry this masterpiece of +carving back to him who fashioned it, and order a plain article for +himself.--At Modena he inspected the terra-cotta groups by Antonio +Begarelli, enthusiastically crying out, "If this clay could become +marble, woe to antique statuary."--A Florentine citizen once saw him +gazing at Donatello's statue of S. Mark upon the outer wall of +Orsanmichele. On being asked what he thought of it, Michelangelo +replied, "I never saw a figure which so thoroughly represents a man of +probity; if S. Mark was really like that, we have every reason to +believe everything which he has said." To the S. George in the same +place he is reported to have given the word of command, "March!"--Some +one showed him a set of medals by Alessandro Cesari, upon which he +exclaimed, "The death hour of art has struck; nothing more perfect can +be seen than these."--Before Titian's portrait of Duke Alfonso di +Ferrara he observed that he had not thought art could perform so much, +adding that Titian alone deserved the name of painter.--He was wont to +call Cronaca's church of S. Francesco al Monte "his lovely peasant +girl," and Ghiberti's doors in the Florentine Baptistery "the Gates of +Paradise."--Somebody showed him a boy's drawings, and excused their +imperfection by pleading that he had only just begun to study: "That +is obvious," he answered. A similar reply is said to have been made to +Vasari, when he excused his own frescoes in the Cancelleria at Rome by +saying they had been painted in a few days.--An artist showed him a +Pietà which he had finished: "Yes, it is indeed a _pietà_ (pitiful +object) to see."--Ugo da Carpi signed one of his pictures with a +legend declaring he had not used a brush on it: "It would have been +better had he done so."--Sebastiano del Piombo was ordered to paint a +friar in a chapel at S. Pietro a Montorio. Michelangelo observed, "He +will spoil the chapel." Asked why, he answered, "When the friars have +spoiled the world, which is so large, it surely is an easy thing for +them to spoil such a tiny chapel."--A sculptor put together a number +of figures imitated from the antique, and thought he had surpassed his +models. Michelangelo remarked, "One who walks after another man, never +goes in front of him; and one who is not able to do well by his own +wit, will not be able to profit by the works of others."--A painter +produced some notably poor picture, in which only an ox was vigorously +drawn: "Every artist draws his own portrait best," said +Michelangelo.--He went to see a statue which was in the sculptor's +studio, waiting to be exposed before the public. The man bustled about +altering the lights, in order to show his work off to the best +advantage: "Do not take this trouble; what really matters will be the +light of the piazza;" meaning that the people in the long-run decide +what is good or bad in art.--Accused of want of spirit in his rivalry +with Nanni di Baccio Bigio, he retorted, "Men who fight with folk of +little worth win nothing."--A priest who was a friend of his said, "It +is a pity that you never married, for you might have had many +children, and would have left them all the profit and honour of your +labours." Michelangelo answered, "I have only too much of a wife in +this art of mine. She has always kept me struggling on. My children +will be the works I leave behind me. Even though they are worth +naught, yet I shall live awhile in them. Woe to Lorenzo Ghiberti if he +had not made the gates of S. Giovanni! His children and grandchildren +have sold and squandered the substance that he left. The gates are +still in their places." + + +VII + +This would be an appropriate place to estimate Michelangelo's +professional gains in detail, to describe the properties he acquired +in lands and houses, and to give an account of his total fortune. We +are, however, not in the position to do this accurately. We only know +the prices paid for a few of his minor works. He received, for +instance, thirty ducats for the Sleeping Cupid, and 450 ducats for the +Pietà of S. Peter's. He contracted with Cardinal Piccolomini to +furnish fifteen statues for 500 ducats. In all of these cases the +costs of marble, workmen, workshop, fell on him. He contracted with +Florence to execute the David in two years, at a salary of six golden +florins per month, together with a further sum when the work was +finished. It appears that 400 florins in all (including salary) were +finally adjudged to him. In these cases all incidental expenses had +been paid by his employers. He contracted with the Operai del Duomo to +make twelve statues in as many years, receiving two florins a month, +and as much as the Operai thought fit to pay him when the whole was +done. Here too he was relieved from incidental expenses. For the +statue of Christ at S. Maria sopra Minerva he was paid 200 crowns. + +These are a few of the most trustworthy items we possess, and they are +rendered very worthless by the impossibility of reducing ducats, +florins, and crowns to current values. With regard to the bronze +statue of Julius II. at Bologna, Michelangelo tells us that he +received in advance 1000 ducats, and when he ended his work there +remained only 4-1/2 ducats to the good. In this case, as in most of +his great operations, he entered at the commencement into a contract +with his patron, sending in an estimate of what he thought it would be +worth his while to do the work for. The Italian is "pigliare a +cottimo;" and in all of his dealings with successive Popes +Michelangelo evidently preferred this method. It must have sometimes +enabled the artist to make large profits; but the nature of the +contract prevents his biographer from forming even a vague estimate of +their amount. According to Condivi, he received 3000 ducats for the +Sistine vault, working at his own costs. According to his own +statement, several hundred ducats were owing at the end of the affair. +It seems certain that Julius II. died in Michelangelo's debt, and that +the various contracts for his tomb were a source of loss rather than +of gain. + +Such large undertakings as the sacristy and library of S. Lorenzo were +probably agreed for on the contract system. But although there exist +plenty of memoranda recording Michelangelo's disbursements at various +times for various portions of these works, we can strike no balance +showing an approximate calculation of his profits. What renders the +matter still more perplexing is, that very few of Michelangelo's +contracts were fulfilled according to the original intention of the +parties. For one reason or another they had to be altered and +accommodated to circumstances. + +It is clear that, later on in life, he received money for drawings, +for architectural work, and for models, the execution of which he +bound himself to superintend. Cardinal Grimani wrote saying he would +pay the artist's own price for a design he had requested. Vasari +observes that the sketches he gave away were worth thousands of +crowns. We know that he was offered a handsome salary for the +superintendence of S. Peter's, which he magnanimously and piously +declined to touch. But what we cannot arrive at is even a rough +valuation of the sums he earned in these branches of employment. + +Again, we know that he was promised a yearly salary from Clement VII., +and one more handsome from Paul III. But the former was paid +irregularly, and half of the latter depended on the profits of a +ferry, which eventually failed him altogether. In each of these cases, +then, the same circumstances of vagueness and uncertainty throw doubt +on all investigation, and render a conjectural estimate impossible. +Moreover, there remain no documents to prove what he may have gained, +directly or indirectly, from succeeding Pontiffs. That he felt the +loss of Paul III., as a generous patron, is proved by a letter written +on the occasion of his death; and Vasari hints that the Pope had been +munificent in largesses bestowed upon him. But of these occasional +presents and emoluments we have no accurate information; and we are +unable to state what he derived from Pius IV., who was certainly one +of his best friends and greatest admirers. + +At his death in Rome he left cash amounting to something under 9000 +crowns. But, since he died intestate, we have no will to guide us as +to the extent and nature of his whole estate. Nor, so far as I am +aware, has the return of his property, which Lionardo Buonarroti may +possibly have furnished to the state of Florence, been yet brought to +light. + +That he inherited some landed property at Settignano from his father +is certain; and he added several plots of ground to the paternal +acres. He also is said to have bought a farm in Valdichiana +(doubtful), and other pieces of land in Tuscany. He owned a house at +Rome, a house and workshop in the Via Mozza at Florence, and he +purchased the Casa Buonarroti in Via Ghibellina. But we have no means +of determining the total value of these real assets. + +In these circumstances I feel unable to offer any probable opinion +regarding the amount of Michelangelo's professional earnings, or the +exact way in which they were acquired. That he died possessed of a +considerable fortune, and that he was able during his lifetime to +assist his family with large donations, cannot be disputed. But how he +came to command so much money does not appear. His frugality, +bordering upon penuriousness, impressed contemporaries. This, +considering the length of his life, may account for not contemptible +accumulations. + + +VIII + +We have seen that Michelangelo's contemporaries found fault with +several supposed frailties of his nature. These may be briefly +catalogued under the following heads: A passionate violence of temper +(_terribilità_), expressing itself in hasty acts and words; extreme +suspiciousness and irritability; solitary habits, amounting to +misanthropy or churlishness; eccentricity and melancholy bordering on +madness; personal timidity and avarice; a want of generosity in +imparting knowledge, and an undue partiality for handsome persons of +his own sex. His biographers, Condivi and Vasari, thought these +charges worthy of serious refutation, which proves that they were +current. They had no difficulty in showing that his alleged +misanthropy, melancholy, and madness were only signs of a studious +nature absorbed in profound meditations. They easily refuted the +charges of avarice and want of generosity in helping on young artists. +But there remained a great deal in the popular conception which could +not be dismissed, and which has recently been corroborated by the +publication of his correspondence. The opinion that Michelangelo was a +man of peculiar, and in some respects not altogether healthy nervous +temperament, will force itself upon all those who have fairly weighed +the evidence of the letters in connection with the events of his life. +It has been developed in a somewhat exaggerated form, of late years, +by several psychologists of the new school (Parlagreco and Lombroso in +Italy, Nisbet in England), who attempt to prove that Michelangelo was +the subject of neurotic disorder. The most important and serious essay +in this direction is a little book of great interest and almost +hypercritical acumen published recently at Naples. Signor Parlagreco +lays great stress upon Michelangelo's insensibility to women, his +"strange and contradictory feeling about feminine beauty." He seeks to +show, what is indeed, I think, capable of demonstration, that the +man's intense devotion to art and study, his solitary habits and +constitutional melancholy, caused him to absorb the ordinary instincts +and passions of a young man into his aesthetic temperament; and that +when, in later life, he began to devote his attention to poetry, he +treated love from the point of view of mystical philosophy. In support +of this argument Parlagreco naturally insists upon the famous +friendship with Vittoria Colonna, and quotes the Platonising poems +commonly attributed to this emotion. He has omitted to mention, what +certainly bears upon the point of Michelangelo's frigidity, that only +one out of the five Buonarroti brothers, sons of Lodovico, married. +Nor does he take into account the fact that Raffaello da Urbino, who +was no less devoted and industrious in art and study, retained the +liveliest sensibility to female charms. In other words, the critic +appears to neglect that common-sense solution of the problem, which is +found in a cold and physically sterile constitution as opposed to one +of greater warmth and sensuous activity. + +Parlagreco attributes much value to what he calls the religious +terrors and remorse of Michelangelo's old age; says that "his fancy +became haunted with doubts and fears; every day discovering fresh sins +in the past, inveighing against the very art which made him famous +among men, and seeking to propitiate Paradise for his soul by acts of +charity to dowerless maidens." The sonnets to Vasari and some others +are quoted in support of this view. But the question remains, whether +it is not exaggerated to regard pious aspirations, and a sense of +human life's inadequacy at its close, as the signs of nervous malady. +The following passage sums up Parlagreco's theory in a succession of +pregnant sentences. "An accurate study, based upon his correspondence +in connection with the events of the artist's life and the history of +his works, has enabled me to detect in his character a persistent +oscillation. Continual contradictions between great and generous ideas +upon the one side, and puerile ideas upon the other; between the will +and the word, thought and action; an excessive irritability and the +highest degree of susceptibility; constant love for others, great +activity in doing good, sudden sympathies, great outbursts of +enthusiasm, great fears; at times an unconsciousness with respect to +his own actions; a marvellous modesty in the field of art, an +unreasonable vanity regarding external appearances:--these are the +diverse manifestations of psychical energy in Buonarroti's life; all +which makes me believe that the mighty artist was affected by a degree +of neuropathy bordering closely upon hysterical disease." He proceeds +to support this general view by several considerations, among which +the most remarkable are Michelangelo's asseverations to friends: "You +will say that I am old and mad to make sonnets, but if people assert +that I am on the verge of dotage, I have wished to act up to my +character:" "You will say that I am old and mad; but I answer that +there is no better way of keeping sane and free from anxiety, than by +being mad:" "As regards the madness they ascribe to me, it does harm +to nobody but myself:" "I enjoyed last evening, because it drew me out +of my melancholy and mad humour." + +Reviewing Parlagreco's argument in general, I think it may be justly +remarked that if the qualities rehearsed above constitute hysterical +neuropathy, then every testy, sensitive, impulsive, and benevolent +person is neuropathically hysterical. In particular we may demur to +the terms "puerile ideas," "unreasonable vanity regarding external +appearances." It would be difficult to discover puerility in any of +Buonarroti's utterances; and his only vanity was a certain pride in +the supposed descent of his house from that of Canossa. The frequent +allusions to melancholy and madness do not constitute a confession of +these qualities. They express Michelangelo's irritation at being +always twitted with unsociability and eccentricity. In the +conversations recorded by Francesco d'Olanda he quietly and +philosophically exculpates men of the artistic temperament from such +charges, which were undoubtedly brought against him, and which the +recluse manner of his life to some extent accounted for. + +It may be well here to resume the main points of the indictment +brought against Michelangelo's sanity by the neo-psychologists. In the +first place, he admired male more than female beauty, and preferred +the society of men to that of women. But this peculiarity, in an age +and climate which gave larger licence to immoderate passions, exposed +him to no serious malignancy of rumour. Such predilections were not +uncommon in Italy. They caused scandal when they degenerated into +vice, and rarely failed in that case to obscure the good fame of +persons subject to them. Yet Michelangelo, surrounded by jealous +rivals, was only very lightly touched by the breath of calumny in his +lifetime. Aretino's malicious insinuation and Condivi's cautious +vindication do not suffice to sully his memory with any dark +suspicion. He lived with an almost culpable penuriousness in what +concerned his personal expenditure. But he was generous towards his +family, bountiful to his dependants, and liberal in charity. He +suffered from constitutional depression, preferred solitude to crowds, +and could not brook the interference of fashionable idlers with his +studious leisure. But, as he sensibly urged in self-defence, these +eccentricities, so frequent with men of genius, ought to have been +ascribed to the severe demands made upon an artist's faculties by the +problems with which he was continually engaged; the planning of a +Pope's mausoleum, the distribution of a score of histories and several +hundreds of human figures on a chapel-vaulting, the raising of S. +Peter's cupola in air: none of which tasks can be either lightly +undertaken or carried out with ease. At worst, Michelangelo's +melancholy might be ascribed to that _morbus eruditorum_ of which +Burton speaks. It never assumed the form of hypochondria, +hallucination, misogyny, or misanthropy. He was irritable, suspicious, +and frequently unjust both to his friends and relatives on slight +occasions. But his relatives gave him good reason to be fretful by +their greediness, ingratitude, and stupidity; and when he lost his +temper he recovered it with singular ease. It is also noticeable that +these paroxysms of crossness on which so much stress has been laid, +came upon him mostly when he was old, worn out with perpetual mental +and physical fatigue, and troubled by a painful disease of the +bladder. There is nothing in their nature, frequency, or violence to +justify the hypothesis of more than a hyper-sensitive nervous +temperament; and without a temperament of this sort how could an +artist of Michelangelo's calibre and intensity perform his life-work? +In old age he dwelt upon the thought of death, meditated in a +repentant spirit on the errors of his younger years, indulged a pious +spirit, and clung to the cross of Christ. But when a man has passed +the period allotted for the average of his race, ought not these +preoccupations to be reckoned to him rather as appropriate and +meritorious? We must not forget that he was born and lived as a +believing Christian, in an age of immorality indeed, but one which had +not yet been penetrated with scientific conceptions and materialism. +There is nothing hysterical or unduly ascetic in the religion of his +closing years. It did not prevent him from taking the keenest interest +in his family, devoting his mind to business and the purchase of +property, carrying on the Herculean labour of building the +mother-church of Latin Christendom. He was subject, all through his +career, to sudden panics, and suffered from a constitutional dread of +assassination. We can only explain his flight from Rome, his escape +from Florence, the anxiety he expressed about his own and his family's +relations to the Medici, by supposing that his nerves were sensitive +upon this point. But, considering the times in which he lived, the +nature of the men around him, the despotic temper of the Medicean +princes, was there anything morbid in this timidity? A student of +Cellini's Memoirs, of Florentine history, and of the dark stories in +which the private annals of the age abound, will be forced to admit +that imaginative men of acute nervous susceptibility, who loved a +quiet life and wished to keep their mental forces unimpaired for art +and thought, were justified in feeling an habitual sense of uneasiness +in Italy of the Renaissance period. Michelangelo's timidity, real as +it was, did not prevent him from being bold upon occasion, speaking +the truth to popes and princes, and making his personality respected. +He was even accused of being too "terrible," too little of a courtier +and time-server. + +When the whole subject of Michelangelo's temperament has been calmly +investigated, the truth seems to be that he did not possess a nervous +temperament so evenly balanced as some phlegmatic men of average +ability can boast of. But who could expect the creator of the Sistine, +the sculptor of the Medicean tombs, the architect of the cupola, the +writer of the sonnets, to be an absolutely normal individual? To +identify genius with insanity is a pernicious paradox. To recognise +that it cannot exist without some inequalities of nervous energy, some +perturbations of nervous function, is reasonable. In other words, it +is an axiom of physiology that the abnormal development of any organ +or any faculty is balanced by some deficiency or abnormality elsewhere +in the individual. This is only another way of saying that the man of +genius is not a mediocre and ordinary personality: in other words, it +is a truism, the statement of which appears superfluous. Rather ought +we, in Michelangelo's case, to dwell upon the remarkable sobriety of +his life, his sustained industry under very trying circumstances, his +prolonged intellectual activity into extreme old age, the toughness of +his constitution, and the elasticity of that nerve-fibre which +continued to be sound and sane under the enormous and varied pressure +put upon it over a period of seventy-five laborious years. + +If we dared attempt a synthesis or reconstitution of this unique man's +personality, upon the data furnished by his poems, letters, and +occasional utterances, all of which have been set forth in their +proper places in this work, I think we must construct him as a being +gifted, above all his other qualities and talents, with a burning +sense of abstract beauty and an eager desire to express this through +several forms of art--design, sculpture, fresco-painting, +architecture, poetry. The second point forced in upon our mind is that +the same man vibrated acutely to the political agitation of his +troubled age, to mental influences of various kinds, and finally to a +persistent nervous susceptibility, which made him exquisitely +sensitive to human charm. This quality rendered him irritable in his +dealings with his fellow-men, like an instrument of music, finely +strung, and jangled on a slight occasion. In the third place we +discover that, while accepting the mental influences and submitting to +the personal attractions I have indicated, he strove, by indulging +solitary tastes, to maintain his central energies intact for +art--joining in no rebellious conspiracies against the powers that be, +bending his neck in silence to the storm, avoiding pastimes and social +diversions which might have called into activity the latent +sensuousness of his nature. For the same reason, partly by +predilection, and partly by a deliberate wish to curb his irritable +tendencies, he lived as much alone as possible, and poorly. At the +close of his career, when he condescended to unburden his mind in +verse and friendly dialogue, it is clear that he had formed the habit +of recurring to religion for tranquillity, and of combating dominant +desire by dwelling on the thought of inevitable death. Platonic +speculations upon the eternal value of beauty displayed in mortal +creatures helped him always in his warfare with the flesh and roving +inclination. Self-control seems to have been the main object of his +conscious striving, not for its own sake, but as the condition +necessary to his highest spiritual activity. Self-coherence, +self-concentration, not for any mean or self-indulgent end, but for +the best attainment of his intellectual ideal, was what he sought for +by the seclusion and the renunciations of a lifetime. + +The total result of this singular attitude toward human life, which +cannot be rightly described as either ascetic or mystical, but seems +rather to have been based upon some self-preservative instinct, +bidding him sacrifice lower and keener impulses to what he regarded as +the higher and finer purpose of his being, is a certain clash and +conflict of emotions, a certain sense of failure to attain the end +proposed, which excuses, though I do not think it justifies, the +psychologists, when they classify him among morbid subjects. Had he +yielded at any period of his career to the ordinary customs of his +easy-going age, he would have presented no problem to the scientific +mind. After consuming the fuel of the passions, he might have subsided +into common calm, or have blunted the edge of inspiration, or have +finished in some phase of madness or ascetical repentance. Such are +the common categories of extinct volcanic temperaments. But the +essential point about Michelangelo is that he never burned out, and +never lost his manly independence, in spite of numerous nervous +disadvantages. That makes him the unparalleled personality he is, as +now revealed to us by the impartial study of the documents at our +disposal. + + +IX + +It is the plain duty of criticism in this age to search and probe the +characters of world-important individuals under as many aspects as +possible, neglecting no analytical methods, shrinking from no tests, +omitting no slight details or faint shadows that may help to round a +picture. Yet, after all our labour, we are bound to confess that the +man himself eludes our insight. "The abysmal deeps of personality" +have never yet been sounded by mere human plummets. The most that +microscope and scalpel can perform is to lay bare tissue and direct +attention to peculiarities of structure. In the long-run we find that +the current opinion formed by successive generations remains true in +its grand outlines. That large collective portrait of the hero, slowly +emerging from sympathies and censures, from judgments and panegyrics, +seems dim indeed and visionary, when compared with some sharply +indented description by a brilliant literary craftsman. It has the +vagueness of a photograph produced by superimposing many negatives of +the same face one upon the other. It lacks the pungent piquancy of an +etching. Yet this is what we must abide by; for this is spiritually +and generically veracious. + +At the end, then, a sound critic returns to think of Michelangelo, not +as Parlagreco and Lombroso show him, nor even as the minute +examination of letters and of poems proves him to have been, but as +tradition and the total tenor of his life display him to our +admiration. Incalculable, incomprehensible, incommensurable: yes, all +souls, the least and greatest, attack them as we will, are that. But +definite in solitary sublimity, like a supreme mountain seen from a +vast distance, soaring over shadowy hills and misty plains into the +clear ether of immortal fame. + +Viewed thus, he lives for ever as the type and symbol of a man, +much-suffering, continually labouring, gifted with keen but rarely +indulged passions, whose energies from boyhood to extreme old age were +dedicated with unswerving purpose to the service of one master, +plastic art. On his death-bed he may have felt, like Browning, in that +sweetest of his poems, "other heights in other lives, God willing." +But, for this earthly pilgrimage, he was contented to leave the +ensample of a noble nature made perfect and completed in itself by +addiction to one commanding impulse. We cannot cite another hero of +the modern world who more fully and with greater intensity realised +the main end of human life, which is self-effectuation, +self-realisation, self-manifestation in one of the many lines of +labour to which men may be called and chosen. Had we more of such +individualities, the symphony of civilisation would be infinitely +glorious; for nothing is more certain than that God and the world +cannot be better served than by each specific self pushing forward to +its own perfection, sacrificing the superfluous or hindering elements +in its structure, regardless of side issues and collateral +considerations. + +Michelangelo, then, as Carlyle might have put it, is the Hero as +Artist. When we have admitted this, all dregs and sediments of the +analytical alembic sink to the bottom, leaving a clear crystalline +elixir of the spirit. About the quality of his genius opinions may, +will, and ought to differ. It is so pronounced, so peculiar, so +repulsive to one man, so attractive to another, that, like his own +dread statue of Lorenzo de' Medici, "it fascinates and is +intolerable." There are few, I take it, who can feel at home with him +in all the length and breadth and dark depths of the regions that he +traversed. The world of thoughts and forms in which he lived +habitually is too arid, like an extinct planet, tenanted by mighty +elemental beings with little human left to them but visionary +Titan-shapes, too vast and void for common minds to dwell in +pleasurably. The sweetness that emerges from his strength, the beauty +which blooms rarely, strangely, in unhomely wise, upon the awful crowd +of his conceptions, are only to be apprehended by some innate sympathy +or by long incubation of the brooding intellect. It is probable, +therefore, that the deathless artist through long centuries of glory +will abide as solitary as the simple old man did in his poor house at +Rome. But no one, not the dullest, not the weakest, not the laziest +and lustfullest, not the most indifferent to ideas or the most +tolerant of platitudes and paradoxes, can pass him by without being +arrested, quickened, stung, purged, stirred to uneasy self-examination +by so strange a personality expressed in prophecies of art so pungent. + +Each supreme artist whom God hath sent into the world with inspiration +and a particle of the imperishable fire, is a law to himself, an +universe, a revelation of the divine life under one of its innumerable +attributes. We cannot therefore classify Michelangelo with any of his +peers throughout the long procession of the ages. Of each and all of +them it must be said in Ariosto's words, "Nature made him, and then +broke the mould." Yet, if we seek Michelangelo's affinities, we find +them in Lucretius and Beethoven, not in Sophocles and Mozart. He +belongs to the genus of deep, violent, colossal, passionately striving +natures; not, like Raffaello, to the smooth, serene, broad, +exquisitely finished, calmly perfect tribe. To God be the praise, who +bestows upon the human race artists thus differing in type and +personal quality, each one of whom incarnates some specific portion of +the spirit of past ages, perpetuating the traditions of man's soul, +interpreting century to century by everlasting hieroglyphics, mute +witnesses to history and splendid illustrations of her pages. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti +by John Addington Symonds + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHELANGELO *** + +***** This file should be named 11242-8.txt or 11242-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/2/4/11242/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Keith M. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti + +Author: John Addington Symonds + +Release Date: February 23, 2004 [EBook #11242] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHELANGELO *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Keith M. Eckrich and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE LIFE OF MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI + +By JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS + + +TO THE CAVALIERE GUIDO BIAGI, DOCTOR IN LETTERS, PREFECT OF THE +MEDICEO-LAURENTIAN LIBRARY, ETC., ETC. + +I DEDICATE THIS WORK ON MICHELANGELO IN RESPECT FOR HIS SCHOLARSHIP +AND LEARNING ADMIRATION OF HIS TUSCAN STYLE AND GRATEFUL +ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF HIS GENEROUS ASSISTANCE + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. BIRTH, BOYHOOD, YOUTH AT FLORENCE, DOWN TO LORENZO DE' MEDICI'S + DEATH. 1475-1492. + + II. FIRST VISITS TO BOLOGNA AND ROME--THE MADONNA DELLA FEBBRE AND + OTHER WORKS IN MARBLE. 1492-1501. + + III. RESIDENCE IN FLORENCE--THE DAVID. 1501-1505. + + IV. JULIUS II. CALLS MICHELANGELO TO ROME--PROJECT FOR THE POPE'S + TOMB--THE REBUILDING OF S. PETER'S--FLIGHT FROM ROME--CARTOON + FOR THE BATTLE OF PISA. 1505, 1506. + + V. SECOND VISIT TO BOLOGNA--THE BRONZE STATUE OF JULIUS + II--PAINTING OF THE SISTINE VAULT. 1506-1512. + + VI. ON MICHELANGELO AS DRAUGHTSMAN, PAINTER, SCULPTOR. + + VII. LEO X. PLANS FOR THE CHURCH OF S. LORENZO AT + FLORENCE--MICHELANGELO'S LIFE AT CARRARA. 1513-1521. + +VIII. ADRIAN VI AND CLEMENT VII--THE SACRISTY AND LIBRARY OF S. + LORENZO. 1521-1526. + + IX. SACK OF ROME AND SIEGE OF FLORENCE--MICHELANGELO'S FLIGHT TO + VENICE--HIS RELATIONS TO THE MEDICI. 1527-1534. + + X. ON MICHELANGELO AS ARCHITECT. + + XI. FINAL SETTLEMENT IN ROME--PAUL III.--THE LAST JUDGMENT AND THE + PAOLINE CHAPEL--THE TOMB OF JULIUS. 1535-1542. + + XII. VITTORIA COLONNA AND TOMMASO CAVALIERI--MICHELANGELO AS POET AND + MAN OF FEELING. + +XIII. MICHELANGELO APPOINTED ARCHITECT-IN-CHIEF AT THE + VATICAN--HISTORY OF S. PETER'S. 1542-1557. + + XIV. LAST YEARS OF LIFE--MICHELANGELO'S PORTRAITS--ILLNESS OF OLD + AGE. 1557-1564. + + XV. DEATH AT ROME--BURIAL AND OBSEQUIES AT + FLORENCE--ANECDOTES--ESTIMATE OF MICHELANGELO AS MAN AND ARTIST. + + + + +THE LIFE OF MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI + + +CHAPTER I + + +I + +The Buonarroti Simoni, to whom Michelangelo belonged, were a +Florentine family of ancient burgher nobility. Their arms appear to +have been originally "azure two bends or." To this coat was added "a +label of four points gules inclosing three fleur-de-lys or." That +augmentation, adopted from the shield of Charles of Anjou, occurs upon +the scutcheons of many Guelf houses and cities. In the case of the +Florentine Simoni, it may be ascribed to the period when Buonarrota di +Simone Simoni held office as a captain of the Guelf party (1392). +Such, then, was the paternal coat borne by the subject of this Memoir. +His brother Buonarroto received a further augmentation in 1515 from +Leo X., to wit: "upon a chief or, a pellet azure charged with +fleur-de-lys or, between the capital letters L. and X." At the same +time he was created Count Palatine. The old and simple bearing of the +two bends was then crowded down into the extreme base of the shield, +while the Angevine label found room beneath the chief. + +According to a vague tradition, the Simoni drew their blood from the +high and puissant Counts of Canossa. Michelangelo himself believed in +this pedigree, for which there is, however, no foundation in fact, and +no heraldic corroboration. According to his friend and biographer +Condivi, the sculptor's first Florentine ancestor was a Messer Simone +dei Conti di Canossa, who came in 1250 as Podesta to Florence. "The +eminent qualities of this man gained for him admission into the +burghership of the city, and he was appointed captain of a Sestiere; +for Florence in those days was divided into Sestieri, instead of +Quartieri, as according to the present usage." Michelangelo's +contemporary, the Count Alessandro da Canossa, acknowledged this +relationship. Writing on the 9th of October 1520, he addresses the +then famous sculptor as "honoured kinsman," and gives the following +piece of information: "Turning over my old papers, I have discovered +that a Messere Simone da Canossa was Podesta of Florence, as I have +already mentioned to the above-named Giovanni da Reggio." +Nevertheless, it appears now certain that no Simone da Canossa held +the office of Podesta at Florence in the thirteenth century. The +family can be traced up to one Bernardo, who died before the year +1228. His grandson was called Buonarrota, and the fourth in descent +was Simone. These names recur frequently in the next generations. +Michelangelo always addressed his father as "Lodovico di Lionardo di +Buonarrota Simoni," or "Louis, the son of Leonard, son of Buonarrota +Simoni;" and he used the family surname of Simoni in writing to his +brothers and his nephew Lionardo. Yet he preferred to call himself +Michelangelo Buonarroti; and after his lifetime Buonarroti became +fixed for the posterity of his younger brother. "The reason," says +Condivi, "why the family in Florence changed its name from Canossa to +Buonarroti was this: Buonarroto continued for many generations to be +repeated in their house, down to the time of Michelangelo, who had a +brother of that name; and inasmuch as several of these Buonarroti held +rank in the supreme magistracy of the republic, especially the brother +I have just mentioned, who filled the office of Prior during Pope +Leo's visit to Florence, as may be read in the annals of that city, +this baptismal name, by force of frequent repetition, became the +cognomen of the whole family; the more easily, because it is the +custom at Florence, in elections and nominations of officers, to add +the Christian names of the father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and +sometimes even of remoter ancestors, to that of each citizen. +Consequently, through the many Buonarroti who followed one another, +and from the Simone who was the first founder of the house in +Florence, they gradually came to be called Buonarroti Simoni, which is +their present designation." Excluding the legend about Simone da +Canossa, this is a pretty accurate account of what really happened. +Italian patronymics were formed indeed upon the same rule as those of +many Norman families in Great Britain. When the use of Di and Fitz +expired, Simoni survived from Di Simone, as did my surname Symonds +from Fitz-Symond. + +On the 6th of March 1475, according to our present computation, +Lodovico di Lionardo Buonarroti Simoni wrote as follows in his private +notebook: "I record that on this day, March 6, 1474, a male child was +born to me. I gave him the name of Michelangelo, and he was born on a +Monday morning four or five hours before daybreak, and he was born +while I was Podesta of Caprese, and he was born at Caprese; and the +godfathers were those I have named below. He was baptized on the +eighth of the same month in the Church of San Giovanni at Caprese. +These are the godfathers:-- + + DON DANIELLO DI SER BUONAGUIDA of Florence, +Rector of San Giovanni at Caprese; + DON ANDREA DI .... of Poppi, Rector of the Abbey + of Diasiano (_i.e._, Dicciano); + JACOPO DI FRANCESCO of Casurio (?); + MARCO DI GIORGIO of Caprese; + GIOVANNI DI BIAGIO of Caprese; + ANDREA DI BIAGIO of Caprese; + FRANCESCO DI JACOPO DEL ANDUINO (?) of Caprese; + SER BARTOLOMMEO DI SANTI DEL LANSE (?), Notary." + +Note that the date is March 6, 1474, according to Florentine usage _ab +incarnatione_, and according to the Roman usage, _a nativitate_, it is +1475. + +Vasari tells us that the planets were propitious at the moment of +Michelangelo's nativity: "Mercury and Venus having entered with benign +aspect into the house of Jupiter, which indicated that marvellous and +extraordinary works, both of manual art and intellect, were to be +expected from him." + + +II + +Caprese, from its beauty and remoteness, deserved to be the birthplace +of a great artist. It is not improbable that Lodovico Buonarroti and +his wife Francesca approached it from Pontassieve in Valdarno, +crossing the little pass of Consuma, descending on the famous +battle-field of Campaldino, and skirting the ancient castle of the +Conti Guidi at Poppi. Every step in the romantic journey leads over +ground hallowed by old historic memories. From Poppi the road descends +the Arno to a richly cultivated district, out of which emerges on its +hill the prosperous little town of Bibbiena. High up to eastward +springs the broken crest of La Vernia, a mass of hard millstone rock +(_macigno_) jutting from desolate beds of lime and shale at the height +of some 3500 feet above the sea. It was here, among the sombre groves +of beech and pine which wave along the ridge, that S. Francis came to +found his infant Order, composed the Hymn to the Sun, and received the +supreme honour of the stigmata. To this point Dante retired when the +death of Henry VII. extinguished his last hopes for Italy. At one +extremity of the wedge-like block which forms La Vernia, exactly on +the watershed between Arno and Tiber, stands the ruined castle of +Chiusi in Casentino. This was one of the two chief places of Lodovico +Buonarroti's podesteria. It may be said to crown the valley of the +Arno; for the waters gathered here flow downwards toward Arezzo, and +eventually wash the city walls of Florence. A few steps farther, +travelling south, we pass into the valley of the Tiber, and, after +traversing a barren upland region for a couple of hours, reach the +verge of the descent upon Caprese. Here the landscape assumes a softer +character. Far away stretch blue Apennines, ridge melting into ridge +above Perugia in the distance. Gigantic oaks begin to clothe the stony +hillsides, and little by little a fertile mountain district of +chestnut-woods and vineyards expands before our eyes, equal in charm +to those aerial hills and vales above Pontremoli. Caprese has no +central commune or head-village. It is an aggregate of scattered +hamlets and farmhouses, deeply embosomed in a sea of greenery. Where +the valley contracts and the infant Tiber breaks into a gorge, rises a +wooded rock crowned with the ruins of an ancient castle. It was here, +then, that Michelangelo first saw the light. When we discover that he +was a man of more than usually nervous temperament, very different in +quality from any of his relatives, we must not forget what a fatiguing +journey had been performed by his mother, who was then awaiting her +delivery. Even supposing that Lodovico Buonarroti travelled from +Florence by Arezzo to Caprese, many miles of rough mountain-roads must +have been traversed by her on horseback. + + +III + +Ludovico, who, as we have seen, was Podesta of Caprese and of Chiusi +in the Casentino, had already one son by his first wife, Francesca, +the daughter of Neri di Miniato del Sera and Bonda Rucellai. This +elder brother, Lionardo, grew to manhood, and become a devoted +follower of Savonarola. Under the influence of the Ferrarese friar, he +determined to abjure the world, and entered the Dominican Order in +1491. We know very little about him, and he is only once mentioned in +Michelangelo's correspondence. Even this reference cannot be +considered certain. Writing to his father from Rome, July 1, 1497, +Michelangelo says: "I let you know that Fra Lionardo returned hither +to Rome. He says that he was forced to fly from Viterbo, and that his +frock had been taken from him, wherefore he wished to go there +(_i.e._, to Florence). So I gave him a golden ducat, which he asked +for; and I think you ought already to have learned this, for he should +be there by this time." When Lionardo died is uncertain. We only know +that he was in the convent of S. Mark at Florence in the year 1510. +Owing to this brother's adoption of the religious life, Michelangelo +became, early in his youth, the eldest son of Lodovico's family. It +will be seen that during the whole course of his long career he acted +as the mainstay of his father, and as father to his younger brothers. +The strength and the tenacity of his domestic affections are very +remarkable in a man who seems never to have thought of marrying. +"Art," he used to say, "is a sufficiently exacting mistress." Instead +of seeking to beget children for his own solace, he devoted himself to +the interests of his kinsmen. + +The office of Podesta lasted only six months, and at the expiration of +this term Lodovico returned to Florence. He put the infant +Michelangelo out to nurse in the village of Settignano, where the +Buonarroti Simoni owned a farm. Most of the people of that district +gained their livelihood in the stone-quarries around Settignano and +Maiano on the hillside of Fiesole. Michelangelo's foster-mother was +the daughter and the wife of stone-cutters. "George," said he in +after-years to his friend Vasari, "if I possess anything of good in my +mental constitution, it comes from my having been born in your keen +climate of Arezzo; just as I drew the chisel and the mallet with which +I carve statues in together with my nurse's milk." + +When Michelangelo was of age to go to school, his father put him under +a grammarian at Florence named Francesco da Urbino. It does not +appear, however, that he learned more than reading and writing in +Italian, for later on in life we find him complaining that he knew no +Latin. The boy's genius attracted him irresistibly to art. He spent +all his leisure time in drawing, and frequented the society of youths +who were apprenticed to masters in painting and sculpture. Among these +he contracted an intimate friendship with Francesco Granacci, at that +time in the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandajo. Granacci used to lend +him drawings by Ghirlandajo, and inspired him with the resolution to +become a practical artist. Condivi says that "Francesco's influence, +combined with the continual craving of his nature, made him at last +abandon literary studies. This brought the boy into disfavour with his +father and uncles, who often used to beat him severely; for, being +insensible to the excellence and nobility of Art, they thought it +shameful to give her shelter in their house. Nevertheless, albeit +their opposition caused him the greatest sorrow, it was not sufficient +to deter him from his steady purpose. On the contrary, growing even +bolder he determined to work in colours." Condivi, whose narrative +preserves for us Michelangelo's own recollections of his youthful +years, refers to this period the painted copy made by the young +draughtsman from a copper-plate of Martin Schoengauer. We should +probably be right in supposing that the anecdote is slightly +antedated. I give it, however, as nearly as possible in the +biographer's own words. "Granacci happened to show him a print of S. +Antonio tormented by the devils. This was the work of Martino +d'Olanda, a good artist for the times in which he lived; and +Michelangelo transferred the composition to a panel. Assisted by the +same friend with colours and brushes, he treated his subject in so +masterly a way that it excited surprise in all who saw it, and even +envy, as some say, in Domenico, the greatest painter of his age. In +order to diminish the extraordinary impression produced by this +picture, Ghirlandajo went about saying that it came out of his own +workshop, as though he had some part in the performance. While engaged +on this piece, which, beside the figure of the saint, contained many +strange forms and diabolical monstrosities, Michelangelo coloured no +particular without going first to Nature and comparing her truth with +his fancies. Thus he used to frequent the fish-market, and study the +shape and hues of fishes' fins, the colour of their eyes, and so forth +in the case of every part belonging to them; all of which details he +reproduced with the utmost diligence in his painting." Whether this +transcript from Schoengauer was made as early as Condivi reports may, +as I have said, be reasonably doubted. The anecdote is interesting, +however, as showing in what a naturalistic spirit Michelangelo began +to work. The unlimited mastery which he acquired over form, and which +certainly seduced him at the close of his career into a stylistic +mannerism, was based in the first instance upon profound and patient +interrogation of reality. + + +IV + +Lodovico perceived at length that it was useless to oppose his son's +natural bent. Accordingly, he sent him into Ghirlandajo's workshop. A +minute from Ghirlandajo's ledger, under the date 1488, gives +information regarding the terms of the apprenticeship. "I record this +first of April how I, Lodovico di Lionardo di Buonarrota, bind my son +Michelangelo to Domenico and Davit di Tommaso di Currado for the next +three ensuing years, under these conditions and contracts: to wit, +that the said Michelangelo shall stay with the above-named masters +during this time, to learn the art of painting, and to practise the +same, and to be at the orders of the above-named; and they, for their +part, shall give to him in the course of these three years twenty-four +florins (_fiorini di suggello_): to wit, six florins in the first +year, eight in the second, ten in the third; making in all the sum of +ninety-six pounds (_lire_)." A postscript, dated April 16th of the +same year, 1488, records that two florins were paid to Michelangelo +upon that day. + +It seems that Michelangelo retained no very pleasant memory of his +sojourn with the Ghirlandajo brothers. Condivi, in the passage +translated above, hints that Domenico was jealous of him. He proceeds +as follows: "This jealousy betrayed itself still more when +Michelangelo once begged the loan of a certain sketch-book, wherein +Domenico had portrayed shepherds with their flocks and watchdogs, +landscapes, buildings, ruins, and such-like things. The master refused +to lend it; and indeed he had the fame of being somewhat envious; for +not only showed he thus scant courtesy toward Michelangelo, but he +also treated his brother likewise, sending him into France when he saw +that he was making progress and putting forth great promise; and doing +this not so much for any profit to David, as that he might himself +remain the first of Florentine painters. I have thought fit to mention +these things, because I have been told that Domenico's son is wont to +ascribe the genius and divinity of Michelangelo in great part to his +father's teaching, whereas the truth is that he received no assistance +from that master. I ought, however, to add that Michelangelo does not +complain: on the contrary, he praises Domenico both as artist and as +man." + +This passage irritated Vasari beyond measure. He had written his first +Life of Michelangelo in 1550. Condivi published his own modest +biography in 1553, with the expressed intention of correcting errors +and supplying deficiencies made by "others," under which vague word he +pointed probably at Vasari. Michelangelo, who furnished Condivi with +materials, died in 1564; and Vasari, in 1568, issued a second enlarged +edition of the Life, into which he cynically incorporated what he +chose to steal from Condivi's sources. The supreme Florentine sculptor +being dead and buried, Vasari felt that he was safe in giving the lie +direct to this humble rival biographer. Accordingly, he spoke as +follows about Michelangelo's relations with Domenico Ghirlandajo: "He +was fourteen years of age when he entered that master's service, and +inasmuch as one (Condivi), who composed his biography after 1550, when +I had published these Lives for the first time, declares that certain +persons, from want of familiarity with Michelangelo, have recorded +things that did not happen, and have omitted others worthy of +relation; and in particular has touched upon the point at issue, +accusing Domenico of envy, and saying that he never rendered +Michelangelo assistance."--Here Vasari, out of breath with +indignation, appeals to the record of Lodovico's contract with the +Ghirlandajo brothers. "These minutes," he goes on to say, "I copied +from the ledger, in order to show that everything I formerly +published, or which will be published at the present time, is truth. +Nor am I acquainted with any one who had greater familiarity with +Michelangelo than I had, or who served him more faithfully in friendly +offices; nor do I believe that a single man could exhibit a larger +number of letters written with his own hand, or evincing greater +personal affection, than I can." + +This contention between Condivi and Vasari, our two contemporary +authorities upon the facts of Michelangelo's life, may not seem to be +a matter of great moment for his biographer after the lapse of four +centuries. Yet the first steps in the art-career of so exceptional a +genius possess peculiar interest. It is not insignificant to +ascertain, so far as now is possible, what Michelangelo owed to his +teachers. In equity, we acknowledge that Lodovico's record on the +ledger of the Ghirlandajo brothers proves their willingness to take +him as a prentice, and their payment to him of two florins in advance; +but the same record does not disprove Condivi's statement, derived +from his old master's reminiscences, to the effect that Domenico +Ghirlandajo was in no way greatly serviceable to him as an instructor. +The fault, in all probability, did not lie with Ghirlandajo alone. +Michelangelo, as we shall have occasions in plenty to observe, was +difficult to live with; frank in speech to the point of rudeness, +ready with criticism, incapable of governing his temper, and at no +time apt to work harmoniously with fellow-craftsmen. His extraordinary +force and originality of genius made themselves felt, undoubtedly, at +the very outset of his career; and Ghirlandajo may be excused if, +without being positively jealous of the young eagle settled in his +homely nest, he failed to do the utmost for this gifted and +rough-natured child of promise. Beethoven's discontent with Haydn as a +teacher offers a parallel; and sympathetic students of psychology will +perceive that Ghirlandajo and Haydn were almost superfluous in the +training of phenomenal natures like Michelangelo and Beethoven. + +Vasari, passing from controversy to the gossip of the studio, has +sketched a pleasant picture of the young Buonarroti in his master's +employ. "The artistic and personal qualities of Michelangelo developed +so rapidly that Domenico was astounded by signs of power in him beyond +the ordinary scope of youth. He perceived, in short, that he not only +surpassed the other students, of whom Ghirlandajo had a large number +under his tuition, but also that he often competed on an equality with +the master. One of the lads who worked there made a pen-drawing of +some women, clothed, from a design of Ghirlandajo. Michelangelo took +up the paper, and with a broader nib corrected the outline of a female +figure, so as to bring it into perfect truth to life. Wonderful it was +to see the difference of the two styles, and to note the judgment and +ability of a mere boy, so spirited and bold, who had the courage to +chastise his master's handiwork! This drawing I now preserve as a +precious relique, since it was given me by Granacci, that it might +take a place in my Book of Original Designs, together with others +presented to me by Michelangelo. In the year 1550, when I was in Rome, +I Giorgio showed it to Michelangelo, who recognised it immediately, +and was pleased to see it again, observing modestly that he knew more +about the art when he was a child than now in his old age. + +"It happened then that Domenico was engaged upon the great Chapel of +S. Maria Novella; and being absent one day, Michelangelo set himself +to draw from nature the whole scaffolding, with some easels and all +the appurtenances of the art, and a few of the young men at work +there. When Domenico returned and saw the drawing, he exclaimed: 'This +fellow knows more about it than I do,' and remained quite stupefied by +the new style and the new method of imitation, which a boy of years so +tender had received as a gift from heaven." + +Both Condivi and Vasari relate that, during his apprenticeship to +Ghirlandajo, Michelangelo demonstrated his technical ability by +producing perfect copies of ancient drawings, executing the facsimile +with consummate truth of line, and then dirtying the paper so as to +pass it off as the original of some old master. "His only object," +adds Vasari, "was to keep the originals, by giving copies in exchange; +seeing that he admired them as specimens of art, and sought to surpass +them by his own handling; and in doing this he acquired great renown." +We may pause to doubt whether at the present time--in the case, for +instance, of Shelley letters or Rossetti drawings--clever forgeries +would be accepted as so virtuous and laudable. But it ought to be +remembered that a Florentine workshop at that period contained masses +of accumulated designs, all of which were more or less the common +property of the painting firm. No single specimen possessed a high +market value. It was, in fact, only when art began to expire in Italy, +when Vasari published his extensive necrology and formed his famous +collection of drawings, that property in a sketch became a topic for +moral casuistry. + +Of Michelangelo's own work at this early period we possess probably +nothing except a rough scrawl on the plaster of a wall at Settignano. +Even this does not exist in its original state. The Satyr which is +still shown there may, according to Mr. Heath Wilson's suggestion, be +a _rifacimento_ from the master's hand at a subsequent period of his +career. + + +V + +Condivi and Vasari differ considerably in their accounts of +Michelangelo's departure from Ghirlandajo's workshop. The former +writes as follows: "So then the boy, now drawing one thing and now +another, without fixed place or steady line of study, happened one day +to be taken by Granacci into the garden of the Medici at San Marco, +which garden the magnificent Lorenzo, father of Pope Leo, and a man of +the first intellectual distinction, had adorned with antique statues +and other reliques of plastic art. When Michelangelo saw these things +and felt their beauty, he no longer frequented Domenico's shop, nor +did he go elsewhere, but, judging the Medicean gardens to be the best +school, spent all his time and faculties in working there." Vasari +reports that it was Lorenzo's wish to raise the art of sculpture in +Florence to the same level as that of painting; and for this reason he +placed Bertoldo, a pupil and follower of Donatello, over his +collections, with a special commission to aid and instruct the young +men who used them. With the same intention of forming an academy or +school of art, Lorenzo went to Ghirlandajo, and begged him to select +from his pupils those whom he considered the most promising. +Ghirlandajo accordingly drafted off Francesco Granacci and +Michelangelo Buonarroti. Since Michelangelo had been formally articled +by his father to Ghirlandajo in 1488, he can hardly have left that +master in 1489 as unceremoniously as Condivi asserts. Therefore we +may, I think, assume that Vasari upon this point has preserved the +genuine tradition. + +Having first studied the art of design and learned to work in colours +under the supervision of Ghirlandajo, Michelangelo now had his native +genius directed to sculpture. He began with the rudiments of +stone-hewing, blocking out marbles designed for the Library of San +Lorenzo, and acquiring that practical skill in the manipulation of the +chisel which he exercised all through his life. Condivi and Vasari +agree in relating that a copy he made for his own amusement from an +antique Faun first brought him into favourable notice with Lorenzo. +The boy had begged a piece of refuse marble, and carved a grinning +mask, which he was polishing when the Medici passed by. The great man +stopped to examine the work, and recognised its merit. At the same +time he observed with characteristic geniality: "Oh, you have made +this Faun quite old, and yet have left him all his teeth! Do you not +know that men of that great age are always wanting in one or two?" +Michelangelo took the hint, and knocked a tooth out from the upper +jaw. When Lorenzo saw how cleverly he had performed the task, he +resolved to provide for the boy's future and to take him into his own +household. So, having heard whose son he was, "Go," he said, "and tell +your father that I wish to speak with him." + +A mask of a grinning Faun may still be seen in the sculpture-gallery +of the Bargello at Florence, and the marble is traditionally assigned +to Michelangelo. It does not exactly correspond to the account given +by Condivi and Vasari; for the mouth shows only two large tusk-like +teeth, with the tip of the tongue protruding between them. Still, +there is no reason to feel certain that we may not have here +Michelangelo's first extant work in marble. + +"Michelangelo accordingly went home, and delivered the message of the +Magnificent. His father, guessing probably what he was wanted for, +could only be persuaded by the urgent prayers of Granacci and other +friends to obey the summons. Indeed, he complained loudly that Lorenzo +wanted to lead his son astray, abiding firmly by the principle that he +would never permit a son of his to be a stonecutter. Vainly did +Granacci explain the difference between a sculptor and a stone-cutter: +all his arguments seemed thrown away. Nevertheless, when Lodovico +appeared before the Magnificent, and was asked if he would consent to +give his son up to the great man's guardianship, he did not know how +to refuse. 'In faith,' he added, 'not Michelangelo alone, but all of +us, with our lives and all our abilities, are at the pleasure of your +Magnificence!' When Lorenzo asked what he desired as a favour to +himself, he answered: 'I have never practised any art or trade, but +have lived thus far upon my modest income, attending to the little +property in land which has come down from my ancestors; and it has +been my care not only to preserve these estates, but to increase them +so far as I was able by my industry.' The Magnificent then added: +'Well, look about, and see if there be anything in Florence which will +suit you. Make use of me, for I will do the utmost that I can for +you.' It so happened that a place in the Customs, which could only be +filled by a Florentine citizen, fell vacant shortly afterwards. Upon +this Lodovico returned to the Magnificent, and begged for it in these +words: 'Lorenzo, I am good for nothing but reading and writing. Now, +the mate of Marco Pucci in the Customs having died, I should like to +enter into this office, feeling myself able to fulfil its duties +decently.' The Magnificent laid his hand upon his shoulder, and said +with a smile: 'You will always be a poor man;' for he expected him to +ask for something far more valuable. Then he added: 'If you care to be +the mate of Marco, you can take the post, until such time as a better +becomes vacant.' It was worth eight crowns the month, a little more or +a little less." A document is extant which shows that Lodovico +continued to fill this office at the Customs till 1494, when the heirs +of Lorenzo were exiled; for in the year 1512, after the Medici +returned to Florence, he applied to Giuliano, Duke of Nemours, to be +reinstated in the same. + +If it is true, as Vasari asserts, that Michelangelo quitted +Ghirlandajo in 1489, and if Condivi is right in saying that he only +lived in the Casa Medici for about two years before the death of +Lorenzo, April 1492, then he must have spent some twelve months +working in the gardens at San Marco before the Faun's mask called +attention to his talents. His whole connection with Lorenzo, from the +spring of 1489 to the spring of 1492, lasted three years; and, since +he was born in March 1475, the space of his life covered by this +patronage extended from the commencement of his fifteenth to the +commencement of his eighteenth year. + +These three years were decisive for the development of his mental +faculties and special artistic genius. It is not necessary to enlarge +here upon Lorenzo de' Medici's merits and demerits, either as the +ruler of Florence or as the central figure in the history of the +Italian Renaissance. These have supplied stock topics for discussion +by all writers who have devoted their attention to that period of +culture. Still we must remember that Michelangelo enjoyed singular +privileges under the roof of one who was not only great as diplomatist +and politician, and princely in his patronage, but was also a man of +original genius in literature, of fine taste in criticism, and of +civil urbanity in manners. The palace of the Medici formed a museum, +at that period unique, considering the number and value of its art +treasures--bas-reliefs, vases, coins, engraved stones, paintings by +the best contemporary masters, statues in bronze and marble by +Verocchio and Donatello. Its library contained the costliest +manuscripts, collected from all quarters of Europe and the Levant. The +guests who assembled in its halls were leaders in that intellectual +movement which was destined to spread a new type of culture far and +wide over the globe. The young sculptor sat at the same board as +Marsilio Ficino, interpreter of Plato; Pico della Mirandola, the +phoenix of Oriental erudition; Angelo Poliziano, the unrivalled +humanist and melodious Italian poet; Luigi Pulci, the humorous +inventor of burlesque romance--with artists, scholars, students +innumerable, all in their own departments capable of satisfying a +youth's curiosity, by explaining to him the particular virtues of +books discussed, or of antique works of art inspected. During those +halcyon years, before the invasion of Charles VIII., it seemed as +though the peace of Italy might last unbroken. No one foresaw the +apocalyptic vials of wrath which were about to be poured forth upon +her plains and cities through the next half-century. Rarely, at any +period of the world's history, perhaps only in Athens between the +Persian and the Peloponnesian wars, has culture, in the highest and +best sense of that word, prospered more intelligently and pacifically +than it did in the Florence of Lorenzo, through the co-operation and +mutual zeal of men of eminence, inspired by common enthusiasms, and +labouring in diverse though cognate fields of study and production. + +Michelangelo's position in the house was that of an honoured guest or +adopted son. Lorenzo not only allowed him five ducats a month by way +of pocket-money, together with clothes befitting his station, but he +also, says Condivi, "appointed him a good room in the palace, together +with all the conveniences he desired, treating him in every respect, +as also at his table, precisely like one of his own sons. It was the +custom of this household, where men of the noblest birth and highest +public rank assembled round the daily board, for the guests to take +their places next the master in the order of their arrival; those who +were present at the beginning of the meal sat, each according to his +degree, next the Magnificent, not moving afterwards for any one who +might appear. So it happened that Michelangelo found himself +frequently seated above Lorenzo's children and other persons of great +consequence, with whom that house continually flourished and abounded. +All these illustrious men paid him particular attention, and +encouraged him in the honourable art which he had chosen. But the +chief to do so was the Magnificent himself, who sent for him +oftentimes in a day, in order that he might show him jewels, +cornelians, medals, and such-like objects of great rarity, as knowing +him to be of excellent parts and judgment in these things." It does +not appear that Michelangelo had any duties to perform or services to +render. Probably his patron employed him upon some useful work of the +kind suggested by Condivi. But the main business of his life in the +Casa Medici was to make himself a valiant sculptor, who in after years +should confer lustre on the city of the lily and her Medicean masters. +What he produced during this period seems to have become his own +property, for two pieces of statuary, presently to be described, +remained in the possession of his family, and now form a part of the +collection in the Casa Buonarroti. + + +VI + +Angelo Poliziano, who was certainly the chief scholar of his age in +the new learning, and no less certainly one of its truest poets in the +vulgar language, lived as tutor to Lorenzo's children in the palace of +the Medici at Florence. Benozzo Gozzoli introduced his portrait, +together with the portraits of his noble pupils, in a fresco of the +Pisan Campo Santo. This prince of humanists recommended Michelangelo +to treat in bas-relief an antique fable, involving the strife of young +heroes for some woman's person. Probably he was also able to point out +classical examples by which the boyish sculptor might be guided in the +undertaking. The subject made enormous demands upon his knowledge of +the nude. Adult and youthful figures, in attitudes of vehement attack +and resistance, had to be modelled; and the conditions of the myth +required that one at least of them should be brought into harmony with +equine forms. Michelangelo wrestled vigorously with these +difficulties. He produced a work which, though it is imperfect and +immature, brings to light the specific qualities of his inherent +art-capacity. The bas-relief, still preserved in the Casa Buonarroti +at Florence, is, so to speak, in fermentation with powerful +half-realised conceptions, audacities of foreshortening, attempts at +intricate grouping, violent dramatic action and expression. No +previous tradition, unless it was the genius of Greek or Greco-Roman +antiquity, supplied Michelangelo with the motive force for this +prentice-piece in sculpture. Donatello and other Florentines worked +under different sympathies for form, affecting angularity in their +treatment of the nude, adhering to literal transcripts from the model +or to conventional stylistic schemes. Michelangelo discarded these +limitations, and showed himself an ardent student of reality in the +service of some lofty intellectual ideal. Following and closely +observing Nature, he was also sensitive to the light and guidance of +the classic genius. Yet, at the same time, he violated the aesthetic +laws obeyed by that genius, displaying his Tuscan proclivities by +violent dramatic suggestions, and in loaded, overcomplicated +composition. Thus, in this highly interesting essay, the horoscope of +the mightiest Florentine artist was already cast. Nature leads him, +and he follows Nature as his own star bids. But that star is double, +blending classic influence with Tuscan instinct. The roof of the +Sistine was destined to exhibit to an awe-struck world what wealths of +originality lay in the artist thus gifted, and thus swayed by rival +forces. For the present, it may be enough to remark that, in the +geometrical proportions of this bas-relief, which is too high for its +length, Michelangelo revealed imperfect feeling for antique +principles; while, in the grouping of the figures, which is more +pictorial than sculpturesque, he already betrayed, what remained with +him a defect through life, a certain want of organic or symmetrical +design in compositions which are not rigidly subordinated to +architectural framework or limited to the sphere of an _intaglio_. + +Vasari mentions another bas-relief in marble as belonging to this +period, which, from its style, we may, I think, believe to have been +designed earlier than the Centaurs. It is a seated Madonna with the +Infant Jesus, conceived in the manner of Donatello, but without that +master's force and power over the lines of drapery. Except for the +interest attaching to it as an early work of Michelangelo, this piece +would not attract much attention. Vasari praises it for grace and +composition above the scope of Donatello; and certainly we may trace +here the first germ of that sweet and winning majesty which Buonarroti +was destined to develop in his Pieta of S. Peter, the Madonna at +Bruges, and the even more glorious Madonna of S. Lorenzo. It is also +interesting for the realistic introduction of a Tuscan cottage +staircase into the background. This bas-relief was presented to Cosimo +de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, by Michelangelo's nephew +Lionardo. It afterwards came back into the possession of the +Buonarroti family, and forms at present an ornament of their house at +Florence. + + +VII + +We are accustomed to think of Michelangelo as a self-withdrawn and +solitary worker, living for his art, avoiding the conflict of society, +immersed in sublime imaginings. On the whole, this is a correct +conception of the man. Many passages of his biography will show how +little he actively shared the passions and contentions of the stirring +times through which he moved. Yet his temperament exposed him to +sudden outbursts of scorn and anger, which brought him now and then +into violent collision with his neighbours. An incident of this sort +happened while he was studying under the patronage of Lorenzo de' +Medici, and its consequences marked him physically for life. The young +artists whom the Magnificent gathered round him used to practise +drawing in the Brancacci Chapel of the Carmine. There Masaccio and his +followers bequeathed to us noble examples of the grand style upon the +frescoed panels of the chapel walls. It was the custom of industrious +lads to make transcripts from those broad designs, some of which +Raphael deigned in his latest years to repeat, with altered manner, +for the Stanze of the Vatican and the Cartoons. Michelangelo went one +day into the Carmine with Piero Torrigiano and other comrades. What +ensued may best be reported in the narration which Torrigiano at a +later time made to Benvenuto Cellini. + +"This Buonarroti and I used, when we were boys, to go into the Church +of the Carmine to learn drawing from the chapel of Masaccio. It was +Buonarroti's habit to banter all who were drawing there; and one day, +when he was annoying me, I got more angry than usual, and, clenching +my fist, I gave him such a blow on the nose that I felt bone and +cartilage go down like biscuit beneath my knuckles; and this mark of +mine he will carry with him to the grave." The portraits of +Michelangelo prove that Torrigiano's boast was not a vain one. They +show a nose broken in the bridge. But Torrigiano, for this act of +violence, came to be regarded by the youth of Florence with aversion, +as one who had laid sacrilegious hands upon the sacred ark. Cellini +himself would have wiped out the insult with blood. Still Cellini knew +that personal violence was not in the line of Michelangelo's +character; for Michelangelo, according to his friend and best +biographer, Condivi, was by nature, "as is usual with men of sedentary +and contemplative habits, rather timorous than otherwise, except when +he is roused by righteous anger to resent unjust injuries or wrongs +done to himself or others, in which case he plucks up more spirit than +those who are esteemed brave; but, for the rest, he is most patient +and enduring." Cellini, then, knowing the quality of Michelangelo's +temper, and respecting him as a deity of art, adds to his report of +Torrigiano's conversation: "These words begat in me such hatred of the +man, since I was always gazing at the masterpieces of the divine +Michelangelo, that, although I felt a wish to go with him to England, +I now could never bear the sight of him." + + +VIII + +The years Michelangelo spent in the Casa Medici were probably the +blithest and most joyous of his lifetime. The men of wit and learning +who surrounded the Magnificent were not remarkable for piety or moral +austerity. Lorenzo himself found it politically useful "to occupy the +Florentines with shows and festivals, in order that they might think +of their own pastimes and not of his designs, and, growing unused to +the conduct of the commonwealth, might leave the reins of government +in his hands." Accordingly he devised those Carnival triumphs and +processions which filled the sombre streets of Florence with +Bacchanalian revellers, and the ears of her grave citizens with +ill-disguised obscenity. Lorenzo took part in them himself, and +composed several choruses of high literary merit to be sung by the +masqueraders. One of these carries a refrain which might be chosen as +a motto for the spirit of that age upon the brink of ruin:-- + + _Youths and maids, enjoy to-day: + Naught ye know about to-morrow!_ + +He caused the triumphs to be carefully prepared by the best artists, +the dresses of the masquers to be accurately studied, and their +chariots to be adorned with illustrative paintings. Michelangelo's old +friend Granacci dedicated his talents to these shows, which also +employed the wayward fancy of Piero di Cosimo and Pontormo's power as +a colourist. "It was their wont," says Il Lasca, "to go forth after +dinner; and often the processions paraded through the streets till +three or four hours into the night, with a multitude of masked men on +horseback following, richly dressed, exceeding sometimes three hundred +in number, and as many on foot with lighted torches. Thus they +traversed the city, singing to the accompaniment of music arranged for +four, eight, twelve, or even fifteen voices, and supported by various +instruments." Lorenzo represented the worst as well as the best +qualities of his age. If he knew how to enslave Florence, it was +because his own temperament inclined him to share the amusements of +the crowd, while his genius enabled him to invest corruption with +charm. His friend Poliziano entered with the zest of a poet and a +pleasure-seeker into these diversions. He helped Lorenzo to revive the +Tuscan Mayday games, and wrote exquisite lyrics to be sung by girls in +summer evenings on the public squares. This giant of learning, who +filled the lecture-rooms of Florence with Students of all nations, and +whose critical and rhetorical labours marked an epoch in the history +of scholarship, was by nature a versifier, and a versifier of the +people. He found nothing' easier than to throw aside his professor's +mantle and to improvise _ballate_ for women to chant as they danced +their rounds upon the Piazza di S. Trinita. The frontispiece to an old +edition of such lyrics represents Lorenzo surrounded with masquers in +quaint dresses, leading the revel beneath the walls of the Palazzo. +Another woodcut shows an angle of the Casa Medici in Via Larga, girls +dancing the _carola_ upon the street below, one with a wreath and +thyrsus kneeling, another presenting the Magnificent with a book of +loveditties. The burden of all this poetry was: "Gather ye roses while +ye may, cast prudence to the winds, obey your instincts." There is +little doubt that Michelangelo took part in these pastimes; for we +know that he was devoted to poetry, not always of the gravest kind. An +anecdote related by Cellini may here be introduced, since it +illustrates the Florentine customs I have been describing. "Luigi +Pulci was a young man who possessed extraordinary gifts for poetry, +together with sound Latin scholarship. He wrote well, was graceful in +manners, and of surpassing personal beauty. While he was yet a lad and +living in Florence, it was the habit of folk in certain places of the +city to meet together during the nights of summer on the open streets, +and he, ranking among the best of the improvisatori, sang there. His +recitations were so admirable that the divine Michelangelo, that +prince of sculptors and of painters, went, wherever he heard that he +would be, with the greatest eagerness and delight to listen to him. +There was a man called Piloto, a goldsmith, very able in his art, who, +together with myself, joined Buonarroti upon these occasions." In like +manner, the young Michelangelo probably attended those nocturnal +gatherings upon the steps of the Duomo which have been so graphically +described by Doni: "The Florentines seem to me to take more pleasure +in summer airings than any other folk; for they have, in the square of +S. Liberata, between the antique temple of Mars, now the Baptistery, +and that marvellous work of modern architecture, the Duomo: they have, +I say, certain steps of marble, rising to a broad flat space, upon +which the youth of the city come and lay themselves full length during +the season of extreme heat. The place is fitted for its purpose, +because a fresh breeze is always blowing, with the blandest of all +air, and the flags of white marble usually retain a certain coolness. +There then I seek my chiefest solace, when, taking my aerial flights, +I sail invisibly above them; see and hear their doings and discourses: +and forasmuch as they are endowed with keen and elevated +understanding, they always have a thousand charming things to relate; +as novels, intrigues, fables; they discuss duels, practical jokes, old +stories, tricks played off by men and women on each other: things, +each and all, rare, witty, noble, decent and in proper taste. I can +swear that during all the hours I spent in listening to their nightly +dialogues, I never heard a word that was not comely and of good +repute. Indeed, it seemed to me very remarkable, among such crowds of +young men, to overhear nothing but virtuous conversation." + +At the same period, Michelangelo fell under very different influences; +and these left a far more lasting impression on his character than the +gay festivals and witty word-combats of the lords of Florence. In 1491 +Savonarola, the terrible prophet of coming woes, the searcher of men's +hearts, and the remorseless denouncer of pleasant vices, began that +Florentine career which ended with his martyrdom in 1498. He had +preached in Florence eight years earlier, but on that occasion he +passed unnoticed through the crowd. Now he took the whole city by +storm. Obeying the magic of his eloquence and the magnetism of his +personality, her citizens accepted this Dominican friar as their +political leader and moral reformer, when events brought about the +expulsion of the Medici in 1494. Michelangelo was one of his constant +listeners at S. Marco and in the Duomo. He witnessed those stormy +scenes of religious revival and passionate fanaticism which +contemporaries have impressively described. The shorthand-writer to +whom we owe the text of Savonarola's sermons at times breaks off with +words like these: "Here I was so overcome with weeping that I could +not go on." Pico della Mirandola tells that the mere sound of the +monk's voice, startling the stillness of the Duomo, thronged through +all its space with people, was like a clap of doom; a cold shiver ran +through the marrow of his bones the hairs of his head stood on end +while he listened. Another witness reports: "Those sermons caused such +terror, alarm, sobbing, and tears, that every one passed through the +streets without speaking, more dead than alive." + +One of the earliest extant letters of Michelangelo, written from Rome +in 1497 to his brother Buonarroto, reveals a vivid interest in +Savonarola. He relates the evil rumours spread about the city +regarding his heretical opinions, and alludes to the hostility of Fra +Mariano da Genezzano; adding this ironical sentence: "Therefore he +ought by all means to come and prophesy a little in Rome, when +afterwards he will be canonised; and so let all his party be of good +cheer." In later years, it is said that the great sculptor read and +meditated Savonarola's writings together with the Bible. The +apocalyptic thunderings and voices of the Sistine Chapel owe much of +their soul-thrilling impressiveness to those studies. Michelet says, +not without justice, that the spirit of Savonarola lives again in the +frescoes of that vault. + +On the 8th of April 1492, Michelangelo lost his friend and patron. +Lorenzo died in his villa at Careggi, aged little more than forty-four +years. Guicciardini implies that his health and strength had been +prematurely broken by sensual indulgences. About the circumstances of +his last hours there are some doubts and difficulties; but it seems +clear that he expired as a Christian, after a final interview with +Savonarola. His death cast a gloom over Italy. Princes and people were +growing uneasy with the presentiment of impending disaster; and now +the only man who by his diplomatical sagacity could maintain the +balance of power had been taken from them. To his friends and +dependants in Florence the loss appeared irreparable. Poliziano poured +forth his sorrow in a Latin threnody of touching and simple beauty. +Two years later both he and Pico della Mirandola followed their master +to the grave. Marsilio Ficino passed away in 1499; and a friend of his +asserted that the sage's ghost appeared to him. The atmosphere was +full of rumours, portents, strange premonitions of revolution and +doom. The true golden age of the Italian Renaissance may almost be +said to have ended with Lorenzo de' Medici's life. + + + +CHAPTER II + + +I + +After the death of Lorenzo de' Medici, Michelangelo returned to his +father's home, and began to work upon a statue of Hercules, which is +now lost. It used to stand in the Strozzi Palace until the siege of +Florence in 1530, when Giovanni Battista della Palla bought it from +the steward of Filippo Strozzi, and sent it into France as a present +to the king. + +The Magnificent left seven children by his wife Clarice, of the +princely Roman house of the Orsini. The eldest, Piero, was married to +Alfonsina, of the same illustrious family. Giovanni, the second, had +already received a cardinal's hat from his kinsman, Innocent VIII. +Guiliano, the third, was destined to play a considerable part in +Florentine history under the title of Duke of Nemours. One daughter +was married to a Salviati, another to a Ridolfi, a third to the Pope's +son, Franceschetto Cybo. The fourth, Luisa, had been betrothed to her +distant cousin, Giovanni de' Medici; but the match was broken off, and +she remained unmarried. + +Piero now occupied that position of eminence and semi-despotic +authority in Florence which his father and grandfather had held; but +he was made of different stuff, both mentally and physically. The +Orsini blood, which he inherited from his mother, mixed but ill in his +veins with that of Florentine citizens and bankers. Following the +proud and insolent traditions of his maternal ancestors, he began to +discard the mask of civil urbanity with which Cosimo and Lorenzo had +concealed their despotism. He treated the republic as though it were +his own property, and prepared for the coming disasters of his race by +the overbearing arrogance of his behaviour. Physically, he was +powerful, tall, and active; fond of field-sports, and one of the best +pallone-players of his time in Italy. Though he had been a pupil of +Poliziano, he displayed but little of his father's interest in +learning, art, and literature. Chance brought Michelangelo into +personal relations with this man. On the 20th of January 1494 there +was a heavy fall of snow in Florence, and Piero sent for the young +sculptor to model a colossal snow-man in the courtyard of his palace. +Critics have treated this as an insult to the great artist, and a sign +of Piero's want of taste; but nothing was more natural than that a +previous inmate of the Medicean household should use his talents for +the recreation of the family who lived there. Piero upon this occasion +begged Michelangelo to return and occupy the room he used to call his +own during Lorenzo's lifetime. "And so," writes Condivi, "he remained +for some months with the Medici, and was treated by Piero with great +kindness; for the latter used to extol two men of his household as +persons of rare ability, the one being Michelangelo, the other a +Spanish groom, who, in addition to his personal beauty, which was +something wonderful, had so good a wind and such agility that when +Piero was galloping on horseback he could not outstrip him by a +hand's-breadth." + + + +II + +At this period of his life Michelangelo devoted himself to anatomy. He +had a friend, the Prior of S. Spirito, for whom he carved a wooden +crucifix of nearly life-size. This liberal-minded churchman put a room +at his disposal, and allowed him to dissect dead bodies. Condivi tells +us that the practice of anatomy was a passion with his master. "His +prolonged habits of dissection injured his stomach to such an extent +that he lost the power of eating or drinking to any profit. It is +true, however, that he became so learned in this branch of knowledge +that he has often entertained the idea of composing a work for +sculptors and painters, which should treat exhaustively of all the +movements of the human body, the external aspect of the limbs, the +bones, and so forth, adding an ingenious discourse upon the truths +discovered by him through the investigations of many years. He would +have done this if he had not mistrusted his own power of treating such +a subject with the dignity and style of a practised rhetorician. I +know well that when he reads Albert Duerer's book, it seems to him of +no great value; his own conception being so far fuller and more +useful. Truth to tell, Duerer only treats of the measurements and +varied aspects of the human form, making his figures straight as +stakes; and, what is more important, he says nothing about the +attitudes and gestures of the body. Inasmuch as Michelangelo is now +advanced in years, and does not count on bringing his ideas to light +through composition, he has disclosed to me his theories in their +minutest details. He also began to discourse upon the same topic with +Messer Realdo Colombo, an anatomist and surgeon of the highest +eminence. For the furtherance of such studies this good friend of ours +sent him the corpse of a Moor, a young man of incomparable beauty, and +admirably adapted for our purpose. It was placed at S. Agata, where I +dwelt and still dwell, as being a quarter removed from public +observation. + +"On this corpse Michelangelo demonstrated to me many rare and abstruse +things, which perhaps have never yet been fully understood, and all of +which I noted down, hoping one day, by the help of some learned man, +to give them to the public. Of Michelangelo's studies in anatomy we +have one grim but interesting record in a pen-drawing by his hand at +Oxford. A corpse is stretched upon a plank and trestles. Two men are +bending over it with knives in their hands; and, for light to guide +them in their labours, a candle is stuck into the belly of the +subject." + +As it is not my intention to write the political history of +Michelangelo's period, I need not digress here upon the invasion of +Italy by Charles VIII., which caused the expulsion of the Medici from +Florence, and the establishment of a liberal government under the +leadership of Savonarola. Michelangelo appears to have anticipated the +catastrophe which was about to overwhelm his patron. He was by nature +timid, suspicious, and apt to foresee disaster. Possibly he may have +judged that the haughty citizens of Florence would not long put up +with Piero's aristocratical insolence. But Condivi tells a story on +the subject which is too curious to be omitted, and which he probably +set down from Michelangelo's own lips. "In the palace of Piero a man +called Cardiere was a frequent inmate. The Magnificent took much +pleasure in his society, because he improvised verses to the guitar +with marvellous dexterity, and the Medici also practised this art; so +that nearly every evening after supper there was music. This Cardiere, +being a friend of Michelangelo, confided to him a vision which pursued +him, to the following effect. Lorenzo de' Medici appeared to him +barely clad in one black tattered robe, and bade him relate to his son +Piero that he would soon be expelled and never more return to his +home. Now Piero was arrogant and overbearing to such an extent that +neither the good-nature of the Cardinal Giovanni, his brother, nor the +courtesy and urbanity of Giuliano, was so strong to maintain him in +Florence as his own faults to cause his expulsion. Michelangelo +encouraged the man to obey Lorenzo and report the matter to his son; +but Cardiere, fearing his new master's temper, kept it to himself. On +another morning, when Michelangelo was in the courtyard of the palace, +Cardiere came with terror and pain written on his countenance. Last +night Lorenzo had again appeared to him in the same garb of woe; and +while he was awake and gazing with his eyes, the spectre dealt him a +blow on the cheek, to punish him for omitting to report his vision to +Piero. Michelangelo immediately gave him such a thorough scolding that +Cardiere plucked up courage, and set forth on foot for Careggi, a +Medicean villa some three miles distant from the city. He had traveled +about halfway, when he met Piero, who was riding home; so he stopped +the cavalcade, and related all that he had seen and heard. Piero +laughed him to scorn, and, beckoning the running footmen, bade them +mock the poor fellow. His Chancellor, who was afterwards the Cardinal +of Bibbiena, cried out: 'You are a madman! Which do you think Lorenzo +loved best, his son or you? If his son, would he not rather have +appeared to him than to some one else?' Having thus jeered him, they +let him go; and he, when he returned home and complained to +Michelangelo, so convinced the latter of the truth of his vision that +Michelangelo after two days left Florence with a couple of comrades, +dreading that if what Cardiere had predicted should come true, he +would no longer be safe in Florence." + +This ghost-story bears a remarkable resemblance to what Clarendon +relates concerning the apparition of Sir George Villiers. Wishing to +warn his son, the Duke of Buckingham, of his coming murder at the hand +of Lieutenant Felton, he did not appear to the Duke himself, but to an +old man-servant of the family; upon which behaviour of Sir George's +ghost the same criticism has been passed as on that of Lorenzo de' +Medici. + +Michelangelo and his two friends travelled across the Apennines to +Bologna, and thence to Venice, where they stopped a few days. Want of +money, or perhaps of work there drove them back upon the road to +Florence. When they reached Bologna on the return journey, a curious +accident happened to the party. The master of the city, Giovanni +Bentivoglio, had recently decreed that every foreigner, on entering +the gates, should be marked with a seal of red wax upon his thumb. The +three Florentines omitted to obey this regulation, and were taken to +the office of the Customs, where they were fined fifty Bolognese +pounds. Michelangelo did not possess enough to pay this fine; but it +so happened that a Bolognese nobleman called Gianfrancesco Aldovrandi +was there, who, hearing that Buonarroti was a sculptor, caused the men +to be released. Upon his urgent invitation, Michelangelo went to this +gentleman's house, after taking leave of his two friends and giving +them all the money in his pocket. With Messer Aldovrandi he remained +more than a year, much honoured by his new patron, who took great +delight in his genius; "and every evening he made Michelangelo read +aloud to him out of Dante or Petrarch, and sometimes Boccaccio, until +he went to sleep." He also worked upon the tomb of San Domenico during +this first residence at Bologna. Originally designed and carried +forward by Niccolo Pisano, this elaborate specimen of mediaeval +sculpture remained in some points imperfect. There was a San Petronio +whose drapery, begun by Niccolo da Bari, was unfinished. To this +statue Michelangelo put the last touches; and he also carved a +kneeling angel with a candelabrum, the workmanship of which surpasses +in delicacy of execution all the other figures on the tomb. + + +III + +Michelangelo left Bologna hastily. It is said that a sculptor who had +expected to be employed upon the _arca_ of S. Domenic threatened to do +him some mischief if he stayed and took the bread out of the mouths of +native craftsmen. He returned to Florence some time in 1495. The city +was now quiet again, under the rule of Savonarola. Its burghers, in +obedience to the friar's preaching, began to assume that air of +pietistic sobriety which contrasted strangely with the gay +licentiousness encouraged by their former master. Though the reigning +branch of the Medici remained in exile, their distant cousins, who +were descended from Lorenzo, the brother of Cosimo, Pater Patriae, +kept their place in the republic. They thought it prudent, however, at +this time, to exchange the hated name of de' Medici for Popolano. With +a member of this section of the Medicean family, Lorenzo di +Pierfrancesco, Michelangelo soon found himself on terms of intimacy. +It was for him that he made a statue of the young S. John, which was +perhaps rediscovered at Pisa in 1874. For a long time this S. +Giovannino was attributed to Donatello; and it certainly bears decided +marks of resemblance to that master's manner, in the choice of +attitude, the close adherence to the model, and the treatment of the +hands and feet. Still it has notable affinities to the style of +Michelangelo, especially in the youthful beauty of the features, the +disposition of the hair, and the sinuous lines which govern the whole +composition. It may also be remarked that those peculiarities in the +hands and feet which I have mentioned as reminding us of Donatello--a +remarkable length in both extremities, owing to the elongation of the +metacarpal and metatarsal bones and of the spaces dividing these from +the forearm and tibia--are precisely the points which Michelangelo +retained through life from his early study of Donatello's work. We +notice them particularly in the Dying Slave of the Louvre, which is +certainly one of his most characteristic works. Good judges are +therefore perhaps justified in identifying this S. Giovannino, which +is now in the Berlin Museum, with the statue made for Lorenzo di +Pierfrancesco de' Medici. + +The next piece which occupied Michelangelo's chisel was a Sleeping +Cupid. His patron thought this so extremely beautiful that he remarked +to the sculptor: "If you were to treat it artificially, so as to make +it look as though it had been dug up, I would send it to Rome; it +would be accepted as an antique, and you would be able to sell it at a +far higher price." Michelangelo took the hint. His Cupid went to Rome, +and was sold for thirty ducats to a dealer called Messer Baldassare +del Milanese, who resold it to Raffaello Riario, the Cardinal di S. +Giorgio, for the advanced sum of 200 ducats. It appears from this +transaction that Michelangelo did not attempt to impose upon the first +purchaser, but that this man passed it off upon the Cardinal as an +antique. When the Cardinal began to suspect that the Cupid was the +work of a modern Florentine, he sent one of his gentlemen to Florence +to inquire into the circumstances. The rest of the story shall be told +in Condivi's words. + +"This gentleman, pretending to be on the lookout for a sculptor +capable of executing certain works in Rome, after visiting several, +was addressed to Michelangelo. When he saw the young artist, he begged +him to show some proof of his ability; whereupon Michelangelo took a +pen (for at that time the crayon [_lapis_] had not come into use), and +drew a hand with such grace that the gentleman was stupefied. +Afterwards, he asked if he had ever worked in marble, and when +Michelangelo said yes, and mentioned among other things a Cupid of +such height and in such an attitude, the man knew that he had found +the right person. So he related how the matter had gone, and promised +Michelangelo, if he would come with him to Rome, to get the difference +of price made up, and to introduce him to his patron, feeling sure +that the latter would receive him very kindly. Michelangelo, then, +partly in anger at having been cheated, and partly moved by the +gentleman's account of Rome as the widest field for an artist to +display his talents, went with him, and lodged in his house, near the +palace of the Cardinal." S. Giorgio compelled Messer Baldassare to +refund the 200 ducats, and to take the Cupid back. But Michelangelo +got nothing beyond his original price; and both Condivi and Vasari +blame the Cardinal for having been a dull and unsympathetic patron to +the young artist of genius he had brought from Florence. Still the +whole transaction was of vast importance, because it launched him for +the first time upon Rome, where he was destined to spend the larger +part of his long life, and to serve a succession of Pontiffs in their +most ambitious undertakings. + +Before passing to the events of his sojourn at Rome, I will wind up +the story of the Cupid. It passed first into the hands of Cesare +Borgia, who presented it to Guidobaldo di Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. +On the 30th of June 1502, the Marchioness of Mantua wrote a letter to +the Cardinal of Este, saying that she should very much like to place +this piece, together with an antique statuette of Venus, both of which +had belonged to her brother-in-law, the Duke of Urbino, in her own +collection. Apparently they had just become the property of Cesare +Borgia, when he took and sacked the town of Urbino upon the 20th of +June in that year. Cesare Borgia seems to have complied immediately +with her wishes; for in a second letter, dated July 22, 1502, she +described the Cupid as "without a peer among the works of modern +times." + + +IV + +Michelangelo arrived in Rome at the end of June 1496. This we know +from the first of his extant letters, which is dated July 2, and +addressed to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici. The superscription, +however, bears the name of Sandro Botticelli, showing that some +caution had still to be observed in corresponding with the Medici, +even with those who latterly assumed the name of Popolani. The young +Buonarroti writes in excellent spirits: "I only write to inform you +that last Saturday we arrived safely, and went at once to visit the +Cardinal di San Giorgio; and I presented your letter to him. It +appeared to me that he was pleased to see me, and he expressed a wish +that I should go immediately to inspect his collection of statues. I +spent the whole day there, and for that reason was unable to deliver +all your letters. Afterwards, on Sunday, the Cardinal came into the +new house, and had me sent for. I went to him, and he asked what I +thought about the things which I had seen. I replied by stating my +opinion, and certainly I can say with sincerity that there are many +fine things in the collection. Then he asked me whether I had the +courage to make some beautiful work of art. I answered that I should +not be able to achieve anything so great, but that he should see what +I could do. We have bought a piece of marble for a life-size statue, +and on Monday I shall begin to work." + +After describing his reception, Michelangelo proceeds to relate the +efforts he was making to regain his Sleeping Cupid from Messer +Baldassare: "Afterwards, I gave your letter to Baldassare, and asked +him for the child, saying I was ready to refund his money. He answered +very roughly, swearing he would rather break it in a hundred pieces; +he had bought the child, and it was his property; he possessed +writings which proved that he had satisfied the person who sent it to +him, and was under no apprehension that he should have to give it up. +Then he complained bitterly of you, saying that you had spoken ill of +him. Certain of our Florentines sought to accommodate matters, but +failed in their attempt. Now I look to coming to terms through the +Cardinal; for this is the advice of Baldassare Balducci. What ensues I +will report to you." It is clear that Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, being +convinced of the broker's sharp practice, was trying to recover the +Sleeping Cupid (the child) at the price originally paid for it, either +for himself or for Buonarroti. The Cardinal is mentioned as being the +most likely person to secure the desired result. + +Whether Condivi is right in saying that S. Giorgio neglected to employ +Michelangelo may be doubted. We have seen from this letter to Lorenzo +that the Cardinal bought a piece of marble and ordered a life-size +statue. But nothing more is heard about the work. Professor Milanesi, +however, has pointed out that when the sculptor was thinking of +leaving Rome in 1497 he wrote to his father on the 1st of July as +follows: "Most revered and beloved father, do not be surprised that I +am unable to return, for I have not yet settled my affairs with the +Cardinal, and I do not wish to leave until I am properly paid for my +labour; and with these great patrons one must go about quietly, since +they cannot be compelled. I hope, however, at any rate during the +course of next week, to have completed the transaction." + +Michelangelo remained at Rome for more than two years after the date +of the letter just quoted. We may conjecture, then, that he settled +his accounts with the Cardinal, whatever these were, and we know that +he obtained other orders. In a second letter to his father, August 19, +1497, he writes thus: "Piero de' Medici gave me a commission for a +statue, and I bought the marble. But I did not begin to work upon it, +because he failed to perform what he promised. Wherefore I am acting +on my own account, and am making a statue for my own pleasure. I +bought the marble for five ducats, and it turned out bad. So I threw +my money away. Now I have bought another at the same price, and the +work I am doing is for my amusement. You will therefore understand +that I too have large expenses and many troubles." + +During the first year of his residence in Rome (between July 2, 1496, +and August 19, 1497) Michelangelo must have made some money, else he +could not have bought marble and have worked upon his own account. +Vasari asserts that he remained nearly twelve months in the household +of the Cardinal, and that he only executed a drawing of S. Francis +receiving the stigmata, which was coloured by a barber in S. Giorgio's +service, and placed in the Church of S. Pietro a Montorio. Benedetto +Varchi describes this picture as having been painted by Buonarroti's +own hand. We know nothing more for certain about it. How he earned his +money is therefore, unexplained, except upon the supposition that S. +Giorgio, unintelligent as he may have been in his patronage of art, +paid him for work performed. I may here add that the Piero de' Medici +who gave the commission mentioned in the last quotation was the exiled +head of the ruling family. Nothing had to be expected from such a man. +He came to Rome in order to be near the Cardinal Giovanni, and to +share this brother's better fortunes; but his days and nights were +spent in debauchery among the companions and accomplices of shameful +riot. + +Michelangelo, in short, like most young artists, was struggling into +fame and recognition. Both came to him by the help of a Roman +gentleman and banker, Messer Jacopo Gallo. It so happened that an +intimate Florentine friend of Buonarroti, the Baldassare Balducci +mentioned at the end of his letter to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, was +employed in Gallo's house of business. It is probable, therefore, that +this man formed the link of connection between the sculptor and his +new patron. At all events, Messer Gallo purchased a Bacchus, which now +adorns the sculpture-gallery of the Bargello, and a Cupid, which may +possibly be the statue at South Kensington. + +Condivi says that this gentleman, "a man of fine intelligence, +employed him to execute in his own house a marble Bacchus, ten palms +in height, the form and aspect of which correspond in all parts to the +meaning of ancient authors. The face of the youth is jocund, the eyes +wandering and wanton, as is the wont with those who are too much +addicted to a taste for wine. In his right hand he holds a cup, +lifting it to drink, and gazing at it like one who takes delight in +that liquor, of which he was the first discoverer. For this reason, +too, the sculptor has wreathed his head with vine-tendrils. On his +left arm hangs a tiger-skin, the beast dedicated to Bacchus, as being +very partial to the grape. Here the artist chose rather to introduce +the skin than the animal itself, in order to hint that sensual +indulgence in the pleasure of the grape-juice leads at last to loss of +life. With the hand of this arm he holds a bunch of grapes, which a +little satyr, crouched below him, is eating on the sly with glad and +eager gestures. The child may seem to be seven years, the Bacchus +eighteen of age." This description is comparatively correct, except +that Condivi is obviously mistaken when he supposes that +Michelangelo's young Bacchus faithfully embodies the Greek spirit. The +Greeks never forgot, in all their representations of Dionysos, that he +was a mystic and enthusiastic deity. Joyous, voluptuous, androgynous, +he yet remains the god who brought strange gifts and orgiastic rites +to men. His followers, Silenus, Bacchantes, Fauns, exhibit, in their +self-abandonment to sensual joy, the operation of his genius. The +deity descends to join their revels from his clear Olympian ether, but +he is not troubled by the fumes of intoxication. Michelangelo has +altered this conception. Bacchus, with him, is a terrestrial young +man, upon the verge of toppling over into drunkenness. The value of +the work is its realism. The attitude could not be sustained in actual +life for a moment without either the goblet spilling its liquor or the +body reeling side-ways. Not only are the eyes wavering and wanton, but +the muscles of the mouth have relaxed into a tipsy smile; and, instead +of the tiger-skin being suspended from the left arm, it has slipped +down, and is only kept from falling by the loose grasp of the +trembling hand. Nothing, again, could be less godlike than the face of +Bacchus. It is the face of a not remarkably good-looking model, and +the head is too small both for the body and the heavy crown of leaves. +As a study of incipient intoxication, when the whole person is +disturbed by drink, but human dignity has not yet yielded to a bestial +impulse, this statue proves the energy of Michelangelo's imagination. +The physical beauty of his adolescent model in the limbs and body +redeems the grossness of the motive by the inalienable charm of health +and carnal comeliness. Finally, the technical merits of the work +cannot too strongly be insisted on. The modelling of the thorax, the +exquisite roundness and fleshiness of the thighs and arms and belly, +the smooth skin-surface expressed throughout in marble, will excite +admiration in all who are capable of appreciating this aspect of the +statuary's art. Michelangelo produced nothing more finished in +execution, if we except the Pieta at S. Peter's. His Bacchus alone is +sufficient to explode a theory favoured by some critics, that, left to +work unhindered, he would still have preferred a certain vagueness, a +certain want of polish in his marbles. + +Nevertheless, the Bacchus leaves a disagreeable impression on the +mind--as disagreeable in its own way as that produced by the Christ of +the Minerva. That must be because it is wrong in spiritual +conception--brutally materialistic, where it ought to have been noble +or graceful. In my opinion, the frank, joyous naturalism of +Sansovino's Bacchus (also in the Bargello) possesses more of true +Greek inspiration than Michelangelo's. If Michelangelo meant to carve +a Bacchus, he failed; if he meant to imitate a physically desirable +young man in a state of drunkenness, he succeeded. + +What Shelley wrote upon this statue may here be introduced, since it +combines both points of view in a criticism of much spontaneous +vigour. + +"The countenance of this figure is the most revolting mistake of the +spirit and meaning of Bacchus. It looks drunken, brutal, and +narrow-minded, and has an expression of dissoluteness the most +revolting. The lower part of the figure is stiff, and the manner in +which the shoulders are united to the breast, and the neck to the +head, abundantly inharmonious. It is altogether without unity, as was +the idea of the deity of Bacchus in the conception of a Catholic. On +the other hand, considered merely as a piece of workmanship, it has +great merits. The arms are executed in the most perfect and manly +beauty; the body is conceived with great energy, and the lines which +describe the sides and thighs, and the manner in which they mingle +into one another, are of the highest order of boldness and beauty. It +wants, as a work of art, unity and simplicity; as a representation of +the Greek deity of Bacchus, it wants everything." + +Jacopo Gallo is said to have also purchased a Cupid from Michelangelo. +It has been suggested, with great plausibility, that this Cupid was +the piece which Michelangelo began when Piero de' Medici's commission +fell through, and that it therefore preceded the Bacchus in date of +execution. It has also been suggested that the so-called Cupid at +South Kensington is the work in question. We have no authentic +information to guide us in the matter. But the South Kensington Cupid +is certainly a production of the master's early manhood. It was +discovered some forty years ago, hidden away in the cellars of the +Gualfonda (Rucellai) Gardens at Florence, by Professor Miliarini and +the famous Florentine sculptor Santarelli. On a cursory inspection +they both declared it to be a genuine Michelangelo. The left arm was +broken, the right hand damaged, and the hair had never received the +sculptor's final touches. Santarelli restored the arm, and the Cupid +passed by purchase into the possession of the English nation. This +fine piece of sculpture is executed in Michelangelo's proudest, most +dramatic manner. The muscular young man of eighteen, a model of superb +adolescence, kneels upon his right knee, while the right hand is +lowered to lift an arrow from the ground. The left hand is raised +above the head, and holds the bow, while the left leg is so placed, +with the foot firmly pressed upon the ground, as to indicate that in a +moment the youth will rise, fit the shaft to the string, and send it +whistling at his adversary. This choice of a momentary attitude is +eminently characteristic of Michelangelo's style; and, if we are +really to believe that he intended to portray the god of love, it +offers another instance of his independence of classical tradition. No +Greek would have thus represented Eros. The lyric poets, indeed, +Ibycus and Anacreon, imaged him as a fierce invasive deity, descending +like the whirlwind on an oak, or striking at his victim with an axe. +But these romantic ideas did not find expression, so far as I am +aware, in antique plastic art. Michelangelo's Cupid is therefore as +original as his Bacchus. Much as critics have written, and with +justice, upon the classical tendencies of the Italian Renaissance, +they have failed to point out that the Paganism of the Cinque Cento +rarely involved a servile imitation of the antique or a sympathetic +intelligence of its spirit. Least of all do we find either of these +qualities in Michelangelo. He drew inspiration from his own soul, and +he went straight to Nature for the means of expressing the conception +he had formed. Unlike the Greeks, he invariably preferred the +particular to the universal, the critical moment of an action to +suggestions of the possibilities of action. He carved an individual +being, not an abstraction or a generalisation of personality. The +Cupid supplies us with a splendid illustration of this criticism. +Being a product of his early energy, before he had formed a certain +manneristic way of seeing Nature and of reproducing what he saw, it +not only casts light upon the spontaneous working of his genius, but +it also shows how the young artist had already come to regard the +inmost passion of the soul. When quite an old man, rhyming those rough +platonic sonnets, he always spoke of love as masterful and awful. For +his austere and melancholy nature, Eros was no tender or light-winged +youngling, but a masculine tyrant, the tamer of male spirits. +Therefore this Cupid, adorable in the power and beauty of his vigorous +manhood, may well remain for us the myth or symbol of love as +Michelangelo imagined that emotion. In composition, the figure is from +all points of view admirable, presenting a series of nobly varied +line-harmonies. All we have to regret is that time, exposure to +weather, and vulgar outrage should have spoiled the surface of the +marble. + + +VI + +It is natural to turn from the Cupid to another work belonging to the +English nation, which has recently been ascribed to Michelangelo. I +mean the Madonna, with Christ, S. John, and four attendant male +figures, once in the possession of Mr. H. Labouchere, and now in the +National Gallery. We have no authentic tradition regarding this +tempera painting, which in my judgment is the most beautiful of the +easel pictures attributed to Michelangelo. Internal evidence from +style renders its genuineness in the highest degree probable. No one +else upon the close of the fifteenth century was capable of producing +a composition at once so complicated, so harmonious, and so clear as +the group formed by Madonna, Christ leaning on her knee to point a +finger at the book she holds, and the young S. John turned round to +combine these figures with the exquisitely blended youths behind him. +Unfortunately the two angels or genii upon the left hand are +unfinished; but had the picture been completed, we should probably +have been able to point out another magnificent episode in the +composition, determined by the transverse line carried from the hand +upon the last youth's shoulder, through the open book and the upraised +arm of Christ, down to the feet of S. John and the last genius on the +right side. Florentine painters had been wont to place attendant +angels at both sides of their enthroned Madonnas. Fine examples might +be chosen from the work of Filippino Lippi and Botticelli. But their +angels were winged and clothed like acolytes; the Madonna was seated +on a rich throne or under a canopy, with altar-candles, wreaths of +roses, flowering lilies. It is characteristic of Michelangelo to adopt +a conventional motive, and to treat it with brusque originality. In +this picture there are no accessories to the figures, and the +attendant angels are Tuscan lads half draped in succinct tunics. The +style is rather that of a flat relief in stone than of a painting; and +though we may feel something of Ghirlandajo's influence, the spirit of +Donatello and Luca della Robbia are more apparent. That it was the +work of an inexperienced painter is shown by the failure to indicate +pictorial planes. In spite of the marvellous and intricate beauty of +the line-composition, it lacks that effect of graduated distances +which might perhaps have been secured by execution in bronze or +marble. The types have not been chosen with regard to ideal loveliness +or dignity, but accurately studied from living models. This is very +obvious in the heads of Christ and S. John. The two adolescent genii +on the right hand possess a high degree of natural grace. Yet even +here what strikes one most is the charm of their attitude, the lovely +interlacing of their arms and breasts, the lithe alertness of the one +lad contrasted with the thoughtful leaning languor of his comrade. +Only perhaps in some drawings of combined male figures made by Ingres +for his picture of the Golden Age have lines of equal dignity and +simple beauty been developed. I do not think that this Madonna, +supposing it to be a genuine piece by Michelangelo, belongs to the +period of his first residence in Rome. In spite of its immense +intellectual power, it has an air of immaturity. Probably Heath Wilson +was right in assigning it to the time spent at Florence after Lorenzo +de' Medici's death, when the artist was about twenty years of age. + +I may take this occasion for dealing summarily with the Entombment in +the National Gallery. The picture, which is half finished, has no +pedigree. It was bought out of the collection of Cardinal Fesch, and +pronounced to be a Michelangelo by the Munich painter Cornelius. Good +judges have adopted this attribution, and to differ from them requires +some hardihood. Still it is painful to believe that at any period of +his life Michelangelo could have produced a composition so discordant, +so unsatisfactory in some anatomical details, so feelingless and ugly. +It bears indubitable traces of his influence; that is apparent in the +figure of the dead Christ. But this colossal nude, with the massive +chest and attenuated legs, reminds us of his manner in old age; +whereas the rest of the picture shows no trace of that manner. I am +inclined to think that the Entombment was the production of a +second-rate craftsman, working upon some design made by Michelangelo +at the advanced period when the Passion of our Lord occupied his +thoughts in Rome. Even so, the spirit of the drawing must have been +imperfectly assimilated; and, what is more puzzling, the composition +does not recall the style of Michelangelo's old age. The colouring, so +far as we can understand it, rather suggests Pontormo. + + +VII + +Michelangelo's good friend, Jacopo Gallo, was again helpful to him in +the last and greatest work which he produced during this Roman +residence. The Cardinal Jean de la Groslaye de Villiers Francois, +Abbot of S. Denys, and commonly called by Italians the Cardinal di San +Dionigi, wished to have a specimen of the young sculptor's handiwork. +Accordingly articles were drawn up to the following effect on August +26, 1498: "Let it be known and manifest to whoso shall read the +ensuing document, that the most Rev. Cardinal of S. Dionigi has thus +agreed with the master Michelangelo, sculptor of Florence, to wit, +that the said master shall make a Pieta of marble at his own cost; +that is to say, a Virgin Mary clothed, with the dead Christ in her +arms, of the size of a proper man, for the price of 450 golden ducats +of the Papal mint, within the term of one year from the day of the +commencement of the work." Next follow clauses regarding the payment +of the money, whereby the Cardinal agrees to disburse sums in advance. +The contract concludes with a guarantee and surety given by Jacopo +Gallo. "And I, Jacopo Gallo, pledge my word to his most Rev. Lordship +that the said Michelangelo will finish the said work within one year, +and that it shall be the finest work in marble which Rome to-day can +show, and that no master of our days shall be able to produce a +better. And, in like manner, on the other side, I pledge my word to +the said Michelangelo that the most Rev. Card. will disburse the +payments according to the articles above engrossed. To witness which, +I, Jacopo Gallo, have made this present writing with my own hand, +according to the date of year, month, and day as above." + +The Pieta raised Michelangelo at once to the highest place among the +artists of his time, and it still remains unrivalled for the union of +sublime aesthetic beauty with profound religious feeling. The mother +of the dead Christ is seated on a stone at the foot of the cross, +supporting the body of her son upon her knees, gazing sadly at his +wounded side, and gently lifting her left hand, as though to say, +"Behold and see!" She has the small head and heroic torso used by +Michelangelo to suggest immense physical force. We feel that such a +woman has no difficulty in holding a man's corpse upon her ample lap +and in her powerful arms. Her face, which differs from the female type +he afterwards preferred, resembles that of a young woman. For this he +was rebuked by critics who thought that her age should correspond more +naturally to that of her adult son. Condivi reports that Michelangelo +explained his meaning in the following words: "Do you not know that +chaste women maintain their freshness far longer than the unchaste? +How much more would this be the case with a virgin, into whose breast +there never crept the least lascivious desire which could affect the +body? Nay, I will go further, and hazard the belief that this +unsullied bloom of youth, besides being maintained in her by natural +causes, may have been miraculously wrought to convince the world of +the virginity and perpetual purity of the Mother. This was not +necessary for the Son. On the contrary, in order to prove that the Son +of God took upon himself, as in very truth he did take, a human body, +and became subject to all that an ordinary man is subject to, with the +exception of sin; the human nature of Christ, instead of being +superseded by the divine, was left to the operation of natural laws, +so that his person revealed the exact age to which he had attained. +You need not, therefore, marvel if, having regard to these +considerations, I made the most Holy Virgin, Mother of God, much +younger relatively to her Son than women of her years usually appear, +and left the Son such as his time of life demanded." "This reasoning," +adds Condivi, "was worthy of some learned theologian, and would have +been little short of marvellous in most men, but not in him, whom God +and Nature fashioned, not merely to be peerless in his handiwork, but +also capable of the divinest concepts, as innumerable discourses and +writings which we have of his make clearly manifest." + +The Christ is also somewhat youthful, and modelled with the utmost +delicacy; suggesting no lack of strength, but subordinating the idea +of physical power to that of a refined and spiritual nature. Nothing +can be more lovely than the hands, the feet, the arms, relaxed in +slumber. Death becomes immortally beautiful in that recumbent figure, +from which the insults of the scourge, the cross, the brutal lance +have been erased. Michelangelo did not seek to excite pity or to stir +devotion by having recourse to those mediaeval ideas which were so +passionately expressed in S. Bernard's hymn to the Crucified. The +aesthetic tone of his dead Christ is rather that of some sweet solemn +strain of cathedral music, some motive from a mass of Palestrina or a +Passion of Sebastian Bach. Almost involuntarily there rises to the +memory that line composed by Bion for the genius of earthly loveliness +bewailed by everlasting beauty-- + + _E'en as a corpse he is fair, fair corpse as fallen aslumber._ + +It is said that certain Lombards passing by and admiring the Pieta +ascribed it to Christoforo Solari of Milan, surnamed Il Gobbo. +Michelangelo, having happened to overhear them, shut himself up in the +chapel, and engraved the belt upon the Madonna's breast with his own +name. This he never did with any other of his works. + +This masterpiece of highest art combined with pure religious feeling +was placed in the old Basilica of S. Peter's, in a chapel dedicated to +Our Lady of the Fever, Madonna della Febbre. Here, on the night of +August 19, 1503, it witnessed one of those horrid spectacles which in +Italy at that period so often intervened to interrupt the rhythm of +romance and beauty and artistic melody. The dead body of Roderigo +Borgia, Alexander VI., lay in state from noon onwards in front of the +high altar; but since "it was the most repulsive, monstrous, and +deformed corpse which had ever yet been seen, without any form or +figure of humanity, shame compelled them to partly cover it." "Late in +the evening it was transferred to the chapel of Our Lady of the Fever, +and deposited in a corner by six hinds or porters and two carpenters, +who had made the coffin too narrow and too short. Joking and jeering, +they stripped the tiara and the robes of office from the body, wrapped +it up in an old carpet, and then with force of fists and feet rammed +it down into the box, without torches, without a ministering priest, +without a single person to attend and bear a consecrated candle." Of +such sort was the vigil kept by this solemn statue, so dignified in +grief and sweet in death, at the ignoble obsequies of him who, +occupying the loftiest throne of Christendom, incarnated the least +erected spirit of his age. The ivory-smooth white corpse of Christ in +marble, set over against that festering corpse of his Vicar on earth, +"black as a piece of cloth or the blackest mulberry," what a hideous +contrast! + + +VIII + +It may not be inappropriate to discuss the question of the Bruges +Madonna here. This is a marble statue, well placed in a chapel of +Notre Dame, relieved against a black marble niche, with excellent +illumination from the side. The style is undoubtedly Michelangelesque, +the execution careful, the surface-finish exquisite, and the type of +the Madonna extremely similar to that of the Pieta at S. Peter's. She +is seated in an attitude of almost haughty dignity, with the left foot +raised upon a block of stone. The expression of her features is marked +by something of sternness, which seems inherent in the model. Between +her knees stands, half reclining, half as though wishing to step +downwards from the throne, her infant Son. One arm rests upon his +mother's knee; the right hand is thrown round to clasp her left. This +attitude gives grace of rhythm to the lines of his nude body. True to +the realism which controlled Michelangelo at the commencement of his +art career, the head of Christ, who is but a child, slightly overloads +his slender figure. Physically he resembles the Infant Christ of our +National Gallery picture, but has more of charm and sweetness. All +these indications point to a genuine product of Michelangelo's first +Roman manner; and the position of the statue in a chapel ornamented by +the Bruges family of Mouscron renders the attribution almost certain. +However, we have only two authentic records of the work among the +documents at our disposal. Condivi, describing the period of +Michelangelo's residence in Florence (1501-1504), says: "He also cast +in bronze a Madonna with the Infant Christ, which certain Flemish +merchants of the house of Mouscron, a most noble family in their own +land, bought for two hundred ducats, and sent to Flanders." A letter +addressed under date August 4, 1506, by Giovanni Balducci in Rome to +Michelangelo at Florence, proves that some statue which was destined +for Flanders remained among the sculptor's property at Florence. +Balducci uses the feminine gender in writing about this work, which +justifies us in thinking that it may have been a Madonna. He says that +he has found a trustworthy agent to convey it to Viareggio, and to +ship it thence to Bruges, where it will be delivered into the hands of +the heir of John and Alexander Mouscron and Co., "as being their +property." This statue, in all probability, is the "Madonna in marble" +about which Michelangelo wrote to his father from Rome on the 31st of +January 1507, and which he begged his father to keep hidden in their +dwelling. It is difficult to reconcile Condivi's statement with +Balducci's letter. The former says that the Madonna bought by the +Mouscron family was cast in bronze at Florence. The Madonna in the +Mouscron Chapel at Notre Dame is a marble. I think we may assume that +the Bruges Madonna is the piece which Michelangelo executed for the +Mouscron brothers, and that Condivi was wrong in believing it to have +been cast in bronze. That the statue was sent some time after the +order had been given, appears from the fact that Balducci consigned it +to the heir of John and Alexander, "as being their property;" but it +cannot be certain at what exact date it was begun and finished. + + +IX + +While Michelangelo was acquiring immediate celebrity and immortal fame +by these three statues, so different in kind and hitherto unrivalled +in artistic excellence, his family lived somewhat wretchedly at +Florence. Lodovico had lost his small post at the Customs after the +expulsion of the Medici; and three sons, younger than the sculptor, +were now growing up. Buonarroto, born in 1477, had been put to the +cloth-trade, and was serving under the Strozzi in their warehouse at +the Porta Rossa. Giovan-Simone, two years younger (he was born in +1479), after leading a vagabond life for some while, joined Buonarroto +in a cloth-business provided for them by Michelangelo. He was a +worthless fellow, and gave his eldest brother much trouble. +Sigismondo, born in 1481, took to soldiering; but at the age of forty +he settled down upon the paternal farm at Settignano, and annoyed his +brother by sinking into the condition of a common peasant. + +The constant affection felt for these not very worthy relatives by +Michelangelo is one of the finest traits in his character. They were +continually writing begging letters, grumbling and complaining. He +supplied them with funds, stinting himself in order to maintain them +decently and to satisfy their wishes. But the more he gave, the more +they demanded; and on one or two occasions, as we shall see in the +course of this biography, their rapacity and ingratitude roused his +bitterest indignation. Nevertheless, he did not swerve from the path +of filial and brotherly kindness which his generous nature and steady +will had traced. He remained the guardian of their interests, the +custodian of their honour, and the builder of their fortunes to the +end of his long life. The correspondence with his father and these +brothers and a nephew, Lionardo, was published in full for the first +time in 1875. It enables us to comprehend the true nature of the man +better than any biographical notice; and I mean to draw largely upon +this source, so as gradually, by successive stipplings, as it were, to +present a miniature portrait of one who was both admirable in private +life and incomparable as an artist. + +This correspondence opens in the year 1497. From a letter addressed to +Lodovico under the date August 19, we learn that Buonarroto had just +arrived in Rome, and informed his brother of certain pecuniary +difficulties under which the family was labouring. Michelangelo gave +advice, and promised to send all the money he could bring together. +"Although, as I have told you, I am out of pocket myself, I will do my +best to get money, in order that you may not have to borrow from the +Monte, as Buonarroto says is possible. Do not wonder if I have +sometimes written irritable letters; for I often suffer great distress +of mind and temper, owing to matters which must happen to one who is +away from home.... In spite of all this, I will send you what you ask +for, even should I have to sell myself into slavery." Buonarroto must +have paid a second visit to Rome; for we possess a letter from +Lodovico to Michelangelo, under date December 19, 1500, which throws +important light upon the latter's habits and designs. The old man +begins by saying how happy he is to observe the love which +Michelangelo bears his brothers. Then he speaks about the +cloth-business which Michelangelo intends to purchase for them. +Afterwards, he proceeds as follows: "Buonarroto tells me that you live +at Rome with great economy, or rather penuriousness. Now economy is +good, but penuriousness is evil, seeing that it is a vice displeasing +to God and men, and moreover injurious both to soul and body. So long +as you are young, you will be able for a time to endure these +hardships; but when the vigour of youth fails, then diseases and +infirmities make their appearance; for these are caused by personal +discomforts, mean living, and penurious habits. As I said, economy is +good; but, above all things, shun stinginess. Live discreetly well, +and see you have what is needful. Whatever happens, do not expose +yourself to physical hardships; for in your profession, if you were +once to fall ill (which God forbid), you would be a ruined man. Above +all things, take care of your head, and keep it moderately warm, and +see that you never wash: have yourself rubbed down, but do not wash." +This sordid way of life became habitual with Michelangelo. When he was +dwelling at Bologna in 1506, he wrote home to his brother Buonarroto: +"With regard to Giovan-Simone's proposed visit, I do not advise him to +come yet awhile, for I am lodged here in one wretched room, and have +bought a single bed, in which we all four of us (_i.e_., himself and +his three workmen) sleep." And again: "I am impatient to get away from +this place, for my mode of life here is so wretched, that if you only +knew what it is, you would be miserable." The summer was intensely hot +at Bologna, and the plague broke out. In these circumstances it seems +miraculous that the four sculptors in one bed escaped contagion. +Michelangelo's parsimonious habits were not occasioned by poverty or +avarice. He accumulated large sums of money by his labour, spent it +freely on his family, and exercised bountiful charity for the welfare +of his soul. We ought rather to ascribe them to some constitutional +peculiarity, affecting his whole temperament, and tinging his +experience with despondency and gloom. An absolute insensibility to +merely decorative details, to the loveliness of jewels, stuffs, and +natural objects, to flowers and trees and pleasant landscapes, to +everything, in short, which delighted the Italians of that period, is +a main characteristic of his art. This abstraction and aridity, this +ascetic devotion of his genius to pure ideal form, this almost +mathematical conception of beauty, may be ascribed, I think, to the +same psychological qualities which determined the dreary conditions of +his home-life. He was no niggard either of money or of ideas; nay, +even profligate of both. But melancholy made him miserly in all that +concerned personal enjoyment; and he ought to have been born under +that leaden planet Saturn rather than Mercury and Venus in the house +of Jove. Condivi sums up his daily habits thus: "He has always been +extremely temperate in living, using food more because it was +necessary than for any pleasure he took in it; especially when he was +engaged upon some great work; for then he usually confined himself to +a piece of bread, which he ate in the middle of his labour. However, +for some time past, he has been living with more regard to health, his +advanced age putting this constraint upon his natural inclination. +Often have I heard him say: 'Ascanio, rich as I may have been, I have +always lived like a poor man.' And this abstemiousness in food he has +practised in sleep also; for sleep, according to his own account, +rarely suits his constitution, since he continually suffers from pains +in the head during slumber, and any excessive amount of sleep deranges +his stomach. While he was in full vigour, he generally went to bed +with his clothes on, even to the tall boots, which he has always worn, +because of a chronic tendency to cramp, as well as for other reasons. +At certain seasons he has kept these boots on for such a length of +time, that when he drew them off the skin came away together with the +leather, like that of a sloughing snake. He was never stingy of cash, +nor did he accumulate money, being content with just enough to keep +him decently; wherefore, though innumerable lords and rich folk have +made him splendid offers for some specimen of his craft, he rarely +complied, and then, for the most part, more out of kindness and +friendship than with any expectation of gain." In spite of all this, +or rather because of his temperance in food and sleep and sexual +pleasure, together with his manual industry, he preserved excellent +health into old age. + +I have thought it worth while to introduce this general review of +Michelangelo's habits, without omitting some details which may seem +repulsive to the modern reader, at an early period of his biography, +because we ought to carry with us through the vicissitudes of his long +career and many labours an accurate conception of our hero's +personality. For this reason it may not be unprofitable to repeat what +Condivi says about his physical appearance in the last years of his +life. "Michelangelo is of a good complexion; more muscular and bony +than fat or fleshy in his person: healthy above all things, as well by +reason of his natural constitution as of the exercise he takes, and +habitual continence in food and sexual indulgence. Nevertheless, he +was a weakly child, and has suffered two illnesses in manhood. His +countenance always showed a good and wholesome colour. Of stature he +is as follows: height middling; broad in the shoulders; the rest of +the body somewhat slender in proportion. The shape of his face is +oval, the space above the ears being one sixth higher than a +semicircle. Consequently the temples project beyond the ears, and the +ears beyond the cheeks, and these beyond the rest; so that the skull, +in relation to the whole head, must be called large. The forehead, +seen in front, is square; the nose, a little flattened--not by nature, +but because, when he was a young boy, Torrigiano de' Torrigiani, a +brutal and insolent fellow, smashed in the cartilage with his fist. +Michelangelo was carried home half dead on this occasion; and +Torrigiano, having been exiled from Florence for his violence, came to +a bad end. The nose, however, being what it is, bears a proper +proportion to the forehead and the rest of the face. The lips are +thin, but the lower is slightly thicker than the upper; so that, seen +in profile, it projects a little. The chin is well in harmony with the +features I have described. The forehead, in a side-view, almost hangs +over the nose; and this looks hardly less than broken, were it not for +a trifling proturberance in the middle. The eyebrows are not thick +with hair; the eyes may even be called small, of a colour like horn, +but speckled and stained with spots of bluish yellow. The ears in good +proportion; hair of the head black, as also the beard, except that +both are now grizzled by old age; the beard double-forked, about five +inches long, and not very bushy, as may partly be observed in his +portrait." + +We have no contemporary account of Michelangelo in early manhood; but +the tenor of his life was so even, and, unlike Cellini, he moved so +constantly upon the same lines and within the same sphere of patient +self-reserve, that it is not difficult to reconstruct the young and +vigorous sculptor out of this detailed description by his loving +friend and servant in old age. Few men, notably few artists, have +preserved that continuity of moral, intellectual, and physical +development in one unbroken course which is the specific +characterisation of Michelangelo. As years advanced, his pulses beat +less quickly and his body shrank. But the man did not alter. With the +same lapse of years, his style grew drier and more abstract, but it +did not alter in quality or depart from its ideal. He seems to me in +these respects to be like Milton: wholly unlike the plastic and +assimilative genius of a Raphael. + + + +CHAPTER III + + +I + +Michelangelo returned to Florence in the spring of 1501. Condivi says +that domestic affairs compelled him to leave Rome, and the +correspondence with his father makes this not improbable. He brought a +heightened reputation back to his native city. The Bacchus and the +Madonna della Febbre had placed him in advance of any sculptor of his +time. Indeed, in these first years of the sixteenth century he may be +said to have been the only Tuscan sculptor of commanding eminence. +Ghiberti, Della Quercia, Brunelleschi, Donatello, all had joined the +majority before his birth. The second group of distinguished +craftsmen--Verocchio, Luca della Robbia, Rossellino, Da Maiano, +Civitali, Desiderio da Settignano--expired at the commencement of the +century. It seemed as though a gap in the ranks of plastic artists had +purposely been made for the entrance of a predominant and tyrannous +personality. Jacopo Tatti, called Sansovino, was the only man who +might have disputed the place of preeminence with Michelangelo, and +Sansovino chose Venice for the theatre of his life-labours. In these +circumstances, it is not singular that commissions speedily began to +overtax the busy sculptor's power of execution. I do not mean to +assert that the Italians, in the year 1501, were conscious of +Michelangelo's unrivalled qualities, or sensitive to the corresponding +limitations which rendered these qualities eventually baneful to the +evolution of the arts; but they could not help feeling that in this +young man of twenty-six they possessed a first-rate craftsman, and one +who had no peer among contemporaries. + +The first order of this year came from the Cardinal Francesco +Piccolomini, who was afterwards elected Pope in 1503, and who died +after reigning three weeks with the title of Pius III. He wished to +decorate the Piccolomini Chapel in the Duomo of Siena with fifteen +statues of male saints. A contract was signed on June 5, by which +Michelangelo agreed to complete these figures within the space of +three years. One of them, a S. Francis, had been already begun by +Piero Torrigiano; and this, we have some reason to believe, was +finished by the master's hand. Accounts differ about his share in the +remaining fourteen statues; but the matter is of no great moment, +seeing that the style of the work is conventional, and the scale of +the figures disagreeably squat and dumpy. It seems almost impossible +that these ecclesiastical and tame pieces should have been produced at +the same time as the David by the same hand. Neither Vasari nor +Condivi speaks about them, although it is certain that Michelangelo +was held bound to his contract during several years. Upon the death of +Pius III., he renewed it with the Pope's heirs, Jacopo and Andrea +Piccolomini, by a deed dated September 15, 1504; and in 1537 Anton +Maria Piccolomini, to whom the inheritance succeeded, considered +himself Michelangelo's creditor for the sum of a hundred crowns, which +had been paid beforehand for work not finished by the sculptor. + +A far more important commission was intrusted to Michelangelo in +August of the same year, 1501. Condivi, after mentioning his return to +Florence, tells the history of the colossal David in these words: +"Here he stayed some time, and made the statue which stands in front +of the great door of the Palace of the Signory, and is called the +Giant by all people. It came about in this way. The Board of Works at +S. Maria del Fiore owned a piece of marble nine cubits in height, +which had been brought from Carrara some hundred years before by a +sculptor insufficiently acquainted with his art. This was evident, +inasmuch as, wishing to convey it more conveniently and with less +labour, he had it blocked out in the quarry, but in such a manner that +neither he nor any one else was capable of extracting a statue from +the block, either of the same size, or even on a much smaller scale. +The marble being, then, useless for any good purpose, Andrea del Monte +San Savino thought that he might get possession of it from the Board, +and begged them to make him a present of it, promising that he would +add certain pieces of stone and carve a statue from it. Before they +made up their minds to give it, they sent for Michelangelo; then, +after explaining the wishes and the views of Andrea, and considering +his own opinion that it would be possible to extract a good thing from +the block, they finally offered it to him. Michelangelo accepted, +added no pieces, and got the statue out so exactly, that, as any one +may see, in the top of the head and at the base some vestiges of the +rough surface of the marble still remain. He did the same in other +works, as, for instance, in the Contemplative Life upon the tomb of +Julius; indeed, it is a sign left by masters on their work, proving +them to be absolute in their art. But in the David it was much more +remarkable, for this reason, that the difficulty of the task was not +overcome by adding pieces; and also he had to contend with an +ill-shaped marble. As he used to say himself, it is impossible, or at +least extraordinarily difficult in statuary to set right the faults of +the blocking out. He received for this work 400 ducats, and carried it +out in eighteen months." + +The sculptor who had spoiled this block of marble is called "Maestro +Simone" by Vasari; but the abundant documents in our possession, by +aid of which we are enabled to trace the whole history of +Michelangelo's David with minuteness, show that Vasari was +misinformed. The real culprit was Agostino di Antonio di Duccio, or +Guccio, who had succeeded with another colossal statue for the Duomo. +He is honourably known in the history of Tuscan sculpture by his +reliefs upon the facade of the Duomo at Modena, describing episodes in +the life of S. Gemignano, by the romantically charming reliefs in +marble, with terracotta settings, on the Oratory of S. Bernardino at +Perugia, and by a large amount of excellent surface-work in stone upon +the chapels of S. Francesco at Rimini. We gather from one of the +contracts with Agostino that the marble was originally blocked out for +some prophet. But Michelangelo resolved to make a David; and two wax +models, now preserved in the Museo Buonarroti, neither of which +corresponds exactly with the statue as it exists, show that he felt +able to extract a colossal figure in various attitudes from the +damaged block. In the first contract signed between the Consuls of the +Arte della Lana, the Operai del Duomo, and the sculptor, dated August +16, 1501, the terms are thus settled: "That the worthy master +Michelangelo, son of Lodovico Buonarroti, citizen of Florence, has +been chosen to fashion, complete, and finish to perfection that male +statue called the Giant, of nine cubits in height, now existing in the +workshop of the cathedral, blocked out aforetime by Master Agostino of +Florence, and badly blocked; and that the work shall be completed +within the term of the next ensuing two years, dating from September, +at a salary of six golden florins per month; and that what is needful +for the accomplishment of this task, as workmen, timbers, &c., which +he may require, shall be supplied him by the Operai; and when the +statue is finished, the Consuls and Operai who shall be in office +shall estimate whether he deserve a larger recompense, and this shall +be left to their consciences." + + +II + +Michelangelo began to work on Monday morning, September 13, in a +wooden shed erected for the purpose, not far from the cathedral. On +the 28th of February 1502, the statue, which is now called for the +first time "the Giant, or David," was brought so far forward that the +judges declared it to be half finished, and decided that the sculptor +should be paid in all 400 golden florins, including the stipulated +salary. He seems to have laboured assiduously during the next two +years, for by a minute of the 25th of January 1504 the David is said +to be almost entirely finished. On this date a solemn council of the +most important artists resident in Florence was convened at the Opera +del Duomo to consider where it should be placed. + +We possess full minutes of this meeting, and they are so curious that +I shall not hesitate to give a somewhat detailed account of the +proceedings. Messer Francesco Filarete, the chief herald of the +Signory, and himself an architect of some pretensions, opened the +discussion in a short speech to this effect: "I have turned over in my +mind those suggestions which my judgment could afford me. You have two +places where the statue may be set up: the first, that where the +Judith stands; the second, in the middle of the courtyard where the +David is. The first might be selected, because the Judith is an omen +of evil, and no fit object where it stands, we having the cross and +lily for our ensign; besides, it is not proper that the woman should +kill the male; and, above all, this statue was erected under an evil +constellation, since you have gone continually from bad to worse since +then. Pisa has been lost too. The David of the courtyard is imperfect +in the right leg; and so I should counsel you to put the Giant in one +of these places, but I give the preference myself to that of the +Judith." The herald, it will be perceived, took for granted that +Michelangelo's David would be erected in the immediate neighbourhood +of the Palazzo Vecchio. The next speaker, Francesco Monciatto, a +wood-carver, advanced the view that it ought to be placed in front of +the Duomo, where the Colossus was originally meant to be put up. He +was immediately followed, and his resolution was seconded, by no less +personages than the painters Cosimo Rosselli and Sandro Botticelli. +Then Giuliano da San Gallo, the illustrious architect, submitted a +third opinion to the meeting. He began his speech by observing that he +agreed with those who wished to choose the steps of the Duomo, but due +consideration caused him to alter his mind. "The imperfection of the +marble, which is softened by exposure to the air, rendered the +durability of the statue doubtful. He therefore voted for the middle +of the Loggia dei Lanzi, where the David would be under cover." Messer +Angelo di Lorenzo Manfidi, second herald of the Signory, rose to state +a professional objection. "The David, if erected under the middle arch +of the Loggia, would break the order of the ceremonies practised there +by the Signory and other magistrates. He therefore proposed that the +arch facing the Palazzo (where Donatello's Judith is now) should be +chosen." The three succeeding speakers, people of no great importance, +gave their votes in favour of the chief herald's resolution. Others +followed San Gallo, among whom was the illustrious Lionardo da Vinci. +He thought the statue could be placed under the middle arch of the +Loggia without hindrance to ceremonies of state. Salvestro, a +jeweller, and Filippino Lippi, the painter, were of opinion that the +neighbourhood of the Palazzo should be adopted, but that the precise +spot should be left to the sculptor's choice. Gallieno, an +embroiderer, and David Ghirlandajo, the painter, suggested a new +place--namely, where the lion or Marzocco stood on the Piazza. Antonio +da San Gallo, the architect, and Michelangelo, the goldsmith, father +of Baccio Bandinelli, supported Giuliano da San Gallo's motion. Then +Giovanni Piffero--that is, the father of Benvenuto Cellini--brought +the discussion back to the courtyard of the palace. He thought that in +the Loggia the statue would be only partly seen, and that it would run +risks of injury from scoundrels. Giovanni delle Corniole, the +incomparable gem-cutter, who has left us the best portrait of +Savonarola, voted with the two San Galli, "because he hears the stone +is soft." Piero di Cosimo, the painter, and teacher of Andrea del +Sarto, wound up the speeches with a strong recommendation that the +choice of the exact spot should be left to Michelangelo Buonarroti. +This was eventually decided on, and he elected to have his David set +up in the place preferred by the chief herald--that is to say, upon +the steps of the Palazzo Vecchio, on the right side of the entrance. + +The next thing was to get the mighty mass of sculptured marble safely +moved from the Duomo to the Palazzo. On the 1st of April, Simone del +Pollajuolo, called Il Cronaca, was commissioned to make the necessary +preparations; but later on, upon the 30th, we find Antonio da San +Gallo, Baccio d'Agnolo, Bernardo della Ciecha, and Michelangelo +associated with him in the work of transportation. An enclosure of +stout beams and planks was made and placed on movable rollers. In the +middle of this the statue hung suspended, with a certain liberty of +swaying to the shocks and lurches of the vehicle. More than forty men +were employed upon the windlasses which drew it slowly forward. In a +contemporary record we possess a full account of the transit: "On the +14th of May 1504, the marble Giant was taken from the Opera. It came +out at 24 o'clock, and they broke the wall above the gateway enough to +let it pass. That night some stones were thrown at the Colossus with +intent to harm it. Watch had to be kept at night; and it made way very +slowly, bound as it was upright, suspended in the air with enormous +beams and intricate machinery of ropes. It took four days to reach the +Piazza, arriving on the 18th at the hour of 12. More than forty men +were employed to make it go; and there were fourteen rollers joined +beneath it, which were changed from hand to hand. Afterwards, they +worked until the 8th of June 1504 to place it on the platform +_(ringhiero)_ where the Judith used to stand. The Judith was removed +and set upon the ground within the palace. The said Giant was the work +of Michelangelo Buonarroti." + +Where the masters of Florence placed it, under the direction of its +maker, Michelangelo's great white David stood for more than three +centuries uncovered, open to all injuries of frost and rain, and to +the violence of citizens, until, for the better preservation of this +masterpiece of modern art, it was removed in 1873 to a hall of the +Accademia delle Belle Arti. On the whole, it has suffered very little. +Weather has slightly worn away the extremities of the left foot; and +in 1527, during a popular tumult, the left arm was broken by a huge +stone cast by the assailants of the palace. Giorgio Vasari tells us +how, together with his friend Cecchino Salviati, he collected the +scattered pieces, and brought them to the house of Michelangelo +Salviati, the father of Cecchino. They were subsequently put together +by the care of the Grand Duke Cosimo, and restored to the statue in +the year 1543. + + +III + +In the David Michelangelo first displayed that quality of +_terribilita_, of spirit-quailing, awe-inspiring force, for which he +afterwards became so famous. The statue imposes, not merely by its +size and majesty and might, but by something vehement in the +conception. He was, however, far from having yet adopted those +systematic proportions for the human body which later on gave an air +of monotonous impressiveness to all his figures. On the contrary, this +young giant strongly recalls the model; still more strongly indeed +than the Bacchus did. Wishing perhaps to adhere strictly to the +Biblical story, Michelangelo studied a lad whose frame was not +developed. The David, to state the matter frankly, is a colossal +hobbledehoy. His body, in breadth of the thorax, depth of the abdomen, +and general stoutness, has not grown up to the scale of the enormous +hands and feet and heavy head. We feel that he wants at least two +years to become a fully developed man, passing from adolescence to the +maturity of strength and beauty. This close observance of the +imperfections of the model at a certain stage of physical growth is +very remarkable, and not altogether pleasing in a statue more than +nine feet high. Both Donatello and Verocchio had treated their Davids +in the same realistic manner, but they were working on a small scale +and in bronze. I insist upon this point, because students of +Michelangelo have been apt to overlook his extreme sincerity and +naturalism in the first stages of his career. + +Having acknowledged that the head of David is too massive and the +extremities too largely formed for ideal beauty, hypercriticism can +hardly find fault with the modelling and execution of each part. The +attitude selected is one of great dignity and vigour. The heroic boy, +quite certain of victory, is excited by the coming contest. His brows +are violently contracted, the nostrils tense and quivering, the eyes +fixed keenly on the distant Philistine. His larynx rises visibly, and +the sinews of his left thigh tighten, as though the whole spirit of +the man were braced for a supreme endeavour. In his right hand, kept +at a just middle point between the hip and knee, he holds the piece of +wood on which his sling is hung. The sling runs round his back, and +the centre of it, where the stone bulges, is held with the left hand, +poised upon the left shoulder, ready to be loosed. We feel that the +next movement will involve the right hand straining to its full extent +the sling, dragging the stone away, and whirling it into the air; +when, after it has sped to strike Goliath in the forehead, the whole +lithe body of the lad will have described a curve, and recovered its +perpendicular position on the two firm legs. Michelangelo invariably +chose some decisive moment; in the action he had to represent; and +though he was working here under difficulties, owing to the +limitations of the damaged block at his disposal, he contrived to +suggest the imminence of swift and sudden energy which shall disturb +the equilibrium of his young giant's pose. Critics of this statue, +deceived by its superficial resemblance to some Greek athletes at +rest, have neglected the candid realism of the momentary act +foreshadowed. They do not understand the meaning of the sling. Even +Heath Wilson, for instance, writes: "The massive shoulders are thrown +back, the right arm is pendent, and _the right hand grasps resolutely +the stone_ with which the adversary is to be slain." This entirely +falsifies the sculptor's motive, misses the meaning of the sling, +renders the broad strap behind the back superfluous, and changes into +mere plastic symbolism what Michelangelo intended to be a moment +caught from palpitating life. + +It has often been remarked that David's head is modelled upon the type +of Donatello's S. George at Orsanmichele. The observation is just; and +it suggests a comment on the habit Michelangelo early formed of +treating the face idealistically, however much he took from study of +his models. Vasari, for example, says that he avoided portraiture, and +composed his faces by combining several individuals. We shall see a +new ideal type of the male head emerge in a group of statues, among +which the most distinguished is Giuliano de' Medici at San Lorenzo. We +have already seen a female type created in the Madonnas of S. Peter's +and Notre Dame at Bruges. But this is not the place to discuss +Michelangelo's theory of form in general. That must be reserved until +we enter the Sistine Chapel, in order to survey the central and the +crowning product of his genius in its prime. + +We have every reason to believe that Michelangelo carved his David +with no guidance but drawings and a small wax model about eighteen +inches in height. The inconvenience of this method, which left the +sculptor to wreak his fury on the marble with mallet and chisel, can +be readily conceived. In a famous passage, disinterred by M. Mariette +from a French scholar of the sixteenth century, we have this account +of the fiery master's system: "I am able to affirm that I have seen +Michelangelo, at the age of more than sixty years, and not the +strongest for his time of life, knock off more chips from an extremely +hard marble in one quarter of an hour than three young stone-cutters +could have done in three or four--a thing quite incredible to one who +has not seen it. He put such impetuosity and fury into his work that I +thought the whole must fly to pieces; hurling to the ground at one +blow great fragments three or four inches thick, shaving the line so +closely that if he had overpassed it by a hair's-breadth he ran the +risk of losing all, since one cannot mend a marble afterwards or +repair mistakes, as one does with figures of clay and stucco." It is +said that, owing to this violent way of attacking his marble, +Michelangelo sometimes bit too deep into the stone, and had to abandon +a promising piece of sculpture. This is one of the ways of accounting +for his numerous unfinished statues. Accordingly a myth has sprung up +representing the great master as working in solitude upon huge blocks, +with nothing but a sketch in wax before him. Fact is always more +interesting than fiction; and, while I am upon the topic of his +method, I will introduce what Cellini has left written on this +subject. In his treatise on the Art of Sculpture, Cellini lays down +the rule that sculptors in stone ought first to make a little model +two palms high, and after this to form another as large as the statue +will have to be. He illustrates this by a critique of his illustrious +predecessors. "Albeit many able artists rush boldly on the stone with +the fierce force of mallet and chisel, relying on the little model and +a good design, yet the result is never found by them to be so +satisfactory as when they fashion the model on a large scale. This is +proved by our Donatello, who was a Titan in the art, and afterwards by +the stupendous Michelangelo, who worked in both ways. Discovering +latterly that the small models fell far short of what his excellent +genius demanded, he adopted the habit of making most careful models +exactly of the same size as the marble statue was to be. This we have +seen with our own eyes in the Sacristy of S. Lorenzo. Next, when a man +is satisfied with his full-sized model, he must take charcoal, and +sketch out the main view of his figure on the marble in such wise that +it shall be distinctly traced; for he who has not previously settled +his design may sometimes find himself deceived by the chiselling +irons. Michelangelo's method in this matter was the best. He used +first to sketch in the principal aspect; and then to begin work by +removing the surface stone upon that side, just as if he intended to +fashion a figure in half-relief; and thus he went on gradually +uncovering the rounded form." + +Vasari, speaking of four rough-hewn Captives, possibly the figures now +in a grotto of the Boboli Gardens, says: They are well adapted for +teaching a beginner how to extract statues from the marble without +injury to the stone. The safe method which they illustrate may be +described as follows. You first take a model in wax or some other hard +material, and place it lying in a vessel full of water. The water, by +its nature, presents a level surface; so that, if you gradually lift +the model, the higher parts are first exposed, while the lower parts +remain submerged; and, proceeding thus, the whole round shape at +length appears above the water. Precisely in the same way ought +statues to be hewn out from the marble with the chisel; first +uncovering the highest surfaces, and proceeding to disclose the +lowest. This method was followed by Michelangelo while blocking out +the Captives, and therefore his Excellency the Duke was fain to have +them used as models by the students in his Academy. It need hardly be +remarked that the ingenious process of "pointing the marble" by means +of the "pointing machine" and "scale-stones," which is at present +universally in use among sculptors, had not been invented in the +sixteenth century. + + +IV + +I cannot omit a rather childish story which Vasari tells about the +David. After it had been placed upon its pedestal before the palace, +and while the scaffolding was still there, Piero Soderini, who loved +and admired Michelangelo, told him that he thought the nose too large. +The sculptor immediately ran up the ladder till he reached a point +upon the level of the giant's shoulder. He then took his hammer and +chisel, and, having concealed some dust of marble in the hollow of his +hand, pretended to work off a portion from the surface of the nose. In +reality he left it as he found it; but Soderini, seeing the marble +dust fall scattering through the air, thought that his hint had been +taken. When, therefore, Michelangelo called down to him, "Look at it +now!" Soderini shouted up in reply, "I am far more pleased with it; +you have given life to the statue." + +At this time Piero Soderini, a man of excellent parts and sterling +character, though not gifted with that mixture of audacity and cunning +which impressed the Renaissance imagination, was Gonfalonier of the +Republic. He had been elected to the supreme magistracy for life, and +was practically Doge of Florence. His friendship proved on more than +one occasion of some service to Michelangelo; and while the gigantic +David was in progress he gave the sculptor a new commission, the +history of which must now engage us. The Florentine envoys to France +had already written in June 1501 from Lyons, saying that Pierre de +Rohan, Marechal de Gie, who stood high in favour at the court of Louis +XII., greatly desired a copy of the bronze David by Donatello in the +courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio. He appeared willing to pay for it, +but the envoys thought that he expected to have it as a present. The +French alliance was a matter of the highest importance to Florence, +and at this time the Republic was heavily indebted to the French +crown. Soderini, therefore, decided to comply with the Marshal's +request, and on the 12th of August 1502 Michelangelo undertook to +model a David of two cubits and a quarter within six months. In the +bronze-casting he was assisted by a special master, Benedetto da +Rovezzano. During the next two years a brisk correspondence was kept +up between the envoys and the Signory about the statue, showing the +Marshal's impatience. Meanwhile De Rohan became Duke of Nemours in +1503 by his marriage with a sister of Louis d'Armagnac, and shortly +afterwards he fell into disgrace. Nothing more was to be expected from +him at the court of Blois. But the statue was in progress, and the +question arose to whom it should be given. The choice of the Signory +fell on Florimond Robertet, secretary of finance, whose favour would +be useful to the Florentines in their pecuniary transactions with the +King. A long letter from the envoy, Francesco Pandolfini, in September +1505, shows that Robertet's mind had been sounded on the subject; and +we gather from a minute of the Signory, dated November 6, 1508, that +at last the bronze David, weighing about 800 pounds, had been "packed +in the name of God" and sent to Signa on its way to Leghorn. Robertet +received it in due course, and placed it in the courtyard of his +chateau of Bury, near Blois. Here it remained for more than a century, +when it was removed to the chateau of Villeroy. There it disappeared. +We possess, however, a fine pen-and-ink drawing by the hand of +Michelangelo, which may well have been a design for this second David. +The muscular and naked youth, not a mere lad like the colossal statue, +stands firmly posed upon his left leg with the trunk thrown boldly +back. His right foot rests on the gigantic head of Goliath, and his +left hand, twisted back upon the buttock, holds what seems meant for +the sling. We see here what Michelangelo's conception of an ideal +David would have been when working under conditions more favourable +than the damaged block afforded. On the margin of the page the +following words may be clearly traced: "Davicte cholla fromba e io +chollarcho Michelagniolo,"--David with the sling, and I with the bow. + +Meanwhile Michelangelo received a still more important commission on +the 24th of April 1503. The Consuls of the Arte della Lana and the +Operai of the Duomo ordered twelve Apostles, each 4-1/4 cubits high, +to be carved out of Carrara marble and placed inside the church. The +sculptor undertook to furnish one each year, the Board of Works +defraying all expenses, supplying the costs of Michelangelo's living +and his assistants, and paying him two golden florins a month. Besides +this, they had a house built for him in the Borgo Pinti after Il +Cronaca's design. He occupied this house free of charges while he was +in Florence, until it became manifest that the contract of 1503 would +never be carried out. Later on, in March 1508, the tenement was let on +lease to him and his heirs. But he only held it a few months; for on +the 15th of June the lease was cancelled, and the house transferred to +Sigismondo Martelli. + +The only trace surviving of these twelve Apostles is the huge +blocked-out S. Matteo, now in the courtyard of the Accademia. Vasari +writes of it as follows: "He also began a statue in marble of S. +Matteo, which, though it is but roughly hewn, shows perfection of +design, and teaches sculptors how to extract figures from the stone +without exposing them to injury, always gaining ground by removing the +superfluous material, and being able to withdraw or change in case of +need." This stupendous sketch or shadow of a mighty form is indeed +instructive for those who would understand Michelangelo's method. It +fully illustrates the passages quoted above from Cellini and Vasari, +showing how a design of the chief view of the statue must have been +chalked upon the marble, and how the unfinished figure gradually +emerged into relief. Were we to place it in a horizontal position on +the ground, that portion of a rounded form which has been disengaged +from the block would emerge just in the same way as a model from a +bath of water not quite deep enough to cover it. At the same time we +learn to appreciate the observations of Vigenere while we study the +titanic chisel-marks, grooved deeply in the body of the stone, and +carried to the length of three or four inches. The direction of these +strokes proves that Michelangelo worked equally with both hands, and +the way in which they are hatched and crossed upon the marble reminds +one of the pen-drawing of a bold draughtsman. The mere +surface-handling of the stone has remarkable affinity in linear effect +to a pair of the master's pen-designs for a naked man, now in the +Louvre. On paper he seems to hew with the pen, on marble to sketch +with the chisel. The saint appears literally to be growing out of his +stone prison, as though he were alive and enclosed there waiting to be +liberated. This recalls Michelangelo's fixed opinion regarding +sculpture, which he defined as the art "that works by force of taking +away." In his writings we often find the idea expressed that a statue, +instead of being a human thought invested with external reality by +stone, is more truly to be regarded as something which the sculptor +seeks and finds inside his marble--a kind of marvellous discovery. +Thus he says in one of his poems: "Lady, in hard and craggy stone the +mere removal of the surface gives being to a figure, which ever grows +the more the stone is hewn away." And again-- + + _The best of artists hath no thought to show + Which the rough stone in its superfluous shell + Doth not include: to break the marble spell + Is all the hand that serves the brain can do._ + +S. Matthew seems to palpitate with life while we scrutinise the +amorphous block; and yet there is little there more tangible than some +such form as fancy loves to image in the clouds. + +To conclude what I have said in this section about Michelangelo's +method of working on the marble, I must confirm what I have stated +about his using both left and right hand while chiselling. Raffaello +da Montelupo, who was well acquainted with him personally, informs us +of the fact: "Here I may mention that I am in the habit of drawing +with my left hand, and that once, at Rome, while I was sketching the +Arch of Trajan from the Colosseum, Michelangelo and Sebastiano del +Piombo, both of whom were naturally left-handed (although they did not +work with the left hand excepting when they wished to use great +strength), stopped to see me, and expressed great wonder, no sculptor +or painter ever having done so before me, as far as I know." + + +V + +If Vasari can be trusted, it was during this residence at Florence, +when his hands were so fully occupied, that Michelangelo found time to +carve the two _tondi_, Madonnas in relief enclosed in circular spaces, +which we still possess. One of them, made for Taddeo Taddei, is now at +Burlington House, having been acquired by the Royal Academy through +the medium of Sir George Beaumont. This ranks among the best things +belonging to that Corporation. The other, made for Bartolommeo Pitti, +will be found in the Palazzo del Bargello at Florence. Of the two, +that of our Royal Academy is the more ambitious in design, combining +singular grace and dignity in the Madonna with action playfully +suggested in the infant Christ and little S. John. That of the +Bargello is simpler, more tranquil, and more stately. The one recalls +the motive of the Bruges Madonna, the other almost anticipates the +Delphic Sibyl. We might fancifully call them a pair of native pearls +or uncut gems, lovely by reason even of their sketchiness. Whether by +intention, as some critics have supposed, or for want of time to +finish, as I am inclined to believe, these two reliefs are left in a +state of incompleteness which is highly suggestive. Taking the Royal +Academy group first, the absolute roughness of the groundwork supplies +an admirable background to the figures, which seem to emerge from it +as though the whole of them were there, ready to be disentangled. The +most important portions of the composition--Madonna's head and throat, +the drapery of her powerful breast, on which the child Christ +reclines, and the naked body of the boy--are wrought to a point which +only demands finish. Yet parts of these two figures remain +undetermined. Christ's feet are still imprisoned in the clinging +marble; His left arm and hand are only indicated, and His right hand +is resting on a mass of broken stone, which hides a portion of His +mother's drapery, but leaves the position of her hand uncertain. The +infant S. John, upright upon his feet, balancing the chief group, is +hazily subordinate. The whole of his form looms blurred through the +veil of stone, and what his two hands and arms are doing with the +hidden right arm and hand of the Virgin may hardly be conjectured. It +is clear that on this side of the composition the marble was to have +been more deeply cut, and that we have the highest surfaces of the +relief brought into prominence at those points where, as I have said, +little is wanting but the finish of the graver and the file. The +Bargello group is simpler and more intelligible. Its composition by +masses being quite apparent, we can easily construct the incomplete +figure of S. John in the background. What results from the study of +these two circular sketches in marble is that, although Michelangelo +believed all sculpture to be imperfect in so far as it approached the +style of painting, yet he did not disdain to labour in stone with +various planes of relief which should produce the effect of +chiaroscuro. Furthermore, they illustrate what Cellini and Vasari have +already taught us about his method. He refused to work by piecemeal, +but began by disengaging the first, the second, then the third +surfaces, following a model and a drawing which controlled the +cutting. Whether he preferred to leave off when his idea was +sufficiently indicated, or whether his numerous engagements prevented +him from excavating the lowest surfaces, and lastly polishing the +whole, is a question which must for ever remain undecided. Considering +the exquisite elaboration given to the Pieta of the Vatican, the +Madonna at Bruges, the Bacchus and the David, the Moses and parts of +the Medicean monuments, I incline to think that, with time enough at +his disposal, he would have carried out these rounds in all their +details. A criticism he made on Donatello, recorded for us by Condivi, +to the effect that this great master's works lost their proper effect +on close inspection through a want of finish, confirms my opinion. +Still there is no doubt that he must have been pleased, as all true +lovers of art are with the picturesque effect--an effect as of things +half seen in dreams or emergent from primeval substances--which the +imperfection of the craftsman's labour leaves upon the memory. + +At this time Michelangelo's mind seems to have been much occupied with +circular compositions. He painted a large Holy Family of this shape +for his friend Angelo Doni, which may, I think, be reckoned the only +easel-picture attributable with absolute certainty to his hand. +Condivi simply says that he received seventy ducats for this fine +work. Vasari adds one of his prattling stories to the effect that Doni +thought forty sufficient; whereupon Michelangelo took the picture +back, and said he would not let it go for less than a hundred: Doni +then offered the original sum of seventy, but Michelangelo replied +that if he was bent on bargaining he should not pay less than 140. Be +this as it may, one of the most characteristic products of the +master's genius came now into existence. The Madonna is seated in a +kneeling position on the ground; she throws herself vigorously +backward, lifting the little Christ upon her right arm, and presenting +him to a bald-headed old man, S. Joseph, who seems about to take him +in his arms. This group, which forms a tall pyramid, is balanced on +both sides by naked figures of young men reclining against a wall at +some distance, while a remarkably ugly little S. John can be discerned +in one corner. There is something very powerful and original in the +composition of this sacred picture, which, as in the case of all +Michelangelo's early work, develops the previous traditions of Tuscan +art on lines which no one but himself could have discovered. The +central figure of the Madonna, too, has always seemed to me a thing of +marvellous beauty, and of stupendous power in the strained attitude +and nobly modelled arms. It has often been asked what the male nudes +have got to do with the subject. Probably Michelangelo intended in +this episode to surpass a Madonna by Luca Signorelli, with whose +genius he obviously was in sympathy, and who felt, like him, the +supreme beauty of the naked adolescent form. Signorelli had painted a +circular Madonna with two nudes in the landscape distance for Lorenzo +de' Medici. The picture is hung now in the gallery of the Uffizi. It +is enough perhaps to remark that Michelangelo needed these figures for +his scheme, and for filling the space at his disposal. He was either +unable or unwilling to compose a background of trees, meadows, and +pastoral folk in the manner of his predecessors. Nothing but the +infinite variety of human forms upon a barren stage of stone or arid +earth would suit his haughty sense of beauty. The nine persons who +make up the picture are all carefully studied from the life, and bear +a strong Tuscan stamp. S. John is literally ignoble, and Christ is a +commonplace child. The Virgin Mother is a magnificent _contadina_ in +the plenitude of adult womanhood. Those, however, who follow Mr. +Ruskin in blaming Michelangelo for carelessness about the human face +and head, should not fail to notice what sublime dignity and grace he +has communicated to his model here. In technical execution the Doni +Madonna is faithful to old Florentine usage, but lifeless and +unsympathetic. We are disagreeably reminded by every portion of the +surface that Lionardo's subtle play of tones and modulated shades, +those _sfumature_, as Italians call them, which transfer the mystic +charm of nature to the canvas, were as yet unknown to the great +draughtsman. There is more of atmosphere, of colour suggestion, and of +chiaroscuro in the marble _tondi_ described above. Moreover, in spite +of very careful modelling, Michelangelo has failed to make us feel the +successive planes of his composition. The whole seems flat, and each +distance, instead of being graduated, starts forward to the eye. He +required, at this period of his career, the relief of sculpture in +order to express the roundness of the human form and the relative +depth of objects placed in a receding order. If anything were needed +to make us believe the story of his saying to Pope Julius II. that +sculpture and not painting was his trade, this superb design, so +deficient in the essential qualities of painting proper, would +suffice. Men infinitely inferior to himself in genius and sense of +form, a Perugino, a Francia, a Fra Bartolommeo, an Albertinelli, +possessed more of the magic which evokes pictorial beauty. +Nevertheless, with all its aridity, rigidity, and almost repulsive +hardness of colour, the Doni Madonna ranks among the great pictures of +the world. Once seen it will never be forgotten: it tyrannises and +dominates the imagination by its titanic power of drawing. No one, +except perhaps Lionardo, could draw like that, and Lionardo would not +have allowed his linear scheme to impose itself so remorselessly upon +the mind. + + +VI + +Just at this point of his development, Michelangelo was brought into +competition with Lionardo da Vinci, the only living rival worthy of +his genius. During the year 1503 Piero Soderini determined to adorn +the hall of the Great Council in the Palazzo Vecchio with huge mural +frescoes, which should represent scenes in Florentine history. +Documents regarding the commencement of these works and the contracts +made with the respective artists are unfortunately wanting. But it +appears that Da Vinci received a commission for one of the long walls +in the autumn of that year. We have items of expenditure on record +which show that the Municipality of Florence assigned him the Sala del +Papa at S. Maria Novella before February 1504, and were preparing the +necessary furniture for the construction of his Cartoon. It seems that +he was hard at work upon the 1st of April, receiving fifteen golden +florins a month for his labour. The subject which he chose to treat +was the battle of Anghiari in 1440, when the Florentine mercenaries +entirely routed the troops of Filippo Maria Visconti, led by Niccolo +Piccinino, one of the greatest generals of his age. In August 1504 +Soderini commissioned Michelangelo to prepare Cartoons for the +opposite wall of the great Sala, and assigned to him a workshop in the +Hospital of the Dyers at S. Onofrio. A minute of expenditure, under +date October 31, 1504, shows that the paper for the Cartoon had been +already provided; and Michelangelo continued to work upon it until his +call to Rome at the beginning of 1505. Lionardo's battle-piece +consisted of two groups on horseback engaged in a fierce struggle for +a standard. Michelangelo determined to select a subject which should +enable him to display all his power as the supreme draughtsman of the +nude. He chose an episode from the war with Pisa, when, on the 28th of +July 1364, a band of 400 Florentine soldiers were surprised bathing by +Sir John Hawkwood and his English riders. It goes by the name of the +Battle of Pisa, though the event really took place at Cascina on the +Arno, some six miles above that city. + +We have every reason to regard the composition of this Cartoon as the +central point in Michelangelo's life as an artist. It was the +watershed, so to speak, which divided his earlier from his later +manner; and if we attach any value to the critical judgment of his +enthusiastic admirer, Cellini, even the roof of the Sistine fell short +of its perfection. Important, however, as it certainly is in the +history of his development, I must defer speaking of it in detail +until the end of the next chapter. For some reason or other, unknown +to us, he left his work unfinished early in 1505, and went, at the +Pope's invitation, to Rome. When he returned, in the ensuing year, to +Florence, he resumed and completed the design. Some notion of its size +may be derived from what we know about the material supplied for +Lionardo's Cartoon. This, say Crowe and Cavalcaselle, "was made up of +one ream and twenty-nine quires, or about 288 square feet of royal +folio paper, the mere pasting of which necessitated a consumption of +eighty-eight pounds of flour, the mere lining of which required three +pieces of Florentine linen." + +Condivi, summing up his notes of this period spent by Michelangelo at +Florence, says: "He stayed there some time without working to much +purpose in his craft, having taken to the study of poets and +rhetoricians in the vulgar tongue, and to the composition of sonnets +for his pleasure." It is difficult to imagine how Michelangelo, with +all his engagements, found the leisure to pursue these literary +amusements. But Condivi's biography is the sole authentic source which +we possess for the great master's own recollections of his past life. +It is, therefore, not improbable that in the sentence I have quoted we +may find some explanation of the want of finish observable in his +productions at this point. Michelangelo was, to a large extent, a +dreamer; and this single phrase throws light upon the expanse of time, +the barren spaces, in his long laborious life. The poems we now +possess by his pen are clearly the wreck of a vast multitude; and most +of those accessible in manuscript and print belong to a later stage of +his development. Still the fact remains that in early manhood he +formed the habit of conversing with writers of Italian and of +fashioning his own thoughts into rhyme. His was a nature capable +indeed of vehement and fiery activity, but by constitution somewhat +saturnine and sluggish, only energetic when powerfully stimulated; a +meditative man, glad enough to be inert when not spurred forward on +the path of strenuous achievement. And so, it seems, the literary bent +took hold upon him as a relief from labour, as an excuse for temporary +inaction. In his own art, the art of design, whether this assumed the +form of sculpture or of painting or of architecture, he did nothing +except at the highest pressure. All his accomplished work shows signs +of the intensest cerebration. But he tried at times to slumber, sunk +in a wise passiveness. Then he communed with the poets, the prophets, +and the prose-writers of his country. We can well imagine, therefore, +that, tired with the labours of the chisel or the brush, he gladly +gave himself to composition, leaving half finished on his easel things +which had for him their adequate accomplishment. + +I think it necessary to make these suggestions, because, in my +opinion, Michelangelo's inner life and his literary proclivities have +been hitherto too much neglected in the scheme of his psychology. +Dazzled by the splendour of his work, critics are content to skip +spaces of months and years, during which the creative genius of the +man smouldered. It is, as I shall try to show, in those intervals, +dimly revealed to us by what remains of his poems and his +correspondence, that the secret of this man, at once so tardy and so +energetic; has to be discovered. + +A great master of a different temperament, less solitary, less +saturnine, less sluggish, would have formed a school, as Raffaello +did. Michelangelo formed no school, and was incapable of confiding the +execution of his designs to any subordinates. This is also a point of +the highest importance to insist upon. Had he been other than he +was--a gregarious man, contented with the _a peu pres_ in art--he +might have sent out all those twelve Apostles for the Duomo from his +workshop. Raffaello would have done so; indeed, the work which bears +his name in Rome could not have existed except under these conditions. +Now nothing is left to us of the twelve Apostles except a rough-hewn +sketch of S. Matthew. Michelangelo was unwilling or unable to organise +a band of craftsmen fairly interpretative of his manner. When his own +hand failed, or when he lost the passion for his labour, he left the +thing unfinished. And much of this incompleteness in his life-work +seems to me due to his being what I called a dreamer. He lacked the +merely business faculty, the power of utilising hands and brains. He +could not bring his genius into open market, and stamp inferior +productions with his countersign. Willingly he retired into the +solitude of his own self, to commune with great poets and to meditate +upon high thoughts, while he indulged the emotions arising from forms +of strength and beauty presented to his gaze upon the pathway of +experience. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +I + +Among the many nephews whom Sixtus IV. had raised to eminence, the +most distinguished was Giuliano della Rovere, Cardinal of S. Pietro in +Vincoli, and Bishop of Ostia. This man possessed a fiery temper, +indomitable energy, and the combative instinct which takes delight in +fighting for its own sake. Nature intended him for a warrior; and, +though circumstances made him chief of the Church, he discharged his +duties as a Pontiff in the spirit of a general and a conqueror. When +Julius II. was elected in November 1503, it became at once apparent +that he intended to complete what his hated predecessors, the Borgias, +had begun, by reducing to his sway all the provinces over which the +See of Rome had any claims, and creating a central power in Italy. +Unlike the Borgias, however, he entertained no plan of raising his own +family to sovereignty at the expense of the Papal power. The Della +Roveres were to be contented with their Duchy of Urbino, which came to +them by inheritance from the Montefeltri. Julius dreamed of Italy for +the Italians, united under the hegemony of the Supreme Pontiff, who +from Rome extended his spiritual authority and political influence +over the whole of Western Europe. It does not enter into the scheme of +this book to relate the series of wars and alliances in which this +belligerent Pope involved his country, and the final failure of his +policy, so far as the liberation of Italy from the barbarians was +concerned. Suffice it to say, that at the close of his stormy reign he +had reduced the States of the Church to more or less complete +obedience, bequeathing to his successors an ecclesiastical kingdom +which the enfeebled condition of the peninsula at large enabled them +to keep intact. + +There was nothing petty or mean in Julius II.; his very faults bore a +grandiose and heroic aspect. Turbulent, impatient, inordinate in his +ambition, reckless in his choice of means, prolific of immense +projects, for which a lifetime would have been too short, he filled +the ten years of his pontificate with a din of incoherent deeds and +vast schemes half accomplished. Such was the man who called +Michelangelo to Rome at the commencement of 1505. Why the sculptor was +willing to leave his Cartoon unfinished, and to break his engagement +with the Operai del Duomo, remains a mystery. It is said that the +illustrious architect, Giuliano da San Gallo, who had worked for +Julius while he was cardinal, and was now his principal adviser upon +matters of art, suggested to the Pope that Buonarroti could serve him +admirably in his ambitious enterprises for the embellishment of the +Eternal City. We do not know for certain whether Julius, when he +summoned Michelangelo from Florence, had formed the design of engaging +him upon a definite piece of work. The first weeks of his residence in +Rome are said to have been spent in inactivity, until at last Julius +proposed to erect a huge monument of marble for his own tomb. + +Thus began the second and longest period of Michelangelo's +art-industry. Henceforth he was destined to labour for a series of +Popes, following their whims with distracted energies and a lamentable +waste of time. The incompleteness which marks so much of his +performance was due to the rapid succession of these imperious +masters, each in turn careless about the schemes of his predecessor, +and bent on using the artist's genius for his own profit. It is true +that nowhere but in Rome could Michelangelo have received commissions +on so vast a scale. Nevertheless we cannot but regret the fate which +drove him to consume years of hampered industry upon what Condivi +calls "the tragedy of Julius's tomb," upon quarrying and road-making +for Leo X., upon the abortive plans at S. Lorenzo, and upon +architectural and engineering works, which were not strictly within +his province. At first it seemed as though fortune was about to smile +on him. In Julius he found a patron who could understand and +appreciate his powers. Between the two men there existed a strong bond +of sympathy due to community of temperament. Both aimed at colossal +achievements in their respective fields of action. The imagination of +both was fired by large and simple rather than luxurious and subtle +thoughts. Both were _uomini terribili_, to use a phrase denoting +vigour of character and energy of genius, made formidable by an +abrupt, uncompromising spirit. Both worked with what the Italians call +fury, with the impetuosity of daemonic natures; and both left the +impress of their individuality stamped indelibly upon their age. +Julius, in all things grandiose, resolved to signalise his reign by +great buildings, great sculpture, great pictorial schemes. There was +nothing of the dilettante and collector about him. He wanted creation +at a rapid rate and in enormous quantities. To indulge this craving, +he gathered round him a band of demigods and Titans, led by Bramante, +Raffaello, Michelangelo, and enjoyed the spectacle of a new world of +art arising at his bidding through their industry of brain and hand. + + +II + +What followed upon Michelangelo's arrival in Rome may be told in +Condivi's words: "Having reached Rome, many months elapsed before +Julius decided on what great work he would employ him. At last it +occurred to him to use his genius in the construction of his own tomb. +The design furnished by Michelangelo pleased the Pope so much that he +sent him off immediately to Carrara, with commission to quarry as much +marble as was needful for that undertaking. Two thousand ducats were +put to his credit with Alamanni Salviati at Florence for expenses. He +remained more than eight months among those mountains, with two +servants and a horse, but without any salary except his keep. One day, +while inspecting the locality, the fancy took him to convert a hill +which commands the sea-shore into a Colossus, visible by mariners +afar. The shape of the huge rock, which lent itself admirably to such +a purpose, attracted him; and he was further moved to emulate the +ancients, who, sojourning in the place peradventure with the same +object as himself, in order to while away the time, or for some other +motive, have left certain unfinished and rough-hewn monuments, which +give a good specimen of their craft. And assuredly he would have +carried out this scheme, if time enough had been at his disposal, or +if the special purpose of his visit to Carrara had permitted. I one +day heard him lament bitterly that he had not done so. Well, then, +after quarrying and selecting the blocks which he deemed sufficient, +he had them brought to the sea, and left a man of his to ship them +off. He returned to Rome, and having stopped some days in Florence on +the way, when he arrived there, he found that part of the marble had +already reached the Ripa. There he had them disembarked, and carried +to the Piazza of S. Peter's behind S. Caterina, where he kept his +lodging, close to the corridor connecting the Palace with the Castle +of S. Angelo. The quantity of stone was enormous, so that, when it was +all spread out upon the square, it stirred amazement in the minds of +most folk, but joy in the Pope's. Julius indeed began to heap favours +upon Michelangelo; for when he had begun to work, the Pope used +frequently to betake himself to his house, conversing there with him +about the tomb, and about other works which he proposed to carry out +in concert with one of his brothers. In order to arrive more +conveniently at Michelangelo's lodgings, he had a drawbridge thrown +across from the corridor, by which he might gain privy access." + +The date of Michelangelo's return to Rome is fixed approximately by a +contract signed at Carrara between him and two shipowners of Lavagna. +This deed is dated November 12, 1505. It shows that thirty-four +cartloads of marble were then ready for shipment, together with two +figures weighing fifteen cartloads more. We have a right to assume +that Michelangelo left Carrara soon after completing this transaction. +Allowing, then, for the journey and the halt at Florence, he probably +reached Rome in the last week of that month. + + +III + +The first act in the tragedy of the sepulchre had now begun, and +Michelangelo was embarked upon one of the mightiest undertakings which +a sovereign of the stamp of Julius ever intrusted to a sculptor of his +titanic energy. In order to form a conception of the magnitude of the +enterprise, I am forced to enter into a discussion regarding the real +nature of the monument. This offers innumerable difficulties, for we +only possess imperfect notices regarding the original design, and two +doubtful drawings belonging to an uncertain period. Still it is +impossible to understand those changes in the Basilica of S. Peter's +which were occasioned by the project of Julius, or to comprehend the +immense annoyances to which the tomb exposed Michelangelo, without +grappling with its details. Condivi's text must serve for guide. This, +in fact, is the sole source of any positive value. He describes the +tomb, as he believed it to have been first planned, in the following +paragraph:-- + +"To give some notion of the monument, I will say that it was intended +to have four faces: two of eighteen cubits, serving for the sides, and +two of twelve for the ends, so that the whole formed one great square +and a half. Surrounding it externally were niches to be filled with +statues, and between each pair of niches stood terminal figures, to +the front of which were attached on certain consoles projecting from +the wall another set of statues bound like prisoners. These +represented the Liberal Arts, and likewise Painting, Sculpture, +Architecture, each with characteristic emblems, rendering their +identification easy. The intention was to show that all the talents +had been taken captive by death, together with Pope Julius, since +never would they find another patron to cherish and encourage them as +he had done. Above these figures ran a cornice, giving unity to the +whole work. Upon the flat surface formed by this cornice were to be +four large statues, one of which, that is, the Moses, now exists at S. +Pietro ad Vincula. And so, arriving at the summit, the tomb ended in a +level space, whereon were two angels who supported a sarcophagus. One +of them appeared to smile, rejoicing that the soul of the Pope had +been received among the blessed spirits; the other seemed to weep, as +sorrowing that the world had been robbed of such a man. From one of +the ends, that is, by the one which was at the head of the monument, +access was given to a little chamber like a chapel, enclosed within +the monument, in the midst of which was a marble chest, wherein the +corpse of the Pope was meant to be deposited. The whole would have +been executed with stupendous finish. In short, the sepulchre included +more than forty statues, not counting the histories in half-reliefs, +made of bronze, all of them pertinent to the general scheme and +representative of the mighty Pontiff's actions." + +Vasari's account differs in some minor details from Condivi's, but it +is of no authoritative value. Not having appeared in the edition of +1550, we may regard it as a _rechauffee_ of Condivi, with the usual +sauce provided by the Aretine's imagination. The only addition I can +discover which throws light upon Condivi's narrative is that the +statues in the niches were meant to represent provinces conquered by +Julius. This is important, because it leads us to conjecture that +Vasari knew a drawing now preserved in the Uffizi, and sought, by its +means, to add something to his predecessor's description. The drawing +will occupy our attention shortly; but it may here be remarked that in +1505, the date of the first project, Julius was only entering upon his +conquests. It would have been a gross act of flattery on the part of +the sculptor, a flying in the face of Nemesis on the part of his +patron, to design a sepulchre anticipating length of life and luck +sufficient for these triumphs. + +What then Condivi tells us about the first scheme is, that it was +intended to stand isolated in the tribune of S. Peter's; that it +formed a rectangle of a square and half a square; that the podium was +adorned with statues in niches flanked by projecting dadoes supporting +captive arts, ten in number; that at each corner of the platform above +the podium a seated statue was placed, one of which we may safely +identify with the Moses; and that above this, surmounting the whole +monument by tiers, arose a second mass, culminating in a sarcophagus +supported by two angels. He further adds that the tomb was entered at +its extreme end by a door, which led to a little chamber where lay the +body of the Pope, and that bronze bas-reliefs formed a prominent +feature of the total scheme. He reckons that more than forty statues +would have been required to complete the whole design, although he has +only mentioned twenty-two of the most prominent. + +More than this we do not know about the first project. We have no +contracts and no sketches that can be referred to the date 1505. Much +confusion has been introduced into the matter under consideration by +the attempt to reconcile Condivi's description with the drawing I have +just alluded to. Heath Wilson even used that drawing to impugn +Condivi's accuracy with regard to the number of the captives, and the +seated figures on the platform. The drawing in question, as we shall +presently see, is of great importance for the subsequent history of +the monument; and I believe that it to some extent preserves the +general aspect which the tomb, as first designed, was intended to +present. Two points about it, however, prevent our taking it as a true +guide to Michelangelo's original conception. One is that it is clearly +only part of a larger scheme of composition. The other is that it +shows a sarcophagus, not supported by angels, but posed upon the +platform. Moreover, it corresponds to the declaration appended in 1513 +by Michelangelo to the first extant document we possess about the +tomb. + +Julius died in February 1513, leaving, it is said, to his executors +directions that his sepulchre should not be carried out upon the first +colossal plan. If he did so, they seem at the beginning of their trust +to have disregarded his intentions. Michelangelo expressly states in +one of his letters that the Cardinal of Agen wished to proceed with +the tomb, but on a larger scale. A deed dated May 6, 1513, was signed, +at the end of which Michelangelo specified the details of the new +design. It differed from the former in many important respects, but +most of all in the fact that now the structure was to be attached to +the wall of the church. I cannot do better than translate +Michelangelo's specifications. They run as follows: "Let it be known +to all men that I, Michelangelo, sculptor of Florence, undertake to +execute the sepulchre of Pope Julius in marble, on the commission of +the Cardinal of Agens and the Datary (Pucci), who, after his death, +have been appointed to complete this work, for the sum of 16,500 +golden ducats of the Camera; and the composition of the said sepulchre +is to be in the form ensuing: A rectangle visible from three of its +sides, the fourth of which is attached to the wall and cannot be seen. +The front face, that is, the head of this rectangle, shall be twenty +palms in breadth and fourteen in height, the other two, running up +against the wall, shall be thirty-five palms long and likewise +fourteen palms in height. Each of these three sides shall contain two +tabernacles, resting on a basement which shall run round the said +space, and shall be adorned with pilasters, architrave, frieze, and +cornice, as appears in the little wooden model. In each of the said +six tabernacles will be placed two figures about one palm taller than +life (_i.e._, 6-3/4 feet), twelve in all; and in front of each +pilaster which flanks a tabernacle shall stand a figure of similar +size, twelve in all. On the platform above the said rectangular +structure stands a sarcophagus with four feet, as may be seen in the +model, upon which will be Pope Julius sustained by two angels at his +head, with two at his feet; making five figures on the sarcophagus, +all larger than life, that is, about twice the size. Round about the +said sarcophagus will be placed six dadoes or pedestals, on which six +figures of the same dimensions will sit. Furthermore, from the +platform, where it joins the wall, springs a little chapel about +thirty-five palms high (26 feet 3 inches), which shall contain five +figures larger than all the rest, as being farther from the eye. +Moreover, there shall be three histories, either of bronze or of +marble, as may please the said executors, introduced on each face of +the tomb between one tabernacle and another." All this Michelangelo +undertook to execute in seven years for the stipulated sum. + +The new project involved thirty-eight colossal statues; and, +fortunately for our understanding of it, we may be said with almost +absolute certainty to possess a drawing intended to represent it. Part +of this is a pen-and-ink sketch at the Uffizi, which has frequently +been published, and part is a sketch in the Berlin Collection. These +have been put together by Professor Middleton of Cambridge, who has +also made out a key-plan of the tomb. With regard to its proportions +and dimensions as compared with Michelangelo's specification, there +remain some difficulties, with which I cannot see that Professor +Middleton has grappled. It is perhaps not improbable, as Heath Wilson +suggested, that the drawing had been thrown off as a picturesque +forecast of the monument without attention to scale. Anyhow, there is +no doubt that in this sketch, so happily restored by Professor +Middleton's sagacity and tact, we are brought close to Michelangelo's +conception of the colossal work he never was allowed to execute. It +not only answers to the description translated above from the +sculptor's own appendix to the contract, but it also throws light upon +the original plan of the tomb designed for the tribune of S. Peter's. +The basement of the podium has been preserved, we may assume, in its +more salient features. There are the niches spoken of by Condivi, with +Vasari's conquered provinces prostrate at the feet of winged +Victories. These are flanked by the terminal figures, against which, +upon projecting consoles, stand the bound captives. At the right hand +facing us, upon the upper platform, is seated Moses, with a different +action of the hands, it is true, from that which Michelangelo finally +adopted. Near him is a female figure, and the two figures grouped upon +the left angle seem to be both female. To some extent these statues +bear out Vasari's tradition that the platform in the first design was +meant to sustain figures of the contemplative and active life of the +soul--Dante's Leah and Rachel. + +This great scheme was never carried out. The fragments which may be +safely assigned to it are the Moses at S. Pietro in Vincoli and the +two bound captives of the Louvre; the Madonna and Child, Leah and +Rachel, and two seated statues also at S. Pietro in Vincoli, belong to +the plan, though these have undergone considerable alterations. Some +other scattered fragments of the sculptor's work may possibly be +connected with its execution. Four male figures roughly hewn, which +are now wrought into the rock-work of a grotto in the Boboli Gardens, +together with the young athlete trampling on a prostrate old man +(called the Victory) and the Adonis of the Museo Nazionale at +Florence, have all been ascribed to the sepulchre of Julius in one or +other of its stages. But these attributes are doubtful, and will be +criticised in their proper place and time. Suffice it now to say that +Vasari reports, beside the Moses, Victory, and two Captives at the +Louvre, eight figures for the tomb blocked out by Michelangelo at +Rome, and five blocked out at Florence. + +Continuing the history of this tragic undertaking, we come to the year +1516. On the 8th of July in that year, Michelangelo signed a new +contract, whereby the previous deed of 1513 was annulled. Both of the +executors were alive and parties to this second agreement. "A model +was made, the width of which is stated at twenty-one feet, after the +monument had been already sculptured of a width of almost twenty-three +feet. The architectural design was adhered to with the same pedestals +and niches and the same crowning cornice of the first story. There +were to be six statues in front, but the conquered provinces were now +dispensed with. There was also to be one niche only on each flank, so +that the projection of the monument from the wall was reduced more +than half, and there were to be only twelve statues beneath the +cornice and one relief, instead of twenty-four statues and three +reliefs. On the summit of this basement a shrine was to be erected, +within which was placed the effigy of the Pontiff on his sarcophagus, +with two heavenly guardians. The whole of the statues described in +this third contract amount to nineteen." Heath Wilson observes, with +much propriety, that the most singular fact about these successive +contracts is the departure from certain fixed proportions both of the +architectural parts and the statues, involving a serious loss of +outlay and of work. Thus the two Captives of the Louvre became +useless, and, as we know, they were given away to Ruberto Strozzi in a +moment of generosity by the sculptor. The sitting figures detailed in +the deed of 1516 are shorter than the Moses by one foot. The standing +figures, now at S. Pietro in Vincoli, correspond to the +specifications. What makes the matter still more singular is, that +after signing the contract under date July 8, 1516, Michelangelo in +November of the same year ordered blocks of marble from Carrara, with +measurements corresponding to the specifications of the deed of 1513. + +The miserable tragedy of the sepulchre dragged on for another sixteen +years. During this period the executors of Julius passed away, and the +Duke Francesco Maria della Rovere replaced them. He complained that +Michelangelo neglected the tomb, which was true, although the fault +lay not with the sculptor, but with the Popes, his taskmasters. Legal +proceedings were instituted to recover a large sum of money, which, it +was alleged, had been disbursed without due work delivered by the +master. Michelangelo had recourse to Clement VII., who, being anxious +to monopolise his labour, undertook to arrange matters with the Duke. +On the 29th of April 1532 a third and solemn contract was signed at +Rome in presence of the Pope, witnessed by a number of illustrious +personages. This third contract involved a fourth design for the tomb, +which Michelangelo undertook to furnish, and at the same time to +execute six statues with his own hand. On this occasion the notion of +erecting it in S. Peter's was finally abandoned. The choice lay +between two other Roman churches, that of S. Maria del Popolo, where +monuments to several members of the Della Rovere family existed, and +that of S. Pietro in Vincoli, from which Julius II. had taken his +cardinal's title. Michelangelo decided for the latter, on account of +its better lighting. The six statues promised by Michelangelo are +stated in the contract to be "begun and not completed, extant at the +present date in Rome or in Florence." Which of the several statues +blocked out for the monument were to be chosen is not stated; and as +there are no specifications in the document, we cannot identify them +with exactness. At any rate, the Moses must have been one; and it is +possible that the Leah and Rachel, Madonna, and two seated statues, +now at S. Pietro, were the other five. + +It might have been thought that at last the tragedy had dragged on to +its conclusion. But no; there was a fifth act, a fourth contract, a +fifth design. Paul III. succeeded to Clement VII., and, having seen +the Moses in Michelangelo's workshop, declared that this one statue +was enough for the deceased Pope's tomb. The Duke Francesco Maria +della Rovere died in 1538, and was succeeded by his son, Guidobaldo +II. The new Duke's wife was a granddaughter of Paul III., and this may +have made him amenable to the Pope's influence. At all events, upon +the 20th of August 1542 a final contract was signed, stating that +Michelangelo had been prevented "by just and legitimate impediments +from carrying out" his engagement under date April 29, 1532, releasing +him from the terms of the third deed, and establishing new conditions. +The Moses, finished by the hand of Michelangelo, takes the central +place in this new monument. Five other statues are specified: "to wit, +a Madonna with the child in her arms, which is already finished; a +Sibyl, a Prophet, an Active Life and a Contemplative Life, blocked out +and nearly completed by the said Michelangelo." These four were given +to Raffaello da Montelupo to finish. The reclining portrait-statue of +Julius, which was carved by Maso del Bosco, is not even mentioned in +this contract. But a deed between the Duke's representative and the +craftsmen Montelupo and Urbino exists, in which the latter undertakes +to see that Michelangelo shall retouch the Pope's face. + +Thus ended the tragedy of the tomb of Pope Julius II. It is supposed +to have been finally completed in 1545, and was set up where it still +remains uninjured at S. Pietro in Vincoli. + + +IV + +I judged it needful to anticipate the course of events by giving this +brief history of a work begun in 1505, and carried on with so many +hindrances and alterations through forty years of Michelangelo's life. +We shall often have to return to it, since the matter cannot be +lightly dismissed. The tomb of Julius empoisoned Michelangelo's +manhood, hampered his energy, and brought but small if any profit to +his purse. In one way or another it is always cropping up, and may be +said to vex his biographers and the students of his life as much as it +annoyed himself. We may now return to those early days in Rome, when +the project had still a fascination both for the sculptor and his +patron. + +The old Basilica of S. Peter on the Vatican is said to have been built +during the reign of Constantine, and to have been consecrated in 324 +A.D. It was one of the largest of those Roman buildings, measuring 435 +feet in length from the great door to the end of the tribune. A +spacious open square or atrium, surrounded by a cloister-portico, gave +access to the church. This, in the Middle Ages, gained the name of the +Paradiso. A kind of tabernacle, in the centre of the square, protected +the great bronze fir-cone, which was formerly supposed to have crowned +the summit of Hadrian's Mausoleum, the Castle of S. Angelo. Dante, who +saw it in the courtyard of S. Peter's, used it as a standard for his +giant Nimrod. He says-- + + _La faccia sua ml parea lunga e grossa, + Come la pina di San Pietro a Roma. + --(Inf._ xxxi. 58.) + +This mother-church of Western Christendom was adorned inside and out +with mosaics in the style of those which may still be seen at Ravenna. +Above the lofty row of columns which flanked the central aisle ran +processions of saints and sacred histories. They led the eye onward to +what was called the Arch of Triumph, separating this portion of the +building from the transept and the tribune. The concave roof of the +tribune itself was decorated with a colossal Christ, enthroned between +S. Peter and S. Paul, surveying the vast spaces of his house: the lord +and master, before whom pilgrims from all parts of Europe came to pay +tribute and to perform acts of homage. The columns were of precious +marbles, stripped from Pagan palaces and temples; and the roof was +tiled with plates of gilded bronze, torn in the age of Heraclius from +the shrine of Venus and of Roma on the Sacred Way. + +During the eleven centuries which elapsed between its consecration and +the decree for its destruction, S. Peter's had been gradually enriched +with a series of monuments, inscriptions, statues, frescoes, upon +which were written the annals of successive ages of the Church. Giotto +worked there under Benedict II. in 1340. Pope after Pope was buried +there. In the early period of Renaissance sculpture, Mino da Fiesole, +Pollaiuolo, and Filarete added works in bronze and marble, which blent +the grace of Florentine religious tradition with quaint neo-pagan +mythologies. These treasures, priceless for the historian, the +antiquary, and the artist, were now going to be ruthlessly swept away +at a pontiff's bidding, in order to make room for his haughty and +self-laudatory monument. Whatever may have been the artistic merits of +Michelangelo's original conception for the tomb, the spirit was in no +sense Christian. Those rows of captive Arts and Sciences, those +Victories exulting over prostrate cities, those allegorical colossi +symbolising the mundane virtues of a mighty ruler's character, crowned +by the portrait of the Pope, over whom Heaven rejoiced while Cybele +deplored his loss--all this pomp of power and parade of ingenuity +harmonised but little with the humility of a contrite soul returning +to its Maker and its Judge. The new temple, destined to supersede the +old basilica, embodied an aspect of Latin Christianity which had very +little indeed in common with the piety of the primitive Church. S. +Peter's, as we see it now, represents the majesty of Papal Rome, the +spirit of a secular monarchy in the hands of priests; it is the +visible symbol of that schism between the Teutonic and the Latin +portions of the Western Church which broke out soon after its +foundation, and became irreconcilable before the cross was placed upon +its cupola. It seemed as though in sweeping away the venerable +traditions of eleven hundred years, and replacing Rome's time-honoured +Mother-Church with an edifice bearing the brand-new stamp of hybrid +neo-pagan architecture, the Popes had wished to signalise that rupture +with the past and that atrophy of real religious life which marked the +counter-reformation. + +Julius II. has been severely blamed for planning the entire +reconstruction of his cathedral. It must, however, be urged in his +defence that the structure had already, in 1447, been pronounced +insecure. Nicholas V. ordered his architects, Bernardo Rossellini and +Leo Battista Alberti, to prepare plans for its restoration. It is, of +course, impossible for us to say for certain whether the ancient +fabric could have been preserved, or whether its dilapidation had gone +so far as to involve destruction. Bearing in mind the recklessness of +the Renaissance and the passion which the Popes had for engaging in +colossal undertakings, one is inclined to suspect that the unsound +state of the building was made a pretext for beginning a work which +flattered the architectural tastes of Nicholas, but was not absolutely +necessary. However this may have been, foundations for a new tribune +were laid outside the old apse, and the wall rose some feet above the +ground before the Pope's death. Paul II. carried on the building; but +during the pontificates of Sixtus, Innocent, and Alexander it seems to +have been neglected. Meanwhile nothing had been done to injure the +original basilica; and when Julius announced his intention of +levelling it to the ground, his cardinals and bishops entreated him to +refrain from an act so sacrilegious. The Pope was not a man to take +advice or make concessions. Accordingly, turning a deaf ear to these +entreaties, he had plans prepared by Giuliano da San Gallo and +Bramante. Those eventually chosen were furnished by Bramante; and San +Gallo, who had hitherto enjoyed the fullest confidence of Julius, is +said to have left Rome in disgust. For reasons which will afterwards +appear, he could not have done so before the summer months of 1506. + +It is not yet the proper time to discuss the building of S. Peter's. +Still, with regard to Bramante's plan, this much may here be said. It +was designed in the form of a Greek cross, surmounted with a huge +circular dome and flanked by two towers. Bramante used to boast that +he meant to raise the Pantheon in the air; and the plan, as preserved +for us by Serlio, shows that the cupola would have been constructed +after that type. Competent judges, however, declare that insuperable +difficulties must have arisen in carrying out this design, while the +piers constructed by Bramante were found in effect to be wholly +insufficient for their purpose. For the aesthetic beauty and the +commodiousness of his building we have the strongest evidence in a +letter written by Michelangelo, who was by no means a partial witness. +"It cannot be denied," he says, "that Bramante's talent as an +architect was equal to that of any one from the times of the ancients +until now. He laid the first plan of S. Peter's, not confused, but +clear and simple, full of light and detached from surrounding +buildings, so that it interfered with no part of the palace. It was +considered a very fine design, and indeed any one can see with his own +eyes now that it is so. All the architects who departed from +Bramante's scheme, as did Antonio da San Gallo, have departed from the +truth." Though Michelangelo gave this unstinted praise to Bramante's +genius as a builder, he blamed him severely both for his want of +honesty as a man, and also for his vandalism in dealing with the +venerable church he had to replace. "Bramante," says Condivi, "was +addicted, as everybody knows, to every kind of pleasure. He spent +enormously, and, though the pension granted him by the Pope was large, +he found it insufficient for his needs. Accordingly he made profit out +of the works committed to his charge, erecting the walls of poor +material, and without regard for the substantial and enduring +qualities which fabrics on so huge a scale demanded. This is apparent +in the buildings at S. Peter's, the Corridore of the Belvedere, the +Convent of San Pietro ad Vincula, and other of his edifices, which +have had to be strengthened and propped up with buttresses and similar +supports in order to prevent them tumbling down." Bramante, during his +residence in Lombardy, developed a method of erecting piers with +rubble enclosed by hewn stone or plaster-covered brickwork. This +enabled an unconscientious builder to furnish bulky architectural +masses, which presented a specious aspect of solidity and looked more +costly than they really were. It had the additional merit of being +easy and rapid in execution. Bramante was thus able to gratify the +whims and caprices of his impatient patron, who desired to see the +works of art he ordered rise like the fabric of Aladdin's lamp before +his very eyes. Michelangelo is said to have exposed the architect's +trickeries to the Pope; what is more, he complained with just and +bitter indignation of the wanton ruthlessness with which Bramante set +about his work of destruction. I will again quote Condivi here, for +the passage seems to have been inspired by the great sculptor's verbal +reminiscences: "The worst was, that while he was pulling down the old +S. Peter's, he dashed those marvellous antique columns to the ground, +without paying the least attention, or caring at all when they were +broken into fragments, although he might have lowered them gently and +preserved their shafts intact. Michelangelo pointed out that it was an +easy thing enough to erect piers by placing brick on brick, but that +to fashion a column like one of these taxed all the resources of art." + +On the 18th of April 1506, Julius performed the ceremony of laying the +foundation-stone of the new S. Peter's. The place chosen was the great +sustaining pier of the dome, near which the altar of S. Veronica now +stands. A deep pit had been excavated, into which the aged Pope +descended fearlessly, only shouting to the crowd above that they +should stand back and not endanger the falling in of the earth above +him. Coins and medals were duly deposited in a vase, over which a +ponderous block of marble was lowered, while Julius, bareheaded, +sprinkled the stone with holy water and gave the pontifical +benediction. On the same day he wrote a letter to Henry VII. of +England, informing the King that "by the guidance of our Lord and +Saviour Jesus Christ he had undertaken to restore the old basilica +which was perishing through age." + + +V + +The terms of cordial intimacy which subsisted between Julius and +Michelangelo at the close of 1505 were destined to be disturbed. The +Pope intermitted his visits to the sculptor's workshop, and began to +take but little interest in the monument. Condivi directly ascribes +this coldness to the intrigues of Bramante, who whispered into the +Pontiff's ear that it was ill-omened for a man to construct his own +tomb in his lifetime. It is not at all improbable that he said +something of the sort, and Bramante was certainly no good friend to +Michelangelo. A manoeuvring and managing individual, entirely +unscrupulous in his choice of means, condescending to flattery and +lies, he strove to stand as patron between the Pope and subordinate +craftsmen. Michelangelo had come to Rome under San Gallo's influence, +and Bramante had just succeeded in winning the commission to rebuild +S. Peter's over his rival's head. It was important for him to break up +San Gallo's party, among whom the sincere and uncompromising +Michelangelo threatened to be very formidable. The jealousy which he +felt for the man was envenomed by a fear lest he should speak the +truth about his own dishonesty. To discredit Michelangelo with the +Pope, and, if possible, to drive him out of Rome, was therefore +Bramante's interest: more particularly as his own nephew, Raffaello da +Urbino, had now made up his mind to join him there. We shall see that +he succeeded in expelling both San Gallo and Buonarroti during the +course of 1506, and that in their absence he reigned, together with +Raffaello, almost alone in the art-circles of the Eternal City. + +I see no reason, therefore, to discredit the story told by Condivi and +Vasari regarding the Pope's growing want of interest in his tomb. +Michelangelo himself, writing from Rome in 1542, thirty-six years +after these events, says that "all the dissensions between Pope Julius +and me arose from the envy of Bramante and Raffaello da Urbino, and +this was the cause of my not finishing the tomb in his lifetime. They +wanted to ruin me. Raffaello indeed had good reason; for all he had of +art he owed to me." But, while we are justified in attributing much to +Bramante's intrigues, it must be remembered that the Pope at this time +was absorbed in his plans for conquering Bologna. Overwhelmed with +business and anxious about money, he could not have had much leisure +to converse with sculptors. + +Michelangelo was still in Rome at the end of January. On the 31st of +that month he wrote to his father, complaining that the marbles did +not arrive quickly enough, and that he had to keep Julius in good +humour with promises. At the same time he begged Lodovico to pack up +all his drawings, and to send them, well secured against bad weather, +by the hand of a carrier. It is obvious that he had no thoughts of +leaving Rome, and that the Pope was still eager about the monument. +Early in the spring he assisted at the discovery of the Laocoon. +Francesco, the son of Giuliano da San Gallo, describes how +Michelangelo was almost always at his father's house; and coming there +one day, he went, at the architect's invitation, down to the ruins of +the Palace of Titus. "We set off, all three together; I on my father's +shoulders. When we descended into the place where the statue lay, my +father exclaimed at once, 'That is the Laocoon, of which Pliny +speaks.' The opening was enlarged, so that it could be taken out; and +after we had sufficiently admired it, we went home to breakfast." +Julius bought the marble for 500 crowns, and had it placed in the +Belvedere of the Vatican. Scholars praised it in Latin lines of +greater or lesser merit, Sadoleto writing even a fine poem; and +Michelangelo is said, but without trustworthy authority, to have +assisted in its restoration. + +This is the last glimpse we have of Michelangelo before his flight +from Rome. Under what circumstances he suddenly departed may be +related in the words of a letter addressed by him to Giuliano da San +Gallo in Rome upon the 2nd of May 1506, after his return to Florence. + +"Giuliano,--Your letter informs me that the Pope was angry at my +departure, as also that his Holiness is inclined to proceed with the +works agreed upon between us, and that I may return and not be anxious +about anything. + +"About my leaving Rome, it is a fact that on Holy Saturday I heard the +Pope, in conversation with a jeweller at table and with the Master of +Ceremonies, say that he did not mean to spend a farthing more on +stones, small or great. This caused me no little astonishment. +However, before I left his presence, I asked for part of the money +needed to carry on the work. His Holiness told me to return on Monday. +I did so, and on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, and on Thursday, as the +Pope saw. At last, on Friday morning, I was sent away, or plainly +turned out of doors. The man who did this said he knew me, but that +such were his orders. I, who had heard the Pope's words on Saturday, +and now perceived their result in deeds, was utterly cast down. This +was not, however, quite the only reason of my departure; there was +something else, which I do not wish to communicate; enough that it +made me think that, if I stayed in Rome, that city would be my tomb +before it was the Pope's. And this was the cause of my sudden +departure. + +"Now you write to me at the Pope's instance. So I beg you to read him +this letter, and inform his Holiness that I am even more than ever +disposed to carry out the work." + +Further details may be added from subsequent letters of Michelangelo. +Writing in January 1524 to his friend Giovanni Francesco Fattucci, he +says: "When I had finished paying for the transport of these marbles, +and all the money was spent, I furnished the house I had upon the +Piazza di S. Pietro with beds and utensils at my own expense, trusting +to the commission of the tomb, and sent for workmen from Florence, who +are still alive, and paid them in advance out of my own purse. +Meanwhile Pope Julius changed his mind about the tomb, and would not +have it made. Not knowing this, I applied to him for money, and was +expelled from the chamber. Enraged at such an insult, I left Rome on +the moment. The things with which my house was stocked went to the +dogs. The marbles I had brought to Rome lay till the date of Leo's +creation on the Piazza, and both lots were injured and pillaged." + +Again, a letter of October 1542, addressed to some prelate, contains +further particulars. We learn he was so short of money that he had to +borrow about 200 ducats from his friend Baldassare Balducci at the +bank of Jacopo Gallo. The episode at the Vatican and the flight to +Poggibonsi are related thus:-- + +"To continue my history of the tomb of Julius: I say that when he +changed his mind about building it in his lifetime, some ship-loads of +marble came to the Ripa, which I had ordered a short while before from +Carrara; and as I could not get money from the Pope to pay the +freightage, I had to borrow 150 or 200 ducats from Baldassare +Balducci, that is, from the bank of Jacopo Gallo. At the same time +workmen came from Florence, some of whom are still alive; and I +furnished the house which Julius gave me behind S. Caterina with beds +and other furniture for the men, and what was wanted for the work of +the tomb. All this being done without money, I was greatly +embarrassed. Accordingly, I urged the Pope with all my power to go +forward with the business, and he had me turned away by a groom one +morning when I came to speak upon the matter. A Lucchese bishop, +seeing this, said to the groom: 'Do you not know who that man is?' The +groom replied to me: 'Excuse me, gentleman; I have orders to do this.' +I went home, and wrote as follows to the Pope: 'Most blessed Father, I +have been turned out of the palace to-day by your orders; wherefore I +give you notice that from this time forward, if you want me, you must +look for me elsewhere than at Rome.' I sent this letter to Messer +Agostino, the steward, to give it to the Pope. Then I sent for Cosimo, +a carpenter, who lived with me and looked after household matters, and +a stone-heaver, who is still alive, and said to them: 'Go for a Jew, +and sell everything in the house, and come to Florence.' I went, took +the post, and travelled towards Florence. The Pope, when he had read +my letter, sent five horsemen after me, who reached me at Poggibonsi +about three hours after nightfall, and gave me a letter from the Pope +to this effect: 'When you have seen these present, come back at once +to Rome, under penalty of our displeasure.' The horsemen were anxious +I should answer, in order to prove that they had overtaken me. I +replied then to the Pope, that if he would perform the conditions he +was under with regard to me, I would return; but otherwise he must not +expect to have me again. Later on, while I was at Florence, Julius +sent three briefs to the Signory. At last the latter sent for me and +said: 'We do not want to go to war with Pope Julius because of you. +You must return; and if you do so, we will write you letters of such +authority that, should he do you harm, he will be doing it to this +Signory.' Accordingly I took the letters, and went back to the Pope, +and what followed would be long to tell." + +These passages from Michelangelo's correspondence confirm Condivi's +narrative of the flight from Rome, showing that he had gathered his +information from the sculptor's lips. Condivi differs only in making +Michelangelo send a verbal message, and not a written letter, to the +Pope. "Enraged by this repulse, he exclaimed to the groom: 'Tell the +Pope that if henceforth he wants me, he must look for me elsewhere.'" + +It is worth observing that only the first of these letters, written +shortly after the event, and intended for the Pope's ear, contains a +hint of Michelangelo's dread of personal violence if he remained in +Rome. His words seem to point at poison or the dagger. Cellini's +autobiography yields sufficient proof that such fears were not +unjustified by practical experience; and Bramante, though he preferred +to work by treachery of tongue, may have commanded the services of +assassins, _uomini arditi e facinorosi_, as they were somewhat +euphemistically called. At any rate, it is clear that Michelangelo's +precipitate departure and vehement refusal to return were occasioned +by more pungent motives than the Pope's frigidity. This has to be +noticed, because we learn from several incidents of the same kind in +the master's life that he was constitutionally subject to sudden +fancies and fears of imminent danger to his person from an enemy. He +had already quitted Bologna in haste from dread of assassination or +maltreatment at the hands of native sculptors. + + +VI + +The negotiations which passed between the Pope and the Signory of +Florence about what may be called the extradition of Michelangelo form +a curious episode in his biography, throwing into powerful relief the +importance he had already acquired among the princes of Italy. I +propose to leave these for the commencement of my next chapter, and to +conclude the present with an account of his occupations during the +summer months at Florence. + +Signor Gotti says that he passed three months away from Julius in his +native city. Considering that he arrived before the end of April, and +reached Bologna at the end of November 1506, we have the right to +estimate this residence at about seven months. A letter written to him +from Rome on the 4th of August shows that he had not then left +Florence upon any intermediate journey of importance. Therefore there +is every reason to suppose that he enjoyed a period of half a year of +leisure, which he devoted to finishing his Cartoon for the Battle of +Pisa. + +It had been commenced, as we have seen, in a workshop at the Spedale +dei Tintori. When he went to Bologna in the autumn, it was left, +exposed presumably to public view, in the Sala del Papa at S. Maria +Novella. It had therefore been completed; but it does not appear that +Michelangelo had commenced his fresco in the Sala del Gran Consiglio. + +Lionardo began to paint his Battle of the Standard in March 1505. The +work advanced rapidly; but the method he adopted, which consisted in +applying oil colours to a fat composition laid thickly on the wall, +caused the ruin of his picture. He is said to have wished to reproduce +the encaustic process of the ancients, and lighted fires to harden the +surface of the fresco. This melted the wax in the lower portions of +the paste, and made the colours run. At any rate, no traces of the +painting now remain in the Sala del Gran Consiglio, the walls of which +are covered by the mechanical and frigid brush-work of Vasari. It has +even been suggested that Vasari knew more about the disappearance of +his predecessor's masterpiece than he has chosen to relate. Lionardo's +Cartoon has also disappeared, and we know the Battle of Anghiari only +by Edelinck's engraving from a drawing of Rubens, and by some doubtful +sketches. + +The same fate was in store for Michelangelo's Cartoon. All that +remains to us of that great work is the chiaroscuro transcript at +Holkham, a sketch for the whole composition in the Albertina Gallery +at Vienna, which differs in some important details from the Holkham +group, several interesting pen-and-chalk drawings by Michelangelo's +own hand, also in the Albertina Collection, and a line-engraving by +Marcantonio Raimondi, commonly known as "Les Grimpeurs." + +We do not know at what exact time Michelangelo finished his Cartoon in +1506. He left it, says Condivi, in the Sala del Papa. Afterwards it +must have been transferred to the Sala del Gran Consiglio; for +Albertini, in his _Memoriale_, or Guide-Book to Florence, printed in +1510, speaks of both "the works of Lionardo da Vinci and the designs +of Michelangelo" as then existing in that hall. Vasari asserts that it +was taken to the house of the Medici, and placed in the great upper +hall, but gives no date. This may have taken place on the return of +the princely family in 1512. Cellini confirms this view, since he +declares that when he was copying the Cartoon, which could hardly have +happened before 1513, the Battle of Pisa was at the Palace of the +Medici, and the Battle of Anghiari at the Sala del Papa. The way in +which it finally disappeared is involved in some obscurity, owing to +Vasari's spite and mendacity. In the first, or 1550, edition of the +"Lives of the Painters," he wrote as follows: "Having become a regular +object of study to artists, the Cartoon was carried to the house of +the Medici, into the great upper hall; and this was the reason that it +came with too little safeguard into the hands of those said artists: +inasmuch as, during the illness of the Duke Giuliano, when no one +attended to such matters, it was torn in pieces by them and scattered +abroad, so that fragments may be found in many places, as is proved by +those existing now in the house of Uberto Strozzi, a gentleman of +Mantua, who holds them in great respect." When Vasari published his +second edition, in 1568, he repeated this story of the destruction of +the Cartoon, but with a very significant alteration. Instead of saying +"it was torn in pieces _by them_" he now printed "it was torn in +pieces, _as hath been told elsewhere_." Now Bandinelli, Vasari's +mortal enemy, and the scapegoat for all the sins of his generation +among artists, died in 1559, and Vasari felt that he might safely +defame his memory. Accordingly he introduced a Life of Bandinelli into +the second edition of his work, containing the following passage: +"Baccio was in the habit of frequenting the place where the Cartoon +stood more than any other artists, and had in his possession a false +key; what follows happened at the time when Piero Soderini was deposed +in 1512, and the Medici returned. Well, then, while the palace was in +tumult and confusion through this revolution, Baccio went alone, and +tore the Cartoon into a thousand fragments. Why he did so was not +known; but some surmised that he wanted to keep certain pieces of it +by him for his own use; some, that he wished to deprive young men of +its advantages in study; some, that he was moved by affection for +Lionardo da Vinci, who suffered much in reputation by this design; +some, perhaps with sharper intuition, believed that the hatred he bore +to Michelangelo inspired him to commit the act. The loss of the +Cartoon to the city was no slight one, and Baccio deserved the blame +he got, for everybody called him envious and spiteful." This second +version stands in glaring contradiction to the first, both as regards +the date and the place where the Cartoon was destroyed. It does not, I +think, deserve credence, for Cellini, who was a boy of twelve in 1512, +could hardly have drawn from it before that date; and if Bandinelli +was so notorious for his malignant vandalism as Vasari asserts, it is +most improbable that Cellini, while speaking of the Cartoon in +connection with Torrigiano, should not have taken the opportunity to +cast a stone at the man whom he detested more than any one in +Florence. Moreover, if Bandinelli had wanted to destroy the Cartoon +for any of the reasons above assigned to him, he would not have +dispersed fragments to be treasured up with reverence. At the close of +this tedious summary I ought to add that Condivi expressly states: "I +do not know by what ill-fortune it subsequently came to ruin." He +adds, however, that many of the pieces were found about in various +places, and that all of them were preserved like sacred objects. We +have, then, every reason to believe that the story told in Vasari's +first edition is the literal truth. Copyists and engravers used their +opportunity, when the palace of the Medici was thrown into disorder by +the severe illness of the Duke of Nemours, to take away portions of +Michelangelo's Cartoon for their own use in 1516. + +Of the Cartoon and its great reputation, Cellini gives us this +account: "Michelangelo portrayed a number of foot-soldiers, who, the +season being summer, had gone to bathe in the Arno. He drew them at +the very moment the alarm is sounded, and the men all naked run to +arms; so splendid is their action, that nothing survives of ancient or +of modern art, which touches the same lofty point of excellence; and, +as I have already said, the design of the great Lionardo was itself +most admirably beautiful. These two Cartoons stood, one in the palace +of the Medici, the other in the hall of the Pope. So long as they +remained intact, they were the school of the world. Though the divine +Michelangelo in later life finished that great chapel of Pope Julius +(the Sistine), he never rose halfway to the same pitch of power; his +genius never afterwards attained to the force of those first studies." +Allowing for some exaggeration due to enthusiasm for things enjoyed in +early youth, this is a very remarkable statement. Cellini knew the +frescoes of the Sistine well, yet he maintains that they were inferior +in power and beauty to the Battle of Pisa. It seems hardly credible; +but, if we believe it, the legend of Michelangelo's being unable to +execute his own designs for the vault of that chapel falls to the +ground. + + +VII + +The great Cartoon has become less even than a memory, and so, perhaps, +we ought to leave it in the limbo of things inchoate and +unaccomplished. But this it was not, most emphatically. Decidedly it +had its day, lived and sowed seeds for good or evil through its period +of brief existence: so many painters of the grand style took their +note from it; it did so much to introduce the last phase of Italian +art, the phase of efflorescence, the phase deplored by critics steeped +in mediaeval feeling. To recapture something of its potency from the +description of contemporaries is therefore our plain duty, and for +this we must have recourse to Vasari's text. He says: "Michelangelo +filled his canvas with nude men, who, bathing at the time of summer +heat in Arno, were suddenly called to arms, the enemy assailing them. +The soldiers swarmed up from the river to resume their clothes; and +here you could behold depicted by the master's godlike hands one +hurrying to clasp his limbs in steel and give assistance to his +comrades, another buckling on the cuirass, and many seizing this or +that weapon, with cavalry in squadrons giving the attack. Among the +multitude of figures, there was an old man, who wore upon his head an +ivy wreath for shade. Seated on the ground, in act to draw his hose +up, he was hampered by the wetness of his legs; and while he heard the +clamour of the soldiers, the cries, the rumbling of the drums, he +pulled with all his might; all the muscles and sinews of his body were +seen in strain; and what was more, the contortion of his mouth showed +what agony of haste he suffered, and how his whole frame laboured to +the toe-tips. Then there were drummers and men with flying garments, +who ran stark naked toward the fray. Strange postures too: this fellow +upright, that man kneeling, or bent down, or on the point of rising; +all in the air foreshortened with full conquest over every difficulty. +In addition, you discovered groups of figures sketched in various +methods, some outlined with charcoal, some etched with strokes, some +shadowed with the stump, some relieved in white-lead; the master +having sought to prove his empire over all materials of +draughtsmanship. The craftsmen of design remained therewith astonished +and dumbfounded, recognising the furthest reaches of their art +revealed to them by this unrivalled masterpiece. Those who examined +the forms I have described, painters who inspected and compared them +with works hardly less divine, affirm that never in the history of +human achievement was any product of a man's brain seen like to them +in mere supremacy. And certainly we have the right to believe this; +for when the Cartoon was finished, and carried to the Hall of the +Pope, amid the acclamation of all artists, and to the exceeding fame +of Michelangelo, the students who made drawings from it, as happened +with foreigners and natives through many years in Florence, became men +of mark in several branches. This is obvious, for Aristotele da San +Gallo worked there, as did Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, Raffaello Sanzio da +Urbino, Francesco Granaccio, Baccio Bandinelli, and Alonso Berughetta, +the Spaniard; they were followed by Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio, +Jacopo Sansovino, Rosso, Maturino, Lorenzetto, Tribolo, then a boy, +Jacopo da Pontormo, and Pierin del Vaga: all of them first-rate +masters of the Florentine school." + +It does not appear from this that Vasari pretended to have seen the +great Cartoon. Born in 1512, he could not indeed have done so; but +there breathes through his description a gust of enthusiasm, an +afflatus of concurrent witnesses to its surpassing grandeur. Some of +the details raise a suspicion that Vasari had before his eyes the +transcript _en grisaille_ which he says was made by Aristotele da San +Gallo, and also the engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi. The prominence +given to the ivy-crowned old soldier troubled by his hose confirms the +accuracy of the Holkham picture and the Albertina drawing. But none of +these partial transcripts left to us convey that sense of multitude, +space, and varied action which Vasari's words impress on the +imagination. The fullest, that at Holkham, contains nineteen figures, +and these are schematically arranged in three planes, with outlying +subjects in foreground and background. Reduced in scale, and treated +with the arid touch of a feeble craftsman, the linear composition +suggests no large aesthetic charm. It is simply a bas-relief of +carefully selected attitudes and vigorously studied movements +--nineteen men, more or less unclothed, put together with the +scientific view of illustrating possibilities and conquering +difficulties in postures of the adult male body. The extraordinary +effect, as of something superhuman, produced by the Cartoon upon +contemporaries, and preserved for us in Cellini's and Vasari's +narratives, must then have been due to unexampled qualities of +strength in conception, draughtsmanship, and execution. It stung to +the quick an age of artists who had abandoned the representation of +religious sentiment and poetical feeling for technical triumphs and +masterly solutions of mechanical problems in the treatment of the nude +figure. We all know how much more than this Michelangelo had in him to +give, and how unjust it would be to judge a masterpiece from his hand +by the miserable relics now at our disposal. Still I cannot refrain +from thinking that the Cartoon for the Battle of Pisa, taken up by him +as a field for the display of his ability, must, by its very +brilliancy, have accelerated the ruin of Italian art. Cellini, we saw, +placed it above the frescoes of the Sistine. In force, veracity, and +realism it may possibly have been superior to those sublime +productions. Everything we know about the growth of Michelangelo's +genius leads us to suppose that he departed gradually but surely from +the path of Nature. He came, however, to use what he had learned from +Nature as means for the expression of soul-stimulating thoughts. This, +the finest feature of his genius, no artist of the age was capable of +adequately comprehending. Accordingly, they agreed in extolling a +cartoon which displayed his faculty of dealing with _un bel corpo +ignudo_ as the climax of his powers. + +As might be expected, there was no landscape in the Cartoon. +Michelangelo handled his subject wholly from the point of view of +sculpture. A broken bank and a retreating platform, a few rocks in the +distance and a few waved lines in the foreground, showed that the +naked men were by a river. Michelangelo's unrelenting contempt for the +many-formed and many-coloured stage on which we live and move--his +steady determination to treat men and women as nudities posed in the +void, with just enough of solid substance beneath their feet to make +their attitudes intelligible--is a point which must over and over +again be insisted on. In the psychology of the master, regarded from +any side one likes to take, this constitutes his leading +characteristic. It gives the key, not only to his talent as an artist, +but also to his temperament as a man. + +Marcantonio seems to have felt and resented the aridity of +composition, the isolation of plastic form, the tyranny of anatomical +science, which even the most sympathetic of us feel in Michelangelo. +This master's engraving of three lovely nudes, the most charming +memento preserved to us from the Cartoon, introduces a landscape of +grove and farm, field and distant hill, lending suavity to the +muscular male body and restoring it to its proper place among the +sinuous lines and broken curves of Nature. That the landscape was +adapted from a copper-plate of Lucas van Leyden signifies nothing. It +serves the soothing purpose which sensitive nerves, irritated by +Michelangelo's aloofness from all else but thought and naked flesh and +posture, gratefully acknowledge. + +While Michelangelo was finishing his Cartoon, Lionardo da Vinci was +painting his fresco. Circumstances may have brought the two chiefs of +Italian art frequently together in the streets of Florence. There +exists an anecdote of one encounter, which, though it rests upon the +credit of an anonymous writer, and does not reflect a pleasing light +upon the hero of this biography, cannot be neglected. "Lionardo," +writes our authority, "was a man of fair presence, well-proportioned, +gracefully endowed, and of fine aspect. He wore a tunic of +rose-colour, falling to his knees; for at that time it was the fashion +to carry garments of some length; and down to the middle of his breast +there flowed a beard beautifully curled and well arranged. Walking +with a friend near S. Trinita, where a company of honest folk were +gathered, and talk was going on about some passage from Dante, they +called to Lionardo, and begged him to explain its meaning. It so +happened that just at this moment Michelangelo went by, and, being +hailed by one of them, Lionardo answered: 'There goes Michelangelo; he +will interpret the verses you require.' Whereupon Michelangelo, who +thought he spoke in this way to make fun of him, replied in anger: +'Explain them yourself, you who made the model of a horse to cast in +bronze, and could not cast it, and to your shame left it in the +lurch.' With these words, he turned his back to the group, and went +his way. Lionardo remained standing there, red in the face for the +reproach cast at him; and Michelangelo, not satisfied, but wanting to +sting him to the quick, added: 'And those Milanese capons believed in +your ability to do it!'" + +We can only take anecdotes for what they are worth, and that may +perhaps be considered slight when they are anonymous. This anecdote, +however, in the original Florentine diction, although it betrays a +partiality for Lionardo, bears the aspect of truth to fact. Moreover, +even Michelangelo's admirers are bound to acknowledge that he had a +rasping tongue, and was not incapable of showing his bad temper by +rudeness. From the period of his boyhood, when Torrigiano smashed his +nose, down to the last years of his life in Rome, when he abused his +nephew Lionardo and hurt the feelings of his best and oldest friends, +he discovered signs of a highly nervous and fretful temperament. It +must be admitted that the dominant qualities of nobility and +generosity in his nature were alloyed by suspicion bordering on +littleness, and by petulant yieldings to the irritation of the moment +which are incompatible with the calm of an Olympian genius. + + + +CHAPTER V + + +I + +While Michelangelo was living and working at Florence, Bramante had +full opportunity to poison the Pope's mind in Rome. It is commonly +believed, on the faith of a sentence in Condivi, that Bramante, when +he dissuaded Julius from building the tomb in his own lifetime, +suggested the painting of the Sistine Chapel. We are told that he +proposed Michelangelo for this work, hoping his genius would be +hampered by a task for which he was not fitted. There are many +improbabilities in this story; not the least being our certainty that +the fame of the Cartoon must have reached Bramante before +Michelangelo's arrival in the first months of 1505. But the Cartoon +did not prove that Buonarroti was a practical wall-painter or +colourist; and we have reason to believe that Julius had himself +conceived the notion of intrusting the Sistine to his sculptor. A good +friend of Michelangelo, Pietro Rosselli, wrote this letter on the +subject, May 6, 1506: "Last Saturday evening, when the Pope was at +supper, I showed him some designs which Bramante and I had to test; +so, after supper, when I had displayed them, he called for Bramante, +and said: 'San Gallo is going to Florence to-morrow, and will bring +Michelangelo back with him.' Bramante answered: 'Holy Father, he will +not be able to do anything of the kind. I have conversed much with +Michelangelo, and he has often told me that he would not undertake the +chapel, which you wanted to put upon him; and that, you +notwithstanding, he meant only to apply himself to sculpture, and +would have nothing to do with painting.' To this he added: 'Holy +Father, I do not think he has the courage to attempt the work, because +he has small experience in painting figures, and these will be raised +high above the line of vision, and in foreshortening (i.e., because of +the vault). That is something different from painting on the ground.' +The Pope replied: 'If he does not come, he will do me wrong; and so I +think that he is sure to return.' Upon this I up and gave the man a +sound rating in the Pope's presence, and spoke as I believe you would +have spoken for me; and for the time he was struck dumb, as though he +felt that he had made a mistake in talking as he did. I proceeded as +follows: 'Holy Father, that man never exchanged a word with +Michelangelo, and if what he has just said is the truth, I beg you to +cut my head off, for he never spoke to Michelangelo; also I feel sure +that he is certain to return, if your Holiness requires it.'" + +This altercation throws doubt on the statement that Bramante +originally suggested Michelangelo as painter of the Sistine. He could +hardly have turned round against his own recommendation; and, +moreover, it is likely that he would have wished to keep so great a +work in the hands of his own set, Raffaello, Peruzzi, Sodoma, and +others. + +Meanwhile, Michelangelo's friends in Rome wrote, encouraging him to +come back. They clearly thought that he was hazarding both profit and +honour if he stayed away. But Michelangelo, whether the constitutional +timidity of which I have spoken, or other reasons damped his courage, +felt that he could not trust to the Pope's mercies. What effect San +Gallo may have had upon him, supposing this architect arrived in +Florence at the middle of May, can only be conjectured. The fact +remains that he continued stubborn for a time. In the lengthy +autobiographical letter written to some prelate in 1542, Michelangelo +relates what followed: "Later on, while I was at Florence, Julius sent +three briefs to the Signory. At last the latter sent for me and said: +'We do not want to go to war with Pope Julius because of you. You must +return; and if you do so, we will write you letters of such authority +that, should he do you harm, he will be doing it to this Signory.' +Accordingly I took the letters, and went back to the Pope." + +Condivi gives a graphic account of the transaction which ensued. +"During the months he stayed in Florence three papal briefs were sent +to the Signory, full of threats, commanding that he should be sent +back by fair means or by force. Piero Soderini, who was Gonfalonier +for life at that time, had sent him against his own inclination to +Rome when Julius first asked for him. Accordingly, when the first of +these briefs arrived, he did not compel Michelangelo to go, trusting +that the Pope's anger would calm down. But when the second and the +third were sent, he called Michelangelo and said: 'You have tried a +bout with the Pope on which the King of France would not have +ventured; therefore you must not go on letting yourself be prayed for. +We do not wish to go to war on your account with him, and put our +state in peril. Make your mind up to return.' Michelangelo, seeing +himself brought to this pass, and still fearing the anger of the Pope, +bethought him of taking refuge in the East. The Sultan indeed besought +him with most liberal promises, through the means of certain +Franciscan friars, to come and construct a bridge from Constantinople +to Pera, and to execute other great works. When the Gonfalonier got +wind of this intention he sent for Michelangelo and used these +arguments to dissuade him: 'It were better to choose death with the +Pope than to keep in life by going to the Turk. Nevertheless, there is +no fear of such an ending; for the Pope is well disposed, and sends +for you because he loves you, not to do you harm. If you are afraid, +the Signory will send you with the title of ambassador; forasmuch as +public personages are never treated with violence, since this would be +done to those who send them.'" + +We only possess one brief from Julius to the Signory of Florence. It +is dated Rome, July 8, 1506, and contains this passage: "Michelangelo +the sculptor, who left us without reason, and in mere caprice, is +afraid, as we are informed, of returning, though we for our part are +not angry with him, knowing the humours of such men of genius. In +order, then, that he may lay aside all anxiety, we rely on your +loyalty to convince him in our name, that if he returns to us, he +shall be uninjured and unhurt, retaining our apostolic favour in the +same measure as he formerly enjoyed it." The date, July 8, is +important in this episode of Michelangelo's life. Soderini sent back +an answer to the Pope's brief within a few days, affirming that +"Michelangelo the sculptor is so terrified that, notwithstanding the +promise of his Holiness, it will be necessary for the Cardinal of +Pavia to write a letter signed by his own hand to us, guaranteeing his +safety and immunity. We have done, and are doing, all we can to make +him go back; assuring your Lordship that, unless he is gently handled, +he will quit Florence, as he has already twice wanted to do." This +letter is followed by another addressed to the Cardinal of Volterra +under date July 28. Soderini repeats that Michelangelo will not budge, +because he has as yet received no definite safe-conduct. It appears +that in the course of August the negotiations had advanced to a point +at which Michelangelo was willing to return. On the last day of the +month the Signory drafted a letter to the Cardinal of Pavia in which +they say that "Michelangelo Buonarroti, sculptor, citizen of Florence, +and greatly loved by us, will exhibit these letters present, having at +last been persuaded to repose confidence in his Holiness." They add +that he is coming in good spirits and with good-will. Something may +have happened to renew his terror, for this despatch was not +delivered, and nothing more is heard of the transaction till toward +the close of November. It is probable, however, that Soderini suddenly +discovered how little Michelangelo was likely to be wanted; Julius, on +the 27th of August, having started on what appeared to be his mad +campaign against Perugia and Bologna. On the 21st of November +following the Cardinal of Pavia sent an autograph letter from Bologna +to the Signory, urgently requesting that they would despatch +Michelangelo immediately to that town, inasmuch as the Pope was +impatient for his arrival, and wanted to employ him on important +works. Six days later, November 27, Soderini writes two letters, one +to the Cardinal of Pavia and one to the Cardinal of Volterra, which +finally conclude the whole business. The epistle to Volterra begins +thus: "The bearer of these present will be Michelangelo, the sculptor, +whom we send to please and satisfy his Holiness. We certify that he is +an excellent young man, and in his own art without peer in Italy, +perhaps also in the universe. We cannot recommend him more +emphatically. His nature is such, that with good words and kindness, +if these are given him, he will do everything; one has to show him +love and treat him kindly, and he will perform things which will make +the whole world wonder." The letter to Pavia is written more +familiarly, reading like a private introduction. In both of them +Soderini enhances the service he is rendering the Pope by alluding to +the magnificent design for the Battle of Pisa which Michelangelo must +leave unfinished. + +Before describing his reception at Bologna, it may be well to quote +two sonnets here which throw an interesting light upon Michelangelo's +personal feeling for Julius and his sense of the corruption of the +Roman Curia. The first may well have been written during this +residence at Florence; and the autograph of the second has these +curious words added at the foot of the page: "_Vostro Michelagniolo_, +in Turchia." Rome itself, the Sacred City, has become a land of +infidels, and Michelangelo, whose thoughts are turned to the Levant, +implies that he would find himself no worse off with the Sultan than +the Pope. + + _My Lord! If ever ancient saw spake sooth, + Hear this which saith: Who can doth never will. + Lo, thou hast lent thine ear to fables still. + Rewarding those who hate the name of truth. + I am thy drudge, and have been from my youth-- + Thine, like the rays which the sun's circle fill; + Yet of my dear time's waste thou think'st no ill: + The more I toil, the less I move thy ruth. + Once 'twas my hope to raise me by thy height; + But 'tis the balance and the powerful sword + Of Justice, not false Echo, that we need. + Heaven, as it seems, plants virtue in despite + Here on the earth, if this be our reward-- + To seek for fruit on trees too dry to breed. + + Here helms and swords are made of chalices: + The blood of Christ is sold so much the quart: + His cross and thorns are spears and shields; and short + Must be the time ere even His patience cease._ + _Nay, let Him come no more to raise the fees. + Of this foul sacrilege beyond, report: + For Rome still flays and sells Him at the court, + Where paths are closed, to virtue's fair increase, + Now were fit time for me to scrape a treasure, + Seeing that work and gain are gone; while he + Who wears the robe, is my Medusa still. + God welcomes poverty perchance with pleasure: + But of that better life what hope have we, + When the blessed banner leads to nought but ill?_ + +While Michelangelo was planning frescoes and venting his bile in +sonnets, the fiery Pope had started on his perilous career of +conquest. He called the Cardinals together, and informed them that he +meant to free the cities of Perugia and Bologna from their tyrants. +God, he said, would protect His Church; he could rely on the support +of France and Florence. Other Popes had stirred up wars and used the +services of generals; he meant to take the field in person. Louis XII. +is reported to have jeered among his courtiers at the notion of a +high-priest riding to the wars. A few days afterwards, on the 27th of +August, the Pope left Rome attended by twenty-four cardinals and 500 +men-at-arms. He had previously secured the neutrality of Venice and a +promise of troops from the French court. When Julius reached Orvieto, +he was met by Gianpaolo Baglioni, the bloody and licentious despot of +Perugia. Notwithstanding Baglioni knew that Julius was coming to +assert his supremacy, and notwithstanding the Pope knew that this +might drive to desperation a man so violent and stained with crime as +Baglioni, they rode together to Perugia, where Gianpaolo paid homage +and supplied his haughty guest with soldiers. The rashness of this act +of Julius sent a thrill of admiration throughout Italy, stirring that +sense of _terribilita_ which fascinated the imagination of the +Renaissance. Machiavelli, commenting upon the action of the Baglioni, +remarks that the event proved how difficult it is for a man to be +perfectly and scientifically wicked. Gianpaolo, he says, murdered his +relations, oppressed his subjects, and boasted of being a father by +his sister; yet, when he got his worst enemy into his clutches, he had +not the spirit to be magnificently criminal, and murder or imprison +Julius. From Perugia the Pope crossed the Apennines, and found himself +at Imola upon the 20th of October. There he received news that the +French governor of Milan, at the order of his king, was about to send +him a reinforcement of 600 lances and 3000 foot-soldiers. This +announcement, while it cheered the heart of Julius, struck terror into +the Bentivogli, masters of Bologna. They left their city and took +refuge in Milan, while the people of Bologna sent envoys to the Pope's +camp, surrendering their town and themselves to his apostolic +clemency. On the 11th of November, S. Martin's day, Giuliano della +Rovere made his triumphal entry into Bologna, having restored two +wealthy provinces to the states of the Church by a stroke of sheer +audacity, unparalleled in the history of any previous pontiff. Ten +days afterwards we find him again renewing negotiations with the +Signory for the extradition of Michelangelo. + + +II + +"Arriving then one morning at Bologna, and going to hear Mass at S. +Petronio, there met him the Pope's grooms of the stable, who +immediately recognised him, and brought him into the presence of his +Holiness, then at table in the Palace of the Sixteen. When the Pope +beheld him, his face clouded with anger, and he cried: 'It was your +duty to come to seek us, and you have waited till we came to seek you; +meaning thereby that his Holiness having travelled to Bologna, which +is much nearer to Florence than Rome, he had come to find him out. +Michelangelo knelt, and prayed for pardon in a loud voice, pleading in +his excuse that he had not erred through forwardness, but through +great distress of mind, having been unable to endure the expulsion he +received. The Pope remained holding his head low and answering +nothing, evidently much agitated; when a certain prelate, sent by +Cardinal Soderini to put in a good word for Michelangelo, came forward +and said: 'Your Holiness might overlook his fault; he did wrong +through ignorance: these painters, outside their art, are all like +this.' Thereupon the Pope answered in a fury: 'It is you, not I, who +are insulting him. It is you, not he, who are the ignoramus and the +rascal. Get hence out of my sight, and bad luck to you!' When the +fellow did not move, he was cast forth by the servants, as +Michelangelo used to relate, with good round kicks and thumpings. So +the Pope, having spent the surplus of his bile upon the bishop, took +Michelangelo apart and pardoned him. Not long afterwards he sent for +him and said: 'I wish you to make my statue on a large scale in +bronze. I mean to place it on the facade of San Petronio.' When he +went to Rome in course of time, he left 1000 ducats at the bank of +Messer Antonmaria da Lignano for this purpose. But before he did so +Michelangelo had made the clay model. Being in some doubt how to +manage the left hand, after making the Pope give the benediction with +the right, he asked Julius, who had come to see the statue, if he +would like it to hold a book. 'What book?' replied he: 'a sword! I +know nothing about letters, not I.' Jesting then about the right hand, +which was vehement in action, he said with a smile to Michelangelo: +'That statue of yours, is it blessing or cursing?' To which the +sculptor replied: 'Holy Father, it is threatening this people of +Bologna if they are not prudent.'" + +Michelangelo's letter to Fattucci confirms Condivi's narrative. "When +Pope Julius went to Bologna the first time, I was forced to go there +with a rope round my neck to beg his pardon. He ordered me to make his +portrait in bronze, sitting, about seven cubits (14 feet) in height. +When he asked what it would cost, I answered that I thought I could +cast it for 1000 ducats; but that this was not my trade, and that I +did not wish to undertake it. He answered: 'Go to work; you shall cast +it over and over again till it succeeds; and I will give you enough to +satisfy your wishes.' To put it briefly, I cast the statue twice; and +at the end of two years, at Bologna, I found that I had four and a +half ducats left. I never received anything more for this job; and all +the moneys I paid out during the said two years were the 1000 ducats +with which I promised to cast it. These were disbursed to me in +instalments by Messer Antonio Maria da Legnano, a Bolognese." + +The statue must have been more than thrice life-size, if it rose +fourteen feet in a sitting posture. Michelangelo worked at the model +in a hall called the Stanza del Pavaglione behind the Cathedral. Three +experienced workmen were sent, at his request, from Florence, and he +began at once upon the arduous labour. His domestic correspondence, +which at this period becomes more copious and interesting, contains a +good deal of information concerning his residence at Bologna. His mode +of life, as usual, was miserable and penurious in the extreme. This +man, about whom popes and cardinals and gonfaloniers had been +corresponding, now hired a single room with one bed in it, where, as +we have seen, he slept together with his three assistants. There can +be no doubt that such eccentric habits prevented Michelangelo from +inspiring his subordinates with due respect. The want of control over +servants and workmen, which is a noticeable feature of his private +life, may in part be attributed to this cause. And now, at Bologna, he +soon got into trouble with the three craftsmen he had engaged to help +him. They were Lapo d'Antonio di Lapo, a sculptor at the Opera del +Duomo; Lodovico del Buono, surnamed Lotti, a metal-caster and founder +of cannon; and Pietro Urbano, a craftsman who continued long in his +service. Lapo boasted that he was executing the statue in partnership +with Michelangelo and upon equal terms, which did not seem incredible +considering their association in a single bedroom. Beside this, he +intrigued and cheated in money matters. The master felt that he must +get rid of him, and send the fellow back to Florence. Lapo, not +choosing to go alone, lest the truth of the affair should be apparent, +persuaded Lodovico to join him; and when they reached home, both began +to calumniate their master. Michelangelo, knowing that they were +likely to do so, wrote to his brother Buonarroto on the 1st of +February 1507: "I inform you further how on Friday morning I sent away +Lapo and Lodovico, who were in my service. Lapo, because he is good +for nothing and a rogue, and could not serve me. Lodovico is better, +and I should have been willing to keep him another two months, but +Lapo, in order to prevent blame falling on himself alone, worked upon +the other so that both went away together. I write you this, not that +I regard them, for they are not worth three farthings, the pair of +them, but because if they come to talk to Lodovico (Buonarroti) he +must not be surprised at what they say. Tell him by no means to lend +them his ears; and if you want to be informed about them, go to Messer +Angelo, the herald of the Signory; for I have written the whole story +to him, and he will, out of his kindly feeling, tell you just what +happened." + +In spite of these precautions, Lapo seems to have gained the ear of +Michelangelo's father, who wrote a scolding letter in his usual +puzzle-headed way. Michelangelo replied in a tone of real and ironical +humility, which is exceedingly characteristic: "Most revered father, I +have received a letter from you to-day, from which I learn that you +have been informed by Lapo and Lodovico. I am glad that you should +rebuke me, because I deserve to be rebuked as a ne'er-do-well and +sinner as much as any one, or perhaps more. But you must know that I +have not been guilty in the affair for which you take me to task now, +neither as regards them nor any one else, except it be in doing more +than was my duty." After this exordium he proceeds to give an +elaborate explanation of his dealings with Lapo, and the man's +roguery. + +The correspondence with Buonarroto turns to a considerable extent upon +a sword-hilt which Michelangelo designed for the Florentine, Pietro +Aldobrandini. It was the custom then for gentlemen to carry swords and +daggers with hilt and scabbard wonderfully wrought by first-rate +artists. Some of these, still extant, are among the most exquisite +specimens of sixteenth-century craft. This little affair gave +Michelangelo considerable trouble. First of all, the man who had to +make the blade was long about it. From the day when the Pope came to +Bologna, he had more custom than all the smiths in the city were used +in ordinary times to deal with. Then, when the weapon reached +Florence, it turned out to be too short. Michelangelo affirmed that he +had ordered it exactly to the measure sent, adding that Aldobrandini +was "probably not born to wear a dagger at his belt." He bade his +brother present it to Filippo Strozzi, as a compliment from the +Buonarroti family; but the matter was bungled. Probably Buonarroto +tried to get some valuable equivalent; for Michelangelo writes to say +that he is sorry "he behaved so scurvily toward Filippo in so trifling +an affair." + +Nothing at all transpires in these letters regarding the company kept +by Michelangelo at Bologna. The few stories related by tradition which +refer to this period are not much to the sculptor's credit for +courtesy. The painter Francia, for instance, came to see the statue, +and made the commonplace remark that he thought it very well cast and +of excellent bronze. Michelangelo took this as an insult to his +design, and replied: "I owe the same thanks to Pope Julius who +supplied the metal, as you do to the colourmen who sell you paints." +Then, turning to some gentlemen present there, he added that Francia +was "a blockhead." Francia had a son remarkable for youthful beauty. +When Michelangelo first saw him he asked whose son he was, and, on +being informed, uttered this caustic compliment: "Your father makes +handsomer living figures than he paints them." On some other occasion, +a stupid Bolognese gentleman asked whether he thought his statue or a +pair of oxen were the bigger. Michelangelo replied: "That is according +to the oxen. If Bolognese, oh! then with a doubt ours of Florence are +smaller." Possibly Albrecht Duerer may have met him in the artistic +circles of Bologna, since he came from Venice on a visit during these +years; but nothing is known about their intercourse. + + +III + +Julius left Bologna on the 22nd of February 1507. Michelangelo +remained working diligently at his model. In less than three months it +was nearly ready to be cast. Accordingly, the sculptor, who had no +practical knowledge of bronze-founding, sent to Florence for a man +distinguished in that craft, Maestro dal Ponte of Milan. During the +last three years he had been engaged as Master of the Ordnance under +the Republic. His leave of absence was signed upon the 15th of May +1507. + +Meanwhile the people of Bologna were already planning revolution. The +Bentivogli retained a firm hereditary hold on their affections, and +the government of priests is never popular, especially among the +nobles of a state. Michelangelo writes to his brother Giovan Simone +(May 2) describing the bands of exiles who hovered round the city and +kept its burghers in alarm: "The folk are stifling in their coats of +mail; for during four days past the whole county is under arms, in +great confusion and peril, especially the party of the Church." The +Papal Legate, Francesco Alidosi, Cardinal of Pavia, took such prompt +measures that the attacking troops were driven back. He also executed +some of the citizens who had intrigued with the exiled family. The +summer was exceptionally hot, and plague hung about; all articles of +food were dear and bad. Michelangelo felt miserable, and fretted to be +free; but the statue kept him hard at work. + +When the time drew nigh for the great operation, he wrote in touching +terms to Buonarroto: "Tell Lodovico (their father) that in the middle +of next month I hope to cast my figure without fail. Therefore, if he +wishes to offer prayers or aught else for its good success, let him do +so betimes, and say that I beg this of him." Nearly the whole of June +elapsed, and the business still dragged on. At last, upon the 1st of +July, he advised his brother thus: "We have cast my figure, and it has +come out so badly that I verily believe I shall have to do it all over +again. I reserve details, for I have other things to think of. Enough +that it has gone wrong. Still I thank God, because I take everything +for the best." From the next letter we learn that only the lower half +of the statue, up to the girdle, was properly cast. The metal for the +rest remained in the furnace, probably in the state of what Cellini +called a cake. The furnace had to be pulled down and rebuilt, so as to +cast the upper half. Michelangelo adds that he does not know whether +Master Bernardino mismanaged the matter from ignorance or bad luck. "I +had such faith in him that I thought he could have cast the statue +without fire. Nevertheless, there is no denying that he is an able +craftsman, and that he worked with good-will. Well, he has failed, to +my loss and also to his own, seeing he gets so much blame that he +dares not lift his head up in Bologna." The second casting must have +taken place about the 8th of July; for on the 10th Michelangelo writes +that it is done, but the clay is too hot for the result to be +reported, and Bernardino left yesterday. When the statue was +uncovered, he was able to reassure his brother: "My affair might have +turned out much better, and also much worse. At all events, the whole +is there, so far as I can see; for it is not yet quite disengaged. I +shall want, I think, some months to work it up with file and hammer, +because it has come out rough. Well, well, there is much to thank God +for; as I said, it might have been worse." On making further +discoveries, he finds that the cast is far less bad than he expected; +but the labour of cleaning it with polishing tools proved longer and +more irksome than he expected: "I am exceedingly anxious to get away +home, for here I pass my life in huge discomfort and with extreme +fatigue. I work night and day, do nothing else; and the labour I am +forced to undergo is such, that if I had to begin the whole thing over +again, I do not think I could survive it. Indeed, the undertaking has +been one of enormous difficulty; and if it had been in the hand of +another man, we should have fared but ill with it. However, I believe +that the prayers of some one have sustained and kept me in health, +because all Bologna thought I should never bring it to a proper end." +We can see that Michelangelo was not unpleased with the result; and +the statue must have been finished soon after the New Year. However, +he could not leave Bologna. On the 18th of February 1508 he writes to +Buonarroto that he is kicking his heels, having received orders from +the Pope to stay until the bronze was placed. Three days later--that +is, upon the 21st of February--the Pope's portrait was hoisted to its +pedestal above the great central door of S. Petronio. + +It remained there rather less than three years. When the Papal Legate +fled from Bologna in 1511, and the party of the Bentivogli gained the +upper hand, they threw the mighty mass of sculptured bronze, which had +cost its maker so much trouble, to the ground. That happened on the +30th of December. The Bentivogli sent it to the Duke Alfonso d'Este of +Ferrara, who was a famous engineer and gunsmith. He kept the head +intact, but cast a huge cannon out of part of the material, which took +the name of La Giulia. What became of the head is unknown. It is said +to have weighed 600 pounds. + +So perished another of Michelangelo's masterpieces; and all we know +for certain about the statue is that Julius was seated, in full +pontificals, with the triple tiara on his head, raising the right hand +to bless, and holding the keys of S. Peter in the left. + +Michelangelo reached Florence early in March. On the 18th of that +month he began again to occupy his house at Borgo Pinti, taking it +this time on hire from the Operai del Duomo. We may suppose, +therefore, that he intended to recommence work on the Twelve Apostles. +A new project seems also to have been started by his friend +Soderini--that of making him erect a colossal statue of Hercules +subduing Cacus opposite the David. The Gonfalonier was in +correspondence with the Marquis of Carrara on the 10th of May about a +block of marble for this giant; but Michelangelo at that time had +returned to Rome, and of the Cacus we shall hear more hereafter. + + +IV + +When Julius received news that his statue had been duly cast and set +up in its place above the great door of S. Petronio, he began to be +anxious to have Michelangelo once more near his person. The date at +which the sculptor left Florence again for Rome is fixed approximately +by the fact that Lodovico Buonarroti emancipated his son from parental +control upon the 13th of March 1508. According to Florentine law, +Michelangelo was not of age, nor master over his property and person, +until this deed had been executed. + +In the often-quoted letter to Fattucci he says: "The Pope was still +unwilling that I should complete the tomb, and ordered me to paint the +vault of the Sistine. We agreed for 3000 ducats. The first design I +made for this work had twelve apostles in the lunettes, the remainder +being a certain space filled in with ornamental details, according to +the usual manner. After I had begun, it seemed to me that this would +turn out rather meanly; and I told the Pope that the Apostles alone +would yield a poor effect, in my opinion. He asked me why. I answered, +'Because they too were poor.' Then he gave me commission to do what I +liked best, and promised to satisfy my claims for the work, and told +me to paint down the pictured histories upon the lower row." + +There is little doubt that Michelangelo disliked beginning this new +work, and that he would have greatly preferred to continue the +sepulchral monument, for which he had made such vast and costly +preparations. He did not feel certain how he should succeed in fresco +on a large scale, not having had any practice in that style of +painting since he was a prentice under Ghirlandajo. It is true that +the Cartoon for the Battle of Pisa had been a splendid success; still +this, as we have seen, was not coloured, but executed in various +methods of outline and chiaroscuro. Later on, while seriously engaged +upon the Sistine, he complains to his father: "I am still in great +distress of mind, because it is now a year since I had a farthing from +the Pope; and I do not ask, because my work is not going forward in a +way that seems to me to deserve it. That comes from its difficulty, +and also _from this not being my trade._ And so I waste my time +without results. God help me." + +We may therefore believe Condivi when he asserts that "Michelangelo, +who had not yet practised colouring, and knew that the painting of a +vault is very difficult, endeavoured by all means to get himself +excused, putting Raffaello forward as the proper man, and pleading +that this was not his trade, and that he should not succeed." Condivi +states in the same chapter that Julius had been prompted to intrust +him with the Sistine by Bramante, who was jealous of his great +abilities, and hoped he might fail conspicuously when he left the +field of sculpture. I have given my reasons above for doubting the +accuracy of this tradition; and what we have just read of +Michelangelo's own hesitation confirms the statement made by Bramante +in the Pope's presence, as recorded by Rosselli. In fact, although we +may assume the truth of Bramante's hostility, it is difficult to form +an exact conception of the intrigues he carried on against Buonarroti. + +Julius would not listen to any arguments. Accordingly, Michelangelo +made up his mind to obey the patron whom he nicknamed his Medusa. +Bramante was commissioned to erect the scaffolding, which he did so +clumsily, with beams suspended from the vault by huge cables, that +Michelangelo asked how the holes in the roof would be stopped up when +his painting was finished. The Pope allowed him to take down +Bramante's machinery, and to raise a scaffold after his own design. +The rope alone which had been used, and now was wasted, enabled a poor +carpenter to dower his daughter. Michelangelo built his own scaffold +free from the walls, inventing a method which was afterwards adopted +by all architects for vault-building. Perhaps he remembered the +elaborate drawing he once made of Ghirlandajo's assistants at work +upon the ladders and wooden platforms at S. Maria Novella. + +Knowing that he should need helpers in so great an undertaking, and +also mistrusting his own ability to work in fresco, he now engaged +several excellent Florentine painters. Among these, says Vasari, were +his friends Francesco Granacci and Giuliano Bugiardini, Bastiano da +San Gallo surnamed Aristotele, Angelo di Donnino, Jacopo di Sandro, +and Jacopo surnamed l'Indaco. Vasari is probably accurate in his +statement here; for we shall see that Michelangelo, in his _Ricordi_, +makes mention of five assistants, two of whom are proved by other +documents to have been Granacci and Indaco. We also possess two +letters from Granacci which show that Bugiardini, San Gallo, Angelo di +Donnino, and Jacopo l'Indaco were engaged in July. The second of +Granacci's letters refers to certain disputes and hagglings with the +artists. This may have brought Michelangelo to Florence, for he was +there upon the 11th of August 1508, as appears from the following deed +of renunciation: "In the year of our Lord 1508, on the 11th day of +August, Michelangelo, son of Lodovico di Lionardo di Buonarrota, +repudiated the inheritance of his uncle Francesco by an instrument +drawn up by the hand of Ser Giovanni di Guasparre da Montevarchi, +notary of Florence, on the 27th of July 1508." When the assistants +arrived at Rome is not certain. It must, however, have been after the +end of July. The extracts from Michelangelo's notebooks show that he +had already sketched an agreement as to wages several weeks before. "I +record how on this day, the 10th of May 1508, I, Michelangelo, +sculptor, have received from the Holiness of our Lord Pope Julius II. +500 ducats of the Camera, the which were paid me by Messer Carlino, +chamberlain, and Messer Carlo degli Albizzi, on account of the +painting of the vault of the Sistine Chapel, on which I begin to work +to-day, under the conditions and contracts set forth in a document +written by his Most Reverend Lordship of Pavia, and signed by my hand. + +"For the painter-assistants who are to come from Florence, who will be +five in number, twenty gold ducats of the Camera apiece, on this +condition; that is to say, that when they are here and are working in +harmony with me, the twenty ducats shall be reckoned to each man's +salary; the said salary to begin upon the day they leave Florence. And +if they do not agree with me, half of the said money shall be paid +them for their travelling expenses, and for their time." + +On the strength of this _Ricordo_, it has been assumed that +Michelangelo actually began to paint the Sistine on the 10th of May +1508. That would have been physically and literally impossible. He was +still at Florence, agreeing to rent his house in Borgo Pinti, upon the +18th of March. Therefore he had no idea of going to Rome at that time. +When he arrived there, negotiations went on, as we have seen, between +him and Pope Julius. One plan for the decoration of the roof was +abandoned, and another on a grander scale had to be designed. To +produce working Cartoons for that immense scheme in less than two +months would have been beyond the capacities of any human brain and +hands. But there are many indications that the vault was not prepared +for painting, and the materials for fresco not accumulated, till a +much later date. For instance, we possess a series of receipts by +Piero Rosselli, acknowledging several disbursements for the plastering +of the roof between May 11 and July 27. We learn from one of these +that Granacci was in Rome before June 3; and Michelangelo writes for +fine blue colours to a certain Fra Jacopo Gesuato at Florence upon the +13th of May. All is clearly in the air as yet, and on the point of +preparation. Michelangelo's phrase, "on which I begin work to-day," +will have to be interpreted, therefore, in the widest sense, as +implying that he was engaging assistants, getting the architectural +foundation ready, and procuring a stock of necessary articles. The +whole summer and autumn must have been spent in taking measurements +and expanding the elaborate design to the proper scale of working +drawings; and if Michelangelo had toiled alone without his Florentine +helpers, it would have been impossible for him to have got through +with these preliminary labours in so short a space of time. + +Michelangelo's method in preparing his Cartoons seems to have been the +following. He first made a small-scale sketch of the composition, +sometimes including a large variety of figures. Then he went to the +living models, and studied portions of the whole design in careful +transcripts from Nature, using black and red chalk, pen, and sometimes +bistre. Among the most admirable of his drawings left to us are +several which were clearly executed with a view to one or other of +these great Cartoons. Finally, returning to the first composition, he +repeated that, or so much of it as could be transferred to a single +sheet, on the exact scale of the intended fresco. These enlarged +drawings were applied to the wet surface of the plaster, and their +outlines pricked in with dots to guide the painter in his brush-work. +When we reflect upon the extent of the Sistine vault (it is estimated +at more than 10,000 square feet of surface), and the difficulties +presented by its curves, lunettes, spandrels, and pendentives; when we +remember that this enormous space is alive with 343 figures in every +conceivable attitude, some of them twelve feet in height, those seated +as prophets and sibyls measuring nearly eighteen feet when upright, +all animated with extraordinary vigour, presenting types of the utmost +variety and vivid beauty, imagination quails before the intellectual +energy which could first conceive a scheme so complex, and then carry +it out with mathematical precision in its minutest details. + +The date on which Michelangelo actually began to paint the fresco is +not certain. Supposing he worked hard all the summer, he might have +done so when his Florentine assistants arrived in August; and, +assuming that the letter to his father above quoted (_Lettere_, x.) +bears a right date, he must have been in full swing before the end of +January 1509. In that letter he mentions that Jacopo, probably +l'Indaco, "the painter whom I brought from Florence, returned a few +days ago; and as he complained about me here in Rome, it is likely +that he will do so there. Turn a deaf ear to him; he is a thousandfold +in the wrong, and I could say much about his bad behaviour toward me." +Vasari informs us that these assistants proved of no use; whereupon, +he destroyed all they had begun to do, refused to see them, locked +himself up in the chapel, and determined to complete the work in +solitude. It seems certain that the painters were sent back to +Florence. Michelangelo had already provided for the possibility of +their not being able to co-operate with him; but what the cause of +their failure was we can only conjecture. Trained in the methods of +the old Florentine school of fresco-painting, incapable of entering +into the spirit of a style so supereminently noble and so astoundingly +original as Michelangelo's, it is probable that they spoiled his +designs in their attempts to colour them. Harford pithily remarks: "As +none of the suitors of Penelope could bend the bow of Ulysses, so one +hand alone was capable of wielding the pencil of Buonarroti." Still it +must not be imagined that Michelangelo ground his own colours, +prepared his daily measure of wet plaster, and executed the whole +series of frescoes with his own hand. Condivi and Vasari imply, +indeed, that this was the case; but, beside the physical +impossibility, the fact remains that certain portions are obviously +executed by inferior masters. Vasari's anecdotes, moreover, contradict +his own assertion regarding Michelangelo's singlehanded labour. He +speaks about the caution which the master exercised to guard himself +against any treason of his workmen in the chapel. Nevertheless, far +the larger part, including all the most important figures, and +especially the nudes, belongs to Michelangelo. + +These troubles with his assistants illustrate a point upon which I +shall have to offer some considerations at a future time. I allude to +Michelangelo's inaptitude for forming a school of intelligent +fellow-workers, for fashioning inferior natures into at least a +sympathy with his aims and methods, and finally for living long on +good terms with hired subordinates. All those qualities which the +facile and genial Raffaello possessed in such abundance, and which +made it possible for that young favourite of heaven and fortune to +fill Rome with so much work of mixed merit, were wanting to the stern, +exacting, and sensitive Buonarroti. + +But the assistants were not the only hindrance to Michelangelo at the +outset. Condivi says that "he had hardly begun painting, and had +finished the picture of the Deluge, when the work began to throw out +mould to such an extent that the figures could hardly be seen through +it. Michelangelo thought that this excuse might be sufficient to get +him relieved of the whole job. So he went to the Pope and said: 'I +already told your Holiness that painting is not my trade; what I have +done is spoiled; if you do not believe it, send to see.' The Pope sent +San Gallo, who, after inspecting the fresco, pronounced that the +lime-basis had been put on too wet, and that water oozing out produced +this mouldy surface. He told Michelangelo what the cause was, and bade +him proceed with the work. So the excuse helped him nothing." About +the fresco of the Deluge Vasari relates that, having begun to paint +this compartment first, he noticed that the figures were too crowded, +and consequently changed his scale in all the other portions of the +ceiling. This is a plausible explanation of what is striking--namely, +that the story of the Deluge is quite differently planned from the +other episodes upon the vaulting. Yet I think it must be rejected, +because it implies a total change in all the working Cartoons, as well +as a remarkable want of foresight. + +Condivi continues: "While he was painting, Pope Julius used oftentimes +to go and see the work, climbing by a ladder, while Michelangelo gave +him a hand to help him on to the platform. His nature being eager and +impatient of delay, he decided to have the roof uncovered, although +Michelangelo had not given the last touches, and had only completed +the first half--that is, from the door to the middle of the vault." +Michelangelo's letters show that the first part of his work was +executed in October. He writes thus to his brother Buonarroto: "I am +remaining here as usual, and shall have finished my painting by the +end of the week after next--that is, the portion of it which I began; +and when it is uncovered, I expect to be paid, and shall also try to +get a month's leave to visit Florence." + + +V + +The uncovering took place upon November 1, 1509. All Rome flocked to +the chapel, feeling that something stupendous was to be expected after +the long months of solitude and seclusion during which the silent +master had been working. Nor were they disappointed. The effect +produced by only half of the enormous scheme was overwhelming. As +Vasari says, "This chapel lighted up a lamp for our art which casts +abroad lustre enough to illuminate the World, drowned, for so many +centuries in darkness." Painters saw at a glance that the genius which +had revolutionised sculpture was now destined to introduce a new style +and spirit into their art. This was the case even with Raffaello, who, +in the frescoes he executed at S. Maria della Pace, showed his +immediate willingness to learn from Michelangelo, and his +determination to compete with him. Condivi and Vasari are agreed upon +this point, and Michelangelo himself, in a moment of hasty +indignation, asserted many years afterwards that what Raffaello knew +of art was derived from him. That is, of course, an over-statement; +for, beside his own exquisite originality, Raffaello formed a +composite style successively upon Perugino, Fra Bartolommeo, and +Lionardo. He was capable not merely of imitating, but of absorbing and +assimilating to his lucid genius the excellent qualities of all in +whom he recognised superior talent. At the same time, Michelangelo's +influence was undeniable, and we cannot ignore the testimony of those +who conversed with both great artists--of Julius himself, for +instance, when he said to Sebastian del Piombo: "Look at the work of +Raffaello, who, after seeing the masterpieces of Michelangelo, +immediately abandoned Perugino's manner, and did his utmost to +approach that of Buonarroti." + +Condivi's assertion that the part uncovered in November 1509 was the +first half of the whole vault, beginning from the door and ending in +the middle, misled Vasari, and Vasari misled subsequent biographers. +We now know for certain that what Michelangelo meant by "the portion I +began" was the whole central space of the ceiling--that is to say, the +nine compositions from Genesis, with their accompanying genii and +architectural surroundings. That is rendered clear by a statement in +Albertini's Roman Handbook, to the effect that the "upper portion of +the whole vaulted roof" had been uncovered when he saw it in 1509. +Having established this error in Condivi's narrative, what he proceeds +to relate may obtain some credence. "Raffaello, when he beheld the new +and marvellous style of Michelangelo's work, being extraordinarily apt +at imitation, sought, by Bramante's means, to obtain a commission for +the rest." Had Michelangelo ended at a line drawn halfway across the +breadth of the vault, leaving the Prophets and Sibyls, the lunettes +and pendentives, all finished so far, it would have been a piece of +monstrous impudence even in Bramante, and an impossible discourtesy in +gentle Raffaello, to have begged for leave to carry on a scheme so +marvellously planned. But the history of the Creation, Fall, and +Deluge, when first exposed, looked like a work complete in itself. +Michelangelo, who was notoriously secretive, had almost certainly not +explained his whole design to painters of Bramante's following; and it +is also improbable that he had as yet prepared his working Cartoons +for the lower and larger portion of the vault. Accordingly, there +remained a large vacant space to cover between the older frescoes by +Signorelli, Perugino, Botticelli, and other painters, round the walls +below the windows, and that new miracle suspended in the air. There +was no flagrant impropriety in Bramante's thinking that his nephew +might be allowed to carry the work downward from that altitude. The +suggestion may have been that the Sistine Chapel should become a +Museum of Italian art, where all painters of eminence could deposit +proofs of their ability, until each square foot of wall was covered +with competing masterpieces. But when Michelangelo heard of Bramante's +intrigues, he was greatly disturbed in spirit. Having begun his task +unwillingly, he now felt an equal or greater unwillingness to leave +the stupendous conception of his brain unfinished. Against all +expectation of himself and others, he had achieved a decisive victory, +and was placed at one stroke, Condivi says, "above the reach of envy." +His hand had found its cunning for fresco as for marble. Why should he +be interrupted in the full swing of triumphant energy? "Accordingly, +he sought an audience with the Pope, and openly laid bare all the +persecutions he had suffered from Bramante, and discovered the +numerous misdoings of the man." It was on this occasion, according to +Condivi, that Michelangelo exposed Bramante's scamped work and +vandalism at S. Peter's. Julius, who was perhaps the only man in Rome +acquainted with his sculptor's scheme for the Sistine vault, brushed +the cobwebs of these petty intrigues aside, and left the execution of +the whole to Michelangelo. + +There is something ignoble in the task of recording rivalries and +jealousies between artists and men of letters. Genius, however, like +all things that are merely ours and mortal, shuffles along the path of +life, half flying on the wings of inspiration, half hobbling on the +feet of interest the crutches of commissions. Michelangelo, although +he made the David and the Sistine, had also to make money. He was +entangled with shrewd men of business, and crafty spendthrifts, +ambitious intriguers, folk who used undoubted talents, each in its +kind excellent and pure, for baser purposes of gain or getting on. The +art-life of Rome seethed with such blood-poison; and it would be +sentimental to neglect what entered so deeply and so painfully into +the daily experience of our hero. Raffaello, kneaded of softer and +more facile clay than Michelangelo, throve in this environment, and +was somehow able--so it seems--to turn its venom to sweet uses. I like +to think of the two peers, moving like stars on widely separated +orbits, with radically diverse temperaments, proclivities, and habits, +through the turbid atmosphere enveloping but not obscuring their +lucidity. Each, in his own way, as it seems to me, contrived to keep +himself unspotted by the world; and if they did not understand one +another and make friends, this was due to the different conceptions +they were framed to take of life the one being the exact antipodes to +the other. + +VI + + +Postponing descriptive or aesthetic criticism of the Sistine frescoes, +I shall proceed with the narration of their gradual completion. We +have few documents to guide us through the period of time which +elapsed between the first uncovering of Michelangelo's work on the +roof of the Sistine (November 1, 1509) and its ultimate accomplishment +(October 1512). His domestic correspondence is abundant, and will be +used in its proper place; but nothing transpires from those pages of +affection, anger, and financial negotiation to throw light upon the +working of the master's mind while he was busied in creating the +sibyls and prophets, the episodes and idyls, which carried his great +Bible of the Fate of Man downwards through the vaulting to a point at +which the Last Judgment had to be presented as a crowning climax. For, +the anxious student of his mind and life-work, nothing is more +desolating than the impassive silence he maintains about his doings as +an artist. He might have told us all we want to know, and never shall +know here about them. But while he revealed his personal temperament +and his passions with singular frankness, he locked up the secret of +his art, and said nothing. + +Eventually we must endeavour to grasp Michelangelo's work in the +Sistine as a whole, although it was carried out at distant epochs of +his life. For this reason I have thrown these sentences forward, in +order to embrace a wide span of his artistic energy (from May 10, +1508, to perhaps December 1541). There is, to my mind, a unity of +conception between the history depicted on the vault, the prophets and +forecomers on the pendentives, the types selected for the +spandrels, and the final spectacle of the day of doom. Living, as he +needs must do, under the category of time, Michelangelo was unable to +execute his stupendous picture-book of human destiny in one sustained +manner. Years passed over him of thwarted endeavour and distracted +energies--years of quarrying and sculpturing, of engineering and +obeying the vagaries of successive Popes. Therefore, when he came +at last to paint the Last Judgment, he was a worn man, exhausted in +services of many divers sorts. And, what is most perplexing to the +reconstructive critic, nothing in his correspondence remains to +indicate the stages of his labour. The letters tell plenty about +domestic anxieties, annoyances in his poor craftsman's household, +purchases of farms, indignant remonstrances with stupid brethren; but +we find in them, as I have said, no clue to guide us through that +mental labyrinth in which the supreme artist was continually walking, +and at the end of which he left to us the Sistine as it now is. + + +VII + +The old reckoning of the time consumed by Michelangelo in painting the +roof of the Sistine, and the traditions concerning his mode of work +there, are clearly fabulous. Condivi says: "He finished the whole in +twenty months, without having any assistance whatsoever, not even of a +man to grind his colours." From a letter of September 7, 1510, we +learn that the scaffolding was going to be put up again, and that he +was preparing to work upon the lower portion of the vaulting. Nearly +two years elapse before we hear of it again. He writes to Buonarroto +on the 24th of July 1512: "I am suffering greater hardships than ever +man endured, ill, and with overwhelming labour; still I put up with +all in order to reach the desired end." Another letter on the 21st of +August shows that he expects to complete his work at the end of +September; and at last, in October, he writes to his father: "I have +finished the chapel I was painting. The Pope is very well satisfied." +On the calculation that he began the first part on May 10, 1508, and +finished the whole in October 1512, four years and a half were +employed upon the work. A considerable part of this time was of course +taken up with the preparation of Cartoons; and the nature of +fresco-painting rendered the winter months not always fit for active +labour. The climate of Rome is not so mild but that wet plaster might +often freeze and crack during December, January, and February. +Besides, with all his superhuman energy, Michelangelo could not have +painted straight on daily without rest or stop. It seems, too, that +the master was often in need of money, and that he made two journeys +to the Pope to beg for supplies. In the letter to Fattucci he says: +"When the vault was nearly finished, the Pope was again at Bologna; +whereupon, I went twice to get the necessary funds, and obtained +nothing, and lost all that time until I came back to Rome. When I +reached Rome, I began to make Cartoons--that is, for the ends and +sides of the said chapel, hoping to get money at last and to complete +the work. I never could extract a farthing; and when I complained one +day to Messer Bernardo da Bibbiena and to Atalante, representing that +I could not stop longer in Rome, and that I should be forced to go +away with God's grace, Messer Bernardo told Atalante he must bear this +in mind, for that he wished me to have money, whatever happened." When +we consider, then, the magnitude of the undertaking, the arduous +nature of the preparatory studies, and the waste of time in journeys +and through other hindrances, four and a half years are not too long a +period for a man working so much alone as Michelangelo was wont to do. + +We have reason to believe that, after all, the frescoes of the Sistine +were not finished in their details. "It is true," continues Condivi, +"that I have heard him say he was not suffered to complete the work +according to his wish. The Pope, in his impatience, asked him one day +when he would be ready with the Chapel, and he answered: 'When I shall +be able.' To which his Holiness replied in a rage: 'You want to make +me hurl you from that scaffold!' Michelangelo heard and remembered, +muttering: 'That you shall not do to me.' So he went straightway, and +had the scaffolding taken down. The frescoes were exposed to view on +All Saints' day, to the great satisfaction of the Pope, who went that +day to service there, while all Rome flocked together to admire them. +What Michelangelo felt forced to leave undone was the retouching of +certain parts with ultramarine upon dry ground, and also some gilding, +to give the whole a richer effect. Giulio, when his heat cooled down, +wanted Michelangelo to make these last additions; but he, considering +the trouble it would be to build up all that scaffolding afresh, +observed that what was missing mattered little. 'You ought at least to +touch it up with gold,' replied the Pope; and Michelangelo, with that +familiarity he used toward his Holiness, said carelessly: 'I have not +observed that men wore gold.' The Pope rejoined: 'It will look poor.' +Buonarroti added: 'Those who are painted there were poor men.' So the +matter turned into pleasantry, and the frescoes have remained in their +present state." Condivi goes on to state that Michelangelo received +3000 ducats for all his expenses, and that he spent as much as twenty +or twenty-five ducats on colours alone. Upon the difficult question of +the moneys earned by the great artist in his life-work, I shall have +to speak hereafter, though I doubt whether any really satisfactory +account can now be given of them. + + +VIII + +Michelangelo's letters to his family in Florence throw a light at once +vivid and painful over the circumstances of his life during these +years of sustained creative energy. He was uncomfortable in his +bachelor's home, and always in difficulties with his servants. "I am +living here in discontent, not thoroughly well, and undergoing great +fatigue, without money, and with no one to look after me." Again, when +one of his brothers proposed to visit him in Rome, he writes: "I hear +that Gismondo means to come hither on his affairs. Tell him not to +count on me for anything; not because I do not love him as a brother, +but because I am not in the position to assist him. I am bound to care +for myself first, and I cannot provide myself with necessaries. I live +here in great distress and the utmost bodily fatigue, have no friends, +and seek none. I have not even time enough to eat what I require. +Therefore let no additional burdens be put upon me, for I could not +bear another ounce." In the autumn of 1509 he corresponded with his +father about the severe illness of an assistant workman whom he kept, +and also about a boy he wanted sent from Florence. "I should be glad +if you could hear of some lad at Florence, the son of good parents and +poor, used to hardships, who would be willing to come and live with me +here, to do the work of the house, buy what I want, and go around on +messages; in his leisure time he could learn. Should such a boy be +found, please let me know; because there are only rogues here, and I +am in great need of some one." All through his life, Michelangelo +adopted the plan of keeping a young fellow to act as general servant, +and at the same time to help in art-work. Three of these servants are +interwoven with the chief events of his later years, Pietro Urbano, +Antonio Mini, and Francesco d'Amadore, called Urbino, the last of whom +became his faithful and attached friend till death parted them. Women +about the house he could not bear. Of the serving-maids at Rome he +says: "They are all strumpets and swine." Well, it seems that Lodovico +found a boy, and sent him off to Rome. What followed is related in the +next letter. "As regards the boy you sent me, that rascal of a +muleteer cheated me out of a ducat for his journey. He swore that the +bargain had been made for two broad golden ducats, whereas all the +lads who come here with the muleteers pay only ten carlins. I was more +angry at this than if I had lost twenty-five ducats, because I saw +that his father had resolved to send him on mule-back like a +gentleman. Oh, I had never such good luck, not I! Then both the father +and the lad promised that he would do everything, attend to the mule, +and sleep upon the ground, if it was wanted. And now I am obliged to +look after him. As if I needed more worries than the one I have had +ever since I arrived here! My apprentice, whom I left in Rome, has +been ill from the day on which I returned until now. It is true that +he is getting better; but he lay for about a month in peril of his +life, despaired of by the doctors, and I never went to bed. There are +other annoyances of my own; and now I have the nuisance of this lad, +who says that he does not want to waste time, that he wants to study, +and so on. At Florence he said he would be satisfied with two or three +hours a day. Now the whole day is not enough for him, but he must +needs be drawing all the night. It is all the fault of what his father +tells him. If I complained, he would say that I did not want him to +learn. I really require some one to take care of the house; and if the +boy had no mind for this sort of work, they ought not to have put me +to expense. But they are good-for-nothing, and are working toward a +certain end of their own. Enough, I beg you to relieve me of the boy; +he has bored me so that I cannot bear it any longer. The muleteer has +been so well paid that he can very well take him back to Florence. +Besides, he is a friend of the father. Tell the father to send for him +home. I shall not pay another farthing. I have no money. I will have +patience till he sends; and if he does not send, I will turn the boy +out of doors. I did so already on the second day of his arrival, and +other times also, and the father does not believe it. + +"_P.S._--If you talk to the father of the lad, put the matter to him +nicely: as that he is a good boy, but too refined, and not fit for my +service, and say that he had better send for him home." + +The repentant postscript is eminently characteristic of Michelangelo. +He used to write in haste, apparently just as the thoughts came. +Afterwards he read his letter over, and softened its contents down, if +he did not, as sometimes happened, feel that his meaning required +enforcement; in that case he added a stinging tail to the epigram. How +little he could manage the people in his employ is clear from the last +notice we possess about the unlucky lad from Florence. "I wrote about +the boy, to say that his father ought to send for him, and that I +would not disburse more money. This I now confirm. The driver is paid +to take him back. At Florence he will do well enough, learning his +trade and dwelling with his parents. Here he is not worth a farthing, +and makes me toil like a beast of burden; and my other apprentice has +not left his bed. It is true that I have not got him in the house; for +when I was so tired out that I could not bear it, I sent him to the +room of a brother of his. I have no money." + +These household difficulties were a trifle, however, compared with the +annoyances caused by the stupidity of his father and the greediness of +his brothers. While living like a poor man in Rome, he kept +continually thinking of their welfare. The letters of this period are +full of references to the purchase of land, the transmission of cash +when it was to be had, and the establishment of Buonarroto in a +draper's business. They, on their part, were never satisfied, and +repaid his kindness with ingratitude. The following letter to Giovan +Simone shows how terrible Michelangelo could be when he detected +baseness in a brother:-- + +"Giovan Simone,--It is said that when one does good to a good man, he +makes him become better, but that a bad man becomes worse. It is now +many years that I have been endeavouring with words and deeds of +kindness to bring you to live honestly and in peace with your father +and the rest of us. You grow continually worse. I do not say that you +are a scoundrel; but you are of such sort that you have ceased to give +satisfaction to me or anybody. I could read you a long lesson on your +ways of living; but they would be idle words, like all the rest that I +have wasted. To cut the matter short, I will tell you as a fact beyond +all question that you have nothing in the world: what you spend and +your house-room, I give you, and have given you these many years, for +the love of God, believing you to be my brother like the rest. Now, I +am sure that you are not my brother, else you would not threaten my +father. Nay, you are a beast; and as a beast I mean to treat you. Know +that he who sees his father threatened or roughly handled is bound to +risk his own life in this cause. Let that suffice. I repeat that you +have nothing in the world; and if I hear the least thing about your +ways of going on, I will come to Florence by the post, and show you +how far wrong you are, and teach you to waste your substance, and set +fire to houses and farms you have not earned. Indeed you are not where +you think yourself to be. If I come, I will open your eyes to what +will make you weep hot tears, and recognise on what false grounds you +base your arrogance. + +"I have something else to say to you, which I have said before. If you +will endeavour to live rightly, and to honour and revere your father, +I am willing to help you like the rest, and will put it shortly within +your power to open a good shop. If you act otherwise, I shall come and +settle your affairs in such a way that you will recognise what you are +better than you ever did, and will know what you have to call your +own, and will have it shown to you in every place where you may go. No +more. What I lack in words I will supply with deeds. + +"Michelangelo _in Rome_. + +"I cannot refrain from adding a couple of lines. It is as follows. I +have gone these twelve years past drudging about through Italy, borne +every shame, suffered every hardship, worn my body out in every toil, +put my life to a thousand hazards, and all with the sole purpose of +helping the fortunes of my family. Now that I have begun to raise it +up a little, you only, you alone, choose to destroy and bring to ruin +in one hour what it has cost me so many years and such labour to build +up. By Christ's body this shall not be; for I am the man to put to the +rout ten thousand of your sort, whenever it be needed. Be wise in +time, then, and do not try the patience of one who has other things to +vex him." + +Even Buonarroto, who was the best of the brothers and dearest to his +heart, hurt him by his graspingness and want of truth. He had been +staying at Rome on a visit, and when he returned to Florence it +appears that he bragged about his wealth, as if the sums expended on +the Buonarroti farms were not part of Michelangelo's earnings. The +consequence was that he received a stinging rebuke from his elder +brother. "The said Michele told me you mentioned to him having spent +about sixty ducats at Settignano. I remember your saying here too at +table that you had disbursed a large sum out of your own pocket. I +pretended not to understand, and did not feel the least surprise, +because I know you. I should like to hear from your ingratitude out of +what money you gained them. If you had enough sense to know the truth, +you would not say: 'I spent so and so much of my own;' also you would +not have come here to push your affairs with me, seeing how I have +always acted toward you in the past, but would have rather said: +'Michelangelo remembers what he wrote to us, and if he does not now do +what he promised, he must be prevented by something of which we are +ignorant,' and then have kept your peace; because it is not well to +spur the horse that runs as fast as he is able, and more than he is +able. But you have never known me, and do not know me. God pardon you; +for it is He who granted me the grace to bear what I do bear and have +borne, in order that you might be helped. Well, you will know me when +you have lost me." + +Michelangelo's angry moods rapidly cooled down. At the bottom of his +heart lay a deep and abiding love for his family. There is something +caressing in the tone with which he replies to grumbling letters from +his father. "Do not vex yourself. God did not make us to abandon us." +"If you want me, I will take the post, and be with you in two days. +Men are worth more than money." His warm affection transpires even +more clearly in the two following documents: + +"I should like you to be thoroughly convinced that all the labours I +have ever undergone have not been more for myself than for your sake. +What I have bought, I bought to be yours so long as you live. If you +had not been here, I should have bought nothing. Therefore, if you +wish to let the house and farm, do so at your pleasure. This income, +together with what I shall give you, will enable you to live like a +lord." At a time when Lodovico was much exercised in his mind and +spirits by a lawsuit, his son writes to comfort the old man. "Do not +be discomfited, nor give yourself an ounce of sadness. Remember that +losing money is not losing one's life. I will more than make up to you +what you must lose. Yet do not attach too much value to worldly goods, +for they are by nature untrustworthy. Thank God that this trial, if it +was bound to come, came at a time when you have more resources than +you had in years past. Look to preserving your life and health, but +let your fortunes go to ruin rather than suffer hardships; for I would +sooner have you alive and poor; if you were dead, I should not care +for all the gold in the world. If those chatterboxes or any one else +reprove you, let them talk, for they are men without intelligence and +without affection." + +References to public events are singularly scanty in this +correspondence. Much as Michelangelo felt the woes of Italy--and we +know he did so by his poems--he talked but little, doing his work +daily like a wise man all through the dust and din stirred up by +Julius and the League of Cambrai. The lights and shadows of Italian +experience at that time are intensely dramatic. We must not altogether +forget the vicissitudes of war, plague, and foreign invasion, which +exhausted the country, while its greatest men continued to produce +immortal masterpieces. Aldo Manuzio was quietly printing his complete +edition of Plato, and Michelangelo was transferring the noble figure +of a prophet or a sibyl to the plaster of the Sistine, while young +Gaston de Foix was dying at the point of victory upon the bloody +shores of the Ronco. Sometimes, however, the disasters of his country +touched Michelangelo so nearly that he had to write or speak about +them. After the battle of Ravenna, on the 11th of April 1512, Raimondo +de Cardona and his Spanish troops brought back the Medici to Florence. +On their way, the little town of Prato was sacked with a barbarity +which sent a shudder through the whole peninsula. The Cardinal +Giovanni de' Medici, who entered Florence on the 14th of September, +established his nephews as despots in the city, and intimidated the +burghers by what looked likely to be a reign of terror. These facts +account for the uneasy tone of a letter written by Michelangelo to +Buonarroto. Prato had been taken by assault upon the 30th of August, +and was now prostrate after those hideous days of torment, massacre, +and outrage indescribable which followed. In these circumstances +Michelangelo advises his family to "escape into a place of safety, +abandoning their household gear and property; for life is far more +worth than money." If they are in need of cash, they may draw upon his +credit with the Spedalingo of S. Maria Novella. The constitutional +liability to panic which must be recognised in Michelangelo emerges at +the close of the letter. "As to public events, do not meddle with them +either by deed or word. Act as though the plague were raging. Be the +first to fly." The Buonarroti did not take his advice, but remained at +Florence, enduring agonies of terror. It was a time when disaffection +toward the Medicean princes exposed men to risking life and limb. +Rumours reached Lodovico that his son had talked imprudently at Rome. +He wrote to inquire what truth there was in the report, and +Michelangelo replied: "With regard to the Medici, I have never spoken +a single word against them, except in the way that everybody +talks--as, for instance, about the sack of Prato; for if the stones +could have cried out, I think they would have spoken. There have been +many other things said since then, to which, when I heard them, I have +answered: 'If they are really acting in this way, they are doing +wrong;' not that I believed the reports; and God grant they are not +true. About a month ago, some one who makes a show of friendship for +me spoke very evilly about their deeds. I rebuked him, told him that +it was not well to talk so, and begged him not to do so again to me. +However, I should like Buonarroto quietly to find out how the rumour +arose of my having calumniated the Medici; for if it is some one who +pretends to be my friend, I ought to be upon my guard." + +The Buonarroti family, though well affected toward Savonarola, were +connected by many ties of interest and old association with the +Medici, and were not powerful enough to be the mark of violent +political persecution. Nevertheless, a fine was laid upon them by the +newly restored Government. This drew forth the following epistle from +Michelangelo:-- + +"Dearest Father,--Your last informs me how things are going on at +Florence, though I already knew something. We must have patience, +commit ourselves to God, and repent of our sins; for these trials are +solely due to them, and more particularly to pride and ingratitude. I +never conversed with a people more ungrateful and puffed up than the +Florentines. Therefore, if judgment comes, it is but right and +reasonable. As for the sixty ducats you tell me you are fined, I think +this a scurvy trick, and am exceedingly annoyed. However, we must have +patience as long as it pleases God. I will write and enclose two lines +to Giuliano de' Medici. Read them, and if you like to present them to +him, do so; you will see whether they are likely to be of any use. If +not, consider whether we can sell our property and go to live +elsewhere.... Look to your life and health; and if you cannot share +the honours of the land like other burghers, be contented that bread +does not fail you, and live well with Christ, and poorly, as I do +here; for I live in a sordid way, regarding neither life nor +honours--that is, the world--and suffer the greatest hardships and +innumerable anxieties and dreads. It is now about fifteen years since +I had a single hour of well-being, and all that I have done has been +to help you, and you have never recognised this nor believed it. God +pardon us all! I am ready to go on doing the same so long as I live, +if only I am able." + +We have reason to believe that the petition to Giuliano proved +effectual, for in his next letter he congratulates his father upon +their being restored to favour. In the same communication he mentions +a young Spanish painter whom he knew in Rome, and whom he believes to +be ill at Florence. This was probably the Alonso Berughetta who made a +copy of the Cartoon for the Battle of Pisa. In July 1508 Michelangelo +wrote twice about a Spaniard who wanted leave to study the Cartoon; +first begging Buonarroto to procure the keys for him, and afterwards +saying that he is glad to hear that the permission was refused. It +does not appear certain whether this was the same Alonso; but it is +interesting to find that Michelangelo disliked his Cartoon being +copied. We also learn from these letters that the Battle of Pisa then +remained in the Sala del Papa. + + +IX + +I will conclude this chapter by translating a sonnet addressed to +Giovanni da Pistoja, in which Michelangelo humorously describes the +discomforts he endured while engaged upon the Sistine. Condivi tells +us that from painting so long in a strained attitude, gazing up at the +vault, he lost for some time the power of reading except when he +lifted the paper above his head and raised his eyes. Vasari +corroborates the narrative from his own experience in the vast halls +of the Medicean palace. + + _I've grown a goitre by dwelling in this den-- + As cats from stagnant streams in Lombardy, + Or in what other land they hap to be-- + Which drives the belly close beneath the chin: + My beard turns up to heaven; my nape falls in, + Fixed on my spine: my breast-bone visibly + Grows like a harp: a rich embroidery + Bedews my face from brush-drops thick and thin. + My loins into my paunch like levers grind: + My buttock like a crupper bears my weight; + My feet unguided wander to and fro; + In front my skin grows loose and long; behind, + By bending it becomes more taut and strait; + Crosswise I strain me like a Syrian bow: + Whence false and quaint, I know, + Must be the fruit of squinting brain and eye; + For ill can aim the gun that bends awry. + Come then, Giovanni, try + To succour my dead pictures and my fame, + Since foul I fare and painting is my shame._ + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +I + +The Sistine Chapel was built in 1473 by Baccio Pontelli, a Florentine +architect, for Pope Sixtus IV. It is a simple barn-like chamber, 132 +feet in length, 44 in breadth, and 68 in height from the pavement. The +ceiling consists of one expansive flattened vault, the central portion +of which offers a large plane surface, well adapted to fresco +decoration. The building is lighted by twelve windows, six upon each +side of its length. These are placed high up, their rounded arches +running parallel with the first spring of the vaulting. The ends of +the chapel are closed by flat walls, against the western of which is +raised the altar. + +When Michelangelo was called to paint here, he found both sides of the +building, just below the windows, decorated in fresco by Perugino, +Cosimo Rosselli, Sandro Botticelli, Luca Signorelli, and Domenico +Ghirlandajo. These masters had depicted, in a series of twelve +subjects, the history of Moses and the life of Jesus. Above the lines +of fresco, in the spaces between the windows and along the eastern end +at the same height, Botticelli painted a row of twenty-eight Popes. +The spaces below the frescoed histories, down to the seats which ran +along the pavement, were blank, waiting for the tapestries which +Raffaello afterwards supplied from cartoons now in possession of the +English Crown. At the west end, above the altar, shone three +decorative frescoes by Perugino, representing the Assumption of the +Virgin, between the finding of Moses and the Nativity. The two last of +these pictures opened respectively the history of Moses and the life +of Christ, so that the Old and New Testaments were equally illustrated +upon the Chapel walls. At the opposite, or eastern end, Ghirlandajo +painted the Resurrection, and there was a corresponding picture of +Michael contending with Satan for the body of Moses. + +Such was the aspect of the Sistine Chapel when Michelangelo began his +great work. Perugino's three frescoes on the west wall were afterwards +demolished to make room for his Last Judgment. The two frescoes on the +east wall are now poor pictures by very inferior masters; but the +twelve Scripture histories and Botticelli's twenty-eight Popes remain +from the last years of the fifteenth century. + +Taken in their aggregate, the wall-paintings I have described afforded +a fair sample of Umbrian and Tuscan art in its middle or +_quattrocento_ age of evolution. It remained for Buonarroti to cover +the vault and the whole western end with masterpieces displaying what +Vasari called the "modern" style in its most sublime and imposing +manifestation. At the same time he closed the cycle of the figurative +arts, and rendered any further progress on the same lines impossible. +The growth which began with Niccolo of Pisa and with Cimabue, which +advanced through Giotto and his school, Perugino and Pinturicchio, +Piero della Francesca and Signorelli, Fra Angelico and Benozzo +Gozzoli, the Ghirlandajo brothers, the Lippi and Botticelli, +effloresced in Michelangelo, leaving nothing for aftercomers but +manneristic imitation. + + +II + +Michelangelo, instinctively and on principle, reacted against the +decorative methods of the fifteenth century. If he had to paint a +biblical or mythological subject, he avoided landscapes, trees, +flowers, birds, beasts, and subordinate groups of figures. He eschewed +the arabesques, the labyrinths of foliage and fruit enclosing pictured +panels, the candelabra and gay bands of variegated patterns, which +enabled a _quattrocento_ painter, like Gozzoli or Pinturicchio, to +produce brilliant and harmonious general effects at a small +expenditure of intellectual energy. Where the human body struck the +keynote of the music in a work of art, he judged that such simple +adjuncts and naive concessions to the pleasure of the eye should be +avoided. An architectural foundation for the plastic forms to rest on, +as plain in structure and as grandiose in line as could be fashioned, +must suffice. These principles he put immediately to the test in his +first decorative undertaking. For the vault of the Sistine he designed +a mighty architectural framework in the form of a hypaethral temple, +suspended in the air on jutting pilasters, with bold cornices, +projecting brackets, and ribbed arches flung across the void of +heaven. Since the whole of this ideal building was painted upon +plaster, its inconsequence, want of support, and disconnection from +the ground-plan of the chapel do not strike the mind. It is felt to be +a mere basis for the display of pictorial art, the theatre for a +thousand shapes of dignity and beauty. + +I have called this imaginary temple hypaethral, because the master +left nine openings in the flattened surface of the central vault. They +are unequal in size, five being short parallelograms, and four being +spaces of the same shape but twice their length. Through these the eye +is supposed to pierce the roof and discover the unfettered region of +the heavens. But here again Michelangelo betrayed the inconsequence of +his invention. He filled the spaces in question with nine dominant +paintings, representing the history of the Creation, the Fall, and the +Deluge. Taking our position at the west end of the chapel and looking +upwards, we see in the first compartment God dividing light from +darkness; in the second, creating the sun and the moon and the solid +earth; in the third, animating the ocean with His brooding influence; +in the fourth, creating Adam; in the fifth, creating Eve. The sixth +represents the temptation of our first parents and their expulsion +from Paradise. The seventh shows Noah's sacrifice before entering the +ark; the eighth depicts the Deluge, and the ninth the drunkenness of +Noah. It is clear that, between the architectural conception of a roof +opening on the skies and these pictures of events which happened upon +earth, there is no logical connection. Indeed, Michelangelo's new +system of decoration bordered dangerously upon the barocco style, and +contained within itself the germs of a vicious mannerism. + +It would be captious and unjust to push this criticism home. The +architectural setting provided for the figures and the pictures of the +Sistine vault is so obviously conventional, every point of vantage has +been so skilfully appropriated to plastic uses, every square inch of +the ideal building becomes so naturally, and without confusion, a +pedestal for the human form, that we are lost in wonder at the +synthetic imagination which here for the first time combined the arts +of architecture, sculpture, and painting in a single organism. Each +part of the immense composition, down to the smallest detail, is +necessary to the total effect. We are in the presence of a most +complicated yet mathematically ordered scheme, which owes life and +animation to one master-thought. In spite of its complexity and +scientific precision, the vault of the Sistine does not strike the +mind as being artificial or worked out by calculation, but as being +predestined to existence, inevitable, a cosmos instinct with vitality. + +On the pendentives between the spaces of the windows, running up to +the ends of each of the five lesser pictures, Michelangelo placed +alternate prophets and sibyls upon firm projecting consoles. Five +sibyls and five prophets run along the side-walls of the chapel. The +end-walls sustain each of them a prophet. These twelve figures are +introduced as heralds and pioneers of Christ the Saviour, whose +presence on the earth is demanded by the fall of man and the renewal +of sin after the Deluge. In the lunettes above the windows and the +arched recesses or spandrels over them are depicted scenes setting +forth the genealogy of Christ and of His Mother. At each of the four +corner-spandrels of the ceiling, Michelangelo painted, in spaces of a +very peculiar shape and on a surface of embarrassing inequality, one +magnificent subject symbolical of man's redemption. The first is the +raising of the Brazen Serpent in the wilderness; the second, the +punishment of Haman; the third, the victory of David over Goliath; the +fourth, Judith with the head of Holofernes. + +Thus, with a profound knowledge of the Bible, and with an intense +feeling for religious symbolism, Michelangelo unrolled the history of +the creation of the world and man, the entrance of sin into the human +heart, the punishment of sin by water, and the reappearance of sin in +Noah's family. Having done this, he intimated, by means of four +special mercies granted to the Jewish people--types and symbols of +God's indulgence--that a Saviour would arise to redeem the erring +human race. In confirmation of this promise, he called twelve potent +witnesses, seven of the Hebrew prophets and five of the Pagan sibyls. +He made appeal to history, and set around the thrones on which these +witnesses are seated scenes detached from the actual lives of our +Lord's human ancestors. + +The intellectual power of this conception is at least equal to the +majesty and sublime strength of its artistic presentation. An awful +sense of coming doom and merited damnation hangs in the thunderous +canopy of the Sistine vault, tempered by a solemn and sober +expectation of the Saviour. It is much to be regretted that Christ, +the Desired of all Nations, the Redeemer and Atoner, appears nowhere +adequately represented in the Chapel. When Michelangelo resumed his +work there, it was to portray him as an angered Hercules, hurling +curses upon helpless victims. The August rhetoric of the ceiling loses +its effective value when we can nowhere point to Christ's life and +work on earth; when there is no picture of the Nativity, none of the +Crucifixion, none of the Resurrection; and when the feeble panels of a +Perugino and a Cosimo Rosselli are crushed into insignificance by the +terrible Last Judgment. In spite of Buonarroti's great creative +strength, and injuriously to his real feeling as a Christian, the +piecemeal production which governs all large art undertakings results +here in a maimed and one-sided rendering of what theologians call the +Scheme of Salvation. + + +III + +So much has been written about the pictorial beauty, the sublime +imagination, the dramatic energy, the profound significance, the exact +science, the shy graces, the terrible force, and finally the vivid +powers of characterisation displayed in these frescoes, that I feel it +would be impertinent to attempt a new discourse upon a theme so +time-worn. I must content myself with referring to what I have already +published, which will, I hope, be sufficient to demonstrate that I do +not avoid the task for want of enthusiasm. The study of much +rhetorical criticism makes me feel strongly that, in front of certain +masterpieces, silence is best, or, in lieu of silence, some simple +pregnant sayings, capable of rousing folk to independent observation. + +These convictions need not prevent me, however, from fixing attention +upon a subordinate matter, but one which has the most important +bearing upon Michelangelo's genius. After designing the architectural +theatre which I have attempted to describe, and filling its main +spaces with the vast religious drama he unrolled symbolically in a +series of primeval scenes, statuesque figures, and countless minor +groups contributing to one intellectual conception, he proceeded to +charge the interspaces--all that is usually left for facile decorative +details--with an army of passionately felt and wonderfully executed +nudes, forms of youths and children, naked or half draped, in every +conceivable posture and with every possible variety of facial type and +expression. On pedestals, cornices, medallions, tympanums, in the +angles made by arches, wherever a vacant plane or unused curve was +found, he set these vivid transcripts from humanity in action. We need +not stop to inquire what he intended by that host of plastic shapes +evoked from his imagination. The triumphant leaders of the crew, the +twenty lads who sit upon their consoles, sustaining medallions by +ribands which they lift, have been variously and inconclusively +interpreted. In the long row of Michelangelo's creations, those young +men are perhaps the most significant--athletic adolescents, with faces +of feminine delicacy and poignant fascination. But it serves no +purpose to inquire what they symbolise. If we did so, we should have +to go further, and ask, What do the bronze figures below them, twisted +into the boldest attitudes the human frame can take, or the twinned +children on the pedestals, signify? In this region, the region of pure +plastic play, when art drops the wand of the interpreter and allows +physical beauty to be a law unto itself, Michelangelo demonstrated +that no decorative element in the hand of a really supreme master is +equal to the nude. + +Previous artists, with a strong instinct for plastic as opposed to +merely picturesque effect, had worked upon the same line. Donatello +revelled in the rhythmic dance and stationary grace of children. Luca +Signorelli initiated the plan of treating complex ornament by means of +the mere human body; and for this reason, in order to define the +position of Michelangelo in Italian art-history, I shall devote the +next section of this chapter to Luca's work at Orvieto. But Buonarroti +in the Sistine carried their suggestions to completion. The result is +a mapped-out chart of living figures--a vast pattern, each detail of +which is a masterpiece of modelling. After we have grasped the +intellectual content of the whole, the message it was meant to +inculcate, the spiritual meaning present to the maker's mind, we +discover that, in the sphere of artistic accomplishment, as distinct +from intellectual suggestion, one rhythm of purely figurative beauty +has been carried throughout--from God creating Adam to the boy who +waves his torch above the censer of the Erythrean sibyl. + + +IV + +Of all previous painters, only Luca Signorelli deserves to be called +the forerunner of Michelangelo, and his Chapel of S. Brizio in the +Cathedral at Orvieto in some remarkable respects anticipates the +Sistine. This eminent master was commissioned in 1499 to finish its +decoration, a small portion of which had been begun by Fra Angelico. +He completed the whole Chapel within the space of two years; so that +the young Michelangelo, upon one of his journeys to or from Rome, may +probably have seen the frescoes in their glory. Although no visit to +Orvieto is recorded by his biographers, the fame of these masterpieces +by a man whose work at Florence had already influenced his youthful +genius must certainly have attracted him to a city which lay on the +direct route from Tuscany to the Campagna. + +The four walls of the Chapel of S. Brizio are covered with paintings +setting forth events immediately preceding and following the day of +judgment. A succession of panels, differing in size and shape, +represent the preaching of Antichrist, the destruction of the world by +fire, the resurrection of the body, the condemnation of the lost, the +reception of saved souls into bliss, and the final states of heaven +and hell. These main subjects occupy the upper spaces of each wall, +while below them are placed portraits of poets, surrounded by rich and +fanciful arabesques, including various episodes from Dante and antique +mythology. Obeying the spirit of the fifteenth century, Signorelli did +not aim at what may be termed an architectural effect in his +decoration of this building. Each panel of the whole is treated +separately, and with very unequal energy, the artist seeming to exert +his strength chiefly in those details which made demands on his +profound knowledge of the human form and his enthusiasm for the nude. +The men and women of the Resurrection, the sublime angels of Heaven +and of the Judgment, the discoloured and degraded fiends of Hell, the +magnificently foreshortened clothed figures of the Fulminati, the +portraits in the preaching of Antichrist, reveal Luca's specific +quality as a painter, at once impressively imaginative and crudely +realistic. There is something in his way of regarding the world and of +reproducing its aspects which dominates our fancy, does violence to +our sense of harmony and beauty, leaves us broken and bewildered, +resentful and at the same moment enthralled. He is a power which has +to be reckoned with; and the reason for speaking about him at length +here is that, in this characteristic blending of intense vision with +impassioned realistic effort after truth to fact, this fascination +mingled with repulsion, he anticipated Michelangelo. Deep at the root +of all Buonarroti's artistic qualities lie these contradictions. +Studying Signorelli, we study a parallel psychological problem. The +chief difference between the two masters lies in the command of +aesthetic synthesis, the constructive sense of harmony, which belonged +to the younger, but which might, we feel, have been granted in like +measure to the elder, had Luca been born, as Michelangelo was, to +complete the evolution of Italian figurative art, instead of marking +one of its most important intermediate moments. + +The decorative methods and instincts of the two men were closely +similar. Both scorned any element of interest or beauty which was not +strictly plastic--the human body supported by architecture or by rough +indications of the world we live in. Signorelli invented an intricate +design for arabesque pilasters, one on each side of the door leading +from his chapel into the Cathedral. They are painted _en grisaille_, +and are composed exclusively of nudes, mostly male, perched or grouped +in a marvellous variety of attitudes upon an ascending series of +slender-stemmed vases, which build up gigantic candelabra by their +aggregation. The naked form is treated with audacious freedom. It +appears to be elastic in the hands of the modeller. Some dead bodies +carried on the backs of brawny porters are even awful by the contrast +of their wet-clay limpness with the muscular energy of brutal life +beneath them. Satyrs giving drink to one another, fauns whispering in +the ears of stalwart women, centaurs trotting with corpses flung +across their cruppers, combatants trampling in frenzy upon prostrate +enemies, men sunk in self-abandonment to sloth or sorrow--such are the +details of these incomparable columns, where our sense of the +grotesque and vehement is immediately corrected by a perception of +rare energy in the artist who could play thus with his plastic +puppets. + +We have here certainly the preludings to Michelangelo's serener, more +monumental work in the Sistine Chapel. The leading motive is the same +in both great masterpieces. It consists in the use of the simple body, +if possible the nude body, for the expression of thought and emotion, +the telling of a tale, the delectation of the eye by ornamental +details. It consists also in the subordination of the female to the +male nude as the symbolic unit of artistic utterance. Buonarroti is +greater than Signorelli chiefly through that larger and truer +perception of aesthetic unity which seems to be the final outcome of a +long series of artistic effort. The arabesques, for instance, with +which Luca wreathed his portraits of the poets, are monstrous, +bizarre, in doubtful taste. Michelangelo, with a finer instinct for +harmony, a deeper grasp on his own dominant ideal, excluded this +element of _quattrocento_ decoration from his scheme. Raffaello, with +the graceful tact essential to the style, developed its crude +rudiments into the choice forms of fanciful delightfulness which charm +us in the Loggie. Signorelli loved violence. A large proportion of the +circular pictures painted _en grisaille_ on these walls represent +scenes of massacre, assassination, torture, ruthless outrage. One of +them, extremely spirited in design, shows a group of three +executioners hurling men with millstones round their necks into a +raging river from the bridge which spans it. The first victim +flounders half merged in the flood; a second plunges head foremost +through the air; the third stands bent upon the parapet, his shoulders +pressed down by the varlets on each side, at the very point of being +flung to death by drowning. In another of these pictures a man seated +upon the ground is being tortured by the breaking of his teeth, while +a furious fellow holds a club suspended over him, in act to shatter +his thigh-bones. Naked soldiers wrestle in mad conflict, whirl staves +above their heads, fling stones, displaying their coarse muscles with +a kind of frenzy. Even the classical subjects suffer from extreme +dramatic energy of treatment. Ceres, seeking her daughter through the +plains of Sicily, dashes frantically on a car of dragons, her hair +dishevelled to the winds, her cheeks gashed by her own crooked +fingers. Eurydice struggles in the clutch of bestial devils; Pluto, +like a mediaeval Satan, frowns above the scene of fiendish riot; the +violin of Orpheus thrills faintly through the infernal tumult. Gazing +on the spasms and convulsions of these grim subjects, we are inclined +to credit a legend preserved at Orvieto to the effect that the painter +depicted his own unfaithful mistress in the naked woman who is being +borne on a demon's back through the air to hell. + +No one who has studied Michelangelo impartially will deny that in this +preference for the violent he came near to Signorelli. We feel it in +his choice of attitude, the strain he puts upon the lines of plastic +composition, the stormy energy of his conception and expression. It is +what we call his _terribilita_. But here again that dominating sense +of harmony, that instinct for the necessity of subordinating each +artistic element to one strain of architectonic music, which I have +already indicated as the leading note of difference between him and +the painter of Cortona, intervened to elevate his terribleness into +the region of sublimity. The violence of Michelangelo, unlike that of +Luca, lay not so much in the choice of savage subjects (cruelty, +ferocity, extreme physical and mental torment) as in a forceful, +passionate, tempestuous way of handling all the themes he treated. The +angels of the Judgment, sustaining the symbols of Christ's Passion, +wrestle and bend their agitated limbs like athletes. Christ emerges +from the sepulchre, not in victorious tranquillity, but with the clash +and clangour of an irresistible energy set free. Even in the +Crucifixion, one leg has been wrenched away from the nail which +pierced its foot, and writhes round the knee of the other still left +riven to the cross. The loves of Leda and the Swan, of Ixion and Juno, +are spasms of voluptuous pain; the sleep of the Night is troubled with +fantastic dreams, and the Dawn starts into consciousness with a +shudder of prophetic anguish. There is not a hand, a torso, a simple +nude, sketched by this extraordinary master, which does not vibrate +with nervous tension, as though the fingers that grasped the pen were +clenched and the eyes that viewed the model glowed beneath knit brows. +Michelangelo, in fact, saw nothing, felt nothing, interpreted nothing, +on exactly the same lines as any one who had preceded or who followed +him. His imperious personality he stamped upon the smallest trifle of +his work. + +Luca's frescoes at Orvieto, when compared with Michelangelo's in the +Sistine, mark the transition from the art of the fourteenth, through +the art of the fifteenth, to that of the sixteenth century, with broad +and trenchant force. They are what Marlowe's dramas were to +Shakespeare's. They retain much of the mediaeval tradition both as +regards form and sentiment. We feel this distinctly in the treatment +of Dante, whose genius seems to have exerted at least as strong an +influence over Signorelli's imagination as over that of Michelangelo. +The episodes from the Divine Comedy are painted in a rude Gothic +spirit. The spirits of Hell seem borrowed from grotesque bas-reliefs +of the Pisan school. The draped, winged, and armed angels of Heaven +are posed with a ceremonious research of suavity or grandeur. These +and other features of his work carry us back to the period of Giotto +and Niccolo Pisano. But the true force of the man, what made him a +commanding master of the middle period, what distinguished him from +all his fellows of the _quattrocento_, is the passionate delight he +took in pure humanity--the nude, the body studied under all its +aspects and with no repugnance for its coarseness--man in his crudity +made the sole sufficient object for figurative art, anatomy regarded +as the crowning and supreme end of scientific exploration. It is this +in his work which carries us on toward the next age, and justifies our +calling Luca "the morning-star of Michelangelo." + +It would be wrong to ascribe too much to the immediate influence of +the elder over the younger artist--at any rate in so far as the +frescoes of the Chapel of S. Brizio may have determined the creation +of the Sistine. Yet Vasari left on record that "even Michelangelo +followed the manner of Signorelli, as any one may see." Undoubtedly, +Buonarroti, while an inmate of Lorenzo de' Medici's palace at +Florence, felt the power of Luca's Madonna with the naked figures in +the background; the leading motive of which he transcended in his Doni +Holy Family. Probably at an early period he had before his eyes the +bold nudities, uncompromising designs, and awkward composition of +Luca's so-called School of Pan. In like manner, we may be sure that +during his first visit to Rome he was attracted by Signorelli's solemn +fresco of Moses in the Sistine. These things were sufficient to +establish a link of connection between the painter of Cortona and the +Florentine sculptor. And when Michelangelo visited the Chapel of S. +Brizio, after he had fixed and formed his style (exhibiting his innate +force of genius in the Pieta, the Bacchus, the Cupid, the David, the +statue of Julius, the Cartoon for the Battle of Pisa), that early bond +of sympathy must have been renewed and enforced. They were men of a +like temperament, and governed by kindred aesthetic instincts. +Michelangelo brought to its perfection that system of working wholly +through the human form which Signorelli initiated. He shared his +violence, his _terribilita_, his almost brutal candour. In the fated +evolution of Italian art, describing its parabola of vital energy, +Michelangelo softened, sublimed, and harmonised his predecessor's +qualities. He did this by abandoning Luca's naivetes and crudities; +exchanging his savage transcripts from coarse life for profoundly +studied idealisations of form; subordinating his rough and casual +design to schemes of balanced composition, based on architectural +relations; penetrating the whole accomplished work, as he intended it +should be, with a solemn and severe strain of unifying intellectual +melody. + +Viewed in this light, the vault of the Sistine and the later fresco of +the Last Judgment may be taken as the final outcome of all previous +Italian art upon a single line of creative energy, and that line the +one anticipated by Luca Signorelli. In like manner, the Stanze and +Loggie of the Vatican were the final outcome of the same process upon +another line, suggested by Perugino and Fra Bartolommeo. + +Michelangelo adapted to his own uses and bent to his own genius +motives originated by the Pisani, Giotto, Giacopo della Quercia, +Donatello, Masaccio, while working in the spirit of Signorelli. He +fused and recast the antecedent materials of design in sculpture and +painting, producing a quintessence of art beyond which it was +impossible to advance without breaking the rhythm, so intensely +strung, and without contradicting too violently the parent +inspiration. He strained the chord of rhythm to its very utmost, and +made incalculable demands upon the religious inspiration of its +predecessors. His mighty talent was equal to the task of transfusion +and remodelling which the exhibition of the supreme style demanded. +But after him there remained nothing for successors except mechanical +imitation, soulless rehandling of themes he had exhausted by reducing +them to his imperious imagination in a crucible of fiery intensity. + + +V + +No critic with a just sense of phraseology would call Michelangelo a +colourist in the same way as Titian and Rubens were colourists. Still +it cannot be denied with justice that the painter of the Sistine had a +keen perception of what his art required in this region, and of how to +attain it. He planned a comprehensive architectural scheme, which +served as setting and support for multitudes of draped and undraped +human figures. The colouring is kept deliberately low and subordinate +to the two main features of the design--architecture, and the plastic +forms of men and women. Flesh-tints, varying from the strong red tone +of Jonah's athletic manhood, through the glowing browns of the seated +Genii, to the delicate carnations of Adam and the paler hues of Eve; +orange and bronze in draperies, medallions, decorative nudes, russets +like the tints of dead leaves; lilacs, cold greens, blue used +sparingly; all these colours are dominated and brought into harmony by +the greys of the architectural setting. It may indeed be said that the +different qualities of flesh-tints, the architectural greys, and a +dull bronzed yellow strike the chord of the composition. Reds are +conspicuous by their absence in any positive hue. There is no +vermilion, no pure scarlet or crimson, but a mixed tint verging upon +lake. The yellows are brought near to orange, tawny, bronze, except in +the hair of youthful personages, a large majority of whom are blonde. +The only colour which starts out staringly is ultramarine, owing of +course to this mineral material resisting time and change more +perfectly than the pigments with which it is associated. The whole +scheme leaves a grave harmonious impression on the mind, thoroughly in +keeping with the sublimity of the thoughts expressed. No words can +describe the beauty of the flesh-painting, especially in the figures +of the Genii, or the technical delicacy with which the modelling of +limbs, the modulation from one tone to another, have been carried from +silvery transparent shades up to the strongest accents. + + +VI + +Mr. Ruskin has said, and very justly said, that "the highest art can +do no more than rightly represent the human form." This is what the +Italians of the Renaissance meant when, through the mouths of +Ghiberti, Buonarroti, and Cellini, they proclaimed that the perfect +drawing of a fine nude, "un bel corpo ignudo," was the final test of +mastery in plastic art. Mr. Ruskin develops his text in sentences +which have peculiar value from his lips. "This is the simple test, +then, of a perfect school--that it has represented the human form so +that it is impossible to conceive of its being better done. And that, +I repeat, has been accomplished twice only: once in Athens, once in +Florence. And so narrow is the excellence even of these two exclusive +schools, that it cannot be said of either of them that they +represented the entire human form. The Greeks perfectly drew and +perfectly moulded the body and limbs, but there is, so far as I am +aware, no instance of their representing the face as well as any great +Italian. On the other hand, the Italian painted and carved the face +insuperably; but I believe there is no instance of his having +perfectly represented the body, which, by command of his religion, it +became his pride to despise and his safety to mortify." + +We need not pause to consider whether the Italian's inferiority to the +Greek's in the plastic modelling of human bodies was due to the +artist's own religious sentiment. That seems a far-fetched explanation +for the shortcomings of men so frankly realistic and so scientifically +earnest as the masters of the Cinque Cento were. Michelangelo's +magnificent cartoon of Leda and the Swan, if it falls short of some +similar subject in some _gabinetto segreto_ of antique fresco, does +assuredly not do so because the draughtsman's hand faltered in pious +dread or pious aspiration. Nevertheless, Ruskin is right in telling us +that no Italian modelled a female nude equal to the Aphrodite of +Melos, or a male nude equal to the Apoxyomenos of the Braccio Nuovo. +He is also right in pointing out that no Greek sculptor approached the +beauty of facial form and expression which we recognise in Raffaello's +Madonna di San Sisto, in Sodoma's S. Sebastian, in Guercino's Christ +at the Corsini Palace, in scores of early Florentine sepulchral +monuments and pictures, in Umbrian saints and sweet strange +portrait-fancies by Da Vinci. + +The fact seems to be that Greek and Italian plastic art followed +different lines of development, owing to the difference of dominant +ideas in the races, and to the difference of social custom. Religion +naturally played a foremost part in the art-evolution of both epochs. +The anthropomorphic Greek mythology encouraged sculptors to +concentrate their attention upon what Hegel called "the sensuous +manifestation of the idea," while Greek habits rendered them familiar +with the body frankly exhibited. Mediaeval religion withdrew Italian +sculptors and painters from the problems of purely physical form, and +obliged them to study the expression of sentiments and aspirations +which could only be rendered by emphasising psychical qualities +revealed through physiognomy. At the same time, modern habits of life +removed the naked body from their ken. + +We may go further, and observe that the conditions under which Greek +art flourished developed what the Germans call "Allgemeinheit," a +tendency to generalise, which was inimical to strongly marked facial +expression or characterisation. The conditions of Italian art, on the +other hand, favoured an opposite tendency--to particularise, to +enforce detail, to emphasise the artist's own ideal or the model's +quality. When the type of a Greek deity had been fixed, each +successive master varied this within the closest limits possible. For +centuries the type remained fundamentally unaltered, undergoing subtle +transformations, due partly to the artist's temperament, and partly to +changes in the temper of society. Consequently those aspects of the +human form which are capable of most successful generalisation, the +body and the limbs, exerted a kind of conventional tyranny over Greek +art. And Greek artists applied to the face the same rules of +generalisation which were applicable to the body. + +The Greek god or goddess was a sensuous manifestation of the idea, a +particle of universal godhood incarnate in a special fleshly form, +corresponding to the particular psychological attributes of the deity +whom the sculptor had to represent. No deviation from the generalised +type was possible. The Christian God, on the contrary, is a spirit; +and all the emanations from this spirit, whether direct, as in the +person of Christ, or derived, as in the persons of the saints, owe +their sensuous form and substance to the exigencies of mortal +existence, which these persons temporarily and phenomenally obeyed. +Since, then, the sensuous manifestation has now become merely +symbolic, and is no longer an indispensable investiture of the idea, +it may be altered at will in Christian art without irreverence. The +utmost capacity of the artist is now exerted, not in enforcing or +refining a generalised type, but in discovering some new facial +expression which shall reveal psychological quality in a particular +being. Doing so, he inevitably insists upon the face; and having +formed a face expressive of some defined quality, he can hardly give +to the body that generalised beauty which belongs to a Greek nymph or +athlete. + +What we mean by the differences between Classic and Romantic art lies +in the distinctions I am drawing. Classicism sacrifices character to +breadth. Romanticism sacrifices breadth to character. Classic art +deals more triumphantly with the body, because the body gains by being +broadly treated. Romantic art deals more triumphantly with the face, +because the features lose by being broadly treated. + +This brings me back to Mr. Ruskin, who, in another of his treatises, +condemns Michelangelo for a want of variety, beauty, feeling, in his +heads and faces. Were this the case, Michelangelo would have little +claim to rank as one of the world's chief artists. We have admitted +that the Italians did not produce such perfectly beautiful bodes and +limbs as the Greeks did, and have agreed that the Greeks produced less +perfectly beautiful faces than the Italians. Suppose, then, that +Michelangelo failed in his heads and faces, he, being an Italian, and +therefore confessedly inferior to the Greeks in his bodies and limbs, +must, by the force of logic, emerge less meritorious than we thought +him. + + +VII + +To many of my readers the foregoing section will appear superfluous, +polemical, sophistic--three bad things. I wrote it, and I let it +stand, however, because it serves as preface to what I have to say in +general about Michelangelo's ideal of form. He was essentially a +Romantic as opposed to a Classic artist. That is to say, he sought +invariably for character--character in type, character in attitude, +character in every action of each muscle, character in each +extravagance of pose. He applied the Romantic principle to the body +and the limbs, exactly to that region of the human form which the +Greeks had conquered as their province. He did so with consummate +science and complete mastery of physiological law. What is more, he +compelled the body to become expressive, not, as the Greeks had done, +of broad general conceptions, but of the most intimate and poignant +personal emotions. This was his main originality. At the same time, +being a Romantic, he deliberately renounced the main tradition of that +manner. He refused to study portraiture, as Vasari tells us, and as we +see so plainly in the statues of the Dukes at Florence. He generalised +his faces, composing an ideal cast of features out of several types. +In the rendering of the face and head, then, he chose to be a Classic, +while in the treatment of the body he was vehemently modern. In all +his work which is not meant to be dramatic--that is, excluding the +damned souls in the Last Judgment, the bust of Brutus, and some keen +psychological designs--character is sacrificed to a studied ideal of +form, so far as the face is concerned. That he did this wilfully, on +principle, is certain. The proof remains in the twenty heads of those +incomparable genii of the Sistine, each one of whom possesses a beauty +and a quality peculiar to himself alone. They show that, if he had so +chosen, he could have played upon the human countenance with the same +facility as on the human body, varying its expressiveness _ad +infinitum_. + +Why Michelangelo preferred to generalise the face and to particularise +the body remains a secret buried in the abysmal deeps of his +personality. In his studies from the model, unlike Lionardo, he almost +always left the features vague, while working out the trunk and limbs +with strenuous passion. He never seems to have been caught and +fascinated by the problem offered by the eyes and features of a male +or female. He places masks or splendid commonplaces upon frames +palpitant and vibrant with vitality in pleasure or in anguish. + +In order to guard against an apparent contradiction, I must submit +that, when Michelangelo particularised the body and the limbs, he +strove to make them the symbols of some definite passion or emotion. +He seems to have been more anxious about the suggestions afforded by +their pose and muscular employment than he was about the expression of +the features. But we shall presently discover that, so far as pure +physical type is concerned, he early began to generalise the structure +of the body, passing finally into what may not unjustly be called a +mannerism of form. + +These points may be still further illustrated by what a competent +critic has recently written upon Michelangelo's treatment of form. "No +one," says Professor Bruecke, "ever knew so well as Michelangelo +Buonarroti how to produce powerful and strangely harmonious effects by +means of figures in themselves open to criticism, simply by his mode +of placing and ordering them, and of distributing their lines. For him +a figure existed only in his particular representation of it; how it +would have looked in any other position was a matter of no concern to +him." We may even go further, and maintain that Michelangelo was +sometimes wilfully indifferent to the physical capacities of the human +body in his passionate research of attitudes which present picturesque +and novel beauty. The ancients worked on quite a different method. +They created standard types which, in every conceivable posture, would +exhibit the grace and symmetry belonging to well-proportioned frames. +Michelangelo looked to the effect of a particular posture. He may have +been seduced by his habit of modelling figures in clay instead of +going invariably to the living subject, and so may have handled nature +with unwarrantable freedom. Anyhow, we have here another demonstration +of his romanticism. + + +VIII + +The true test of the highest art is that it should rightly represent +the human form. Agreed upon this point, it remains for us to consider +in what way Michelangelo conceived and represented the human form. If +we can discover his ideal, his principles, his leading instincts in +this decisive matter, we shall unlock, so far as that is possible, the +secret of his personality as man and artist. The psychological quality +of every great master must eventually be determined by his mode of +dealing with the phenomena of sex. + +In Pheidias we find a large impartiality. His men and women are cast +in the same mould of grandeur, inspired with equal strength and +sweetness, antiphonal notes in dual harmony. Praxiteles leans to the +female, Lysippus to the male; and so, through all the gamut of the +figurative craftsmen, we discover more or less affinity for man or +woman. One is swayed by woman and her gracefulness, the other by man +and his vigour. Few have realised the Pheidian perfection of doing +equal justice. + +Michelangelo emerges as a mighty master who was dominated by the +vision of male beauty, and who saw the female mainly through the +fascination of the other sex. The defect of his art is due to a +certain constitutional callousness, a want of sensuous or imaginative +sensibility for what is specifically feminine. + +Not a single woman carved or painted by the hand of Michelangelo has +the charm of early youth or the grace of virginity. The Eve of the +Sistine, the Madonna of S. Peter's, the Night and Dawn of the Medicean +Sacristy, are female in the anatomy of their large and grandly +modelled forms, but not feminine in their sentiment. This proposition +requires no proof. It is only needful to recall a Madonna by Raphael, +a Diana by Correggio, a Leda by Lionardo, a Venus by Titian, a S. +Agnes by Tintoretto. We find ourselves immediately in a different +region--the region of artists who loved, admired, and comprehended +what is feminine in the beauty and the temperament of women. +Michelangelo neither loved, nor admired, nor yielded to the female +sex. Therefore he could not deal plastically with what is best and +loveliest in the female form. His plastic ideal of the woman is +masculine. He builds a colossal frame of muscle, bone, and flesh, +studied with supreme anatomical science. He gives to Eve the full +pelvis and enormous haunches of an adult matron. It might here be +urged that he chose to symbolise the fecundity of her who was destined +to be the mother of the human race. But if this was his meaning, why +did he not make Adam a corresponding symbol of fatherhood? Adam is an +adolescent man, colossal in proportions, but beardless, hairless; the +attributes of sex in him are developed, but not matured by use. The +Night, for whom no symbolism of maternity was needed, is a woman who +has passed through many pregnancies. Those deeply delved wrinkles on +the vast and flaccid abdomen sufficiently indicate this. Yet when we +turn to Michelangelo's sonnets on Night, we find that he habitually +thought of her as a mysterious and shadowy being, whose influence, +though potent for the soul, disappeared before the frailest of all +creatures bearing light. The Dawn, again, in her deep lassitude, has +nothing of vernal freshness. Built upon the same type as the Night, +she looks like Messalina dragging herself from heavy slumber, for once +satiated as well as tired, stricken for once with the conscience of +disgust. When he chose to depict the acts of passion or of sensual +pleasure, a similar want of sympathy with what is feminine in +womanhood leaves an even more discordant impression on the mind. I +would base the proof of this remark upon the marble Leda of the +Bargello Museum, and an old engraving of Ixion clasping the phantom of +Juno under the form of a cloud. In neither case do we possess +Michelangelo's own handiwork; he must not, therefore, be credited with +the revolting expression, as of a drunken profligate, upon the face of +Leda. Yet in both cases he is indubitably responsible for the general +design, and for the brawny carnality of the repulsive woman. I find it +difficult to resist the conclusion that Michelangelo felt himself +compelled to treat women as though they were another and less graceful +sort of males. The sentiment of woman, what really distinguishes the +sex, whether voluptuously or passionately or poetically apprehended, +emerges in no eminent instance of his work. There is a Cartoon at +Naples for a Bacchante, which Bronzino transferred to canvas and +coloured. This design illustrates the point on which I am insisting. +An athletic circus-rider of mature years, with abnormally developed +muscles, might have posed as model for this female votary of Dionysus. +Before he made this drawing, Michelangelo had not seen those frescoes +of the dancing Bacchantes from Pompeii; nor had he perhaps seen the +Maenads on Greek bas-reliefs tossing wild tresses backwards, swaying +virginal lithe bodies to the music of the tambourine. We must not, +therefore, compare his concept with those masterpieces of the later +classical imagination. Still, many of his contemporaries, vastly +inferior to him in penetrative insight, a Giovanni da Udine, a Perino +del Vaga, a Primaticcio, not to speak of Raffaello or of Lionardo, +felt what the charm of youthful womanhood upon the revel might be. He +remained insensible to the melody of purely feminine lines; and the +only reason why his transcripts from the female form are not gross +like those of Flemish painters, repulsive like Rembrandt's, fleshly +like Rubens's, disagreeable like the drawings made by criminals in +prisons, is that they have little womanly about them. + +Lest these assertions should appear too dogmatic, I will indicate the +series of works in which I recognise Michelangelo's sympathy with +genuine female quality. All the domestic groups, composed of women and +children, which fill the lunettes and groinings between the windows in +the Sistine Chapel, have a charming twilight sentiment of family life +or maternal affection. They are among the loveliest and most tranquil +of his conceptions. The Madonna above the tomb of Julius II. cannot be +accused of masculinity, nor the ecstatic figure of the Rachel beneath +it. Both of these statues represent what Goethe called "das ewig +Weibliche" under a truly felt and natural aspect. The Delphian and +Erythrean Sibyls are superb in their majesty. Again, in those numerous +designs for Crucifixions, Depositions from the Cross, and Pietas, +which occupied so much of Michelangelo's attention during his old age, +we find an intense and pathetic sympathy with the sorrows of Mary, +expressed with noble dignity and a pious sense of godhead in the human +mother. It will be remarked that throughout the cases I have reserved +as exceptions, it is not woman in her plastic beauty and her radiant +charm that Michelangelo has rendered, but woman in her tranquil or her +saddened and sorrow-stricken moods. What he did not comprehend and +could not represent was woman in her girlishness, her youthful joy, +her physical attractiveness, her magic of seduction. + +Michelangelo's women suggest demonic primitive beings, composite and +undetermined products of the human race in evolution, before the +specific qualities of sex have been eliminated from a general +predominating mass of masculinity. At their best, they carry us into +the realm of Lucretian imagination. He could not have incarnated in +plastic form Shakespeare's Juliet and Imogen, Dante's Francesca da +Rimini, Tasso's Erminia and Clorinda; but he might have supplied a +superb illustration to the opening lines of the Lucretian epic, where +Mars lies in the bed of Venus, and the goddess spreads her ample limbs +above her Roman lover. He might have evoked images tallying the vision +of primal passion in the fourth book of that poem. As I have elsewhere +said, writing about Lucretius: "There is something almost tragic in +these sighs and pantings and pleasure-throes, these incomplete +fruitions of souls pent within their frames of flesh. We seem to see a +race of men and women such as never lived, except perhaps in Rome or +in the thought of Michelangelo, meeting in leonine embracements that +yield pain, whereof the climax is, at best, relief from rage and +respite for a moment from consuming fire. There is a life elemental +rather than human in those mighty limbs; and the passion that twists +them on the marriage-bed has in it the stress of storms, the rampings +and roarings of leopards at play. Take this single line:-- + + _et Venus in silvis jungebat corpora amantum._ + +What a picture of primeval breadth and vastness! The forest is the +world, and the bodies of the lovers are things natural and unashamed, +and Venus is the tyrannous instinct that controls the blood in +spring." + +What makes Michelangelo's crudity in his plastic treatment of the +female form the more remarkable is that in his poetry he seems to feel +the influence of women mystically. I shall have to discuss this topic +in another place. It is enough here to say that, with very few +exceptions, we remain in doubt whether he is addressing a woman at +all. There are none of those spontaneous utterances by which a man +involuntarily expresses the outgoings of his heart to a beloved +object, the throb of irresistible emotion, the physical ache, the +sense of wanting, the joys and pains, the hopes and fears, the +ecstasies and disappointments, which belong to genuine passion. The +woman is, for him, an allegory, something he has not approached and +handled. Of her personality we learn nothing. Of her bodily +presentment, the eyes alone are mentioned; and the eyes are treated as +the path to Paradise for souls which seek emancipation from the flesh. +Raffaello's few and far inferior sonnets vibrate with an intense and +potent sensibility to this woman or to that. + +Michelangelo's "donna" might just as well be a man; and indeed the +poems he addressed to men, though they have nothing sensual about +them, reveal a finer touch in the emotion of the writer. It is +difficult to connect this vaporous incorporeal "donna" of the poems +with those brawny colossal adult females of the statues, unless we +suppose that Michelangelo remained callous both to the physical +attractions and the emotional distinction of woman as she actually is. + +I have tried to demonstrate that, plastically, he did not understand +women, and could not reproduce their form in art with sympathetic +feeling for its values of grace, suavity, virginity, and frailty. He +imported masculine qualities into every female theme he handled. The +case is different when we turn to his treatment of the male figure. It +would be impossible to adduce a single instance, out of the many +hundreds of examples furnished by his work, in which a note of +femininity has been added to the masculine type. He did not think +enough of women to reverse the process, and create hermaphroditic +beings like the Apollino of Praxiteles or the S. Sebastian of Sodoma. +His boys and youths and adult men remain, in the truest and the purest +sense of the word, virile. Yet with what infinite variety, with what a +deep intelligence of its resources, with what inexhaustible riches of +enthusiasm and science, he played upon the lyre of the male nude! How +far more fit for purposes of art he felt the man to be than the woman +is demonstrated, not only by his approaching woman from the masculine +side, but also by his close attention to none but male qualities in +men. I need not insist or enlarge upon this point. The fact is +apparent to every one with eyes to see. It would be futile to expound +Michelangelo's fertility in dealing with the motives of the male +figure as minutely as I judged it necessary to explain the poverty of +his inspiration through the female. But it ought to be repeated that, +over the whole gamut of the scale, from the grace of boyhood, through +the multiform delightfulness of adolescence into the firm force of +early manhood, and the sterner virtues of adult age, one severe and +virile spirit controls his fashioning of plastic forms. He even +exaggerates what is masculine in the male, as he caricatures the +female by ascribing impossible virility to her. But the exaggeration +follows here a line of mental and moral rectitude. It is the +expression of his peculiar sensibility to physical structure. + + +IX + +When we study the evolution of Michelangelo's ideal of form, we find +at the beginning of his life a very short period in which he followed +the traditions of Donatello and imitated Greek work. The seated +Madonna in bas-relief and the Giovannino belong to this first stage. +So does the bas-relief of the Centaurs. It soon becomes evident, +however, that Michelangelo was not destined to remain a continuator of +Donatello's manner or a disciple of the classics. The next period, +which includes the Madonna della Febbre, the Bruges Madonna, the +Bacchus, the Cupid, and the David, is marked by an intense search +after the truth of Nature. Both Madonnas might be criticised for +unreality, owing to the enormous development of the thorax and +something artificial in the type of face. But all the male figures +seem to have been studied from the model. There is an individuality +about the character of each, a naturalism, an aiming after realistic +expression, which separate this group from previous and subsequent +works by Buonarroti. Traces of Donatello's influence survive in the +treatment of the long large hands of David, the cast of features +selected for that statue, and the working of the feet. Indeed it may +be said that Donatello continued through life to affect the genius of +Michelangelo by a kind of sympathy, although the elder master's +naivete was soon discarded by the younger. + +The second period culminated in the Cartoon for the Battle of Pisa. +This design appears to have fixed the style now known to us as +Michelangelesque, and the loss of it is therefore irreparable. It +exercised the consummate science which he had acquired, his complete +mastery over the male nude. It defined his firm resolve to treat +linear design from the point of view of sculpture rather than of +painting proper. It settled his determination to work exclusively +through and by the human figure, rejecting all subordinate elements of +decoration. Had we possessed this epoch-making masterpiece, we should +probably have known Michelangelo's genius in its flower-period of +early ripeness, when anatomical learning was still combined with a +sustained dependence upon Nature. The transition from the second to +the third stage in this development of form-ideal remains imperfectly +explained, because the bathers in the Arno were necessary to account +for the difference between the realistic David and the methodically +studied genii of the Sistine. + +The vault of the Sistine shows Michelangelo's third manner in +perfection. He has developed what may be called a scheme of the human +form. The apparently small head, the enormous breadth of shoulder, the +thorax overweighing the whole figure, the finely modelled legs, the +large and powerful extremities, which characterise his style +henceforward, culminate in Adam, repeat themselves throughout the +genii, govern the prophets. But Nature has not been neglected. Nothing +is more remarkable in that vast decorative mass of figures than the +variety of types selected, the beauty and animation of the faces, the +extraordinary richness, elasticity, and freshness of the attitudes +presented to the eye. Every period of life has been treated with +impartial justice, and both sexes are adequately handled. The +Delphian, Erythrean, and Libyan Sibyls display a sublime sense of +facial beauty. The Eve of the Temptation has even something of +positively feminine charm. This is probably due to the fact that +Michelangelo here studied expression and felt the necessity of +dramatic characterisation in this part of his work. He struck each +chord of what may be called the poetry of figurative art, from the +epic cantos of Creation, Fall, and Deluge, through the tragic odes +uttered by prophets and sibyls down to the lyric notes of the genii, +and the sweet idyllic strains of the groups in the lunettes and +spandrels. + +It cannot be said that even here Michelangelo felt the female nude as +sympathetically as he felt the male. The women in the picture of the +Deluge are colossal creatures, scarcely distinguishable from the men +except by their huge bosoms. His personal sense of beauty finds +fullest expression in the genii. The variations on one theme of +youthful loveliness and grace are inexhaustible; the changes rung on +attitude, and face, and feature are endless. The type, as I have said, +has already become schematic. It is adolescent, but the adolescence is +neither that of the Greek athlete nor that of the nude model. Indeed, +it is hardly natural; nor yet is it ideal in the Greek sense of that +term. The physical gracefulness of a slim ephebus was never seized by +Michelangelo. His Ganymede displays a massive trunk and brawny thighs. +Compare this with the Ganymede of Titian. Compare the Cupid at South +Kensington with the Praxitelean Genius of the Vatican--the Adonis and +the Bacchus of the Bargello with Hellenic statues. The bulk and force +of maturity are combined with the smoothness of boyhood and with a +delicacy of face that borders on the feminine. + +It is an arid region, the region of this mighty master's spirit. There +are no heavens and no earth or sea in it; no living creatures, +forests, flowers; no bright colours, brilliant lights, or cavernous +darks. In clear grey twilight appear a multitude of naked forms, both +male and female, yet neither male nor female of the actual world; +rather the brood of an inventive intellect, teeming with +preoccupations of abiding thoughts and moods of feeling, which become +for it incarnate in these stupendous figures. It is as though +Michelangelo worked from the image in his brain outwards to a physical +presentment supplied by his vast knowledge of life, creating forms +proper to his own specific concept. + +Nowhere else in plastic art does the mental world peculiar to the +master press in so immediately, without modification and without +mitigation, upon our sentient imagination. I sometimes dream that the +inhabitants of the moon may be like Michelangelo's men and women, as I +feel sure its landscape resembles his conception of the material +universe. + +What I have called Michelangelo's third manner, the purest +manifestation of which is to be found in the vault of the Sistine, +sustained itself for a period of many years. The surviving fragments +of sculpture for the tomb of Julius, especially the Captives of the +Louvre and the statues in the Sacristy at S. Lorenzo, belong to this +stage. A close and intimate _rapport_ with Nature can be perceived in +all the work he designed and executed during the pontificates of Leo +and Clement. The artist was at his fullest both of mental energy and +physical vigour. What he wrought now bears witness to his plenitude of +manhood. Therefore, although the type fixed for the Sistine +prevailed--I mean that generalisation of the human form in certain +wilfully selected proportions, conceived to be ideally beautiful or +necessary for the grand style in vast architectonic schemes of +decoration--still it is used with an exquisite sensitiveness to the +pose and structure of the natural body, a delicate tact in the +definition of muscle and articulation, an acute feeling for the +qualities of flesh and texture. None of the creations of this period, +moreover, are devoid of intense animating emotions and ideas. + +Unluckily, during all the years which intervened between the Sistine +vault and the Last Judgment, Michelangelo was employed upon +architectural problems and engineering projects, which occupied his +genius in regions far removed from that of figurative art. It may, +therefore, be asserted, that although he did not retrograde from want +of practice, he had no opportunity of advancing further by the +concentration of his genius on design. This accounts, I think, for the +change in his manner which we notice when he began to paint in Rome +under Pope Paul III. The fourth stage in his development of form is +reached now. He has lost nothing of his vigour, nothing of his +science. But he has drifted away from Nature. All the innumerable +figures of the Last Judgment, in all their varied attitudes, with +divers moods of dramatic expression, are diagrams wrought out +imaginatively from the stored-up resources of a lifetime. It may be +argued that it was impossible to pose models, in other words, to +appeal to living men and women, for the foreshortenings of falling or +soaring shapes in that huge drift of human beings. This is true; and +the strongest testimony to the colossal powers of observation +possessed by Michelangelo is that none of all those attitudes are +wrong. We may verify them, if we take particular pains to do so, by +training the sense of seeing to play the part of a detective camera. +Michelangelo was gifted with a unique faculty for seizing momentary +movements, fixing them upon his memory, and transferring them to +fresco by means of his supreme acquaintance with the bony structure +and the muscular capacities of the human frame. Regarded from this +point of view, the Last Judgment was an unparalleled success. As such +the contemporaries of Buonarroti hailed it. Still, the breath of life +has exaled from all those bodies, and the tyranny of the schematic +ideal of form is felt in each of them. Without meaning to be +irreverent, we might fancy that two elastic lay-figures, one male, the +other female, both singularly similar in shape, supplied the materials +for the total composition. Of the dramatic intentions and suggestions +underlying these plastic and elastic shapes I am not now speaking. It +is my present business to establish the phases through which my +master's sense of form passed from its cradle to its grave. + +In the frescoes of the Cappella Paolina, so ruined at this day that we +can hardly value them, the mechanic manner of the fourth stage seems +to reach its climax. Ghosts of their former selves, they still reveal +the poverty of creative and spontaneous inspiration which presided +over their nativity. + +Michelangelo's fourth manner might be compared with that of Milton in +"Paradise Regained" and "Samson Agonistes." Both of these great +artists in old age exaggerate the defects of their qualities. +Michelangelo's ideal of line and proportion in the human form becomes +stereotyped and strained, as do Milton's rhythms and his Latinisms. +The generous wine of the Bacchus and of "Comus," so intoxicating in +its newness, the same wine in the Sistine and "Paradise Lost," so +overwhelming in its mature strength, has acquired an austere aridity. +Yet, strange to say, amid these autumn stubbles of declining genius we +light upon oases more sweet, more tenderly suggestive, than aught the +prime produced. It is not my business to speak of Milton here. I need +not recall his "Knights of Logres and of Lyonesse," or resume his +Euripidean garlands showered on Samson's grave. But, for my master +Michelangelo, it will suffice to observe that all the grace his genius +held, refined, of earthly grossness quit, appeared, under the +dominance of this fourth manner, in the mythological subjects he +composed for Tommaso Cavalieri, and, far more nobly, in his countless +studies for the celebration of Christ's Passion. The designs +bequeathed to us from this period are very numerous. They were never +employed in the production of any monumental work of sculpture or of +painting. For this very reason, because they were occasional +improvisations, preludes, dreams of things to be, they preserve the +finest bloom, the Indian summer of his fancy. Lovers of Michelangelo +must dedicate their latest and most loving studies to this phase of +his fourth manner. + + +X + +If we seek to penetrate the genius of an artist, not merely forming a +correct estimate of his technical ability and science, but also +probing his personality to the core, as near as this is possible for +us to do, we ought to give our undivided study to his drawings. It is +there, and there alone, that we come face to face with the real man, +in his unguarded moments, in his hours of inspiration, in the +laborious effort to solve a problem of composition, or in the happy +flow of genial improvisation. Michelangelo was wont to maintain that +all the arts are included in the art of design. Sculpture, painting, +architecture, he said, are but subordinate branches of +draughtsmanship. And he went so far as to assert that the mechanical +arts, with engineering and fortification, nay, even the minor arts of +decoration and costume, owe their existence to design. The more we +reflect upon this apparent paradox, the more shall we feel it to be +true. At any rate, there are no products of human thought and feeling +capable of being expressed by form which do not find their common +denominator in a linear drawing. The simplicity of a sketch, the +comparative rapidity with which it is produced, the concentration of +meaning demanded by its rigid economy of means, render it more +symbolical, more like the hieroglyph of its maker's mind, than any +finished work can be. We may discover a greater mass of interesting +objects in a painted picture or a carved statue; but we shall never +find exactly the same thing, never the involuntary revelation of the +artist's soul, the irrefutable witness to his mental and moral +qualities, to the mysteries of his genius and to its limitations. + +If this be true of all artists, it is in a peculiar sense true of +Michelangelo. Great as he was as sculptor, painter, architect, he was +only perfect and impeccable as draughtsman. Inadequate realisation, +unequal execution, fatigue, satiety, caprice of mood, may sometimes be +detected in his frescoes and his statues; but in design we never find +him faulty, hasty, less than absolute master over the selected realm +of thought. His most interesting and instructive work remains what he +performed with pen and chalk in hand. Deeply, therefore, must we +regret the false modesty which made him destroy masses of his +drawings, while we have reason to be thankful for those marvellous +photographic processes which nowadays have placed the choicest of his +masterpieces within the reach of every one. + +The following passages from Vasari's and Condivi's Lives deserve +attention by those who approach the study of Buonarroti's drawings. +Vasari says: "His powers of imagination were such, that he was +frequently compelled to abandon his purpose, because he could not +express by the hand those grand and sublime ideas which he had +conceived in his mind; nay, he has spoiled and destroyed many works +for this cause; and I know, too, that some short time before his death +he burnt a large number of his designs, sketches, and cartoons, that +none might see the labours he had endured, and the trials to which he +had subjected his spirit, in his resolve not to fall short of +perfection. I have myself secured some drawings by his hand, which +were found in Florence, and are now in my book of designs, and these, +although they give evidence of his great genius, yet prove also that +the hammer of Vulcan was necessary to bring Minerva from the head of +Jupiter. He would construct an ideal shape out of nine, ten and even +twelve different heads, for no other purpose than to obtain a certain +grace of harmony and composition which is not to be found in the +natural form, and would say that the artist must have his measuring +tools, not in the hand, but in the eye, because the hands do but +operate, it is the eye that judges; he pursued the same idea in +architecture also." Condivi adds some information regarding his +extraordinary fecundity and variety of invention: "He was gifted with +a most tenacious memory, the power of which was such that, though he +painted so many thousands of figures, as any one can see, he never +made one exactly like another or posed in the same attitude. Indeed, I +have heard him say that he never draws a line without remembering +whether he has drawn it before; erasing any repetition, when the +design was meant to be exposed to public view. His force of +imagination is also most extraordinary. This has been the chief reason +why he was never quite satisfied with his own work, and always +depreciated its quality, esteeming that his hand failed to attain the +idea which he had formed within his brain." + + +XI + +The four greatest draughtsmen of this epoch were Lionardo da Vinci, +Michelangelo, Raffaello, and Andrea del Sarto. They are not to be +reckoned as equals; for Lionardo and Michelangelo outstrip the other +two almost as much as these surpass all lesser craftsmen. Each of the +four men expressed his own peculiar vision of the world with pen, or +chalk, or metal point, finding the unique inevitable line, the exact +touch and quality of stroke, which should present at once a lively +transcript from real Nature, and a revelation of the artist's +particular way of feeling Nature. In Lionardo it is a line of subtlety +and infinite suggestiveness; in Michelangelo it compels attention, and +forcibly defines the essence of the object; in Raffaello it carries +melody, the charm of an unerring rhythm; in Andrea it seems to call +for tone, colour, atmosphere, and makes their presence felt. Raffaello +was often faulty: even in the wonderful pen-drawing of two nudes he +sent to Albrecht Duerer as a sample of his skill, we blame the knees +and ankles of his models. Lionardo was sometimes wilful, whimsical, +seduced by dreamland, like a god born amateur. Andrea allowed his +facility to lead him into languor, and lacked passion. Michelangelo's +work shows none of these shortcomings; it is always technically +faultness, instinct with passion, supereminent in force. But we crave +more of grace, of sensuous delight, of sweetness, than he chose, or +perhaps was able, to communicate. We should welcome a little more of +human weakness if he gave a little more of divine suavity. + +Michelangelo's style of design is that of a sculptor, Andrea's of a +colourist, Lionardo's of a curious student, Raffaello's of a musician +and improvisatore. These distinctions are not merely fanciful, nor +based on what we know about the men in their careers. We feel similar +distinctions in the case of all great draughtsmen. Titian's +chalk-studies, Fra Bartolommeo's, so singularly akin to Andrea del +Sarto's, Giorgione's pen-and-ink sketch for a Lucretia, are seen at +once by their richness and blurred outlines to be the work of +colourists. Signorelli's transcripts from the nude, remarkably similar +to those of Michelangelo, reveal a sculptor rather than a painter. +Botticelli, with all his Florentine precision, shows that, like +Lionardo, he was a seeker and a visionary in his anxious feeling after +curve and attitude. Mantegna seems to be graving steel or cutting into +marble. It is easy to apply this analysis in succession to any +draughtsman who has style. To do so would, however, be superfluous: we +should only be enforcing what is a truism to all intelligent students +of art--namely, that each individual stamps his own specific quality +upon his handiwork; reveals even in the neutral region of design his +innate preference for colour or pure form as a channel of expression; +betrays the predominance of mental energy or sensuous charm, of +scientific curiosity or plastic force, of passion or of tenderness, +which controls his nature. This inevitable and unconscious revelation +of the man in art-work strikes us as being singularly modern. We do +not apprehend it to at all the same extent in the sculpture of the +ancients, whether it be that our sympathies are too remote from Greek +and Roman ways of feeling, or whether the ancients really conceived +art more collectively in masses, less individually as persons. + +No master exhibits this peculiarly modern quality more decisively than +Michelangelo, and nowhere is the personality of his genius, what marks +him off and separates him from all fellow-men, displayed with fuller +emphasis than in his drawings. To use the words of a penetrative +critic, from whom it is a pleasure to quote: "The thing about +Michelangelo is this; he is not, so to say, at the head of a class, +but he stands apart by himself: he is not possessed of a skill which +renders him unapproached or unapproachable; but rather, he is of so +unique an order, that no other artist whatever seems to suggest +comparison with him." Mr. Selwyn Image goes on to define in what a +true sense the words "creator" and "creative" may be applied to him: +how the shows and appearances of the world were for him but +hieroglyphs of underlying ideas, with which his soul was familiar, and +from which he worked again outward; "his learning and skill in the +arts supplying to his hand such large and adequate symbols of them as +are otherwise beyond attainment." This, in a very difficult and +impalpable region of aesthetic criticism, is finely said, and accords +with Michelangelo's own utterances upon art and beauty in his poems. +Dwelling like a star apart, communing with the eternal ideas, the +permanent relations of the universe, uttering his inmost thoughts +about these mysteries through the vehicles of science and of art, for +which he was so singularly gifted, Michelangelo, in no loose or +trivial sense of that phrase, proved himself to be a creator. He +introduces us to a world seen by no eyes except his own, compels us to +become familiar with forms unapprehended by our senses, accustoms us +to breathe a rarer and more fiery atmosphere than we were born into. + +The vehicles used by Michelangelo in his designs were mostly pen and +chalk. He employed both a sharp-nibbed pen of some kind, and a broad +flexible reed, according to the exigencies of his subject or the +temper of his mood. The chalk was either red or black, the former +being softer than the latter. I cannot remember any instances of those +chiaroscuro washes which Raffaello handled in so masterly a manner, +although Michelangelo frequently combined bistre shading with pen +outlines. In like manner he does not seem to have favoured the metal +point upon prepared paper, with which Lionardo produced unrivalled +masterpieces. Some drawings, where the yellow outline bites into a +parchment paper, blistering at the edges, suggest a rusty metal in the +instrument. We must remember, however, that the inks of that period +were frequently corrosive, as is proved by the state of many documents +now made illegible through the gradual attrition of the paper by +mineral acids. It is also not impossible that artists may have already +invented what we call steel pens. Sarpi, in the seventeenth century, +thanks a correspondent for the gift of one of these mechanical +devices. Speaking broadly, the reed and the quill, red and black +chalk, or _matita,_ were the vehicles of Michelangelo's expression as +a draughtsman. I have seen very few examples of studies heightened +with white chalk, and none produced in the fine Florentine style of +Ghirlandajo by white chalk alone upon a dead-brown surface. In this +matter it is needful to speak with diffidence; for the sketches of our +master are so widely scattered that few students can have examined the +whole of them; and photographic reproductions, however admirable in +their fidelity to outline, do not always give decisive evidence +regarding the materials employed. + +One thing seems manifest. Michelangelo avoided those mixed methods +with which Lionardo, the magician, wrought wonders. He preferred an +instrument which could be freely, broadly handled, inscribing form in +strong plain strokes upon the candid paper. The result attained, +whether wrought by bold lines, or subtly hatched, or finished with the +utmost delicacy of modulated shading, has always been traced out +conscientiously and firmly, with one pointed stylus (pen, chalk, or +matita), chosen for the purpose. As I have said, it is the work of a +sculptor, accustomed to wield chisel and mallet upon marble, rather +than that of a painter, trained to secure effects by shadows and +glazings. + +It is possible, I think, to define, at least with some approximation +to precision, Michelangelo's employment of his favourite vehicles for +several purposes and at different periods of his life. A broad-nibbed +pen was used almost invariably in making architectural designs of +cornices, pilasters, windows, also in plans for military engineering. +Sketches of tombs and edifices, intended to be shown to patrons, were +partly finished with the pen; and here we find a subordinate and very +limited use of the brush in shading. Such performances may be regarded +as products of the workshop rather than as examples of the artist's +mastery. The style of them is often conventional, suggesting the +intrusion of a pupil or the deliberate adoption of an office +mannerism. The pen plays a foremost part in all the greatest and most +genial creations of his fancy when it worked energetically in +preparation for sculpture or for fresco. The Louvre is rich in +masterpieces of this kind--the fiery study of a David; the heroic +figures of two male nudes, hatched into stubborn salience like pieces +of carved wood; the broad conception of the Madonna at S. Lorenzo in +her magnificent repose and passionate cascade of fallen draperies; the +repulsive but superabundantly powerful profile of a goat-like faun. +These, and the stupendous studies of the Albertina Collection at +Vienna, including the supine man with thorax violently raised, are +worked with careful hatchings, stroke upon stroke, effecting a +suggestion of plastic roundness. But we discover quite a different use +of the pen in some large simple outlines of seated female figures at +the Louvre; in thick, almost muddy, studies at Vienna, where the form +emerges out of oft-repeated sodden blotches; in the grim light and +shade, the rapid suggestiveness of the dissection scene at Oxford. The +pen in the hand of Michelangelo was the tool by means of which he +realised his most trenchant conceptions and his most picturesque +impressions. In youth and early manhood, when his genius was still +vehement, it seems to have been his favourite vehicle. + +The use of chalk grew upon him in later life, possibly because he +trusted more to his memory now, and loved the dreamier softer medium +for uttering his fancies. Black chalk was employed for rapid notes of +composition, and also for the more elaborate productions of his +pencil. To this material we owe the head of Horror which he gave to +Gherardo Perini (in the Uffizi), the Phaethon, the Tityos, the +Ganymede he gave to Tommaso Cavalieri (at Windsor). It is impossible +to describe the refinements of modulated shading and the precision of +predetermined outlines by means of which these incomparable drawings +have been produced. They seem to melt and to escape inspection, yet +they remain fixed on the memory as firmly as forms in carven basalt. + +The whole series of designs for Christ's Crucifixion and Deposition +from the Cross are executed in chalk, sometimes black, but mostly red. +It is manifest, upon examination, that they are not studies from the +model, but thoughts evoked and shadowed forth on paper. Their +perplexing multiplicity and subtle variety--as though a mighty +improvisatore were preluding again and yet again upon the clavichord +to find his theme, abandoning the search, renewing it, altering the +key, changing the accent--prove that this continued seeking with the +crayon after form and composition was carried on in solitude and +abstract moments. Incomplete as the designs may be, they reveal +Michelangelo's loftiest dreams and purest visions. The nervous energy, +the passionate grip upon the subject, shown in the pen-drawings, are +absent here. These qualities are replaced by meditation and an air of +rapt devotion. The drawings for the Passion might be called the +prayers and pious thoughts of the stern master. + +Red chalk he used for some of his most brilliant conceptions. It is +not necessary to dwell upon the bending woman's head at Oxford, or the +torso of the lance-bearer at Vienna. Let us confine our attention to +what is perhaps the most pleasing and most perfect of all +Michelangelo's designs--the "Bersaglio," or the "Arcieri," in the +Queen's collection at Windsor. + +It is a group of eleven naked men and one woman, fiercely footing the +air, and driving shafts with all their might to pierce a classical +terminal figure, whose face, like that of Pallas, and broad breast are +guarded by a spreading shield. The draughtsman has indicated only one +bow, bent with fury by an old man in the background. Yet all the +actions proper to archery are suggested by the violent gestures and +strained sinews of the crowd. At the foot of the terminal statue, +Cupid lies asleep upon his wings, with idle bow and quiver. Two little +genii of love, in the background, are lighting up a fire, puffing its +flames, as though to drive the archers onward. Energy and ardour, +impetuous movement and passionate desire, could not be expressed with +greater force, nor the tyranny of some blind impulse be more +imaginatively felt. The allegory seems to imply that happiness is not +to be attained, as human beings mostly strive to seize it, by the +fierce force of the carnal passions. It is the contrast between +celestial love asleep in lustful souls, and vulgar love inflaming +tyrannous appetites:-- + + _The one love soars, the other downward tends; + The soul lights this, while that the senses stir, + And still lust's arrow at base quarry flies._ + +This magnificent design was engraved during Buonarroti's lifetime, or +shortly afterwards, by Niccolo Beatrizet. Some follower of Raffaello +used the print for a fresco in the Palazzo Borghese at Rome. It forms +one of the series in which Raffaello's marriage of Alexander and +Roxana is painted. This has led some critics to ascribe the drawing +itself to the Urbinate. Indeed, at first sight, one might almost +conjecture that the original chalk study was a genuine work of +Raffaello, aiming at rivalry with Michelangelo's manner. The calm +beauty of the statue's classic profile, the refinement of all the +faces, the exquisite delicacy of the adolescent forms, and the +dominant veiling of strength with grace, are not precisely +Michelangelesque. The technical execution of the design, however, +makes its attribution certain. Well as Raffaello could draw, he could +not draw like this. He was incapable of rounding and modelling the +nude with those soft stipplings and granulated shadings which bring +the whole surface out like that of a bas-relief in polished marble. +His own drawing for Alexander and Roxana, in red chalk, and therefore +an excellent subject for comparison with the Arcieri, is hatched all +over in straight lines; a method adopted by Michelangelo when working +with the pen, but, so far as I am aware, never, or very rarely, used +when he was handling chalk. The style of this design and its exquisite +workmanship correspond exactly with the finish of the Cavalieri series +at Windsor. The paper, moreover, is indorsed in Michelangelo's +handwriting with a memorandum bearing the date April 12, 1530. We have +then in this masterpiece of draughtsmanship an example, not of +Raffaello in a Michelangelising mood, but of Michelangelo for once +condescending to surpass Raffaello on his own ground of loveliness and +rhythmic grace. + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +I + +Julius died upon the 21st of February 1513. "A prince," says +Guicciardini, "of inestimable courage and tenacity, but headlong, and +so extravagant in the schemes he formed, that his own prudence and +moderation had less to do with shielding him from ruin than the +discord of sovereigns and the circumstances of the times in Europe: +worthy, in all truth, of the highest glory had he been a secular +potentate, or if the pains and anxious thought he employed in +augmenting the temporal greatness of the Church by war had been +devoted to her spiritual welfare in the arts of peace." + +Italy rejoiced when Giovanni de' Medici was selected to succeed him, +with the title of Leo X. "Venus ruled in Rome with Alexander, Mars +with Julius, now Pallas enters on her reign with Leo." Such was the +tenor of the epigrams which greeted Leo upon his triumphal progress to +the Lateran. It was felt that a Pope of the house of Medici would be a +patron of arts and letters, and it was hoped that the son of Lorenzo +the Magnificent might restore the equilibrium of power in Italy. Leo +X. has enjoyed a greater fame than he deserved. Extolled as an +Augustus in his lifetime, he left his name to what is called the +golden age of Italian culture. Yet he cannot be said to have raised +any first-rate men of genius, or to have exercised a very wise +patronage over those whom Julius brought forward. Michelangelo and +Raffaello were in the full swing of work when Leo claimed their +services. We shall see how he hampered the rare gifts of the former by +employing him on uncongenial labours; and it was no great merit to +give a free rein to the inexhaustible energy of Raffaello. The project +of a new S. Peter's belonged to Julius. Leo only continued the scheme, +using such assistants as the times provided after Bramante's death in +1514. Julius instinctively selected men of soaring and audacious +genius, who were capable of planning on a colossal scale. Leo +delighted in the society of clever people, poetasters, petty scholars, +lutists, and buffoons. Rome owes no monumental work to his inventive +brain, and literature no masterpiece to his discrimination. Ariosto, +the most brilliant poet of the Renaissance, returned in disappointment +from the Vatican. "When I went to Rome and kissed the foot of Leo," +writes the ironical satirist, "he bent down from the holy chair, and +took my hand and saluted me on both cheeks. Besides, he made me free +of half the stamp-dues I was bound to pay; and then, breast full of +hope, but smirched with mud, I retired and took my supper at the Ram." + +The words which Leo is reported to have spoken to his brother Giuliano +when he heard the news of his election, express the character of the +man and mark the difference between his ambition and that of Julius. +"Let us enjoy the Papacy, since God has given it us." To enjoy life, +to squander the treasures of the Church on amusements, to feed a +rabble of flatterers, to contract enormous debts, and to disturb the +peace of Italy, not for some vast scheme of ecclesiastical +aggrandisement, but in order to place the princes of his family on +thrones, that was Leo's conception of the Papal privileges and duties. +The portraits of the two Popes, both from the hand of Raffaello, are +eminently characteristic. Julius, bent, white-haired, and emaciated, +has the nervous glance of a passionate and energetic temperament. Leo, +heavy-jawed, dull-eyed, with thick lips and a brawny jowl, betrays the +coarser fibre of a sensualist. + + +II + +We have seen already that Julius, before his death, provided for his +monument being carried out upon a reduced scale. Michelangelo entered +into a new contract with the executors, undertaking to finish the work +within the space of seven years from the date of the deed, May 6, +1513. He received in several payments, during that year and the years +1514, 1515, 1516, the total sum of 6100 golden ducats. This proves +that he must have pushed the various operations connected with the +tomb vigorously forward, employing numerous workpeople, and ordering +supplies of marble. In fact, the greater part of what remains to us of +the unfinished monument may be ascribed to this period of +comparatively uninterrupted labour. Michelangelo had his workshop in +the Macello de' Corvi, but we know very little about the details of +his life there. His correspondence happens to be singularly scanty +between the years 1513 and 1516. One letter, however, written in May +1518, to the Capitano of Cortona throws a ray of light upon this +barren tract of time, and introduces an artist of eminence, whose +intellectual affinity to Michelangelo will always remain a matter of +interest. "While I was at Rome, in the first year of Pope Leo, there +came the Master Luca Signorelli of Cortona, painter. I met him one day +near Monte Giordano, and he told me that he was come to beg something +from the Pope, I forget what: he had run the risk of losing life and +limb for his devotion to the house of Medici, and now it seemed they +did not recognise him: and so forth, saying many things I have +forgotten. After these discourses, he asked me for forty giulios [a +coin equal in value to the more modern paolo, and worth perhaps eight +shillings of present money], and told me where to send them to, at the +house of a shoemaker, his lodgings. I not having the money about me, +promised to send it, and did so by the hand of a young man in my +service, called Silvio, who is still alive and in Rome, I believe. +After the lapse of some days, perhaps because his business with the +Pope had failed, Messer Luca came to my house in the Macello de' +Corvi, the same where I live now, and found me working on a marble +statue, four cubits in height, which has the hands bound behind the +back, and bewailed himself with me, and begged another forty, saying +that he wanted to leave Rome. I went up to my bedroom, and brought the +money down in the presence of a Bolognese maid I kept, and I think the +Silvio above mentioned was also there. When Luca got the cash, he went +away, and I have never seen him since; but I remember complaining to +him, because I was out of health and could not work, and he said: +'Have no fear, for the angels from heaven will come to take you in +their arms and aid you.'" This is in several ways an interesting +document. It brings vividly before our eyes magnificent expensive +Signorelli and his meanly living comrade, each of them mighty masters +of a terrible and noble style, passionate lovers of the nude, devoted +to masculine types of beauty, but widely and profoundly severed by +differences in their personal tastes and habits. It also gives us a +glimpse into Michelangelo's workshop at the moment when he was +blocking out one of the bound Captives at the Louvre. It seems from +what follows in the letter that Michelangelo had attempted to recover +the money through his brother Buonarroto, but that Signorelli refused +to acknowledge his debt. The Capitano wrote that he was sure it had +been discharged. "That," adds Michelangelo, "is the same as calling me +the biggest blackguard; and so I should be, if I wanted to get back +what had been already paid. But let your Lordship think what you like +about it, I am bound to get the money, and so I swear." The remainder +of the autograph is torn and illegible; it seems to wind up with a +threat. + +The records of this period are so scanty that every detail acquires a +certain importance for Michelangelo's biographer. By a deed executed +on the 14th of June 1514, we find that he contracted to make a figure +of Christ in marble, "life-sized, naked, erect, with a cross in his +arms, and in such attitude as shall seem best to Michelangelo." The +persons who ordered the statue were Bernardo Cencio (a Canon of S. +Peter's), Mario Scappucci, and Metello Varj dei Porcari, a Roman of +ancient blood. They undertook to pay 200 golden ducats for the work; +and Michelangelo promised to finish it within the space of four years, +when it was to be placed in the Church of S. Maria sopra Minerva. +Metello Varj, though mentioned last in the contract, seems to have +been the man who practically gave the commission, and to whom +Michelangelo was finally responsible for its performance. He began to +hew it from a block, and discovered black veins in the working. This, +then, was thrown aside, and a new marble had to be attacked. The +statue, now visible at the Minerva, was not finished until the year +1521, when we shall have to return to it again. + +There is a point of some interest in the wording of this contract, on +which, as facts to dwell upon are few and far between at present, I +may perhaps allow myself to digress. The master is here described as +_Michelangelo (di Lodovico) Simoni, Scultore_. Now Michelangelo always +signed his own letters Michelangelo Buonarroti, although he addressed +the members of his family by the surname of Simoni. This proves that +the patronymic usually given to the house at large was still Simoni, +and that Michelangelo himself acknowledged that name in a legal +document. The adoption of Buonarroti by his brother's children and +descendants may therefore be ascribed to usage ensuing from the +illustration of their race by so renowned a man. It should also be +observed that at this time Michelangelo is always described in deeds +as sculptor, and that he frequently signs with Michelangelo, Scultore. +Later on in life he changed his views. He wrote in 1548 to his nephew +Lionardo: "Tell the priest not to write to me again as _Michelangelo +the sculptor_, for I am not known here except as Michelangelo +Buonarroti. Say, too, that if a citizen of Florence wants to have an +altar-piece painted, he must find some painter; for I was never either +sculptor or painter in the way of one who keeps a shop. I have always +avoided that, for the honour of my father and my brothers. True, I +have served three Popes; but that was a matter of necessity." Earlier, +in 1543, he had written to the same effect: "When you correspond with +me, do not use the superscription _Michelangelo Simoni_, nor +_sculptor_; it is enough to put _Michelangelo Buonarroti_, for that is +how I am known here." On another occasion, advising his nephew what +surname the latter ought to adopt, he says: "I should certainly use +_Simoni_, and if the whole (that is, the whole list of patronymics in +use at Florence) is too long, those who cannot read it may leave it +alone." These communications prove that, though he had come to be +known as Buonarroti, he did not wish the family to drop their old +surname of Simoni. The reason was that he believed in their legendary +descent from the Counts of Canossa through a Podesta of Florence, +traditionally known as Simone da Canossa. This opinion had been +confirmed in 1520, as we have seen above, by a letter he received from +the Conte Alessandro da Canossa, addressing him as "Honoured kinsman." +In the correspondence with Lionardo, Michelangelo alludes to this act +of recognition: "You will find a letter from the Conte Alessandro da +Canossa in the book of contracts. He came to visit me at Rome, and +treated me like a relative. Take care of it." The dislike expressed by +Michelangelo to be called _sculptor_, and addressed upon the same +terms as other artists, arose from a keen sense of his nobility. The +feeling emerges frequently in his letters between 1540 and 1550. I +will give a specimen: "As to the purchase of a house, I repeat that +you ought to buy one of honourable condition, at 1500 or 2000 crowns; +and it ought to be in our quarter (Santa Croce), if possible. I say +this, because an honourable mansion in the city does a family great +credit. It makes more impression than farms in the country; and we are +truly burghers, who claim a very noble ancestry. I always strove my +utmost to resuscitate our house, but I had not brothers able to assist +me. Try then to do what I write you, and make Gismondo come back to +live in Florence, so that I may not endure the shame of hearing it +said here that I have a brother at Settignano who trudges after oxen. +One day, when I find the time, I will tell you all about our origin, +and whence we sprang, and when we came to Florence. Perhaps you know +nothing about it; still we ought not to rob ourselves of what God gave +us." The same feeling runs through the letters he wrote Lionardo about +the choice of a wife. One example will suffice: "I believe that in +Florence there are many noble and poor families with whom it would be +a charity to form connections. If there were no dower, there would +also be no arrogance. Pay no heed should people say you want to +ennoble yourself, since it is notorious that we are ancient citizens +of Florence, and as noble as any other house." + +Michelangelo, as we know now, was mistaken in accepting his supposed +connection with the illustrious Counts of Canossa, whose castle played +so conspicuous a part in the struggle between Hildebrand and the +Empire, and who were imperially allied through the connections of the +Countess Matilda. Still he had tradition to support him, confirmed by +the assurance of the head of the Canossa family. Nobody could accuse +him of being a snob or parvenu. He lived like a poor man, indifferent +to dress, establishment, and personal appearances. Yet he prided +himself upon his ancient birth; and since the Simoni had been +indubitably noble for several generations, there was nothing +despicable in his desire to raise his kinsfolk to their proper +station. Almost culpably careless in all things that concerned his +health and comfort, he spent his earnings for the welfare of his +brothers, in order that an honourable posterity might carry on the +name he bore, and which he made illustrious. We may smile at his +peevishness in repudiating the title of sculptor after bearing it +through so many years of glorious labour; but when he penned the +letters I have quoted, he was the supreme artist of Italy, renowned as +painter, architect, military engineer; praised as a poet; befriended +with the best and greatest of his contemporaries; recognised as +unique, not only in the art of sculpture. If he felt some pride of +race, we cannot blame the plain-liver and high-thinker, who, robbing +himself of luxuries and necessaries even, enabled his kinsmen to +maintain their rank among folk gently born and nobly nurtured. + + +III + +In June 1515 Michelangelo was still working at the tomb of Julius. But +a letter to Buonarroto shows that he was already afraid of being +absorbed for other purposes by Leo: "I am forced to put great strain +upon myself this summer in order to complete my undertaking; for I +think that I shall soon be obliged to enter the Pope's service. For +this reason, I have bought some twenty migliaia [measure of weight] of +brass to cast certain figures." The monument then was so far advanced +that, beside having a good number of the marble statues nearly +finished, he was on the point of executing the bronze reliefs which +filled their interspaces. We have also reason to believe that the +architectural basis forming the foundation of the sepulchre had been +brought well forward, since it is mentioned, in the next ensuing +contracts. + +Just at this point, however, when two or three years of steady labour +would have sufficed to terminate this mount of sculptured marble, Leo +diverted Michelangelo's energies from the work, and wasted them in +schemes that came to nothing. When Buonarroti penned that sonnet in +which he called the Pope his Medusa, he might well have been thinking +of Leo, though the poem ought probably to be referred to the earlier +pontificate of Julius. Certainly the Medici did more than the Delia +Rovere to paralyse his power and turn the life within him into stone. +Writing to Sebastiano del Piombo in 1521, Michelangelo shows how fully +he was aware of this. He speaks of "the three years I have lost." + +A meeting had been arranged for the late autumn of 1515 between Leo X. +and Francis I. at Bologna. The Pope left Rome early in November, and +reached Florence on the 30th. The whole city burst into a tumult of +jubilation, shouting the Medicean cry of _"Palle"_ as Leo passed +slowly through the streets, raised in his pontifical chair upon the +shoulders of his running footmen. Buonarroto wrote a long and +interesting account of this triumphal entry to his brother in Rome. He +describes how a procession was formed by the Pope's court and guard +and the gentlemen of Florence. "Among the rest, there went a bevy of +young men, the noblest in our commonwealth, all dressed alike with +doublets of violet satin, holding gilded staves in their hands. They +paced before the Papal chair, a brave sight to see. And first there +marched his guard, and then his grooms, who carried him aloft beneath +a rich canopy of brocade, which was sustained by members of the +College, while round about the chair walked the Signory." The +procession moved onward to the Church of S. Maria del Fiore, where the +Pope stayed to perform certain ceremonies at the high altar, after +which he was carried to his apartments at S. Maria Novella. Buonarroto +was one of the Priors during this month, and accordingly he took an +official part in all the entertainments and festivities, which +continued for three days. On the 3rd of December Leo left Florence for +Bologna, where Francis arrived upon the 11th. Their conference lasted +till the 15th, when Francis returned to Milan. On the 18th Leo began +his journey back to Florence, which he re-entered on the 22nd. On +Christmas day (Buonarroto writes _Pasgua_) a grand Mass was celebrated +at S. Maria Novella, at which the Signory attended. The Pope +celebrated in person, and, according to custom on high state +occasions, the water with which he washed his hands before and during +the ceremony had to be presented by personages of importance. "This +duty," says Buonarroto, "fell first to one of the Signori, who was +Giannozzo Salviati; and as I happened that morning to be Proposto, I +went the second time to offer water to his Holiness; the third time, +this was done by the Duke of Camerino, and the fourth time by the +Gonfalonier of Justice." Buonarroto remarks that "he feels pretty +certain it will be all the same to Michelangelo whether he hears or +does not hear about these matters. Yet, from time to time, when I have +leisure, I scribble a few lines." + +Buonarroto himself was interested in this event; for, having been one +of the Priors, he received from Leo the title of Count Palatine, with +reversion to all his posterity. Moreover, for honourable addition to +his arms, he was allowed to bear a chief charged with the Medicean +ball and fleur-de-lys, between the capital letters L. and X. + +Whether Leo conceived the plan of finishing the facade of S. Lorenzo +at Florence before he left Rome, or whether it occurred to him during +this visit, is not certain. The church had been erected by the Medici +and other magnates from Brunelleschi's designs, and was perfect except +for the facade. In its sacristy lay the mortal remains of Cosimo, +Lorenzo the Magnificent, and many other members of the Medicean +family. Here Leo came on the first Sunday in Advent to offer up +prayers, and the Pope is said to have wept upon his father's tomb. It +may possibly have been on this occasion that he adopted the scheme so +fatal to the happiness of the great sculptor. Condivi clearly did not +know what led to Michelangelo's employment on the facade of S. +Lorenzo, and Vasari's account of the transaction is involved. Both, +however, assert that he was wounded, even to tears, at having to +abandon the monument of Julius, and that he prayed in vain to be +relieved of the new and uncongenial task. + + +IV + +Leo at first intended to divide the work between several masters, +giving Buonarroti the general direction of the whole. He ordered +Giuliano da San Gallo, Raffaello da Urbino, Baccio d'Agnolo, Andrea +and Jacopo Sansovino to prepare plans. While these were in progress, +Michelangelo also thought that he would try his hand at a design. As +ill-luck ruled, Leo preferred his sketch to all the rest. Vasari adds +that his unwillingness to be associated with any other artist in the +undertaking, and his refusal to follow the plans of an architect, +prevented the work from being executed, and caused the men selected by +Leo to return in desperation to their ordinary pursuits. There may be +truth in the report; for it is certain that, after Michelangelo had +been forced to leave the tomb of Julius and to take part in the +facade, he must have claimed to be sole master of the business. The +one thing we know about his mode of operation is, that he brooked no +rival near him, mistrusted collaborators, and found it difficult to +co-operate even with the drudges whom he hired at monthly wages. + +Light is thrown upon these dissensions between Michelangelo and his +proposed assistants by a letter which Jacopo Sansovino wrote to him at +Carrara, on the 30th of June 1517. He betrays his animus at the +commencement by praising Baccio Bandinelli, to mention whom in the +same breath with Buonarroti was an insult. Then he proceeds: "The +Pope, the Cardinal, and Jacopo Salviati are men who when they say yes, +it is a written contract, inasmuch as they are true to their word, and +not what you pretend them to be. You measure them with your own rod; +for neither contracts nor plighted troth avail with you, who are +always saying nay and yea, according as you think it profitable. I +must inform you, too, that the Pope promised me the sculptures, and so +did Salviati; and they are men who will maintain me in my right to +them. In what concerns you, I have done all I could to promote your +interests and honour, not having earlier perceived that you never +conferred a benefit on any one, and that, beginning with myself, to +expect kindness from you, would be the same as wanting water not to +wet. I have reason for what I say, since we have often met together in +familiar converse, and may the day be cursed on which you ever said +any good about anybody on earth." How Michelangelo answered this +intemperate and unjust invective is not known to us. In some way or +other the quarrel between the two sculptors must have been made +up--probably through a frank apology on Sansovino's part. When +Michelangelo, in 1524, supplied the Duke of Sessa with a sketch for +the sepulchral monument to be erected for himself and his wife, he +suggested that Sansovino should execute the work, proving thus by acts +how undeserved the latter's hasty words had been. + +The Church of S. Lorenzo exists now just as it was before the scheme +for its facade occurred to Leo. Not the smallest part of that scheme +was carried into effect, and large masses of the marbles quarried for +the edifice lay wasted on the Tyrrhene sea-shore. We do not even know +what design Michelangelo adopted. A model may be seen in the Accademia +at Florence ascribed to Baccio d'Agnolo, and there is a drawing of a +facade in the Uffizi attributed, to Michelangelo, both of which have +been supposed to have some connection with S. Lorenzo. It is hardly +possible, however, that Buonarroti's competitors could have been +beaten from the field by things so spiritless and ugly. A pen-and-ink +drawing at the Museo Buonarroti possesses greater merit, find may +perhaps have been a first rough sketch for the facade. It is not drawn +to scale or worked out in the manner of practical architects; but the +sketch exhibits features which we know to have existed in Buonarroti's +plan--masses of sculpture, with extensive bas-reliefs in bronze. In +form the facade would not have corresponded to Brunelleschi's +building. That, however, signified nothing to Italian architects, who +were satisfied when the frontispiece to a church or palace agreeably +masked what lay behind it. As a frame for sculpture, the design might +have served its purpose, though there are large spaces difficult to +account for; and spiteful folk were surely justified in remarking to +the Pope that no one life sufficed for the performance of the whole. + +Nothing testifies more plainly to the ascendancy which this strange +man acquired over the imagination of his contemporaries, while yet +comparatively young, than the fact that Michelangelo had to relinquish +work for which he was pre-eminently fitted (the tomb of Julius) for +work to which his previous studies and his special inclinations in +no-wise called him. He undertook the facade of S. Lorenzo reluctantly, +with tears in his eyes and dolour in his bosom, at the Pope Medusa's +bidding. He was compelled to recommence art at a point which hitherto +possessed for him no practical importance. The drawings of the tomb, +the sketch of the facade, prove that in architecture he was still a +novice. Hitherto, he regarded building as the background to sculpture, +or the surface on which frescoes might be limned. To achieve anything +great in this new sphere implied for him a severe course of +preliminary studies. It depends upon our final estimate of +Michelangelo as an architect whether we regard the three years spent +in Leo's service for S. Lorenzo as wasted. Being what he was, it is +certain that, when the commission had been given, and he determined to +attack his task alone, the man set himself down to grasp the +principles of construction. There was leisure enough for such studies +in the years during which we find him moodily employed among Tuscan +quarries. The question is whether this strain upon his richly gifted +genius did not come too late. When called to paint the Sistine, he +complained that painting was no art of his. He painted, and produced a +masterpiece; but sculpture still remained the major influence in all +he wrought there. Now he was bidden to quit both sculpture and +painting for another field, and, as Vasari hints, he would not work +under the guidance of men trained to architecture. The result was that +Michelangelo applied himself to building with the full-formed spirit +of a figurative artist. The obvious defects and the salient qualities +of all he afterwards performed as architect seem due to the forced +diversion of his talent at this period to a type of art he had not +properly assimilated. Architecture was not the natural mistress of his +spirit. He bent his talents to her service at a Pontiff's word, and, +with the honest devotion to work which characterised the man, he +produced renowned monuments stamped by his peculiar style. +Nevertheless, in building, he remains a sublime amateur, aiming at +scenical effect, subordinating construction to decoration, seeking +ever back toward opportunities for sculpture or for fresco, and +occasionally (as in the cupola of S. Peter's) hitting upon a thought +beyond the reach of inferior minds. + +The paradox implied in this diversion of our hero from the path he +ought to have pursued may be explained in three ways. First, he had +already come to be regarded as a man of unique ability, from whom +everything could be demanded. Next, it was usual for the masters of +the Renaissance, from Leo Battista Alberti down to Raffaello da Urbino +and Lionardo da Vinci, to undertake all kinds of technical work +intrusted to their care by patrons. Finally, Michelangelo, though he +knew that sculpture was his goddess, and never neglected her first +claim upon his genius, felt in him that burning ambition for +greatness, that desire to wrestle with all forms of beauty and all +depths of science, which tempted him to transcend the limits of a +single art and try his powers in neighbour regions. He was a man born +to aim at all, to dare all, to embrace all, to leave his personality +deep-trenched on all the provinces of art he chose to traverse. + + +V + +The whole of 1516 and 1517 elapsed before Leo's plans regarding S. +Lorenzo took a definite shape. Yet we cannot help imagining that when +Michelangelo cancelled his first contract with the executors of +Julius, and adopted a reduced plan for the monument, he was acting +under Papal pressure. This was done at Rome in July, and much against +the will of both parties. Still it does not appear that any one +contemplated the abandonment of the scheme; for Buonarroti bound +himself to perform his new contract within the space of nine years, +and to engage "in no work of great importance which should interfere +with its fulfilment." He spent a large part of the year 1516 at +Carrara, quarrying marbles, and even hired the house of a certain +Francesco Pelliccia in that town. On the 1st of November he signed an +agreement with the same Pelliccia involving the purchase of a vast +amount of marble, whereby the said Pelliccia undertook to bring down +four statues of 4-1/2 cubits each and fifteen of 4-1/4 cubits from the +quarries where they were being rough-hewn. It was the custom to block +out columns, statues, &c., on the spot where the stone had been +excavated, in order, probably, to save weight when hauling. Thus the +blocks arrived at the sea-shore with rudely adumbrated outlines of the +shape they were destined to assume under the artist's chisel. It has +generally been assumed that the nineteen figures in question were +intended for the tomb. What makes this not quite certain, however, is +that the contract of July specifies a greatly reduced quantity and +scale of statues. Therefore they may have been intended for the +facade. Anyhow, the contract above-mentioned with Francesco Pelliccia +was cancelled on the 7th of April following, for reasons which will +presently appear. + +During the month of November 1516 Michelangelo received notice from +the Pope that he was wanted in Rome. About the same time news reached +him from Florence of his father's severe illness. On the 23rd he wrote +as follows to Buonarroto: "I gathered from your last that Lodovico was +on the point of dying, and how the doctor finally pronounced that if +nothing new occurred he might be considered out of danger. Since it is +so, I shall not prepare to come to Florence, for it would be very +inconvenient. Still, if there is danger, I should desire to see him, +come what might, before he died, if even I had to die together with +him. I have good hope, however, that he will get well, and so I do not +come. And if he should have a relapse--from which may God preserve him +and us--see that he lacks nothing for his spiritual welfare and the +sacraments of the Church, and find out from him if he wishes us to do +anything for his soul. Also, for the necessaries of the body, take +care that he lacks nothing; for I have laboured only and solely for +him, to help him in his needs before he dies. So bid your wife look +with loving-kindness to his household affairs. I will make everything +good to her and all of you, if it be necessary. Do not have the least +hesitation, even if you have to expend all that we possess." + +We may assume that the subsequent reports regarding Lodovico's health +were satisfactory; for on the 5th of December Michelangelo set out for +Rome. The executors of Julius had assigned him free quarters in a +house situated in the Trevi district, opposite the public road which +leads to S. Maria del Loreto. Here, then, he probably took up his +abode. We have seen that he had bound himself to finish the monument +of Julius within the space of nine years, and to engage "in no work of +great moment which should interfere with its performance." How this +clause came to be inserted in a deed inspired by Leo is one of the +difficulties with which the whole tragedy of the sepulchre bristles. +Perhaps we ought to conjecture that the Pope's intentions with regard +to the facade of S. Lorenzo only became settled in the late autumn. At +any rate, he had now to transact with the executors of Julius, who +were obliged to forego the rights over Michelangelo's undivided +energies which they had acquired by the clause I have just cited. They +did so with extreme reluctance, and to the bitter disappointment of +the sculptor, who saw the great scheme of his manhood melting into +air, dwindling in proportions, becoming with each change less capable +of satisfactory performance. + +Having at last definitely entered the service of Pope Leo, +Michelangelo travelled to Florence, and intrusted Baccio d'Agnolo with +the construction of the model of his facade. It may have been upon the +occasion of this visit that one of his father's whimsical fits of +temper called out a passionate and sorry letter from his son. It +appears that Pietro Urbano, Michelangelo's trusty henchman at this +period, said something which angered Lodovico, and made him set off in +a rage to Settignano:-- + +"Dearest Father,--I marvelled much at what had happened to you the +other day, when I did not find you at home. And now, hearing that you +complain of me, and say that I have turned you out of doors, I marvel +much the more, inasmuch as I know for certain that never once from the +day that I was born till now had I a single thought of doing anything +or small or great which went against you; and all this time the +labours I have undergone have been for the love of you alone. Since I +returned from Rome to Florence, you know that I have always cared for +you, and you know that all that belongs to me I have bestowed on you. +Some days ago, then, when you were ill, I promised solemnly never to +fail you in anything within the scope of my whole faculties so long as +my life lasts; and this I again affirm. Now I am amazed that you +should have forgotten everything so soon. And yet you have learned to +know me by experience these thirty years, you and your sons, and are +well aware that I have always thought and acted, so far as I was able, +for your good. How can you go about saying I have turned you out of +doors? Do you not see what a reputation you have given me by saying I +have turned you out? Only this was wanting to complete my tale of +troubles, all of which I suffer for your love. You repay me well, +forsooth. But let it be as it must: I am willing to acknowledge that I +have always brought shame and loss on you, and on this supposition I +beg your pardon. Reckon that you are pardoning a son who has lived a +bad life and done you all the harm which it is possible to do. And so +I once again implore you to pardon me, scoundrel that I am, and not +bring on me the reproach of having turned you out of doors; for that +matters more than you imagine to me. After all, I am your son." + +From Florence Michelangelo proceeded again to Carrara for the +quarrying of marble. This was on the last day of December. From his +domestic correspondence we find that he stayed there until at least +the 13th of March 1517; but he seems to have gone to Florence just +about that date, in order to arrange matters with Baccio d'Agnolo +about the model. A fragmentary letter to Buonarroto, dated March 13, +shows that he had begun a model of his own at Carrara, and that he no +longer needed Baccio's assistance. On his arrival at Florence he wrote +to Messer Buoninsegni, who acted as intermediary at Rome between +himself and the Pope in all things that concerned the facade: "Messer +Domenico, I have come to Florence to see the model which Baccio has +finished, and find it a mere child's plaything. If you think it best +to have it sent, write to me. I leave again to-morrow for Carrara, +where I have begun to make a model in clay with Grassa [a stone-hewer +from Settignano]." Then he adds that, in the long run, he believes +that he shall have to make the model himself, which distresses him on +account of the Pope and the Cardinal Giulio. Lastly, he informs his +correspondent that he has contracted with two separate companies for +two hundred cartloads of Carrara marble. + +An important letter to the same Domenico Buoninsegni, dated Carrara, +May 2, 1517, proves that Michelangelo had become enthusiastic about +his new design. "I have many things to say to you. So I beg you to +take some patience when you read my words, because it is a matter of +moment. Well, then, I feel it in me to make this facade of S. Lorenzo +such that it shall be a mirror of architecture and of sculpture to all +Italy. But the Pope and the Cardinal must decide at once whether they +want to have it done or not. If they desire it, then they must come to +some definite arrangement, either intrusting the whole to me on +contract, and leaving me a free hand, or adopting some other plan +which may occur to them, and about which I can form no idea." He +proceeds at some length to inform Buoninsegni of various transactions +regarding the purchase of marble, and the difficulties he encounters +in procuring perfect blocks. His estimate for the costs of the whole +facade is 35,000 golden ducats, and he offers to carry the work +through for that sum in six years. Meanwhile he peremptorily demands +an immediate settlement of the business, stating that he is anxious to +leave Carrara. The vigorous tone of this document is unmistakable. It +seems to have impressed his correspondents; for Buoninsegni replies +upon the 8th of May that the Cardinal expressed the highest +satisfaction at "the great heart he had for conducting the work of the +facade." At the same time the Pope was anxious to inspect the model. + +Leo, I fancy, was always more than half-hearted about the facade. He +did not personally sympathise with Michelangelo's character; and, +seeing what his tastes were, it is impossible that he can have really +appreciated the quality of his genius. Giulio de' Medici, afterwards +Pope Clement VII., was more in sympathy with Buonarroti both as artist +and as man. To him we may with probability ascribe the impulse given +at this moment to the project. After several visits to Florence during +the summer, and much correspondence with the Medici through their +Roman agent, Michelangelo went finally, upon the 31st of August, to +have the model completed under his own eyes by a workman in his native +city. It was carefully constructed of wood, showing the statuary in +wax-relief. Nearly four months were expended on this miniature. The +labour was lost, for not a vestige of it now remains. Near the end of +December he despatched his servant, Pietro Urbano, with the finished +work to Rome. On the 29th of that month, Urbano writes that he exposed +the model in Messer Buoninsegni's apartment, and that the Pope and +Cardinal were very well pleased with it. Buoninsegni wrote to the same +effect, adding, however, that folk said it could never be finished in +the sculptor's lifetime, and suggesting that Michelangelo should hire +assistants from Milan, where he, Buoninsegni, had seen excellent +stonework in progress at the Duomo. + +Some time in January 1518, Michelangelo travelled to Rome, conferred +with Leo, and took the facade of S. Lorenzo on contract. In February +he returned by way of Florence to Carrara, where the quarry-masters +were in open rebellion against him, and refused to carry out their +contracts. This forced him to go to Genoa, and hire ships there for +the transport of his blocks. Then the Carraresi corrupted the captains +of these boats, and drove Michelangelo to Pisa (April 7), where he +finally made an arrangement with a certain Francesco Peri to ship the +marbles lying on the sea-shore at Carrara. + +The reason of this revolt against him at Carrara may be briefly +stated. The Medici determined to begin working the old marble quarries +of Pietra Santa, on the borders of the Florentine domain, and this +naturally aroused the commercial jealousy of the folk at Carrara. +"Information," says Condivi, "was sent to Pope Leo that marbles could +be found in the high-lands above Pietra Santa, fully equal in quality +and beauty to those of Carrara. Michelangelo, having been sounded on +the subject, chose to go on quarrying at Carrara rather than to take +those belonging to the State of Florence. This he did because he was +befriended with the Marchese Alberigo, and lived on a good +understanding with him. The Pope wrote to Michelangelo, ordering him +to repair to Pietra Santa, and see whether the information he had +received from Florence was correct. He did so, and ascertained that +the marbles were very hard to work, and ill-adapted to their purpose; +even had they been of the proper kind, it would be difficult and +costly to convey them to the sea. A road of many miles would have to +be made through the mountains with pick and crowbar, and along the +plain on piles, since the ground there was marshy. Michelangelo wrote +all this to the Pope, who preferred, however, to believe the persons +who had written to him from Florence. So he ordered him to construct +the road." The road, it may parenthetically be observed, was paid for +by the wealthy Wool Corporation of Florence, who wished to revive this +branch of Florentine industry. "Michelangelo, carrying out the Pope's +commands, had the road laid down, and transported large quantities of +marbles to the sea-shore. Among these were five columns of the proper +dimensions, one of which may be seen upon the Piazza di S. Lorenzo. +The other four, forasmuch as the Pope changed his mind and turned his +thoughts elsewhere, are still lying on the sea-beach. Now the Marquis +of Carrara, deeming that Michelangelo had developed the quarries at +Pietra Santa out of Florentine patriotism, became his enemy, and would +not suffer him to return to Carrara, for certain blocks which had been +excavated there: all of which proved the source of great loss to +Michelangelo." + +When the contract with Francesco Pellicia was cancelled, April 7, +1517, the project for developing the Florentine stone-quarries does +not seem to have taken shape. We must assume, therefore, that the +motive for this step was the abandonment of the tomb. The _Ricordi_ +show that Michelangelo was still buying marbles and visiting Carrara +down to the end of February 1518. His correspondence from Pietra Santa +and Serravezza, where he lived when he was opening the Florentine +quarries of Monte Altissimo, does not begin, with any certainty, until +March 1518. We have indeed one letter written to Girolamo del Bardella +of Porto Venere upon the 6th of August, without date of year. This was +sent from Serravezza, and Milanesi, when he first made use of it, +assigned it to 1517. Gotti, following that indication, asserts that +Michelangelo began his operations at Monte Altissimo in July 1517; but +Milanesi afterwards changed his opinion, and assigned it to the year +1519. I believe he was right, because the first letter, bearing a +certain date from Pietra Santa, was written in March 1518 to Pietro +Urbano. It contains the account of Michelangelo's difficulties with +the Carraresi, and his journey to Genoa and Pisa. We have, therefore, +every reason to believe that he finally abandoned Carrara, for Pietra +Santa at the end of February 1518. + +Pietra Santa is a little city on the Tuscan seaboard; Serravezza is a +still smaller fortress-town at the foot of the Carrara mountains. +Monte Altissimo rises above it; and on the flanks of that great hill +lie the quarries Della Finocchiaja, which Michelangelo opened at the +command of Pope Leo. It was not without reluctance that Michelangelo +departed from Carrara, offending the Marquis Malaspina, breaking his +contracts, and disappointing the folk with whom he had lived on +friendly terms ever since his first visit in 1505. A letter from the +Cardinal Giulio de' Medici shows that great pressure was put upon him. +It runs thus: "We have received yours, and shown it to our Lord the +Pope. Considering that all your doings are in favour of Carrara, you +have caused his Holiness and us no small astonishment. What we heard +from Jacopo Salviati contradicts your opinion. He went to examine the +marble-quarries at Pietra Santa, and informed us that there are +enormous quantities of stone, excellent in quality and easy to bring +down. This being the case, some suspicion has arisen in our minds that +you, for your own interests, are too partial to the quarries of +Carrara, and want to depreciate those of Pietra Santa. This of a +truth, would be wrong in you, considering the trust we have always +reposed in your honesty. Wherefore we inform you that, regardless of +any other consideration, his Holiness wills that all the work to be +done at S. Peter's or S. Reparata, or on the facade of S. Lorenzo, +shall be carried out with marbles supplied from Pietra Santa, and no +others, for the reasons above written. Moreover, we hear that they +will cost less than those of Carrara; but, even should they cost more, +his Holiness is firmly resolved to act as I have said, furthering the +business of Pietra Santa for the public benefit of the city. Look to +it, then, that you carry out in detail all that we have ordered +without fail; for if you do otherwise, it will be against the +expressed wishes of his Holiness and ourselves, and we shall have good +reason to be seriously wroth with you. Our agent Domenico +(Buoninsegni) is bidden to write to the same effect. Reply to him how +much money you want, and quickly, banishing from your mind every kind +of obstinacy." + +Michelangelo began to work with his usual energy at roadmaking and +quarrying. What he learned of practical business as engineer, +architect, master of works, and paymaster during these years among the +Carrara mountains must have been of vast importance for his future +work. He was preparing himself to organise the fortifications of +Florence and the Leonine City, and to crown S. Peter's with the +cupola. Quarrying, as I have said, implied cutting out and +rough-hewing blocks exactly of the right dimensions for certain +portions of a building or a piece of statuary. The master was +therefore obliged to have his whole plan perfect in his head before he +could venture to order marble. Models, drawings made to scale, careful +measurements, were necessary at each successive step. Day and night +Buonarroti was at work; in the saddle early in the morning, among +stone-cutters and road-makers; in the evening, studying, projecting, +calculating, settling up accounts by lamplight. + + +VI + +The narrative of Michelangelo's personal life and movements must here +be interrupted in order to notice an event in which he took no common +interest. The members of the Florentine Academy addressed a memorial +to Leo X., requesting him to authorise the translation of Dante +Alighieri's bones from Ravenna to his native city. The document was +drawn up in Latin, and dated October 20, 1518. Among the names and +signatures appended, Michelangelo's alone is written in Italian: "I, +Michelangelo, the sculptor, pray the like of your Holiness, offering +my services to the divine poet for the erection of a befitting +sepulchre to him in some honourable place in this city." Nothing +resulted from this petition, and the supreme poet's remains still rest +beneath "the little cupola, more neat than solemn," guarded by Pietro +Lombardi's half-length portrait. + +Of Michelangelo's special devotion to Dante and the "Divine Comedy" we +have plenty of proof. In the first place, there exist the two fine +sonnets to his memory, which were celebrated in their author's +lifetime, and still remain among the best of his performances in +verse. It does not appear when they were composed. The first is +probably earlier than the second; for below the autograph of the +latter is written, "Messer Donato, you ask of me what I do not +possess." The Donato is undoubtedly Donato Giannotti, with whom +Michelangelo lived on very familiar terms at Rome about 1545. I will +here insert my English translation of these sonnets:-- + + _From heaven his spirit came, and, robed in clay, + The realms of justice and of mercy trod: + Then rose a living man to gaze on God, + That he might make the truth as clear as day._ + _For that pure star, that brightened with his ray + The undeserving nest where I was born, + The whole wide world would be a prize to scorn; + None but his Maker can due guerdon pay. + I speak of Dante, whose high work remains + Unknown, unhonoured by that thankless brood, + Who only to just men deny their wage. + Were I but he! Born for like lingering pains, + Against his exile coupled with his good + I'd gladly change the world's best heritage! + + No tongue can tell of him what should be told, + For on blind eyes his splendour shines too strong; + 'Twere easier to blame those who wrought him wrong, + Than sound his least praise with a mouth of gold. + He to explore the place of pain was bold, + Then soared to God, to teach our souls by song; + The gates heaven oped to bear his feet along, + Against his just desire his country rolled. + Thankless I call her, and to her own pain + The nurse of fell mischance; for sign take this, + That ever to the best she deals more scorn; + Among a thousand proofs let one remain; + Though ne'er was fortune more unjust than his, + His equal or his better ne'er was born._ + +The influence of Dante over Buonarroti's style of composition +impressed his contemporaries. Benedetto Varchi, in the proemium to a +lecture upon one of Michelangelo's poems, speaks of it as "a most +sublime sonnet, full of that antique purity and Dantesque gravity." +Dante's influence over the great artist's pictorial imagination is +strongly marked in the fresco of the Last Judgment, where Charon's +boat, and Minos with his twisted tail, are borrowed direct from the +_Inferno._ Condivi, moreover, informs us that the statues of the Lives +Contemplative and Active upon the tomb of Julius were suggested by the +Rachel and Leah of the _Purgatorio._ We also know that he filled a +book with drawings illustrative of the "Divine Comedy." By a miserable +accident this most precious volume, while in the possession of Antonio +Montauti, the sculptor, perished at sea on a journey from Livorno to +Rome. + +But the strongest proof of Michelangelo's reputation as a learned +student of Dante is given in Donato Giannotti's Dialogue upon the +number of days spent by the poet during his journey through Hell and +Purgatory. Luigi del Riccio, who was a great friend of the sculptor's, +is supposed to have been walking one day toward the Lateran with +Antonio Petreo. Their conversation fell upon Cristoforo Landino's +theory that the time consumed by Dante in this transit was the whole +of the night of Good Friday, together with the following day. While +engaged in this discussion, they met Donato Giannotti taking the air +with Michelangelo. The four friends joined company, and Petreo +observed that it was a singular good fortune to have fallen that +morning upon two such eminent Dante scholars. Donato replied: "With +regard to Messer Michelangelo, you have abundant reason to say that he +is an eminent Dantista, since I am acquainted with no one who +understands him better and has a fuller mastery over his works." It is +not needful to give a detailed account of Buonarroti's Dantesque +criticism, reported in these dialogues, although there are good +grounds for supposing them in part to represent exactly what Giannotti +heard him say. This applies particularly to his able interpretation of +the reason why Dante placed Brutus and Cassius in hell--not as being +the murderers of a tyrant, but as having laid violent hands upon the +sacred majesty of the Empire in the person of Caesar. The narrative of +Dante's journey through Hell and Purgatory, which is put into +Michelangelo's mouth, if we are to believe that he really made it +extempore and without book, shows a most minute knowledge of the +_Inferno_. + + +VII + +Michelangelo's doings at Serravezza can be traced with some accuracy +during the summers of 1518 and 1519. An important letter to +Buonarroto, dated April 2, 1518, proves that the execution of the road +had not yet been decided on. He is impatient to hear whether the Wool +Corporation has voted the necessary funds and appointed him to +engineer it. "With regard to the construction of the road here, please +tell Jacopo Salviati that I shall carry out his wishes, and he will +not be betrayed by me. I do not look after any interests of my own in +this matter, but seek to serve my patrons and my country. If I begged +the Pope and Cardinal to give me full control over the business, it +was that I might be able to conduct it to those places where the best +marbles are. Nobody here knows anything about them. I did not ask for +the commission in order to make money; nothing of the sort is in my +head." This proves conclusively that much which has been written about +the waste of Michelangelo's abilities on things a lesser man might +have accomplished is merely sentimental. On the contrary, he was even +accused of begging for the contract from a desire to profit by it. In +another letter, of April 18, the decision of the Wool Corporation was +still anxiously expected. Michelangelo gets impatient. "I shall mount +my horse, and go to find the Pope and Cardinal, tell them how it is +with me, leave the business here, and return to Carrara. The folk +there pray for my return as one is wont to pray to Christ." Then he +complains of the worthlessness and disloyalty of the stone-hewers he +brought from Florence, and winds up with an angry postscript: "Oh, +cursed a thousand times the day and hour when I left Carrara! This is +the cause of my utter ruin. But I shall go back there soon. Nowadays +it is a sin to do one's duty." On the 22nd of April the Wool +Corporation assigned to Michelangelo a contract for the quarries, +leaving him free to act as he thought best. Complaints follow about +his workmen. One passage is curious: "Sandro, he too has gone away +from here. He stopped several months with a mule and a little mule in +grand style, doing nothing but fish and make love. He cost me a +hundred ducats to no purpose; has left a certain quantity of marble, +giving me the right to take the blocks that suit my purpose. However, +I cannot find among them what is worth twenty-five ducats, the whole +being a jumble of rascally work. Either maliciously or through +ignorance, he has treated me very ill." + +Upon the 17th April 1517, Michelangelo had bought a piece of ground in +Via Mozza, now Via S. Zanobi, at Florence, from the Chapter of S. +Maria del Fiore, in order to build a workshop there. He wished, about +the time of the last letter quoted, to get an additional lot of land, +in order to have larger space at his command for the finishing of +marbles. The negotiations went on through the summer of 1518, and on +the 24th of November he records that the purchase was completed. +Premises adapted to the sculptor's purpose were erected, which +remained in Michelangelo's possession until the close of his life. + +In August 1518 he writes to a friend at Florence that the road is now +as good as finished, and that he is bringing down his columns. The +work is more difficult than he expected. One man's life had been +already thrown away, and Michelangelo himself was in great danger. +"The place where we have to quarry is exceedingly rough, and the +workmen are very stupid at their business. For some months I must make +demands upon my powers of patience until the mountains are tamed and +the men instructed. Afterwards we shall proceed more quickly. Enough, +that I mean to do what I promised, and shall produce the finest thing +that Italy has ever seen, if God assists me." + +There is no want of heart and spirit in these letters. Irritable at +moments, Michelangelo was at bottom enthusiastic, and, like Napoleon +Buonaparte, felt capable of conquering the world with his sole arm. + +In September we find him back again at Florence, where he seems to +have spent the winter. His friends wanted him to go to Rome; they +thought that his presence there was needed to restore the confidence +of the Medici and to overpower calumniating rivals. In reply to a +letter of admonition written in this sense by his friend Lionardo di +Compagno, the saddle-maker, he writes: "Your urgent solicitations are +to me so many stabs of the knife. I am dying of annoyance at not being +able to do what I should like to do, through my ill-luck." At the same +time he adds that he has now arranged an excellent workshop, where +twenty statues can be set up together. The drawback is that there are +no means of covering the whole space in and protecting it against the +weather. This yard, encumbered with the marbles for S. Lorenzo, must +have been in the Via Mozza. + +Early in the spring he removed to Serravezza, and resumed the work of +bringing down his blocked-out columns from the quarries. One of these +pillars, six of which he says were finished, was of huge size, +intended probably for the flanks to the main door at S. Lorenzo. It +tumbled into the river, and was smashed to pieces. Michelangelo +attributed the accident solely to the bad quality of iron which a +rascally fellow had put into the lewis-ring by means of which the +block was being raised. On this occasion he again ran considerable +risk of injury, and suffered great annoyance. The following letter of +condolence, written by Jacopo Salviati, proves how much he was +grieved, and also shows that he lived on excellent terms with the +Pope's right-hand man and counsellor: "Keep up your spirits and +proceed gallantly with your great enterprise, for your honour requires +this, seeing you have commenced the work. Confide in me; nothing will +be amiss with you, and our Lord is certain to compensate you for far +greater losses than this. Have no doubt upon this point, and if you +want one thing more than another, let me know, and you shall be served +immediately. Remember that your undertaking a work of such magnitude +will lay our city under the deepest obligation, not only to yourself, +but also to your family for ever. Great men, and of courageous spirit, +take heart under adversities, and become more energetic." + +A pleasant thread runs through Michelangelo's correspondence during +these years. It is the affection he felt for his workman Pietro +Urbano. When he leaves the young man behind him at Florence, he writes +frequently, giving him advice, bidding him mind his studies, and also +telling him to confess. It happened that Urbano fell ill at Carrara, +toward the end of August. Michelangelo, on hearing the news, left +Florence and travelled by post to Carrara. Thence he had his friend +transported on the backs of men to Serravezza, and after his recovery +sent him to pick up strength in his native city of Pistoja. In one of +the _Ricordi_ he reckons the cost of all this at 33-1/2 ducats. + +While Michelangelo was residing at Pietra Santa in 1518, his old +friend and fellow-worker, Pietro Rosselli, wrote to him from Rome, +asking his advice about a tabernacle of marble which Pietro Soderini +had ordered. It was to contain the head of S. John the Baptist, and to +be placed in the Church of the Convent of S. Silvestro. On the 7th of +June Soderini wrote upon the same topic, requesting a design. This +Michelangelo sent in October, the execution of the shrine being +intrusted to Federigo Frizzi. The incident would hardly be worth +mentioning, except for the fact that it brings to mind one of +Michelangelo's earliest patrons, the good-hearted Gonfalonier of +Justice, and anticipates the coming of the only woman he is known to +have cared for, Vittoria Colonna. It was at S. Silvestro that she +dwelt, retired in widowhood, and here occurred those Sunday morning +conversations of which Francesco d'Olanda has left us so interesting a +record. + +During the next year, 1519, a certain Tommaso di Dolfo invited him to +visit Adrianople. He reminded him how, coming together in Florence, +when Michelangelo lay there in hiding from Pope Julius, they had +talked about the East, and he had expressed a wish to travel into +Turkey. Tommaso di Dolfo dissuaded him on that occasion, because the +ruler of the province was a man of no taste and careless about the +arts. Things had altered since, and he thought there was a good +opening for an able sculptor. Things, however, had altered in Italy +also, and Buonarroti felt no need to quit the country where his fame +was growing daily. + +Considerable animation is introduced into the annals of Michelangelo's +life at this point by his correspondence with jovial Sebastiano del +Piombo. We possess one of this painter's letters, dating as early as +1510, when he thanks Buonarroti for consenting to be godfather to his +boy Luciano; a second of 1512, which contains the interesting account +of his conversation with Pope Julius about Michelangelo and Raffaello; +and a third, of 1518, turning upon the rivalry between the two great +artists. But the bulk of Sebastiano's gossipy and racy communications +belongs to the period of thirteen years between 1520 and 1533; then it +suddenly breaks off, owing to Michelangelo's having taken up his +residence at Rome during the autumn of 1533. A definite rupture at +some subsequent period separated the old friends. These letters are a +mine of curious information respecting artistic life at Rome. They +prove, beyond the possibility of doubt, that, whatever Buonarroti and +Sanzio may have felt, their flatterers, dependants, and creatures +cherished the liveliest hostility and lived in continual rivalry. It +is somewhat painful to think that Michelangelo could have lent a +willing ear to the malignant babble of a man so much inferior to +himself in nobleness of nature--have listened when Sebastiano taunted +Raffaello as "Prince of the Synagogue," or boasted that a picture of +his own was superior to "the tapestries just come from Flanders." Yet +Sebastiano was not the only friend to whose idle gossip the great +sculptor indulgently stooped. Lionardo, the saddle-maker, was even +more offensive. He writes, for instance, upon New Year's Day, 1519, to +say that the Resurrection of Lazarus, for which Michelangelo had +contributed some portion of the design, was nearly finished, and adds: +"Those who understand art rank it far above Raffaello. The vault, too, +of Agostino Chigi has been exposed to view, and is a thing truly +disgraceful to a great artist, far worse than the last hall of the +Palace. Sebastiano has nothing to fear." + +We gladly turn from these quarrels to what Sebastiano teaches us about +Michelangelo's personal character. The general impression in the world +was that he was very difficult to live with. Julius, for instance, +after remarking that Raffaello changed his style in imitation of +Buonarroti, continued: "'But he is terrible, as you see; one cannot +get on with him.' I answered to his Holiness that your terribleness +hurt nobody, and that you only seem to be terrible because of your +passionate devotion to the great works you have on hand." Again, he +relates Leo's estimate of his friend's character: + +"I know in what esteem the Pope holds you, and when he speaks of you, +it would seem that he were talking about a brother, almost with tears +in his eyes; for he has told me you were brought up together as boys" +(Giovanni de' Medici and the sculptor were exactly of the same age), +"and shows that he knows and loves you. But you frighten everybody, +even Popes!" Michelangelo must have complained of this last remark, +for Sebastiano, in a letter dated a few days later, reverts to the +subject: "Touching what you reply to me about your terribleness, I, +for my part, do not esteem you terrible; and if I have not written on +this subject do not be surprised, seeing you do not strike me as +terrible, except only in art--that is to say, in being the greatest +master who ever lived: that is my opinion; if I am in error, the loss +is mine." Later on, he tells us what Clement VII. thought: "One letter +to your friend (the Pope) would be enough; you would soon see what +fruit it bore; because I know how he values you. He loves you, knows +your nature, adores your work, and tastes its quality as much as it is +possible for man to do. Indeed, his appreciation is miraculous, and +such as ought to give great satisfaction to an artist. He speaks of +you so honourably, and with such loving affection, that a father could +not say of a son what he does of you. It is true that he has been +grieved at times by buzzings in his ear about you at the time of the +siege of Florence. He shrugged his shoulders and cried, 'Michelangelo +is in the wrong; I never did him any injury.'" It is interesting to +find Sebastiano, in the same letter, complaining of Michelangelo's +sensitiveness. "One favour I would request of you, that is, that you +should come to learn your worth, and not stoop as you do to every +little thing, and remember that eagles do not prey on flies. Enough! I +know that you will laugh at my prattle; but I do not care; Nature has +made me so, and I am not Zuan da Rezzo." + + +VIII + +The year 1520 was one of much importance for Michelangelo. A _Ricordo_ +dated March 10 gives a brief account of the last four years, winding +up with the notice that "Pope Leo, perhaps because he wants to get the +facade at S. Lorenzo finished quicker than according to the contract +made with me, and I also consenting thereto, sets me free ... and so +he leaves me at liberty, under no obligation of accounting to any one +for anything which I have had to do with him or others upon his +account." It appears from the draft of a letter without date that some +altercation between Michelangelo and the Medici preceded this rupture. +He had been withdrawn from Serravezza to Florence in order that he +might plan the new buildings at S. Lorenzo; and the workmen of the +Opera del Duomo continued the quarrying business in his absence. +Marbles which he had excavated for S. Lorenzo were granted by the +Cardinal de' Medici to the custodians of the cathedral, and no attempt +was made to settle accounts. Michelangelo's indignation was roused by +this indifference to his interests, and he complains in terms of +extreme bitterness. Then he sums up all that he has lost, in addition +to expected profits. "I do not reckon the wooden model for the said +facade, which I made and sent to Rome; I do not reckon the period of +three years wasted in this work; I do not reckon that I have been +ruined (in health and strength perhaps) by the undertaking; I do not +reckon the enormous insult put on me by being brought here to do the +work, and then seeing it taken away from me, and for what reason I +have not yet learned; I do not reckon my house in Rome, which I left, +and where marbles, furniture and blocked-out statues have suffered to +upwards of 500 ducats. Omitting all these matters, out of the 2300 +ducats I received, only 500 remain in my hands." + +When he was an old man, Michelangelo told Condivi that Pope Leo +changed his mind about S. Lorenzo. In the often-quoted letter to the +prelate he said: "Leo, not wishing me to work at the tomb of Julius, +_pretended that he wanted to complete_ the facade of S. Lorenzo at +Florence." What was the real state of the case can only be +conjectured. It does not seem that the Pope took very kindly to the +facade; so the project may merely have been dropped through +carelessness. Michelangelo neglected his own interests by not going to +Rome, where his enemies kept pouring calumnies into the Pope's ears. +The Marquis of Carrara, as reported by Lionardo, wrote to Leo that "he +had sought to do you honour, and had done so to his best ability. It +was your fault if he had not done more--the fault of your sordidness, +your quarrelsomeness, your eccentric conduct." When, then, a dispute +arose between the Cardinal and the sculptor about the marbles, Leo may +have felt that it was time to break off from an artist so impetuous +and irritable. Still, whatever faults of temper Michelangelo may have +had, and however difficult he was to deal with, nothing can excuse the +Medici for their wanton waste of his physical and mental energies at +the height of their development. + +On the 6th of April 1520 Raffaello died, worn out with labour and with +love, in the flower of his wonderful young manhood. It would be rash +to assert that he had already given the world the best he had to +offer, because nothing is so incalculable as the evolution of genius. +Still we perceive now that his latest manner, both as regards style +and feeling, and also as regards the method of execution by +assistants, shows him to have been upon the verge of intellectual +decline. While deploring Michelangelo's impracticability--that +solitary, self-reliant, and exacting temperament which made him reject +collaboration, and which doomed so much of his best work to +incompleteness--we must remember that to the very end of his long life +he produced nothing (except perhaps in architecture) which does not +bear the seal and superscription of his fervent self. Raffaello, on +the contrary, just before his death, seemed to be exhaling into a +nebulous mist of brilliant but unsatisfactory performances. Diffusing +the rich and facile treasures of his genius through a host of lesser +men, he had almost ceased to be a personality. Even his own work, as +proved by the Transfiguration, was deteriorating. The blossom was +overblown, the bubble on the point of bursting; and all those pupils +who had gathered round him, drawing like planets from the sun their +lustre, sank at his death into frigidity and insignificance. Only +Giulio Romano burned with a torrid sensual splendour all his own. +Fortunately for the history of the Renaissance, Giulio lived to evoke +the wonder of the Mantuan villa, that climax of associated crafts of +decoration, which remains for us the symbol of the dream of art +indulged by Raffaello in his Roman period. + +These pupils of the Urbinate claimed now, on their master's death, and +claimed with good reason, the right to carry on his great work in the +Borgian apartments of the Vatican. The Sala de' Pontefici, or the Hall +of Constantine, as it is sometimes called, remained to be painted. +They possessed designs bequeathed by Raffaello for its decoration, and +Leo, very rightly, decided to leave it in their hands. Sebastiano del +Piombo, however, made a vigorous effort to obtain the work for +himself. His Raising of Lazarus, executed in avowed competition with +the Transfiguration, had brought him into the first rank of Roman +painters. It was seen what the man, with Michelangelo to back him up, +could do. We cannot properly appreciate this picture in its present +state. The glory of the colouring has passed away; and it was +precisely here that Sebastiano may have surpassed Raffaello, as he was +certainly superior to the school. Sebastiano wrote letter after letter +to Michelangelo in Florence. He first mentions Raffaello's death, +"whom may God forgive;" then says that the _"garzoni"_ of the Urbinate +are beginning to paint in oil upon the walls of the Sala de' +Pontefici. "I pray you to remember me, and to recommend me to the +Cardinal, and if I am the man to undertake the job, I should like you +to set me to work at it; for I shall not disgrace you, as indeed I +think I have not done already. I took my picture (the Lazarus) once +more to the Vatican, and placed it beside Raffaello's (the +Transfiguration), and I came without shame out of the comparison." In +answer, apparently, to this first letter on the subject, Michelangelo +wrote a humorous recommendation of his friend and gossip to the +Cardinal Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena. It runs thus: "I beg your most +reverend Lordship, not as a friend or servant, for I am not worthy to +be either, but as a low fellow, poor and brainless, that you will +cause Sebastian, the Venetian painter, now that Rafael is dead, to +have some share in the works, at the Palace. If it should seem to your +Lordship that kind offices are thrown away upon a man like me, I might +suggest that on some rare occasions a certain sweetness may be found +in being kind even to fools, as onions taste well, for a change of +food, to one who is tired of capons. You oblige men of mark every day. +I beg your Lordship to try what obliging me is like. The obligation +will be a very great one, and Sebastian is a worthy man. If, then, +your kind offers are thrown away on me, they will not be so on +Sebastian, for I am certain he will prove a credit to your Lordship." + +In his following missives Sebastiano flatters Michelangelo upon the +excellent effect produced by the letter. "The Cardinal informed me +that the Pope had given the Hall of the Pontiffs to Raffaello's +'prentices, and they have begun with a figure in oils upon the wall, a +marvellous production which eclipses all the rooms painted by their +master, and proves that when it is finished, this hall will beat the +record, and be the finest thing done in painting since the ancients. +Then he asked if I had read your letter. I said, No. He laughed +loudly, as though at a good joke, and I quitted him with compliments. +Bandinelli, who is copying the Laocoon, tells me that the Cardinal +showed him your letter, and also showed it to the Pope; in fact, +nothing is talked about at the Vatican except your letter, and it +makes everybody laugh." He adds that he does not think the hall ought +to be committed to young men. Having discovered what sort of things +they meant to paint there, battle-pieces and vast compositions, he +judges the scheme beyond their scope. Michelangelo alone is equal to +the task. Meanwhile, Leo, wishing to compromise matters, offered +Sebastiano the great hall in the lower apartments of the Borgias, +where Alexander VI. used to live, and where Pinturicchio +painted--rooms shut up in pious horror by Julius when he came to +occupy the palace of his hated and abominable predecessor. +Sebastiano's reliance upon Michelangelo, and his calculation that the +way to get possession of the coveted commission would depend on the +latter's consenting to supply him with designs, emerge in the +following passage: "The Cardinal told me that he was ordered by the +Pope to offer me the lower hall. I replied that I could accept nothing +without your permission, or until your answer came, which is not to +hand at the date of writing. I added that, unless I were engaged to +Michelangelo, even if the Pope commanded me to paint that hall, I +would not do so, because I do not think myself inferior to Raffaello's +'prentices, especially after the Pope, with his own mouth, had offered +me half of the upper hall; and anyhow, I do not regard it as +creditable to myself to paint the cellars, and they to have the gilded +chambers. I said they had better be allowed to go on painting. He +answered that the Pope had only done this to avoid rivalries. The men +possessed designs ready for that hall, and I ought to remember that +the lower one was also a hall of the Pontiffs. My reply was that I +would have nothing to do with it; so that now they are laughing at me, +and I am so worried that I am well-nigh mad." Later on he adds: "It +has been my object, through you and your authority, to execute +vengeance for myself and you too, letting malignant fellows know that +there are other demigods alive beside Raffael da Urbino and his +'prentices." The vacillation of Leo in this business, and his desire +to make things pleasant, are characteristic of the man, who acted just +in the same way while negotiating with princes. + + +IX + +When Michelangelo complained that he was "rovinato per detta opera di +San Lorenzo," he probably did not mean that he was ruined in purse, +but in health and energy. For some while after Leo gave him his +liberty, he seems to have remained comparatively inactive. During this +period the sacristy at S. Lorenzo and the Medicean tombs were probably +in contemplation. Giovanni Cambi says that they were begun at the end +of March 1520. But we first hear something definite about them in a +_Ricordo_ which extends from April 9 to August 19, 1521. Michelangelo +says that on the former of these dates he received money from the +Cardinal de' Medici for a journey to Carrara, whither he went and +stayed about three weeks, ordering marbles for "the tombs which are to +be placed in the new sacristy at S. Lorenzo. And there I made out +drawings to scale, and measured models in clay for the said tombs." He +left his assistant Scipione of Settignano at Carrara as overseer of +the work and returned to Florence. On the 20th of July following he +went again to Carrara, and stayed nine days. On the 16th of August the +contractors for the blocks, all of which were excavated from the old +Roman quarry of Polvaccio, came to Florence, and were paid for on +account. Scipione returned on the 19th of August. It may be added that +the name of Stefano, the miniaturist, who acted as Michelangelo's +factotum through several years, is mentioned for the first time in +this minute and interesting record. + +That the commission for the sacristy came from the Cardinal Giulio, +and not from the Pope, appears in the document I have just cited. The +fact is confirmed by a letter written to Fattucci in 1523: "About two +years have elapsed since I returned from Carrara, whither I had gone +to purchase marbles for the tombs of the Cardinal." The letter is +curious in several respects, because it shows how changeable through +many months Giulio remained about the scheme; at one time bidding +Michelangelo prepare plans and models, at another refusing to listen +to any proposals; then warming up again, and saying that, if he lived +long enough, he meant to erect the facade as well. The final issue of +the affair was, that after Giulio became Pope Clement VII., the +sacristy went forward, and Michelangelo had to put the sepulchre of +Julius aside. During the pontificate of Adrian, we must believe that +he worked upon his statues for that monument, since a Cardinal was +hardly powerful enough to command his services; but when the Cardinal +became Pope, and threatened to bring an action against him for moneys +received, the case was altered. The letter to Fattucci, when carefully +studied, leads to these conclusions. + +Very little is known to us regarding his private life in the year +1521. We only possess one letter, relating to the purchase of a house. +In October he stood godfather to the infant son of Niccolo Soderini, +nephew of his old patron, the Gonfalonier. + +This barren period is marked by only one considerable event--that is, +the termination of the Cristo Risorto, or Christ Triumphant, which had +been ordered by Metello Varj de' Porcari in 1514. The statue seems to +have been rough-hewn at the quarries, packed up, and sent to Pisa on +its way to Florence as early as December 1518, but it was not until +March 1521 that Michelangelo began to occupy himself about it +seriously. He then despatched Pietro Urbano to Rome with orders to +complete it there, and to arrange with the purchaser for placing it +upon a pedestal. Sebastiano's letters contain some references to this +work, which enable us to understand how wrong it would be to accept it +as a representative piece of Buonarroti's own handicraft. On the 9th +of November 1520 he writes that his gossip, Giovanni da Reggio, "goes +about saying that you did not execute the figure, but that it is the +work of Pietro Urbano. Take good care that it should be seen to be +from your hand, so that poltroons and babblers may burst." On the 6th +of September 1521 he returns to the subject. Urbano was at this time +resident in Rome, and behaving himself so badly, in Sebastiano's +opinion, that he feels bound to make a severe report. "In the first +place, you sent him to Rome with the statue to finish and erect it. +What he did and left undone you know already. But I must inform you +that he has spoiled the marble wherever he touched it. In particular, +he shortened the right foot and cut the toes off; the hands too, +especially the right hand, which holds the cross, have been mutilated +in the fingers. Frizzi says they seem to have been worked by a +biscuit-maker, not wrought in marble, but kneaded by some one used to +dough. I am no judge, not being familiar with the method of +stone-cutting; but I can tell you that the fingers look to me very +stiff and dumpy. It is clear also that he has been peddling at the +beard; and I believe my little boy would have done so with more sense, +for it looks as though he had used a knife without a point to chisel +the hair. This can easily be remedied, however. He has also spoiled +one of the nostrils. A little more, and the whole nose would have been +ruined, and only God could have restored it." Michelangelo apparently +had already taken measures to transfer the Christ from Urbano's hands +to those of the sculptor Federigo Frizzi. This irritated his former +friend and workman. "Pietro shows a very ugly and malignant spirit +after finding himself cast off by you. He does not seem to care for +you or any one alive, but thinks he is a great master. He will soon +find out his mistake, for the poor young man will never be able to +make statues. He has forgotten all he knew of art, and the knees of +your Christ are worth more than all Rome together." It was +Sebastiano's wont to run babbling on this way. Once again he returns +to Pietro Urbano. "I am informed that he has left Rome; he has not +been seen for several days, has shunned the Court, and I certainly +believe that he will come to a bad end. He gambles, wants all the +women of the town, struts like a Ganymede in velvet shoes through +Rome, and flings his cash about. Poor fellow! I am sorry for him +since, after all, he is but young." + +Such was the end of Pietro Urbano. Michelangelo was certainly +unfortunate with his apprentices. One cannot help fancying he may have +spoiled them by indulgence. Vasari, mentioning Pietro, calls him "a +person of talent, but one who never took the pains to work." + +Frizzi brought the Christ Triumphant into its present state, patching +up what "the lither lad" from Pistoja had boggled. Buonarroti, who was +sincerely attached to Varj, and felt his artistic reputation now at +stake, offered to make a new statue. But the magnanimous Roman +gentleman replied that he was entirely satisfied with the one he had +received. He regarded and esteemed it "as a thing of gold," and, in +refusing Michelangelo's offer, added that "this proved his noble soul +and generosity, inasmuch as, when he had already made what could not +be surpassed and was incomparable, he still wanted to serve his friend +better." The price originally stipulated was paid, and Varj added an +autograph testimonial, strongly affirming his contentment with the +whole transaction. + +These details prove that the Christ of the Minerva must be regarded as +a mutilated masterpiece. Michelangelo is certainly responsible for the +general conception, the pose, and a large portion of the finished +surface, details of which, especially in the knees, so much admired by +Sebastiano, and in the robust arms, are magnificent. He designed the +figure wholly nude, so that the heavy bronze drapery which now +surrounds the loins, and bulges drooping from the left hip, breaks the +intended harmony of lines. Yet, could this brawny man have ever +suggested any distinctly religious idea? Christ, victor over Death and +Hell, did not triumph by ponderosity and sinews. The spiritual nature +of his conquest, the ideality of a divine soul disencumbered from the +flesh, to which it once had stooped in love for sinful man, ought +certainly to have been emphasised, if anywhere through art, in the +statue of a Risen Christ. Substitute a scaling-ladder for the cross, +and here we have a fine life-guardsman, stripped and posing for some +classic battle-piece. We cannot quarrel with Michelangelo about the +face and head. Those vulgarly handsome features, that beard, pomaded +and curled by a barber's 'prentice, betray no signs of his +inspiration. Only in the arrangement of the hair, hyacinthine locks +descending to the shoulders, do we recognise the touch of the divine +sculptor. + +The Christ became very famous. Francis I. had it cast and sent to +Paris, to be repeated in bronze. What is more strange, it has long +been the object of a religious cult. The right foot, so mangled by +poor Pietro, wears a fine brass shoe, in order to prevent its being +kissed away. This almost makes one think of Goethe's hexameter: +"Wunderthaetige Bilder sind meist nur schlechte Gemaelde." Still it must +be remembered that excellent critics have found the whole work +admirable. Gsell-Fels says: "It is his second Moses; in movement and +physique one of the greatest masterpieces; as a Christ-ideal, the +heroic conception of a humanist." That last observation is just. We +may remember that Vida was composing his _Christiad_ while Frizzi was +curling the beard of the Cristo Risorto. Vida always speaks of Jesus +as _Heros_ and of God the Father as _Superum Pater Nimbipotens_ or +_Regnator Olympi_. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +I + +Leo X. expired upon the 1st day of December 1521. The vacillating game +he played in European politics had just been crowned with momentary +success. Some folk believed that the Pope died of joy after hearing +that his Imperial allies had entered the town of Milan; others thought +that he succumbed to poison. We do not know what caused his death. But +the unsoundness of his constitution, over-taxed by dissipation and +generous living, in the midst of public cares for which the man had +hardly nerve enough, may suffice to account for a decease certainly +sudden and premature. Michelangelo, born in the same year, was +destined to survive him through more than eight lustres of the life of +man. + +Leo was a personality whom it is impossible to praise without reserve. +The Pope at that time in Italy had to perform three separate +functions. His first duty was to the Church. Leo left the See of Rome +worse off than he found it: financially bankrupt, compromised by vague +schemes set on foot for the aggrandisement of his family, discredited +by many shameless means for raising money upon spiritual securities. +His second duty was to Italy. Leo left the peninsula so involved in a +mesh of meaningless entanglements, diplomatic and aimless wars, that +anarchy and violence proved to be the only exit from the situation. +His third duty was to that higher culture which Italy dispensed to +Europe, and of which the Papacy had made itself the leading +propagator. Here Leo failed almost as conspicuously as in all else he +attempted. He debased the standard of art and literature by his +ill-placed liberalities, seeking quick returns for careless +expenditure, not selecting the finest spirits of his age for timely +patronage, diffusing no lofty enthusiasm, but breeding round him +mushrooms of mediocrity. + +Nothing casts stronger light upon the low tone of Roman society +created by Leo than the outburst of frenzy and execration which +exploded when a Fleming was elected as his successor. Adrian Florent, +belonging to a family surnamed Dedel, emerged from the scrutiny of the +Conclave into the pontifical chair. He had been the tutor of Charles +V., and this may suffice to account for his nomination. Cynical wits +ascribed that circumstance to the direct and unexpected action of the +Holy Ghost. He was the one foreigner who occupied the seat of S. Peter +after the period when the metropolis of Western Christendom became an +Italian principality. Adrian, by his virtues and his failings, proved +that modern Rome, in her social corruption and religious indifference, +demanded an Italian Pontiff. Single-minded and simple, raised +unexpectedly by circumstances into his supreme position, he shut his +eyes absolutely to art and culture, abandoned diplomacy, and +determined to act only as the chief of the Catholic Church. In +ecclesiastical matters Adrian was undoubtedly a worthy man. He +returned to the original conception of his duty as the Primate of +Occidental Christendom; and what might have happened had he lived to +impress his spirit upon Rome, remains beyond the reach of calculation. +Dare we conjecture that the sack of 1527 would have been averted? + +Adrian reigned only a year and eight months. He had no time to do +anything of permanent value, and was hardly powerful enough to do it, +even if time and opportunity had been afforded. In the thunderstorm +gathering over Rome and the Papacy, he represents that momentary lull +during which men hold their breath and murmur. All the place-seekers, +parasites, flatterers, second-rate artificers, folk of facile talents, +whom Leo gathered round him, vented their rage against a Pope who +lived sparsely, shut up the Belvedere, called statues "idols of the +Pagans," and spent no farthing upon twangling lutes and frescoed +chambers. Truly Adrian is one of the most grotesque and significant +figures upon the page of modern history. His personal worth, his +inadequacy to the needs of the age, and his incompetence to control +the tempest loosed by Della Roveres, Borgias, and Medici around him, +give the man a tragic irony. + +After his death, upon the 23rd of September 1523, the Cardinal Giulio +de' Medici was made Pope. He assumed the title of Clement VII. upon +the 9th of November. The wits who saluted Adrian's doctor with the +title of "Saviour of the Fatherland," now rejoiced at the election of +an Italian and a Medici. The golden years of Leo's reign would +certainly return, they thought; having no foreknowledge of the tragedy +which was so soon to be enacted, first at Rome, and afterwards at +Florence, Michelangelo wrote to his friend Topolino at Carrara: "You +will have heard that Medici is made Pope; all the world seems to me to +be delighted, and I think that here at Florence great things will soon +be set on foot in our art. Therefore, serve well and faithfully." + + +II + +Our records are very scanty, both as regards personal details and +art-work, for the life of Michelangelo during the pontificate of +Adrian VI. The high esteem in which he was held throughout Italy is +proved by three incidents which may shortly be related. In 1522, the +Board of Works for the cathedral church of S. Petronio at Bologna +decided to complete the facade. Various architects sent in designs; +among them Peruzzi competed with one in the Gothic style, and another +in that of the Classical revival. Great differences of opinion arose +in the city as to the merits of the rival plans, and the Board in July +invited Michelangelo, through their secretary, to come and act as +umpire. They promised to reward him magnificently. It does not appear +that Michelangelo accepted the offer. In 1523, Cardinal Grimani, who +was a famous collector of art-objects, wrote begging for some specimen +of his craft. Grimani left it open to him "to choose material and +subject; painting, bronze, or marble, according to his fancy." +Michelangelo must have promised to fulfill the commission, for we have +a letter from Grimani thanking him effusively. He offers to pay fifty +ducats at the commencement of the work, and what Michelangelo thinks +fit to demand at its conclusion: "for such is the excellence of your +ability, that we shall take no thought of money-value." Grimani was +Patriarch of Aquileja. In the same year, 1523, the Genoese entered +into negotiations for a colossal statue of Andrea Doria, which they +desired to obtain from the hand of Michelangelo. Its execution must +have been seriously contemplated, for the Senate of Genoa banked 300 +ducats for the purpose. We regret that Michelangelo could not carry +out a work so congenial to his talent as this ideal portrait of the +mighty Signer Capitano would have been; but we may console ourselves +by reflecting that even his energies were not equal to all tasks +imposed upon him. The real matter for lamentation is that they +suffered so much waste in the service of vacillating Popes. + +To the year 1523 belongs, in all probability, the last extant letter +which Michelangelo wrote to his father. Lodovico was dissatisfied with +a contract which had been drawn up on the 16th of June in that year, +and by which a certain sum of money, belonging to the dowry of his +late wife, was settled in reversion upon his eldest son. Michelangelo +explains the tenor of the deed, and then breaks forth into the, +following bitter and ironical invective: "If my life is a nuisance to +you, you have found the means of protecting yourself, and will inherit +the key of that treasure which you say that I possess. And you will be +acting rightly; for all Florence knows how mighty rich you were, and +how I always robbed you, and deserve to be chastised. Highly will men +think of you for this. Cry out and tell folk all you choose about me, +but do not write again, for you prevent my working. What I have now to +do is to make good all you have had from me during the past +five-and-twenty years. I would rather not tell you this, but I cannot +help it. Take care, and be on your guard against those whom it +concerns you. A man dies but once, and does not come back again to +patch up things ill done. You have put off till the death to do this. +May God assist you!" + +In another draft of this letter Lodovico is accused of going about the +town complaining that he was once a rich man, and that Michelangelo +had robbed him. Still, we must not take this for proved; one of the +great artist's main defects was an irritable suspiciousness, which +caused him often to exaggerate slights and to fancy insults. He may +have attached too much weight to the grumblings of an old man, whom at +the bottom of his heart he loved dearly. + + +III + +Clement, immediately after his election, resolved on setting +Michelangelo at work in earnest on the Sacristy. At the very beginning +of January he also projected the building of the Laurentian Library, +and wrote, through his Roman agent, Giovanni Francesco Fattucci, +requesting to have two plans furnished, one in the Greek, the other in +the Latin style. Michelangelo replied as follows: "I gather from your +last that his Holiness our Lord wishes that I should furnish the +design for the library. I have received no information, and do not +know where it is to be erected. It is true that Stefano talked to me +about the scheme, but I paid no heed. When he returns from Carrara I +will inquire, and will do all that is in my power, _albeit +architecture is not my profession_." There is something pathetic in +this reiterated assertion that his real art was sculpture. At the same +time Clement wished to provide for him for life. He first proposed +that Buonarroti should promise not to marry, and should enter into +minor orders. This would have enabled him to enjoy some ecclesiastical +benefice, but it would also have handed him over firmly bound to the +service of the Pope. Circumstances already hampered him enough, and +Michelangelo, who chose to remain his own master, refused. As Berni +wrote: "Voleva far da se, non comandato." As an alternative, a pension +was suggested. It appears that he only asked for fifteen ducats a +month, and that his friend Pietro Gondi had proposed twenty-five +ducats. Fattucci, on the 13th of January 1524, rebuked him in +affectionate terms for his want of pluck, informing him that "Jacopo +Salviati has given orders that Spina should be instructed to pay you a +monthly provision of fifty ducats." Moreover, all the disbursements +made for the work at S. Lorenzo were to be provided by the same agent +in Florence, and to pass through Michelangelo's hands. A house was +assigned him, free of rent, at S. Lorenzo, in order that he might be +near his work. Henceforth he was in almost weekly correspondence with +Giovanni Spina on affairs of business, sending in accounts and drawing +money by means of his then trusted servant, Stefano, the miniaturist. + +That Stefano did not always behave himself according to his master's +wishes appears from the following characteristic letter addressed by +Michelangelo to his friend Pietro Gondi: "The poor man, who is +ungrateful, has a nature of this sort, that if you help him in his +needs, he says that what you gave him came out of superfluities; if +you put him in the way of doing work for his own good, he says you +were obliged, and set him to do it because you were incapable; and all +the benefits which he received he ascribes to the necessities of the +benefactor. But when everybody can see that you acted out of pure +benevolence, the ingrate waits until you make some public mistake, +which gives him the opportunity of maligning his benefactor and +winning credence, in order to free himself from the obligation under +which he lies. This has invariably happened in my case. No one ever +entered into relations with me--I speak of workmen--to whom I did not +do good with all my heart. Afterwards, some trick of temper, or some +madness, which they say is in my nature, which hurts nobody except +myself, gives them an excuse for speaking evil of me and calumniating +my character. Such is the reward of all honest men." + +These general remarks, he adds, apply to Stefano, whom he placed in a +position of trust and responsibility, in order to assist him. "What I +do is done for his good, because I have undertaken to benefit the man, +and cannot abandon him; but let him not imagine or say that I am doing +it because of my necessities, for, God be praised, I do not stand in +need of men." He then begs Gondi to discover what Stefano's real mind +is. This is a matter of great importance to him for several reasons, +and especially for this: "If I omitted to justify myself, and were to +put another in his place, I should be published among the Piagnoni for +the biggest traitor who ever lived, even though I were in the right." + +We conclude, then, that Michelangelo thought of dismissing Stefano, +but feared lest he should get into trouble with the powerful political +party, followers of Savonarola, who bore the name of Piagnoni at +Florence. Gondi must have patched the quarrel up, for we still find +Stefano's name in the _Ricordi_ down to April 4, 1524. Shortly after +that date, Antonio Mini seems to have taken his place as +Michelangelo's right-hand man of business. These details are not so +insignificant as they appear. They enable us to infer that the +Sacristy of S. Lorenzo may have been walled and roofed in before the +end of April 1524; for, in an undated letter to Pope Clement, +Michelangelo says that Stefano has finished the lantern, and that it +is universally admired. With regard to this lantern, folk told him +that he would make it better than Brunelleschi's. "Different perhaps, +but better, no!" he answered. The letter to Clement just quoted is +interesting in several respects. The boldness of the beginning makes +one comprehend how Michelangelo was terrible even to Popes:-- + +"Most Blessed Father,--Inasmuch as intermediates are often the cause +of grave misunderstandings, I have summoned up courage to write +without their aid to your Holiness about the tombs at S. Lorenzo. I +repeat, I know not which is preferable, the evil that does good, or +the good that hurts. I am certain, mad and wicked as I may be, that if +I had been allowed to go on as I had begun, all the marbles needed for +the work would have been in Florence to-day, and properly blocked out, +with less cost than has been expended on them up to this date; and +they would have been superb, as are the others I have brought here." + +After this he entreats Clement to give him full authority in carrying +out the work, and not to put superiors over him. Michelangelo, we +know, was extremely impatient of control and interference; and we +shall see, within a short time, how excessively the watching and +spying of busybodies worried and disturbed his spirits. + +But these were not his only sources of annoyance. The heirs of Pope +Julius, perceiving that Michelangelo's time and energy were wholly +absorbed at S. Lorenzo, began to threaten him with a lawsuit. Clement, +wanting apparently to mediate between the litigants, ordered Fattucci +to obtain a report from the sculptor, with a full account of how +matters stood. This evoked the long and interesting document which has +been so often cited. There is no doubt whatever that Michelangelo +acutely felt the justice of the Duke of Urbino's grievances against +him. He was broken-hearted at seeming to be wanting in his sense of +honour and duty. People, he says, accused him of putting the money +which had been paid for the tomb out at usury, "living meanwhile at +Florence and amusing himself." It also hurt him deeply to be +distracted from the cherished project of his early manhood in order to +superintend works for which he had no enthusiasm, and which lay +outside his sphere of operation. + +It may, indeed, be said that during these years Michelangelo lived in +a perpetual state of uneasiness and anxiety about the tomb of Julius. +As far back as 1518 the Cardinal Leonardo Grosso, Bishop of Agen, and +one of Julius's executors, found it necessary to hearten him with +frequent letters of encouragement. In one of these, after commending +his zeal in extracting marbles and carrying on the monument, the +Cardinal proceeds: "Be then of good courage, and do not yield to any +perturbations of the spirit, for we put more faith in your smallest +word than if all the world should say the contrary. We know your +loyalty, and believe you to be wholly devoted to our person; and if +there shall be need of aught which we can supply, we are willing, as +we have told you on other occasions, to do so; rest then in all +security of mind, because we love you from the heart, and desire to do +all that may be agreeable to you." This good friend was dead at the +time we have now reached, and the violent Duke Francesco Maria della +Rovere acted as the principal heir of Pope Julius. + +In a passion of disgust he refused to draw his pension, and abandoned +the house at S. Lorenzo. This must have happened in March 1524, for +his friend Leonardo writes to him from Rome upon the 24th: "I am also +told that you have declined your pension, which seems to me mere +madness, and that you have thrown the house up, and do not work. +Friend and gossip, let me tell you that you have plenty of enemies, +who speak their worst; also that the Pope and Pucci and Jacopo +Salviati are your friends, and have plighted their troth to you. It is +unworthy of you to break your word to them, especially in an affair of +honour. Leave the matter of the tomb to those who wish you well, and +who are able to set you free without the least encumbrance, and take +care you do not come short in the Pope's work. Die first. And take the +pension, for they give it with a willing heart." How long he remained +in contumacy is not quite certain; apparently until the 29th of +August. We have a letter written on that day to Giovanni Spina: "After +I left you yesterday, I went back thinking over my affairs; and, +seeing that the Pope has set his heart on S. Lorenzo, and how he +urgently requires my service, and has appointed me a good provision in +order that I may serve him with more convenience and speed; seeing +also that not to accept it keeps me back, and that I have no good +excuse for not serving his Holiness; I have changed my mind, and +whereas I hitherto refused, I now demand it (_i.e._, the salary), +considering this far wiser, and for more reasons than I care to write; +and, more especially, I mean to return to the house you took for me at +S. Lorenzo, and settle down there like an honest man: inasmuch as it +sets gossip going, and does me great damage not to go back there." +From a _Ricordo_ dated October 19, 1524, we learn in fact that he then +drew his full pay for eight months. + + +IV + +Since Michelangelo was now engaged upon the Medicean tombs at S. +Lorenzo, it will be well to give some account of the several plans he +made before deciding on the final scheme, which he partially executed. +We may assume, I think, that the sacristy, as regards its general form +and dimensions, faithfully represents the first plan approved by +Clement. This follows from the rapidity and regularity with which the +structure was completed. But then came the question of filling it with +sarcophagi and statues. As early as November 28, 1520, Giulio de' +Medici, at that time Cardinal, wrote from the Villa Magliana. to +Buonarroti, addressing him thus: "_Spectabilis vir, amice noster +charissime_." He says that he is pleased with the design for the +chapel, and with the notion of placing the four tombs in the middle. +Then he proceeds to make some sensible remarks upon the difficulty of +getting these huge masses of statuary into the space provided for +them. Michelangelo, as Heath Wilson has pointed out, very slowly +acquired the sense of proportion on which technical architecture +depends. His early sketches only show a feeling for mass and +picturesque effect, and a strong inclination to subordinate the +building to sculpture. + +It may be questioned who were the four Medici for whom these tombs +were intended. Cambi, in a passage quoted above, writing at the end of +March 1520(?), says that two were raised for Giuliano, Duke of +Nemours, and Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, and that the Cardinal meant one +to be for himself. The fourth he does not speak about. It has been +conjectured that Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano, +fathers respectively of Leo and of Clement, were to occupy two of the +sarcophagi; and also, with greater probability, that the two Popes, +Leo and Clement, were associated with the Dukes. + +Before 1524 the scheme expanded, and settled into a more definite +shape. The sarcophagi were to support statue-portraits of the Dukes +and Popes, with Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano. At +their base, upon the ground, were to repose six rivers, two for each +tomb, showing that each sepulchre would have held two figures. The +rivers were perhaps Arno, Tiber, Metauro, Po, Taro, and Ticino. This +we gather from a letter written to Michelangelo on the 23rd of May in +that year. Michelangelo made designs to meet this plan, but whether +the tombs were still detached from the wall does not appear. Standing +inside the sacristy, it seems impossible that six statue-portraits and +six river-gods on anything like a grand scale could have been crowded +into the space, especially when we remember that there was to be an +altar, with other objects described as ornaments--"gli altri +ornamenti." Probably the Madonna and Child, with SS. Cosimo and +Damiano, now extant in the chapel, formed an integral part of the +successive schemes. + +One thing is certain, that the notion of placing the tombs in the +middle of the sacristy was soon abandoned. All the marble panelling, +pilasters, niches, and so forth, which at present clothe the walls and +dominate the architectural effect, are clearly planned for mural +monuments. A rude sketch preserved in the Uffizi throws some light +upon the intermediate stages of the scheme. It is incomplete, and was +not finally adopted; but we see in it one of the four sides of the +chapel, divided vertically above into three compartments, the middle +being occupied by a Madonna, the two at the sides filled in with +bas-reliefs. At the base, on sarcophagi or _cassoni_, recline two nude +male figures. The space between these and the upper compartments seems +to have been reserved for allegorical figures, since a colossal naked +boy, ludicrously out of scale with the architecture and the recumbent +figures, has been hastily sketched in. In architectural proportion and +sculpturesque conception this design is very poor. It has the merit, +however, of indicating a moment in the evolution of the project when +the mural scheme had been adopted. The decorative details which +surmount the composition confirm the feeling every one must have, +that, in their present state, the architecture of the Medicean +monuments remains imperfect. + +In this process of endeavouring to trace the development of +Michelangelo's ideas for the sacristy, seven original drawings at the +British Museum are of the greatest importance. They may be divided +into three groups. One sketch seems to belong to the period when the +tombs were meant to be placed in the centre of the chapel. It shows a +single facet of the monument, with two sarcophagi placed side by side +and seated figures at the angles. Five are variations upon the mural +scheme, which was eventually adopted. They differ considerably in +details, proving what trouble the designer took to combine a large +number of figures in a single plan. He clearly intended at some time +to range the Medicean statues in pairs, and studied several types of +curve for their sepulchral urns. The feature common to all of them is +a niche, of door or window shape, with a powerfully indented +architrave. Reminiscences of the design for the tomb of Julius are not +infrequent; and it may be remarked, as throwing a side-light upon that +irrecoverable project of his earlier manhood, that the figures posed +upon the various spaces of architecture differ in their scale. Two +belonging to this series are of especial interest, since we learn from +them how he thought of introducing the rivers at the basement of the +composition. It seems that he hesitated long about the employment of +circular spaces in the framework of the marble panelling. These were +finally rejected. One of the finest and most comprehensive of the +drawings I am now describing contains a rough draft of a curved +sarcophagus, with an allegorical figure reclining upon it, indicating +the first conception of the Dawn. Another, blurred and indistinct, +with clumsy architectural environment, exhibits two of these +allegories, arranged much as we now see them at S. Lorenzo. A +river-god, recumbent beneath the feet of a female statue, carries the +eye down to the ground, and enables us to comprehend how these +subordinate figures were wrought into the complex harmony of flowing +lines he had imagined. The seventh study differs in conception from +the rest; it stands alone. There are four handlings of what begins +like a huge portal, and is gradually elaborated into an architectural +scheme containing three great niches for statuary. It is powerful and +simple in design, governed by semicircular arches--a feature which is +absent from the rest. + +All these drawings are indubitably by the hand of Michelangelo, and +must be reckoned among his first free efforts to construct a working +plan. The Albertina Collection at Vienna yields us an elaborate design +for the sacristy, which appears to have been worked up from some of +the rougher sketches. It is executed in pen, shaded with bistre, and +belongs to what I have ventured to describe as office work. It may +have been prepared for the inspection of Leo and the Cardinal. Here we +have the sarcophagi in pairs, recumbent figures stretched upon a +shallow curve inverted, colossal orders of a bastard Ionic type, a +great central niche framing a seated Madonna, two male figures in side +niches, suggestive of Giuliano and Lorenzo as they were at last +conceived, four allegorical statues, and, to crown the whole +structure, candelabra of a peculiar shape, with a central round, +supported by two naked genii. It is difficult, as I have before +observed, to be sure how much of the drawings executed in this way can +be ascribed with safety to Michelangelo himself. They are carefully +outlined, with the precision of a working architect; but the +sculptural details bear the aspect of what may be termed a generic +Florentine style of draughtsmanship. + +Two important letters from Michelangelo to Fattucci, written in +October 1525 and April 1526, show that he had then abandoned the +original scheme, and adopted one which was all but carried into +effect. "I am working as hard as I can, and in fifteen days I shall +begin the other captain. Afterwards the only important things left +will be the four rivers. The four statues on the sarcophagi, the four +figures on the ground which are the rivers, the two captains, and Our +Lady, who is to be placed upon the tomb at the head of the chapel; +these are what I mean to do with my own hand. Of these I have begun +six; and I have good hope of finishing them in due time, and carrying +the others forward in part, which do not signify so much." The six he +had begun are clearly the Dukes and their attendant figures of Day, +Night, Dawn, Evening. The Madonna, one of his noblest works, came +within a short distance of completion. SS. Cosimo and Damiano passed +into the hands of Montelupo and Montorsoli. Of the four rivers we have +only fragments in the shape of some exquisite little models. Where +they could have been conveniently placed is difficult to imagine; +possibly they were abandoned from a feeling that the chapel would be +overcrowded. + + +V + +According to the plan adopted in this book, I shall postpone such +observations as I have to make upon the Medicean monuments until the +date when Michelangelo laid down his chisel, and shall now proceed +with the events of his life during the years 1525 and 1526. + +He continued to be greatly troubled about the tomb of Julius II. The +lawsuit instituted by the Duke of Urbino hung over his head; and +though he felt sure of the Pope's powerful support, it was extremely +important, both for his character and comfort, that affairs should be +placed upon a satisfactory basis. Fattucci in Rome acted not only as +Clement's agent in business connected with S. Lorenzo; he also was +intrusted with negotiations for the settlement of the Duke's claims. +The correspondence which passed between them forms, therefore, our +best source of information for this period. On Christmas Eve in 1524 +Michelangelo writes from Florence to his friend, begging him not to +postpone a journey he had in view, if the only business which detained +him was the trouble about the tomb. A pleasant air of manly affection +breathes through this document, showing Michelangelo to have been +unselfish in a matter which weighed heavily and daily on his spirits. +How greatly he was affected can be inferred from a letter written to +Giovanni Spina on the 19th of April 1525. While reading this, it must +be remembered that the Duke laid his action for the recovery of a +considerable balance, which he alleged to be due to him upon +disbursements made for the monument. Michelangelo, on the contrary, +asserted that he was out of pocket, as we gather from the lengthy +report he forwarded in 1524 to Fattucci. The difficulty in the +accounts seems to have arisen from the fact that payments for the +Sistine Chapel and the tomb had been mixed up. The letter to Spina +runs as follows: "There is no reason for sending a power of attorney +about the tomb of Pope Julius, because I do not want to plead. They +cannot bring a suit if I admit that I am in the wrong; so I assume +that I have sued and lost, and have to pay; and this I am disposed to +do, if I am able. Therefore, if the Pope will help me in the +matter--and this would be the greatest satisfaction to me, seeing I am +too old and ill to finish the work--he might, as intermediary, express +his pleasure that I should repay what I have received for its +performance, so as to release me from this burden, and to enable the +relatives of Pope Julius to carry out the undertaking by any master +whom they may choose to employ. In this way his Holiness could be of +very great assistance to me. Of course I desire to reimburse as little +as possible, always consistently with justice. His Holiness might +employ some of my arguments, as, for instance, the time spent for the +Pope at Bologna, and other times wasted without any compensation, +according to the statements I have made in full to Ser Giovan +Francesco (Fattucci). Directly the terms of restitution have been +settled, I will engage my property, sell, and put myself in a position +to repay the money. I shall then be able to think of the Pope's orders +and to work; as it is, I can hardly be said to live, far less to work. +There is no other way of putting an end to the affair more safe for +myself, nor more agreeable, nor more certain to ease my mind. It can +be done amicably without a lawsuit. I pray to God that the Pope may be +willing to accept the mediation, for I cannot see that any one else is +fit to do it." + +Giorgio Vasari says that he came in the year 1525 for a short time as +pupil to Michelangelo. In his own biography he gives the date, more +correctly, 1524. At any rate, the period of Vasari's brief +apprenticeship was closed by a journey which the master made to Rome, +and Buonarroti placed the lad in Andrea del Sarto's workshop. "He left +for Rome in haste. Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, was again +molesting him, asserting that he had received 16,000 ducats to +complete the tomb, while he stayed idling at Florence for his own +amusement. He threatened that, if he did not attend to the work, he +would make him suffer. So, when he arrived there, Pope Clement, who +wanted to command his services, advised him to reckon with the Duke's +agents, believing that, for what he had already done, he was rather +creditor than debtor. The matter remained thus." We do not know when +this journey to Rome took place. From a hint in the letter of December +24, 1524, to Fattucci, where Michelangelo observes that only he in +person would be able to arrange matters, it is possible that we may +refer it to the beginning of 1525. Probably he was able to convince, +not only the Pope, but also the Duke's agents that he had acted with +scrupulous honesty, and that his neglect of the tomb was due to +circumstances over which he had no control, and which he regretted as +acutely as anybody. There is no shadow of doubt that this was really +the case. Every word written by Michelangelo upon the subject shows +that he was heart-broken at having to abandon the long-cherished +project. + +Some sort of arrangement must have been arrived at. Clement took the +matter into his own hands, and during the summer of 1525 amicable +negotiations were in progress. On the 4th of September Michelangelo +writes again to Fattucci, saying that he is quite willing to complete +the tomb upon the same plan as that of the Pope Pius (now in the +Church of S. Andrea della Valle)--that is, to adopt a mural system +instead of the vast detached monument. This would take less time. He +again urges his friend not to stay at Rome for the sake of these +affairs. He hears that the plague is breaking out there. "And I would +rather have you alive than my business settled. If I die before the +Pope, I shall not have to settle any troublesome affairs. If I live, I +am sure the Pope will settle them, if not now, at some other time. So +come back. I was with your mother yesterday, and advised her, in the +presence of Granacci and John the turner, to send for you home." + +While in Rome Michelangelo conferred with Clement about the sacristy +and library at S. Lorenzo. For a year after his return to Florence he +worked steadily at the Medicean monuments, but not without severe +annoyances, as appears from the following to Fattucci: "The four +statues I have in hand are not yet finished, and much has still to be +done upon them. The four rivers are not begun, because the marble is +wanting, and yet it is here. I do not think it opportune to tell you +why. With regard to the affairs of Julius, I am well disposed to make +the tomb like that of Pius in S. Peter's, and will do so little by +little, now one piece and now another, and will pay for it out of my +own pocket, if I keep my pension and my house, as you promised me. I +mean, of course, the house at Rome, and the marbles and other things I +have there. So that, in fine, I should not have to restore to the +heirs of Julius, in order to be quit of the contract, anything which I +have hitherto received; the tomb itself, completed after the pattern +of that of Pius, sufficing for my full discharge. Moreover, I +undertake to perform the work within a reasonable time, and to finish +the statues with my own hand." He then turns to his present troubles +at Florence. The pension was in arrears, and busybodies annoyed him +with interferences of all sorts. "If my pension were paid, as was +arranged, I would never stop working for Pope Clement with all the +strength I have, small though that be, since I am old. At the same +time I must not be slighted and affronted as I am now, for such +treatment weighs greatly on my spirits. The petty spites I speak of +have prevented me from doing what I want to do these many months; one +cannot work at one thing with the hands, another with the brain, +especially in marble. 'Tis said here that these annoyances are meant +to spur me on; but I maintain that those are scurvy spurs which make a +good steed jib. I have not touched my pension during the past year, +and struggle with poverty. I am left in solitude to bear my troubles, +and have so many that they occupy me more than does my art; I cannot +keep a man to manage my house through lack of means." + +Michelangelo's dejection caused serious anxiety to his friends. Jacopo +Salviati, writing on the 30th October from Rome, endeavoured to +restore his courage. "I am greatly distressed to hear of the fancies +you have got into your head. What hurts me most is that they should +prevent your working, for that rejoices your ill-wishers, and confirms +them in what they have always gone on preaching about your habits." He +proceeds to tell him how absurd it is to suppose that Baccio +Bandinelli is preferred before him. "I cannot perceive how Baccio +could in any way whatever be compared to you, or his work be set on +the same level as your own." The letter winds up with exhortations to +work. "Brush these cobwebs of melancholy away; have confidence in his +Holiness; do not give occasion to your enemies to blaspheme, and be +sure that your pension will be paid; I pledge my word for it." +Buonarroti, it is clear, wasted his time, not through indolence, but +through allowing the gloom of a suspicious and downcast +temperament--what the Italians call _accidia_--to settle on his +spirits. + +Skipping a year, we find that these troublesome negotiations about the +tomb were still pending. He still hung suspended between the devil and +the deep sea, the importunate Duke of Urbino and the vacillating Pope. +Spina, it seems, had been writing with too much heat to Rome, probably +urging Clement to bring the difficulties about the tomb to a +conclusion. Michelangelo takes the correspondence up again with +Fattucci on November 6, 1526. What he says at the beginning of the +letter is significant. He knows that the political difficulties in +which Clement had become involved were sufficient to distract his +mind, as Julius once said, from any interest in "stones small or big." +Well, the letter starts thus: "I know that Spina wrote in these days +past to Rome very hotly about my affairs with regard to the tomb of +Julius. If he blundered, seeing the times in which we live, I am to +blame, for I prayed him urgently to write. It is possible that the +trouble of my soul made me say more than I ought. Information reached +me lately about the affair which alarmed me greatly. It seems that the +relatives of Julius are very ill-disposed towards me. And not without +reason.--The suit is going on, and they are demanding capital and +interest to such an amount that a hundred of my sort could not meet +the claims. This has thrown me into terrible agitation, and makes me +reflect where I should be if the Pope failed me. I could not live a +moment. It is that which made me send the letter alluded to above. +Now, I do not want anything but what the Pope thinks right. I know +that he does not desire my ruin and my disgrace." + +He proceeds to notice that the building work at S. Lorenzo is being +carried forward very slowly, and money spent upon it with increasing +parsimony. Still he has his pension and his house; and these imply no +small disbursements. He cannot make out what the Pope's real wishes +are. If he did but know Clement's mind, he would sacrifice everything +to please him. "Only if I could obtain permission to begin something +either here or in Rome, for the tomb of Julius, I should be extremely +glad; for, indeed, I desire to free myself from that obligation more +than to live." The letter closes on a note of sadness: "If I am unable +to write what you will understand, do not be surprised, for I have +lost my wits entirely." + +After this we hear nothing more about the tomb in Michelangelo's +correspondence till the year 1531. During the intervening years Italy +was convulsed by the sack of Rome, the siege of Florence, and the +French campaigns in Lombardy and Naples. Matters only began to mend +when Charles V. met Clement at Bologna in 1530, and established the +affairs of the peninsula upon a basis which proved durable. That fatal +lustre (1526-1530) divided the Italy of the Renaissance from the Italy +of modern times with the abruptness of an Alpine watershed. Yet +Michelangelo, aged fifty-one in 1526, was destined to live on another +thirty-eight years, and, after the death of Clement, to witness the +election of five successive Popes. The span of his life was not only +extraordinary in its length, but also in the events it comprehended. +Born in the mediaeval pontificate of Sixtus IV., brought up in the +golden days of Lorenzo de' Medici, he survived the Franco-Spanish +struggle for supremacy, watched the progress of the Reformation, and +only died when a new Church and a new Papacy had been established by +the Tridentine Council amid states sinking into the repose of +decrepitude. + + +VI + +We must return from this digression and resume the events of +Michelangelo's life in 1525. + +The first letter to Sebastiano del Piombo is referred to April of that +year. He says that a picture, probably the portrait of Anton Francesco +degli Albizzi, is eagerly expected at Florence. When it arrived in +May, he wrote again under the influence of generous admiration for his +friend's performance: "Last evening our friend the Captain Cuio and +certain other gentlemen were so kind as to invite me to sup with them. +This gave me exceeding great pleasure, since it drew me forth a little +from my melancholy, or shall we call it my mad mood. Not only did I +enjoy the supper, which was most agreeable, but far more the +conversation. Among the topics discussed, what gave me most delight +was to hear your name mentioned by the Captain; nor was this all, for +he still added to my pleasure, nay, to a superlative degree, by saying +that, in the art of painting he held you to be sole and without peer +in the whole world, and that so you were esteemed at Rome. I could not +have been better pleased. You see that my judgment is confirmed; and +so you must not deny that you are peerless, when I write it, since I +have a crowd of witnesses to my opinion. There is a picture too of +yours here, God be praised, which wins credence for me with every one +who has eyes." + +Correspondence was carried on during this year regarding the library +at S. Lorenzo; and though I do not mean to treat at length about that +building in this chapter, I cannot omit an autograph postscript added +by Clement to one of his secretary's missives: "Thou knowest that +Popes have no long lives; and we cannot yearn more than we do to +behold the chapel with the tombs of our kinsmen, or at any rate to +hear that it is finished. Likewise, as regards the library. Wherefore +we recommend both to thy diligence. Meantime we will betake us (as +thou saidst erewhile) to a wholesome patience, praying God that He may +put it into thy heart to push the whole forward together. Fear not +that either work to do or rewards shall fail thee while we live. +Farewell, with the blessing of God and ours.--Julius." [Julius was the +Pope's baptismal name.--ED.] + +Michelangelo began the library in 1526, as appears from his _Ricordi._ +Still the work went on slowly, not through his negligence, but, as we +have seen, from the Pope's preoccupation with graver matters. He had a +great many workmen in his service at this period, and employed +celebrated masters in their crafts, as Tasso and Carota for +wood-carving, Battista del Cinque and Ciapino for carpentry, upon the +various fittings of the library. All these details he is said to have +designed; and it is certain that he was considered responsible for +their solidity and handsome appearance. Sebastiano, for instance, +wrote to him about the benches: "Our Lord wishes that the whole work +should be of carved walnut. He does not mind spending three florins +more; for that is a trifle, if they are Cosimesque in style, I mean +resemble the work done for the magnificent Cosimo." Michelangelo could +not have been the solitary worker of legend and tradition. The nature +of his present occupations rendered this impossible. For the +completion of his architectural works he needed a band of able +coadjutors. Thus in 1526 Giovanni da Udine came from Rome to decorate +the vault of the sacristy with frescoed arabesques. His work was +nearly terminated in 1533, when some question arose about painting the +inside of the lantern. Sebastiano, apparently in good faith, made the +following burlesque suggestion: "For myself, I think that the Ganymede +would go there very well; one could put an aureole about him, and turn +him into a S. John of the Apocalypse when he is being caught up into +the heavens." The whole of one side of the Italian Renaissance, its +so-called neo-paganism, is contained in this remark. + +While still occupied with thoughts about S. Lorenzo, Clement ordered +Michelangelo to make a receptacle for the precious vessels and +reliques collected by Lorenzo the Magnificent. It was first intended +to place this chest, in the form of a ciborium, above the high altar, +and to sustain it on four columns. Eventually, the Pope resolved that +it should be a sacrarium, or cabinet for holy things, and that this +should stand above the middle entrance door to the church. The chest +was finished, and its contents remained there until the reign of the +Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo, when they were removed to the chapel next +the old sacristy. + +Another very singular idea occurred to his Holiness in the autumn of +1525. He made Fattucci write that he wished to erect a colossal statue +on the piazza of S. Lorenzo, opposite the Stufa Palace. The giant was +to surmount the roof of the Medicean Palace, with its face turned in +that direction and its back to the house of Luigi della Stufa. Being +so huge, it would have to be composed of separate pieces fitted +together. Michelangelo speedily knocked this absurd plan on the head +in a letter which gives a good conception of his dry and somewhat +ponderous humour. + +"About the Colossus of forty cubits, which you tell me is to go or to +be placed at the corner of the loggia in the Medicean garden, opposite +the corner of Messer Luigi della Stufa, I have meditated not a little, +as you bade me. In my opinion that is not the proper place for it, +since it would take up too much room on the roadway. I should prefer +to put it at the other, where the barber's shop is. This would be far +better in my judgment, since it has the square in front, and would not +encumber the street. There might be some difficulty about pulling down +the shop, because of the rent. So it has occurred to me that the +statue might be carved in a sitting position; the Colossus would be so +lofty that if we made it hollow inside, as indeed is the proper method +for a thing which has to be put together from pieces, the shop might +be enclosed within it, and the rent be saved. And inasmuch as the shop +has a chimney in its present state, I thought of placing a cornucopia +in the statue's hand, hollowed out for the smoke to pass through. The +head too would be hollow, like all the other members of the figure. +This might be turned to a useful purpose, according to the suggestion +made me by a huckster on the square, who is my good friend. He privily +confided to me that it would make an excellent dovecote. Then another +fancy came into my head, which is still better, though the statue +would have to be considerably heightened. That, however, is quite +feasible, since towers are built up of blocks; and then the head might +serve as bell-tower to San Lorenzo, which is much in need of one. +Setting up the bells inside, and the sound booming through the mouth, +it would seem as though the Colossus were crying mercy, and mostly +upon feast-days, when peals are rung most often and with bigger +bells." + +Nothing more is heard of this fantastic project; whence we may +conclude that the irony of Michelangelo's epistle drove it out of the +Pope's head. + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +I + +It lies outside the scope of this work to describe the series of +events which led up to the sack of Rome in 1527. Clement, by his +tortuous policy, and by the avarice of his administration, had +alienated every friend and exasperated all his foes. The Eternal City +was in a state of chronic discontent and anarchy. The Colonna princes +drove the Pope to take refuge in the Castle of S. Angelo; and when the +Lutheran rabble raised by Frundsberg poured into Lombardy, the Duke of +Ferrara assisted them to cross the Po, and the Duke of Urbino made no +effort to bar the passes of the Apennines. Losing one leader after the +other, these ruffians, calling themselves an Imperial army, but being +in reality the scum and offscourings of all nations, without any aim +but plunder and ignorant of policy, reached Rome upon the 6th of May. +They took the city by assault, and for nine months Clement, leaning +from the battlements of Hadrian's Mausoleum, watched smoke ascend from +desolated palaces and desecrated temples, heard the wailing of women +and the groans of tortured men, mingling with the ribald jests of +German drunkards and the curses of Castilian bandits. Roaming those +galleries and gazing from those windows, he is said to have exclaimed +in the words of Job: "Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give +up the ghost when I came out of the belly?" + +The immediate effect of this disaster was that the Medici lost their +hold on Florence. The Cardinal of Cortona, with the young princes +Ippolito and Alessandro de' Medici, fled from the city on the 17th of +May, and a popular government was set up under the presidency of +Niccolo Capponi. + +During this year and the next, Michelangelo was at Florence; but we +know very little respecting the incidents of his life. A _Ricordo_ +bearing the date April 29 shows the disturbed state of the town. "I +record how, some days ago, Piero di Filippo Gondi asked for permission +to enter the new sacristy at S. Lorenzo, in order to hide there +certain goods belonging to his family, by reason of the perils in +which we are now. To-day, upon the 29th of April 1527, he has begun to +carry in some bundles, which he says are linen of his sisters; and I, +not wishing to witness what he does or to know where he hides the gear +away, have given him the key of the sacristy this evening." + +There are only two letters belonging to the year 1527. Both refer to a +small office which had been awarded to Michelangelo with the right to +dispose of the patronage. He offered it to his favourite brother, +Buonarroto, who does not seem to have thought it worth accepting. + +The documents for 1528 are almost as meagre. We do not possess a +single letter, and the most important _Ricordi_ relate to Buonarroto's +death and the administration of his property. He died of the plague +upon the 2nd of July, to the very sincere sorrow of his brother. It is +said that Michelangelo held him in his arms while he was dying, +without counting the risk to his own life. Among the minutes of +disbursements made for Buonarroto's widow and children after his +burial, we find that their clothes had been destroyed because of the +infection. All the cares of the family now fell on Michelangelo's +shoulders. He placed his niece Francesca in a convent till the time +that she should marry, repaid her dowry to the widow Bartolommea, and +provided for the expenses of his nephew Lionardo. + +For the rest, there is little to relate which has any bearing on the +way in which he passed his time before the siege of Florence began. +One glimpse, however, is afforded of his daily life and conversation +by Benvenuto Cellini, who had settled in Florence after the sack of +Rome, and was working in a shop he opened at the Mercato Nuovo. The +episode is sufficiently interesting to be quoted. A Sienese gentleman +had commissioned Cellini to make him a golden medal, to be worn in the +hat. "The subject was to be Hercules wrenching the lion's mouth. While +I was working at this piece, Michel Agnolo Buonarroti came oftentimes +to see it. I had spent infinite pains upon the design, so that the +attitude of the figure and the fierce passion of the beast were +executed in quite a different style from that of any craftsman who had +hitherto attempted such groups. This, together with the fact that the +special branch of art was totally unknown to Michel Agnolo, made the +divine master give such praises to my work that I felt incredibly +inspired for further effort. + +"Just then I met with Federigo Ginori, a young man of very lofty +spirit. He had lived some years in Naples and being endowed with great +charms of person and presence, had been the lover of a Neapolitan +princess. He wanted to have a medal made with Atlas bearing the world +upon his shoulders, and applied to Michel Agnolo for a design. Michel +Agnolo made this answer: 'Go and find out a young goldsmith named +Benvenuto; he will serve you admirably, and certainly he does not +stand in need of sketches by me. However, to prevent your thinking +that I want to save myself the trouble of so slight a matter, I will +gladly sketch you something; but meanwhile speak to Benvenuto, and let +him also make a model; he can then execute the better of the two +designs.' Federigo Ginori came to me and told me what he wanted, +adding thereto how Michel Agnolo had praised me, and how he had +suggested I should make a waxen model while he undertook to supply a +sketch. The words of that great man so heartened me, that I set myself +to work at once with eagerness upon the model; and when I had finished +it, a painter who was intimate with Michel Agnolo, called Giuliano +Bugiardini, brought me the drawing of Atlas. On the same occasion I +showed Giuliano my little model in wax, which was very different from +Michel Agnolo's drawing; and Federigo, in concert with Bugiardini, +agreed that I should work upon my model. So I took it in hand, and +when Michel Agnolo saw it, he praised me to the skies." + +The courtesy shown by Michelangelo on this occasion to Cellini may be +illustrated by an inedited letter addressed to him from Vicenza. The +writer was Valerio Belli, who describes himself as a cornelian-cutter. +He reminds the sculptor of a promise once made to him in Florence of a +design for an engraved gem. A remarkably fine stone has just come into +his hands, and he should much like to begin to work upon it. These +proofs of Buonarroti's liberality to brother artists are not +unimportant, since he was unjustly accused during his lifetime of +stinginess and churlishness. + + +II + +At the end of the year 1528 it became clear to the Florentines that +they would have to reckon with Clement VII. As early as August 18, +1527, France and England leagued together, and brought pressure upon +Charles V., in whose name Rome had been sacked. Negotiations were +proceeding, which eventually ended in the peace of Barcelona (June 20, +1529), whereby the Emperor engaged to sacrifice the Republic to the +Pope's vengeance. It was expected that the remnant of the Prince of +Orange's army would be marched up to besiege the town. Under the +anxiety caused by these events, the citizens raised a strong body of +militia, enlisted Malatesta Baglioni and Stefano Colonna as generals, +and began to take measures for strengthening the defences. What may be +called the War Office of the Florentine Republic bore the title of +Dieci della Guerra, or the Ten. It was their duty to watch over and +provide for all the interests of the commonwealth in military matters, +and now at this juncture serious measures had to be taken for putting +the city in a state of defence. Already in the year 1527, after the +expulsion of the Medici, a subordinate board had been created, to whom +very considerable executive and administrative faculties were +delegated. This board, called the Nove della Milizia, or the Nine, +were empowered to enrol all the burghers under arms, and to take +charge of the walls, towers, bastions, and other fortifications. It +was also within their competence to cause the destruction of +buildings, and to compensate the evicted proprietors at a valuation +which they fixed themselves. In the spring of 1529 the War Office +decided to gain the services of Michelangelo, not only because he was +the most eminent architect of his age in Florence, but also because +the Buonarroti family had always been adherents of the Medicean party, +and the Ten judged that his appointment to a place on the Nove di +Milizia would be popular with the democracy. The patent conferring +this office upon him, together with full authority over the work of +fortification, was issued on the 6th of April. Its terms were highly +complimentary. "Considering the genius and practical attainments of +Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti, our citizen, and knowing how +excellent he is in architecture, beside his other most singular +talents in the liberal arts, by virtue whereof the common consent of +men regards him as unsurpassed by any masters of our times; and, +moreover, being assured that in love and affection toward the country +he is the equal of any other good and loyal burgher; bearing in mind, +too, the labour he has undergone and the diligence he has displayed, +gratis and of his free will, in the said work (of fortification) up to +this day; and wishing to employ his industry and energies to the like +effect in future; we, of our motion and initiative, do appoint him to +be governor and procurator-general over the construction and +fortification of the city walls, as well as every other sort of +defensive operation and munition for the town of Florence, for one +year certain, beginning with the present date; adding thereto full +authority over all persons in respect to the said work of reparation +or pertaining to it." From this preamble it appears that Michelangelo +had been already engaged in volunteer service connected with the +defence of Florence. A stipend of one golden florin per diem was fixed +by the same deed; and upon the 22nd of April following a payment of +thirty florins was decreed, for one month's salary, dating from the +6th of April. + +If the Government thought to gain popular sympathy by Michelangelo's +appointment, they made the mistake of alienating the aristocracy. It +was the weakness of Florence at this momentous crisis in her fate, to +be divided into parties, political, religious, social; whose internal +jealousies deprived her of the strength which comes alone from unity. +When Giambattista Busini wrote that interesting series of letters to +Benedetto Varchi from which the latter drew important materials for +his annals of the siege, he noted this fact. "Envy must always be +reckoned as of some account in republics, especially when the nobles +form a considerable element, as in ours: for they were angry, among +other matters, to see a Carducci made Gonfalonier, Michelangelo a +member of the Nine, a Cei or a Giugni elected to the Ten." + +Michelangelo had scarcely been chosen to control the general scheme +for fortifying Florence, when the Signory began to consider the +advisability of strengthening the citadels of Pisa and Livorno, and +erecting lines along the Arno. Their commissary at Pisa wrote urging +the necessity of Buonarroti's presence on the spot. In addition to +other pressing needs, the Arno, when in flood, threatened the ancient +fortress of the city. Accordingly we find that Michelangelo went to +Pisa on the 5th of June, and that he stayed there over the 13th, +returning to Florence perhaps upon the 17th of the month. The +commissary, who spent several days in conferring with him and in +visiting the banks of the Arno, was perturbed in mind because +Michelangelo refused to exchange the inn where he alighted for an +apartment in the official residence. This is very characteristic of +the artist. We shall soon find him, at Ferrara, refusing to quit his +hostelry for the Duke's palace, and, at Venice, hiring a remote +lodging on the Giudecca in order to avoid the hospitality of S. Mark. + +An important part of Michelangelo's plan for the fortification of +Florence was to erect bastions covering the hill of S. Miniato. Any +one who stands upon the ruined tower of the church there will see at a +glance that S. Miniato is the key to the position for a beleaguering +force; and "if the enemy once obtained possession of the hill, he +would become immediately master of the town." It must, I think, have +been at this spot that Buonarroti was working before he received the +appointment of controller-general of the works. Yet he found some +difficulty in persuading the rulers of the state that his plan was the +right one. Busini, using information supplied by Michelangelo himself +at Rome in 1549, speaks as follows: "Whatever the reason may have +been, Niccolo Capponi, while he was Gonfalonier, would not allow the +hill of S. Miniato to be fortified, and Michelangelo, who is a man of +absolute veracity, tells me that he had great trouble in convincing +the other members of the Government, but that he could never convince +Niccolo. However, he began the work, in the way you know, with those +fascines of tow. But Niccolo made him abandon it, and sent him to +another post; and when he was elected to the Nine, they despatched him +twice or thrice outside the city. Each time, on his return, he found +the hill neglected, whereupon he complained, feeling this a blot upon +his reputation and an insult to his magistracy. Eventually, the works +went on, until, when the besieging army arrived, they were tenable." + +Michelangelo had hitherto acquired no practical acquaintance with the +art of fortification. That the system of defence by bastions was an +Italian invention (although Albert Duerer first reduced it to written +theory in his book of 1527, suggesting improvements which led up to +Vauban's method) is a fact acknowledged by military historians. But it +does not appear that Michelangelo did more than carry out defensive +operations in the manner familiar to his predecessors. Indeed, we +shall see that some critics found reason to blame him for want of +science in the construction of his outworks. When, therefore, a +difference arose between the controller-general of defences and the +Gonfalonier upon this question of strengthening S. Miniato, it was +natural that the War Office should have thought it prudent to send +their chief officer to the greatest authority upon fortification then +alive in Italy. This was the Duke of Ferrara. Busini must serve as our +text in the first instance upon this point. "Michelangelo says that, +when neither Niccolo Capponi nor Baldassare Carducci would agree to +the outworks at S. Miniato, he convinced all the leading men except +Niccolo of their necessity, showing that Florence could not hold out a +single day without them. Accordingly he began to throw up bastions +with fascines of tow; but the result was far from perfect, as he +himself confessed. Upon this, the Ten resolved to send him to Ferrara +to inspect that renowned work of defence. Thither accordingly he went; +nevertheless, he believes that Niccolo did this in order to get him +out of the way, and to prevent the construction of the bastion. In +proof thereof he adduces the fact that, upon his return, he found the +whole work interrupted." + +Furnished with letters to the Duke, and with special missives from the +Signory and the Ten to their envoy, Galeotto Giugni, Michelangelo left +Florence for Ferrara after the 28th of July, and reached it on the and +of August. He refused, as Giugni writes with some regret, to abandon +his inn, but was personally conducted with great honour by the Duke +all round the walls and fortresses of Ferrara. On what day he quitted +that city, and whither he went immediately after his departure, is +uncertain. The Ten wrote to Giugni on the 8th of August, saying that +his presence was urgently required at Florence, since the work of +fortification was going on apace, "a multitude of men being employed, +and no respect being paid to feast-days and holidays." It would also +seem that, toward the close of the month, he was expected at Arezzo, +in order to survey and make suggestions on the defences of the city. + +These points are not insignificant, since we possess a _Ricordo_ by +Michelangelo, written upon an unfinished letter bearing the date +"Venice, September 10," which has been taken to imply that he had been +resident in Venice fourteen days--that is, from the 28th of August. +None of his contemporaries or biographers mention a visit to Venice at +the end of August 1529. It has, therefore, been conjectured that he +went there after leaving Ferrara, but that his mission was one of a +very secret nature. This seems inconsistent with the impatient desire +expressed by the War Office for his return to Florence after the 8th +of August. Allowing for exchange of letters and rate of travelling, +Michelangelo could not have reached home much before the 15th. It is +also inconsistent with the fact that he was expected in Arezzo at the +beginning of September. I shall have to return later on to the +_Ricordo_ in question, which has an important bearing on the next and +most dramatic episode in his biography. + + +III + +Michelangelo must certainly have been at Florence soon after the +middle of September. One of those strange panics to which he was +constitutionally subject, and which impelled him to act upon a +suddenly aroused instinct, came now to interrupt his work at S. +Miniato, and sent him forth into outlawry. It was upon the 21st of +September that he fled from Florence, under circumstances which have +given considerable difficulty to his biographers. I am obliged to +disentangle the motives and to set forth the details of this escapade, +so far as it is possible for criticism to connect them into a coherent +narrative. With this object in view, I will begin by translating what +Condivi says upon the subject. + +"Michelangelo's sagacity with regard to the importance of S. Miniato +guaranteed the safety of the town, and proved a source of great damage +to the enemy. Although he had taken care to secure the position, he +still remained at his post there, in case of accidents; and after +passing some six months, rumours began to circulate among the soldiers +about expected treason. Buonarroti, then, noticing these reports, and +being also warned by certain officers who were his friends, approached +the Signory, and laid before them what he had heard and seen. He +explained the danger hanging over the city, and told them there was +still time to provide against it, if they would. Instead of receiving +thanks for this service, he was abused, and rebuked as being timorous +and too suspicious. The man who made him this answer would have done +better had he opened his ears to good advice; for when the Medici +returned he was beheaded, whereas he might have kept himself alive. +When Michelangelo perceived how little his words were worth, and in +what certain peril the city stood, he caused one of the gates to be +opened, by the authority which he possessed, and went forth with two +of his comrades, and took the road for Venice." + +As usual with Condivi, this paragraph gives a general and yet +substantially accurate account of what really took place. The decisive +document, however, which throws light upon Michelangelo's mind in the +transaction, is a letter written by him from Venice to his friend +Battista della Palla on the 25th of September. Palla, who was an agent +for Francis I. in works of Italian art, antiques, and bric-a-brac, had +long purposed a journey into France; and Michelangelo, considering the +miserable state of Italian politics, agreed to join him. These +explanations will suffice to make the import of Michelangelo's letter +clear. + +"Battista, dearest friend, I left Florence, as I think you know, +meaning to go to France. When I reached Venice, I inquired about the +road, and they told me I should have to pass through German territory, +and that the journey is both perilous and difficult. Therefore I +thought it well to ask you, at your pleasure, whether you are still +inclined to go, and to beg you; and so I entreat you, let me know, and +say where you want me to wait for you, and we will travel together, I +left home without speaking to any of my friends, and in great +confusion. You know that I wanted in any case to go to France, and +often asked for leave, but did not get it. Nevertheless I was quite +resolved, and without any sort of fear, to see the end of the war out +first. But on Tuesday morning, September 21, a certain person came out +by the gate at S. Niccolo, where I was attending to the bastions, and +whispered in my ear that, if I meant to save my life, I must not stay +at Florence. He accompanied me home, dined there, brought me horses, +and never left my side till he got me outside the city, declaring that +this was my salvation. Whether God or the devil was the man, I do not +know. + +"Pray answer the questions in this letter as soon as possible, because +I am burning with impatience to set out. If you have changed your +mind, and do not care to go, still let me know, so that I may provide +as best I can for my own journey." + +What appears manifest from this document is that Michelangelo was +decoyed away from Florence by some one, who, acting on his sensitive +nervous temperament, persuaded him that his life was in danger. Who +the man was we do not know, but he must have been a person delegated +by those who had a direct interest in removing Buonarroti from the +place. If the controller-general of the defences already scented +treason in the air, and was communicating his suspicions to the +Signory, Malatesta Baglioni, the archtraitor, who afterwards delivered +Florence over for a price to Clement, could not but have wished to +frighten him away. + +From another of Michelangelo's letters we learn that he carried 3000 +ducats in specie with him on the journey. It is unlikely that he could +have disposed so much cash upon his person. He must have had +companions. + +Talking with Michelangelo in 1549--that is, twenty years after the +event--Busini heard from his lips this account of the flight. "I asked +Michelangelo what was the reason of his departure from Florence. He +spoke as follows: 'I was one of the Nine when the Florentine troops +mustered within our lines under Malatesta Baglioni and Mario Orsini +and the other generals: whereupon the Ten distributed the men along +the walls and bastions, assigning to each captain his own post, with +victuals and provisions; and among the rest, they gave eight pieces of +artillery to Malatesta for the defence of part of the bastions at S. +Miniato. He did not, however, mount these guns within the bastions, +but below them, and set no guard.' Michelangelo, as architect and +magistrate, having to inspect the lines at S. Miniato, asked Mario +Orsini how it was that Malatesta treated his artillery so carelessly. +The latter answered: 'You must know that the men of his house are all +traitors, and in time he too will betray this town.' These words +inspired him with such terror that he was obliged to fly, impelled by +dread lest the city should come to misfortune, and he together with +it. Having thus resolved, he found Rinaldo Corsini, to whom he +communicated his thought, and Corsini replied lightly: 'I will go with +you.' So they mounted horse with a sum of money, and road to the Gate +of Justice, where the guards would not let them pass. While waiting +there, some one sung out: 'Let him by, for he is of the Nine, and it +is Michelangelo.' So they went forth, three on horseback, he, Rinaldo, +and that man of his who never left him. They came to Castelnuovo (in +the Garfagnana), and heard that Tommaso Soderini and Niccolo Capponi +were staying there. Michelangelo refused to go and see them, but +Rinaldo went, and when he came back to Florence, as I shall relate, he +reported how Niccolo had said to him: 'O Rinaldo, I dreamed to-night +that Lorenzo Zampalochi had been made Gonfalonier;' alluding to +Lorenzo Giacomini, who had a swollen leg, and had been his adversary +in the Ten. Well, they took the road for Venice; but when they came to +Polesella, Rinaldo proposed to push on to Ferrara and have an +interview with Galeotto Giugni. This he did, and Michelangelo awaited +him, for so he promised. Messer Galeotto, who was spirited and sound +of heart, wrought so with Rinaldo that he persuaded him to turn back +to Florence. But Michelangelo pursued his journey to Venice, where he +took a house, intending in due season to travel into France." + +Varchi follows this report pretty closely, except that he represents +Rinaldo Corsini as having strongly urged him to take flight, +"affirming that the city in a few hours, not to say days, would be in +the hands of the Medici." Varchi adds that Antonio Mini rode in +company with Michelangelo, and, according to his account of the +matter, the three men came together to Ferrara. There the Duke offered +hospitality to Michelangelo, who refused to exchange his inn for the +palace, but laid all the cash he carried with him at the disposition +of his Excellency. + +Segni, alluding briefly to this flight of Michelangelo from Florence, +says that he arrived at Castelnuovo with Rinaldo Corsini, and that +what they communicated to Niccolo Capponi concerning the treachery of +Malatesta and the state of the city, so affected the ex-Gonfalonier +that he died of a fever after seven days. Nardi, an excellent +authority on all that concerns Florence during the siege, confirms the +account that Michelangelo left his post together with Corsini under a +panic; "by common agreement, or through fear of war, as man's +fragility is often wont to do." Vasari, who in his account of this +episode seems to have had Varchi's narrative under his eyes, adds a +trifle of information, to the effect that Michelangelo was accompanied +upon his flight, not only by Antonio Mini, but also by his old friend +Piloto. It may be worth adding that while reading in the Archivio +Buonarroti, I discovered two letters from a friend named Piero Paesano +addressed to Michelangelo on January 1, 1530, and April 21, 1532, both +of which speak of his having "fled from Florence." The earlier plainly +says: "I heard from Santi Quattro (the Cardinal, probably) that you +have left Florence in order to escape from the annoyance and also from +the evil fortune of the war in which the country is engaged." These +letters, which have not been edited, and the first of which is +important, since it was sent to Michelangelo in Florence, help to +prove that Michelangelo's friends believed he had run away from +Florence. + +It was necessary to enter into these particulars, partly in order that +the reader may form his own judgment of the motives which prompted +Michelangelo to desert his official post at Florence, and partly +because we have now to consider the _Ricordo_ above mentioned, with +the puzzling date, September 10. This document is a note of expenses +incurred during a residence of fourteen days at Venice. It runs as +follows:-- + +"Honoured Sir. In Venice, this tenth day of September.... Ten ducats +to Rinaldo Corsini. Five ducats to Messer Loredan for the rent of the +house. Seventeen lire for the stockings of Antonio (Mini, perhaps). +For two stools, a table to eat on, and a coffer, half a ducat. Eight +soldi for straw. Forty soldi for the hire of the bed. Ten lire to the +man (_fante_) who came from Florence. Three ducats to Bondino for the +journey to Venice with boats. Twenty soldi to Piloto for a pair of +shoes. Fourteen days' board in Venice, twenty lire." + +It has been argued from the date of the unfinished letter below which +these items are jotted down, that Michelangelo must have been in +Venice early in September, before his flight from Florence at the end +of that month. But whatever weight we may attach to this single date, +there is no corroborative proof that he travelled twice to Venice, and +everything in the _Ricordo_ indicates that it refers to the period of +his flight from Florence. The sum paid to Corsini comes first, because +it must have been disbursed when that man broke the journey at +Ferrara. Antonio Mini and Piloto are both mentioned: a house has been +engaged, and furnished with Michelangelo's usual frugality, as though +he contemplated a residence of some duration. All this confirms +Busini, Varchi, Segni, Nardi, and Vasari in the general outlines of +their reports. I am of opinion that, unassisted by further evidence, +the _Ricordo_, in spite of its date, will not bear out Gotti's view +that Michelangelo sought Venice on a privy mission at the end of +August 1529. He was not likely to have been employed as ambassador +extraordinary; the Signory required his services at home; and after +Ferrara, Venice had little of importance to show the +controller-general of defences in the way of earthworks and bastions. + + +IV + +Varchi says that Michelangelo, when he reached Venice, "wishing to +avoid visits and ceremonies, of which he was the greatest enemy, and +in order to live alone, according to his custom, far away from +company, retired quietly to the Giudecca; but the Signory, unable to +ignore the advent of so eminent a man, sent two of their first +noblemen to visit him in the name of the Republic, and to offer kindly +all things which either he or any persons of his train might stand in +need of. This public compliment set forth the greatness of his fame as +artist, and showed in what esteem the arts are held by their +magnificent and most illustrious lordships." Vasari adds that the +Doge, whom he calls Gritti, gave him commission to design a bridge for +the Rialto, marvellous alike in its construction and its ornament. + +Meanwhile the Signory of Florence issued a decree of outlawry against +thirteen citizens who had quitted the territory without leave. It was +promulgated on the 30th of September, and threatened them with extreme +penalties if they failed to appear before the 8th of October. On the +7th of October a second decree was published, confiscating the +property of numerous exiles. But this document does not contain the +name of Michelangelo; and by a third decree, dated November 16, it +appears that the Government were satisfied with depriving him of his +office and stopping his pay. We gather indeed, from what Condivi and +Varchi relate, that they displayed great eagerness to get him back, +and corresponded to this intent with their envoy at Ferrara. +Michelangelo's flight from Florence seemed a matter of sufficient +importance to be included in the despatches of the French ambassador +resident at Venice. Lazare de Baif, knowing his master's desire to +engage the services of the great sculptor, and being probably informed +of Buonarroti's own wish to retire to France, wrote several letters in +the month of October, telling Francis that Michelangelo might be +easily persuaded to join his court. We do not know, however, whether +the King acted on this hint. + +His friends at home took the precaution of securing his effects, +fearing that a decree for their confiscation might be issued. We +possess a schedule of wine, wheat, and furniture found in his house, +and handed over by the servant Caterina to his old friend Francesco +Granacci for safe keeping. They also did their best to persuade +Michelangelo that he ought to take measures for returning under a +safe-conduct. Galeotto Giugni wrote upon this subject to the War +Office, under date October 13, from Ferrara. He says that Michelangelo +has begged him to intercede in his favour, and that he is willing to +return and lay himself at the feet of their lordships. In answer to +this despatch, news was sent to Giugni on the 20th that the Signory +had signed a safe-conduct for Buonarroti. On the 22nd Granacci paid +Sebastiano di Francesco, a stone-cutter, to whom Michelangelo was much +attached, money for his journey to Venice. It appears that this man +set out upon the 23rd, carrying letters from Giovan Battista della +Palla, who had now renounced all intention of retiring to France, and +was enthusiastically engaged in, the defence of Florence. On the +return of the Medici, Palla was imprisoned in the castle of Pisa, and +paid the penalty of his patriotism by death. A second letter which he +wrote to Michelangelo on this occasion deserves to be translated, +since it proves the high spirit with which the citizens of Florence +were now awaiting the approach of the Prince of Orange and his veteran +army. "Yesterday I sent you a letter, together with ten from other +friends, and the safe-conduct granted by the Signory for the whole +month of November and though I feel sure that it will reach you +safely, I take the precaution of enclosing a copy under this cover. I +need hardly repeat what I wrote at great length in my last, nor shall +I have recourse to friends for the same purpose. They all of them, I +know, with one voice, without the least disagreement or hesitation, +have exhorted you, immediately upon the receipt of their letters and +the safe-conduct, to return home, in order to preserve your life, your +country, your friends, your honour, and your property, and also to +enjoy those times so earnestly desired and hoped for by you. If any +one had foretold that I could listen without the least affright to +news of an invading army marching on our walls, this would have seemed +to me impossible. And yet I now assure you that I am not only quite +fearless, but also full of confidence in a glorious victory. For many +days past my soul has been filled with such gladness, that if God, +either for our sins or for some other reason, according to the +mysteries of His just judgment, does not permit that army to be broken +in our hands, my sorrow will be the same as when one loses, not a good +thing hoped for, but one gained and captured. To such an extent am I +convinced in my fixed imagination of our success, and have put it to +my capital account. I already foresee our militia system, established +on a permanent basis, and combined with that of the territory, +carrying our city to the skies. I contemplate a fortification of +Florence, not temporary, as it now is, but with walls and bastions to +be built hereafter. The principal and most difficult step has been +already taken; the whole space round the town swept clean, without +regard for churches or for monasteries, in accordance with the public +need. I contemplate in these our fellow-citizens a noble spirit of +disdain for all their losses and the bygone luxuries of villa-life; an +admirable unity and fervour for the preservation of liberty; fear of +God alone; confidence in Him and in the justice of our cause; +innumerable other good things, certain to bring again the age of gold, +and which I hope sincerely you will enjoy in company with all of us +who are your friends. For all these reasons, I most earnestly entreat +you, from the depth of my heart, to come at once and travel through +Lucca, where I will meet you, and attend you with due form and +ceremony until here: such is my intense desire that our country should +not lose you, nor you her. If, after your arrival at Lucca, you should +by some accident fail to find me, and you should not care to come to +Florence without my company, write a word, I beg. I will set out at +once, for I feel sure that I shall get permission.... God, by His +goodness, keep you in good health, and bring you back to us safe and +happy." + +Michelangelo set forth upon his journey soon after the receipt of this +letter. He was in Ferrara on the 9th of November, as appears from a +despatch written by Galeotto Giugni, recommending him to the +Government of Florence. Letters patent under the seal of the Duke +secured him free passage through the city of Modena and the province +of Garfagnana. In spite of these accommodations, he seems to have met +with difficulties on the way, owing to the disturbed state of the +country. His friend Giovan Battista Palla was waiting for him at +Lucca, without information of his movements, up to the 18th of the +month. He had left Florence on the 11th, and spent the week at Pisa +and Lucca, expecting news in vain. Then, "with one foot in the +stirrup," as he says, "the license granted by the Signory" having +expired, he sends another missive to Venice, urging Michelangelo not +to delay a day longer. "As I cannot persuade myself that you do not +intend to come, I urgently request you to reflect, if you have not +already started, that the property of those who incurred outlawry with +you is being sold, and if you do not arrive within the term conceded +by your safe-conduct--that is, during this month--the same will happen +to yourself without the possibility of any mitigation. If you do come, +as I still hope and firmly believe, speak with my honoured friend +Messer Filippo Calandrini here, to whom I have given directions for +your attendance from this town without trouble to yourself. God keep +you safe from harm, and grant we see you shortly in our country, by +His aid, victorious." + +With this letter, Palla, who was certainly a good friend to the +wayward artist, and an amiable man to boot, disappears out of this +history. At some time about the 20th of November, Michelangelo +returned to Florence. We do not know how he finished the journey, and +how he was received; but the sentence of outlawry was commuted, on the +23rd, into exclusion from the Grand Council for three years. He set to +work immediately at S. Miniato, strengthening the bastions, and +turning the church-tower into a station for sharpshooters. Florence by +this time had lost all her territory except a few strong places, Pisa, +Livorno, Arezzo, Empoli, Volterra. The Emperor Charles V. signed her +liberties away to Clement by the peace of Barcelona (June 20,1529), +and the Republic was now destined to be the appanage of his +illegitimate daughter in marriage with the bastard Alessandro de' +Medici. It only remained for the army of the Prince of Orange to +reduce the city. When Michelangelo arrived, the Imperial troops were +leaguered on the heights above the town. The inevitable end of the +unequal struggle could be plainly foreseen by those who had not +Palla's enthusiasm to sustain their faith. In spite of Ferrucci's +genius and spirit, in spite of the good-will of the citizens, Florence +was bound to fall. While admitting that Michelangelo abandoned his +post in a moment of panic, we must do him the justice of remembering +that he resumed it when all his darkest prognostications were being +slowly but surely realised. The worst was that his old enemy, +Malatesta Baglioni, had now opened a regular system of intrigue with +Clement and the Prince of Orange, terminating in the treasonable +cession of the city. It was not until August 1530 that Florence +finally capitulated. Still the months which intervened between that +date and Michelangelo's return from Venice were but a dying close, a +slow agony interrupted by spasms of ineffectual heroism. + +In describing the works at S. Miniato, Condivi lays great stress upon +Michelangelo's plan for arming the bell-tower. "The incessant +cannonade of the enemy had broken it in many places, and there was a +serious risk that it might come crashing down, to the great injury of +the troops within the bastion. He caused a large number of mattresses +well stuffed with wool to be brought, and lowered these by night from +the summit of the tower down to its foundations, protecting those +parts which were exposed to fire. Inasmuch as the cornice projected, +the mattresses hung free in the air, at the distance of six cubits +from the wall; so that when the missiles of the enemy arrived, they +did little or no damage, partly owing to the distance they had +travelled, and partly to the resistance offered by this swinging, +yielding panoply." An anonymous writer, quoted by Milanesi, gives a +fairly intelligible account of the system adopted by Michelangelo. +"The outer walls of the bastion were composed of unbaked bricks, the +clay of which was mingled with chopped tow. Its thickness he filled in +with earth; and," adds this critic, "of all the buildings which +remained, this alone survived the siege." It was objected that, in +designing these bastions, he multiplied the flanking lines and +embrasures beyond what was either necessary or safe. But, observes the +anonymous writer, all that his duty as architect demanded was that he +should lay down a plan consistent with the nature of the ground, +leaving details to practical engineers and military men. "If, then, he +committed any errors in these matters, it was not so much his fault as +that of the Government, who did not provide him with experienced +coadjutors. But how can mere merchants understand the art of war, +which needs as much science as any other of the arts, nay more, +inasmuch as it is obviously more noble and more perilous?" The +confidence now reposed in him is further demonstrated by a license +granted on the 22nd of February 1530, empowering him to ascend the +cupola of the Duomo on one special occasion with two companions, in +order to obtain a general survey of the environs of Florence. + +Michelangelo, in the midst of these serious duties, could not have had +much time to bestow upon his art. Still there is no reason to doubt +Vasari's emphatic statement that he went on working secretly at the +Medicean monuments. To have done so openly while the city was in +conflict to the death with Clement, would have been dangerous; and yet +every one who understands the artist's temperament must feel that a +man like Buonarroti was likely to seek rest and distraction from +painful anxieties in the tranquillising labour of the chisel. It is +also certain that, during the last months of the siege, he found +leisure to paint a picture of Leda for the Duke of Ferrara, which will +be mentioned in its proper place. + +Florence surrendered in the month of August 1530. The terms were drawn +up by Don Ferrante Gonzaga, who commanded the Imperial forces after +the death of Filiberto, Prince of Orange, in concert with the Pope's +commissary-general, Baccio Valori. Malatesta Baglioni, albeit he went +about muttering that Florence "was no stable for mules" (alluding to +the fact that all the Medici were bastards), approved of the articles, +and showed by his conduct that he had long been plotting treason. The +act of capitulation was completed on the 12th, and accepted +unwillingly by the Signory. Valori, supported by Baglioni's military +force, reigned supreme in the city, and prepared to reinstate the +exiled family of princes. It said that Marco Dandolo of Venice, when +news reached the Pregadi of the fall of Florence, exclaimed aloud: +"Baglioni has put upon his head the cap of the biggest traitor upon +record." + + +V + +The city was saved from wreckage by a lucky quarrel between the +Italian and Spanish troops in the Imperial camp. But no sooner was +Clement aware that Florence lay at his mercy, than he disregarded the +articles of capitulation, and began to act as an autocratic despot. +Before confiding the government to his kinsmen, the Cardinal Ippolito +and Alessandro Duke of Penna, he made Valori institute a series of +criminal prosecutions against the patriots. Battista della Palla and +Raffaello Girolami were sent to prison and poisoned. Five citizens +were tortured and decapitated in one day of October. Those who had +managed to escape from Florence were sentenced to exile, outlawry, and +confiscation of goods by hundreds. Charles V. had finally to interfere +and put a stop to the fury of the Pope's revenges. How cruel and +exasperated the mind of Clement was, may be gathered from his +treatment of Fra Benedetto da Foiano, who sustained the spirit of the +burghers by his fiery preaching during the privations of the siege. +Foiano fell into the clutches of Malatesta Baglioni, who immediately +sent him down to Rome. By the Pope's orders the wretched friar was +flung into the worst dungeon in the Castle of S. Angelo, and there +slowly starved to death by gradual diminution of his daily dole of +bread and water. Readers of Benvenuto Cellini's Memoirs will remember +the horror with which he speaks of this dungeon and of its dreadful +reminiscences, when it fell to his lot to be imprisoned there. + +Such being the mood of Clement, it is not wonderful that Michelangelo +should have trembled for his own life and liberty. As Varchi says, "He +had been a member of the Nine, had fortified the hill and armed the +bell-tower of S. Miniato. What was more annoying, he was accused, +though falsely, of proposing to raze the palace of the Medici, where +in his boyhood Lorenzo and Piero de' Medici had shown him honour as a +guest at their own tables, and to name the space on which it stood the +Place of Mules." For this reason he hid himself, as Condivi and Varchi +assert, in the house of a trusty friend. The Senator Filippo +Buonarroti, who diligently collected traditions about his illustrious +ancestor, believed that his real place of retreat was the bell-tower +of S. Nicolo, beyond the Arno. "When Clement's fury abated," says +Condivi, "he wrote to Florence ordering that search should be made for +Michelangelo, and adding that when he was found, if he agreed to go on +working at the Medicean monuments, he should be left at liberty and +treated with due courtesy. On hearing news of this, Michelangelo came +forth from his hiding-place, and resumed the statues in the sacristy +of S. Lorenzo, moved thereto more by fear of the Pope than by love for +the Medici." From correspondence carried on between Rome and Florence +during November and December, we learn that his former pension of +fifty crowns a month was renewed, and that Giovan Battista Figiovanni, +a Prior of S. Lorenzo, was appointed the Pope's agent and paymaster. + +An incident of some interest in the art-history of Florence is +connected with this return of the Medici, and probably also with +Clement's desire to concentrate Michelangelo's energies upon the +sacristy. So far back as May 10, 1508, Piero Soderini wrote to the +Marquis of Massa-Carrara, begging him to retain a large block of +marble until Michelangelo could come in person and superintend its +rough-hewing for a colossal statue to be placed on the Piazza. After +the death of Leo, the stone was assigned to Baccio Bandinelli; but +Michelangelo, being in favour with the Government at the time of the +expulsion of the Medici, obtained the grant of it. His first +intention, in which Bandinelli followed him, was to execute a Hercules +trampling upon Cacus, which should stand as pendant to his own David. + +By a deliberation of the Signory, under date August 22, 1528, we are +informed that the marble had been brought to Florence about three +years earlier, and that Michelangelo now received instructions, +couched in the highest terms of compliment, to proceed with a group of +two figures until its accomplishment. If Vasari can be trusted, +Michelangelo made numerous designs and models for the Cacus, but +afterwards changed his mind, and thought that he would extract from +the block a Samson triumphing over two prostrate Philistines. The +evidence for this change of plan is not absolutely conclusive. The +deliberation of August 22, 1528, indeed left it open to his discretion +whether he should execute a Hercules and Cacus, or any other group of +two figures; and the English nation at South Kensington possesses one +of his noble little wax models for a Hercules. We may perhaps, +therefore, assume that while Bandinelli adhered to the Hercules and +Cacus, Michelangelo finally decided on a Samson. At any rate, the +block was restored in 1530 to Bandinelli, who produced the misbegotten +group which still deforms the Florentine Piazza. + +Michelangelo had some reason to be jealous of Bandinelli, who +exercised considerable influence at the Medicean court, and was an +unscrupulous enemy both in word and deed. A man more widely and worse +hated than Bandinelli never lived. If any piece of mischief happened +which could be fixed upon him with the least plausibility, he bore the +blame. Accordingly, when Buonarroti's workshop happened to be broken +open, people said that Bandinelli was the culprit. Antonio Mini left +the following record of the event: "Three months before the siege, +Michelangelo's studio in Via Mozza was burst into with chisels, about +fifty drawings of figures were stolen, and among them the designs for +the Medicean tombs, with others of great value; also four models in +wax and clay. The young men who did it left by accident a chisel +marked with the letter M., which led to their discovery. When they +knew they were detected, they made off or hid themselves, and sent to +say they would return the stolen articles, and begged for pardon." Now +the chisel branded with an M. was traced to Michelangelo, the father +of Baccio Bandinelli, and no one doubted that he was the burglar. + +The history of Michelangelo's Leda, which now survives only in +doubtful reproductions, may be introduced by a passage from Condivi's +account of his master's visit to Ferrara in 1529. "The Duke received +him with great demonstrations of joy, no less by reason of his eminent +fame than because Don Ercole, his son, was Captain of the Signory of +Florence. Riding forth with him in person, there was nothing +appertaining to the business of his mission which the Duke did not +bring beneath his notice, whether fortifications or artillery. Beside +this, he opened his own private treasure-room, displaying all its +contents, and particularly some pictures and portraits of his +ancestors, executed by masters in their time excellent. When the hour +approached for Michelangelo's departure, the Duke jestingly said to +him: 'You are my prisoner now. If you want me to let you go free, I +require that you shall promise to make me something with your own +hand, according to your will and fancy, be it sculpture or painting.' +Michelangelo agreed; and when he arrived at Florence, albeit he was +overwhelmed with work for the defences, he began a large piece for a +saloon, representing the congress of the swan with Leda. The breaking +of the egg was also introduced, from which sprang Castor and Pollux, +according to the ancient fable. The Duke heard of this; and on the +return of the Medici, he feared that he might lose so great a treasure +in the popular disturbance which ensued. Accordingly he despatched one +of his gentlemen, who found Michelangelo at home, and viewed the +picture. After inspecting it, the man exclaimed: 'Oh! this is a mere +trifle.' Michelangelo inquired what his own art was, being aware that +men can only form a proper judgment in the arts they exercise. The +other sneered and answered: 'I am a merchant.' Perhaps he felt +affronted at the question, and at not being recognised in his quality +of nobleman; he may also have meant to depreciate the industry of the +Florentines, who for the most part are occupied with trade, as though +to say: 'You ask me what my art is? Is it possible you think a man +like me could be a trader?' Michelangelo, perceiving his drift, +growled out: 'You are doing bad business for your lord! Take yourself +away!' Having thus dismissed the ducal messenger, he made a present of +the picture, after a short while, to one of his serving-men, who, +having two sisters to marry, begged for assistance. It was sent to +France, and there bought by King Francis, where it still exists." + +As a matter of fact, we know now that Antonio Mini, for a long time +Michelangelo's man of all work, became part owner of this Leda, and +took it with him to France. A certain Francesco Tedaldi acquired +pecuniary interest in the picture, of which one Benedetto Bene made a +copy at Lyons in 1532. The original and the copy were carried by Mini +to Paris in 1533, and deposited in the house of Giuliano Buonaccorsi, +whence they were transferred in some obscure way to the custody of +Luigi Alamanni, and finally passed into the possession of the King. +Meanwhile, Antonio Mini died, and Tedaldi wrote a record of his losses +and a confused account of money matters and broker business, which he +sent to Michelangelo in 1540. The Leda remained at Fontainebleau till +the reign of Louis XIII., when M. Desnoyers, Minister of State, +ordered the picture to be destroyed because of its indecency. Pierre +Mariette says that this order was not carried into effect; for the +canvas, in a sadly mutilated state, reappeared some seven or eight +years before his date of writing, and was seen by him. In spite of +injuries, he could trace the hand of a great master; "and I confess +that nothing I had seen from the brush of Michelangelo showed better +painting." He adds that it was restored by a second-rate artist and +sent to England. What became of Mini's copy is uncertain. We possess a +painting in the Dresden Gallery, a Cartoon in the collection of the +Royal Academy of England, and a large oil picture, much injured, in +the vaults of the National Gallery. In addition to these works, there +is a small marble statue in the Museo Nazionale at Florence. All of +them represent Michelangelo's design. If mere indecency could justify +Desnoyers in his attempt to destroy a masterpiece, this picture +deserved its fate. It represented the act of coition between a swan +and a woman; and though we cannot hold Michelangelo responsible for +the repulsive expression on the face of Leda, which relegates the +marble of the Bargello to a place among pornographic works of art, +there is no reason to suppose that the general scheme of his +conception was abandoned in the copies made of it. + +Michelangelo, being a true artist, anxious only for the presentation +of his subject, seems to have remained indifferent to its moral +quality. Whether it was a crucifixion, or a congress of the swan with +Leda, or a rape of Ganymede, or the murder of Holofernes in his tent, +or the birth of Eve, he sought to seize the central point in the +situation, and to accentuate its significance by the inexhaustible +means at his command for giving plastic form to an idea. Those, +however, who have paid attention to his work will discover that he +always found emotional quality corresponding to the nature of the +subject. His ways of handling religious and mythological motives +differ in sentiment, and both are distinguished from his treatment of +dramatic episodes. The man's mind made itself a mirror to reflect the +vision gloating over it; he cared not what that vision was, so long as +he could render it in lines of plastic harmony, and express the utmost +of the feeling which the theme contained. + +Among the many statues left unfinished by Michelangelo is one +belonging to this period of his life. "In order to ingratiate himself +with Baccio Valori," says Vasari, "he began a statue of three cubits +in marble. It was an Apollo drawing a shaft from his quiver. This he +nearly finished. It stands now in the chamber of the Prince of +Florence; a thing of rarest beauty, though not quite completed." This +noble piece of sculpture illustrates the certainty and freedom of the +master's hand. Though the last touches of the chisel are lacking, +every limb palpitates and undulates with life. The marble seems to be +growing into flesh beneath the hatched lines left upon its surface. +The pose of the young god, full of strength and sinewy, is no less +admirable for audacity than for ease and freedom. Whether Vasari was +right in his explanation of the action of this figure may be +considered more than doubtful. Were we not accustomed to call it an +Apollo, we should rather be inclined to class it with the Slaves of +the Louvre, to whom in feeling and design it bears a remarkable +resemblance. Indeed, it might be conjectured with some probability +that, despairing of bringing his great design for the tomb of Julius +to a conclusion, he utilised one of the projected captives for his +present to the all-powerful vizier of the Medicean tyrants. It ought, +in conclusion, to be added, that there was nothing servile in +Michelangelo's desire to make Valori his friend. He had accepted the +political situation; and we have good reason, from letters written at +a later date by Valori from Rome, to believe that this man took a +sincere interest in the great artist. Moreover, Varchi, who is +singularly severe in his judgment on the agents of the Medici, +expressly states that Baccio Valori was "less cruel than the other +Palleschi, doing many and notable services to some persons out of +kindly feeling, and to others for money (since he had little and spent +much); and this he was well able to perform, seeing he was then the +lord of Florence, and the first citizens of the land paid court to him +and swelled his train." + + +VI + +During the siege Lodovico Buonarroti passed his time at Pisa. His +little grandson, Lionardo, the sole male heir of the family, was with +him. Born September 25, 1519, the boy was now exactly eleven years +old, and by his father's death in 1528 he had been two years an +orphan. Lionardo was ailing, and the old man wearied to return. His +two sons, Gismondo and Giansimone, had promised to fetch him home when +the country should be safe for travelling. But they delayed; and at +last, upon the 30th of September, Lodovico wrote as follows to +Michelangelo: "Some time since I directed a letter to Gismondo, from +whom you have probably learned that I am staying here, and, indeed, +too long; for the flight of Buonarroto's pure soul to heaven, and my +own need and earnest desire to come home, and Nardo's state of health, +all makes me restless. The boy has been for some days out of health +and pining, and I am anxious about him." It is probable that some +means were found for escorting them both safely to Settignano. We hear +no more about Lodovico till the period of his death, the date of which +has not been ascertained with certainty. + +From the autumn of 1530 on to the end of 1533 Michelangelo worked at +the Medicean monuments. His letters are singularly scanty during all +this period, but we possess sufficient information from other sources +to enable us to reconstruct a portion of his life. What may be called +the chronic malady of his existence, that never-ending worry with the +tomb of Julius, assumed an acute form again in the spring of 1531. The +correspondence with Sebastiano del Piombo, which had been interrupted +since 1525, now becomes plentiful, and enables us to follow some of +the steps which led to the new and solemn contract of May 1532. + +It is possible that Michelangelo thought he ought to go to Rome in the +beginning of the year. If we are right in ascribing a letter written +by Benvenuto della Volpaia from Rome upon the 18th of January to the +year 1531, and not to 1532, he must have already decided on this step. +The document is curious in several respects. "Yours of the 13th +informs me that you want a room. I shall be delighted if I can be of +service to you in this matter; indeed, it is nothing in respect to +what I should like to do for you. I can offer you a chamber or two +without the least inconvenience; and you could not confer on me a +greater pleasure than by taking up your abode with me in either of the +two places which I will now describe. His Holiness has placed me in +the Belvedere, and made me guardian there. To-morrow my things will be +carried thither, for a permanent establishment; and I can place at +your disposal a room with a bed and everything you want. You can even +enter by the gate outside the city, which opens into the spiral +staircase, and reach your apartment and mine without passing through +Rome. From here I can let you into the palace, for I keep a key at +your service; and what is better, the Pope comes every day to visit +us. If you decide on the Belvedere, you must let me know the day of +your departure, and about when you will arrive. In that case I will +take up my post at the spiral staircase of Bramante, where you will be +able to see me. If you wish, nobody but my brother and Mona Lisabetta +and I shall know that you are here, and you shall do just as you +please; and, in short, I beg you earnestly to choose this plan. +Otherwise, come to the Borgo Nuovo, to the houses which Volterra +built, the fifth house toward S. Angelo. I have rented it to live +there, and my brother Fruosino is also going to live and keep shop in +it. There you will have a room or two, if you like, at your disposal. +Please yourself, and give the letter to Tommaso di Stefano Miniatore, +who will address it to Messer Lorenzo de' Medici, and I shall have it +quickly." + +Nothing came of these proposals. But that Michelangelo did not abandon +the idea of going to Rome appears from a letter of Sebastiano's +written on the 24th of February. It was the first which passed between +the friends since the terrible events of 1527 and 1530. For once, the +jollity of the epicurean friar has deserted him. He writes as though +those awful months of the sack of Rome were still present to his +memory. "After all those trials, hardships, and perils, God Almighty +has left us alive and in health, by His mercy and piteous kindness. A +thing, in sooth, miraculous, when I reflect upon it; wherefore His +Majesty be ever held in gratitude.... Now, gossip mine, since we have +passed through fire and water, and have experienced things we never +dreamed of, let us thank God for all; and the little remnant left to +us of life, may we at least employ it in such peace as can be had. For +of a truth, what fortune does or does not do is of slight importance, +seeing how scurvy and how dolorous she is. I am brought to this, that +if the universe should crumble round me, I should not care, but laugh +at all. Menighella will inform you what my life is, how I am. I do not +yet seem to myself to be the same Bastiano I was before the Sack. I +cannot yet get back into my former frame of mind." In a postscript to +this letter, eloquent by its very naivete, Sebastiano says that he +sees no reason for Michelangelo's coming to Rome, except it be to look +after his house, which is going to ruin, and the workshop tumbling to +pieces. In another letter, of April 29, Sebastiano repeats that there +is no need for Michelangelo to come to Rome, if it be only to put +himself right with the Pope. Clement is sincerely his friend, and has +forgiven the part he played during the siege of Florence. He then +informs his gossip that, having been lately at Pesaro, he met the +painter Girolamo Genga, who promised to be serviceable in the matter +of the tomb of Julius. The Duke of Urbino, according to this man's +account, was very eager to see it finished. "I replied that the work +was going forward, but that 8000 ducats were needed for its +completion, and we did not know where to get this money. He said that +the Duke would provide, but his Lordship was afraid of losing both the +ducats and the work, and was inclined to be angry. After a good deal +of talking, he asked whether it would not be possible to execute the +tomb upon a reduced scale, so as to satisfy both parties. I answered +that you ought to be consulted." We have reason to infer from this +that the plan which was finally adopted, of making a mural monument +with only a few figures from the hand of Michelangelo, had already +been suggested. In his next letter, Sebastiano communicates the fact +that he has been appointed to the office of Piombatore; "and if you +could see me in my quality of friar, I am sure you would laugh. I am +the finest friar loon in Rome." The Duke of Urbino's agent, Hieronimo +Staccoli, now appears for the first time upon the stage. It was +through his negotiations that the former contracts for the tomb of +Julius were finally annulled and a new design adopted. Michelangelo +offered, with the view of terminating all disputes, to complete the +monument on a reduced scale at his own cost, and furthermore to +disburse the sum of 2000 ducats in discharge of any claims the Della +Rovere might have against him. This seemed too liberal, and when +Clement was informed of the project, he promised to make better terms. +Indeed, during the course of these negotiations the Pope displayed the +greatest interest in Michelangelo's affairs. Staccoli, on the Duke's +part, raised objections; and Sebastiano had to remind him that, unless +some concessions were made, the scheme of the tomb might fall through: +"for it does not rain Michelangelos, and men could hardly be found to +preserve the work, far less to finish it." In course of time the +Duke's ambassador at Rome, Giovan Maria della Porta, intervened, and +throughout the whole business Clement was consulted upon every detail. + +Sebastiano kept up his correspondence through the summer of 1531. +Meanwhile the suspense and anxiety were telling seriously on +Michelangelo's health. Already in June news must have reached Rome +that his health was breaking down; for Clement sent word recommending +him to work less, and to relax his spirits by exercise. Toward the +autumn he became alarmingly ill. We have a letter from Paolo Mini, the +uncle of his servant Antonio, written to Baccio Valori on the 29th of +September. After describing the beauty of two statues for the Medicean +tombs, Mini says he fears that "Michelangelo will not live long, +unless some measures are taken for his benefit. He works very hard, +eats little and poorly, and sleeps less. In fact, he is afflicted with +two kinds of disorder, the one in his head, the other in his heart. +Neither is incurable, since he has a robust constitution; but for the +good of his head, he ought to be restrained by our Lord the Pope from +working through the winter in the sacristy, the air of which is bad +for him; and for his heart, the best remedy would be if his Holiness +could accommodate matters with the Duke of Urbino." In a second +letter, of October 8, Mini insists again upon the necessity of freeing +Michelangelo's mind from his anxieties. The upshot was that Clement, +on the 21st of November, addressed a brief to his sculptor, whereby +Buonarroti was ordered, under pain of excommunication, to lay aside +all work except what was strictly necessary for the Medicean +monuments, and to take better care of his health. On the 26th of the +same month Benvenuto della Volpaia wrote, repeating what the Pope had +written in his brief, and adding that his Holiness desired him to +select some workshop more convenient for his health than the cold and +cheerless sacristy. + +In spite of Clement's orders that Michelangelo should confine himself +strictly to working on the Medicean monuments, he continued to be +solicited with various commissions. Thus the Cardinal Cybo wrote in +December begging him to furnish a design for a tomb which he intended +to erect. Whether Michelangelo consented is not known. + +Early in December Sebastiano resumed his communications on the subject +of the tomb of Julius, saying that Michelangelo must not expect to +satisfy the Duke without executing the work, in part at least, +himself. "There is no one but yourself that harms you: I mean, your +eminent fame and the greatness of your works. I do not say this to +flatter you. Therefore, I am of opinion that, without some shadow of +yourself, we shall never induce those parties to do what we want. It +seems to me that you might easily make designs and models, and +afterwards assign the completion to any master whom you choose. But +the shadow of yourself there must be. If you take the matter in this +way, it will be a trifle; you will do nothing, and seem to do all; but +remember that the work must be carried out under your shadow." A +series of despatches, forwarded between December 4, 1531, and April +29, 1532, by Giovan Maria della Porta to the Duke of Urbino, confirm +the particulars furnished by the letters which Sebastiano still +continued to write from Rome. At the end of 1531 Michelangelo +expressed his anxiety to visit Rome, now that the negotiations with +the Duke were nearly complete. Sebastiano, hearing this, replies: "You +will effect more in half an hour than I can do in a whole year. I +believe that you will arrange everything after two words with his +Holiness; for our Lord is anxious to meet your wishes." He wanted to +be present at the drawing up and signing of the contract. Clement, +however, although he told Sebastiano that he should be glad to see +him, hesitated to send the necessary permission, and it was not until +the month of April 1532 that he set out. About the 6th, as appears +from the indorsement of a letter received in his absence, he must have +reached Rome. The new contract was not ready for signature before the +29th, and on that date Michelangelo left for Florence, having, as he +says, been sent off by the Pope in a hurry on the very day appointed +for its execution. In his absence it was duly signed and witnessed +before Clement; the Cardinals Gonzaga and da Monte and the Lady Felice +della Rovere attesting, while Giovan Maria della Porta and Girolamo +Staccoli acted for the Duke of Urbino. When Michelangelo returned and +saw the instrument, he found that several clauses prejudicial to his +interests had been inserted by the notary. "I discovered more than +1000 ducats charged unjustly to my debit, also the house in which I +live, and certain other hooks and crooks to ruin me. The Pope would +certainly not have tolerated this knavery, as Fra Sebastiano can bear +witness, since he wished me to complain to Clement and have the notary +hanged. I swear I never received the moneys which Giovan Maria della +Porta wrote against me, and caused to be engrossed upon the contract." + +It is difficult to understand why Michelangelo should not have +immediately taken measures to rectify these errors. He seems to have +been well aware that he was bound to refund 2000 ducats, since the +only letter from his pen belonging to the year 1532 is one dated May, +and addressed to Andrea Quarantesi in Pisa. In this document he +consults Quarantesi about the possibility of raising that sum, with +1000 ducats in addition. "It was in my mind, in order that I might not +be left naked, to sell houses and possessions, and to let the lira go +for ten soldi." As the contract was never carried out, the fraudulent +passages inserted in the deed did not prove of practical importance. +Delia Porta, on his part, wrote in high spirits to his master: +"Yesterday we executed the new contract with Michelangelo, for the +ratification of which by your Lordship we have fixed a limit of two +months. It is of a nature to satisfy all Rome, and reflects great +credit on your Lordship for the trouble you have taken in concluding +it. Michelangelo, who shows a very proper respect for your Lordship, +has promised to make and send you a design. Among other items, I have +bound him to furnish six statues by his own hand, which will be a +world in themselves, because they are sure to be incomparable. The +rest he may have finished by some sculptor at his own choice, provided +the work is done under his direction. The Pope allows him to come +twice a year to Rome, for periods of two months each, in order to push +the work forward. And he is to execute the whole at his own costs." He +proceeds to say, that since the tomb cannot be put up in S. Peter's, +S. Pietro in Vincoli has been selected as the most suitable church. It +appears that the Duke's ratification was sent upon the 5th of June and +placed in the hands of Clement, so that Michelangelo probably did not +see it for some months. Della Porta, writing to the Duke again upon +the 19th of June, says that Clement promised to allow Michelangelo to +come to Rome in the winter, and to reside there working at the tomb. +But we have no direct information concerning his doings after the +return to Florence at the end of April 1532. + +It will be worth while to introduce Condivi's account of these +transactions relating to the tomb of Julius, since it throws some +light upon the sculptor's private feelings and motives, as well as +upon the falsification of the contract as finally engrossed. + +"When Michelangelo had been called to Rome by Pope Clement, he began +to be harassed by the agents of the Duke of Urbino about the sepulchre +of Julius. Clement, who wished to employ him in Florence, did all he +could to set him free, and gave him for his attorney in this matter +Messer Tommaso da Prato, who was afterwards datary. Michelangelo, +however, knowing the devil disposition of Duke Alessandro toward him, +and being in great dread on this account, also because he bore love +and reverence to the memory of Pope Julius and to the illustrious +house of Della Rovere, strained every nerve to remain in Rome and busy +himself about the tomb. What made him more anxious was that every one +accused him of having received from Pope Julius at least 16,000 +crowns, and of having spent them on himself without fulfilling his +engagements. Being a man sensitive about his reputation, he could not +bear the dishonour of such reports, and wanted the whole matter to be +cleared up; nor, although he was now old, did he shrink from the very +onerous task of completing what he had begun so long ago. Consequently +they came to strife together, and his antagonists were unable to prove +payments to anything like the amount which had first been noised +abroad; indeed, on the contrary, more than two thirds of the whole sum +first stipulated by the two Cardinals was wanting. Clement then +thinking he had found an excellent opportunity for setting him at +liberty and making use of his whole energies, called Michelangelo to +him, and said: 'Come, now, confess that you want to make this tomb, +but wish to know who will pay you the balance.' Michelangelo, knowing +well that the Pope was anxious to employ him on his own work, +answered: 'Supposing some one is found to pay me.' To which Pope +Clement: 'You are a great fool if you let yourself believe that any +one will come forward to offer you a farthing.' Accordingly, his +attorney, Messer Tommaso, and the agents of the Duke, after some +negotiations, came to an agreement that a tomb should at least be made +for the amount he had received. Michelangelo, thinking the matter had +arrived at a good conclusion, consented with alacrity. He was much +influenced by the elder Cardinal di Monte, who owed his advancement to +Julius II., and was uncle of Julius III., our present Pope by grace of +God. The arrangement was as follows: That he should make a tomb of one +facade only; should utilise those marbles which he had already blocked +out for the quadrangular monument, adapting them as well as +circumstances allowed; and finally, that he should be bound to furnish +six statues by his own hand. In spite of this arrangement, Pope +Clement was allowed to employ Michelangelo in Florence or where he +liked during four months of the year, that being required by his +Holiness for his undertakings at S. Lorenzo. Such then was the +contract made between the Duke and Michelangelo. But here it has to be +observed, that after all accounts had been made up, Michelangelo +secretly agreed with the agents of his Excellency that it should be +reported that he had received some thousands of crowns above what had +been paid to him; the object being to make his obligation to the Duke +of Urbino seem more considerable, and to discourage Pope Clement from +sending him to Florence, whither he was extremely unwilling to go. +This acknowledgment was not only bruited about in words, but, without +his knowledge or consent, was also inserted into the deed; not when +this was drawn up, but when it was engrossed; a falsification which +caused Michelangelo the utmost vexation. The ambassador, however, +persuaded him that this would do him no real harm: it did not signify, +he said, whether the contract specified a thousand or twenty thousand +crowns, seeing they were agreed that the tomb should be reduced to +suit the sums actually received; adding, that nobody was concerned in +the matter except himself, and that Michelangelo might feel safe with +him on account of the understanding between them. Upon this +Michelangelo grew easy in his mind, partly because he thought he might +have confidence, and partly because he wished the Pope to receive the +impression I have described above. In this way the thing was settled +for the time, but it did not end there; for when he had worked his +four months in Florence and came back to Rome, the Pope set him to +other tasks, and ordered him to paint the wall above the altar in the +Sistine Chapel. He was a man of excellent judgment in such matters, +and had meditated many different subjects for this fresco. At last he +fixed upon the Last Judgment, considering that the variety and +greatness of the theme would enable the illustrious artist to exhibit +his powers in their full extent. Michelangelo, remembering the +obligation he was under to the Duke of Urbino, did all he could to +evade this new engagement; but when this proved impossible, he began +to procrastinate, and, pretending to be fully occupied with the +cartoons for his huge picture, he worked in secret at the statues +intended for the monument." + + +VII + +Michelangelo's position at Florence was insecure and painful, owing to +the undisguised animosity of the Duke Alessandro. This man ruled like +a tyrant of the worst sort, scandalising good citizens by his brutal +immoralities, and terrorising them by his cruelties. "He remained," +says Condivi, "in continual alarm; because the Duke, a young man, as +is known to every one, of ferocious and revengeful temper, hated him +exceedingly. There is no doubt that, but for the Pope's protection, he +would have been removed from this world. What added to Alessandro's +enmity was that when he was planning the fortress which he afterwards +erected, he sent Messer Vitelli for Michelangelo, ordering him to ride +with them, and to select a proper position for the building. +Michelangelo refused, saying that he had received no commission from +the Pope. The Duke waxed very wroth; and so, through this new +grievance added to old grudges and the notorious nature of the Duke, +Michelangelo not unreasonably lived in fear. It was certainly by God's +aid that he happened to be away from Florence when Clement died." +Michelangelo was bound under solemn obligations to execute no work but +what the Pope ordered for himself or permitted by the contract with +the heirs of Julius. Therefore he acted in accordance with duty when +he refused to advise the tyrant in this scheme for keeping the city +under permanent subjection. The man who had fortified Florence against +the troops of Clement could not assist another bastard Medici to build +a strong place for her ruin. It may be to this period of his life that +we owe the following madigral, written upon the loss of Florentine +liberty and the bad conscience of the despot:-- + + _Lady, for joy of lovers numberless + Thou wast created fair as angels are. + Sure God hath fallen asleep in heaven afar + When one man calls the bliss of many his! + Give back to streaming eyes + The daylight of thy face, that seems to shun + Those who must live defrauded of their bliss! + + Vex not your pure desire with tears and sighs: + For he who robs you of my light hath none. + Dwelling in fear, sin hath no happiness; + Since, amid those who love, their joy is less, + Whose great desire great plenty still curtails, + Than theirs who, poor, have hope that never fails._ + +During the siege Michelangelo had been forced to lend the Signory a +sum of about 1500 ducats. In the summer of 1533 he corresponded with +Sebastiano about means for recovering this loan. On the 16th of August +Sebastiano writes that he has referred the matter to the Pope. "I +repeat, what I have already written, that I presented your memorial to +his Holiness. It was about eight in the evening, and the Florentine +ambassador was present. The Pope then ordered the ambassador to write +immediately to the Duke; and this he did with such vehemence and +passion as I do not think he has displayed on four other occasions +concerning the affairs of Florence. His rage and fury were tremendous, +and the words he used to the ambassador would stupefy you, could you +hear them. Indeed, they are not fit to be written down, and I must +reserve them for _viva voce_. I burn to have half an hour's +conversation with you, for now I know our good and holy master to the +ground. Enough, I think you must have already seen something of the +sort. In brief, he has resolved that you are to be repaid the 400 +ducats of the guardianship and the 500 ducats lent to the old +Government." It may be readily imagined that this restitution of a +debt incurred by Florence when she was fighting for her liberties, to +which act of justice her victorious tyrant was compelled by his Papal +kinsman, did not soften Alessandro's bad feeling for the creditor. + +Several of Sebastiano's letters during the summer and autumn of 1533 +refer to an edition of some madrigals by Michelangelo, which had been +set to music by Bartolommeo Tromboncino, Giacomo Archadelt, and +Costanzo Festa. We have every reason to suppose that the period we +have now reached was the richest in poetical compositions. It was also +in 1532 or 1533 that he formed the most passionate attachment of which +we have any knowledge in his life; for he became acquainted about this +time with Tommaso Cavalieri. A few years later he was destined to meet +with Vittoria Colonna. The details of these two celebrated friendships +will be discussed in another chapter. + +Clement VII. journeyed from Rome in September, intending to take ship +at Leghorn for Nice and afterwards Marseilles, where his young cousin, +Caterina de' Medici, was married to the Dauphin. He had to pass +through S. Miniato al Tedesco, and thither Michelangelo went to wait +upon him on the 22nd. This was the last, and not the least imposing, +public act of the old Pope, who, six years after his imprisonment and +outrage in the Castle of S. Angelo, was now wedding a daughter of his +plebeian family to the heir of the French crown. What passed between +Michelangelo and his master on this occasion is not certain. + +The years 1532-1534 form a period of considerable chronological +perplexity in Michelangelo's life. This is in great measure due to the +fact that he was now residing regularly part of the year in Rome and +part in Florence. We have good reason to believe that he went to Rome +in September 1532, and stayed there through the winter. It is probable +that he then formed the friendship with Cavalieri, which played so +important a part in his personal history. A brisk correspondence +carried on between him and his two friends, Bartolommeo Angelini and +Sebastiano del Piombo, shows that he resided at Florence during the +summer and early autumn of 1533. From a letter addressed to Figiovanni +on the 15th of October, we learn that he was then impatient to leave +Florence for Rome. But a _Ricordo,_ bearing date October 29, 1533, +renders it almost certain that he had not then started. Angelini's +letters, which had been so frequent, stop suddenly in that month. This +renders it almost certain that Michelangelo must have soon returned to +Rome. Strangely enough there are no letters or _Ricordi_ in his +handwriting which bear the date 1534. When we come to deal with this +year, 1534, we learn from Michelangelo's own statement to Vasari that +he was in Florence during the summer, and that he reached Rome two +days before the death of Clement VII., _i.e._, upon September 23. +Condivi observes that it was lucky for him that the Pope did not die +while he was still at Florence, else he would certainly have been +exposed to great peril, and probably been murdered or imprisoned by +Duke Alessandro. + +Nevertheless, Michelangelo was again in Florence toward the close of +1534. An undated letter to a certain Febo (di Poggio) confirms this +supposition. It may probably be referred to the month of December. In +it he says that he means to leave Florence next day for Pisa and Rome, +and that he shall never return. Febo's answer, addressed to Rome, is +dated January 14, 1534, which, according to Florentine reckoning, +means 1535. + +We may take it, then, as sufficiently well ascertained that +Michelangelo departed from Florence before the end of 1534, and that +he never returned during the remainder of his life. There is left, +however, another point of importance referring to this period, which +cannot be satisfactorily cleared up. We do not know the exact date of +his father, Lodovico's, death. It must have happened either in 1533 or +in 1534. In spite of careful researches, no record of the event has +yet been discovered, either at Settignano or in the public offices of +Florence. The documents of the Buonarroti family yield no direct +information on the subject. We learn, however, from the Libri delle +Eta, preserved at the Archivio di Stato, that Lodovico di Lionardo di +Buonarrota Simoni was born upon the 11th of June 1444. Now +Michelangelo, in his poem on Lodovico's death, says very decidedly +that his father was ninety when he breathed his last. If we take this +literally, it must be inferred that he died after the middle of June +1534. There are many reasons for supposing that Michelangelo was in +Florence when this happened. The chief of these is that no +correspondence passed between the Buonarroti brothers on the occasion, +while Michelangelo's minutes regarding the expenses of his father's +burial seem to indicate that he was personally responsible for their +disbursement. I may finally remark that the schedule of property +belonging to Michelangelo, recorded under the year 1534 in the +archives of the Decima at Florence, makes no reference at all to +Lodovico. We conclude from it that, at the time of its redaction, +Michelangelo must have succeeded to his father's estate. + +The death of Lodovico and Buonarroto, happening within a space of +little more than five years, profoundly affected Michelangelo's mind, +and left an indelible mark of sadness on his life. One of his best +poems, a _capitolo_, or piece of verse in _terza rima_ stanzas, was +written on the occasion of his father's decease. In it he says that +Lodovico had reached the age of ninety. If this statement be literally +accurate, the old man must have died in 1534, since he was born upon +the 11th of June 1444. But up to the present time, as I have observed +above, the exact date of his death has not been discovered. One +passage of singular and solemn beauty may be translated from the +original:-- + + _Thou'rt dead of dying, and art made divine, + Nor fearest now to change or life or will; + Scarce without envy can I call this thine. + Fortune and time beyond your temple-sill + Dare not advance, by whom is dealt for us + A doubtful gladness, and too certain ill. + Cloud is there none to dim you glorious: + The hours distinct compel you not to fade: + Nor chance nor fate o'er you are tyrannous. + Your splendour with the night sinks not in shade, + Nor grows with day, howe'er that sun ride high + Which on our mortal hearts life's heat hath rayed. + Thus from thy dying I now learn to die, + Dear father mine! In thought I see thy place, + Where earth but rarely lets men climb the sky._ + _Not, as some deem, is death the worst disgrace + For one whose last day brings him to the first, + The next eternal throne to God's by grace. + There by God's grace I trust that thou art nursed, + And hope to find thee, If but my cold heart + High reason draw from earthly slime accursed._ + + + +CHAPTER X + + +I + +The collegiate church of S. Lorenzo at Florence had long been +associated with the Medicean family, who were its most distinguished +benefactors, Giovanni d'Averardo de' Medici, together with the heads +of six other Florentine houses, caused it to be rebuilt at the +beginning of the fifteenth century. He took upon himself the entire +costs of the sacristy and one chapel; it was also owing to his +suggestion that Filippo Brunelleschi, in the year 1421, designed the +church and cloister as they now appear. When he died, Giovanni was +buried in its precincts, while his son Cosimo de' Medici, the father +of his country, continued these benevolences, and bestowed a capital +of 40,000 golden florins on the Chapter. He too was buried in the +church, a simple monument in the sacristy being erected to his memory. +Lorenzo the Magnificent followed in due course, and found his last +resting-place at S. Lorenzo. + +We have seen in a previous chapter how and when Leo X. conceived the +idea of adding a chapel which should serve as mausoleum for several +members of the Medicean family at S. Lorenzo, and how Clement +determined to lodge the famous Medicean library in a hall erected over +the west side of the cloister. Both of these undertakings, as well as +the construction of a facade for the front of the church, were +assigned to Michelangelo. The ground plan of the monumental chapel +corresponds to Brunelleschi's sacristy, and is generally known as the +Sagrestia Nuova. Internally Buonarroti altered its decorative +panellings, and elevated the vaulting of the roof into a more +ambitious cupola. This portion of the edifice was executed in the +rough during his residence at Florence. The facade was never begun in +earnest, and remains unfinished. The library was constructed according +to his designs, and may be taken, on the whole, as a genuine specimen +of his style in architecture. + +The books which Clement lodged there were the priceless manuscripts +brought together by Cosimo de' Medici in the first enthusiasm of the +Revival, at that critical moment when the decay of the Eastern Empire +transferred the wrecks of Greek literature from Constantinople to +Italy. Cosimo built a room to hold them in the Convent of S. Marco, +which Flavio Biondo styled the first library opened for the use of +scholars. Lorenzo the Magnificent enriched the collection with +treasures acquired during his lifetime, buying autographs wherever it +was possible to find them, and causing copies to be made. In the year +1508 the friars of S. Marco sold this inestimable store of literary +documents, in order to discharge the debts contracted by them during +their ill-considered interference in the state affairs of the +Republic. It was purchased for the sum of 2652 ducats by the Cardinal +Giovanni de' Medici, a second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and +afterwards Pope Leo X. He transferred them to his Roman villa, where +the collection was still further enlarged by all the rarities which a +prince passionate for literature and reckless in expenditure could +there assemble. Leo's cousin and executor, Giulio de' Medici, Pope +Clement VII., fulfilled his last wishes by transferring them to +Florence, and providing the stately receptacle in which they still +repose. + +The task assigned to Michelangelo, when he planned the library, was +not so simple as that of the new sacristy. Some correspondence took +place before the west side of the cloister was finally decided on. +What is awkward in the approach to the great staircase must be +ascribed to the difficulty of fitting this building into the old +edifice; and probably, if Michelangelo had carried out the whole work, +a worthier entrance from the piazza into the loggia, and from the +loggia into the vestibule, might have been devised. + + +II + +Vasari, in a well-known passage of his Life of Michelangelo, reports +the general opinion of his age regarding the novelties introduced by +Buonarroti into Italian architecture. The art of building was in a +state of transition. Indeed, it cannot be maintained that the +Italians, after they abandoned the traditions of the Romanesque +manner, advanced with certitude on any line of progress in this art. +Their work, beautiful as it often is, ingenious as it almost always +is, marked invariably by the individuality of the district and the +builder, seems to be tentative, experimental. The principles of the +Pointed Gothic style were never seized or understood by Italian +architects. Even such cathedrals as those of Orvieto and Siena are +splendid monuments of incapacity, when compared with the Romanesque +churches of Pisa, S. Miniato, S. Zenone at Verona, the Cathedral of +Parma. The return from Teutonic to Roman standards of taste, which +marked the advent of humanism, introduced a hybrid manner. This, in +its first commencement, was extremely charming. The buildings of Leo +Battista Alberti, of Brunelleschi, and of Bramante are distinguished +by an exquisite purity and grace combined with picturesqueness. No +edifice in any style is more stately, and at the same time more +musical in linear proportions, than the Church of S. Andrea at Mantua. +The Cappella dei Pazzi and the Church of S. Spirito at Florence are +gems of clear-cut and harmonious dignity. The courtyard of the +Cancelleria at Rome, the Duomo at Todi, show with what supreme ability +the great architect of Casteldurante blended sublimity with suavity, +largeness and breadth with naivete and delicately studied detail. But +these first endeavours of the Romantic spirit to assimilate the +Classic mannerism--essays no less interesting than those of Boiardo in +poetry, of Botticelli in painting, of Donatello and Omodei in +sculpture--all of them alike, whether buildings, poems, paintings, or +statues, displaying the genius of the Italic race, renascent, +recalcitrant against the Gothic style, while still to some extent +swayed by its influence (at one and the same time both Christian and +chivalrous, Pagan and precociously cynical; yet charmingly fresh, +unspoiled by dogma, uncontaminated by pedantry)--these first +endeavours of the Romantic spirit to assimilate the Classic mannerism +could not create a new style representative of the national life. They +had the fault inherent in all hybrids, however fanciful and graceful. +They were sterile and unprocreative. The warring elements, so deftly +and beautifully blent in them, began at once to fall asunder. The San +Galli attempted to follow classical precedent with stricter severity. +Some buildings of their school may still be reckoned among the purest +which remain to prove the sincerity of the Revival of Learning. The +Sansovini exaggerated the naivete of the earlier Renaissance manner, +and pushed its picturesqueness over into florid luxuriance or +decorative detail. Meanwhile, humanists and scholars worked slowly but +steadily upon the text of Vitruvius, impressing the paramount +importance of his theoretical writings upon practical builders. +Neither students nor architects reflected that they could not +understand Vitruvius; that, if they could understand him, it was by no +means certain he was right; and that, if he was right for his own age, +he would not be right for the sixteenth century after Christ. It was +just at this moment, when Vitruvius began to dominate the Italian +imagination, that Michelangelo was called upon to build. The genial +adaptation of classical elements to modern sympathies and uses, which +had been practised by Alberti, Brunelleschi, Bramante, yielded now to +painful efforts after the appropriation of pedantic principles. +Instead of working upon antique monuments with their senses and +emotions, men approached them through the medium of scholastic +erudition. Instead of seeing and feeling for themselves, they sought +by dissection to confirm the written precepts of a defunct Roman +writer. This diversion of a great art from its natural line of +development supplies a striking instance of the fascination which +authority exercises at certain periods of culture. Rather than trust +their feeling for what was beautiful and useful, convenient and +attractive, the Italians of the Renaissance surrendered themselves to +learning. Led by the spirit of scholarship, they thought it their duty +to master the text of Vitruvius, to verify his principles by the +analysis of surviving antique edifices, and, having formed their own +conception of his theory, to apply this, as well as they were able, to +the requirements of contemporary life. + +Two exits from the false situation existed: one was the +picturesqueness of the Barocco style; the other was the specious vapid +purity of the Palladian. Michelangelo, who was essentially the genius +of this transition, can neither be ascribed to the Barocco architects, +although he called them into being, nor yet can he be said to have +arrived at the Palladian solution. He held both types within himself +in embryo, arriving at a moment of profound and complicated difficulty +for the practical architect; without technical education, but gifted +with supreme genius, bringing the imperious instincts of a sublime +creative amateur into every task appointed him. We need not wonder if +a man of his calibre left the powerful impress of his personality upon +an art in chaos, luring lesser craftsmen into the Barocco mannerism, +while he provoked reaction in the stronger, who felt more +scientifically what was needed to secure firm standing-ground. Bernini +and the superb fountain of Trevi derive from Michelangelo on one side; +Vignola's cold classic profiles and Palladio's resuscitation of old +Rome in the Palazzo della Ragione at Vicenza emerge upon the other. It +remained Buonarroti's greatest-glory that, lessoned by experience and +inspired for high creation by the vastness of the undertaking, he +imagined a world's wonder in the cupola of S. Peter's. + + +III + +Writing in the mid-stream of this architectural regurgitation, Vasari +explains what contemporaries thought about Michelangelo's innovations. +"He wished to build the new sacristy upon the same lines as the older +one by Brunelleschi, but at the same time to clothe the edifice with a +different style of decoration. Accordingly, he invented for the +interior a composite adornment, of the newest and most varied manner +which antique and modern masters joined together could have used. The +novelty of his style consisted in those lovely cornices, capitals, +basements, doors, niches, and sepulchres which transcended all that +earlier builders, working by measurements, distribution of parts, and +rule, had previously effected, following Vitruvius and the ancient +relics. Such men were afraid to supplement tradition with original +invention. The license he introduced gave great courage to those who +studied his method, and emboldened them to follow on his path. Since +that time, new freaks of fancy have been seen, resembling the style of +arabesque and grotesque more than was consistent with tradition. For +this emancipation of the art, all craftsmen owe him an infinite and +everduring debt of gratitude, since he at one blow broke down the +bands and chains which barred the path they trod in common." + +If I am right in thus interpreting an unusually incoherent passage of +Vasari's criticism, no words could express more clearly the advent of +Barocco mannerism. But Vasari proceeds to explain his meaning with +still greater precision. Afterwards he made a plainer demonstration +of his intention in the library of S. Lorenzo, by the splendid +distribution of the windows, the arrangement of the upper chamber, and +the marvellous entrance-hall into that enclosed building. + +"The grace and charm of art were never seen more perfectly displayed +in the whole and in the parts of any edifice than here. I may refer in +particular to the corbels, the recesses for statues, and the cornices. +The staircase, too, deserves attention for its convenience, with the +eccentric breakage of its flights of steps; the whole construction +being so altered from the common usage of other architects as to +excite astonishment in all who see it." + +What emerges with distinctness from Vasari's account of Michelangelo's +work at S. Lorenzo is that a practical Italian architect, who had been +engaged on buildings of importance since this work was carried out, +believed it to have infused freedom and new vigour into architecture. +That freedom and new vigour we now know to have implied the Barocco +style. + + +IV + +In estimating Michelangelo's work at S. Lorenzo, we must not forget +that at this period of his life he contemplated statuary, bronze +bas-relief, and painting, as essential adjuncts to architecture. The +scheme is, therefore, not so much constructive as decorative, and a +great many of its most offensive qualities may be ascribed to the fact +that the purposes for which it was designed have been omitted. We know +that the facade of S. Lorenzo was intended to abound in bronze and +marble carvings. Beside the Medicean tombs, the sacristy ought to have +contained a vast amount of sculpture, and its dome was actually +painted in fresco by Giovanni da Udine under Michelangelo's own eyes. +It appears that his imagination still obeyed those leading principles +which he applied in the rough sketch for the first sepulchre of +Julius. The vestibule and staircase of the library cannot therefore be +judged fairly now; for if they had been finished according to their +maker's plan, the faults of their construction would have been +compensated by multitudes of plastic shapes. + +M. Charles Gamier, in _L'OEuvre et la Vie_, speaking with the +authority of a practical architect, says: "Michelangelo was not, +properly speaking, an architect. He made architecture, which is quite +a different thing; and most often it was the architecture of a painter +and sculptor, which points to colour, breadth, imagination, but also +to insufficient studies and incomplete education. The thought may be +great and strong, but the execution of it is always feeble and +naive.... He had not learned the language of the art. He has all the +qualities of imagination, invention, will, which form a great +composer; but he does not know the grammar, and can hardly write.... +In seeking the great, he has too often found the tumid; seeking the +original, he has fallen upon the strange, and also on bad taste." + +There is much that is true in this critique, severe though it may seem +to be. The fact is that Michelangelo aimed at picturesque effect in +his buildings; not, as previous architects had done, by a lavish use +of loosely decorative details, but by the piling up and massing +together of otherwise dry orders, cornices, pilasters, windows, all of +which, in his conception, were to serve as framework and pedestals for +statuary. He also strove to secure originality and to stimulate +astonishment by bizarre modulations of accepted classic forms, by +breaking the lines of architraves, combining angularities with curves, +adopting a violently accented rhythm and a tortured multiplicity of +parts, wherever this was possible. + + +V + +In this new style, so much belauded by Vasari, the superficial design +is often rich and grandiose, making a strong pictorial appeal to the +imagination. Meanwhile, the organic laws of structure have been +sacrificed; and that chaste beauty which emerges from a perfectly +harmonious distribution of parts, embellished by surface decoration +only when the limbs and members of the building demand emphasis, may +be sought for everywhere in vain. The substratum is a box, a barn, an +inverted bottle; built up of rubble, brick, and concrete; clothed with +learned details, which have been borrowed from the pseudo-science of +the humanist. There is nothing here of divine Greek candour, of +dominant Roman vigour, of Gothic vitality, of fanciful invention +governed by a sincere sense of truth. Nothing remains of the shy +graces, the melodious simplicities, the pure seeking after musical +proportion, which marked the happier Italian effort of the early +Renaissance, through Brunelleschi and Alberti, Bramante, Giuliano da +Sangallo, and Peruzzi. Architecture, in the highest sense of that +word, has disappeared. A scenic scheme of panelling for empty walls +has superseded the conscientious striving to construct a living and +intelligible whole. + +The fault inherent in Italian building after the close of the Lombard +period, reaches its climax here. That fault was connected with the +inability of the Italians to assimilate the true spirit of the Gothic +style, while they attempted its imitation in practice. The fabrication +of imposing and lovely facades at Orvieto, at Siena, at Cremona, and +at Crema, glorious screens which masked the poverty of the edifice, +and corresponded in no point to the organism of the structure, taught +them to overrate mere surface-beauty. Their wonderful creativeness in +all the arts which can be subordinated to architectural effect seduced +them further. Nothing, for instance, taken by itself alone, can be +more satisfactory than the facade of the Certosa at Pavia; but it is +not, like the front of Chartres or Rheims or Amiens, a natural +introduction to the inner sanctuary. At the end of the Gothic period +architecture had thus come to be conceived as the art of covering +shapeless structures with a wealth of arabesques in marble, fresco, +bronze, mosaic. + +The revival of learning and a renewed interest in the antique withdrew +the Italians for a short period from this false position. With more or +less of merit, successive builders, including those I have above +mentioned, worked in a pure style: pure because it obeyed the laws of +its own music, because it was intelligible and self-consistent, aiming +at construction as the main end, subordinating decoration of richer +luxuriance or of sterner severity to the prime purpose of the total +scheme. But this style was too much the plaything of particular minds +to create a permanent tradition. It varied in the several provinces of +Italy, and mingled personal caprice with the effort to assume a +classic garb. Meanwhile the study of Vitruvius advanced, and that +pedantry which infected all the learned movements of the Renaissance +struck deep and venomous roots into the art of building. + +Michelangelo arrived at the moment I am attempting to indicate. He +protested that architecture was not his trade. Over and over again he +repeated this to his Medicean patrons; but they compelled him to +build, and he applied himself with the predilections and +prepossessions of a plastic artist to the task. The result was a +retrogression from the point reached by his immediate predecessors to +the vicious system followed by the pseudo-Gothic architects in Italy. +That is to say, he treated the structure as an inert mass, to be made +as substantial as possible, and then to be covered with details +agreeable to the eye. At the beginning of his career he had a +defective sense of the harmonic ratios upon which a really musical +building may be constructed out of mere bricks and mortar--such, for +example, as the Church of S. Giustina at Padua. He was overweighted +with ill-assimilated erudition; and all the less desirable licenses of +Brunelleschi's school, especially in the abuse of square recesses, he +adopted without hesitation. It never seems to have occurred to him +that doors which were intended for ingress and egress, windows which +were meant to give light, and attics which had a value as the means of +illumination from above, could not with any propriety be applied to +the covering of blank dead spaces in the interiors of buildings. + +The vestibule of the Laurentian Library illustrates his method of +procedure. It is a rectangular box of about a cube and two thirds, set +length-way up. The outside of the building, left unfinished, exhibits +a mere blank space of bricks. The interior might be compared to a +temple in the grotesque-classic style turned outside in: colossal +orders, meaningless consoles, heavy windows, square recesses, numerous +doors--the windows, doors, and attics having no right to be there, +since they lead to nothing, lend view to nothing, clamour for bronze +and sculpture to explain their existence as niches and receptacles for +statuary. It is nevertheless indubitably true that these incongruous +and misplaced elements, crowded together, leave a strong impression of +picturesque force upon the mind. From certain points and angles, the +effect of the whole, considered as a piece of deception and +insincerity, is magnificent. It would be even finer than it is, were +not the Florentine _pietra serena_ of the stonework so repellent in +its ashen dulness, the plaster so white, and the false architectural +system so painfully defrauded of the plastic forms for which it was +intended to subserve as setting. + +We have here no masterpiece of sound constructive science, but a freak +of inventive fancy using studied details for the production of a +pictorial effect. The details employed to compose this curious +illusion are painfully dry and sterile; partly owing to the scholastic +enthusiasm for Vitruvius, partly to the decline of mediaeval delight +in naturalistic decoration, but, what seems to me still more apparent, +through Michelangelo's own passionate preoccupation with the human +figure. He could not tolerate any type of art which did not concede a +predominant position to the form of man. Accordingly, his work in +architecture at this period seems waiting for plastic illustration, +demanding sculpture and fresco for its illumination and justification. + +It is easy, one would think, to make an appeal to the eye by means of +colossal orders, bold cornices, enormous consoles, deeply indented +niches. How much more easy to construct a box, and then say, "Come, +let us cover its inside with an incongruous and inappropriate but +imposing parade of learning," than to lift some light and genial thing +of beauty aloft into the air, as did the modest builder of the +staircase to the hall at Christ Church, Oxford! The eye of the vulgar +is entranced, the eye of the artist bewildered. That the imagination +which inspired that decorative scheme was powerful, original, and +noble, will not be denied; but this does not save us from the +desolating conviction that the scheme itself is a specious and +pretentious mask, devised to hide a hideous waste of bricks and +mortar. + +Michelangelo's imagination, displayed in this distressing piece of +work, was indeed so masterful that, as Vasari says, a new delightful +style in architecture seemed to be revealed by it. A new way of +clothing surfaces, falsifying facades, and dealing picturesquely with +the lifeless element of Vitruvian tradition had been demonstrated by +the genius of one who was a mighty amateur in building. In other +words, the _Barocco_ manner had begun; the path was opened to prank, +caprice, and license. It required the finer tact and taste of a +Palladio to rectify the false line here initiated, and to bring the +world back to a sense of seriousness in its effort to deal +constructively and rationally with the pseudo-classic mannerism. + +The qualities of wilfulness and amateurishness and seeking after +picturesque effect, upon which I am now insisting, spoiled +Michelangelo's work as architect, until he was forced by circumstance, +and after long practical experience, to confront a problem of pure +mathematical construction. In the cupola of S. Peter's he rose to the +stern requirements of his task. There we find no evasion of the +builder's duty by mere surface-decoration, no subordination of the +edifice to plastic or pictorial uses. Such side-issues were excluded +by the very nature of the theme. An immortal poem resulted, an aerial +lyric of melodious curves and solemn harmonies, a thought combining +grace and audacity translated into stone uplifted to the skies. After +being cabined in the vestibule to the Laurentian Library, our soul +escapes with gladness to those airy spaces of the dome, that great +cloud on the verge of the Campagna, and feels thankful that we can +take our leave of Michelangelo as architect elsewhere. + + +VI + +While seeking to characterise what proved pernicious to contemporaries +in Michelangelo's work as architect, I have been led to concentrate +attention upon the Library at S. Lorenzo. This was logical; for, as we +have seen, Vasari regarded that building as the supreme manifestation +of his manner. Vasari never saw the cupola of S. Peter's in all its +glory, and it may be doubted whether he was capable of learning much +from it. + +The sacristy demands separate consideration. It was an earlier work, +produced under more favourable conditions of place and space, and is +in every way a purer specimen of the master's style. As Vasari +observed, the Laurentian Library indicated a large advance upon the +sacristy in the development of Michelangelo's new manner. + +At this point it may not unprofitably be remarked, that none of the +problems offered for solution at S. Lorenzo were in the strictest +sense of that word architectural. The facade presented a problem of +pure panelling. The ground-plan of the sacristy was fixed in +correspondence with Brunelleschi's; and here again the problem +resolved itself chiefly into panelling. A builder of genius, working +on the library, might indeed have displayed his science and his taste +by some beautiful invention adapted to the awkward locality; as +Baldassare Peruzzi, in the Palazzo Massimo at Rome, converted the +defects of the site into graces by the exquisite turn he gave to the +curved portion of the edifice. Still, when the scheme was settled, +even the library became more a matter of panelling and internal +fittings than of structural design. Nowhere at S. Lorenzo can we +affirm that Michelangelo enjoyed, the opportunity of showing what he +could achieve in the production of a building independent in itself +and planned throughout with a free hand. Had he been a born architect, +he would probably have insisted upon constructing the Medicean +mausoleum after his own conception instead of repeating Brunelleschi's +ground-plan, and he would almost certainly have discovered a more +genial solution for the difficulties of the library. But he protested +firmly against being considered an architect by inclination or by +education. Therefore he accepted the most obvious conditions of each +task, and devoted himself to schemes of surface decoration. + +The interior of the sacristy is planned with a noble sense of unity. +For the purpose of illuminating a gallery of statues, the lighting may +be praised without reserve; and there is no doubt whatever that +Michelangelo intended every tabernacle to be filled with figures, and +all the whitewashed spaces of the walls to be encrusted with +bas-reliefs in stucco or painted in fresco. The recesses or niches, +taking the form of windows, are graduated in three degrees of depth to +suit three scales of sculptural importance. The sepulchres of the +Dukes had to emerge into prominence; the statues subordinate to these +main masses occupied shallower recesses; the shallowest of all, +reserved for minor statuary, are adorned above with garlands, which +suggest the flatness of the figures to be introduced. Architecturally +speaking, the building is complete; but it sadly wants the plastic +decoration for which it was designed, together with many finishing +touches of importance. It is clear, for instance, that the square +pedestals above the double pilasters flanking each of the two Dukes +were meant to carry statuettes or candelabra, which would have +connected the marble panelling with the cornices and stucchi and +frescoed semicircles of the upper region. Our eyes are everywhere +defrauded of the effect calculated by Michelangelo when he planned +this chapel. Yet the total impression remains harmonious. Proportion +has been observed in all the parts, especially in the relation of the +larger to the smaller orders, and in the balance of the doors and +windows. Merely decorative carvings are used with parsimony, and +designed in a pure style, although they exhibit originality of +invention. The alternation of white marble surfaces and mouldings with +_pietra serena_ pilasters, cornices, and arches, defines the +structural design, and gives a grave but agreeable sense of variety. +Finally, the recess behind the altar adds lightness and space to what +would otherwise have been a box. What I have already observed when +speaking of the vestibule to the library must be repeated here: the +whole scheme is that of an exterior turned outside in, and its +justification lies in the fact that it demanded statuary and colour +for its completion. Still the bold projecting cornices, the deeper and +shallower niches resembling windows, have the merit of securing broken +lights and shadows under the strong vertical illumination, all of +which are eminently picturesque. No doubt remains now that tradition +is accurate in identifying the helmeted Duke with Lorenzo de' Medici, +and the more graceful seated hero opposite with Giuliano. The +recumbent figures on the void sepulchres beneath them are with equal +truth designated as Night and Day, Morning and Evening. But +Michelangelo condescended to no realistic portraiture in the statues +of the Dukes, and he also meant undoubtedly to treat the phases of +time which rule man's daily life upon the planet as symbols for +far-reaching thoughts connected with our destiny. These monumental +figures are not men, not women, but vague and potent allegories of our +mortal fate. They remain as he left them, except that parts of +Giuliano's statue, especially the hands, seem to have been worked over +by an assistant. The same is true of the Madonna, which will ever be +regarded, in her imperfectly finished state, as one of the finest of +his sculptural conceptions. To Montelupo belongs the execution of S. +Damiano, and to Montorsoli that of S. Cosimo. Vasari says that Tribolo +was commissioned by Michelangelo to carve statues of Earth weeping for +the loss of Giuliano, and Heaven rejoicing over his spirit. The death +of Pope Clement, however, put a stop to these subordinate works, +which, had they been accomplished, might perhaps have shown us how +Buonarroti intended to fill the empty niches on each side of the +Dukes. + +When Michelangelo left Florence for good at the end of 1534, his +statues had not been placed; but we have reason to think that the +Dukes and the four allegorical figures were erected in his lifetime. +There is something singular in the maladjustment of the recumbent men +and women to the curves of the sarcophagi, and in the contrast between +the roughness of their bases and the smooth polish of the chests they +rest on. These discrepancies do not, however, offend the eye, and they +may even have been deliberately adopted from a keen sense of what the +Greeks called _asymmetreia_ as an adjunct to effect. It is more +difficult to understand what he proposed to do with the Madonna and +her two attendant saints. Placed as they now are upon a simple ledge, +they strike one as being too near the eye, and out of harmony with the +architectural tone of the building. It is also noticeable that the +saints are more than a head taller than the Dukes, while the Madonna +overtops the saints by more than another head. We are here in a region +of pure conjecture; and if I hazard an opinion, it is only thrown out +as a possible solution of a now impenetrable problem. I think, then, +that Michelangelo may have meant to pose these three figures where +they are, facing the altar; to raise the Madonna upon a slightly +projecting bracket above the level of SS. Damiano and Cosimo, and to +paint the wall behind them with a fresco of the Crucifixion. That he +had no intention of panelling that empty space with marble may be +taken for granted, considering the high finish which has been given to +every part of this description of work in the chapel. Treated as I +have suggested, the statue of the Madonna, with the patron saints of +the House of Medici, overshadowed by a picture of Christ's sacrifice, +would have confronted the mystery of the Mass during every celebration +at the altar. There are many designs for the Crucifixion, made by +Michelangelo in later life, so lofty as almost to suggest a group of +figures in the foreground, cutting the middle distance. + +At the close of Michelangelo's life the sacristy was still unfinished. +It contained the objects I have described--the marble panelling, the +altar with its candelabra, the statues of the Dukes and their +attendant figures, the Madonna and two Medicean patron saints--in +fact, all that we find there now, with the addition of Giovanni da +Udine's frescoes in the cupola, the relics of which have since been +buried under cold Florentine whitewash. + +All the views I have advanced in the foregoing paragraphs as to the +point at which Michelangelo abandoned this chapel, and his probable +designs for its completion, are in the last resort based upon an +important document penned at the instance of the Duke of Florence by +Vasari to Buonarroti, not long before the old man's death in Rome. +This epistle has so weighty a bearing upon the matter in hand that I +shall here translate it. Careful study of its fluent periods will +convince an unprejudiced mind that the sacristy, as we now see it, is +even less representative of its maker's design than it was when Vasari +wrote. The frescoes of Giovanni da Udine are gone. It will also show +that the original project involved a wealth of figurative decoration, +statuary, painting, stucco, which never arrived at realisation. + + +VII + +Vasari, writing in the spring of 1562, informs Michelangelo concerning +the Academy of Design founded by Duke Cosimo de' Medici, and of the +Duke's earnest desire that he should return to Florence in order that +the sacristy at S. Lorenzo may be finished. "Your reasons for not +coming are accepted as sufficient. He is therefore considering +--forasmuch as the place is being used now for religious services by day +and night, according to the intention of Pope Clement--he is +considering, I say, a plan for erecting the statues which are missing in +the niches above the sepulchres and the tabernacles above the doors. The +Duke then wishes that all the eminent sculptors of this academy, in +competition man with man, should each of them make one statue, and that +the painters in like manner should exercise their art upon the chapel. +Designs are to be prepared for the arches according to your own project, +including works of painting and of stucco; the other ornaments and the +pavement are to be provided; in short, he intends that the new +academicians shall complete the whole imperfect scheme, in order that +the world may see that, while so many men of genius still exist among +us, the noblest work which was ever yet conceived on earth has not been +left unfinished. He has commissioned me to write to you and unfold his +views, begging you at the same time to favour him by communicating to +himself or to me what your intentions were, or those of the late Pope +Clement, with regard to the name and title of the chapel; moreover, to +inform us what designs you made for the four tabernacles on each side of +the Dukes Lorenzo and Giuliano; also what you projected for the eight +statues above the doors and in the tabernacles of the corners; and, +finally, what your idea was of the paintings to adorn the flat walls and +the semicircular spaces of the chapel. He is particularly anxious that +you should be assured of his determination to alter nothing you have +already done or planned, but, on the contrary, to carry out the whole +work according to your own conception. The academicians too are +unanimous in their hearty desire to abide by this decision. I am +furthermore instructed to tell you, that if you possess sketches, +working cartoons, or drawings made for this purpose, the same would be +of the greatest service in the execution of his project; and he promises +to be a good and faithful administrator, so that honour may ensue. In +case you do not feel inclined to do all this, through the burden of old +age or for any other reason, he begs you at least to communicate with +some one who shall write upon the subject; seeing that he would be +greatly grieved, as indeed would the whole of our academy, to have no +ray of light from your own mind, and possibly to add things to your +masterpiece which were not according to your designs and wishes. We all +of us look forward to being comforted by you, if not with actual work, +at least with words. His Excellency founds this hope upon your former +willingness to complete the edifice by allotting statues to Tribolo, +Montelupo, and the Friar (Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli). The last named of +these masters is here, eagerly desirous to have the opportunity of doing +you honour. So are Francesco Sangallo, Giovanni Bologna, Benvenuto +Cellini, Ammanato, Rossi and Vincenzio Danti of Perugia, not to mention +other sculptors of note. The painters, headed by Bronzino, include many +talented young men, skilled in design, and colourists, quite capable of +establishing an honourable reputation. Of myself I need not speak. You +know well that in devotion, attachment, love, and loyalty (and let me +say this with prejudice to no one) I surpass the rest of your admirers +by far. Therefore, I entreat you, of your goodness, to console his +Excellency, and all these men of parts, and our city, as well as to show +this particular favour to myself, who have been selected by the Duke to +write to you, under the impression that, being your familiar and loving +friend, I might obtain from you some assistance of sterling utility for +the undertaking. His Excellency is prepared to spend both substance and +labour on the task, in order to honour you. Pray then, albeit age is +irksome, endeavour to aid him by unfolding your views; for, in doing so, +you will confer benefits on countless persons, and will be the cause of +raising all these men of parts to higher excellence, each one of whom +has learned what he already knows in the sacristy, or rather let me say +our school." + +This eloquent despatch informs us very clearly that the walls of the +sacristy, above the tall Corinthian order which, encloses the part +devoted to sculpture, were intended to be covered with stucco and +fresco paintings, completing the polychromatic decoration begun by +Giovanni da Udine in the cupola. Twelve statues had been designed for +the niches in the marble panelling; and one word used by Vasari, +_facciate_, leaves the impression that the blank walls round and +opposite the altar were also to be adorned with pictures. We remain +uncertain how Michelangelo originally meant to dispose of the colossal +Madonna with SS. Damian and Cosimo. + +Unhappily, nothing came of the Duke's project. Michelangelo was either +unable or unwilling--probably unable--to furnish the necessary plans +and drawings. In the eighth chapter of this book I have discussed the +hesitations with regard to the interior of the sacristy which are +revealed by some of his extant designs for it. We also know that he +was not in the habit of preparing accurate working cartoons for the +whole of a large scheme, but that he proceeded from point to point, +trusting to slight sketches and personal supervision of the work. +Thus, when Vasari wrote to him from Rome about the staircase of the +library, he expressed a perfect readiness to help, but could only +remember its construction in a kind of dream. We may safely assume, +then, that he had not sufficient material to communicate; plans +definite enough in general scope and detailed incident to give a true +conception of his whole idea were lacking. + + +VIII + +Passing to aesthetical considerations, I am forced to resume here what +I published many years ago about the Sacristy of S. Lorenzo, as it now +exists. Repeated visits to that shrine have only renewed former +impressions, which will not bear to be reproduced in other language, +and would lose some of their freshness by the stylistic effort. No +other course remains then but to quote from my own writings, indorsing +them with such weight as my signature may have acquired since they +were first given to the world. + +"The sacristy may be looked on either as the masterpiece of a sculptor +who required fit setting for his statues, or of an architect who +designed statues to enhance the structure he had planned. Both arts +are used with equal ease, nor has the genius of Michelangelo dealt +more masterfully with the human frame than with the forms of Roman +architecture in this chapel. He seems to have paid no heed to classic +precedent, and to have taken no pains to adapt the parts to the +structural purpose of the building. It was enough for him to create a +wholly novel framework for the modern miracle of sculpture it +enshrines, attending to such rules of composition as determine light +and shade, and seeking by the relief of mouldings and pilasters to +enhance the terrible and massive forms that brood above the Medicean +tombs. The result is a product of picturesque and plastic art as true +to the Michelangelesque spirit as the Temple of the Wingless Victory +to that of Pheidias. But where Michelangelo achieved a triumph of +boldness, lesser natures were betrayed into bizarrerie; and this +chapel of the Medici, in spite of its grandiose simplicity, proved a +stumbling-block to subsequent architects by encouraging them to +despise propriety and violate the laws of structure. + +"We may assume then that the colossal statues of Giuliano and Lorenzo +were studied with a view to their light and shadow as much as to their +form; and this is a fact to be remembered by those who visit the +chapel where Buonarroti laboured both as architect and sculptor. Of +the two Medici, it is not fanciful to say that the Duke of Urbino is +the most immovable of spectral shapes eternalised in marble; while the +Duke of Nemours, more graceful and elegant, seems intended to present +a contrast to this terrible thought-burdened form. The allegorical +figures, stretched on segments of ellipses beneath the pedestals of +the two Dukes, indicate phases of darkness and of light, of death and +life. They are two women and two men; tradition names them Night and +Day, Twilight and Dawning. Thus in the statues themselves and in their +attendant genii we have a series of abstractions, symbolising the +sleep and waking of existence, action and thought, the gloom of death, +the lustre of life, and the intermediate states of sadness and of hope +that form the borderland of both. Life is a dream between two +slumbers; sleep is death's twin-brother; night is the shadow of death; +death is the gate of life:--such is the mysterious mythology wrought +by the sculptor of the modern world in marble. All these figures, by +the intensity of their expression, the vagueness of their symbolism, +force us to think and question. What, for example, occupies Lorenzo's +brain? Bending forward, leaning his chin upon his wrist, placing the +other hand upon his knee, on what does he for ever ponder? + +"The sight, as Rogers said well, 'fascinates and is intolerable.' +Michelangelo has shot the beaver of the helmet forward on his +forehead, and bowed his head, so as to clothe the face in darkness. +But behind the gloom there lurks no fleshless skull, as Rogers +fancied. The whole frame of the powerful man is instinct with some +imperious thought. Has he outlived his life and fallen upon +everlasting contemplation? Is he brooding, injured and indignant, over +his own doom and the extinction of his race? Is he condemned to +witness in immortal immobility the woes of Italy he helped to cause? +Or has the sculptor symbolised in him the burden of that personality +we carry with us in this life, and bear for ever when we wake into +another world? Beneath this incarnation of oppressive thought there +lie, full length and naked, the figures of Dawn and Twilight, Morn and +Evening. So at least they are commonly called, and these names are not +inappropriate; for the breaking of the day and the approach of night +are metaphors for many transient conditions of the soul. It is only as +allegories in a large sense, comprehending both the physical and +intellectual order, and capable of various interpretation, that any of +these statues can be understood. Even the Dukes do not pretend to be +portraits, and hence in part perhaps the uncertainty that has gathered +round them. Very tranquil and noble is Twilight: a giant in repose, he +meditates, leaning upon his elbow, looking down. But Dawn starts from +her couch, as though some painful summons had reached her, sunk in +dreamless sleep, and called her forth to suffer. Her waking to +consciousness is like that of one who has been drowned, and who finds +the return to life agony. Before her eyes, seen even through the mists +of slumber, are the ruin and the shame of Italy. Opposite lies Night, +so sorrowful, so utterly absorbed in darkness and the shade of death, +that to shake off that everlasting lethargy seems impossible. Yet she +is not dead. If we raise our voices, she too will stretch her limbs, +and, like her sister, shudder into sensibility with sighs. Only we +must not wake her; for he who fashioned her has told us that her sleep +of stone is great good fortune. Both of these women are large and +brawny, unlike the Fates of Pheidias, in their muscular maturity. The +burden of Michelangelo's thought was too tremendous to be borne by +virginal and graceful beings. He had to make women no less capable of +suffering, no less world-wearied, than his country. + +"Standing before these statues, we do not cry, How beautiful! We +murmur, How terrible, how grand! Yet, after long gazing, we find them +gifted with beauty beyond grace. In each of them there is a +palpitating thought, torn from the artist's soul and crystallised in +marble. It has been said that architecture is petrified music. In the +Sacristy of S. Lorenzo we feel impelled to remember phrases of +Beethoven. Each of these statues becomes for us a passion, fit for +musical expression, but turned like Niobe to stone. They have the +intellectual vagueness, the emotional certainty, that belong to the +motives of a symphony. In their allegories, left without a key, +sculpture has passed beyond her old domain of placid concrete form. +The anguish of intolerable emotion, the quickening of the +consciousness to a sense of suffering, the acceptance of the +inevitable, the strife of the soul with destiny, the burden and the +passion of mankind:--that is what they contain in their cold +chisel-tortured marble. It is open to critics of the school of Lessing +to object that here is the suicide of sculpture. It is easy to remark +that those strained postures and writhen limbs may have perverted the +taste of lesser craftsmen. Yet if Michelangelo was called to carve +Medicean statues after the sack of Rome and the fall of Florence--if +he was obliged in sober sadness to make sculpture a fit language for +his sorrow-laden heart--how could he have wrought more truthfully than +this? To imitate him without sharing his emotion or comprehending his +thoughts, as the soulless artists of the decadence attempted, was +without all doubt a grievous error. Surely also we may regret, not +without reason, that in the evil days upon which he had fallen, the +fair antique _Heiterkeit_ and _Allgemeinheit_ were beyond his reach." + +That this regret is not wholly sentimental may be proved, I think, by +an exchange of verses, which we owe to Vasari's literary sagacity. He +tells us that when the statue of the Night was opened to the public +view, it drew forth the following quatrain from an author unknown to +himself by name:-- + + _The Night thou seest here, posed gracefully + In act of slumber, was by an Angel wrought + Out of this stone; sleeping, with life she's fraught: + Wake her, incredulous wight; she'll speak to thee._ + +Michelangelo would have none of these academical conceits and +compliments. He replied in four verses, which show well enough what +thoughts were in his brain when he composed the nightmare-burdened, +heavy-sleeping women: + + _Dear is my sleep, but more to be mere stone, + So long as ruin and dishonour reign: + To hear naught, to feel naught, is my great gain; + Then wake me not; speak in an undertone._ + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +I + +After the death of Clement VII., Michelangelo never returned to reside +for any length of time at Florence. The rest of his life was spent in +Rome, and he fell almost immediately under the kind but somewhat +arbitrary patronage of Alessandro Farnese, who succeeded to the Papal +chair in October 1534, with the title of Paul III. + +One of the last acts of Clement's life had been to superintend the +second contract with the heirs of Julius, by which Michelangelo +undertook to finish the tomb upon a reduced scale within the space of +three years. He was allowed to come to Rome and work there during four +months annually. Paul, however, asserted his authority by upsetting +these arrangements and virtually cancelling the contract. + +"In the meanwhile," writes Condivi, "Pope Clement died, and Paul III. +sent for him, and requested him to enter his service. Michelangelo saw +at once that he would be interrupted in his work upon the Tomb of +Julius. So he told Paul that he was not his own master, being bound to +the Duke of Urbino until the monument was finished. The Pope grew +angry, and exclaimed: 'It is thirty years that I have cherished this +desire, and now that I am Pope, may I not indulge it? Where is the +contract? I mean to tear it up.' Michelangelo, finding himself reduced +to these straits, almost resolved to leave Rome and take refuge in the +Genoese, at an abbey held by the Bishop of Aleria, who had been a +creature of Julius, and was much attached to him. He hoped that the +neighbourhood of the Carrara quarries, and the facility of +transporting marbles by sea, would help him to complete his +engagements. He also thought of settling at Urbino, which he had +previously selected as a tranquil retreat, and where he expected to be +well received for the sake of Pope Julius. Some months earlier, he +even sent a man of his to buy a house and land there. Still he dreaded +the greatness of the Pontiff, as indeed he had good cause to do; and +for this reason he abandoned the idea of quitting Rome, hoping to +pacify his Holiness with fair words. + +"The Pope, however, stuck to his opinion; and one day he visited +Michelangelo at his house, attended by eight or ten Cardinals. He +first of all inspected the cartoon prepared in Clement's reign for the +great work of the Sistine; then the statues for the tomb, and +everything in detail. The most reverend Cardinal of Mantua, standing +before the statue of Moses, cried out: 'That piece alone is sufficient +to do honour to the monument of Julius.' Pope Paul, having gone +through the whole workshop, renewed his request that Michelangelo +should enter his service; and when the latter still resisted, he +clinched the matter by saying: 'I will provide that the Duke of Urbino +shall be satisfied with three statues from your hand, and the +remaining three shall be assigned to some other sculptor.' +Accordingly, he settled on the terms of a new contract with the agents +of the Duke, which were confirmed by his Excellency, who did not care +to displeasure the Pope. Michelangelo, albeit he was now relieved from +the obligation of paying for the three statues, preferred to take this +cost upon himself, and deposited 1580 ducats for the purpose. And so +the Tragedy of the Tomb came at last to an end. This may now be seen +at S. Pietro ad Vincula; and though, truth to tell, it is but a +mutilated and botched-up remnant of Michelangelo's original design, +the monument is still the finest to be found in Rome, and perhaps +elsewhere in the world, if only for the three statues finished by the +hand of the great master." + + +II + +In this account, Condivi, has condensed the events of seven years. The +third and last contract with the heirs of Julius was not ratified +until the autumn of 1542, nor was the tomb erected much before the +year 1550. We shall see that the tragedy still cost its hero many +anxious days during this period. + +Paul III., having obtained his object, issued a brief, whereby he +appointed Michelangelo chief architect, sculptor, and painter at the +Vatican. The instrument is dated September 1, 1535, and the terms with +which it describes the master's eminence in the three arts are highly +flattering. Allusion is directly made to the fresco of the Last +Judgment, which may therefore have been begun about this date. +Michelangelo was enrolled as member of the Pontifical household, with +a permanent pension of 1200 golden crowns, to be raised in part on the +revenues accruing from a ferry across the Po at Piacenza. He did not, +however, obtain possession of this ferry until 1537, and the benefice +proved so unremunerative that it was exchanged for a little post in +the Chancery at Rimini. + +When Michelangelo began to work again in the Sistine Chapel, the wall +above the altar was adorned with three great sacred subjects by the +hand of Pietro Perugino. In the central fresco of the Assumption +Perugino introduced a portrait of Sixtus IV. kneeling in adoration +before the ascending Madonna. The side panels were devoted to the +Nativity and the finding of Moses. In what condition Michelangelo +found these frescoes before the painting of the Last Judgment we do +not know. Vasari says that he caused the wall to be rebuilt with +well-baked carefully selected bricks, and sloped inwards so that the +top projected half a cubit from the bottom. This was intended to +secure the picture from dust. Vasari also relates that Sebastiano del +Piombo, acting on his own responsibility, prepared this wall with a +ground for oil-colours, hoping to be employed by Michelangelo, but +that the latter had it removed, preferring the orthodox method of +fresco-painting. The story, as it stands, is not very probable; yet we +may perhaps conjecture that, before deciding on the system to be +adopted for his great work, Buonarroti thought fit to make experiments +in several surfaces. The painters of that period, as is proved by +Sebastiano's practice, by Lionardo da Vinci's unfortunate innovations +at Florence, and by the experiments of Raffaello's pupils in the hall +of Constantine, not unfrequently invented methods for mural decoration +which should afford the glow and richness of oil-colouring. +Michelangelo may even have proposed at one time to intrust a large +portion of his fresco to Sebastiano's executive skill, and afterwards +have found the same difficulties in collaboration which reduced him to +the necessity of painting the Sistine vault in solitude. + +Be that as it may, when the doors of the chapel once closed behind the +master, we hear nothing whatsoever about his doings till they opened +again on Christmas Day in 1541. The reticence of Michelangelo +regarding his own works is one of the most trying things about him. It +is true indeed that his correspondence between 1534 and 1541 almost +entirely fails; still, had it been abundant, we should probably have +possessed but dry and laconic references to matters connected with the +business of his art. + +He must have been fully occupied on the Last Judgment during 1536 and +1537. Paul III. was still in correspondence with the Duke of Urbino, +who showed himself not only willing to meet the Pope's wishes with +regard to the Tomb of Julius, but also very well disposed toward the +sculptor. In July 1537, Hieronimo Staccoli wrote to the Duke of +Camerino about a silver salt-cellar which Michelangelo had designed at +his request. This prince, Guidobaldo della Rovere, when he afterwards +succeeded to the Duchy of Urbino, sent a really warm-hearted despatch +to his "dearest Messer Michelangelo." He begins by saying that, though +he still cherishes the strongest wish to see the monument of his uncle +completed, he does not like to interrupt the fresco in the Sistine +Chapel, upon which his Holiness has set his heart. He thoroughly +trusts in Michelangelo's loyalty, and is assured that his desire to +finish the tomb, for the honour of his former patron's memory, is keen +and sincere. Therefore, he hopes that when the picture of the Last +Judgment is terminated, the work will be resumed and carried to a +prosperous conclusion. In the meantime, let Buonarroti attend to his +health, and not put everything again to peril by overstraining his +energies. + +Signer Gotti quotes a Papal brief, issued on the 18th of September +1537, in which the history of the Tomb of Julius up to date is set +forth, and Michelangelo's obligations toward the princes of Urbino are +recited. It then proceeds to declare that Clement VII. ordered him to +paint the great wall of the Sistine, and that Paul desires this work +to be carried forward with all possible despatch. He therefore lets it +be publicly known that Michelangelo has not failed to perform his +engagements in the matter of the tomb through any fault or action of +his own, but by the express command of his Holiness. Finally, he +discharges him and his heirs from all liabilities, pecuniary or other, +to which he may appear exposed by the unfulfilled contracts. + + +III + +While thus engaged upon his fresco, Michelangelo received a letter, +dated Venice, September 15, 1537, from that rogue of genius, Pietro +Aretino. It opens in the strain of hyperbolical compliment and florid +rhetoric which Aretino affected when he chose to flatter. The man, +however, was an admirable stylist, the inventor of a new epistolary +manner. Like a volcano, his mind blazed with wit, and buried sound +sense beneath the scoriae and ashes it belched forth. Gifted with a +natural feeling for rhetorical contrast, he knew the effect of some +simple and impressive sentence, placed like a gem of value in the +midst of gimcrack conceits. Thus: "I should not venture to address +you, had not my name, accepted by the ears of every prince in Europe, +outworn much of its native indignity. And it is but meet that that I +should approach you with this reverence; for the world has many kings, +and one only Michelangelo. + +"Strange miracle, that Nature, who cannot place aught so high but that +you explore it with your art, should be impotent to stamp upon her +works that majesty which she contains within herself, the immense +power of your style and your chisel! Wherefore, when we gaze on you, +we regret no longer that we may not meet with Pheidias, Apelles, or +Vitruvius, whose spirits were the shadow of your spirit." He piles the +panegyric up to its climax, by adding it is fortunate for those great +artists of antiquity that their masterpieces cannot be compared with +Michelangelo's, since, "being arraigned before the tribunal of our +eyes, we should perforce proclaim you unique as sculptor, unique as +painter, and as architect unique." After the blare of this exordium, +Aretino settles down to the real business of his letter, and +communicates his own views regarding the Last Judgment, which he hears +that the supreme master of all arts is engaged in depicting. "Who +would not quake with terror while dipping his brush into the dreadful +theme? I behold Anti-christ in the midst of thronging multitudes, with +an aspect such as only you could limn. I behold affright upon the +forehead of the living; I see the signs of the extinction of the sun, +the moon, the stars; I see the breath of life exhaling from the +elements; I see Nature abandoned and apart, reduced to barrenness, +crouching in her decrepitude; I see Time sapless and trembling, for +his end has come, and he is seated on an arid throne; and while I hear +the trumpets of the angels with their thunder shake the hearts of all, +I see both Life and Death convulsed with horrible confusion, the one +striving to resuscitate the dead, the other using all his might to +slay the living; I see Hope and Despair guiding the squadrons of the +good and the cohorts of the wicked; I see the theatre of clouds, +blazing with rays that issue from the purest fires of heaven, upon +which among his hosts Christ sits, ringed round with splendours and +with terrors; I see the radiance of his face, coruscating flames of +light both glad and awful, filling the blest with joy, the damned with +fear intolerable. Then I behold the satellites of the abyss, who with +horrid gestures, to the glory of the saints and martyrs, deride Caesar +and the Alexanders; for it is one thing to have trampled on the world, +but more to have conquered self. I see Fame, with her crowns and palms +trodden under foot, cast out among the wheels of her own chariots. And +to conclude all, I see the dread sentence issue from the mouth of the +Son of God. I see it in the form of two darts, the one of salvation, +the other of damnation; and as they hustle down, I hear the fury of +its onset shock the elemental frame of things, and, with the roar of +thunderings and voices, smash the universal scheme to fragments. I see +the vault of ether merged in gloom, illuminated only by the lights of +Paradise and the furnaces of hell. My thoughts, excited by this vision +of the day of Doom, whisper: 'If we quake in terror before the +handiwork of Buonarroti, how shall we shake and shrink affrighted when +He who shall judge passes sentence on our souls?'" + +This description of the Last Day, in which it is more than doubtful +whether a man like Aretino had any sincere faith, possesses +considerable literary interest. In the first place, it is curious as +coming from one who lived on terms of closest intimacy with painters, +and who certainly appreciated art; for this reason, that nothing less +pictorial than the images evoked could be invented. Then, again, in +the first half of the sixteenth century it anticipated the rhetoric of +the _barocco_ period--the eloquence of seventeenth-century divines, +Dutch poets, Jesuit pulpiteers. Aretino's originality consisted in his +precocious divination of a whole new age of taste and style, which was +destined to supersede the purer graces of the Renaissance. + +The letter ends with an assurance that if anything could persuade him +to break a resolution he had formed, and to revisit Rome, it would be +his great anxiety to view the Last Judgment of the Sistine Chapel with +his own eyes. Michelangelo sent an answer which may be cited as an +example of his peculiar irony. Under the form of elaborate compliment +it conceals the scorn he must have conceived for Aretino and his +insolent advice. Yet he knew how dangerous the man could be, and felt +obliged to humour him. + +"Magnificent Messer Pietro, my lord and brother,--The receipt of your +letter gave me both joy and sorrow. I rejoiced exceedingly, since it +came from you, who are without peer in all the world for talent. Yet +at the same time I grieved, inasmuch as, having finished a large part +of the fresco, I cannot realise your conception, which is so complete, +that if the Day of Judgment had come, and you had been present and +seen it with your eyes, your words could not have described it better. +Now, touching an answer to my letter, I reply that I not only desire +it, but I entreat you to write one, seeing that kings and emperors +esteem it the highest favour to be mentioned by your pen. Meanwhile, +if I have anything that you would like, I offer it with all my heart. +In conclusion, do not break your resolve of never revisiting Rome on +account of the picture I am painting, for this would be too much." + +Aretino's real object was to wheedle some priceless sketch or drawing +out of the great master. This appears from a second letter written by +him on the 20th of January 1538. "Does not my devotion deserve that I +should receive from you, the prince of sculpture and of painting, one +of those cartoons which you fling into the fire, to the end that +during life I may enjoy it, and in death carry it with me to the +tomb?" After all, we must give Aretino credit for genuine feelings of +admiration toward illustrious artists like Titian, Sansovino, and +Michelangelo. Writing many years after the date of these letters, when +he has seen an engraving of the Last Judgment, he uses terms, +extravagant indeed, but apparently sincere, about its grandeur of +design. Then he repeats his request for a drawing. "Why will you not +repay my devotion to your divine qualities by the gift of some scrap +of a drawing, the least valuable in your eyes? I should certainly +esteem two strokes of the chalk upon a piece of paper more than all +the cups and chains which all the kings and princes gave me." It seems +that Michelangelo continued to correspond with him, and that Benvenuto +Cellini took part in their exchange of letters. But no drawings were +sent; and in course of time the ruffian got the better of the virtuoso +in Aretino's rapacious nature. Without ceasing to fawn and flatter +Michelangelo, he sought occasion to damage his reputation. Thus we +find him writing in January 1546 to the engraver Enea Vico, bestowing +high praise upon a copper-plate which a certain Bazzacco had made from +the Last Judgment, but criticising the picture as "licentious and +likely to cause scandal with the Lutherans, by reason of its immodest +exposure of the nakedness of persons of both sexes in heaven and +hell." It is not clear what Aretino expected from Enea Vico. A +reference to the Duke of Florence seems to indicate that he wished to +arouse suspicions among great and influential persons regarding the +religious and moral quality of Michelangelo's work. + +This malevolent temper burst out at last in one of the most remarkable +letters we possess of his. It was obviously intended to hurt and +insult Michelangelo as much as lay within his power of innuendo and +direct abuse. The invective offers so many points of interest with +regard to both men, that I shall not hesitate to translate it here in +full. + +"Sir, when I inspected the complete sketch of the whole of your Last +Judgment, I arrived at recognising the eminent graciousness of +Raffaello in its agreeable beauty of invention. + +"Meanwhile, as a baptized Christian, I blush before the license, so +forbidden to man's intellect, which you have used in expressing ideas +connected with the highest aims and final ends to which our faith +aspires. So, then, that Michelangelo stupendous in his fame, that +Michelangelo renowned for prudence, that Michelangelo whom all admire, +has chosen to display to the whole world an impiety of irreligion only +equalled by the perfection of his painting! Is it possible that you, +who, since you are divine, do not condescend to consort with human +beings, have done this in the greatest temple built to God, upon the +highest altar raised to Christ, in the most sacred chapel upon earth, +where the mighty hinges of the Church, the venerable priests of our +religion, the Vicar of Christ, with solemn ceremonies and holy +prayers, confess, contemplate, and adore his body, his blood, and his +flesh? + +"If it were not infamous to introduce the comparison, I would plume +myself upon my virtue when I wrote _La Nanna_. I would demonstrate the +superiority of my reserve to your indiscretion, seeing that I, while +handling themes lascivious and immodest, use language comely and +decorous, speak in terms beyond reproach and inoffensive to chaste +ears. You, on the contrary, presenting so awful a subject, exhibit +saints and angels, these without earthly decency, and those without +celestial honours. + +"The pagans, when they modelled a Diana, gave her clothes; when they +made a naked Venus, hid the parts which are not shown with the hand of +modesty. And here there comes a Christian, who, because he rates art +higher than the faith, deems it a royal spectacle to portray martyrs +and virgins in improper attitudes, to show men dragged down by their +shame, before which things houses of ill-fame would shut the eyes in +order not to see them. Your art would be at home in some voluptuous +bagnio, certainly not in the highest chapel of the world. Less +criminal were it if you were an infidel, than, being a believer, thus +to sap the faith of others. Up to the present time the splendour of +such audacious marvels hath not gone unpunished; for their very +superexcellence is the death of your good name. Restore them to repute +by turning the indecent parts of the damned to flames, and those of +the blessed to sunbeams; or imitate the modesty of Florence, who hides +your David's shame beneath some gilded leaves. And yet that statue is +exposed upon a public square, not in a consecrated chapel. + +"As I wish that God may pardon you, I do not write this out of any +resentment for the things I begged of you. In truth, if you had sent +me what you promised, you would only have been doing what you ought to +have desired most eagerly to do in your own interest; for this act of +courtesy would silence the envious tongues which say that only certain +Gerards and Thomases dispose of them. + +"Well, if the treasure bequeathed you by Pope Julius, in order that +you might deposit his ashes in an urn of your own carving, was not +enough to make you keep your plighted word, what can I expect from +you? It is not your ingratitude, your avarice, great painter, but the +grace and merit of the Supreme Shepherd, which decide his fame. God +wills that Julius should live renowned for ever in a simple tomb, +inurned in his own merits, and not in some proud monument dependent on +your genius. Meantime, your failure to discharge your obligations is +reckoned to you as an act of thieving. + +"Our souls need the tranquil emotions of piety more than the lively +impressions of plastic art. May God, then, inspire his Holiness Paul +with the same thoughts as he instilled into Gregory of blessed memory, +who rather chose to despoil Rome of the proud statues of the Pagan +deities than to let their magnificence deprive the humbler images of +the saints of the devotion of the people. + +"Lastly, when you set about composing your picture of the universe and +hell and heaven, if you had steeped your heart with those suggestions +of glory, of honour, and of terror proper to the theme which I +sketched out and offered to you in the letter I wrote you and the +whole world reads, I venture to assert that not only would nature and +all kind influences cease to regret the illustrious talents they +endowed you with, and which to-day render you, by virtue of your art, +an image of the marvellous: but Providence, who sees all things, would +herself continue to watch over such a masterpiece, so long as order +lasts in her government of the hemispheres. + + "Your servant, + "The Aretine. + +"Now that I have blown off some of the rage I feel against you for the +cruelty you used to my devotion, and have taught you to see that, +while you may be divine, I am not made of water, I bid you tear up +this letter, for I have done the like, and do not forget that I am one +to whose epistles kings and emperors reply. + +"To the great Michelangelo Buonarroti in Rome." + +The malignancy of this letter is only equalled by its stylistic +ingenuity. Aretino used every means he could devise to wound and +irritate a sensitive nature. The allusion to Raffaello, the comparison +of his own pornographic dialogues with the Last Judgment in the +Sistine, the covert hint that folk gossiped about Michelangelo's +relations to young men, his sneers at the great man's exclusiveness, +his cruel insinuations with regard to the Tomb of Julius, his devout +hope that Paul will destroy the fresco, and the impudent eulogy of his +precious letter on the Last Day, were all nicely calculated to annoy. +Whether the missive was duly received by Buonarroti we do not know. +Gaye asserts that it appears to have been sent through the post. He +discovered it in the Archives of the Strozzi Palace. + +The virtuous Pietro Aretino was not the only one to be scandalised by +the nudities of the Last Judgment; and indeed it must be allowed that +when Michelangelo treated such a subject in such a manner, he was +pushing the principle of art for art's sake to its extremity. One of +the most popular stories told about this work shows that it early +began to create a scandal. When it was three fourths finished, Pope +Paul went to see the fresco, attended by Messer Biagio da Cesena, his +Master of the Ceremonies. On being asked his opinion of the painting, +Messer Biagio replied that he thought it highly improper to expose so +many naked figures in a sacred picture, and that it was more fit for a +place of debauchery than for the Pope's chapel. Michelangelo, nettled +by this, drew the prelate's portrait to the life, and placed him in +hell with horns on his head and a serpent twisted round his loins. +Messer Biagio, finding himself in this plight, and being no doubt +laughed at by his friends, complained to the Pope, who answered that +he could do nothing to help him. "Had the painter sent you to +Purgatory, I would have used my best efforts to get you released; but +I exercise no influence in hell; _ubi nulla est redemptio_." Before +Michelangelo's death, his follower, Daniele da Volterra, was employed +to provide draperies for the most obnoxious figures, and won thereby +the name of _Il Braghettone_, or the breeches-maker. Paul IV. gave the +painter this commission, having previously consulted Buonarroti on the +subject. The latter is said to have replied to the Pope's messenger: +"Tell his Holiness that this is a small matter, and can easily be set +straight. Let him look to setting the world in order: to reform a +picture costs no great trouble." Later on, during the Pontificate of +Pio V., a master named Girolamo da Fano continued the process begun by +Daniele da Volterra. As a necessary consequence of this tribute to +modesty, the scheme of Michelangelo's colouring and the balance of his +masses have been irretrievably damaged. + + +IV + +Vasari says that not very long before the Last Judgment was finished, +Michelangelo fell from the scaffolding, and seriously hurt his leg. +The pain he suffered and his melancholy made him shut himself up at +home, where he refused to be treated by a doctor. There was a +Florentine physician in Rome, however, of capricious humour, who +admired the arts, and felt a real affection for Buonarroti. This man +contrived to creep into the house by some privy entrance, and roamed +about it till he found the master. He then insisted upon remaining +there on watch and guard until he had effected a complete cure. The +name of this excellent friend, famous for his skill and science in +those days, was Baccio Rontini. + +After his recovery Michelangelo returned to work, and finished the +Last Judgment in a few months. It was exposed to the public on +Christmas Day in 1541. + +Time, negligence, and outrage, the dust of centuries, the burned +papers of successive conclaves, the smoke of altar-candles, the +hammers and the hangings of upholsterers, the brush of the +breeches-maker and restorer, have so dealt with the Last Judgment that +it is almost impossible to do it justice now. What Michelangelo +intended by his scheme of colour is entirely lost. Not only did +Daniele da Volterra, an execrable colourist, dab vividly tinted +patches upon the modulated harmonies of flesh-tones painted by the +master; but the whole surface has sunk into a bluish fog, deepening to +something like lamp-black around the altar. Nevertheless, in its +composition the fresco may still be studied; and after due inspection, +aided by photographic reproductions of each portion, we are not unable +to understand the enthusiasm which so nobly and profoundly planned a +work of art aroused among contemporaries. + +It has sometimes been asserted that this enormous painting, the +largest and most comprehensive in the world, is a tempest of +contending forms, a hurly-burly of floating, falling, soaring, and +descending figures. Nothing can be more opposed to the truth. +Michelangelo was sixty-six years of age when he laid his brush down at +the end of the gigantic task. He had long outlived the spontaneity of +youthful ardour. His experience through half a century in the planning +of monuments, the painting of the Sistine vault, the designing of +facades and sacristies and libraries, had developed the architectonic +sense which was always powerful in his conceptive faculty. +Consequently, we are not surprised to find that, intricate and +confused as the scheme may appear to an unpractised eye, it is in +reality a design of mathematical severity, divided into four bands or +planes of grouping. The wall, since it occupies one entire end of a +long high building, is naturally less broad than lofty. The pictorial +divisions are therefore horizontal in the main, though so combined and +varied as to produce the effect of multiplied curves, balancing and +antiphonally inverting their lines of sinuosity. The pendentive upon +which the prophet Jonah sits, descends and breaks the surface at the +top, leaving a semicircular compartment on each side of its corbel. +Michelangelo filled these upper spaces with two groups of wrestling +angels, the one bearing a huge cross, the other a column, in the air. +The cross and whipping-post are the chief emblems of Christ's Passion. +The crown of thorns is also there, the sponge, the ladder, and the +nails. It is with no merciful intent that these signs of our Lord's +suffering are thus exhibited. Demonic angels, tumbling on clouds like +Leviathans, hurl them to and fro in brutal wrath above the crowd of +souls, as though to demonstrate the justice of damnation. In spite of +a God's pain and shameful death, mankind has gone on sinning. The +Judge is what the crimes of the world and Italy have made him. +Immediately below the corbel, and well detached from the squadrons of +attendant saints, Christ rises from His throne. His face is turned in +the direction of the damned, His right hand is lifted as though loaded +with thunderbolts for their annihilation. He is a ponderous young +athlete; rather say a mass of hypertrophied muscles, with the features +of a vulgarised Apollo. The Virgin sits in a crouching attitude at His +right side, slightly averting her head, as though in painful +expectation of the coming sentence. The saints and martyrs who +surround Christ and His Mother, while forming one of the chief planes +in the composition, are arranged in four unequal groups of subtle and +surprising intricacy. All bear the emblems of their cruel deaths, and +shake them in the sight of Christ as though appealing to His +judgment-seat. It has been charitably suggested that they intend to +supplicate for mercy. I cannot, however, resist the impression that +they are really demanding rigid justice. S. Bartholomew flourishes his +flaying-knife and dripping skin with a glare of menace. S. Catherine +struggles to raise her broken wheel. S. Sebastian frowns down on hell +with a sheaf of arrows quivering in his stalwart arm. The saws, the +carding-combs, the crosses, and the grid-irons, all subserve the same +purpose of reminding Christ that, if He does not damn the wicked, +confessors will have died with Him in vain. It is singular that, while +Michelangelo depicted so many attitudes of expectation, eagerness, +anxiety, and astonishment in the blest, he has given to none of them +the expression of gratitude, or love, or sympathy, or shrinking awe. +Men and women, old and young alike, are human beings of Herculean +build. Paradise, according to Buonarroti's conception, was not meant +for what is graceful, lovely, original, and tender. The hosts of +heaven are adult and over-developed gymnasts. Yet, while we record +these impressions, it would be unfair to neglect the spiritual beauty +of some souls embracing after long separation in the grave, with +folding arms, and clasping hands, and clinging lips. While painting +these, Michelangelo thought peradventure of his father and his +brother. + +The two planes which I have attempted to describe occupy the upper and +the larger portion of the composition. The third in order is made up +of three masses. In the middle floats a band of Titanic cherubs, +blowing their long trumpets over earth and sea to wake the dead. +Dramatically, nothing can be finer than the strained energy and +superhuman force of these superb creatures. Their attitudes compel our +imagination to hear the crashing thunders of the trump of doom. To the +left of the spectator are souls ascending to be judged, some floating +through vague ether, enwrapped with grave-clothes, others assisted by +descending saints and angels, who reach a hand, a rosary, to help the +still gross spirit in its flight. To the right are the condemned, +sinking downwards to their place of torment, spurned by seraphs, +cuffed by angelic grooms, dragged by demons, hurling, howling, huddled +in a mass of horror. It is just here, and still yet farther down, that +Michelangelo put forth all his power as a master of expression. While +the blessed display nothing which is truly proper to their state of +holiness and everlasting peace, the damned appear in every realistic +aspect of most stringent agony and terror. The colossal forms of flesh +with which the multitudes of saved and damned are equally endowed, +befit that extremity of physical and mental anguish more than they +suit the serenity of bliss eternal. There is a wretch, twined round +with fiends, gazing straight before him as he sinks; one half of his +face is buried in his hand, the other fixed in a stony spasm of +despair, foreshadowing perpetuity of hell. Nothing could express with +sublimity of a higher order the sense of irremediable loss, eternal +pain, a future endless without hope, than the rigid dignity of this +not ignoble sinner's dread. Just below is the place to which the +doomed are sinking. Michelangelo reverted to Dante for the symbolism +chosen to portray hell. Charon, the demon, with eyes of burning coal, +compels a crowd of spirits in his ferryboat. They land and are +received by devils, who drag them before Minos, judge of the infernal +regions. He towers at the extreme right end of the fresco, indicating +that the nether regions yawn infinitely deep, beyond our ken; just as +the angels above Christ suggest a region of light and glory, extending +upward through illimitable space. The scene of judgment on which +attention is concentrated forms but an episode in the universal, +sempiternal scheme of things. Balancing hell, on the left hand of the +spectator, is brute earth, the grave, the forming and the swallowing +clay, out of which souls, not yet acquitted or condemned, emerge with +difficulty, in varied forms of skeletons or corpses, slowly thawing +into life eternal. + +Vasari, in his description of the Last Judgment, seized upon what +after all endures as the most salient aspect of this puzzling work, at +once so fascinating and so repellent. "It is obvious," he says, "that +the peerless painter did not aim at anything but the portrayal of the +human body in perfect proportions and most varied attitudes, together +with the passions and affections of the soul. That was enough for him, +and here he has no equal. He wanted to exhibit the grand style: +consummate draughtsmanship in the nude, mastery over all problems of +design. He concentrated his power upon the human form, attending to +that alone, and neglecting all subsidiary things, as charm of colour, +capricious inventions, delicate devices and novelties of fancy." +Vasari might have added that Michelangelo also neglected what ought to +have been a main object of his art: convincing eloquence, the +solemnity proper to his theme, spirituality of earthly grossness quit. +As a collection of athletic nudes in all conceivable postures of rest +and action, of foreshortening, of suggested movement, the Last +Judgment remains a stupendous miracle. Nor has the aged master lost +his cunning for the portrayal of divinely simple faces, superb limbs, +masculine beauty, in the ideal persons of young men. The picture, when +we dwell long enough upon its details, emerges into prominence, +moreover, as indubitably awe-inspiring, terrifying, dreadful in its +poignant expression of wrath, retaliation, thirst for vengeance, +cruelty, and helpless horror. But the supreme point even of Doomsday, +of the Dies Irae, has not been seized. We do not hear the still small +voice of pathos and of human hope which thrills through Thomas a +Celano's hymn:-- + + _Quaerens me sedisti lassus, + Redemisti crucem passus: + Tantus labor non sit cassus._ + +The note is one of sustained menace and terror, and the total scheme +of congregated forms might be compared to a sense-deafening solo on a +trombone. While saying this, we must remember that it was the constant +impulse of Michelangelo to seize one moment only, and what he deemed +the most decisive moment, in the theme he had to develop. Having +selected the instant of time at which Christ, half risen from his +Judgment-seat of cloud, raises an omnific hand to curse, the master +caused each fibre of his complex composition to thrill with the +tremendous passion of that coming sentence. The long series of designs +for Crucifixions, Depositions from the Cross, and Pietas which we +possess, all of them belonging to a period of his life not much later +than 1541, prove that his nature was quite as sensitive to pathos as +to terror; only, it was not in him to attempt a combination of terror +and pathos. + +"He aimed at the portrayal of the human body. He wanted to exhibit the +grand style." So says Vasari, and Vasari is partly right. But we must +not fall into the paradox, so perversely maintained by Ruskin in his +lecture on Tintoretto and Michelangelo, that the latter was a cold and +heartless artist, caring chiefly for the display of technical skill +and anatomical science. Partial and painful as we may find the meaning +of the Last Judgment, that meaning has been only too powerfully and +personally felt. The denunciations of the prophets, the woes of the +Apocalypse, the invectives of Savonarola, the tragedies of Italian +history, the sense of present and indwelling sin, storm through and +through it. Technically, the masterpiece bears signs of fatigue and +discontent, in spite of its extraordinary vigour of conception and +execution. The man was old and tired, thwarted in his wishes and +oppressed with troubles. His very science had become more formal, his +types more arid and schematic, than they used to be. The thrilling +life, the divine afflatus, of the Sistine vault have passed out of the +Last Judgment. Wholly admirable, unrivalled, and unequalled by any +other human work upon a similar scale as this fresco may be in its +command over the varied resources of the human body, it does not +strike our mind as the production of a master glorying in carnal pride +and mental insolence, but rather as that of one discomfited and +terrified, upon the point of losing heart. + +Henri Beyle, jotting down his impressions in the Sistine Chapel, was +reminded of the Grand Army's flight after the burning of Moscow. +"When, in our disastrous retreat from Russia, it chanced that we were +suddenly awakened in the middle of the dark night by an obstinate +cannonading, which at each moment seemed to gain in nearness, then all +the forces of a man's nature gathered close around his heart; he felt +himself in the presence of fate, and having no attention left for +things of vulgar interest, he made himself ready to dispute his life +with destiny. The sight of Michelangelo's picture has brought back to +my consciousness that almost forgotten sensation." This is a piece of +just and sympathetic criticism, and upon its note I am fain to close. + + +V + +It is probable that the fame of the Last Judgment spread rapidly +abroad through Italy, and that many visits to Rome were made for the +purpose of inspecting it. Complimentary sonnets must also have been +addressed to the painter. I take it that Niccolo Martelli sent some +poems on the subject from Florence, for Michelangelo replied upon the +20th of January 1542 in the following letter of singular modesty and +urbane kindness:-- + +"I received from Messer Vincenzo Perini your letter with two sonnets +and a madrigal. The letter and the sonnet addressed to me are so +marvellously fine, that if a man should find in them anything to +castigate, it would be impossible to castigate him as thoroughly as +they are castigated. It is true they praise me so much, that had I +Paradise in my bosom, less of praise would suffice. I perceive that +you suppose me to be just what God wishes that I were. I am a poor man +and of little merit, who plod along in the art which God gave me, to +lengthen out my life as far as possible. Such as I am, I remain your +servant and that of all the house of Martelli. I thank you for your +letter and the poems, but not as much as duty bids, for I cannot soar +to such heights of courtesy." + +When the Last Judgment was finished, Michelangelo not unreasonably +hoped that he might resume his work upon the Tomb of Julius. But this +was not to be. Antonio da San Gallo had just completed the Chapel of +the Holy Sacrament in the Vatican, which is known as the Cappella +Paolina, and the Pope resolved that its frescoes should be painted by +Buonarroti. The Duke of Urbino, yielding to his wishes, wrote to +Michelangelo upon the 6th of March 1542, saying that he should be +quite satisfied if the three statues by his hand, including the Moses, +were assigned to the tomb, the execution of the rest being left to +competent workmen under his direction. + +In effect, we possess documents proving that the tomb was consigned to +several masters during this year, 1542. The first is a contract dated +February 27, whereby Raffaello da Montelupo undertakes to finish three +statues, two of these being the Active Life and the Contemplative. The +second is a contract dated May 16, in which Michelangelo assigns the +architectural and ornamental portion of the monument conjointly to +Giovanni de' Marchesi and Francesco d' Amadore, called Urbino, +providing that differences which may arise between them shall be +referred to Donato Giannotti. There is a third contract, under date +June 1, about the same work intrusted to the same two craftsmen, +prescribing details with more exactitude. It turned out that the +apprehension of disagreement between the masters about the division of +their labour was not unfounded, for Michelangelo wrote twice in July +to his friend Luigi del Riccio, complaining bitterly of their +dissensions, and saying that he has lost two months in these trifles. +He adds that one of them is covetous, the other mad, and he fears +their quarrel may end in wounds or murder. The matter disturbs his +mind greatly, chiefly on account of Urbino, because he has brought him +up, and also because of the time wasted over "their ignorance and +bestial stupidity." The dispute was finally settled by the +intervention of three master-masons (acting severally for +Michelangelo, Urbino, and Giovanni), who valued the respective +portions of the work. + +I must interrupt this narrative of the tomb to explain who some of the +persons just mentioned were, and how they came to be connected with +Buonarroti. Donato Giannotti was the famous writer upon political and +literary topics, who, after playing a conspicuous part in the +revolution of Florence against the Medici, now lived in exile at Rome. +His dialogues on Dante, and Francesco d'Olanda's account of the +meetings at S. Silvestro, prove that he formed a member of that little +circle which included Michelangelo and Vittoria Colonna. Luigi del +Riccio was a Florentine merchant, settled in the banking-house of the +Strozzi at Rome. For many years he acted as Michelangelo's man of +business; but their friendship was close and warm in many other ways. +They were drawn together by a common love of poetry, and by the charm +of a rarely gifted youth called Cecchino dei Bracci. Urbino was the +great sculptor's servant and man of all work, the last and best of +that series, which included Stefano Miniatore, Pietro Urbino, Antonio +Mini. Michelangelo made Urbino's fortune, mourned his death, and +undertook the guardianship of his children, as will appear in due +course. All through his life the great sculptor was dependent upon +some trusted servant, to whom he became personally attached, and who +did not always repay his kindness with gratitude. After Urbino's +death, Ascanio Condivi filled a similar post, and to this circumstance +we owe the most precious of our contemporary biographies. + +Our most important document with regard to the Tomb of Julius is an +elaborate petition addressed by Michelangelo to Paul III. upon the +20th of July. It begins by referring to the contract of April 18, +1532, and proceeds to state that the Pope's new commission for the +Cappella Paolina has interfered once more with the fulfilment of the +sculptor's engagements. Then it recites the terms suggested by the +Duke of Urbino in his letter of March 6, 1542, according to which +three of the statues of the tomb may be assigned to capable craftsmen, +while the other three, including the Moses, will have to be finished +by Michelangelo himself. Raffaello da Montelupo has already undertaken +the Madonna and Child, a Prophet, and a Sibyl. Giovanni de' Marchese +and Francesco da Urbino are at work upon the architecture. It remains +for Michelangelo to furnish the Moses and two Captives, all three of +which are nearly completed. The Captives, however, were designed for a +much larger monument, and will not suit the present scheme. +Accordingly, he has blocked out two other figures, representing the +Active and Contemplative Life. But even these he is unable to finish, +since the painting of the chapel absorbs his time and energy. He +therefore prays the Pope to use his influence with the Duke of Urbino, +so that he may be henceforward wholly and absolutely freed from all +obligations in the matter of the tomb. The Moses he can deliver in a +state of perfection, but he wishes to assign the Active and +Contemplative Life to Raffaello or to any other sculptor who may be +preferred by the Duke. Finally, he is prepared to deposit a sum of +1200 crowns for the total costs, and to guarantee that the work shall +be efficiently executed in all its details. + +It is curious that in this petition and elsewhere no mention is made +of what might be considered the most important portion of the +tomb--namely, the portrait statue of Julius. + +The document was presented to Messer Piero Giovanni Aliotti, Bishop of +Forli, and keeper of the wardrobe to Pope Paul. Accordingly, the final +contract regarding the tomb was drawn up and signed upon the 20th of +August. I need not recapitulate its terms, for I have already printed +a summary of them in a former chapter of this work. Suffice it to say +that Michelangelo was at last released from all active responsibility +with regard to the tomb, and that the vast design of his early manhood +now dwindled down to the Moses. To Raffaello da Montelupo was left the +completion of the remaining five statues. + +This lamentable termination to the cherished scheme of his lifetime +must have preyed upon Michelangelo's spirits. The letters in which he +alludes to it, after the contract had been signed, breathe a spirit of +more than usual fretfulness. Moreover, the Duke of Urbino now delayed +to send his ratification, by which alone the deed could become valid. +In October, writing to Del Riccio, Michelangelo complains that Messer +Aliotti is urging him to begin painting in the chapel; but the plaster +is not yet fit to work on. Meanwhile, although he has deposited 1400 +crowns, "which would have kept him working for seven years, and would +have enabled him to finish two tombs," the Duke's ratification does +not come. "It is easy enough to see what that means without writing it +in words! Enough; for the loyalty of thirty-six years, and for having +given myself of my own free will to others, I deserve no better. +Painting and sculpture, labour and good faith, have been my ruin, and +I go continually from bad to worse. Better would it have been for me +if I had set myself to making matches in my youth! I should not be in +such distress of mind.... I will not remain under this burden, nor be +vilified every day for a swindler by those who have robbed my life and +honour. Only death or the Pope can extricate me." It appears that at +this time the Duke of Urbino's agents were accusing him of having lent +out moneys which he had received on account for the execution of the +monument. Then follows, in the same month of October, that stormy +letter to some prelate, which is one of the most weighty +autobiographical documents from the hand of Michelangelo in our +possession. + +"Monsignore,--Your lordship sends to tell me that I must begin to +paint, and have no anxiety. I answer that one paints with the brain +and not with the hands; and he who has not his brains at his command +produces work that shames him. Therefore, until my business is +settled, I can do nothing good. The ratification of the last contract +does not come. On the strength of the other, made before Clement, I am +daily stoned as though I had crucified Christ.... My whole youth and +manhood have been lost, tied down to this tomb.... I see multitudes +with incomes of 2000 or 3000 crowns lying in bed, while I with all my +immense labour toil to grow poor.... I am not a thief and usurer, but +a citizen of Florence, noble, the son of an honest man, and do not +come from Cagli." (These and similar outbursts of indignant passion +scattered up and down the epistle, show to what extent the sculptor's +irritable nature had been exasperated by calumnious reports. As he +openly declares, he is being driven mad by pin-pricks. Then follows +the detailed history of his dealings with Julius, which, as I have +already made copious use of it, may here be given in outline.) "In the +first year of his pontificate, Julius commissioned me to make his +tomb, and I stayed eight months at Carrara quarrying marbles and +sending them to the Piazza of S. Peter's, where I had my lodgings +behind S. Caterina. Afterwards the Pope decided not to build his tomb +during his lifetime, and set me down to painting. Then he kept me two +years at Bologna casting his statue in bronze, which has been +destroyed. After that I returned to Rome and stayed with him until his +death, always keeping my house open without post or pension, living on +the money for the tomb, since I had no other income. After the death +of Julius, Aginensis wanted me to go on with it, but on a larger +scale. So I brought the marbles to the Macello dei Corvi, and got that +part of the mural scheme finished which is now walled in at S. Pietro +in Vincoli, and made the figures which I have at home still. +Meanwhile, Leo, not wishing me to work at the tomb, pretended that he +wanted to complete the facade of S. Lorenzo at Florence, and begged me +of the Cardinal. + +"To continue my history of the tomb of Julius, I say that when he +changed his mind about building it in his lifetime, some shiploads of +marble came to the Ripa, which I had ordered a short while before from +Carrara, and as I could not get money from the Pope to pay the +freightage, I had to borrow 150 or 200 ducats from Baldassare +Balducci--that is, from the bank of Jacopo Gallo. At the same time +workmen came from Florence, some of whom are still alive; and I +furnished the house which Julius gave me behind S. Caterina with beds +and other furniture for the men, and what was wanted for the work of +the tomb. All this being done without money, I was greatly +embarrassed. Accordingly, I urged the Pope with all my power to go +forward with the business, and he had me turned away by a groom one +morning when I came to speak upon the matter." (Here intervenes the +story of the flight to Florence, which has been worked up in the +course of Chapter IV.) "Later on, while I was at Florence, Julius sent +three briefs to the Signory. At last the latter sent for me and said: +'We do not want to go to war with Pope Julius because of you. You must +return; and if you do so, we will write you letters of such authority +that if he does you harm, he will be doing it to this Signory.' +Accordingly, I took the letters, and went back to the Pope, and what +followed would be long to tell! + +"All the dissensions between Pope Julius and me arose from the envy of +Bramante and Raffaello da Urbino; and this was the cause of my not +finishing the tomb in his lifetime. They wanted to ruin me. Raffaello +had indeed good reason, for all he had of art, he had from me." + +Twice again in October Michelangelo wrote to Luigi del Riccio about +the ratification of his contract. "I cannot live, far less paint." "I +am resolved to stop at home and finish the three figures, as I agreed +to do. This would be better for me than to drag my limbs daily to the +Vatican. Let him who likes get angry. If the Pope wants me to paint, +he must send for the Duke's ambassador and procure the ratification." + +What happened at this time about the tomb can be understood by help of +a letter written to Salvestro da Montauto on the 3rd of February 1545. +Michelangelo refers to the last contract, and says that the Duke of +Urbino ratified the deed. Accordingly, five statues were assigned to +Raffaello da Montelupo. "But while I was painting the new chapel for +Pope Paul III., his Holiness, at my earnest prayer, allowed me a +little time, during which I finished two of them, namely, the Active +and Contemplative Life, with my own hand." + +With all his good-will, however, Michelangelo did not wholly extricate +himself from the anxieties of this miserable affair. As late as the +year 1553, Annibale Caro wrote to Antonio Gallo entreating him to +plead for the illustrious old man with the Duke of Urbino. "I assure +you that the extreme distress caused him by being in disgrace with his +Excellency is sufficient to bring his grey hairs to the grave before +his time." + + +VI + +The Tomb of Julius, as it now appears in the Church of S. Pietro in +Vincoli in Rome, is a monument composed of two discordant parts, by +inspecting which a sympathetic critic is enabled to read the dreary +history of its production. As Condivi allows, it was a thing +"rattoppata e rifatta," patched together and hashed up. + +The lower half represents what eventually survived from the grandiose +original design for one facade of that vast mount of marble which was +to have been erected in the Tribune of St. Peter's. The socles, upon +which captive Arts and Sciences were meant to stand, remain; but +instead of statues, inverted consoles take their places, and lead +lamely up to the heads and busts of terminal old men. The pilasters of +these terms have been shortened. There are four of them, enclosing two +narrow niches, where beautiful female figures, the Active Life and the +Contemplative Life, still testify to the enduring warmth and vigour of +the mighty sculptor's genius. As single statues duly worked into a +symmetrical scheme, these figures would be admirable, since grace of +line and symbolical contrast of attitude render both charming. In +their present position they are reduced to comparative insignificance +by heavy architectural surroundings. The space left free between the +niches and the terms is assigned to the seated statue of Moses, which +forms the main attraction of the monument, and of which, as a +masterpiece of Michelangelo's best years, I shall have to speak later +on. + +The architectural plan and the surface decoration of this lower half +are conceived in a style belonging to the earlier Italian Renaissance. +Arabesques and masks and foliated patterns adorn the flat slabs. The +recess of each niche is arched with a concave shell. The terminal +busts are boldly modelled, and impose upon the eye. The whole is rich +in detail, and, though somewhat arid in fanciful invention, it carries +us back to the tradition of Florentine work by Mino da Fiesole and +Desiderio da Settignano. + +When we ascend to the upper portion, we seem to have passed, as indeed +we do pass, into the region of the new manner created by Michelangelo +at S. Lorenzo. The orders of the pilasters are immensely tall in +proportion to the spaces they enclose. Two of these spaces, those on +the left and right side, are filled in above with meaningless +rectangular recesses, while seated statues occupy less than a whole +half in altitude of the niches. The architectural design is +nondescript, corresponding to no recognised style, unless it be a +bastard Roman Doric. There is absolutely no decorative element except +four shallow masks beneath the abaci of the pilasters. All is cold and +broad and dry, contrasting strangely with the accumulated details of +the lower portion. In the central niche, immediately above the Moses, +stands a Madonna of fine sculptural quality, beneath a shallow arch, +which repeats the shell-pattern. At her feet lies the extended figure +of Pope Julius II., crowned with the tiara, raising himself in a +half-recumbent attitude upon his right arm. + +Of the statues in the upper portion, by far the finest in artistic +merit is the Madonna. This dignified and gracious lady, holding the +Divine Child in her arms, must be reckoned among Buonarroti's triumphs +in dealing with the female form. There is more of softness and +sweetness here than in the Madonna of the Medicean sacristy, while the +infant playing with a captured bird is full of grace. Michelangelo +left little in this group for the chisel of Montelupo to deform by +alteration. The seated female, a Sibyl, on the left, bears equally the +stamp of his design. Executed by himself, this would have been a +masterpiece for grandeur of line and dignified repose. As it is, the +style, while seeming to aim at breadth, remains frigid and formal. The +so-called Prophet on the other side counts among the signal failures +of Italian sculpture. It has neither beauty nor significance. Like a +heavy Roman consul of the Decadence, the man sits there, lumpy and +meaningless; we might take it for a statue-portrait erected by some +provincial municipality to celebrate a local magnate; but of prophecy +or inspiration there is nothing to detect in this inert figure. We +wonder why he should be placed so near a Pope. + +It is said that Michelangelo expressed dissatisfaction with +Montelupo's execution of the two statues finally committed to his +charge, and we know from documents that the man was ill when they were +finished. Still we can hardly excuse the master himself for the cold +and perfunctory performance of a task which had such animated and +heroic beginnings. Competent judges, who have narrowly surveyed the +monument, say that the stones are badly put together, and the +workmanship is defective in important requirements of the +sculptor-mason's craft. Those who defend Buonarroti must fall back +upon the theory that weariness and disappointment made him at last +indifferent to the fate of a design which had cost him so much +anxiety, pecuniary difficulties, and frustrated expectations in past +years. He let the Tomb of Julius, his first vast dream of art, be +botched up out of dregs and relics by ignoble hands, because he was +heart-sick and out of pocket. + +As artist, Michelangelo might, one thinks, have avoided the glaring +discord of styles between the upper and the lower portions of the +tomb; but sensitiveness to harmony of manner lies not in the nature of +men who rapidly evolve new forms of thought and feeling from some +older phase. Probably he felt the width and the depth of that gulf +which divided himself in 1505 from the same self in 1545, less than we +do. Forty years in a creative nature introduce subtle changes, which +react upon the spirit of the age, and provoke subsequent criticism to +keen comments and comparisons. The individual and his contemporaries +are not so well aware of these discrepancies as posterity. + +The Moses, which Paul and his courtiers thought sufficient to +commemorate a single Pope, stands as the eminent jewel of this +defrauded tomb. We may not be attracted by it. We may even be repelled +by the goat-like features, the enormous beard, the ponderous muscles, +and the grotesque garments of the monstrous statue. In order to do it +justice, Jet us bear in mind that the Moses now remains detached from +a group of environing symbolic forms which Michelangelo designed. +Instead of taking its place as one among eight corresponding and +counterbalancing giants, it is isolated, thrust forward on the eye; +whereas it was intended to be viewed from below in concert with a +scheme of balanced figures, male and female, on the same colossal +scale. + +Condivi writes not amiss, in harmony with the gusto of his age, and +records what a gentle spirit thought about the Moses then: "Worthy of +all admiration is the statue of Moses, duke and captain of the +Hebrews. He sits posed in the attitude of a thinker and a sage, +holding beneath his right arm the tables of the law, and with the left +hand giving support to his chin, like one who is tired and full of +anxious cares. From the fingers of this hand escape long flowing lines +of beard, which are very beautiful in their effect upon the eye. The +face is full of vivid life and spiritual force, fit to inspire both +love and terror, as perhaps the man in truth did. He bears, according +to the customary wont of artists while portraying Moses, two horns +upon the head, not far removed from the summit of the brows. He is +robed and girt about the legs with hosen, the arms bare, and all the +rest after the antique fashion. It is a marvellous work, and full of +art: mostly in this, that underneath those subtleties of raiment one +can perceive the naked form, the garments detracting nothing from the +beauty of the body; as was the universal way of working with this +master in all his clothed figures, whether painted or sculptured." + +Except that Condivi dwelt too much upon the repose of this +extraordinary statue, too little upon its vivacity and agitating +unrest, his description serves our purpose as well as any other. He +does not seem to have felt the turbulence and carnal insolence which +break our sense of dignity and beauty now. + +Michelangelo left the Moses incomplete in many details, after bringing +the rest of the figure to a high state of polish. Tooth-marks of the +chisel are observable upon the drapery, the back, both hands, part of +the neck, the hair, and the salient horns. It seems to have been his +habit, as Condivi and Cellini report, to send a finished statue forth +with some sign-manual of roughness in the final touches. That gave his +work the signature of the sharp tools he had employed upon it. And +perhaps he loved the marble so well that he did not like to quit the +good white stone without sparing a portion of its clinging strength +and stubbornness, as symbol of the effort of his brain and hand to +educe live thought from inert matter. + +In the century after Michelangelo's death a sonnet was written by +Giovanni Battista Felice Zappi upon this Moses. It is famous in +Italian literature, and expresses adequately the ideas which occur to +ordinary minds when they approach the Moses. For this reason I think +that it is worthy of being introduced in a translation here:-- + + _Who is the man who, carved in this huge stone, + Sits giant, all renowned things of art + Transcending? he whose living lips, that start, + Speak eager words? I hear, and take their tone. + + He sure is Moses. That the chin hath shown + By its dense honour, the brows' beam bipart: + 'Tis Moses, when he left the Mount, with part, + A great-part, of God's glory round him thrown. + + Such was the prophet when those sounding vast + Waters he held suspense about him; such + When he the sea barred, made it gulph his foe. + + And you, his tribes, a vile calf did you cast? + Why not an idol worth like this so much? + To worship that had wrought you lesser woe._ + + +VII + +Before quitting the Tomb of Julius, I must discuss the question of +eight scattered statues, partly unfinished, which are supposed, on +more or less good grounds, to have been designed for this monument. +About two of them, the bound Captives in the Louvre, there is no +doubt. Michelangelo mentions these in his petition to Pope Paul, +saying that the change of scale implied by the last plan obliged him +to abstain from using them. We also know their history. When the +sculptor was ill at Rome in 1544, Luigi del Riccio nursed him in the +palace of the Strozzi. Gratitude for this hospitality induced him to +make a present of the statues to Ruberto degli Strozzi, who took them +to France and offered them to the King. Francis gave them to the +Constable de Montmorenci; and he placed them in his country-house of +Ecouen. In 1793 the Republic offered them for sale, when they were +bought for the French nation by M. Lenoir. + +One of these Captives deserves to be called the most fascinating +creation of the master's genius. Together with the Adam, it may be +taken as fixing his standard of masculine beauty. He is a young man, +with head thrown back, as though in swoon or slumber; the left arm +raised above the weight of massy curls, the right hand resting on his +broad full bosom. There is a divine charm in the tranquil face, tired +but not fatigued, sad but not melancholy, suggesting that the sleeping +mind of the immortal youth is musing upon solemn dreams. Praxiteles +might have so expressed the Genius of Eternal Repose; but no Greek +sculptor would have given that huge girth to the thorax, or have +exaggerated the mighty hand with such delight in sinewy force. These +qualities, peculiar to Buonarroti's sense of form, do not detract from +the languid pose and supple rhythm of the figure, which flows down, a +sinuous line of beauty, through the slightly swelling flanks, along +the finely moulded thighs, to loveliest feet emerging from the marble. +It is impossible, while gazing on this statue, not to hear a strain of +intellectual music. Indeed, like melody, it tells no story, awakes no +desire, but fills the soul with something beyond thought or passion, +subtler and more penetrating than words. + +The companion figure has not equal grace. Athletically muscular, +though adolescent, the body of this young man, whose hands are tied +behind his back, is writhed into an attitude of vehement protest and +rebellion. He raises his face with appealing pain to heaven. The head, +which is only blocked out, overweighs the form, proving that +Michelangelo, unlike the Greeks, did not observe a fixed canon of +proportion for the human frame. This statue bears a strong resemblance +in feeling and conception to the Apollo designed for Baccio Valori. + +There are four rough-hewn male figures, eccentrically wrought into the +rock-work of a grotto in the Boboli Gardens, which have been assigned +to the Tomb of Julius. This attribution involves considerable +difficulties. In the first place, the scale is different, and the +stride of one of them, at any rate, is too wide for the pedestals of +that monument. Then their violent contortions and ponderous adult +forms seem to be at variance with the spirit of the Captives. Mr. +Heath Wilson may perhaps be right in his conjecture that Michelangelo +began them for the sculptural decoration on the facade of S. Lorenzo. +Their incompleteness baffles criticism; yet we feel instinctively that +they were meant for the open air and for effect at a considerable +distance. They remind us of Deucalion's men growing out of the stones +he threw behind his back. We could not wish them to be finished, or to +lose their wild attraction, as of primeval beings, the remnants of dim +generations nearer than ourselves to elemental nature. No better +specimens of Buonarroti's way of working in the marble could be +chosen. Almost savage hatchings with the point blend into finer +touches from the toothed chisel; and here and there the surface has +been treated with innumerable smoothing lines that round it into skin +and muscle. To a man who chiselled thus, marble must have yielded like +softest freestone beneath his tools; and how recklessly he wrought is +clear from the defective proportions of one old man's figure, whose +leg below the knee is short beyond all excuse. + +A group of two figures, sometimes called the Victory, now in the +Bargello Palace, was catalogued without hesitation by Vasari among the +statues for the tomb. A young hero, of gigantic strength and height, +stands firmly poised upon one foot, while his other leg, bent at the +knee, crushes the back of an old man doubled up beneath him. In the +face of the vanquished warrior critics have found a resemblance to +Michelangelo. The head of the victorious youth seems too small for his +stature, and the features are almost brutally vacuous, though burning +with an insolent and carnal beauty. The whole forcible figure +expresses irresistible energy and superhuman litheness combined with +massive strength. This group cannot be called pleasing, and its great +height renders it almost inconceivable that it was meant to range upon +one monument with the Captives of the Louvre. There are, however, so +many puzzles and perplexities connected with that design in its +several stages, that we dare affirm or deny nothing concerning it. M. +Guillaume, taking it for granted that the Victory was intended for the +tomb, makes the plausible suggestion that some of the peculiarities +which render it in composition awkward, would have been justified by +the addition of bronze wings. Mr. Heath Wilson, seeking after an +allegory, is fain to believe that it represents Michelangelo's own +state of subjection while employed upon the Serravezza quarries. + +Last comes the so-called Adonis of the Bargello Palace, which not +improbably was designed for one of the figures prostrate below the +feet of a victorious Genius. It bears, indeed, much resemblance to a +roughly indicated nude at the extreme right of the sketch for the +tomb. Upon this supposition, Michelangelo must have left it in a very +unfinished state, with an unshaped block beneath the raised right +thigh. This block has now been converted into a boar. Extremely +beautiful as the Adonis undoubtedly is, the strained, distorted +attitude seems to require some explanation. That might have been given +by the trampling form and robes of a Genius. Still it is difficult to +comprehend why the left arm and hand, finished, I feel almost sure, by +Michelangelo, should have been so carefully executed. The Genius, if +draped, would have hidden nearly the whole of that part of the statue. +The face of this Adonis displays exactly the same type as that of the +so-called Victory and of Giuliano de' Medici. Here the type assumes +singular loveliness. + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +I + +After the death of Clement VII. Michelangelo never returned to reside +at Florence. The rest of his life was spent in Rome. In the year 1534 +he had reached the advanced age of fifty-nine, and it is possible that +he first became acquainted with the noble lady Vittoria Colonna about +1538. Recent students of his poetry and friendships have suggested +that their famous intimacy began earlier, during one of his not +infrequent visits to Rome. But we have no proof of this. On the +contrary, the only letters extant which he sent to her, two in number, +belong to the year 1545. It is certain that anything like friendship +between them grew up at some considerable time after his final +settlement in Rome. + +Vittoria was the daughter of Fabrizio Colonna, Grand Constable of +Naples, by his marriage with Agnesina di Montefeltro, daughter of +Federigo, Duke of Urbino. Blood more illustrious than hers could not +be found in Italy. When she was four years old, her parents betrothed +her to Ferrante Francesco d'Avalos, a boy of the same age, the only +son of the Marchese di Pescara. In her nineteenth year the affianced +couple were married at Ischia, the fief and residence of the house of +D'Avalos. Ferrante had succeeded to his father's title early in +boyhood, and was destined for a brilliant military career. On the +young bride's side at least it was a love-match. She was tenderly +attached to her handsome husband, ignorant of his infidelities, and +blind to his fatal faults of character. Her happiness proved of short +duration. In 1512 Pescara was wounded and made prisoner at the battle +of Ravenna, and, though he returned to his wife for a short interval, +duty called him again to the field of war in Lombardy in 1515. After +this date Vittoria saw him but seldom. The last time they met was in +October 1522. As general of the Imperial forces, Pescara spent the +next years in perpetual military operations. Under his leadership the +battle of Pavia was won in 1525, and King Francis became his master's +prisoner. So far, nothing but honour, success, and glory waited on the +youthful hero. But now the tide turned. Pescara, when he again settled +down at Milan, began to plot with Girolamo Morone, Grand Chancellor of +Francesco Sforza's duchy. Morone had conceived a plan for reinstating +his former lord in Milan by the help of an Italian coalition. He +offered Pescara the crown of Naples if he would turn against the +Emperor. The Marquis seems at first to have lent a not unwilling ear +to these proposals, but seeing reason to doubt the success of the +scheme, he finally resolved to betray Morone to Charles V., and did +this with cold-blooded ingenuity. A few months afterwards, on November +25, 1525, he died, branded as a traitor, accused of double treachery, +both to his sovereign and his friend. + +If suspicions of her husband's guilt crossed Vittoria's mind, as we +have some reason to believe they did, these were not able to destroy +her loyalty and love. Though left so young a widow and childless, she +determined to consecrate her whole life to his memory and to religion. +His nephew and heir, the Marchese del Vasto, became her adopted son. +The Marchioness survived Pescara two-and-twenty years, which were +spent partly in retirement at Ischia, partly in journeys, partly in +convents at Orvieto and Viterbo, and finally in a semi-monastic +seclusion at Rome. The time spared from pious exercises she devoted to +study, the composition of poetry, correspondence with illustrious men +of letters, and the society of learned persons. Her chief friends +belonged to that group of earnest thinkers who felt the influences of +the Reformation without ceasing to be loyal children of the Church. +With Vittoria's name are inseparably connected those of Gasparo +Contarini, Reginald Pole, Giovanni Morone, Jacopo Sadoleto, +Marcantonio Flaminio, Pietro Carnesecchi, and Fra Bernardino Ochino. +The last of these avowed his Lutheran principles, and was severely +criticised by Vittoria Colonna for doing so. Carnesecchi was burned +for heresy. Vittoria never adopted Protestantism, and died an orthodox +Catholic. Yet her intimacy with men of liberal opinions exposed her to +mistrust and censure in old age. The movement of the +Counter-Reformation had begun, and any kind of speculative freedom +aroused suspicion. This saintly princess was accordingly placed under +the supervision of the Holy Office, and to be her friend was slightly +dangerous. It is obvious that Vittoria's religion was of an +evangelical type, inconsistent with the dogmas developed by the +Tridentine Council; and it is probable that, like her friend +Contarini, she advocated a widening rather than a narrowing of Western +Christendom. To bring the Church back to purer morals and sincerity of +faith was their aim. They yearned for a reformation and regeneration +from within. + +In all these matters, Michelangelo, the devout student of the Bible +and the disciple of Savonarola, shared Vittoria's sentiments. His +nature, profoundly and simply religious from the outset, assumed a +tone of deeper piety and habitual devotion during the advance of +years. Vittoria Colonna's influence at this period strengthened his +Christian emotions, which remained untainted by asceticism or +superstition. They were further united by another bond, which was +their common interest in poetry. The Marchioness of Pescara was justly +celebrated during her lifetime as one of the most natural writers of +Italian verse. Her poems consist principally of sonnets consecrated to +the memory of her husband, or composed on sacred and moral subjects. +Penetrated by genuine feeling, and almost wholly free from literary +affectation, they have that dignity and sweetness which belong to the +spontaneous utterances of a noble heart. Whether she treats of love or +of religion, we find the same simplicity and sincerity of style. There +is nothing in her pious meditations that a Christian of any communion +may not read with profit, as the heartfelt outpourings of a soul +athirst for God and nourished on the study of the gospel. + +Michelangelo preserved a large number of her sonnets, which he kept +together in one volume. Writing to his nephew Lionardo in 1554, he +says: "Messer Giovan Francesco (Fattucci) asked me about a month ago +if I possessed any writings of the Marchioness. I have a little book +bound in parchment, which she gave me some ten years ago. It has one +hundred and three sonnets, not counting another forty she afterwards +sent on paper from Viterbo. I had these bound into the same book, and +at that time I used to lend them about to many persons, so that they +are all of them now in print. In addition to these poems I have many +letters which she wrote from Orvieto and Viterbo. These then are the +writings I possess of the Marchioness." He composed several pieces, +madrigals and sonnets, under the genial influence of this exchange of +thoughts. It was a period at which his old love of versifying revived +with singular activity. Other friends, like Tommaso Cavalieri, Luigi +del Riccio, and afterwards Vasari, enticed his Muse to frequent +utterance. Those he wrote for the Marchioness were distributed in +manuscript among his private friends, and found their way into the +first edition of his collected poems. But it is a mistake to suppose +that she was the sole or even the chief source of his poetical +inspiration. + +We shall see that it was his custom to mark his feeling for particular +friends by gifts of drawings as well as of poems. He did this notably +in the case of both Vittoria Colonna and Tommaso dei Cavalieri. For +the latter he designed subjects from Greek mythology; for the former, +episodes in the Passion of our Lord. "At the request of this lady," +says Condivi, "he made a naked Christ, at the moment when, taken from +the cross, our Lord would have fallen like an abandoned corpse at the +feet of his most holy Mother, if two angels did not support him in +their arms. She sits below the cross with a face full of tears and +sorrow, lifting both her widespread arms to heaven, while on the stem +of the tree above is written this legend, 'Non vi si pensa quanto +sangue costa.' The cross is of the same kind as that which was carried +in procession by the White Friars at the time of the plague of 1348, +and afterwards deposited in the Church of S. Croce at Florence. He +also made, for love of her, the design of a Jesus Christ upon the +cross, not with the aspect of one dead, as is the common wont, but in +a divine attitude, with face raised to the Father, seeming to exclaim, +'Eli! Eli!' In this drawing the body does not appear to fall, like an +abandoned corpse, but as though in life to writhe and quiver with the +agony it feels." + +Of these two designs we have several more or less satisfactory +mementoes. The Pieta was engraved by Giulio Bonasoni and Tudius +Bononiensis (date 1546), exactly as Condivi describes it. The +Crucifixion survives in a great number of pencil-drawings, together +with one or two pictures painted by men like Venusti, and many early +engravings of the drawings. One sketch in the Taylor Museum at Oxford +is generally supposed to represent the original designed for Vittoria. + + +II + +What remains of the correspondence between Michelangelo and the +Marchioness opens with a letter referring to their interchange of +sonnets and drawings. It is dated Rome, 1545. Vittoria had evidently +sent him poems, and he wishes to make her a return in kind: "I +desired, lady, before I accepted the things which your ladyship has +often expressed the will to give me--I desired to produce something +for you with my own hand, in order to be as little as possible +unworthy of this kindness. I have now come to recognise that the grace +of God is not to be bought, and that to keep it waiting is a grievous +sin. Therefore I acknowledge my error, and willingly accept your +favours. When I possess them, not indeed because I shall have them in +my house, but for that I myself shall dwell in them, the place will +seem to encircle me with Paradise. For which felicity I shall remain +ever more obliged to your ladyship than I am already, if that is +possible. + +"The bearer of this letter will be Urbino, who lives in my service. +Your ladyship may inform him when you would like me to come and see +the head you promised to show me." + +This letter is written under the autograph copy of a sonnet which must +have been sent with it, since it expresses the same thought in its +opening quatrain. My translation of the poem runs thus: + + _Seeking at least to be not all unfit + For thy sublime and-boundless courtesy, + My lowly thoughts at first were fain to try + What they could yield for grace so infinite. + But now I know my unassisted wit + Is all too weak to make me soar so high, + For pardon, lady, for this fault I cry, + And wiser still I grow, remembering it. + Yea, well I see what folly 'twere to think + That largess dropped from thee like dews from heaven + Could e'er be paid by work so frail as mine! + To nothingness my art and talent sink; + He fails who from his mortal stores hath given + A thousandfold to match one gift divine_. + +Michelangelo's next letter refers to the design for the Crucified +Christ, described by Condivi. It is pleasant to find that this was +sent by the hand of Cavalieri: "Lady Marchioness,--Being myself in +Rome, I thought it hardly fitting to give the Crucified Christ to +Messer Tommaso, and to make him an intermediary between your ladyship +and me, your servant; especially because it has been my earnest wish +to perform more for you than for any one I ever knew upon the world. +But absorbing occupations, which still engage me, have prevented my +informing your ladyship of this. Moreover, knowing that you know that +love needs no taskmaster, and that he who loves doth not sleep, I +thought the less of using go-betweens. And though I seemed to have +forgotten, I was doing what I did not talk about in order to effect a +thing that was not looked for. My purpose has been spoiled: _He sins +who faith like this so soon forgets._" + +A sonnet which may or may not have been written at this time, but +seems certainly intended for the Marchioness, shall here be given as a +pendant to the letter:-- + + _Blest spirit, who with loving tenderness + Quickenest my heart, so old and near to die, + Who 'mid thy joys on me dost bend an eye, + Though many nobler men around thee press! + As thou wert erewhile wont my sight to bless, + So to console, my mind thou now dost fly; + Hope therefore stills the pangs of memory, + Which, coupled with desire, my soul distress. + So finding in thee grace to plead for me-- + Thy thoughts for me sunk in so sad a case-- + He who now writes returns thee thanks for these. + Lo! it were foul and monstrous usury + To send thee ugliest paintings in the place + Of thy fair spirit's living phantasies. + +Unfortunately we possess no other document in prose addressed +immediately to Vittoria. But four of her letters to him exist, and +from these I will select some specimens reflecting light upon the +nature of the famous intimacy. The Marchioness writes always in the +tone and style of a great princess, adding that peculiar note of +religious affectionateness which the French call "_onction_," and +marking her strong admiration of the illustrious artist. The letters +are not dated; but this matters little, since they only turn on +literary courtesies exchanged, drawings presented, and pious interests +in common. + +"Unique Master Michelangelo, and my most singular friend,--I have +received your letter, and examined the crucifix, which truly hath +crucified in my memory every other picture I ever saw. Nowhere could +one find another figure of our Lord so well executed, so living, and +so exquisitely finished. Certes, I cannot express in words how subtly +and marvellously it is designed. Wherefore I am resolved to take the +work as coming from no other hand but yours, and accordingly I beg you +to assure me whether this is really yours or another's. Excuse the +question. If it is yours, I must possess it under any conditions. In +case it is not yours, and you want to have it carried out by your +assistant, we will talk the matter over first. I know how extremely +difficult it would be to copy it, and therefore I would rather let him +finish something else than this. But if it be in fact yours, rest +assured, and make the best of it, that it will never come again into +your keeping. I have examined it minutely in full light and by the +lens and mirror, and never saw anything more perfect.--Yours to +command, + + "The Marchioness of Pescara." + +Like many grand ladies of the highest rank, even though they are +poetesses, Vittoria Colonna did not always write grammatically or +coherently. I am not therefore sure that I have seized the exact +meaning of this diplomatical and flattering letter. It would appear, +however, that Michelangelo had sent her the drawing for a crucifix, +intimating that, if she liked it, he would intrust its execution to +one of his workmen, perhaps Urbino. This, as we know, was a common +practice adopted by him in old age, in order to avoid commissions +which interfered with his main life-work at S. Peter's. The noble +lady, fully aware that the sketch is an original, affects some doubt +upon the subject, declines the intervention of a common craftsman, and +declares her firm resolve to keep it, leaving an impression that she +would gladly possess the crucifix if executed by the same hand which +had supplied the masterly design. + +Another letter refers to the drawing of a Christ upon the cross +between two angels. + +"Your works forcibly stimulate the judgment of all who look at them. +My study of them made me speak of adding goodness to things perfect in +themselves, and I have seen now that 'all is possible to him who +believes.' I had the greatest faith in God that He would bestow upon +you supernatural grace for the making of this Christ. When I came to +examine it, I found it so marvellous that it surpasses all my +expectations. Wherefore, emboldened by your miracles, I conceived a +great desire for that which I now see marvellously accomplished: I +mean that the design is in all parts perfect and consummate, and one +could not desire more, nor could desire attain to demanding so much. I +tell you that I am mighty pleased that the angel on the right hand is +by far the fairer, since Michael will place you, Michelangelo, upon +the right hand of our Lord at that last day. Meanwhile, I do not know +how else to serve you than by making orisons to this sweet Christ, +whom you have drawn so well and exquisitely, and praying you to hold +me yours to command as yours in all and for all." + +The admiration and the good-will of the great lady transpire in these +somewhat incoherent and studied paragraphs. Their verbiage leaves much +to be desired in the way of logic and simplicity. It is pleasanter +perhaps to read a familiar note, sent probably by the hand of a +servant to Buonarroti's house in Rome. + +"I beg you to let me have the crucifix a short while in my keeping, +even though it be unfinished. I want to show it to some gentlemen who +have come from the Most Reverend the Cardinal of Mantua. If you are +not working, will you not come to-day at your leisure and talk with +me?--Yours to command, + + "The Marchioness of Pescara." + +It seems that Michelangelo's exchange of letters and poems became at +last too urgent. We know it was his way (as in the case of Luigi del +Riccio) to carry on an almost daily correspondence for some while, and +then to drop it altogether when his mood changed. Vittoria, writing +from Viterbo, gives him a gentle and humorous hint that he is taking +up too much of her time: + +"Magnificent Messer Michelangelo,--I did not reply earlier to your +letter, because it was, as one might say, an answer to my last: for I +thought that if you and I were to go on writing without intermission +according to my obligation and your courtesy, I should have to neglect +the Chapel of S. Catherine here, and be absent at the appointed hours +for company with my sisterhood, while you would have to leave the +Chapel of S. Paul, and be absent from morning through the day from +your sweet usual colloquy with painted forms, the which with their +natural accents do not speak to you less clearly than the living +persons round me speak to me. Thus we should both of us fail in our +duty, I to the brides, you to the vicar of Christ. For these reasons, +inasmuch as I am well assured of our steadfast friendship and firm +affection, bound by knots of Christian kindness, I do not think it +necessary to obtain the proof of your good-will in letters by writing +on my side, but rather to await with well-prepared mind some +substantial occasion for serving you. Meanwhile I address my prayers +to that Lord of whom you spoke to me with so fervent and humble a +heart when I left Rome, that when I return thither I may find you with +His image renewed and enlivened by true faith in your soul, in like +measure as you have painted it with perfect art in my Samaritan. +Believe me to remain always yours and your Urbino's." + +This letter must have been written when Michelangelo was still working +on the frescoes of the Cappella Paolina, and therefore before 1549. +The check to his importunacy, given with genial tact by the +Marchioness, might be taken, by those who believe their _liaison_ to +have had a touch of passion in it, as an argument in favour of that +view. The great age which Buonarroti had now reached renders this, +however, improbable; while the general tenor of their correspondence +is that of admiration for a great artist on the lady's side, and of +attraction to a noble nature on the man's side, cemented by religious +sentiment and common interests in serious topics. + + +III + +All students of Michelangelo's biography are well acquainted with the +Dialogues on Painting, composed by the Portuguese miniature artist, +Francis of Holland. Written in the quaint style of the sixteenth +century, which curiously blent actual circumstance and fact with the +author's speculation, these essays present a vivid picture of +Buonarroti's conferences with Vittoria Colonna and her friends. The +dialogues are divided into four parts, three of which profess to give +a detailed account of three several Sunday conversations in the +Convent of S. Silvestro on Monte Cavallo. After describing the objects +which brought him to Rome, Francis says: "Above all, Michelangelo +inspired me with such esteem, that when I met him in the palace of the +Pope or on the streets, I could not make my mind up to leave him until +the stars forced us to retire." Indeed, it would seem from his frank +admissions in another place that the Portuguese painter had become a +little too attentive to the famous old man, and that Buonarroti "did +all he could to shun his company, seeing that when they once came +together, they could not separate." It happened one Sunday that +Francis paid a visit to his friend Lattanzio Tolomei, who had gone +abroad, leaving a message that he would be found in the Church of S. +Silvestro, where he was hoping to hear a lecture by Brother Ambrose of +Siena on the Epistles of S. Paul, in company with the Marchioness. +Accordingly he repaired to this place, and was graciously received by +the noble lady. She courteously remarked that he would probably enjoy +a conversation with Michelangelo more than a sermon from Brother +Ambrose, and after an interval of compliments a servant was sent to +find him. It chanced that Buonarroti was walking with the man whom +Francis of Holland calls "his old friend and colour-grinder," Urbino, +in the direction of the Thermae. So the lackey, having the good chance +to meet him, brought him at once to the convent. The Marchioness made +him sit between her and Messer Tolomei, while Francis took up his +position at a little distance. The conversation then began, but +Vittoria Colonna had to use the tact for which she was celebrated +before she could engage the wary old man on a serious treatment of his +own art. + +He opened his discourse by defending painters against the common +charge of being "eccentric in their habits, difficult to deal with, +and unbearable; whereas, on the contrary, they are really most +humane." Common people do not consider, he remarked, that really +zealous artists are bound to abstain from the idle trivialities and +current compliments of society, not because they are haughty or +intolerant by nature, but because their art imperiously claims the +whole of their energies. "When such a man shall have the same leisure +as you enjoy, then I see no objection to your putting him to death if +he does not observe your rules of etiquette and ceremony. You only +seek his company and praise him in order to obtain honour through him +for yourselves, nor do you really mind what sort of man he is, so long +as kings and emperors converse with him. I dare affirm that any artist +who tries to satisfy the better vulgar rather than men of his own +craft, one who has nothing singular, eccentric, or at least reputed to +be so, in his person, will never become a superior talent. For my +part, I am bound to confess that even his Holiness sometimes annoys +and wearies me by begging for too much of my company. I am most +anxious to serve him, but, when there is nothing important going +forward, I think I can do so better by studying at home than by +dancing attendance through a whole day on my legs in his +reception-rooms. He allows me to tell him so; and I may add that the +serious occupations of my life have won for me such liberty of action +that, in talking to the Pope, I often forget where I am, and place my +hat upon my head. He does not eat me up on that account, but treats me +with indulgence, knowing that it is precisely at such times that I am +working hard to serve him. As for solitary habits, the world is right +in condemning a man who, out of pure affectation or eccentricity, +shuts himself up alone, loses his friends, and sets society against +him. Those, however, who act in this way naturally, because their +profession obliges them to lead a recluse life, or because their +character rebels against feigned politenesses and conventional usage, +ought in common justice to be tolerated. What claim by right have you +on him? Why should you force him to take part in those vain pastimes, +which his love for a quiet life induces him to shun? Do you not know +that there are sciences which demand the whole of a man, without +leaving the least portion of his spirit free for your distractions?" +This apology for his own life, couched in a vindication of the +artistic temperament, breathes an accent of sincerity, and paints +Michelangelo as he really was, with his somewhat haughty sense of +personal dignity. What he says about his absence of mind in the +presence of great princes might be illustrated by a remark attributed +to Clement VII. "When Buonarroti comes to see me, I always take a seat +and bid him to be seated, feeling sure that he will do so without +leave or license." + +The conversation passed by natural degrees to a consideration of the +fine arts in general. In the course of this discussion, Michelangelo +uttered several characteristic opinions, strongly maintaining the +superiority of the Italian to the Flemish and German schools, and +asserting his belief that, while all objects are worthy of imitation +by the artist, the real touch stone of excellence lies in his power to +represent the human form. His theory of the arts in their reciprocal +relations and affinities throws interesting light upon the qualities +of his own genius and his method in practice. "The science of design, +or of line-drawing, if you like to use this term, is the source and +very essence of painting, sculpture, architecture, and of every form +of representation, as well too as of all the sciences. He who has made +himself a master in this art possesses a great treasure. Sometimes, +when I meditate upon these topics, it seems to me that I can discover +but one art or science, which is design, and that all the works of the +human brain and hand are either design itself or a branch of that +art." This theme he develops at some length, showing how a complete +mastery of drawing is necessary not only to the plastic arts of +painting and sculpture, but also to the constructive and mechanical +arts of architecture, fortification, gun-foundry, and so forth, +applying the same principle to the minutest industries. + +With regard to the personal endowments of the artist, he maintained +that "a lofty style, grave and decorous, was essential to great work. +Few artists understand this, and endeavour to appropriate these +qualities. Consequently we find many members of the confraternity who +are only artists in name. The world encourages this confusion of +ideas, since few are capable of distinguishing between a fellow who +has nothing but his colour-box and brushes to make him a painter, and +the really gifted natures who appear only at wide intervals." He +illustrates the position that noble qualities in the artist are +indispensable to nobility in the work of art, by a digression on +religious painting and sculpture. "In order to represent in some +degree the adored image of our Lord, it is not enough that a master +should be great and able. I maintain that he must also be a man of +good conduct and morals, if possible a saint, in order that the Holy +Ghost may rain down inspiration on his understanding. Ecclesiastical +and secular princes ought, therefore, to permit only the most +illustrious among the artists of their realm to paint the benign +sweetness of our Saviour, the purity of our Lady, and the virtues of +the saints. It often happens that ill-executed images distract the +minds of worshippers and ruin their devotion, unless it be firm and +fervent. Those, on the contrary, which are executed in the high style +I have described, excite the soul to contemplation and to tears, even +among the least devout, by inspiring reverence and fear through the +majesty of their aspect." This doctrine is indubitably sound. To our +minds, nevertheless, it rings a little hollow on the lips of the great +master who modelled the Christ of the Minerva and painted the Christ +and Madonna of the Last Judgment. Yet we must remember that, at the +exact period when these dialogues took place, Buonarroti, under the +influence of his friendship with Vittoria Colonna, was devoting his +best energies to the devout expression of the Passion of our Lord. It +is deeply to be regretted that, out of the numerous designs which +remain to us from this endeavour, all of them breathing the purest +piety, no monumental work except the Pieta at Florence emerged for +perpetuity. + +Many curious points, both of minute criticism and broad opinion, might +still be gleaned from the dialogues set down by Francis of Holland. It +must suffice here to resume what Michelangelo maintained about the +artist's method. One of the interlocutors begged to be informed +whether he thought that a master ought to aim at working slowly or +quickly. "I will tell you plainly what I feel about this matter. It is +both good and useful to be able to work with promptitude and address. +We must regard it as a special gift from God to be able to do that in +a few hours which other men can only perform in many days of labour. +Consequently, artists who paint rapidly, without falling in quality +below those who paint but slowly, deserve the highest commendation. +Should this rapidity of execution, however, cause a man to transgress +the limits of sound art, it would have been better to have proceeded +with more tardiness and study. A good artist ought never to allow the +impetuosity of his nature to overcome his sense of the main end of +art, perfection. Therefore we cannot call slowness of execution a +defect, nor yet the expenditure of much time and trouble, if this be +employed with the view of attaining greater perfection. The one +unpardonable fault is bad work. And here I would remind you of a thing +essential to our art, which you will certainly not ignore, and to +which I believe you attach the full importance it deserves. In every +kind of plastic work we ought to strive with all our might at making +what has cost time and labour look as though it had been produced with +facility and swiftness. It sometimes happens, but rarely, that a +portion of our work turns out excellent with little pains bestowed +upon it. Most frequently, however, it is the expenditure of care and +trouble which conceals our toil. Plutarch relates that a bad painter +showed Apelles a picture, saying: 'This is from my hand; I have just +made it in a moment.' The other replied: 'I should have recognised the +fact without your telling me; and I marvel that you do not make a +multitude of such things every day.'" Michelangelo is reported to have +made a similar remark to Vasari when the latter took him to inspect +some frescoes he had painted, observing that they had been dashed off +quickly. + +We must be grateful to Francis of Holland for this picture of the +Sunday-morning interviews at S. Silvestro. The place was cool and +tranquil. The great lady received her guests with urbanity, and led +the conversation with highbred courtesy and tact. Fra Ambrogio, having +discoursed upon the spiritual doctrines of S. Paul's Epistles, was at +liberty to turn an attentive ear to purely aesthetical speculations. +The grave and elderly Lattanzio Tolomei added the weight of philosophy +and literary culture to the dialogue. Michelangelo, expanding in the +genial atmosphere, spoke frankly on the arts which he had mastered, +not dictating _ex cathedra_ rules, but maintaining a note of modesty +and common-sense and deference to the opinion of others. Francis +engaged on equal terms in the discussion. His veneration for +Buonarroti, and the eagerness with which he noted all the great man's +utterances, did not prevent him from delivering lectures at a somewhat +superfluous length. In short, we may fairly accept his account of +these famous conferences as a truthful transcript from the refined and +witty social gatherings of which Vittoria Colonna formed the centre. + + +IV + +This friendship with Vittoria Colonna forms a very charming episode in +the history of Michelangelo's career, and it was undoubtedly one of +the consolations of his declining years. Yet too great stress has +hitherto been laid on it by his biographers. Not content with +exaggerating its importance in his life, they have misinterpreted its +nature. The world seems unable to take interest in a man unless it can +contrive to discover a love-affair in his career. The singular thing +about Michelangelo is that, with the exception of Vittoria Colonna, no +woman is known to have influenced his heart or head in any way. In his +correspondence he never mentions women, unless they be aunts, cousins, +grand-nieces, or servants. About his mother he is silent. We have no +tradition regarding amours in youth or middle age; and only two words +dropped by Condivi lead us to conjecture that he was not wholly +insensible to the physical attractions of the female. Romancers and +legend-makers have, therefore, forced Vittoria Colonna to play the +role of Juliet in Michelangelo's life-drama. It has not occurred to +these critics that there is something essentially disagreeable in the +thought of an aged couple entertaining an amorous correspondence. I +use these words deliberately, because poems which breathe obvious +passion of no merely spiritual character have been assigned to the +number he composed for Vittoria Colonna. This, as we shall see, is +chiefly the fault of his first editor, who printed all the sonnets and +madrigals as though they were addressed to one woman or another. It is +also in part due to the impossibility of determining their exact date +in the majority of instances. Verses, then, which were designed for +several objects of his affection, male or female, have been +indiscriminately referred to Vittoria Colonna, whereas we can only +attribute a few poems with certainty to her series. + +This mythus of Michelangelo's passion for the Marchioness of Pescara +has blossomed and brought forth fruit abundantly from a single and +pathetic passage in Condivi. "In particular, he greatly loved the +Marchioness of Pescara, of whose divine spirit he was enamoured, being +in return dearly beloved by her. He still preserves many of her +letters, breathing honourable and most tender affection, and such as +were wont to issue from a heart like hers. He also wrote to her a +great number of sonnets, full of wit and sweet longing. She frequently +removed from Viterbo and other places, whither she had gone for solace +or to pass the summer, and came to Rome with the sole object of seeing +Michelangelo. He for his part, loved her so, that I remember to have +heard him say that he regretted nothing except that when he went to +visit her upon the moment of her passage from this life, he did not +kiss her forehead or her face, as he did kiss her hand. Her death was +the cause that oftentimes he dwelt astonied, thinking of it, even as a +man bereft of sense." + +Michelangelo himself, writing immediately after Vittoria's death, +speaks of her thus: "She felt the warmest affection for me, and I not +less for her. Death has robbed me of a great friend." It is curious +that he here uses the masculine gender: "un grande amico." He also +composed two sonnets, which were in all probability inspired by the +keen pain of this bereavement. To omit them here would be unjust to +the memory of their friendship:-- + + _When my rude hammer to the stubborn stone + Gives human shape, now that, now this, at will, + Following his hand who wields and guides it still, + It moves upon another's feet alone:_ + +The third illustrates in a singular manner that custom of +sixteenth-century literature which Shakespeare followed in his +sonnets, of weaving poetical images out of thoughts borrowed from law +and business. It is also remarkable in this respect, that Michelangelo +has here employed precisely the same conceit for Vittoria Colonna +which he found serviceable when at an earlier date he wished to +deplore the death of the Florentine, Cecchino dei Bracci. For both of +them he says that Heaven bestowed upon the beloved object all its +beauties, instead of scattering these broad-cast over the human race, +which, had it done so, would have entailed the bankruptcy and death of +all:-- + + _So that high heaven should have not to distrain + From several that vast beauty ne'er yet shown, + To one exalted dame alone + The total sum was lent in her pure self:-- + Heaven had made sorry gain, + Recovering from the crowd its scattered pelf. + Now in a puff of breath, + Nay, in one second, God + Hath ta'en her back through death, + Back from the senseless folk and from our eyes. + Yet earth's oblivious sod, + Albeit her body dies, + Will bury not her live words fair and holy. + Ah, cruel mercy! Here thou showest solely + How, had heaven lent us ugly what she took, + And death the debt reclaimed, all men were broke_. + +Without disputing the fact that a very sincere emotion underlay these +verses, it must be submitted that, in the words of Samuel Johnson +about "Lycidas," "he who thus grieves will excite no sympathy; he who +thus praises will confer no honour." This conviction will be enforced +when we reflect that the thought upon which the madrigal above +translated has been woven (1547) had been already used for Cecchino +dei Bracci in 1544. It is clear that, in dealing with Michelangelo's +poetical compositions, we have to accept a mass of conventional +utterances, penetrated with a few firmly grasped Platonical ideas. It +is only after long familiarity with his work that a man may venture to +distinguish between the accents of the heart and the head-notes in the +case of so great a master using an art he practised mainly as an +amateur. I shall have to return to these considerations when I discuss +the value of his poetry taken as a whole. + +The union of Michelangelo and Vittoria was beautiful and noble, based +upon the sympathy of ardent and high-feeling natures. Nevertheless we +must remember that when Michelangelo lost his old servant Urbino, his +letters and the sonnet written upon that occasion express an even +deeper passion of grief. + +Love is an all-embracing word, and may well be used to describe this +exalted attachment, as also to qualify the great sculptor's affection +for a faithful servant or for a charming friend. We ought not, +however, to distort the truth of biography or to corrupt criticism, +from a personal wish to make more out of his feeling than fact and +probability warrant. This is what has been done by all who approached +the study of Michelangelo's life and writings. Of late years, the +determination to see Vittoria Colonna through every line written by +him which bears the impress of strong emotion, and to suppress other +aspects of his sensibility, has been so deliberate, that I am forced +to embark upon a discussion which might otherwise have not been +brought so prominently forward. For the understanding of his +character, and for a proper estimate of his poetry, it has become +indispensable to do so. + + +V + +Michelangelo's best friend in Rome was a young nobleman called Tommaso +Cavalieri. Speaking of his numerous allies and acquaintances, Vasari +writes: "Immeasurably more than all the rest, he loved Tommaso dei +Cavalieri, a Roman gentleman, for whom, as he was young and devoted to +the arts, Michelangelo made many stupendous drawings of superb heads +in black and red chalk, wishing him to learn the method of design. +Moreover, he drew for him a Ganymede carried up to heaven by Jove's +eagle, a Tityos with the vulture feeding on his heart, the fall of +Phaeton with the sun's chariot into the river Po, and a Bacchanal of +children; all of them things of the rarest quality, and drawings the +like of which were never seen. Michelangelo made a cartoon portrait of +Messer Tommaso, life-size, which was the only portrait that he ever +drew, since he detested to imitate the living person, unless it was +one of incomparable beauty." Several of Michelangelo's sonnets are +addressed to Tommaso Cavalieri. Benedetto Varchi, in his commentary, +introduces two of them with these words: "The first I shall present is +one addressed to M. Tommaso Cavalieri, a young Roman of very noble +birth, in whom I recognised, while I was sojourning at Rome, not only +incomparable physical beauty, but so much elegance of manners, such +excellent intelligence, and such graceful behaviour, that he well +deserved, and still deserves, to win the more love the better he is +known." Then Varchi recites the sonnet:-- + + Why should I seek to ease intense desire + With still more tears and windy words of grief, + When heaven, or late or soon, sends no relief + To souls whom love hath robed around with fire? + + Why need my aching heart to death aspire, + When all must die? Nay, death beyond belief + Unto these eyes would be both sweet and brief, + Since in my sum of woes all joys expire! + + Therefore, because I cannot shun the blow + I rather seek, say who must rule my breast, + Gliding between her gladness and her woe? + + If only chains and bands can make me blest, + No marvel if alone and bare I go, + An armed KNIGHT'S captive and slave confessed. + +"The other shall be what follows, written perhaps for the same person, +and worthy, in my opinion, not only of the ripest sage, but also of a +poet not unexercised in writing verse:-- + + With your fair eyes a charming light I see, + For which my own blind eyes would peer in vain; + Stayed by your feet, the burden I sustain + Which my lame feet find all too strong for me; + + Wingless upon your pinions forth I fly; + Heavenward your sprit stirreth me to strain; + E'en as you will, I blush and blanch again, + Freeze in the sun, burn 'neath a frosty sky. + + Your will includes and is the lord of mine; + Life to my thoughts within your heart is given; + My words begin to breathe upon your breath: + Like to the-moon am I, that cannot shine + Alone; for, lo! our eyes see naught in heaven + Save what the living sun illumineth." + +The frank and hearty feeling for a youth of singular distinction which +is expressed in these sonnets, gave no offence to society during the +period of the earlier Renaissance; but after the Tridentine Council +social feeling altered upon this and similar topics. While morals +remained what they had been, language and manners grew more nice and +hypocritical. It happened thus that grievous wrong was done to the +text of Michelangelo's poems, with the best intentions, by their first +editor. Grotesque misconceptions, fostered by the same mistaken zeal, +are still widely prevalent. + +When Michelangelo the younger arranged his grand-uncle's poems for the +press, he was perplexed by the first of the sonnets quoted by Varchi. +The last line, which runs in the Italian thus-- + + Resto prigion d'un Cavalier armato, + +has an obvious play of words upon Cavalieri's surname. This he altered +into + + Resto prigion d'un cor di virtu armato. + +The reason was that, if it stood unaltered, "the ignorance of men +would have occasion to murmur." "Varchi," he adds, "did wrong in +printing it according to the text." "Remember well," he observes, +"that this sonnet, as well as the preceding number and some others, +are concerned, as is manifest, with a masculine love of the Platonic +species." Michelangelo the younger's anxiety for his granduncle's +memory induced him thus to corrupt the text of his poems. The same +anxiety has led their latest editor to explain away the obvious sense +of certain words. Signor Guasti approves of the first editor's pious +fraud, on the ground that morality has higher claims than art; but he +adds that the expedient was not necessary: "for these sonnets do not +refer to masculine love, nor yet do any others. In the first (xxxi.) +the lady is compared to an armed knight, because she carries the +weapons of her sex and beauty; and while I think on it, an example +occurs to my mind from Messer Cino in support of the argument. As +regards the second (lxii.), those who read these pages of mine will +possibly remember that Michelangelo, writing of the dead Vittoria +Colonna, called her _amico;_ and on reflection, this sounds better +than _amica,_ in the place where it occurs. Moreover, there are not +wanting in these poems instances of the term signore, or lord, applied +to the beloved lady; which is one of the many periphrastical +expressions used by the Romance poets to indicate their mistress." It +is true that Cino compares his lady in one sonnet to a knight who has +carried off the prize of beauty in the lists of love and grace by her +elegant dancing. But he never calls a lady by the name of _cavaliere._ +It is also indubitable that the Tuscans occasionally addressed the +female or male object of their adoration under the title of _signore,_ +lord of my heart and soul. But such instances weigh nothing against +the direct testimony of a contemporary like Varchi, into whose hands +Michelangelo's poems came at the time of their composition, and who +was well acquainted with the circumstances of their composition. There +is, moreover, a fact of singular importance bearing on this question, +to which Signor Guasti has not attached the value it deserves. In a +letter belonging to the year 1549, Michelangelo thanks Luca Martini +for a copy of Varchi's commentary on his sonnet, and begs him to +express his affectionate regards and hearty thanks to that eminent +scholar for the honour paid him. In a second letter addressed to G.F. +Fattucci, under date October 1549, he conveys "the thanks of Messer +Tomao de' Cavalieri to Varchi for a certain little book of his which +has been printed, and in which he speaks very honourably of himself, +and not less so of me." In neither of these letters does Michelangelo +take exception to Varchi's interpretation of Sonnet xxxi. Indeed, the +second proves that both he and Cavalieri were much pleased with it. +Michelangelo even proceeds to inform Fattucci that Cavalieri "has +given me a sonnet which I made for him in those same years, begging me +to send it on as a proof and witness that he really is the man +intended. This I will enclose in my present letter." Furthermore, we +possess an insolent letter of Pietro Aretino, which makes us imagine +that the "ignorance of the vulgar" had already begun to "murmur." +After complaining bitterly that Michelangelo refused to send him any +of his drawings, he goes on to remark that it would be better for the +artist if he did so, "inasmuch as such an act of courtesy would quiet +the insidious rumours which assert that only Gerards and Thomases can +dispose of them." We have seen from Vasari that Michelangelo executed +some famous designs for Tommaso Cavalieri. The same authority asserts +that he presented "Gherardo Perini, a Florentine gentleman, and his +very dear friend," with three splendid drawings in black chalk. +Tommaso Cavalieri and Gherardo Perini, were, therefore, the "Gerards +and Thomases" alluded to by Aretino. + +Michelangelo the younger's and Cesare Guasti's method of defending +Buonarroti from a malevolence which was only too well justified by the +vicious manners of the time, seems to me so really injurious to his +character, that I feel bound to carry this investigation further. +First of all, we ought to bear in mind what Buonarroti admitted +concerning his own temperament. "You must know that I am, of all men +who were ever born, the most inclined to love persons. Whenever I +behold some one who possesses any talent or displays any dexterity of +mind, who can do or say something more appropriately than the rest of +the world, I am compelled to fall in love with him; and then I give +myself up to him so entirely that I am no longer my own property, but +wholly his." He mentions this as a reason for not going to dine with +Luigi del Riccio in company with Donate Giannotti and Antonio Petrejo. +"If I were to do so, as all of you are adorned with talents and +agreeable graces, each of you would take from me a portion of myself, +and so would the dancer, and so would the lute-player, if men with +distinguished gifts in those arts were present. Each person would +filch away a part of me, and instead of being refreshed and restored +to health and gladness, as you said, I should be utterly bewildered +and distraught, in such wise that for many days to come I should not +know in what world I was moving." This passage serves to explain the +extreme sensitiveness of the great artist to personal charm, grace, +accomplishments, and throws light upon the self-abandonment with which +he sometimes yielded to the attractions of delightful people. + +We possess a series of Michelangelo's letters addressed to or +concerned with Tommaso Cavalieri, the tone of which is certainly +extravagant. His biographer, Aurelio Gotti, moved by the same anxiety +as Michelangelo the younger and Guasti, adopted the extraordinary +theory that they were really directed to Vittoria Colonna, and were +meant to be shown to her by the common friend of both, Cavalieri. +"There is an epistle to this young man," he says, "so studied in its +phrases, so devoid of all naturalness, that we cannot extract any +rational sense from it without supposing that Cavalieri was himself a +friend of the Marchioness, and that Michelangelo, while writing to +him, intended rather to address his words to the Colonna." Of this +letter, which bears the date of January 1, 1533, three drafts exist, +proving the great pains taken by Michelangelo in its composition. + +"Without due consideration, Messer Tomao, my very dear lord, I was +moved to write to your lordship, not by way of answer to any letter +received from you, but being myself the first to make advances, as +though I felt bound to cross a little stream with dry feet, or a ford +made manifest by paucity of water. But now that I have left the shore, +instead of the trifling river I expected, the ocean with its towering +waves appears before me, so that, if it were possible, in order to +avoid drowning, I would gladly retrace my steps to the dry land whence +I started. Still, as I am here, I will e'en make of my heart a rock, +and proceed farther; and if I shall not display the art of sailing on +the sea of your powerful genius, that genius itself will excuse me, +nor will be disdainful of my inferiority in parts, nor desire from me +that which I do not possess, inasmuch as he who is unique in all +things can have peers in none. Therefore your lordship, the light of +our century without paragon upon this world, is unable to be satisfied +with the productions of other men, having no match or equal to +yourself. And if, peradventure, something of mine, such as I hope and +promise to perform, give pleasure to your mind, I shall esteem it more +fortunate than excellent; and should I be ever sure of pleasing your +lordship, as is said, in any particular, I will devote the present +time and all my future to your service; indeed, it will grieve me much +that I cannot regain the past, in order to devote a longer space to +you than the future only will allow, seeing I am now too old. I have +no more to say. Read the heart, and not the letter, because 'the pen +toils after man's good-will in vain.' + +"I have to make excuses for expressing in my first letter a marvellous +astonishment at your rare genius; and thus I do so, having recognised +the error I was in; for it is much the same to wonder at God's working +miracles as to wonder at Rome producing divine men. Of this the +universe confirms us in our faith." + +It is clear that Michelangelo alludes in this letter to the designs +which he is known to have made for Cavalieri, and the last paragraph +has no point except as an elaborate compliment addressed to a Roman +gentleman. It would be quite out of place if applied to Vittoria +Colonna. Gotti finds the language strained and unnatural. We cannot +deny that it differs greatly from the simple diction of the writer's +ordinary correspondence. But Michelangelo did sometimes seek to +heighten his style, when he felt that the occasion demanded a special +effort; and then he had recourse to the laboured images in vogue at +that period, employing them with something of the ceremonious +cumbrousness displayed in his poetry. The letters to Pietro Aretino, +Niccolo Martelli, Vittoria Colonna, Francis I., Luca Martini, and +Giorgio Vasari might be quoted as examples. + +As a postscript to this letter, in the two drafts which were finally +rejected, the following enigmatical sentence is added:--"It would be +permissible to give the name of the things a man presents, to him who +receives them; but proper sense of what is fitting prevents it being +done in this letter." + +Probably Michelangelo meant that he should have liked to call +Cavalieri his friend, since he had already given him friendship. The +next letter, July 28, 1533, begins thus:--"My dear Lord,--Had I not +believed that I had made you certain of the very great, nay, +measureless love I bear you, it would not have seemed strange to me +nor have roused astonishment to observe the great uneasiness you show +in your last letter, lest, through my not having written, I should +have forgotten you. Still it is nothing new or marvellous when so many +other things go counter, that this also should be topsy-turvy. For +what your lordship says to me, I could say to yourself: nevertheless, +you do this perhaps to try me, or to light a new and stronger flame, +if that indeed were possible: but be it as it wills: I know well that, +at this hour, I could as easily forget your name as the food by which +I live; nay, it were easier to forget the food, which only nourishes +my body miserably, than your name, which nourishes both body and soul, +filling the one and the other with such sweetness that neither +weariness nor fear of death is felt by me while memory preserves you +to my mind. Think, if the eyes could also enjoy their portion, in what +condition I should find myself." + +This second letter has also been extremely laboured; for we have three +other turns given in its drafts to the image of food and memory. That +these two documents were really addressed to Cavalieri, without any +thought of Vittoria Colonna, is proved by three letters sent to +Michelangelo by the young man in question. One is dated August 2, +1533, another September 2, and the third bears no date. The two which +I have mentioned first belong to the summer of 1533; the third seems +to be the earliest. It was clearly written on some occasion when both +men were in Rome together, and at the very beginning of their +friendship. I will translate them in their order. The first undated +letter was sent to Michelangelo in Rome, in answer to some writing of +the illustrious sculptor which we do not possess:-- + +"I have received from you a letter, which is the more acceptable +because it was so wholly unexpected. I say unexpected, because I hold +myself unworthy of such condescension in a man of your eminence. With +regard to what Pierantonio spoke to you in my praise, and those things +of mine which you have seen, and which you say have aroused in you no +small affection for me, I answer that they were insufficient to impel +a man of such transcendent genius, without a second, not to speak of a +peer, upon this earth, to address a youth who was born but yesterday, +and therefore is as ignorant as it is possible to be. At the same time +I cannot call you a liar. I rather think then, nay, am certain, that +the love you bear me is due to this, that you being a man most +excellent in art, nay, art itself, are forced to love those who follow +it and love it, among whom am I; and in this, according to my +capacity, I yield to few. I promise you truly that you shall receive +from me for your kindness affection equal, and perhaps greater, in +exchange; for I never loved a man more than I do you, nor desired a +friendship more than I do yours. About this, though my judgment may +fail in other things, it is unerring; and you shall see the proof, +except only that fortune is adverse to me in that now, when I might +enjoy you, I am far from well. I hope, however, if she does not begin +to trouble me again, that within a few days I shall be cured, and +shall come to pay you my respects in person. Meanwhile I shall spend +at least two hours a day in studying two of your drawings, which +Pierantonio brought me: the more I look at them, the more they delight +me; and I shall soothe my complaint by cherishing the hope which +Pierantonio gave me, of letting me see other things of yours. In order +not to be troublesome, I will write no more. Only I beg you remember, +on occasion, to make use of me; and recommend myself in perpetuity to +you.--Your most affectionate servant. + + "Thomao Cavaliere." + +The next letters were addressed to Michelangelo in Florence:--"Unique, +my Lord,--I have received from you a letter, very acceptable, from +which I gather that you are not a little saddened at my having written +to you about forgetting. I answer that I did not write this for either +of the following reasons: to wit, because you have not sent me +anything, or in order to fan the flame of your affection. I only wrote +to jest with you, as certainly I think I may do. Therefore, do not be +saddened, for I am quite sure you will not be able to forget me. +Regarding what you write to me about that young Nerli, he is much my +friend, and having to leave Rome, he came to ask whether I needed +anything from Florence. I said no, and he begged me to allow him to go +in my name to pay you my respects, merely on account of his own desire +to speak with you. I have nothing more to write, except that I beg you +to return quickly. When you come you will deliver me from prison, +because I wish to avoid bad companions; and having this desire, I +cannot converse with any one but you. I recommend myself to you a +thousand times.--Yours more than his own, + + "Thomao Cavaliere. + "Rome, _August 2, 1533_." + + +It appears from the third letter, also sent to Florence, that during +the course of the month Michelangelo had despatched some of the +drawings he made expressly for his friend:--"Unique, my Lord,--Some +days ago I received a letter from you, which was very welcome, both +because I learned from it that you were well, and also because I can +now be sure that you will soon return. I was very sorry not to be able +to answer at once. However, it consoles me to think that, when you +know the cause, you will hold me excused. On the day your letter +reached me, I was attacked with vomiting and such high fever that I +was on the point of death; and certainly I should have died, if it +(i.e., the letter) had not somewhat revived me. Since then, thank God, +I have been always well. Messer Bartolommeo (Angelini) has now brought +me a sonnet sent by you, which has made me feel it my duty to write. +Some three days since I received my Phaethon, which is exceedingly +well done. The Pope, the Cardinal de' Medici, and every one, have seen +it; I do not know what made them want to do so. The Cardinal expressed +a wish to inspect all your drawings, and they pleased him so much that +he said he should like to have the Tityos and Ganymede done in +crystal. I could not manage to prevent him from using the Tityos, and +it is now being executed by Maestro Giovanni. Hard I struggled to save +the Ganymede. The other day I went, as you requested, to Fra +Sebastiano. He sends a thousand messages, but only to pray you to come +back.--Your affectionate, + + "Thomao Cavaliere. + "Rome, _September 6_." + +All the drawings mentioned by Vasari as having been made for Cavalieri +are alluded to here, except the Bacchanal of Children. Of the Phaethon +we have two splendid examples in existence, one at Windsor, the other +in the collection of M. Emile Galichon. They differ considerably in +details, but have the same almost mathematical exactitude of pyramidal +composition. That belonging to M. Galichon must have been made in +Rome, for it has this rough scrawl in Michelangelo's hand at the +bottom, "Tomao, se questo scizzo non vi piace, ditelo a Urbino." He +then promises to make another. Perhaps Cavalieri sent word back that +he did not like something in the sketch--possibly the women writhing +into trees--and that to this circumstance we owe the Windsor drawing, +which is purer in style. There is a fine Tityos with the vulture at +Windsor, so exquisitely finished and perfectly preserved that one can +scarcely believe it passed through the hands of Maestro Giovanni. +Windsor, too, possesses a very delicate Ganymede, which seems intended +for an intaglio. The subject is repeated in an unfinished pen-design +at the Uffizi, incorrectly attributed to Michelangelo, and is +represented by several old engravings. The Infant Bacchanals again +exist at Windsor, and fragmentary jottings upon the margin of other +sketches intended for the same theme survive. + + +VI + +A correspondence between Bartolommeo Angelini in Rome and Michelangelo +in Florence during the summers of 1532 and 1533 throws some light upon +the latter's movements, and also upon his friendship for Tommaso +Cavalieri. The first letter of this series, written on the 21st of +August 1532, shows that Michelangelo was then expected in Rome. "Fra +Sebastiano says that you wish to dismount at your own house. Knowing +then that there is nothing but the walls, I hunted up a small amount +of furniture, which I have had sent thither, in order that you may be +able to sleep and sit down and enjoy some other conveniences. For +eating, you will be able to provide yourself to your own liking in the +neighbourhood." From the next letter (September 18, 1532) it appears +that Michelangelo was then in Rome. There ensues a gap in the +correspondence, which is not resumed until July 12, 1533. It now +appears that Buonarroti had recently left Rome at the close of another +of his visits. Angelini immediately begins to speak of Tommaso +Cavalieri. "I gave that soul you wrote of to M. Tommao, who sends you +his very best regards, and begs me to communicate any letters I may +receive from you to him. Your house is watched continually every +night, and I often go to visit it by day. The hens and master cock are +in fine feather, and the cats complain greatly over your absence, +albeit they have plenty to eat." Angelini never writes now without +mentioning Cavalieri. Since this name does not occur in the +correspondence before the date of July 12, 1533, it is possible that +Michelangelo made the acquaintance during his residence at Rome in the +preceding winter. His letters to Angelini must have conveyed frequent +expressions of anxiety concerning Cavalieri's affection; for the +replies invariably contain some reassuring words (July 26): "Yours +makes me understand how great is the love you bear him; and in truth, +so far as I have seen, he does not love you less than you love him." +Again (August 11, 1533): "I gave your letter to M. Thomao, who sends +you his kindest remembrances, and shows the very strongest desire for +your return, saying that when he is with you, then he is really happy, +because he possesses all that he wishes for upon this world. So then, +it seems to me that, while you are fretting to return, he is burning +with desire for you to do so. Why do you not begin in earnest to make +plans for leaving Florence? It would give peace to yourself and all of +us, if you were here. I have seen your soul, which is in good health +and under good guardianship. The body waits for your arrival." + +This mysterious reference to the soul, which Angelini gave, at +Buonarroti's request, to young Cavalieri, and which he now describes +as prospering, throws some light upon the passionate phrases of the +following mutilated letter, addressed to Angelini by Michelangelo upon +the 11th of October. The writer, alluding to Messer Tommao, says that, +having given him his heart, he can hardly go on living in his absence: +"And so, if I yearn day and night without intermission to be in Rome, +it is only in order to return again to life, which I cannot enjoy +without the soul." This conceit is carried on for some time, and the +letter winds up with the following sentence: "My dear Bartolommeo, +although you may think that I am joking with you, this is not the +case. I am talking sober sense, for I have grown twenty years older +and twenty pounds lighter since I have been here." This epistle, as we +shall see in due course, was acknowledged. All Michelangelo's +intimates in Rome became acquainted with the details of this +friendship. Writing to Sebastiano from Florence in this year, he says: +"I beg you, if you see Messer T. Cavalieri, to recommend me to him +infinitely; and when you write, tell me something about him to keep +him in my memory; for if I were to lose him from my mind, I believe +that I should fall down dead straightway." In Sebastiano's letters +there is one allusion to Cavalieri, who had come to visit him in the +company of Bartolommeo Angelini, when he was ill. + +It is not necessary to follow all the references to Tommaso Cavalieri +contained in Angelini's letters. They amount to little more than kind +messages and warm wishes for Michelangelo's return. Soon, however, +Michelangelo began to send poems, which Angelini acknowledges +(September 6): "I have received the very welcome letter you wrote me, +together with your graceful and beautiful sonnet, of which I kept a +copy, and then sent it on to M. Thomao. He was delighted to possess +it, being thereby assured that God has deigned to bestow upon him the +friendship of a man endowed with so many noble gifts as you are." +Again he writes (October 18): "Yours of the 12th is to hand, together +with M. Thomao's letter and the most beautiful sonnets. I have kept +copies, and sent them on to him for whom they were intended, because I +know with what affection he regards all things that pertain to you. He +promised to send an answer which shall be enclosed in this I now am +writing. He is counting not the days merely, but the hours, till you +return." In another letter, without date, Angelini says, "I gave your +messages to M. Thomao, who replied that your presence would be dearer +to him than your writing, and that if it seems to you a thousand +years, to him it seems ten thousand, till you come. I received your +gallant (galante) and beautiful sonnet; and though you said nothing +about it, I saw at once for whom it was intended, and gave it to him. +Like everything of yours, it delighted him. The tenor of the sonnet +shows that love keeps you perpetually restless. I do not think this +ought to be the effect of love, and so I send you one of my poor +performances to prove the contrary opinion." We may perhaps assume +that this sonnet was the famous No. xxxi., from the last line of which +every one could perceive that Michelangelo meant it for Tommaso +Cavalieri. + + +VII + +It is significant that, while Michelangelo's affection for the young +Roman was thus acquiring force, another friendship, which must have +once been very dear to him, sprang up and then declined, but not +apparently through his own fault or coldness. We hear of Febo di +Poggio in the following autumn for the first and last time. Before +proceeding to speak of him, I will wind up what has to be said about +Tommaso Cavalieri. Not long after the date of the last letter quoted +above, Michelangelo returned to Rome, and settled there for the rest +of his life. He continued to the end of his days in close friendship +with Cavalieri, who helped to nurse him during his last illness, who +took charge of his effects after his death, and who carried on the +architectural work he had begun at the Capitol. + +Their friendship seems to have been uninterrupted by any disagreement, +except on one occasion when Michelangelo gave way to his suspicious +irritability, quite at the close of his long life. This drew forth +from Cavalieri the following manly and touching letter:-- + +"Very magnificent, my Lord,--I have noticed during several days past +that you have some grievance--what, I do not know--against me. +Yesterday I became certain of it when I went to your house. As I +cannot imagine the cause, I have thought it best to write this, in +order that, if you like, you may inform me. I am more than positive +that I never offended you. But you lend easy credence to those whom +perhaps you ought least to trust; and some one has possibly told you +some lie, for fear I should one day reveal the many knaveries done +under your name, the which do you little honour; and if you desire to +know about them, you shall. Only I cannot, nor, if I could, should I +wish to force myself--but I tell you frankly that if you do not want +me for a friend, you can do as you like, but you cannot compel me not +to be a friend to you. I shall always try to do you service; and only +yesterday I came to show you a letter written by the Duke of Florence, +and to lighten your burdens, as I have ever done until now. Be sure +you have no better friend than me; but on this I will not dwell. +Still, if you think otherwise, I hope that in a short time you will +explain matters; and I know that you know I have always been your +friend without the least interest of my own. Now I will say no more, +lest I should seem to be excusing myself for something which does not +exist, and which I am utterly unable to imagine. I pray and conjure +you, by the love you bear to God, that you tell me what you have +against me, in order that I may disabuse you. Not having more to +write, I remain your servant, + + "Thomao De' Cavalieri. + "From my house, November 15, 1561." + +It is clear from this letter, and from the relations which subsisted +between Michelangelo and Cavalieri up to the day of his death, that +the latter was a gentleman of good repute and honour, whose affection +did credit to his friend. I am unable to see that anything but an +injury to both is done by explaining away the obvious meaning of the +letters and the sonnets I have quoted. The supposition that +Michelangelo intended the Cavalieri letters to reach Vittoria Colonna +through that friend's hands does not, indeed, deserve the complete +refutation which I have given it. I am glad, however, to be able to +adduce the opinion of a caustic Florentine scholar upon this topic, +which agrees with my own, and which was formed without access to the +original documents which I have been enabled to make use of. Fanfani +says: "I have searched, but in vain, for documentary proofs of the +passion which Michelangelo is supposed to have felt for Vittoria +Colonna, and which she returned with ardour according to the assertion +of some critics. My own belief, concurring with that of better judges +than myself, is that we have here to deal with one of the many +baseless stories told about him. Omitting the difficulties presented +by his advanced age, it is wholly contrary to all we know about the +Marchioness, and not a little damaging to her reputation for +austerity, to suppose that this admirable matron, who, after the death +of her husband, gave herself up to God, and abjured the commerce of +the world, should, later in life, have carried on an intrigue, as the +saying is, upon the sly, particularly when a third person is imposed +on our credulity, acting the part of go-between and cloak in the +transaction, as certain biographers of the great artist, and certain +commentators of his poetry, are pleased to assert, with how much +common-sense and what seriousness I will not ask." + + +VIII + +The history of Luigi del Riccio's affection for a lad of Florence +called Cecchino dei Bracci, since this is interwoven with +Michelangelo's own biography and the criticism of his poems, may be +adduced in support of the argument I am developing. Cecchino was a +youth of singular promise and personal charm. His relative, the +Florentine merchant, Luigi del Riccio, one of Buonarroti's most +intimate friends and advisers, became devotedly attached to the boy. +Michelangelo, after his return to Rome in 1534, shared this friend +Luigi's admiration for Cecchino; and the close intimacy into which the +two elder men were drawn, at a somewhat later period of Buonarroti's +life, seems to have been cemented by their common interest in poetry +and their common feeling for a charming personality. We have a letter +of uncertain date, in which Michelangelo tells Del Riccio that he has +sent him a madrigal, begging him, if he thinks fit, to commit the +verses "to the fire--that is, to what consumes me." Then he asks him +to resolve a certain problem which has occurred to his mind during the +night, "for while I was saluting _our idol_ in a dream, it seemed to +me that he laughed, and in the same instant threatened me; and not +knowing which of these two moods I have to abide by, I beg you to find +out from him; and on Sunday, when we meet again, you will inform me." +Cecchino, who is probably alluded to in this letter, died at Rome on +the 8th of January 1542, and was buried in the Church of Araceli. +Luigi felt the blow acutely. Upon the 12th of January he wrote to his +friend Donate Giannotti, then at Vicenza, in the following words:-- + +"Alas, my friend Donato! Our Cecchino is dead. All Rome weeps. +Michelangelo is making for me the design of a decent sepulture in +marble; and I pray you to write me the epitaph, and to send it to me +with a consolatory letter, if time permits, for my grief has +distraught me. Patience! I live with a thousand and a thousand deaths +each hour. O God! How has Fortune changed her aspect!" Giannotti +replied, enclosing three fine sonnets, the second of which, +beginning-- + + _Messer Luigi mio, di noi che fia + Che sian restati senza il nostro sole?_ + +seems to have taken Michelangelo's fancy. Many good pens in Italy +poured forth laments on this occasion. We have verses written by +Giovanni Aldobrandini, Carlo Gondi, Fra Paolo del Rosso, and Anton +Francesco Grazzini, called Il Lasca. Not the least touching is Luigi's +own threnody, which starts upon this note:-- + + _Idol mio, che la tua leggiadra spoglia + Mi lasciasti anzi tempo._ + +Michelangelo, seeking to indulge his own grief and to soothe that of +his friend Luigi, composed no fewer than forty-two epigrams of four +lines each, in which he celebrated the beauty and rare personal +sweetness of Cecchino in laboured philosophical conceits. They rank +but low among his poems, having too much of scholastic trifling and +too little of the accent of strong feeling in them. Certainly these +pieces did not deserve the pains which Michelangelo the younger +bestowed, when he altered the text of a selection from them so as to +adapt their Platonic compliments to some female. Far superior is a +sonnet written to Del Riccio upon the death of the youth, showing how +recent had been Michelangelo's acquaintance with Cecchino, and +containing an unfulfilled promise to carve his portrait:-- + + _Scarce had I seen for the first time his eyes, + Which to your living eyes were life and light, + When, closed at last in death's injurious night, + He opened them on God in Paradise. + I know it, and I weep--too late made wise: + Yet was the fault not mine; for death's fell spite + Robbed my desire of that supreme delight + Which in your better memory never dies. + Therefore, Luigi, if the task be mine + To make unique Cecchino smile in stone + For ever, now that earth hath made him dim, + If the beloved within the lover shine, + Since art without him cannot work alone, + You must I carve to tell the world of him._ + +The strange blending of artificial conceits with spontaneous feeling +in these poetical effusions, the deep interest taken in a mere lad +like Cecchino by so many eminent personages, and the frank publicity +given to a friendship based apparently upon the beauty of its object, +strike us now as almost unintelligible. Yet we have the history of +Shakespeare's Sonnets, and the letters addressed by Languet to young +Sidney, in evidence that fashion at the end of the sixteenth century +differed widely from that which prevails at the close of the +nineteenth. + + +IX + +Some further light may here be thrown upon Michelangelo's intimacy +with young men by two fragments extracted independently from the +Buonarroti Archives by Milanesi and Guasti. In the collection of the +letters we find the following sorrowful epistle, written in December +1533, upon the eve of Michelangelo's departure from Florence. It is +addressed to a certain Febo:-- + +"Febo,--Albeit you bear the greatest hatred toward my person--I know +not why--I scarcely believe, because of the love I cherish for you, +but probably through the words of others, to which you ought to give +no credence, having proved me--yet I cannot do otherwise than write to +you this letter. I am leaving Florence to-morrow, and am going to +Pescia to meet the Cardinal di Cesis and Messer Baldassare. I shall +journey with them to Pisa, and thence to Rome, and I shall never +return again to Florence. I wish you to understand that, so long as I +live, wherever I may be, I shall always remain at your service with +loyalty and love, in a measure unequalled by any other friend whom you +may have upon this world. + +"I pray God to open your eyes from some other quarter, in order that +you may come to comprehend that he who desires your good more than his +own welfare, is able to love, not to hate like an enemy." + +Milanesi prints no more of the manuscript in his edition of the +Letters. But Guasti, conscientiously collecting fragments of +Michelangelo's verses, gives six lines, which he found at the foot of +the epistle:-- + + _Vo' sol del mie morir contento veggio: + La terra piange, e'l ciel per me si muove; + E vo' men pieta stringe ov' io sto peggio._ + _O sol che scaldi il mondo in ogni dove, + O Febo, o luce eterna de' mortali, + Perche a me sol ti scuri e non altrove? + + * * * * * + + Naught comforts you, I see, unless I die: + Earth weeps, the heavens for me are moved to woe; + You feel of grief the less, the more grieve I. + O sun that warms the world where'er you go, + O Febo, light eterne for mortal eyes! + Why dark to me alone, elsewhere not so?_ + +These verses seem to have been written as part of a long Capitolo +which Michelangelo himself, the elder, used indifferently in +addressing Febo and his abstract "donna." Who Febo was, we do not +know. But the sincere accent of the letter and the lyric cry of the +rough lines leave us to imagine that he was some one for whom +Michelangelo felt very tenderly in Florence. + +Milanesi prints this letter to Febo with the following title, "_A Febo +(di Poggio)_." This proves that he at any rate knew it had been +answered by some one signing "Febo di Poggio." The autograph, in an +illiterate hand and badly spelt, is preserved among the Buonarroti +Archives, and bears date January 14, 1534. Febo excuses himself for +not having been able to call on Michelangelo the night before he left +Florence, and professes to have come the next day and found him +already gone. He adds that he is in want of money, both to buy clothes +and to go to see the games upon the Monte. He prays for a gratuity, +and winds up: "Vostro da figliuolo (yours like a son), Febo di +Poggio." I will add a full translation here:-- + +"Magnificent M. Michelangelo, to be honoured as a father,--I came back +yesterday from Pisa, whither I had gone to see my father. Immediately +upon my arrival, that friend of yours at the bank put a letter from +you into my hands, which I received with the greatest pleasure, having +heard of your well-being. God be praised, I may say the same about +myself. Afterwards I learned what you say about my being angry with +you. You know well I could not be angry with you, since I regard you +in the place of a father. Besides, your conduct toward me has not been +of the sort to cause in me any such effect. That evening when you left +Florence, in the morning I could not get away from M. Vincenzo, though +I had the greatest desire to speak with you. Next morning I came to +your house, and you were already gone, and great was my disappointment +at your leaving Florence without my seeing you. + +"I am here in Florence; and when you left, you told me that if I +wanted anything, I might ask it of that friend of yours; and now that +M. Vincenzo is away, I am in want of money, both to clothe myself, and +also to go to the Monte, to see those people fighting, for M. Vincenzo +is there. Accordingly, I went to visit that friend at the bank, and he +told me that he had no commission whatsoever from you; but that a +messenger was starting to-night for Rome, and that an answer could +come back within five days. So then, if you give him orders, he will +not fail, I beseech you, then, to provide and assist me with any sum +you think fit, and do not fail to answer. + +"I will not write more, except that with all my heart and power I +recommend myself to you, praying God to keep you from harm.--Yours in +the place of a son, + + "Febo Di Poggio. + "Florence, _January 4, 154_." + + +X + +In all the compositions I have quoted as illustrative of +Michelangelo's relations with young men, there is a singular humility +which gives umbrage to his editors. The one epistle to Gherardo +Perini, cited above, contains the following phrases: "I do not feel +myself of force enough to correspond to your kind letter;" "Your most +faithful and poor friend." + +Yet there was nothing extraordinary in Cavalieri, Cecchino, Febo, or +Perini, except their singularity of youth and grace, good parts and +beauty. The vulgar are offended when an illustrious man pays homage to +these qualities, forgetful of Shakespeare's self-abasement before Mr. +W.H. and of Languet's prostration at the feet of Sidney. In the case +of Michelangelo, we may find a solution of this problem, I think, in +one of his sonnets. He says, writing a poem belonging very probably to +the series which inspires Michelangelo the younger with alarm:-- + + _As one who will re-seek her home of light, + Thy form immortal to this prison-house + Descended, like an angel-piteous, + To heal all hearts and make the whole world bright, + 'Tis this that thralls my soul in love's delight, + Not thy clear face of beauty glorious; + For he who harbours virtue still will choose + To love what neither years nor death can blight. + So fares it ever with things high and rare + Wrought in the sweat of nature; heaven above + Showers on their birth the blessings of her prime: + Nor hath God deigned to show Himself elsewhere + More clearly than in human forms sublime, + Which, since they image Him, alone I love._ + +It was not, then, to this or that young man, to this or that woman, +that Michelangelo paid homage, but to the eternal beauty revealed in +the mortal image of divinity before his eyes. The attitude of the +mind, the quality of passion, implied in these poems, and conveyed +more clumsily through the prose of the letters, may be difficult to +comprehend. But until we have arrived at seizing them we shall fail to +understand the psychology of natures like Michelangelo. No language of +admiration is too strong, no self-humiliation too complete, for a soul +which has recognised deity made manifest in one of its main +attributes, beauty. In the sight of a philosopher, a poet, and an +artist, what are kings, popes, people of importance, compared with a +really perfect piece of God's handiwork? + + _From thy fair face I learn, O my loved lord, + That which no mortal tongue can rightly say; + The soul imprisoned in her house of clay, + Holpen by thee, to God hath often soared. + And though the vulgar, vain, malignant horde + Attribute what their grosser wills obey, + Yet shall this fervent homage that I pay, + This love, this faith, pure joys for us afford. + Lo, all the lovely things we find on earth, + Resemble for the soul that rightly sees + That source of bliss divine which gave us birth: + Nor have we first-fruits or remembrances + Of heaven elsewhere. Thus, loving loyally, + I rise to God, and make death sweet by thee._ + +We know that, in some way or other, perhaps during those early years +at Florence among the members of the Platonic Academy, Michelangelo +absorbed the doctrines of the _Phoedrus_ and _Symposium_. His poems +abound in references to the contrast between Uranian and Pandemic, +celestial and vulgar, Eros. We have even one sonnet in which he +distinctly states the Greek opinion that the love of women is unworthy +of a soul bent upon high thoughts and virile actions. It reads like a +verse transcript from the main argument of the _Symposium_:-- + + _Love is not always harsh and deadly sin, + When love for boundless beauty makes us pine; + The heart, by love left soft and infantine, + Will let the shafts of God's grace enter in. + Love wings and wakes the soul, stirs her to win + Her flight aloft, nor e'er to earth decline; + 'Tis the first step that leads her to the shrine + Of Him who slakes the thirst that burns within._ + + _The love of that whereof I speak ascends: + Woman is different far; the love of her + But ill befits a heart manly and wise. + The one love soars, the other earthward tends; + The soul lights this, while that the senses stir; + And still lust's arrow at base quarry flies._ + +The same exalted Platonism finds obscure but impassioned expression in +this fragment of a sonnet (No. lxxix.):---- + + _For Love's fierce wound, and for the shafts that harm, + True medicine 'twould have been to pierce my heart; + But my soul's Lord owns only one strong charm, + Which makes life grow where grows life's mortal smart. + My Lord dealt death, when with his-powerful arm + He bent Love's bow. Winged with that shaft, from Love + An angel flew, cried, "Love, nay Burn! Who dies, + Hath but Love's plumes whereby to soar above! + Lo, I am He who from thine earliest years + Toward, heaven-born Beauty raised thy faltering eyes. + Beauty alone lifts live man to heaven's spheres."_ + +Feeling like this, Michelangelo would have been justly indignant with +officious relatives and critics, who turned his _amici_ into _animi_, +redirected his Cavalieri letters to the address of Vittoria Colonna, +discovered Florence in Febo di Poggio, and ascribed all his emotional +poems to some woman. + +There is no doubt that both the actions and the writings of +contemporaries justified a considerable amount of scepticism regarding +the purity of Platonic affections. The words and lives of many +illustrious persons gave colour to what Segni stated in his History of +Florence, and what Savonarola found it necessary to urge upon the +people from his pulpit. + +But we have every reason to feel certain that, in a malicious age, +surrounded by jealous rivals, with the fierce light of his +transcendent glory beating round his throne, Buonarroti suffered from +no scandalous reports, and maintained an untarnished character for +sobriety of conduct and purity of morals. + +The general opinion regarding him may be gathered from Scipione +Ammirati's History (under the year 1564). This annalist records the +fact that "Buonarotti having lived for ninety years, there was never +found through all that length of time, and with all that liberty to +sin, any one who could with right and justice impute to him a stain or +any ugliness of manners." + +How he appeared to one who lived and worked with him for a long period +of intimacy, could not be better set forth than in the warm and +ingenuous words of Condivi: "He has loved the beauty of the human body +with particular devotion, as is natural with one who knows that beauty +so completely; and has loved it in such wise that certain carnally +minded men, who do not comprehend the love of beauty, except it be +lascivious and indecorous, have been led thereby to think and to speak +evil of him: just as though Alcibiades, that comeliest young man, had +not been loved in all purity by Socrates, from whose side, when they +reposed together, he was wont to say that he arose not otherwise than +from the side of his own father. Oftentimes have I heard Michelangelo +discoursing and expounding on the theme of love, and have afterwards +gathered from those who were present upon these occasions that he +spoke precisely as Plato wrote, and as we may read in Plato's works +upon this subject. I, for myself, do not know what Plato says; but I +know full well that, having so long and so intimately conversed with +Michelangelo, I never once heard issue from that mouth words that were +not of the truest honesty, and such as had virtue to extinguish in the +heart of youth any disordered and uncurbed desire which might assail +it. I am sure, too, that no vile thoughts were born in him, by this +token, that he loved not only the beauty of human beings, but in +general all fair things, as a beautiful horse, a beautiful dog, a +beautiful piece of country, a beautiful plant, a beautiful mountain, a +beautiful wood, and every site or thing in its kind fair and rare, +admiring them with marvellous affection. This was his way; to choose +what is beautiful from nature, as bees collect the honey from flowers, +and use it for their purpose in their workings: which indeed was +always the method of those masters who have acquired any fame in +painting. That old Greek artist, when he wanted to depict a Venus, was +not satisfied with the sight of one maiden only. On the contrary, he +sought to study many; and culling from each the particular in which +she was most perfect, to make use of these details in his Venus. Of a +truth, he who imagines to arrive at any excellence without following +this system (which is the source of a true theory in the arts), shoots +very wide indeed of his mark." + +Condivi perhaps exaggerated the influence of lovely nature, horses, +dogs, flowers, hills, woods, &c., on Michelangelo's genius. His work, +as we know, is singularly deficient in motives drawn from any province +but human beauty; and his poems and letters contain hardly a trace of +sympathy with the external world. Yet, in the main contention, Condivi +told the truth. Michelangelo's poems and letters, and the whole series +of his works in fresco and marble, suggest no single detail which is +sensuous, seductive, enfeebling to the moral principles. Their tone +may be passionate; it is indeed often red-hot with a passion like that +of Lucretius and Beethoven; but the genius of the man transports the +mind to spiritual altitudes, where the lust of the eye and the +longings of the flesh are left behind us in a lower region. Only a +soul attuned to the same chord of intellectual rapture can breathe in +that fiery atmosphere and feel the vibrations of its electricity. + + +XI + +I have used Michelangelo's poems freely throughout this work as +documents illustrative of his opinions and sentiments, and also in +their bearing on the events of his life. I have made them reveal the +man in his personal relations to Pope Julius II., to Vittoria Colonna, +to Tommaso dei Cavalieri, to Luigi del Riccio, to Febo di Poggio. I +have let them tell their own tale, when sorrow came upon him in the +death of his father and Urbino, and when old age shook his lofty +spirit with the thought of approaching death. I have appealed to them +for lighter incidents: matters of courtesy, the completion of the +Sistine vault, the statue of Night at S. Lorenzo, the subjection of +Florence to the Medici, his heart-felt admiration for Dante's genius. +Examples of his poetic work, so far as these can be applied to the +explanation of his psychology, his theory of art, his sympathies, his +feeling under several moods of passion, will consequently be found +scattered up and down by volumes. Translation, indeed, is difficult to +the writer, and unsatisfactory to the reader. But I have been at pains +to direct an honest student to the original sources, so that he may, +if he wishes, compare my versions with the text. Therefore I do not +think it necessary to load this chapter with voluminous citations. +Still, there remains something to be said about Michelangelo as poet, +and about the place he occupies as poet in Italian literature. + +The value of Michelangelo's poetry is rather psychological than purely +literary. He never claimed to be more than an amateur, writing to +amuse himself. His style is obscure, crabbed, ungrammatical. +Expression only finds a smooth and flowing outlet when the man's +nature is profoundly stirred by some powerful emotion, as in the +sonnets to Cavalieri, or the sonnets on the deaths of Vittoria Colonna +and Urbino, or the sonnets on the thought of his own death. For the +most part, it is clear that he found great difficulty in mastering his +thoughts and images. This we discover from the innumerable variants of +the same madrigal or sonnet which he made, and his habit of returning +to them at intervals long after their composition. A good fourth of +the Codex Vaticanus consists of repetitions and _rifacimenti_. He was +also wont to submit what he wrote to the judgment of his friends, +requesting them to alter and improve. He often had recourse to Luigi +del Riccio's assistance in such matters. I may here adduce an inedited +letter from two friends in Rome, Giovanni Francesco Bini and Giovanni +Francesco Stella, who returned a poem they had handled in this manner: +"We have done our best to alter some things in your sonnet, but not to +set it all to rights, since there was not much wanting. Now that it is +changed or put in order, according as the kindness of your nature +wished, the result will be more due to your own judgment than to ours, +since you have the true conception of the subject in your mind. We +shall be greatly pleased if you find yourself as well served as we +earnestly desire that you should command us." It was the custom of +amateur poets to have recourse to literary craftsmen before they +ventured to circulate their compositions. An amusing instance of this +will be found in Professor Biagi's monograph upon Tullia d'Aragona, +all of whose verses passed through the crucible of Benedetto Varchi's +revision. + +The thoughts and images out of which Michelangelo's poetry is woven +are characteristically abstract and arid. He borrows no illustrations +from external nature. The beauty of the world and all that lives in it +might have been non-existent so far as he was concerned. Nor do his +octave stanzas in praise of rural life form an exception to this +statement; for these are imitated from Poliziano, so far as they +attempt pictures of the country, and their chief poetical feature is +the masque of vices belonging to human nature in the city. His +stock-in-trade consists of a few Platonic notions and a few Petrarchan +antitheses. In the very large number of compositions which are devoted +to love, this one idea predominates: that physical beauty is a direct +beam sent from the eternal source of all reality, in order to elevate +the lover's soul and lead him on the upward path toward heaven. Carnal +passion he regards with the aversion of an ascetic. It is impossible +to say for certain to whom these mystical love-poems were addressed. +Whether a man or a woman is in the case (for both were probably the +objects of his aesthetical admiration), the tone of feeling, the +language, and the philosophy do not vary. He uses the same imagery, +the same conceits, the same abstract ideas for both sexes, and adapts +the leading motive which he had invented for a person of one sex to a +person of the other when it suits his purpose. In our absolute +incapacity to fix any amative connection upon Michelangelo, or to link +his name with that of any contemporary beauty, we arrive at the +conclusion, strange as this may be, that the greater part of his +love-poetry is a scholastic exercise upon emotions transmuted into +metaphysical and mystical conceptions. Only two pieces in the long +series break this monotony by a touch of realism. They are divided by +a period of more than thirty years. The first seems to date from an +early epoch of his life:-- + + _What joy hath yon glad wreath of flowers that is + Around her golden hair so deftly twined, + Each blossom pressing forward from behind, + As though to be the first her brows to kiss! + The livelong day her dress hath perfect bliss, + That now reveals her breast, now seems to bind: + And that fair woven net of gold refined + Rests on her cheek and throat in happiness! + Yet still more blissful seems to me the band, + Gilt at the tips, so sweetly doth it ring, + And clasp the bosom that it serves to lace: + Yea, and the belt, to such as understand, + Bound round her waist, saith: Here I'd ever cling! + What would my arms do in that girdle's place?_ + +The second can be ascribed with probability to the year 1534 or 1535. +It is written upon the back of a rather singular letter addressed to +him by a certain Pierantonio, when both men were in Rome together:-- + + _Kind to the world, but to itself unkind, + A worm is born, that, dying noiselessly, + Despoils itself to clothe fair limbs, and be + In its true worth alone by death divined. + Would I might die for my dear lord to find + Raiment in my outworn mortality; + That, changing like the snake, I might be free + To cast the slough wherein I dwell confined! + Nay, were it mine, that shaggy fleece that stays, + Woven and wrought into a vestment fair, + Around yon breast so beauteous in such bliss! + All through the day thou'd have me! Would I were + The shoes that bear that burden! when the ways + Were wet with rain, thy feet I then should kiss!_ + +I have already alluded to the fact that we can trace two widely +different styles of writing in Michelangelo's poetry. Some of his +sonnets, like the two just quoted, and those we can refer with +certainty to the Cavalieri series, together with occasional +compositions upon the deaths of Cecchino and Urbino, seem to come +straight from the heart, and their manuscripts offer few variants to +the editor. Others, of a different quality, where he is dealing with +Platonic subtleties or Petrarchan conceits, have been twisted into so +many forms, and tortured by such frequent re-handlings, that it is +difficult now to settle a final text. The Codex Vaticanus is +peculiarly rich in examples of these compositions. Madrigal lvii. and +Sonnet lx., for example, recur with wearisome reiteration. These +laboured and scholastic exercises, unlike the more spontaneous +utterances of his feelings, are worked up into different forms, and +the same conceits are not seldom used for various persons and on +divers occasions. + +One of the great difficulties under which a critic labours in +discussing these personal poems is that their chronology cannot be +ascertained in the majority of instances. Another is that we are +continually hampered by the false traditions invented by Michelangelo +the younger. Books like Lannan Rolland's "Michel-Ange et Vittoria +Colonna" have no value whatsoever, because they are based upon that +unlucky grand-nephew's deliberately corrupted text. Even Wadsworth's +translations, fine as they are, have lost a large portion of their +interest since the publication of the autographs by Cesare Guasti in +1863. It is certain that the younger Michelangelo meant well to his +illustrious ancestor. He was anxious to give his rugged compositions +the elegance and suavity of academical versification. He wished also +to defend his character from the imputation of immorality. Therefore +he rearranged the order of stanzas in the longer poems, pieced +fragments together, changed whole lines, ideas, images, amplified and +mutilated, altered phrases which seemed to him suspicious. Only one +who has examined the manuscripts of the Buonarroti Archives knows what +pains he bestowed upon this ungrateful and disastrous task. But the +net result of his meddlesome benevolence is that now for nearly three +centuries the greatest genius of the Italian Renaissance has worn a +mask concealing the real nature of his emotion, and that a false +legend concerning his relations to Vittoria Colonna has become +inextricably interwoven with the story of his life. + +The extraordinary importance attached by Michelangelo in old age to +the passions of his youth is almost sufficient to justify those +psychological investigators who regard him as the subject of a nervous +disorder. It does not seem to be accounted for by anything known to us +regarding his stern and solitary life, his aloofness from the vulgar, +and his self-dedication to study. In addition to the splendid +devotional sonnets addressed to Vasari, which will appear in their +proper place, I may corroborate these remarks by the translation of a +set of three madrigals bearing on the topic. + + _Ah me, ah me! how have I been betrayed + By my swift-flitting years, and by the glass, + Which yet tells truth to those who firmly gaze! + Thus happens it when one too long delays, + As I have done, nor feels time fleet and, fade:-- + One morn he finds himself grown old, alas! + To gird my loins, repent, my path repass, + Sound counsel take, I cannot, now death's near; + Foe to myself, each tear, + Each sigh, is idly to the light wind sent, + For there's no loss to equal time ill-spent. + + Ah me, ah me! I wander telling o'er + Past years, and yet in all I cannot view + One day that might be rightly reckoned mine. + Delusive hopes and vain desires entwine + My soul that loves, weeps, burns, and sighs full sore. + Too well I know and prove that this is true, + Since of man's passions none to me are new. + Far from the truth my steps have gone astray, + In peril now I stay, + For, lo! the brief span of my life is o'er. + Yet, were it lengthened, I should love once more. + + Ah me! I wander tired, and know not whither: + I fear to sight my goal, the years gone by + Point it too plain; nor will closed eyes avail. + Now Time hath changed and gnawed this mortal veil, + Death and the soul in conflict strive together + About my future fate that looms so nigh. + Unless my judgment greatly goes awry, + Which God in mercy grant, I can but see + Eternal penalty + Waiting my wasted will, my misused mind, + And know not, Lord, where health and hope to find._ + +After reading these lamentations, it is well to remember that +Michelangelo at times indulged a sense of humour. As examples of his +lighter vein, we might allude to the sonnet on the Sistine and the +capitolo in answer to Francesco Berni, written in the name of Fra +Sebastiano. Sometimes his satire becomes malignant, as in the sonnet +against the people of Pistoja, which breathes the spirit of Dantesque +invective. Sometimes the fierceness of it is turned against himself, +as in the capitolo upon old age and its infirmities. The grotesqueness +of this lurid descant on senility and death is marked by something +rather Teutonic than Italian, a "Danse Macabre" intensity of loathing; +and it winds up with the bitter reflections, peculiar to him in his +latest years, upon the vanity of art. "My much-prized art, on which I +relied and which brought me fame, has now reduced me to this. I am +poor and old, the slave of others. To the dogs I must go, unless I die +quickly." + +A proper conclusion to this chapter may be borrowed from the +peroration of Varchi's discourse upon the philosophical love-poetry of +Michelangelo. This time he chooses for his text the second of those +sonnets (No. lii.) which caused the poet's grand-nephew so much +perplexity, inducing him to alter the word _amici_ in the last line +into _animi_. It runs as follows:-- + + _I saw no mortal beauty with these eyes + When perfect peace in thy fair eyes I found; + But far within, where all is holy ground, + My soul felt Love, her comrade of the skies: + For she was born with God in Paradise; + Else should we still to transient love be bound; + But, finding these so false, we pass beyond + Unto the Love of loves that never dies. + Nay, things that die cannot assuage the thirst + Of souls undying; nor Eternity + Serves Time, where all must fade that flourisheth + _Sense is not love, but lawlessness accurst: + This kills the soul; while our love lifts on high + Our friends on earth--higher in heaven through death._ + +"From this sonnet," says Varchi, "I think that any man possessed of +judgment will be able to discern to what extent this angel, or rather +archangel, in addition to his three first and most noble professions +of architecture, sculpture, and painting, wherein without dispute he +not only eclipses all the moderns, but even surpasses the ancients, +proves himself also excellent, nay singular, in poetry, and in the +true art of loving; the which art is neither less fair nor less +difficult, albeit it be more necessary and more profitable than the +other four. Whereof no one ought to wonder: for this reason; that, +over and above what is manifest to everybody, namely that nature, +desirous of exhibiting her utmost power, chose to fashion a complete +man, and (as the Latins say) one furnished in all proper parts; he, in +addition to the gifts of nature, of such sort and so liberally +scattered, added such study and a diligence so great that, even had he +been by birth most rugged, he might through these means have become +consummate in all virtue: and supposing he were born, I do not say in +Florence and of a very noble family, in the time too of Lorenzo the +Magnificent, who recognised, willed, knew, and had the power to +elevate so vast a genius; but in Scythia, of any stock or stem you +like, under some commonplace barbarian chief, a fellow not disdainful +merely, but furiously hostile to all intellectual ability; still, in +all circumstances, under any star, he would have been Michelangelo, +that is to say, the unique painter, the singular sculptor, the most +perfect architect, the most excellent poet, and a lover of the most +divinest. For the which reasons I (it is now many years ago), holding +his name not only in admiration, but also in veneration, before I knew +that he was architect already, made a sonnet; with which (although it +be as much below the supreme greatness of his worth as it is unworthy +of your most refined and chastened ears) I mean to close this present +conference; reserving the discussion on the arts (in obedience to our +Consul's orders) for another lecture. + + _Illustrious sculptor, 'twas enough and more, + Not with the chisel-and bruised bronze alone, + But also with brush, colour, pencil, tone, + To rival, nay, surpass that fame of yore. + But now, transcending what those laurels bore + Of pride and beauty for our age and zone. + You climb of poetry the third high throne, + Singing love's strife and-peace, love's sweet and sore. + O wise, and dear to God, old man well born, + Who in so many, so fair ways, make fair + This world, how shall your dues be dully paid? + Doomed by eternal charters to adorn + Nature and art, yourself their mirror are, + None, first before, nor second after, made."_ + +In the above translation of Varchi's peroration I have endeavoured to +sustain those long-winded periods of which he was so perfect and +professed a master. We must remember that he actually read this +dissertation before the Florentine Academy on the second Sunday in +Lent, in the year 1546, when Michelangelo was still alive and hearty. +He afterwards sent it to the press; and the studied trumpet-tones of +eulogy, conferring upon Michelangelo the quintuple crown of +pre-eminence in painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry, and loving, +sounded from Venice down to Naples. The style of the oration may +strike us as _rococo_ now, but the accent of praise and appreciation +is surely genuine. Varchi's enthusiastic comment on the sonnets xxx, +xxxi, and lii, published to men of letters, taste, and learning in +Florence and all Italy, is the strongest vindication of their +innocence against editors and scholars who in various ways have +attempted to disfigure or to misconstrue them. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +I + +The correspondence which I used in the eleventh chapter, while +describing Michelangelo's difficulties regarding the final contract +with the Duke of Urbino, proves that he had not begun to paint the +frescoes of the Cappella Paolina in October 1542. They were carried on +with interruptions during the next seven years. These pictures, the +last on which his talents were employed, are two large subjects: the +Conversion of S. Paul, and the Martyrdom of S. Peter. They have +suffered from smoke and other injuries of time even more than the +frescoes of the Sistine, and can now be scarcely appreciated owing to +discoloration. Nevertheless, at no period, even when fresh from the +master's hand, can they have been typical of his style. It is true +that contemporaries were not of this opinion. Condivi calls both of +them "stupendous not only in the general exposition of the histories +but also in the details of each figure." It is also true that the +technical finish of these large compositions shows a perfect mastery +of painting, and that the great designer has not lost his power of +dealing at will with the human body. But the frigidity of old age had +fallen on his feeling and imagination. The faces of his saints and +angels here are more inexpressive than those of the Last Judgment. The +type of form has become still more rigidly schematic. All those +figures in violent attitudes have been invented in the artist's brain +without reference to nature; and the activity of movement which he +means to suggest, is frozen, petrified, suspended. The suppleness, the +elasticity, the sympathy with which Michelangelo handled the nude, +when he began to paint in the Sistine Chapel, have disappeared. We +cannot refrain from regretting that seven years of his energetic old +age should have been devoted to work so obviously indicative of +decaying faculties. + +The Cappella Paolina ran a risk of destruction by fire during the +course of his operations there. Michelangelo wrote to Del Riccio in +1545, reminding him that part of the roof had been consumed, and that +it would be necessary to cover it in roughly at once, since the rain +was damaging the frescoes and weakening the walls. When they were +finished, Paul III. appointed an official guardian with a fixed +salary, whose sole business it should be "to clean the frescoes well +and keep them in a state of cleanliness, free from dust and other +impurities, as also from the smoke of candles lighted in both chapels +during divine service." This man had charge of the Sistine as well as +the Pauline Chapel; but his office does not seem to have been +continued after the death of the Farnese. The first guardian nominated +was Buonarroti's favourite servant Urbino. + +Vasari, after describing these frescoes in some detail, but without +his customary enthusiasm, goes on to observe: "Michelangelo attended +only, as I have elsewhere said, to the perfection of art. There are no +landscapes, nor trees, nor houses; nor again do we find in his work +that variety of movement and prettiness which may be noticed in the +pictures of other men. He always neglected such decoration, being +unwilling to lower his lofty genius to these details." This is indeed +true of the arid desert of the Pauline frescoes. Then he adds: "They +were his last productions in painting. He was seventy-five years old +when he carried them to completion; and, as he informed me, he did so +with great effort and fatigue--painting, after a certain age, and +especially fresco-painting, not being in truth fit work for old men." + +The first of two acute illnesses, which showed that Michelangelo's +constitution was beginning to give way, happened in the summer of +1544. On this occasion Luigi del Riccio took him into his own +apartments at the Casa Strozzi; and here he nursed him with such +personal devotion that the old man afterwards regarded Del Riccio as +the saviour of his life. We learn this from the following pathetic +sonnet:-- + + _It happens that the sweet unfathomed sea + Of seeming courtesy sometimes doth hide + Offence to life and honour. This descried, + I hold less dear the health restored to me. + He who lends wings of hope, while secretly + He spreads a traitorous snare by the wayside, + Hath dulled the flame of love, and mortified + Friendship where friendship burns most fervently. + Keep then, my dear Luigi, clear and fare, + That ancient love to which my life I owe, + That neither wind nor storm its calm may mar. + For wrath and pain our gratitude obscure; + And if the truest truth of love I know, + One pang outweighs a thousand pleasures far._ + +Ruberto Strozzi, who was then in France, wrote anxiously inquiring +after his health. In reply, Michelangelo sent Strozzi a singular +message by Luigi del Riccio, to the effect that "if the king of France +restored Florence to liberty, he was ready to make his statue on +horseback out of bronze at his own cost, and set it up in the Piazza." +This throws some light upon a passage in a letter addressed +subsequently to Lionardo Buonarroti, when the tyrannous law, termed +"La Polverina," enacted against malcontents by the Duke Cosimo de' +Medici, was disturbing the minds of Florentine citizens. Michelangelo +then wrote as follows: "I am glad that you gave me news of the edict; +because, if I have been careful up to this date in my conversation +with exiles, I shall take more precautions for the future. As to my +having been laid up with an illness in the house of the Strozzi, I do +not hold that I was in their house, but in the apartment of Messer +Luigi del Riccio, who was my intimate friend; and after the death of +Bartolommeo Angelini, I found no one better able to transact my +affairs, or more faithfully, than he did. When he died, I ceased to +frequent the house, as all Rome can bear me witness; as they can also +with regard to the general tenor of my life, inasmuch as I am always +alone, go little around, and talk to no one, least of all to +Florentines. When I am saluted on the open street, I cannot do less +than respond with fair words and pass upon my way. Had I knowledge of +the exiles, who they are, I would not reply to them in any manner. As +I have said, I shall henceforward protect myself with diligence, the +more that I have so much else to think about that I find it difficult +to live." + +This letter of 1548, taken in connection with the circumstances of +Michelangelo's illness in 1544, his exchange of messages with Ruberto +degli Strozzi, his gift of the two Captives to that gentleman, and his +presence in the house of the Strozzi during his recovery, shows the +delicacy of the political situation at Florence under Cosimo's rule. +Slight indications of a reactionary spirit in the aged artist exposed +his family to peril. Living in Rome, Michelangelo risked nothing with +the Florentine government. But "La Polverina" attacked the heirs of +exiles in their property and persons. It was therefore of importance +to establish his non-complicity in revolutionary intrigues. Luckily +for himself and his nephew, he could make out a good case and defend +his conduct. Though Buonarroti's sympathies and sentiments inclined +him to prefer a republic in his native city, and though he threw his +weight into that scale at the crisis of the siege, he did not forget +his early obligations to the House of Medici. Clement VII. accepted +his allegiance when the siege was over, and set him immediately to +work at the tasks he wished him to perform. What is more, the Pope +took pains and trouble to settle the differences between him and the +Duke of Urbino. The man had been no conspirator. The architect and +sculptor was coveted by every pope and prince in Italy. Still there +remained a discord between his political instincts, however prudently +and privately indulged, and his sense of personal loyalty to the +family at whose board he sat in youth, and to whom he owed his +advancement in life. Accordingly, we shall find that, though the Duke +of Tuscany made advances to win him back to Florence, Michelangelo +always preferred to live and die on neutral ground in Rome. Like the +wise man that he was, he seems to have felt through these troublous +times that his own duty, the service laid on him by God and nature, +was to keep his force and mental faculties for art; obliging old +patrons in all kindly offices, suppressing republican aspirations--in +one word, "sticking to his last," and steering clear of shoals on +which the main raft of his life might founder. + +From this digression, which was needful to explain his attitude toward +Florence and part of his psychology, I return to the incidents of +Michelangelo's illness at Rome in 1544. Lionardo, having news of his +uncle's danger, came post-haste to Rome. This was his simple duty, as +a loving relative. But the old man, rendered suspicious by previous +transactions with his family, did not take the action in its proper +light. We have a letter, indorsed by Lionardo in Rome as received upon +the 11th of July, to this effect: "Lionardo, I have been ill; and you, +at the instance of Ser Giovan Francesco (probably Fattucci), have come +to make me dead, and to see what I have left. Is there not enough of +mine at Florence to content you? You cannot deny that you are the +image of your father, who turned me out of my own house in Florence. +Know that I have made a will of such tenor that you need not trouble +your head about what I possess at Rome. Go then with God, and do not +present yourself before me; and do not write to me again, and act like +the priest in the fable." + +The correspondence between uncle and nephew during the next months +proves that this furious letter wrought no diminution of mutual regard +and affection. Before the end of the year he must have recovered, for +we find him writing to Del Riccio: "I am well again now, and hope to +live yet some years, seeing that God has placed my health under the +care of Maestro Baccio Rontini and the trebbian wine of the Ulivieri." +This letter is referred to January 1545, and on the 9th of that month +he dictated a letter to his friend Del Riccio, in which he tells +Lionardo Buonarroti: "I do not feel well, and cannot write. +Nevertheless I have recovered from my illness, and suffer no pain +now." We have reason to think that Michelangelo fell gravely ill again +toward the close of 1545. News came to Florence that he was dying; and +Lionardo, not intimidated by his experience on the last occasion, set +out to visit him. His _ricordo_ of the journey was as follows: "I note +how on the 15th of January 1545 (Flor. style, _i.e._ 1546) I went to +Rome by post to see Michelangelo, who was ill, and returned to-day, +the 26th." + +It is not quite easy to separate the records of these two acute +illnesses of Michelangelo, falling between the summer of 1544 and the +early spring of 1546. Still, there is no doubt that they signalised +his passage from robust old age into a period of physical decline. +Much of life survived in the hero yet; he had still to mould S. +Peter's after his own mind, and to invent the cupola. Intellectually +he suffered no diminution, but he became subject to a chronic disease +of the bladder, and adopted habits suited to decaying faculty. + + +II + +We have seen that Michelangelo regarded Luigi del Riccio as his most +trusty friend and adviser. The letters which he wrote to him during +these years turn mainly upon business or poetical compositions. Some, +however, throw light upon the private life of both men, and on the +nature of their intimacy. I will select a few for special comment +here. The following has no date; but it is interesting, because we may +connect the feeling expressed in it with one of Michelangelo's +familiar sonnets. "Dear Messer Luigi, since I know you are as great a +master of ceremonies as I am unfit for that trade, I beg you to help +me in a little matter. Monsignor di Todi (Federigo Cesi, afterwards +Cardinal of S. Pancrazio) has made me a present, which Urbino will +describe to you. I think you are a friend of his lordship: will you +then thank him in my name, when you find a suitable occasion, and do +so with those compliments which come easily to you, and to me are very +hard? Make me too your debtor for some tartlet." + +The sonnet is No. ix of Signor Guasti's edition. I have translated it +thus:-- + + _The sugar, candles, and the saddled mule, + Together with your cask of malvoisie, + So far exceed all my necessity + That Michael and not I my debt must rule. + In such a glassy calm the breezes fool + My sinking sails, so that amid the sea + My bark hath missed her way, and seems to be + A wisp of straw whirled on a weltering pool. + To yield thee gift for gift and grace for grace, + For food and drink and carriage to and fro, + For all my need in every time and place, + O my dear lord, matched with the much I owe, + All that I am were no real recompense: + Paying a debt is not munificence._ + +In the chapter upon Michelangelo's poetry I dwelt at length upon Luigi +del Riccio's passionate affection for his cousin, Cecchino dei Bracci. +This youth died at the age of sixteen, on January 8, 1545. +Michelangelo undertook to design "the modest sepulchre of marble" +erected to his memory by Del Riccio in the church of Araceli. He also +began to write sonnets, madrigals, and epitaphs, which were sent from +day to day. One of his letters gives an explanation of the eighth +epitaph: "Our dead friend speaks and says: if the heavens robbed all +beauty from all other men on earth to make me only, as indeed they +made me, beautiful; and if by the divine decree I must return at +doomsday to the shape I bore in life, it follows that I cannot give +back the beauty robbed from others and bestowed on me, but that I must +remain for ever more beautiful than the rest, and they be ugly. This +is just the opposite of the conceit you expressed to me yesterday; the +one is a fable, the other is the truth." + +Some time in 1545 Luigi went to Lyons on a visit to Ruberto Strozzi +and Giuliano de' Medici. This seems to have happened toward the end of +the year; for we possess a letter indorsed by him, "sent to Lyons, and +returned upon the 22nd of December." This document contains several +interesting details. "All your friends are extremely grieved to hear +about your illness, the more so that we cannot help you; especially +Messer Donato (Giannotti) and myself. However, we hope that it may +turn out to be no serious affair, God willing. In another letter I +told you that, if you stayed away long, I meant to come to see you. +This I repeat; for now that I have lost the Piacenza ferry, and cannot +live at Rome without income, I would rather spend the little that I +have in hostelries, than crawl about here, cramped up like a penniless +cripple. So, if nothing happens, I have a mind to go to S. James of +Compostella after Easter; and if you have not returned, I should like +to travel through any place where I shall hear that you are staying. +Urbino has spoken to Messer Aurelio, and will speak again. From what +he tells me, I think that you will get the site you wanted for the +tomb of Cecchino. It is nearly finished, and will turn out handsome." + +Michelangelo's project of going upon pilgrimage to Galicia shows that +his health was then good. But we know that he soon afterwards had +another serious illness; and the scheme was abandoned. + +This long and close friendship with Luigi comes to a sudden +termination in one of those stormy outbursts of petulant rage which +form a special feature of Michelangelo's psychology. Some angry words +passed between them about an engraving, possibly of the Last Judgment, +which Buonarroti wanted to destroy, while Del Riccio refused to +obliterate the plate:-- + +"Messer Luigi,--You seem to think I shall reply according to your +wishes, when the case is quite the contrary. You give me what I have +refused, and refuse me what I begged. And it is not ignorance which +makes you send it me through Ercole, when you are ashamed to give it +me yourself. One who saved my life has certainly the power to +disgrace me; but I do not know which is the heavier to bear, disgrace +or death. Therefore I beg and entreat you, by the true friendship +which exists between us, to spoil that print (_stampa_), and to burn +the copies that are already printed off. And if you choose to buy and +sell me, do not so to others. If you hack me into a thousand pieces, I +will do the same, not indeed to yourself, but to what belongs to you. + + "Michelangelo Buonarroti. + +"Not painter, nor sculptor, nor architect, but what you will, but not +a drunkard, as you said at your house." + +Unfortunately, this is the last of the Del Riccio's letters. It is +very probable that the irascible artist speedily recovered his usual +tone, and returned to amity with his old friend. But Del Riccio +departed this life toward the close of this year, 1546. + +Before resuming the narrative of Michelangelo's art-work at this +period, I must refer to the correspondence which passed between him +and King Francis I. The King wrote an epistle in the spring of 1546, +requesting some fine monument from the illustrious master's hand. +Michelangelo replied upon the 26th of April, in language of simple and +respectful dignity, fine, as coming from an aged artist to a monarch +on the eve of death:-- + +"Sacred Majesty,--I know not which is greater, the favour, or the +astonishment it stirs in me, that your Majesty should have deigned to +write to a man of my sort, and still more to ask him for things of his +which are all unworthy of the name of your Majesty. But be they what +they may, I beg your Majesty to know that for a long while since I +have desired to serve you; but not having had an opportunity, owing to +your not being in Italy, I have been unable to do so. Now I am old, +and have been occupied these many months with the affairs of Pope +Paul. But if some space of time is still granted to me after these +engagements, I will do my utmost to fulfil the desire which, as I have +said above, has long inspired me: that is, to make for your Majesty +one work in marble, one in bronze, and one in painting. And if death +prevents my carrying out this wish, should it be possible to make +statues or pictures in the other world, I shall not fail to do so +there, where there is no more growing old. And I pray God that He +grant your Majesty a long and a happy life." + +Francis died in 1547; and we do not know that any of Michelangelo's +works passed directly into his hands, with the exception of the Leda, +purchased through the agency of Luigi Alamanni, and the two Captives, +presented by Ruberto Strozzi. + + +III + +The absorbing tasks imposed upon Buonarroti's energies by Paul III., +which are mentioned in this epistle to the French king, were not +merely the frescoes of the Cappella Paolina, but also various +architectural and engineering schemes of some importance. It is clear, +I think, that at this period of his hale old age, Michelangelo +preferred to use what still survived in him of vigour and creative +genius for things requiring calculation, or the exercise of meditative +fancy. The time had gone by when he could wield the brush and chisel +with effective force. He was tired of expressing his sense of beauty +and the deep thoughts of his brain in sculptured marble or on frescoed +surfaces. He had exhausted the human form as a symbol of artistic +utterance. But the extraordinary richness of his vein enabled him +still to deal with abstract mathematical proportions in the art of +building, and with rhythms in the art of writing. His best work, both +as architect and poet, belongs to the period when he had lost power as +sculptor and painter. This fact is psychologically interesting. Up to +the age of seventy, he had been working in the plastic and the +concrete. The language he had learned, and used with overwhelming +mastery, was man: physical mankind, converted into spiritual vehicle +by art. His grasp upon this region failed him now. Perhaps there was +not the old sympathy with lovely shapes. Perhaps he knew that he had +played on every gamut of that lyre. Emerging from the sphere of the +sensuous, where ideas take plastic embodiment, he grappled in this +final stage of his career with harmonical ratios and direct verbal +expression, where ideas are disengaged from figurative form. The men +and women, loved by him so long, so wonderfully wrought into +imperishable shapes, "nurslings of immortality," recede. In their room +arise, above the horizon of his intellect, the cupola of S. Peter's +and a few imperishable poems, which will live as long as Italian +claims a place among the languages. There is no comparison to be +instituted between his actual achievements as a builder and a +versifier. The whole tenor of his life made him more competent to deal +with architecture than with literature. Nevertheless, it is +significant that the versatile genius of the man was henceforth +restricted to these two channels of expression, and that in both of +them his last twenty years of existence produced bloom and fruit of +unexpected rarity. + +After writing this paragraph, and before I engage in the narrative of +what is certainly the final manifestation of Michelangelo's genius as +a creative artist, I ought perhaps to pause, and to give some account +of those survivals from his plastic impulse, which occupied the old +man's energies for several years. They were entirely the outcome of +religious feeling; and it is curious to notice that he never +approached so nearly to true Christian sentiment as in the fragmentary +designs which we may still abundantly collect from this late autumn of +his artist's life. There are countless drawings for some great picture +of the Crucifixion, which was never finished: exquisite in delicacy of +touch, sublime in conception, dignified in breadth and grand repose of +style. Condivi tells us that some of these were made for the +Marchioness of Pescara. But Michelangelo must have gone on producing +them long after her death. With these phantoms of stupendous works to +be, the Museums of Europe abound. We cannot bring them together, or +condense them into a single centralised conception. Their interest +consists in their divergence and variety, showing the continuous +poring of the master's mind upon a theme he could not definitely +grasp. For those who love his work, and are in sympathy with his +manner, these drawings, mostly in chalk, and very finely handled, have +a supreme interest. They show him, in one sense, at his highest and +his best, not only as a man of tender feeling, but also as a mighty +draughtsman. Their incompleteness testifies to something pathetic--the +humility of the imperious man before a theme he found to be beyond the +reach of human faculty. + +The tone, the _Stimmung_, of these designs corresponds so exactly to +the sonnets of the same late period, that I feel impelled at this +point to make his poetry take up the tale. But, as I cannot bring the +cloud of witnesses of all those drawings into this small book, so am I +unwilling to load its pages with poems which may be found elsewhere. +Those who care to learn the heart of Michelangelo, when he felt near +to God and face to face with death, will easily find access to the +originals. + +Concerning the Deposition from the Cross, which now stands behind the +high altar of the Florentine Duomo, Condivi writes as follows: "At the +present time he has in hand a work in marble, which he carries on for +his pleasure, as being one who, teeming with conceptions, must needs +give birth each day to some of them. It is a group of four figures +larger than life. A Christ taken from the cross, sustained in death by +his Mother, who is represented in an attitude of marvellous pathos, +leaning up against the corpse with breast, with arms, and lifted knee. +Nicodemus from above assists her, standing erect and firmly planted, +propping the dead Christ with a sturdy effort; while one of the +Maries, on the left side, though plunged in sorrow, does all she can +to assist the afflicted Mother, failing under the attempt to raise her +Son. It would be quite impossible to describe the beauty of style +displayed in this group, or the sublime emotions expressed in those +woe-stricken countenances. I am confident that the Pieta is one of his +rarest and most difficult masterpieces; particularly because the +figures are kept apart distinctly, nor does the drapery of the one +intermingle with that of the others." + +This panegyric is by no means pitched too high. Justice has hardly +been done in recent times to the noble conception, the intense +feeling, and the broad manner of this Deposition. That may be due in +part to the dull twilight in which the group is plunged, depriving all +its lines of salience and relief. It is also true that in certain +respects the composition is fairly open to adverse criticism. The +torso of Christ overweighs the total scheme; and his legs are +unnaturally attenuated. The kneeling woman on the left side is +slender, and appears too small in proportion to the other figures; +though, if she stood erect, it is probable that her height would be +sufficient. + +The best way to study Michelangelo's last work in marble is to take +the admirable photograph produced under artificial illumination by +Alinari. No sympathetic mind will fail to feel that we are in +immediate contact with the sculptor's very soul, at the close of his +life, when all his thoughts were weaned from earthly beauty, and he +cried-- + + Painting nor sculpture now can lull to rest + My soul, that turns to his great love on high, + Whose arms to clasp us on the cross were spread. + +As a French critic has observed: "It is the most intimately personal +and the most pathetic of his works. The idea of penitence exhales from +it. The marble preaches the sufferings of the Passion; it makes us +listen to an act of bitter contrition and an act of sorrowing love." + +Michelangelo is said to have designed the Pieta for his own monument. +In the person of Nicodemus, it is he who sustains his dead Lord in the +gloom of the sombre Duomo. His old sad face, surrounded by the heavy +cowl, looks down for ever with a tenderness beyond expression, +repeating mutely through the years how much of anguish and of blood +divine the redemption of man's soul hath cost. + +The history of this great poem in marble, abandoned by its maker in +some mood of deep dejection, is not without interest. We are told that +the stone selected was a capital from one of the eight huge columns of +the Temple of Peace. Besides being hard and difficult to handle, the +material betrayed flaws in working. This circumstance annoyed the +master; also, as he informed Vasari, Urbino kept continually urging +him to finish it. One of his reasons for attacking the block had been +to keep himself in health by exercise. Accordingly he hewed away with +fury, and bit so deep into the marble that he injured one of the +Madonna's elbows. When this happened, it was his invariable practice +to abandon the piece he had begun upon, feeling that an incomplete +performance was preferable to a lame conclusion. In his old age he +suffered from sleeplessness; and it was his habit to rise from bed and +work upon the Pieta, wearing a thick paper cap, in which he placed a +lighted candle made of goat's tallow. This method of chiselling by the +light of one candle must have complicated the technical difficulties +of his labour. But what we may perhaps surmise to have been his final +motive for the rejection of the work, was a sense of his inability, +with diminished powers of execution, and a still more vivid sense of +the importance of the motive, to accomplish what the brain conceived. +The hand failed. The imagination of the subject grew more intimate and +energetic. Losing patience then at last, he took a hammer and began to +break the group up. Indeed, the right arm of the Mary shows a +fracture. The left arm of the Christ is mutilated in several places. +One of the nipples has been repaired, and the hand of the Madonna +resting on the breast above it is cracked across. It would have been +difficult to reduce the whole huge block to fragments; and when the +work of destruction had advanced so far, Michelangelo's servant +Antonio, the successor to Urbino, begged the remnants from his master. +Tiberio Calcagni was a good friend of Buonarroti's at this time. He +heard that Francesco Bandini, a Florentine settled in exile at Rome, +earnestly desired some relic of the master's work. Accordingly, +Calgagni, with Michelangelo's consent, bought the broken marble from +Antonio for 200 crowns, pieced it together, and began to mend it. +Fortunately, he does not seem to have elaborated the surface in any +important particular; for both the finished and unfinished parts bear +indubitable marks of Michelangelo's own handling. After the death of +Calcagni and Bandini, the Pieta remained for some time in the garden +of Antonio, Bandini's heir, at Montecavallo. It was transferred to +Florence, and placed among the marbles used in erecting the new +Medicean Chapel, until at last, in 1722, the Grand Duke Cosimo III. +finally set it up behind the altar of the Duomo. + +Vasari adds that Michelangelo began another Pieta in marble on a much +smaller scale. It is possible that this may have been the unfinished +group of two figures (a dead Christ sustained by a bending man), of +which there is a cast in the Accademia at Florence. In some respects +the composition of this fragment bears a strong resemblance to the +puzzling Deposition from the Cross in our National Gallery. The +trailing languor of the dead Christ's limbs is almost identical in the +marble and the painting. + +While speaking of these several Pietas, I must not forget the +medallion in high relief of the Madonna clasping her dead Son, which +adorns the Albergo dei Poveri at Genoa. It is ascribed to +Michelangelo, was early believed to be his, and is still accepted +without hesitation by competent judges. In spite of its strongly +marked Michelangelesque mannerism, both as regards feeling, facial +type, and design, I cannot regard the bas-relief, in its present +condition at least, as a genuine work, but rather as the production of +some imitator, or the _rifacimento_ of a restorer. A similar +impression may here be recorded regarding the noble portrait-bust in +marble of Pope Paul III. at Naples. This too has been attributed to +Michelangelo. But there is no external evidence to support the +tradition, while the internal evidence from style and technical +manipulation weighs strongly against it. The medallions introduced +upon the heavily embroidered cope are not in his style. The treatment +of the adolescent female form in particular indicates a different +temperament. Were the ascription made to Benvenuto Cellini, we might +have more easily accepted it. But Cellini would certainly have +enlarged upon so important a piece of sculpture in his Memoirs. If +then we are left to mere conjecture, it would be convenient to suggest +Guglielmo della Porta, who executed the Farnese monument in S. +Peter's. + + +IV + +While still a Cardinal, Paul III. began to rebuild the old palace of +the Farnesi on the Tiber shore. It closes one end of the great open +space called the Campo di Fiore, and stands opposite to the Villa +Farnesina, on the right bank of the river. Antonio da Sangallo was the +architect employed upon this work, which advanced slowly until +Alessandro Farnese's elevation to the Papacy. He then determined to +push the building forward, and to complete it on a scale of +magnificence befitting the supreme Pontiff. Sangallo had carried the +walls up to the second story. The third remained to be accomplished, +and the cornice had to be constructed. Paul was not satisfied with +Sangallo's design, and referred it to Michelangelo for criticism +--possibly in 1544. The result was a report, which we still +possess, in which Buonarroti, basing his opinion on principles derived +from Vitruvius, severely blames Sangallo's plan under six separate +heads. He does not leave a single merit, as regards either harmony of +proportion, or purity of style, or elegance of composition, or +practical convenience, or decorative beauty, or distribution of parts. +He calls the cornice barbarous, confused, bastard in style, discordant +with the rest of the building, and so ill suited to the palace as, if +carried out, to threaten the walls with destruction. This document has +considerable interest, partly as illustrating Michelangelo's views on +architecture in general, and displaying a pedantry of which he was +never elsewhere guilty, partly as explaining the bitter hostility +aroused against him in Sangallo and the whole tribe of that great +architect's adherents. We do not, unfortunately, possess the design +upon which the report was made. But, even granting that it must have +been defective, Michelangelo, who professed that architecture was not +his art, might, one thinks, have spared his rival such extremity of +adverse criticism. It exposed him to the taunts of rivals and +ill-wishers; justified them in calling him presumptuous, and gave them +a plausible excuse when they accused him of jealousy. What made it +worse was, that his own large building, the Laurentian Library, +glaringly exhibits all the defects he discovered in Sangallo's +cornice. + +I find it difficult to resist the impression that Michelangelo was +responsible, to a large extent, for the ill-will of those artists whom +Vasari calls "la setta Sangallesca." His life became embittered by +their animosity, and his industry as Papal architect continued to be +hampered for many years by their intrigues. But he alone was to blame +at the beginning, not so much for expressing an honest opinion, as for +doing so with insulting severity. + +That Michelangelo may have been right in his condemnation of +Sangallo's cornice is of course possible. Paul himself was +dissatisfied, and eventually threw that portion of the building open +to competition. Perino del Vaga, Sebastiano del Piombo, and the young +Giorgio Vasari are said to have furnished designs. Michelangelo did so +also; and his plan was not only accepted, but eventually carried out. +Nevertheless Sangallo, one of the most illustrious professional +architects then alive, could not but have felt deeply wounded by the +treatment he received. It was natural for his followers to exclaim +that Buonarroti had contrived to oust their aged master, and to get a +valuable commission into his own grasp, by the discourteous exercise +of his commanding prestige in the world of art. + +In order to be just to Michelangelo, we must remember that he was +always singularly modest in regard to his own performances, and severe +in self-criticism. Neither in his letters nor in his poems does a +single word of self-complacency escape his pen. He sincerely felt +himself to be an unprofitable servant: that was part of his +constitutional depression. We know, too, that he allowed strong +temporary feelings to control his utterance. The cruel criticism of +Sangallo may therefore have been quite devoid of malice; and if it was +as well founded as the criticism of that builder's plan for S. +Peter's, then Michelangelo stands acquitted. Sangallo's model exists; +it is so large that you can walk inside it, and compare your own +impressions with the following judgment:-- + +"It cannot be denied that Bramante's talent as an architect was equal +to that of any one from the times of the ancients until now. He laid +the first plan of S. Peter, not confused, but clear and simple, full +of light and detached from surrounding buildings, so that it +interfered with no part of the palace. It was considered a very fine +design, and indeed any one can see now that it is so. All the +architects who departed from Bramante's scheme, as Sangallo has done, +have departed from the truth; and those who have unprejudiced eyes can +observe this in his model. Sangallo's ring of chapels takes light from +the interior as Bramante planned it; and not only this, but he has +provided no other means of lighting, and there are so many +hiding-places, above and below, all dark, which lend themselves to +innumerable knaveries, that the church would become a secret den for +harbouring bandits, false coiners, for debauching nuns, and doing all +sorts of rascality; and when it was shut up at night, twenty-five men +would be needed to search the building for rogues hidden there, and it +would be difficult enough to find them. There is, besides, another +inconvenience: the interior circle of buildings added to Bramante's +plan would necessitate the destruction of the Paoline Chapel, the +offices of the Piombo and the Ruota, and more besides. I do not think +that even the Sistine would escape." + +After this Michelangelo adds that to remove the out-works and +foundations begun upon Sangallo's plan would not cost 100,000 crowns, +as the sect alleged, but only 16,000, The material would be infinitely +useful, the foundations important for the building, and the whole +fabric would profit in something like 200,000 crowns and 300 years of +time. "This is my dispassionate opinion; and I say this in truth, for +to gain a victory here would be my own incalculable loss." +Michelangelo means that, at the time when he wrote the letter in +question, it was still in doubt whether Sangallo's design should be +carried out or his own adopted; and, as usual, he looked forward with +dread to undertaking a colossal architectural task. + + +V + +Returning to the Palazzo Farnese, it only remains to be said that +Michelangelo lived to complete the edifice. His genius was responsible +for the inharmonious window above the main entrance. According to +Vasari, he not only finished the exterior from the second story +upwards, but designed the whole of the central courtyard above the +first story, "making it the finest thing of its sort in Europe." The +interior, with the halls painted by Annibale Caracci, owed its +disposition into chambers and galleries to his invention. The cornice +has always been reckoned among his indubitable successes, combining as +it does salience and audacity with a grand heroic air of grace. It has +been criticised for disproportionate projection; and Michelangelo +seems to have felt uneasy on this score, since he caused a wooden +model of the right size to be made and placed upon the wall, in order +to judge of its effect. + +Taken as a whole, the Palazzo Farnese remains the most splendid of the +noble Roman houses, surpassing all the rest in pomp and pride, though +falling short of Peruzzi's Palazzo Massimo in beauty. + +The catastrophe of 1527, when Rome was taken by assault on the side of +the Borgo without effective resistance being possible, rendered the +fortification of the city absolutely necessary. Paul III determined to +secure a position of such vital importance to the Vatican by bastions. +Accordingly he convened a diet of notables, including his +architect-in-chief, Antonio da Sangallo. He also wished to profit by +Michelangelo's experience, remembering the stout resistance offered to +the Prince of Orange by his outworks at S. Miniato. Vasari tells an +anecdote regarding this meeting which illustrates the mutual bad +feeling of the two illustrious artists. "After much discussion, the +opinion of Buonarroti was requested. He had conceived views widely +differing on those of Sangallo and several others, and these he +expressed frankly. Whereupon Sangallo told him that sculpture and +painting were his trade, not fortification. He replied that about them +he knew but little, whereas the anxious thought he had given to city +defences, the time he had spent, and the experience he had practically +gained in constructing them, made him superior in that art to Sangallo +and all the masters of his family. He proceeded to point out before +all present numerous errors in the works. Heated words passed on both +sides, and the Pope had to reduce the men to silence. Before long he +brought a plan for the fortification of the whole Borgo, which opened +the eyes of those in power to the scheme which was finally adopted. +Owing to changes he suggested, the great gate of Santo Spirito, +designed by Sangallo and nearly finished, was left incomplete." + +It is not clear what changes were introduced into Sangallo's scheme. +They certainly involved drawing the line of defence much closer to the +city than he intended. This approved itself to Pier Luigi Farnese, +then Duke of Castro, who presided over the meetings of the military +committee. It was customary in carrying out the works of fortification +to associate a practical engineer with the architect who provided +designs; and one of these men, Gian Francesco Montemellino, a trusted +servant of the Farnesi, strongly supported the alteration. That +Michelangelo agreed with Montemellino, and felt that they could work +together, appears from a letter addressed to the Castellano of S. +Angelo. It seems to have been written soon after the dispute recorded +by Vasari. In it he states, that although he differs in many respects +from the persons who had hitherto controlled the works, yet he thinks +it better not to abandon them altogether, but to correct them, alter +the superintendence, and put Montemellino at the head of the +direction. This would prevent the Pope from becoming disgusted with +such frequent changes. "If affairs took the course he indicated, he +was ready to offer his assistance, not in the capacity of colleague, +but as a servant to command in all things." Nothing is here said +openly about Sangallo, who remained architect-in-chief until his +death. Still the covert wish expressed that the superintendence might +be altered, shows a spirit of hostility against him; and a new plan +for the lines must soon have been adopted. A despatch written to the +Duke of Parma in September 1545 informs him that the old works were +being abandoned, with the exception of the grand Doric gateway of S. +Spirito. This is described at some length in another despatch of +January 1546. Later on, in 1557, we find Michelangelo working as +architect-in-chief with Jacopo Meleghino under his direction, but the +fortifications were eventually carried through by a more competent +engineer, one Jacopo Fusto Castriotto of Urbino. + + +VI + +Antonio da Sangallo died on October 3, 1546, at Terni, while engaged +in engineering works intended to drain the Lake Velino. Michelangelo +immediately succeeded to the offices and employments he had held at +Rome. Of these, the most important was the post of architect-in-chief +at S. Peter's. Paul III. conferred it upon him for life by a brief +dated January 1, 1547. He is there named "commissary, prefect, +surveyor of the works, and architect, with full authority to change +the model, form, and structure of the church at pleasure, and to +dismiss and remove the working-men and foremen employed upon the +same." The Pope intended to attach a special stipend to the onerous +charge, but Michelangelo declined this honorarium, declaring that he +meant to labour without recompense, for the love of God and the +reverence he felt for the Prince of the Apostles. Although he might +have had money for the asking, and sums were actually sent as presents +by his Papal master, he persisted in this resolution, working steadily +at S. Peter's without pay, until death gave him rest. + +Michelangelo's career as servant to a Pope began with the design of +that tomb which led Julius II. to destroy the old S. Peter's. He was +now entering, after forty-two years, upon the last stage of his long +life. Before the end came, he gave final form to the main features of +the great basilica, raising the dome which dominates the Roman +landscape like a stationary cloud upon the sky-line. What had happened +to the edifice in the interval between 1505 and 1547 must be briefly +narrated, although it is not within the scope of this work to give a +complete history of the building. + +Bramante's original design had been to construct the church in the +form of a Greek cross, with four large semi-circular apses. The four +angles made by the projecting arms of the cross were to be filled in +with a complex but well-ordered scheme of shrines and chapels, so that +externally the edifice would have presented the aspect of a square. +The central piers, at the point of junction between the arms of the +cross, supported a broad shallow dome, modelled upon that of the +Pantheon. Similar domes of lesser dimensions crowned the +out-buildings. He began by erecting the piers which were intended to +support the central dome; but working hastily and without due regard +to solid strength, Bramante made these piers too weak to sustain the +ponderous mass they had to carry. How he would have rectified this +error cannot be conjectured. Death cut his labours short in 1514, and +only a small portion of his work remains embedded at the present day +within the mightier masses raised beneath Buonarroti's cupola. + +Leo X. commissioned Raffaello da Urbino to continue his kinsman's +work, and appointed Antonio da Sangallo to assist him in the month of +January 1517. Whether it was judged impossible to carry out Bramante's +project of the central dome, or for some other reason unknown to us, +Raffaello altered the plan so essentially as to design a basilica upon +the conventional ground-plan of such churches. He abandoned the Greek +cross, and adopted the Latin form by adding an elongated nave. The +central piers were left in their places; the three terminal apses of +the choir and transepts were strengthened, simplified, reduced to +commonplace. Bramante's ground-plan is lucid, luminous, and +exquisitely ordered in its intricacy. The true creation of a +builder-poet's brain, it illustrates Leo Battista Alberti's definition +of the charm of architecture, _tutta quella musica_, that melody and +music of a graceful edifice. We are able to understand what +Michelangelo meant when he remarked that all subsequent designers, by +departing from it, had gone wrong. Raffaello's plan, if carried out, +would have been monotonous and tame inside and out. + +After the death of Raffaello in 1520, Baldassare Peruzzi was appointed +to be Sangallo's colleague. This genial architect, in whose style all +the graces were combined with dignity and strength, prepared a new +design at Leo's request. Vasari, referring to this period of Peruzzi's +life, says: "The Pope, thinking Bramante's scheme too large and not +likely to be in keeping, obtained a new model from Baldassare; +magnificent and truly full of fine invention, also so wisely +constructed that certain portions have been adopted by subsequent +builders." He reverted to Bramante's main conception of the Greek +cross, but altered the details in so many important points, both by +thickening the piers and walls, and also by complicating the internal +disposition of the chapels, that the effect would have been quite +different. The ground-plan, which is all I know of Peruzzi's project, +has always seemed to me by far the most beautiful and interesting of +those laid down for S. Peter's. It is richer, more imaginative and +suggestive, than Bramante's. The style of Bramante, in spite of its +serene simplicity, had something which might be described as shallow +clearness. In comparison with Peruzzi's style, it is what Gluck's +melody is to Mozart's. The course of public events prevented this +scheme from being carried out. First came the pontificate of Adrian +VI., so sluggish in art-industry; then the pontificate of Clement +VII., so disastrous for Italy and Rome. Many years elapsed before art +and literature recovered from the terror and the torpor of 1527. +Peruzzi indeed returned to his office at S. Peter's in 1535, but his +death followed in 1537, when Antonio da Sangallo remained master of +the situation. + +Sangallo had the good sense to preserve many of Peruzzi's constructive +features, especially in the apses of the choir and transepts; but he +added a vast vestibule, which gave the church a length equal to that +of Raffaello's plan. Externally, he designed a lofty central cupola +and two flanking spires, curiously combining the Gothic spirit with +Classical elements of style. In order to fill in the huge spaces of +this edifice, he superimposed tiers of orders one above the other. +Church, cupola, and spires are built up by a succession of Vitruvian +temples, ascending from the ground into the air. The total impression +produced by the mass, as we behold it now in the great wooden model at +S. Peter's, is one of bewildering complexity. Of architectural repose +it possesses little, except what belongs to a very original and vast +conception on a colossal scale. The extent of the structure is +frittered by its multiplicity of parts. Internally, as Michelangelo +pointed out, the church would have been dark, inconvenient, and +dangerous to public morals. + + +VII + +Whatever we may think of Michelangelo's failings as an architect, +there is no doubt that at this period of his life he aimed at +something broad and heroic in style. He sought to attain grandeur by +greatness in the masses and by economy of the constituent parts. His +method of securing amplitude was exactly opposite to that of Sangallo, +who relied upon the multiplication rather than the simplification of +details. A kind of organic unity was what Michelangelo desired. For +this reason, he employed in the construction of S. Peter's those +stupendous orders which out-soar the columns of Baalbec, and those +grandiose curves which make the cupola majestic. A letter written to +the Cardinal Ridolfo Pio of Carpi contains this explanation of his +principles. The last two sentences are highly significant:-- + +"Most Reverend Monsignor,--If a plan has divers parts, those which are +of one type in respect to quality and quantity have to be decorated in +the same way and the same fashion. The like is true of their +counterparts. But when the plan changes form entirely, it is not only +allowable, but necessary, to change the decorative appurtenances, as +also with their counterparts. The intermediate parts are always free, +left to their own bent. The nose, which stands in the middle of the +forehead, is not bound to correspond with either of the eyes; but one +hand must balance the other, and one eye be like its fellow. Therefore +it may be assumed as certain that the members of an architectural +structure follow the laws exemplified in the human body. He who has +not been or is not a good master of the nude, and especially of +anatomy, cannot understand the principles of architecture." + +It followed that Michelangelo's first object, when he became Papal +architect-in-chief, was to introduce order into the anarchy of +previous plans, and to return, so far as this was now possible, to +Bramante's simpler scheme. He adopted the Greek cross, and substituted +a stately portico for the long vestibule invented by Sangallo. It was +not, however, in his nature, nor did the changed taste of the times +permit him to reproduce Bramante's manner. So far as S. Peter's bears +the mark of Michelangelo at all, it represents his own peculiar +genius. "The Pope," says Vasari, "approved his model, which reduced +the cathedral to smaller dimensions, but also to a more essential +greatness. He discovered that four principal piers, erected by +Bramante and left standing by Antonio da Sangallo, which had to bear +the weight of the tribune, were feeble. These he fortified in part, +constructing two winding staircases at the side, with gently sloping +steps, up which beasts of burden ascend with building material, and +one can ride on horseback to the level above the arches. He carried +the first cornice, made of travertine, round the arches: a wonderful +piece of work, full of grace, and very different from the others; nor +could anything be better done in its kind. He began the two great +apses of the transept; and whereas Bramante Raffaello, and Peruzzi had +designed eight tabernacles toward the Campo Santo, which arrangement +Sangallo adhered to, he reduced them to three, with three chapels +inside. Suffice it to say that he began at once to work with diligence +and accuracy at all points where the edifice required alteration; to +the end that its main features might be fixed, and that no one might +be able to change what he had planned." Vasari adds that this was the +provision of a wise and prudent mind. So it was; but it did not +prevent Michelangelo's successors from defeating his intentions in +almost every detail, except the general effect of the cupola. This +will appear in the sequel. + +Antonio da Sangallo had controlled the building of S. Peter's for +nearly thirty years before Michelangelo succeeded to his office. +During that long space of time he formed a body of architects and +workmen who were attached to his person and interested in the +execution of his plans. There is good reason to believe that in +Sangallo's days, as earlier in Bramante's, much money of the Church +had been misappropriated by a gang of fraudulent and mutually +indulgent craftsmen. It was not to be expected that these people +should tamely submit to the intruder who put their master's cherished +model on the shelf, and set about, in his high-handed way, to +refashion the whole building from the bottom to the top. During +Sangallo's lifetime no love had been lost between him and Buonarroti, +and after his death it is probable that the latter dealt severely with +the creatures of his predecessor. The Pope had given him unlimited +powers of appointing and dismissing subordinates, controlling +operations, and regulating expenditure. He was a man who abhorred jobs +and corruption. A letter written near the close of his life, when he +was dealing only with persons nominated by himself, proves this. He +addressed the Superintendents of the Fabric of S. Peter's as follows: +"You know that I told Balduccio not to send his lime unless it were +good. He has sent bad quality, and does not seem to think he will be +forced to take it back; which proves that he is in collusion with the +person who accepted it. This gives great encouragement to the men I +have dismissed for similar transactions. One who accepts bad goods +needed for the fabric, when I have forbidden them, is doing nothing +else but making friends of people whom I have turned into enemies +against myself. I believe there will be a new conspiracy. Promises, +fees, presents, corrupt justice. Therefore I beg you from this time +forward, by the authority I hold from the Pope, not to accept anything +which is not suitable, even though it comes to you from heaven. I must +not be made to appear, what I am not, partial in my dealings." This +fiery despatch, indicating not only Michelangelo's probity, but also +his attention to minute details at the advanced age of eighty-six, +makes it evident that he must have been a stern overseer in the first +years of his office, terrible to the "sect of Sangallo," who were +bent, on their part, to discredit him. + +The sect began to plot and form conspiracies, feeling the violent old +man's bit and bridle on their mouths, and seeing the firm seat he took +upon the saddle. For some reason, which is not apparent, they had the +Superintendents of the Fabric (a committee, including cardinals, +appointed by the Pope) on their side. Probably these officials, +accustomed to Sangallo and the previous course of things, disliked to +be stirred up and sent about their business by the masterful +new-comer. Michelangelo's support lay, as we shall see, in the four +Popes who followed Paul III. They, with the doubtful exception of +Marcellus II., accepted him on trust as a thoroughly honest servant, +and the only artist capable of conducting the great work to its +conclusion. In the last resort, when he was driven to bay, he offered +to resign, and was invariably coaxed back by the final arbiter. The +disinterested spirit in which he fulfilled his duties, accepting no +pay while he gave his time and energy to their performance, stood him +in good stead. Nothing speaks better for his perfect probity than that +his enemies were unable to bring the slightest charge of peculation or +of partiality against him. Michelangelo's conduct of affairs at S. +Peter's reflects a splendid light upon the tenor of his life, and +confutes those detractors who have accused him of avarice. + +The duel between Michelangelo and the sect opened in 1547. A letter +written by a friend in Florence on the 14th of May proves that his +antagonists had then good hopes of crushing him. Giovan Francesco Ughi +begins by saying that he has been silent because he had nothing +special to report. "But now Jacopo del Conte has come here with the +wife of Nanni di Baccio Bigio, alleging that he has brought her +because Nanni is so occupied at S. Peter's. Among other things, he +says that Nanni means to make a model for the building which will +knock yours to nothing. He declares that what you are about is mad and +babyish. He means to fling it all down, since he has quite as much +credit with the Pope as you have. You throw oceans of money away and +work by night, so that nobody may see what you are doing. You follow +in the footsteps of a Spaniard, having no knowledge of your own about +the art of building, and he less than nothing. Nanni stays there in +your despite: you did everything to get him removed; but the Pope +keeps him, being convinced that nothing good can be done without him." +After this Ughi goes on to relate how Michelangelo's enemies are +spreading all kinds of reports against his honour and good fame, +criticising the cornice of the Palazzo Farnese, and hoping that its +weight will drag the walls down. At the end he adds, that although he +knows one ought not to write about such matters, yet the man's +"insolence and blackguardly shamelessness of speech" compel him to put +his friend on his guard against such calumnies. + +After the receipt of this letter, Michelangelo sent it to one of the +Superintendents of the Fabric, on whose sympathy he could reckon, with +the following indorsement in his own handwriting: "Messer Bartolommeo +(Ferrantino), please read this letter, and take thought who the two +rascals are who, lying thus about what I did at the Palazzo Farnese, +are now lying in the matter of the information they are laying before +the deputies of S. Peter's. It comes upon me in return for the +kindness I have shown them. But what else can one expect from a couple +of the basest scoundrelly villains?" + +Nanni di Baccio Bigio had, as it seems, good friends at court in Rome. +He was an open enemy of Michelangelo, who, nevertheless, found it +difficult to shake him off. In the history of S. Peter's the man's +name will frequently occur. + +Three years elapsed. Paul III. died, and Michelangelo wrote to his +nephew Lionardo on the occasion: "It is true that I have suffered +great sorrow, and not less loss, by the Pope's death. I received +benefits from his Holiness, and hoped for more and better. God willed +it so, and we must have patience. His passage from this life was +beautiful, in full possession of his faculties up to the last word. +God have mercy on his soul." The Cardinal Giovan Maria Ciocchi, of +Monte San Savino, was elected to succeed Paul, and took the title of +Julius III. This change of masters was duly noted by Michelangelo in a +letter to his "dearest friend," Giovan Francesco Fattucci at Florence. +It breathes so pleasant and comradely a spirit, that I will translate +more than bears immediately on the present topic: "Dear friend, +although we have not exchanged letters for many months past, still our +long and excellent friendship has not been forgotten. I wish you well, +as I have always done, and love you with all my heart, for your own +sake, and for the numberless pleasant things in life you have afforded +me. As regards old age, which weighs upon us both alike, I should be +glad to know how yours affects you; mine, I must say, does not make me +very happy. I beg you, then, to write me something about this. You +know, doubtless, that we have a new Pope, and who he is. All Rome is +delighted, God be thanked; and everybody expects the greatest good +from his reign, especially for the poor, his generosity being so +notorious." + +Michelangelo had good reason to rejoice over this event, for Julius +III. felt a real attachment to his person, and thoroughly appreciated +both his character and his genius. Nevertheless, the enemies he had in +Rome now made a strong effort to dislodge Buonarroti from his official +position at S. Peter's. It was probably about this time that the +Superintendents of the Fabric drew up a memorial expressive of their +grievances against him. We possess a document in Latin setting forth a +statement of accounts in rough. "From the year 1540, when expenditures +began to be made regularly and in order, from the very commencement as +it were, up to the year 1547, when Michelangelo, at his own will and +pleasure, undertook partly to build and partly to destroy, 162,624 +ducats were expended. Since the latter date on to the present, during +which time the deputies have served like the pipe at the organ, +knowing nothing, nor what, nor how moneys were spent, but only at the +orders of the said Michelangelo, such being the will of Paul III. of +blessed memory, and also of the reigning Pontiff, 136,881 ducats have +been paid out, as can be seen from our books. With regard to the +edifice, what it is going to be, the deputies can make no statement, +all things being hidden from them, as though they were outsiders. They +have only been able to protest at several times, and do now again +protest, for the easement of their conscience, that they do not like +the ways used by Michelangelo, especially in what he keeps on pulling +down. The demolition has been, and to-day is so great, that all who +witness it are moved to an extremity of pity. Nevertheless, if his +Holiness be satisfied, we, his deputies, shall have no reason to +complain." It is clear that Michelangelo was carrying on with a high +hand at S. Peter's. Although the date of this document is uncertain, I +think it may be taken in connection with a general meeting called by +Julius III., the incidents of which are recorded by Vasari. +Michelangelo must have demonstrated his integrity, for he came out of +the affair victorious, and obtained from the Pope a brief confirming +him in his office of architect-in-chief, with even fuller powers than +had been granted by Paul III. + + +VIII + +Vasari at this epoch becomes one of our most reliable authorities +regarding the life of Michelangelo. He corresponded and conversed with +him continuously, and enjoyed the master's confidence. We may +therefore accept the following narrative as accurate: "It was some +little while before the beginning of 1551, when Vasari, on his return +from Florence to Rome, found that the sect of Sangallo were plotting +against Michelangelo; they induced the Pope to hold a meeting in S. +Peter's, where all the overseers and workmen connected with the +building should attend, and his Holiness should be persuaded by false +insinuations that Michelangelo had spoiled the fabric. He had already +walled in the apse of the King where the three chapels are, and +carried out the three upper windows. But it was not known what he +meant to do with the vault. They then, misled by their shallow +judgment, made Cardinal Salviati the elder, and Marcello Cervini, who +was afterwards Pope, believe that S. Peter's would be badly lighted. +When all were assembled, the Pope told Michelangelo that the deputies +were of opinion the apse would have but little light. He answered: 'I +should like to hear these deputies speak.' The Cardinal Marcello +rejoined: 'Here we are.' Michelangelo then remarked: 'My lord, above +these three windows there will be other three in the vault, which is +to be built of travertine.' 'You never told us anything about this,' +said the Cardinal. Michelangelo responded: 'I am not, nor do I mean to +be obliged to tell your lordship or anybody what I ought or wish to +do. It is your business to provide money, and to see that it is not +stolen. As regards the plans of the building, you have to leave those +to me.' Then he turned to the Pope and said: 'Holy Father, behold what +gains are mine! Unless the hardships I endure prove beneficial to my +soul, I am losing time and labour.' The Pope, who loved him, laid his +hands upon his shoulders and exclaimed: 'You are gaining both for soul +and body, have no fear!' Michelangelo's spirited self-defence +increased the Pope's love, and he ordered him to repair next day with +Vasari to the Vigna Giulia, where they held long discourses upon art." +It is here that Vasari relates how Julius III. was in the habit of +seating Michelangelo by his side while they talked together. + +Julius then maintained the cause of Michelangelo against the deputies. +It was during his pontificate that a piece of engineering work +committed to Buonarroti's charge by Paul III. fell into the hands of +Nanni di Baccio Bigio. The old bridge of Santa Maria had long shown +signs of giving way, and materials had been collected for rebuilding +it. Nanni's friends managed to transfer the execution of this work to +him from Michelangelo. The man laid bad foundations, and Buonarroti +riding over the new bridge one day with Vasari, cried out: "George, +the bridge is quivering beneath us; let us spur on, before it gives +way with us upon it." Eventually, the bridge did fall to pieces, at +the time of a great inundation. Its ruins have long been known as the +Ponte Rotto. + +On the death of Julius III. in 1555, Cardinal Cervini was made Pope, +with the title of Marcellus II. This event revived the hopes of the +sect, who once more began to machinate against Michelangelo. The Duke +of Tuscany at this time was exceedingly anxious that he should take up +his final abode at Florence; and Buonarroti, feeling he had now no +strong support in Rome, seems to have entertained these proposals with +alacrity. The death of Marcellus after a few weeks, and the election +of Paul IV., who besought the great architect not to desert S. +Peter's, made him change his mind. Several letters written to Vasari +and the Grand Duke in this and the next two years show that his heart +was set on finishing S. Peter's, however much he wished to please his +friends and longed to end his days in peace at home. "I was set to +work upon S. Peter's against my will, and I have served now eight +years gratis, and with the utmost injury and discomfort to myself. Now +that the fabric has been pushed forward and there is money to spend, +and I am just upon the point of vaulting in the cupola, my departure +from Rome would be the ruin of the edifice, and for me a great +disgrace throughout all Christendom, and to my soul a grievous sin. +Pray ask his lordship to give me leave of absence till S. Peter's has +reached a point at which it cannot be altered in its main features. +Should I leave Rome earlier, I should be the cause of a great ruin, a +great disgrace, and a great sin." To the Duke he writes in 1557 that +his special reasons for not wishing to abandon S. Peter's were, first, +that the work would fall into the hands of thieves and rogues; +secondly, that it might probably be suspended altogether; thirdly, +that he owned property in Rome to the amount of several thousand +crowns, which, if he left without permission, would be lost; fourthly, +that he was suffering from several ailments. He also observed that the +work had just reached its most critical stage (i.e., the erection of +the cupola), and that to desert it at the present moment would be a +great disgrace. + +The vaulting of the cupola had now indeed become the main +preoccupation of Michelangelo's life. Early in 1557 a serious illness +threatened his health, and several friends, including the Cardinal of +Carpi, Donato Giannotti, Tommaso Cavalieri, Francesco Bandini, and +Lottino, persuaded him that he ought to construct a large model, so +that the execution of this most important feature of the edifice might +not be impeded in the event of his death. It appears certain that up +to this date no models of his on anything like a large intelligible +scale had been provided for S. Peter's; and the only extant model +attributable to Michelangelo's own period is that of the cupola. This +may help to account for the fact that, while the cupola was finished +much as he intended, the rest of his scheme suffered a thorough and +injurious remodelling. + +He wrote to his nephew Lionardo on the 13th of February 1557 about the +impossibility of meeting the Grand Duke's wishes and leaving Rome. "I +told his Lordship that I was obliged to attend to S. Peter's until I +could leave the work there at such a point that my plans would not be +subsequently altered. This point has not been reached; and in +addition, I am now obliged to construct a large wooden model for the +cupola and lantern, in order that I may secure its being finished as +it was meant to be. The whole of Rome, and especially the Cardinal of +Carpi, puts great pressure on me to do this. Accordingly, I reckon +that I shall have to remain here not less than a year; and so much +time I beg the Duke to allow me for the love of Christ and S. Peter, +so that I may not come home to Florence with a pricking conscience, +but a mind easy about Rome." The model took about a year to make. It +was executed by a French master named Jean. + +All this while Michelangelo's enemies, headed by Nanni di Baccio +Bigio, continued to calumniate and backbite. In the end they poisoned +the mind of his old friend the Cardinal of Carpi. We gather this from +a haughty letter written on the 13th of February 1560: "Messer +Francesco Bandini informed me yesterday that your most illustrious and +reverend lordship told him that the building of S. Peter's could not +possibly go on worse than it is doing. This has grieved me deeply, +partly because you have not been informed of the truth, and also +because I, as my duty is, desire more than all men living that it +should proceed well. Unless I am much deceived, I think I can assure +you that it could not possibly go on better than it now is doing. It +may, however, happen that my own interests and old age expose me to +self-deception, and consequently expose the fabric of S. Peter's to +harm or injury against my will. I therefore intend to ask permission +on the first occasion from his Holiness to resign my office. Or +rather, to save time, I wish to request your most illustrious and +reverend lordship by these present to relieve me of the annoyance to +which I have been subject seventeen years, at the orders of the Popes, +working without remuneration. It is easy enough to see what has been +accomplished by my industry during this period. I conclude by +repeating my request that you will accept my resignation. You could +not confer on me a more distinguished favour." + +Giovanni Angelo Medici, of an obscure Milanese family, had succeeded +to Paul IV. in 1559. Pius IV. felt a true admiration for Michelangelo. +He confirmed the aged artist in his office by a brief which granted +him the fullest authority in life, and strictly forbade any departure +from his designs for S. Peter's after death. Notwithstanding this +powerful support, Nanni di Baccio Bigio kept trying to eject him from +his post. He wrote to the Grand Duke in 1562, arguing that Buonarroti +was in his dotage, and begging Cosimo to use his influence to obtain +the place for himself. In reply the Grand Duke told Nanni that he +could not think of doing such a thing during Michelangelo's lifetime, +but that after his death he would render what aid was in his power. An +incident happened in 1563 which enabled Nanni to give his enemy some +real annoyance. Michelangelo was now so old that he felt obliged to +leave the personal superintendence of the operations at S. Peter's to +a clerk of the works. The man employed at this time was a certain +Cesare da Castel Durante, who was murdered in August under the +following circumstances, communicated by Tiberio Calcagni to Lionardo +Buonarroti on the 14th of that month: "I have only further to speak +about the death of Cesare, clerk of the works, who was found by the +cook of the Bishop of Forli with his wife. The man gave Cesare +thirteen stabs with his poignard, and four to his wife. The old man +(i.e., Michelangelo) is in much distress, seeing that he wished to +give the post to that Pier Luigi, and has been unable to do so owing +to the refusal of the deputies." This Pier Luigi, surnamed Gaeta, had +been working since November 1561 as subordinate to Cesare; and we have +a letter from Michelangelo to the deputies recommending him very +warmly in that capacity. He was also the house-servant and personal +attendant of the old master, running errands for him and transacting +ordinary business, like Pietro Urbano and Stefano in former years. The +deputies would not consent to nominate Pier Luigi as clerk of the +works. They judged him to be too young, and were, moreover, persuaded +that Michelangelo's men injured the work at S. Peter's. Accordingly +they appointed Nanni di Baccio Bigio, and sent in a report, inspired +by him, which severely blamed Buonarroti. Pius IV., after the receipt +of this report, had an interview with Michelangelo, which ended in his +sending his own relative, Gabrio Serbelloni, to inspect the works at +S. Peter's. It was decided that Nanni had been calumniating the great +old man. Accordingly he was dismissed with indignity. Immediately +after the death of Michelangelo, however, Nanni renewed his +applications to the Grand Duke. He claimed nothing less than the post +of architect-in-chief. His petition was sent to Florence under cover +of a despatch from the Duke's envoy, Averardo Serristori. The +ambassador related the events of Michelangelo's death, and supported +Nanni as "a worthy man, your vassal and true servant." + + +IX + +Down to the last days of his life, Michelangelo was thus worried with +the jealousies excited by his superintendence of the building at S. +Peter's; and when he passed to the majority, he had not secured his +heart's desire, to wit, that the fabric should be forced to retain the +form he had designed for it. This was his own fault. Popes might issue +briefs to the effect that his plans should be followed; but when it +was discovered that, during his lifetime, he kept the builders in +ignorance of his intentions, and that he left no working models fit +for use, except in the case of the cupola, a free course was opened +for every kind of innovation. So it came to pass that subsequent +architects changed the essential features of his design by adding what +might be called a nave, or, in other words, by substituting the Latin +for the Greek cross in the ground-plan. He intended to front the mass +of the edifice with a majestic colonnade, giving externally to one +limb of the Greek cross a rectangular salience corresponding to its +three semicircular apses. From this decastyle colonnade projected a +tetrastyle portico, which introduced the people ascending from a +flight of steps to a gigantic portal. The portal opened on the church, +and all the glory of the dome was visible when they approached the +sanctuary. Externally, according to his conception, the cupola +dominated and crowned the edifice when viewed from a moderate or a +greater distance. The cupola was the integral and vital feature of the +structure. By producing one limb of the cross into a nave, destroying +the colonnade and portico, and erecting a huge facade of _barocco_ +design, his followers threw the interior effect of the cupola into a +subordinate position, and externally crushed it out of view, except at +a great distance. In like manner they dealt with every particular of +his plan. As an old writer has remarked: "The cross which Michelangelo +made Greek is now Latin; and if it be thus with the essential form, +judge ye of the details!" It was not exactly their fault, but rather +that of the master, who chose to work by drawings and small clay +models, from which no accurate conception of his thought could be +derived by lesser craftsmen. + +We cannot, therefore, regard S. Peter's in its present state as the +creation of Buonarroti's genius. As a building, it is open to +criticism at every point. In spite of its richness and overwhelming +size, no architect of merit gives it approbation. It is vast without +being really great, magnificent without touching the heart, proudly +but not harmoniously ordered. The one redeeming feature in the +structure is the cupola; and that is the one thing which Michelangelo +bequeathed to the intelligence of his successors. The curve which it +describes finds no phrase of language to express its grace. It is +neither ellipse nor parabola nor section of the circle, but an +inspiration of creative fancy. It outsoars in vital force, in elegance +of form, the dome of the Pantheon and the dome of Brunelleschi, upon +which it was actually modelled. As a French architect, adverse to +Michelangelo, has remarked: "This portion is simple, noble, grand. It +is an unparalleled idea, and the author of this marvellous cupola had +the right to be proud of the thought which controlled his pencil when +he traced it." An English critic, no less adverse to the Italian +style, is forced to admit that architecture "has seldom produced a +more magnificent object" than the cupola, "if its bad connection with +the building is overlooked." He also adds that, internally, "the +sublime concave" of this immense dome is the one redeeming feature of +S. Peter's. + +Michelangelo's reputation, not only as an imaginative builder, but +also as a practical engineer in architecture, depends in a very large +measure upon the cupola of S. Peter's. It is, therefore, of great +importance to ascertain exactly how far the dome in its present form +belongs to his conception. Fortunately for his reputation, we still +possess the wooden model constructed under his inspection by a man +called Giovanni Franzese. It shows that subsequent architects, +especially Giacomo della Porta, upon whom the task fell of raising the +vaults and lantern from the point where Michelangelo left the +building, that is, from the summit of the drum, departed in no +essential particular from his design. Della Porta omitted one feature, +however, of Michelangelo's plan, which would have added greatly to the +dignity and elegance of the exterior. The model shows that the +entablature of the drum broke into projections above each of the +buttresses. Upon these projections or consoles Buonarroti intended to +place statues of saints. He also connected their pedestals with the +spring of the vault by a series of inverted curves sweeping upwards +along the height of the shallow attic. The omission of these details +not only weakened the support given to the arches of the dome, but it +also lent a stilted effect to the cupola by abruptly separating the +perpendicular lines of the drum and attic from the segment of the +vaulting. This is an error which could even now be repaired, if any +enterprising Pope undertook to complete the plan of the model. It may, +indeed, be questioned whether the omission was not due to the +difficulty of getting so many colossal statues adequately finished at +a period when the fabric still remained imperfect in more essential +parts. + +Vasari, who lived in close intimacy with Michelangelo, and undoubtedly +was familiar with the model, gives a confused but very minute +description of the building. It is clear from this that the dome was +designed with two shells, both of which were to be made of carefully +selected bricks, the space between them being applied to the purpose +of an interior staircase. The dormer windows in the outer sheath not +only broke the surface of the vault, but also served to light this +passage to the lantern. Vasari's description squares with the model, +now preserved in a chamber of the Vatican basilica, and also with the +present fabric. + +It would not have been necessary to dwell at greater length upon the +vaulting here but for difficulties which still surround the criticism +of this salient feature of S. Peter's. Gotti published two plans of +the cupola, which were made for him, he says, from accurate +measurements of the model taken by Cavaliere Cesare Castelli, +Lieut.-Col. of Engineers. The section drawing shows three shells +instead of two, the innermost or lowest being flattened out like the +vault of the Pantheon. Professor Josef Durm, in his essay upon the +Domes of Florence and S. Peter's, gives a minute description of the +model for the latter, and prints a carefully executed copperplate +engraving of its section. It is clear from this work that at some time +or other a third semi-spherical vault, corresponding to that of the +Pantheon, had been contemplated. This would have been structurally of +no value, and would have masked the two upper shells, which at present +crown the edifice. The model shows that the dome itself was from the +first intended to be composed of two solid vaults of masonry, in the +space between which ran the staircase leading to the lantern. The +lower and flatter shell, which appears also in the model, had no +connection with the substantial portions of the edifice. It was an +addition, perhaps an afterthought, designed possibly to serve as a +ground for surface-decoration, or to provide an alternative scheme for +the completion of the dome. Had Michelangelo really planned this +innermost sheath, we could not credit him with the soaring sweep +upwards of the mighty dome, its height and lightness, luminosity and +space. The roof that met the eye internally would have been +considerably lower and tamer, superfluous in the construction of the +church, and bearing no right relation to the external curves of the +vaulting. There would, moreover, have been a long dark funnel leading +to the lantern. Heath Wilson would then have been justified in certain +critical conclusions which may here be stated in his own words. +"According to Michelangelo's idea, the cupola was formed of three +vaults over each other. Apparently the inner one was intended to +repeat the curves of the Pantheon, whilst the outer one was destined +to give height and majesty to the building externally. The central +vault, more pyramidal in form, was constructed to bear the weight of +the lantern, and approached in form the dome of the Cathedral at +Florence by Brunelleschi. Judging by the model, he meant the outer +dome to be of wood, thus anticipating the construction of Sir +Christopher Wren." Farther on, he adds that the architects who carried +out the work "omitted entirely the inner lower vault, evidently to +give height internally, and made the external cupola of brick as well +as the internal; and, to prevent it expanding, had recourse to +encircling chains of iron, which bind it at the weakest parts of the +curve." These chains, it may be mentioned parenthetically, were +strengthened by Poleni, after the lapse of some years, when the second +of the two shells showed some signs of cracking. + +From Dr. Durm's minute description of the cupola, there seems to be no +doubt about the existence of this third vault in Michelangelo's wooden +model. He says that the two outer shells are carved out of one piece +of wood, while the third or innermost is made of another piece, which +has been inserted. The sunk or hollow compartments, which form the +laquear of this depressed vault, differ considerably in shape and +arrangement from those which were adopted when it was finally +rejected. The question now remains, whether the semi-spherical shell +was abandoned during Michelangelo's lifetime and with his approval. +There is good reason to believe that this may have been the case: +first, because the tambour, which he executed, differs from the model +in the arching of its windows; secondly, because Fontana and other +early writers on the cupola insist strongly on the fact that +Michelangelo's own plans were strictly followed, although they never +allude to the third or innermost vault. It is almost incredible that +if Della Porta departed in so vital a point from Michelangelo's +design, no notice should have been taken of the fact. On the other +hand, the tradition that Della Porta improved the curve of the cupola +by making the spring upward from the attic more abrupt, is due +probably to the discrepancy between the internal aspects of the model +and the dome itself. The actual truth is that the cupola in its curve +and its dimensions corresponds accurately to the proportions of the +double outer vaulting of the model. + +Taking, then, Vasari's statement in conjunction with the silence of +Fontana, Poleni, and other early writers, and duly observing the care +with which the proportions of the dome have been preserved, I think we +may safely conclude that Michelangelo himself abandoned the third or +semi-spherical vault, and that the cupola, as it exists, ought to be +ascribed entirely to his conception. It is, in fact, the only portion +of the basilica which remains as he designed it. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +I + +There is great difficulty in dealing chronologically with the last +twenty years of Michelangelo's life. This is due in some measure to +the multiplicity of his engagements, but more to the tardy rate at +which his work, now almost wholly architectural, advanced. I therefore +judged it best to carry the history of his doings at S. Peter's down +to the latest date; and I shall take the same course now with regard +to the lesser schemes which occupied his mind between 1545 and 1564, +reserving for the last the treatment of his private life during this +period. + +A society of gentlemen and artists, to which Buonarroti belonged, +conceived the plan of erecting buildings of suitable size and grandeur +on the Campidoglio. This hill had always been dear to the Romans, as +the central point of urban life since the foundation of their city, +through the days of the Republic and the Empire, down to the latest +Middle Ages. But it was distinguished only by its ancient name and +fame. No splendid edifices and majestic squares reminded the spectator +that here once stood the shrine of Jupiter Capitolinus, to which +conquering generals rode in triumph with the spoils and captives of +the habitable world behind their laurelled chariots. Paul III. +approved of the design, and Michelangelo, who had received the +citizenship of Rome on March 20, 1546, undertook to provide a scheme +for its accomplishment. We are justified in believing that the +disposition of the parts which now compose the Capitol is due to his +conception: the long steep flight of steps leading up from the Piazza +Araceli; the irregular open square, flanked on the left hand by the +Museum of Sculpture, on the right by the Palazzo dei Conservatori, and +closed at its farther end by the Palazzo del Senatore. He also placed +the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus on its noble +pedestal, and suggested the introduction of other antique specimens of +sculpture into various portions of the architectural plan. The +splendid double staircase leading to the entrance hall of the Palazzo +del Senatore, and part of the Palazzo dei Conservatori, were completed +during Michelangelo's lifetime. When Vasari wrote in 1568, the dead +sculptor's friend, Tommaso dei Cavalieri, was proceeding with the +work. There is every reason, therefore, to assume that the latter +building, at any rate, fairly corresponds to his intention. Vignola +and Giacomo della Porta, both of them excellent architects, carried +out the scheme, which must have been nearly finished in the +pontificate of Innocent X. (1644-1655). + +Like the cupola of S. Peter's, the Campidoglio has always been +regarded as one of Michelangelo's most meritorious performances in +architecture. His severe critic, M. Charles Garnier, says of the +Capitol: "The general composition of the edifice is certainly worthy +of Buonarroti's powerful conception. The balustrade which crowns the +facade is indeed bad and vulgar; the great pilasters are very poor in +invention, and the windows of the first story are extremely mediocre +in style. Nevertheless, there is a great simplicity of lines in these +palaces; and the porticoes of the ground-floor might be selected for +the beauty of their leading motive. The opposition of the great +pilasters to the little columns is an idea at once felicitous and +original. The whole has a fine effect; and though I hold the +proportions of the ground-floor too low in relation to the first +story, I consider this facade of the Capitol not only one of +Michelangelo's best works, but also one of the best specimens of the +building of that period. Deduction must, of course, be made for +heaviness and improprieties of taste, which are not rare." + +Next to these designs for the Capitol, the most important +architectural work of Michelangelo's old age was the plan he made of a +new church to be erected by the Florentines in Rome to the honour of +their patron, S. Giovanni. We find him writing to his nephew on the +15th of July 1559: "The Florentines are minded to erect a great +edifice--that is to say, their church; and all of them with one accord +put pressure on me to attend to this. I have answered that I am living +here by the Duke's permission for the fabric of S. Peter's, and that +unless he gives me leave, they can get nothing from me." The consul +and counsellors of the Florentine nation in Rome wrote upon this to +the Duke, who entered with enthusiasm into their scheme, not only +sending a favourable reply, but also communicating personally upon the +subject with Buonarroti. Three of Michelangelo's letters on the +subject to the Duke have been preserved. After giving a short history +of the project, and alluding to the fact that Leo X. began the church, +he says that the Florentines had appointed a building committee of +five men, at whose request he made several designs. One of these they +selected, and according to his own opinion it was the best. "This I +will have copied and drawn out more clearly than I have been able to +do it, on account of old age, and will send it to your Most +Illustrious Lordship." The drawings were executed and carried to +Florence by the hand of Tiberio Calcagni. Vasari, who has given a long +account of this design, says that Calcagni not only drew the plans, +but that he also completed a clay model of the whole church within the +space of two days, from which the Florentines caused a larger wooden +model to be constructed. Michelangelo must have been satisfied with +his conception, for he told the building-committee that "if they +carried it out, neither the Romans nor the Greeks ever erected so fine +an edifice in any of their temples. Words the like of which neither +before nor afterwards issued from his lips; for he was exceedingly +modest." Vasari, who had good opportunities for studying the model, +pronounced it to be "superior in beauty, richness and variety of +invention to any temple which was ever seen." The building was begun, +and 5000 crowns were spent upon it. Then money or will failed. The +model and drawings perished. Nothing remains for certain to show what +Michelangelo's intentions were. The present church of S. Giovanni dei +Fiorentini in Strada Giulia is the work of Giacomo della Porta, with a +facade by Alessandro Galilei. + +Of Tiberio Calcagni, the young Florentine sculptor and architect, who +acted like a kind of secretary or clerk to Michelangelo, something may +here be said. The correspondence of this artist with Lionardo +Buonarroti shows him to have been what Vasari calls him, "of gentle +manners and discreet behaviour." He felt both veneration and +attachment for the aged master, and was one of the small group of +intimate friends who cheered his last years. We have seen that +Michelangelo consigned the shattered Pieta to his care; and Vasari +tells us that he also wished him to complete the bust of Brutus, which +had been begun, at Donato Giannotti's request, for the Cardinal +Ridolfi. This bust is said to have been modelled from an ancient +cornelian in the possession of a certain Giuliano Ceserino. +Michelangelo not only blocked the marble out, but brought it nearly to +completion, working the surface with very fine-toothed chisels. The +sweetness of Tiberio Calcagni's nature is proved by the fact that he +would not set his own hand to this masterpiece of sculpture. As in the +case of the Pieta, he left Buonarroti's work untouched, where mere +repairs were not required. Accordingly we still can trace the +fine-toothed marks of the chisel alluded to by Vasari, hatched and +cross-hatched with right and left handed strokes in the style peculiar +to Michelangelo. The Brutus remains one of the finest specimens of his +creative genius. It must have been conceived and executed in the +plenitude of his vigour, probably at the time when Florence fell +beneath the yoke of Alessandro de' Medici, or rather when his murderer +Lorenzino gained the name of Brutus from the exiles (1539). Though +Vasari may be right in saying that a Roman intaglio suggested the +stamp of face and feature, yet we must regard this Brutus as an ideal +portrait, intended to express the artist's conception of resolution +and uncompromising energy in a patriot eager to sacrifice personal +feelings and to dare the utmost for his country's welfare. Nothing can +exceed the spirit with which a violent temperament, habitually +repressed, but capable of leaping forth like sudden lightning, has +been rendered. We must be grateful to Calcagni for leaving it in its +suggestively unfinished state. + + +II + +During these same years Michelangelo carried on a correspondence with +Ammanati and Vasari about the completion of the Laurentian Library. +His letters illustrate what I have more than once observed regarding +his unpractical method of commencing great works, without more than +the roughest sketches, intelligible to himself alone, and useless to +an ordinary craftsman. The Florentine artists employed upon the fabric +wanted very much to know how he meant to introduce the grand staircase +into the vestibule. Michelangelo had forgotten all about it. "With +regard to the staircase of the library, about which so much has been +said to me, you may believe that if I could remember how I had +arranged it, I should not need to be begged and prayed for +information. There comes into my mind, as in a dream, the image of a +certain staircase; but I do not think this can be the one I then +designed, for it seems so stupid. However, I will describe it." Later +on he sends a little clay model of a staircase, just enough to +indicate his general conception, but not to determine details. He +suggests that the work would look better if carried out in walnut. We +have every reason to suppose that the present stone flight of steps is +far from being representative of his idea. + +He was now too old to do more than furnish drawings when asked to +design some monument. Accordingly, when Pius IV. resolved to erect a +tomb in Milan Cathedral to the memory of his brother, Giangiacomo de' +Medici, Marquis of Marignano, commonly called Il Medeghino, he +requested Michelangelo to supply the bronze-sculptor Leone Leoni of +Menaggio with a design. This must have been insufficient for the +sculptor's purpose--a mere hand-sketch not drawn to scale. The +monument, though imposing in general effect, is very defective in its +details and proportions. The architectural scheme has not been +comprehended by the sculptor, who enriched it with a great variety of +figures, excellently wrought in bronze, and faintly suggesting +Michelangelo's manner. + +The grotesque _barocco_ style of the Porta Pia, strong in its total +outline, but whimsical and weak in decorative detail, may probably be +ascribed to the same cause. It was sketched out by Michelangelo during +the pontificate of Pius IV., and can hardly have been erected under +his personal supervision. Vasari says: "He made three sketches, +extravagant in style and most beautiful, of which the Pope selected +the least costly; this was executed much to his credit, as may now be +seen." To what extent he was responsible for the other +sixteenth-century gates of Rome, including the Porta del Popolo, which +is commonly ascribed to him, cannot be determined; though Vasari +asserts that Michelangelo supplied the Pope with "many other models" +for the restoration of the gates. Indeed it may be said of all his +later work that we are dealing with uncertain material, the original +idea emanating perhaps from Buonarroti's mind, but the execution +having devolved upon journeymen. + +Pius IV. charged Michelangelo with another great undertaking, which +was the restoration of the Baths of Diocletian in the form of a +Christian church. Criticism is reduced to silence upon his work in +this place, because S. Maria degli Angeli underwent a complete +remodelling by the architect Vanvitelli in 1749. This man altered the +ground-plan from the Latin to the Greek type, and adopted the +decorative style in vogue at the beginning of the eighteenth century. +All that appears certain is that Michelangelo had very considerable +remains of the Roman building to make use of. We may also perhaps +credit tradition, when it tells us that the vast Carthusian cloister +belongs to him, and that the three great cypress-trees were planted by +his hand. + +Henri the Second's death occurred in 1559; and his widow, Catherine +de' Medici, resolved to erect an equestrian statue to his memory. She +bethought her of the aged sculptor, who had been bred in the palace of +her great-grandfather, who had served two Pontiffs of her family, and +who had placed the mournful image of her father on the tomb at San +Lorenzo. Accordingly she wrote a letter on the 14th of November in +that year, informing Michelangelo of her intention, and begging him to +supply at least a design upon which the best masters in the realm of +France might work. The statue was destined for the courtyard of the +royal chateau at Blois, and was to be in bronze. Ruberto degli +Strozzi, the Queen's cousin, happened about this time to visit Rome. +Michelangelo having agreed to furnish a sketch, it was decided between +them that the execution should be assigned to Daniele da Volterra. +After nearly a year's interval, Catherine wrote again, informing +Michelangelo that she had deposited a sum of 6000 golden crowns at the +bank of Gianbattista Gondi for the work, adding: "Consequently, since +on my side nothing remains to be done, I entreat you by the affection +you have always shown to my family, to our Florence, and lastly to +art, that you will use all diligence and assiduity, so far as your +years permit, in pushing forward this noble work, and making it a +living likeness of my lord, as well as worthy of your own unrivalled +genius. It is true that this will add nothing to the fame you now +enjoy; yet it will at least augment your reputation for most +acceptable and affectionate devotion toward myself and my ancestors, +and prolong through centuries the memory of my lawful and sole love; +for the which I shall be eager and liberal to reward you." It is +probable that by this time (October 30, 1560) Michelangelo had +forwarded his sketch to France, for the Queen criticised some details +relating to the portrait of her husband. She may have remembered with +what idealistic freedom the statues of the Dukes of Nemours and Urbino +had been treated in the Medicean Sacristy. Anyhow, she sent a picture, +and made her agent, Baccio del Bene, write a postscript to her letter, +ordering Michelangelo to model the King's head without curls, and to +adopt the rich modern style for his armour and the trappings of his +charger. She particularly insisted upon the likeness being carefully +brought out. + +Michelangelo died before the equestrian statue of Henri II. was +finished. Cellini, in his Memoirs, relates that Daniele da Volterra +worked slowly, and caused much annoyance to the Queen-mother of +France. In 1562 her agent, Baccio del Bene, came to Florence on +financial business with the Duke. He then proposed that Cellini should +return to Paris and undertake the ornamental details of the tomb. The +Duke would not consent, and Catherine de' Medici did not choose to +quarrel with her cousin about an artist. So this arrangement, which +might have secured the completion of the statue on a splendid scale, +fell through. When Daniele died in 1566, only the horse was cast; and +this part served finally for Biard's statue of Louis XIII. + + +III + +The sculptor Leone Leoni, who was employed upon the statue of +Giangiacomo de' Medici in Milan, wrote frequently to Michelangelo, +showing by his letters that a warm friendship subsisted between them, +which was also shared by Tommaso Cavalieri. In the year 1560, +according to Vasari, Leoni modelled a profile portrait of the great +master, which he afterwards cast in medal form. This is almost the +most interesting, and it is probably the most genuine contemporary +record which we possess regarding Michelangelo's appearance in the +body. I may therefore take it as my basis for inquiring into the +relative value of the many portraits said to have been modelled, +painted, or sketched from the hero in his lifetime. So far as I am +hitherto aware, no claim has been put in for the authenticity of any +likeness, except Bonasoni's engraving, anterior to the date we have +arrived at. While making this statement, I pass over the prostrate old +man in the Victory, and the Nicodemus of the Florentine Pieta, both of +which, with more or less reason, have been accepted as efforts after +self-portraiture. + +After making due allowance for Vasari's too notorious inaccuracies, +deliberate misstatements, and random jumpings at conclusions, we have +the right to accept him here as a first-rate authority. He was living +at this time in close intimacy with Buonarroti, enjoyed his +confidence, plumed himself upon their friendship, and had no reason to +distort truth, which must have been accessible to one in his position. +He says, then: "At this time the Cavaliere Leoni made a very lively +portrait of Michelangelo upon a medal, and to meet his wishes, +modelled on the reverse a blind man led by a dog, with this legend +round the rim: DOCEBO INIQUOS VIAS TUAS, ET IMPII AD TE CONVERTENTUR. +It pleased Michelangelo so much that he gave him a wax model of a +Hercules throttling Antaeus, by his own hand, together with some +drawings. Of Michelangelo there exist no other portraits, except two +in painting--one by Bugiardini, the other by Jacopo del Conte; and one +in bronze, in full relief, made by Daniele da Volterra: these, and +Leoni's medal, from which (in the plural) many copies have been made, +and a great number of them have been seen by me in several parts of +Italy and abroad." + +Leoni's medal, on the obverse, shows the old artist's head in profile, +with strong lines of drapery rising to the neck and gathering around +the shoulders. It carries this legend: MICHELANGELUS BUONARROTUS, FLO. +R.A.E.T.S. ANN. 88, and is signed LEO. Leoni then assumed that +Michelangelo was eighty-eight years of age when he cast the die. But +if this was done in 1560, the age he had then attained was +eighty-five. We possess a letter from Leoni in Milan to Buonarroti in +Rome, dated March 14, 1561. In it he says: "I am sending to your +lordship, by the favour of Lord Carlo Visconti, a great man in this +city, and beloved by his Holiness, four medals of your portrait: two +in silver, and two in bronze. I should have done so earlier but for my +occupation with the monument (of Medeghino), and for the certainty I +feel that you will excuse my tardiness, if not a sin of ingratitude in +me. The one enclosed within the little box has been worked up to the +finest polish. I beg you to accept and keep this for the love of me. +With the other three you will do as you think best. I say this because +ambition has prompted me to send copies into Spain and Flanders, as I +have also done to Rome and other places. I call it ambition, forasmuch +as I have gained an overplus of benefits by acquiring the good-will of +your lordship, whom I esteem so highly. Have I not received in little +less than three months two letters written to me by you, divine man; +and couched not in terms fit for a servant of good heart and will, but +for one beloved as a son? I pray you to go on loving me, and when +occasion serves, to favour me; and to Signer Tomao dei Cavalieri say +that I shall never be unmindful of him." + +It is clear, then, I think, that Leoni's model was made at Rome in +1560, cast at Milan, and sent early in the spring of 1561 to +Michelangelo. The wide distribution of the medals, two of which exist +still in silver, while several in bronze may be found in different +collections, is accounted for by what Leoni says about his having +given them away to various parts of Europe. We are bound to suppose +that AET. 88 in the legend on the obverse is due to a misconception +concerning Michelangelo's age. Old men are often ignorant or careless +about the exact tale of years they have performed. + +There is reason to believe that Leoni's original model of the profile, +the likeness he shaped from life, and which he afterwards used for the +medallion, is extant and in excellent preservation. Mr. C. Drury E. +Fortnum (to whose monographs upon Michelangelo's portraits, kindly +communicated by himself, I am deeply indebted at this portion of my +work), tells us how he came into possession of an exquisite cameo, in +flesh-coloured wax upon a black oval ground. This fragile work of art +is framed in gilt metal and glazed, carrying upon its back an Italian +inscription, which may be translated: "Portrait of Michelangelo +Buonarroti, taken from the life, by Leone Aretino, his friend." +Comparing the relief in wax with the medal, we cannot doubt that both +represent the same man; and only cavillers will raise the question +whether both were fashioned by one hand. Such discrepancies as occur +between them are just what we should expect in the work of a craftsman +who sought first to obtain an accurate likeness of his subject, and +then treated the same subject on the lines of numismatic art. The wax +shows a lean and subtly moulded face--the face of a delicate old man, +wiry and worn with years of deep experience. The hair on head and +beard is singularly natural; one feels it to be characteristic of the +person. Transferring this portrait to bronze necessitated a general +broadening of the masses, with a coarsening of outline to obtain bold +relief. Something of the purest truth has been sacrificed to plastic +effect by thickening the shrunken throat; and this induced a +corresponding enlargement of the occiput for balance. Writing with +photographs of these two models before me, I feel convinced that in +the wax we have a portrait from the life of the aged Buonarroti as +Leoni knew him, and in the bronze a handling of that portrait as the +craftsman felt his art of metal-work required its execution. There was +a grand manner of medallion-portraiture in Italy, deriving from the +times of Pisanello; and Leoni's bronze is worthy of that excellent +tradition. He preserved the salient features of Buonarroti in old age. +But having to send down to posterity a monumental record of the man, +he added, insensibly or wilfully, both bulk and mass to the head he +had so keenly studied. What confirms me in the opinion that Mr. +Fornum's cameo is the most veracious portrait we possess of +Michelangelo in old age, is that its fragility of structure, the +tenuity of life vigorous but infinitely refined, reappears in the weak +drawing made by Francesco d'Olanda of Buonarroti in hat and mantle. +This is a comparatively poor and dreamy sketch. Yet it has an air of +veracity; and what the Flemish painter seized in the divine man he so +much admired, was a certain slender grace and dignity of +person--exactly the quality which Mr. Fortnum's cameo possesses. + +Before leaving this interesting subject, I ought to add that the blind +man on the reverse of Leoni's medal is clearly a rough and ready +sketch of Michelangelo, not treated like a portrait, but with +indications sufficient to connect the figure with the highly wrought +profile on the obverse. + +Returning now to the passage cited from Vasari, we find that he +reckons only two authentic portraits in painting of Michelangelo, one +by Bugiardini, the other by Jacopo del Conte. He has neglected to +mention two which are undoubtedly attempts to reproduce the features +of the master by scholars he had formed. Probably Vasari overlooked +them, because they did not exist as easel-pictures, but were +introduced into great compositions as subordinate adjuncts. One of +them is the head painted by Daniele da Volterra in his picture of the +Assumption at the church of the Trinita de' Monti in Rome. It belongs +to an apostle, draped in red, stretching arms aloft, close to a +column, on the right hand of the painting as we look at it. This must +be reckoned among the genuine likenesses of the great man by one who +lived with him and knew him intimately. The other is a portrait placed +by Marcello Venusti in the left-hand corner of his copy of the Last +Judgment, executed, under Michelangelo's direction, for the Cardinal +Farnese. It has value for the same reasons as those which make us +dwell upon Daniele da Volterra's picture. Moreover, it connects itself +with a series of easel-paintings. One of these, ascribed to Venusti, +is preserved in the Museo Buonarroti at Florence; another at the +Capitol in Rome. Several repetitions of this type exist: they look +like studies taken by the pupil from his master, and reproduced to +order when death closed the scene, making friends wish for mementoes +of the genius who had passed away. The critique of such works will +always remain obscure. + +What has become of the portrait of Del Conte mentioned by Vasari +cannot now be ascertained. We have no external evidence to guide us. + +On the other hand, certain peculiarities about the portrait in the +Uffizi, especially the exaggeration of one eye, lend some colouring to +the belief that we here possess the picture ascribed by Vasari to +Bugiardini. + +Michelangelo's type of face was well accentuated, and all the more or +less contemporary portraits of him reproduce it. Time is wasted in the +effort to assign to little men their special part in the creation of a +prevalent tradition. It seems to me, therefore, the function of sane +criticism not to be particular about the easel-pictures ascribed to +Venusti, Del Conte, and Bugiardini. + +The case is different with a superb engraving by Giulio Bonasoni, a +profile in a circle, dated 1546, and giving Buonarroti's age as +seventy-two. This shows the man in fuller vigour than the portraits we +have hitherto been dealing with. From other prints which bear the +signature of Bonasoni, we see that he was interested in faithfully +reproducing Michelangelo's work. What the relations between the two +men were remains uncertain, but Bonasoni may have had opportunities of +studying the master's person. At any rate, as a product of the burin, +this profile is comparable for fidelity and veracity with Leoni's +model, and is executed in the same medallion spirit. + +So far, then, as I have yet pursued the analysis of Michelangelo's +portraits, I take Bonasoni's engraving to be decisive for +Michelangelo's appearance at the age of seventy; Leoni's model as of +equal or of greater value at the age of eighty; Venusti's and Da +Volterra's paintings as of some importance for this later period; +while I leave the attribution of minor easel-pictures to Del Conte or +to Bugiardini open. + +It remains to speak of that "full relief in bronze made by Daniele da +Volterra," which Vasari mentions among the four genuine portraits of +Buonarroti. From the context we should gather that this head was +executed during the lifetime of Michelangelo, and the conclusion is +supported by the fact that only a few pages later on Vasari mentions +two other busts modelled after his death. Describing the catafalque +erected to his honour in S. Lorenzo, he says that the pyramid which +crowned the structure exhibited within two ovals (one turned toward +the chief door, and the other toward the high altar) "the head of +Michelangelo in relief, taken from nature, and very excellently +carried out by Santi Buglioni." The words _ritratta dal naturale_ do +not, I think, necessarily imply that it was modelled from the life. +Owing to the circumstances under which Michelangelo's obsequies were +prepared, there was not time to finish it in bronze of stone; it may +therefore have been one of those Florentine terra-cotta effigies which +artists elaborated from a cast taken after death. That there existed +such a cast is proved by what we know about the monument designed by +Vasari in S. Croce. "One of the statues was assigned to Battista +Lorenzi, an able sculptor, together with the head of Michelangelo." We +learn from another source that this bust in marble "was taken from the +mask cast after his death." + +The custom of taking plaster casts from the faces of the illustrious +dead, in order to perpetuate their features, was so universal in +Italy, that it could hardly have been omitted in the case of +Michelangelo. The question now arises whether the bronze head ascribed +by Vasari to Daniele da Volterra was executed during Michelangelo's +lifetime or after his decease, and whether we possess it. There are +eight heads of this species known to students of Michelangelo, which +correspond so nicely in their measurements and general features as to +force the conclusion that they were all derived from an original +moulded by one masterly hand. Three of these heads are unmounted, +namely, those at Milan, Oxford, and M. Piot's house in Paris. One, +that of the Capitoline Museum, is fixed upon a bust of _bigio morato_ +marble. The remaining four examples are executed throughout in bronze +as busts, agreeing in the main as to the head, but differing in minor +details of drapery. They exist respectively in the Museo Buonarroti, +the Accademia, and the Bargello at Florence, and in the private +collection of M. Cottier of Paris. It is clear, then, that we are +dealing with bronze heads cast from a common mould, worked up +afterwards according to the fancy of the artist. That this original +head was the portrait ascribed to Daniele da Volterra will be conceded +by all who care to trace the history of the bust; but whether he +modelled it after Michelangelo's death cannot be decided. Professional +critics are of the opinion that a mask was followed by the master; and +this may have been the case. Michelangelo died upon the 17th of +February 1564. His face was probably cast in the usual course of +things, and copies may have been distributed among his friends in Rome +and Florence. Lionardo Buonarroti showed at once a great anxiety to +obtain his uncle's bust from Daniele da Volterra. Possibly he ordered +it while resident in Rome, engaged in winding up Michelangelo's +affairs. At any rate, Daniele wrote on June 11 to this effect: "As +regards the portraits in metal, I have already completed a model in +wax, and the work is going on as fast as circumstances permit; you may +rely upon its being completed with due despatch and all the care I can +bestow upon it." Nearly four months had elapsed since Michelangelo's +decease, and this was quite enough time for the wax model to be made. +The work of casting was begun, but Daniele's health at this time +became so wretched that he found it impossible to work steadily at any +of his undertakings. He sank slowly, and expired in the early spring +of 1566. + +What happened to the bronze heads in the interval between June 1564 +and April 1566 may be partly understood from Diomede Leoni's +correspondence. This man, a native of San Quirico, was Daniele's +scholar, and an intimate friend of the Buonarroti family. On the 9th +of September 1564 he wrote to Lionardo: "Your two heads of that +sainted man are coming to a good result, and I am sure you will be +satisfied with them." It appears, then, that Lionardo had ordered two +copies from Daniele. On the 21st of April 1565 Diomede writes again: +"I delivered your messages to Messer Daniele, who replies that you are +always in his mind, as also the two heads of your lamented uncle. They +will soon be cast, as also will my copy, which I mean to keep by me +for my honour." The casting must have taken place in the summer of +1565, for Diomede writes upon the 6th of October: "I will remind him +(Daniele) of your two heads; and he will find mine well finished, +which will make him wish to have yours chased without further delay." +The three heads had then been cast; Diomede was polishing his up with +the file; Daniele had not yet begun to do this for Lionardo's. We hear +nothing more until the death of Daniele da Volterra. After this event +occurred, Lionardo Buonarroti received a letter from Jacopo del Duca, +a Sicilian bronze-caster of high merit, who had enjoyed Michelangelo's +confidence and friendship. He was at present employed upon the +metal-work for Buonarroti's monument in the Church of the SS. Apostoli +in Rome, and on the 18th of April he sent important information +respecting the two heads left by Daniele. "Messer Danielo had cast +them, but they are in such a state as to require working over afresh +with chisels and files. I am not sure, then, whether they will suit +your purpose; but that is your affair. I, for my part, should have +liked you to have the portrait from the hand of the lamented master +himself, and not from any other. Your lordship must decide: appeal to +some one who can inform you better than I do. I know that I am +speaking from the love I bear you; and perhaps, if Danielo had been +alive, he would have had them brought to proper finish. As for those +men of his, I do not know what they will do." On the same day, a +certain Michele Alberti wrote as follows: "Messer Jacopo, your gossip, +has told me that your lordship wished to know in what condition are +the heads of the late lamented Michelangelo. I inform you that they +are cast, and will be chased within the space of a month, or rather +more. So your lordship will be able to have them; and you may rest +assured that you will be well and quickly served." Alberti, we may +conjecture, was one of Daniele's men alluded to by Jacopo del Duca. It +is probable that just at this time they were making several _replicas_ +from their deceased master's model, in order to dispose of them at an +advantage while Michelangelo's memory was still fresh. Lionardo grew +more and more impatient. He appealed again to Diomede Leoni, who +replied from San Quirico upon the 4th of June: "The two heads were in +existence when I left Rome, but not finished up. I imagine you have +given orders to have them delivered over to yourself. As for the work +of chasing them, if you can wait till my return, we might intrust them +to a man who succeeded very well with my own copy." Three years later, +on September 17, 1569, Diomede wrote once again about his copy of Da +Volterra's model: "I enjoy the continual contemplation of his effigy +in bronze, which is now perfectly finished and set up in my garden, +where you will see it, if good fortune favours me with a visit from +you." + +The net result of this correspondence seems to be that certainly three +bronze heads, and probably more, remained unfinished in Daniele da +Volterra's workshop after his death, and that these were gradually +cleaned and polished by different craftsmen, according to the pleasure +of their purchasers. The strong resemblance of the eight bronze heads +at present known to us, in combination with their different states of +surface-finish, correspond entirely to this conclusion. Mr. Fortnum, +in his classification, describes four as being not chased, one as +"rudely and broadly chased," three as "more or less chased." + +Of these variants upon the model common to them all, we can only trace +one with relative certainty. It is the bust at present in the Bargello +Palace, whither it came from the Grand Ducal villa of Poggio +Imperiale. By the marriage of the heiress of the ducal house of Della +Rovere with a Duke of Tuscany, this work of art passed, with other art +treasures, notably with a statuette of Michelangelo's Moses, into the +possession of the Medici. A letter written in 1570 to the Duke of +Urbino by Buonarroti's house-servant, Antonio del Franzese of Castel +Durante, throws light upon the matter. He begins by saying that he is +glad to hear the Duke will accept the little Moses, though the object +is too slight in value to deserve his notice. Then he adds: "The head +of which your Excellency spoke in the very kind letter addressed to me +at your command is the true likeness of Michelangelo Buonarroti, my +old master; and it is of bronze, designed by himself. I keep it here +in Rome, and now present it to your Excellency." Antonio then, in all +probability, obtained one of the Daniele da Volterra bronzes; for it +is wholly incredible that what he writes about its having been made by +Michelangelo should be the truth. Had Michelangelo really modelled his +own portrait and cast it in bronze, we must have heard of this from +other sources. Moreover, the Medicean bust of Michelangelo which is +now placed in the Bargello, and which we believe to have come from +Urbino, belongs indubitably to the series of portraits made from +Daniele da Volterra's model. + +To sum up this question of Michelangelo's authentic portraits: I +repeat that Bonasoni's engraving represents him at the age of seventy; +Leoni's wax model and medallions at eighty; the eight bronze heads, +derived from Daniele's model, at the epoch of his death. In painting, +Marco Venusti and Daniele da Volterra helped to establish a +traditional type by two episodical likenesses, the one worked into +Venusti's copy of the Last Judgment (at Naples), the other into +Volterra's original picture of the Assumption (at Trinita de' Monti, +Rome). For the rest, the easel-pictures, which abound, can hardly now +be distributed, by any sane method of criticism, between Bugiardini, +Jacopo del Conte, and Venusti. They must be taken _en masse_, as +contributions to the study of his personality; and, as I have already +said, the oil-painting of the Uffizi may perhaps be ascribed with some +show of probability to Bugiardini. + + +IV + +Michelangelo's correspondence with his nephew Lionardo gives us ample +details concerning his private life and interests in old age. It turns +mainly upon the following topics: investment of money in land near +Florence, the purchase of a mansion in the city, Lionardo's marriage, +his own illnesses, the Duke's invitation, and the project of making a +will, which was never carried out. Much as Michelangelo loved his +nephew, he took frequent occasions of snubbing him. For instance, news +reached Rome that the landed property of a certain Francesco Corboli +was going to be sold. Michelangelo sent to Lionardo requesting him to +make inquiries; and because the latter showed some alacrity in doing +so, his uncle wrote him the following querulous epistle: "You have +been very hasty in sending me information regarding the estates of the +Corboli. I did not think you were yet in Florence. Are you afraid lest +I should change my mind, as some one may perhaps have put it into your +head? I tell you that I want to go slowly in this affair, because the +money I must pay has been gained here with toil and trouble +unintelligible to one who was born clothed and shod as you were. About +your coming post-haste to Rome, I do not know that you came in such a +hurry when I was a pauper and lacked bread. Enough for you to throw +away the money that you did not earn. The fear of losing what you +might inherit on my death impelled you. You say it was your duty to +come, by reason of the love you bear me. The love of a woodworm! If +you really loved me, you would have written now: 'Michelangelo, spend +those 3000 ducats there upon yourself, for you have given us enough +already: your life is dearer to us than your money.' You have all of +you lived forty years upon me, and I have never had from you so much +as one good word. 'Tis true that last year I scolded and rebuked you +so that for very shame you sent me a load of trebbiano. I almost wish +you hadn't! I do not write this because I am unwilling to buy. Indeed +I have a mind to do so, in order to obtain an income for myself, now +that I cannot work more. But I want to buy at leisure, so as not to +purchase some annoyance. Therefore do not hurry." + +Lionardo was careless about his handwriting, and this annoyed the old +man terribly. + +"Do not write to me again. Each time I get one of your letters, a +fever takes me with the trouble I have in reading it. I do not know +where you learned to write. I think that if you were writing to the +greatest donkey in the world you would do it with more care. Therefore +do not add to the annoyances I have, for I have already quite enough +of them." + +He returns to the subject over and over again, and once declares that +he has flung a letter of Lionardo's into the fire unread, and so is +incapable of answering it. This did not prevent a brisk interchange of +friendly communications between the uncle and nephew. + +Lionardo was now living in the Buonarroti house in Via Ghibellina. +Michelangelo thought it advisable that he should remove into a more +commodious mansion, and one not subject to inundations of the +basement. He desired, however, not to go beyond the quarter of S. +Croce, where the family had been for centuries established. The matter +became urgent, for Lionardo wished to marry, and could not marry until +he was provided with a residence. Eventually, after rejecting many +plans and proffers of houses, they decided to enlarge and improve the +original Buonarroti mansion in Via Ghibellina. This house continued to +be their town-mansion until the year 1852, when it passed by +testamentary devise to the city of Florence. It is now the Museo +Buonarroti. + +Lionardo was at this time thirty, and was the sole hope of the family, +since Michelangelo and his two surviving brothers had no expectation +of offspring. His uncle kept reminding the young man that, if he did +not marry and get children, the whole property of the Buonarroti would +go to the Hospital or to S. Martino. This made his marriage +imperative; and Michelangelo's letters between March 5, 1547, and May +16, 1553, when the desired event took place, are full of the subject. +He gives his nephew excellent advice as to the choice of a wife. She +ought to be ten years younger than himself, of noble birth, but not of +a very rich or powerful family; Lionardo must not expect her to be too +handsome, since he is no miracle of manly beauty; the great thing is +to obtain a good, useful, and obedient helpmate, who will not try to +get the upper hand in the house, and who will be grateful for an +honourable settlement in life. The following passages may be selected, +as specimens of Michelangelo's advice: "You ought not to look for a +dower, but only to consider whether the girl is well brought up, +healthy, of good character and noble blood. You are not yourself of +such parts and person as to be worthy of the first beauty of +Florence." "You have need of a wife who would stay with you, and whom +you could command, and who would not want to live in grand style or to +gad about every day to marriages and banquets. Where a court is, it is +easy to become a woman of loose life; especially for one who has no +relatives." + +Numerous young ladies were introduced by friends or matrimonial +agents. Six years, however, elapsed before the suitable person +presented herself in the shape of Cassandra, daughter of Donato +Ridolfi. Meanwhile, in 1548, Michelangelo lost the elder of his +surviving brothers. Giovan Simone died upon the 9th of January; and +though he had given but little satisfaction in his lifetime, his death +was felt acutely by the venerable artist. "I received news in your +last of Giovan Simone's death. It has caused me the greatest sorrow; +for though I am old, I had yet hoped to see him before he died, and +before I died. God has willed it so. Patience! I should be glad to +hear circumstantially what kind of end he made, and whether he +confessed and communicated with all the sacraments of the Church. If +he did so, and I am informed of it, I shall suffer less." A few days +after the date of this letter, Michelangelo writes again, blaming +Lionardo pretty severely for negligence in giving particulars of his +uncle's death and affairs. Later on, it seems that he was satisfied +regarding Giovan Simone's manner of departure from this world. A +grudge remained against Lionardo because he had omitted to inform him +about the property. "I heard the details from other persons before you +sent them, which angered me exceedingly." + + +V + +The year 1549 is marked by an exchange of civilities between +Michelangelo and Benedetto Varchi. The learned man of letters and +minute historiographer of Florence probably enjoyed our great +sculptor's society in former years: recently they had been brought +into closer relations at Rome. Varchi, who was interested in critical +and academical problems, started the question whether sculpture or +painting could justly claim a priority in the plastic arts. He +conceived the very modern idea of collecting opinions from practical +craftsmen, instituting, in fact, what would now be called a +"Symposium" upon the subject. A good number of the answers to his +query have been preserved, and among them is a letter from +Michelangelo. It contains the following passage, which proves in how +deep a sense Buonarroti was by temperament and predilection a +sculptor: "My opinion is that all painting is the better the nearer it +approaches to relief, and relief is the worse in proportion as it +inclines to painting. And so I have been wont to think that sculpture +is the lamp of painting, and that the difference between them might be +likened to the difference between the sun and moon. Now that I have +read your essay, in which you maintain that, philosophically speaking, +things which fulfil the same purpose are essentially the same, I have +altered my view. Therefore I say that, if greater judgment and +difficulty, impediment and labour, in the handling of material do not +constitute higher nobility, then painting and sculpture form one art. +This being granted, it follows that no painter should underrate +sculpture, and no sculptor should make light of painting. By sculpture +I understand an art which operates by taking away superfluous +material; by painting, one that attains its result by laying on. It is +enough that both emanate from the same human intelligence, and +consequently sculpture and painting ought to live in amity together, +without these lengthy disputations. More time is wasted in talking +about the problem than would go to the making of figures in both +species. The man who wrote that painting was superior to sculpture, if +he understood the other things he says no better, might be called a +writer below the level of my maid-servant. There are infinite points +not yet expressed which might be brought out regarding these arts; +but, as I have said, they want too much time; and of time I have but +little, being not only old, but almost numbered with the dead. +Therefore, I pray you to have me excused. I recommend myself to you, +and thank you to the best of my ability for the too great honour you +have done me, which is more than I deserve." + +Varchi printed this letter in a volume which he published at Florence +in 1549, and reissued through another firm in 1590. It contained the +treatise alluded to above, and also a commentary upon one of +Michelangelo's sonnets, "Non ha l'ottimo artista alcun concetto." The +book was duly sent to Michelangelo by the favour of a noble Florentine +gentleman, Luca Martini. He responded to the present in a letter which +deserves here to be recited. It is an eminent example of the urbanity +observed by him in the interchange of these and similar courtesies:-- + +"I have received your letter, together with a little book containing a +commentary on a sonnet of mine. The sonnet does indeed proceed from +me, but the commentary comes from heaven. In truth it is a marvellous +production; and I say this not on my own judgment only, but on that of +able men, especially of Messer Donato Giannotti, who is never tired of +reading it. He begs to be remembered to you. About the sonnet, I know +very well what that is worth. Yet be it what it may, I cannot refrain +from piquing myself a little on having been the cause of so beautiful +and learned a commentary. The author of it, by his words and praises, +shows clearly that he thinks me to be other than I am; so I beg you to +express me to him in terms corresponding to so much love, affection, +and courtesy. I entreat you to do this, because I feel myself +inadequate, and one who has gained golden opinions ought not to tempt +fortune; it is better to keep silence than to fall from that height. I +am old, and death has robbed me of the thoughts of my youth. He who +knows not what old age is, let him wait till it arrives: he cannot +know beforehand. Remember me, as I said, to Varchi, with deep +affection for his fine qualities, and as his servant wherever I may +be." + +Three other letters belonging to the same year show how deeply +Michelangelo was touched and gratified by the distinguished honour +Varchi paid him. In an earlier chapter of this book I have already +pointed out how this correspondence bears upon the question of his +friendship with Tommaso dei Cavalieri, and also upon an untenable +hypothesis advanced by recent Florentine students of his biography. +The incident is notable in other ways because Buonarroti was now +adopted as a poet by the Florentine Academy. With a width of sympathy +rare in such bodies, they condoned the ruggedness of his style and the +uncouthness of his versification in their admiration for the high +quality of his meditative inspiration. To the triple crown of +sculptor, painter, architect, he now added the laurels of the bard; +and this public recognition of his genius as a writer gave him +well-merited pleasure in his declining years. + +While gathering up these scattered fragments of Buonarroti's later +life, I may here introduce a letter addressed to Benvenuto Cellini, +which illustrates his glad acceptance of all good work in +fellow-craftsmen:-- + +"My Benvenuto,--I have known you all these years as the greatest +goldsmith of whom the world ever heard, and now I am to know you for a +sculptor of the same quality. Messer Bindo Altoviti took me to see his +portrait bust in bronze, and told me it was by your hand. I admired it +much, but was sorry to see that it has been placed in a bad light. If +it had a proper illumination, it would show itself to be the fine work +it is." + + +VI + +Lionardo Buonarroti was at last married to Cassandra, the daughter of +Donato Ridolfi, upon the 16th of May 1553. One of the dearest wishes +which had occupied his uncle's mind so long, came thus to its +accomplishment. His letters are full of kindly thoughts for the young +couple, and of prudent advice to the husband, who had not arranged all +matters connected with the settlements to his own satisfaction. +Michelangelo congratulated Lionardo heartily upon his happiness, and +told him that he was minded to send the bride a handsome present, in +token of his esteem. "I have not been able to do so yet, because +Urbino was away. Now that he has returned, I shall give expression to +my sentiments. They tell me that a fine pearl necklace of some value +would be very proper. I have sent a goldsmith, Urbino's friend, in +search of such an ornament, and hope to find it; but say nothing to +her, and if you would like me to choose another article, please let me +know." This letter winds up with a strange admonition: "Look to +living, reflect and weigh things well; for the number of widows in the +world is always larger than that of the widowers." Ultimately he +decided upon two rings, one a diamond, the other a ruby. He tells +Lionardo to have the stones valued in case he has been cheated, +because he does not understand such things; and is glad to hear in due +course that the jewels are genuine. After the proper interval, +Cassandra expected her confinement, and Michelangelo corresponded with +his nephew as to the child's name in case it was a boy. "I shall be +very pleased if the name of Buonarroto does not die out of our family, +it having lasted three hundred years with us." The child was born upon +the 16th of May 1544, turned out a boy, and received the name of +Buonarroto. Though Lionardo had seven other children, including +Michelangelo the younger (born November 4, 1568), this Buonarroto +alone continued the male line of the family. The old man in Rome +remarked resignedly during his later years, when he heard the news of +a baby born and dead, that "I am not surprised; there was never in our +family more than one at a time to keep it going." + +Buonarroto was christened with some pomp, and Vasari wrote to +Michelangelo describing the festivities. In the year 1554, Cosimo de' +Medici had thrown his net round Siena. The Marquis of Marignano +reduced the city first to extremities by famine, and finally to +enslavement by capitulation. These facts account for the tone of +Michelangelo's answer to Vasari's letter: "Yours has given me the +greatest pleasure, because it assures me that you remember the poor +old man; and more perhaps because you were present at the triumph you +narrate, of seeing another Buonarroto reborn. I thank you heartily for +the information. But I must say that I am displeased with so much pomp +and show. Man ought not to laugh when the whole world weeps. So I +think that Lionardo has not displayed great judgment, particularly in +celebrating a nativity with all that joy and gladness which ought to +be reserved for the decease of one who has lived well." There is what +may be called an Elizabethan note--something like the lyrical +interbreathings of our dramatists--in this blending of jubilation and +sorrow, discontent and satisfaction, birth and death thoughts. + +We have seen that Vasari worked for a short time as pupil under +Michelangelo, and that during the pontificate of Paul III. they were +brought into frequent contact at Rome. With years their friendship +deepened into intimacy, and after the date 1550 their correspondence +forms one of our most important sources of information. Michelangelo's +letters begin upon the 1st of August in that year. Vasari was then +living and working for the Duke at Florence; but he had designed a +chapel for S. Pietro a Montorio in Rome, where Julius III. wished to +erect tombs to the memory of his ancestors; and the work had been +allotted to Bartolommeo Ammanati under Michelangelo's direction. + +This business, otherwise of no importance in his biography, +necessitated the writing of despatches, one of which is interesting, +since it acknowledges the receipt of Vasari's celebrated book:-- + +"Referring to your three letters which I have received, my pen refuses +to reply to such high compliments. I should indeed be happy if I were +in some degree what you make me out to be, but I should not care for +this except that then you would have a servant worth something. +However, I am not surprised that you, who resuscitate the dead, should +prolong the life of the living, or that you should steal the half-dead +from death for an endless period." + +It seems that on this occasion he also sent Vasari the sonnet composed +upon his Lives of the Painters. Though it cannot be called one of his +poetical masterpieces, the personal interest attaching to the verses +justifies their introduction here:-- + + _With pencil and with palette hitherto + You made your art high Nature's paragon; + Nay more, from Nature her own prize you won, + Making what she made fair more fair to view_. + + _Now that your learned hand with labour new + Of pen and ink a worthier work hath done, + What erst you lacked, what still remained her own, + The power of giving life, is gained for you_. + + _If men in any age with Nature vied + In beauteous workmanship, they had to yield + When to the fated end years brought their name_. + + _You, re-illuming memories that died, + In spite of Time and Nature have revealed + For them and for yourself eternal fame_. + +Vasari's official position at the ducal court of Florence brought him +into frequent and personal relations with Cosimo de' Medici. The Duke +had long been anxious to lure the most gifted of his subjects back to +Florence; but Michelangelo, though he remained a loyal servant to the +Medicean family, could not approve of Cosimo's despotic rule. +Moreover, he was now engaged by every tie of honour, interest, and +artistic ambition to superintend the fabric of S. Peter's. He showed +great tact, through delicate negotiations carried on for many years, +in avoiding the Duke's overtures without sacrificing his friendship. +Wishing to found his family in Florence and to fund the earnings of +his life there, he naturally assumed a courteous attitude. A letter +written by the Bishop Tornabuoni to Giovanni Francesco Lottini in Rome +shows that these overtures began as early as 1546. The prelate says +the Duke is so anxious to regain "Michelangelo, the divine sculptor," +that he promises "to make him a member of the forty-eight senators, +and to give him any office he may ask for." The affair was dropped for +some years, but in 1552 Cosimo renewed his attempts, and now began to +employ Vasari and Cellini as ambassadors. Soon after finishing his +Perseus, Benvenuto begged for leave to go to Rome; and before +starting, he showed the Duke Michelangelo's friendly letter on the +bust of Bindo Altoviti. "He read it with much kindly interest, and +said to me: 'Benvenuto, if you write to him, and can persuade him to +return to Florence, I will make him a member of the Forty-eight.' +Accordingly I wrote a letter full of warmth, and offered in the Duke's +name a hundred times more than my commission carried; but not wanting +to make any mistake, I showed this to the Duke before I sealed it, +saying to his most illustrious Excellency: 'Prince, perhaps I have +made him too many promises.' He replied: 'Michel Agnolo deserves more +than you have promised, and I will bestow on him still greater +favours.' To this letter he sent no answer, and I could see that the +Duke was much offended with him." + +While in Rome, Cellini went to visit Michelangelo, and renewed his +offers in the Duke's name. What passed in that interview is so +graphically told, introducing the rustic personality of Urbino on the +stage, and giving a hint of Michelangelo's reasons for not returning +in person to Florence, that the whole passage may be transcribed as +opening a little window on the details of our hero's domestic life:-- + +"Then I went to visit Michel Agnolo Buonarroti, and repeated what I +had written from Florence to him in the Duke's name. He replied that +he was engaged upon the fabric of S. Peter's, and that this would +prevent him from leaving Rome. I rejoined that, as he had decided on +the model of that building, he could leave its execution to his man +Urbino, who would carry out his orders to the letter. I added much +about future favours, in the form of a message from the Duke. Upon +this he looked me hard in the face, and said with a sarcastic smile: +'And you! to what extent are you satisfied with him?' Although I +replied that I was extremely contented and was very well treated by +his Excellency, he showed that he was acquainted with the greater part +of my annoyances, and gave as his final answer that it would be +difficult for him to leave Rome. To this I added that he could not do +better than to return to his own land, which was governed by a prince +renowned for justice, and the greatest lover of the arts and sciences +who ever saw the light of this world. As I have remarked above, he had +with him a servant of his who came from Urbino, and had lived many +years in his employment, rather as valet and housekeeper than anything +else; this indeed was obvious, because he had acquired no skill in the +arts. Consequently, while I was pressing Michel Agnolo with arguments +he could not answer, he turned round sharply to Urbino, as though to +ask him his opinion. The fellow began to bawl out in his rustic way: +'I will never leave my master Michel Agnolo's side till I shall have +flayed him or he shall have flayed me.' These stupid words forced me +to laugh, and without saying farewell, I lowered my shoulders and +retired." + +This was in 1552. The Duke was loth to take a refusal, and for the +next eight years he continued to ply Michelangelo with invitations, +writing letters by his own hand, employing his agents in Rome and +Florence, and working through Vasari. The letters to Vasari during +this period are full of the subject. Michelangelo remains firm in his +intention to remain at Rome and not abandon S. Peter's. As years went +on, infirmities increased, and the solicitations of the Duke became +more and more irksome to the old man. His discomfort at last elicited +what may be called a real cry of pain in a letter to his nephew:-- + +"As regards my condition, I am ill with all the troubles which are +wont to afflict old men. The stone prevents me passing water. My loins +and back are so stiff that I often cannot climb upstairs. What makes +matters worse is that my mind is much worried with anxieties. If I +leave the conveniences I have here for my health, I can hardly live +three days. Yet I do not want to lose the favour of the Duke, nor +should I like to fail in my work at S. Peter's, nor in my duty to +myself. I pray God to help and counsel me; and if I were taken ill by +some dangerous fever, I would send for you at once." + +Meanwhile, in spite of his resistance to the Duke's wishes, +Michelangelo did not lose the favour of the Medicean family. The +delicacy of behaviour by means of which he contrived to preserve and +strengthen it, is indeed one of the strongest evidences of his +sincerity, sagacity, and prudence. The Cardinal Giovanni, son of +Cosimo, travelled to Rome in March 1560, in order to be invested with +the purple by the Pope's hands. On this occasion Vasari, who rode in +the young prince's train, wrote despatches to Florence which contain +some interesting passages about Buonarroti. In one of them (March 29) +he says: "My friend Michelangelo is so old that I do not hope to +obtain much from him." Beside the reiterated overtures regarding a +return to Florence, the Church of the Florentines was now in progress, +and Cosimo also required Buonarroti's advice upon the decoration of +the Great Hall in the Palazzo della Signoria. In a second letter +(April 8) Vasari tells the Duke: "I reached Rome, and immediately +after the most reverend and illustrious Medici had made his entrance +and received the hat from our lord's hands, a ceremony which I wished +to see with a view to the frescoes in the Palace, I went to visit my +friend, the mighty Michelangelo. He had not expected me, and the +tenderness of his reception was such as old men show when lost sons +unexpectedly return to them. He fell upon my neck with a thousand +kisses, weeping for joy. He was so glad to see me, and I him, that I +have had no greater pleasure since I entered the service of your +Excellency, albeit I enjoy so many through your kindness. We talked +about the greatness and the wonders which our God in heaven has +wrought for you, and he lamented that he could not serve you with his +body, as he is ready to do with his talents at the least sign of your +will. He also expressed his sorrow at being unable to wait upon the +Cardinal, because he now can move about but little, and is grown so +old that he gets small rest, and is so low in health I fear he will +not last long, unless the goodness of God preserves him for the +building of S. Peter's." After some further particulars, Vasari adds +that he hopes "to spend Monday and Tuesday discussing the model of the +Great Hall with Michelangelo, as well as the composition of the +several frescoes. I have all that is necessary with me, and will do my +utmost, while remaining in his company, to extract useful information +and suggestions." We know from Vasari's Life of Michelangelo that the +plans for decorating the Palace were settled to his own and the Duke's +satisfaction during these colloquies at Rome. + +Later on in the year, Cosimo came in person to Rome, attended by the +Duchess Eleonora. Michelangelo immediately waited on their Highnesses, +and was received with special marks of courtesy by the Duke, who bade +him to be seated at his side, and discoursed at length about his own +designs for Florence and certain discoveries he had made in the method +of working porphyry. These interviews, says Vasari, were repeated +several times during Cosimo's sojourn in Rome; and when the +Crown-Prince of Florence, Don Francesco, arrived, this young nobleman +showed his high respect for the great man by conversing with him cap +in hand. + +The project of bringing Buonarroti back to Florence was finally +abandoned; but he had the satisfaction of feeling that, after the +lapse of more than seventy years, his long connection with the House +of Medici remained as firm and cordial as it had ever been. It was +also consolatory to know that the relations established between +himself and the reigning dynasty in Florence would prove of service to +Lionardo, upon whom he now had concentrated the whole of his strong +family affection. + +In estimating Michelangelo as man, independent of his eminence as +artist, the most singular point which strikes us is this persistent +preoccupation with the ancient house he desired so earnestly to +rehabilitate. He treated Lionardo with the greatest brutality. Nothing +that this nephew did, or did not do, was right. Yet Lionardo was the +sole hope of the Buonarroti-Simoni stock. When he married and got +children, the old man purred with satisfaction over him, but only as a +breeder of the race; and he did all in his power to establish Lionardo +in a secure position. + + +VII + +Returning to the history of Michelangelo's domestic life, we have to +relate two sad events which happened to him at the end of 1555. On the +28th of September he wrote to Lionardo: "The bad news about Gismondo +afflicts me deeply. I am not without my own troubles of health, and +have many annoyances besides. In addition to all this, Urbino has been +ill in bed with me three months, and is so still, which causes me much +trouble and anxiety." Gismondo, who had been declining all the summer, +died upon the 13th of November. His brother in Rome was too much taken +up with the mortal sickness of his old friend and servant Urbino to +express great sorrow. "Your letter informs me of my brother Gismondo's +death, which is the cause to me of serious grief. We must have +patience; and inasmuch as he died sound of mind and with all the +sacraments of the Church, let God be praised. I am in great affliction +here. Urbino is still in bed, and very seriously ill. I do not know +what will come of it. I feel this trouble as though he were my own +son, because he has lived in my service twenty-five years, and has +been very faithful. Being old, I have no time to form another servant +to my purpose; and so I am sad exceedingly. If then, you know of some +devout person, I beg you to have prayers offered up to God for his +recovery." + +The next letter gives a short account of his death:-- + +"I inform you that yesterday, the 3rd of December, at four o'clock, +Francesco called Urbino passed from this life, to my very great +sorrow. He has left me sorely stricken and afflicted; nay, it would +have been sweeter to have died with him, such is the love I bore him. +Less than this love he did not deserve; for he had grown to be a +worthy man, full of faith and loyalty. So, then, I feel as though his +death had left me without life, and I cannot find heart's ease. I +should be glad to see you, therefore; only I cannot think how you can +leave Florence because of your wife." + +To Vasari he wrote still more passionately upon this occasion:-- + +"I cannot write well; yet, in answer to your letter, I will say a few +words. You know that Urbino is dead. I owe the greatest thanks to God, +at the same time that my own loss is heavy and my sorrow infinite. The +grace He gave me is that, while Urbino kept me alive in life, his +death taught me to die without displeasure, rather with a deep and +real desire. I had him with me twenty-six years, and found him above +measure faithful and sincere. Now that I had made him rich, and +thought to keep him as the staff and rest of my old age, he has +vanished from my sight; nor have I hope left but that of seeing him +again in Paradise. God has given us good foundation for this hope in +the exceedingly happy ending of his life. Even more than dying, it +grieved him to leave me alive in this treacherous world, with so many +troubles; and yet the better part of me is gone with him, nor is there +left to me aught but infinite distress. I recommend myself to you, and +beg you, if it be not irksome, to make my excuses to Messer Benvenuto +(Cellini) for omitting to answer his letter. The trouble of soul I +suffer in thought about these things prevents me from writing. +Remember me to him, and take my best respects to yourself." + +How tenderly Michelangelo's thought dwelt upon Urbino appears from +this sonnet, addressed in 1556 to Monsignor Lodovico Beccadelli:-- + + _God's grace, the cross, our troubles multiplied, + Will make us meet in heaven, full well I know: + Yet ere we yield, our breath on earth below, + Why need a little solace be denied? + Though seas and mountains and rough ways divide + Our feet asunder, neither frost nor snow + Can make the soul her ancient love; or ego; + Nor chains nor bonds the wings of thought have tied. + Borne by these wings, with thee I dwell for aye, + And weep, and of my dead Urbino talk, + Who, were he living, now perchance would be-- + For so 'twas planned--thy guest as well as I. + Warned by his death, another way I walk + To meet him where he waits to live with me._ + +By his will, dated November 24, 1555, Urbino, whose real name was +Francesco degli Amadori of Castel Durante, appointed his old friend +and master one of his executors and the chief guardian of his widow +and children. A certain Roso de Rosis and Pietro Filippo Vandini, both +of Castel Durante, are named in the trust; and they managed the +estate. Yet Michelangelo was evidently the principal authority. A +voluminous correspondence preserved in the Buonarroti Archives proves +this; for it consists of numerous letters addressed by Urbino's +executors and family from Castel Durante and elsewhere to the old +sculptor in Rome. Urbino had married a woman of fine character and +high intelligence, named Cornelia Colonnelli. Two of her letters are +printed by Gotti, and deserve to be studied for the power of their +style and the elevation of their sentiments. He has not made use, +however, of the other documents, all of which have some interest as +giving a pretty complete view of a private family and its vexations, +while they illustrate the conscientious fidelity with which +Michelangelo discharged his duties as trustee. Urbino had a brother, +also resident at Castel Durante, Raffaello's celebrated pupil in +fresco-painting, Il Fattorino. This man and Vandini, together with +Cornelia and her parents and her second husband, Giulio Brunelli, all +wrote letters to Rome about the welfare of the children and the +financial affairs of the estate. The coexecutor Roso de Rosis did not +write; it appears from one of Cornelia's despatches that he took no +active interest in the trust, while Brunelli even complains that he +withheld moneys which were legally due to the heirs. One of +Michelangelo's first duties was to take care that Cornelia got a +proper man for her second husband. Her parents were eager to see her +married, being themselves old, and not liking to leave a comparatively +young widow alone in the world with so many children to look after. +Their choice fell first upon a very undesirable person called +Santagnolo, a young man of dissolute habits, ruined constitution, bad +character, and no estate. She refused, with spirit, to sign the +marriage contract; and a few months later wrote again to inform her +guardian that a suitable match had been found in the person of Giulio +Brunelli of Gubbio, a young doctor of laws, then resident at Castel +Durante in the quality of podesta. Michelangelo's suspicions must have +been aroused by the unworthy conduct of her parents in the matter of +Santagnolo; for we infer that he at first refused to sanction this +second match. Cornelia and the parents wrote once more, assuring him +that Brunelli was an excellent man, and entreating him not to open his +ears to malignant gossip. On the 15th of June Brunelli himself appears +upon the scene, announcing his marriage with Cornelia, introducing +himself in terms of becoming modesty to Michelangelo, and assuring him +that Urbino's children have found a second father. He writes again +upon the 29th of July, this time to announce the fact that Il +Fattorino has spread about false rumours to the effect that Cornelia +and himself intend to leave Castel Durante and desert the children. +Their guardian must not credit such idle gossip, for they are both +sincerely attached to the children, and intend to do the best they can +for them. Family dissensions began to trouble their peace. In the +course of the next few months Brunelli discovers that he cannot act +with the Fattorino or with Vandini; Cornelia's dowry is not paid; Roso +refuses to refund money due to the heirs; Michelangelo alone can +decide what ought to be done for the estate and his wards. The +Fattorino writes that Vandini has renounced the trust, and that all +Brunelli's and his own entreaties cannot make him resume it. For +himself, he is resolved not to bear the burden alone. He has his own +shop to look after, and will not let himself be bothered. Unluckily, +none of Michelangelo's answers have been preserved. We possess only +one of his letters to Cornelia, which shows that she wished to place +her son and his godson, Michelangelo, under his care at Rome. He +replied that he did not feel himself in a position to accept the +responsibility. "It would not do to send Michelangelo, seeing that I +have nobody to manage the house and no female servants; the boy is +still of tender age, and things might happen which would cause me the +utmost annoyance. Moreover, the Duke of Florence has during the last +month been making me the greatest offers, and putting strong pressure +upon me to return home. I have begged for time to arrange my affairs +here and leave S. Peter's in good order. So I expect to remain in Rome +all the summer; and when I have settled my business, and yours with +the Monte della Fede, I shall probably remove to Florence this winter +and take up my abode there for good. I am old now, and have not the +time to return to Rome. I will travel by way of Urbino; and if you +like to give me Michelangelo, I will bring him to Florence, with more +love than the sons of my nephew Lionardo, and will teach him all the +things which I know that his father desired that he should learn." + + +VIII + +The year 1556 was marked by an excursion which took Michelangelo into +the mountain district of Spoleto. Paul IV.'s anti-Spanish policy had +forced the Viceroy of Naples to make a formidable military +demonstration. Accordingly the Duke of Alva, at the head of a powerful +force, left Naples on the 1st of September and invaded the Campagna. +The Romans dreaded a second siege and sack; not without reason, +although the real intention of the expedition was to cow the fiery +Pope into submission. It is impossible, when we remember +Michelangelo's liability to panics, not to connect his autumn journey +with a wish to escape from trouble in Rome. On the 31st of October he +wrote to Lionardo that he had undertaken a pilgrimage to Loreto, but +feeling tired, had stopped to rest at Spoleto. While he was there, a +messenger arrived post-haste from Rome, commanding his immediate +return. He is now once more at home there, and as well as the +troublous circumstances of the times permit. + +Later on he told Vasari: "I have recently enjoyed a great pleasure, +though purchased at the cost of great discomfort and expense, among +the mountains of Spoleto, on a visit to those hermits. Consequently, I +have come back less than half myself to Rome; for of a truth there is +no peace to be found except among the woods." This is the only passage +in the whole of Michelangelo's correspondence which betrays the least +feeling for wild nature. We cannot pretend, even here, to detect an +interest in landscape or a true appreciation of country life. Compared +with Rome and the Duke of Alva, those hermitages of the hills among +their chestnut groves seemed to him haunts of ancient peace. That is +all; but when dealing with a man so sternly insensible to the charm of +the external world, we have to be contented with a little. + +In connection with this brief sojourn at Spoleto I will introduce two +letters written to Michelangelo by the Archbishop of Ragusa from his +See. The first is dated March 28, 1557. and was sent to Spoleto, +probably under the impression that Buonarroti had not yet returned to +Rome. After lamenting the unsettled state of public affairs, the +Archbishop adds: "Keep well in your bodily health; as for that of your +soul, I am sure you cannot be ill, knowing what prudence and piety +keep you in perpetual companionship." The second followed at the +interval of a year, April 6, 1558. and gave a pathetic picture of the +meek old prelate's discomfort in his Dalmatian bishopric. He calls +Ragusa "this exceedingly ill-cultivated vineyard of mine. Oftentimes +does the carnal man in me revolt and yearn for Italy, for relatives +and friends; but the spirit keeps desire in check, and compels it to +be satisfied with that which is the pleasure of our Lord." Though the +biographical importance of these extracts is but slight, I am glad, +while recording the outlines of Buonarroti's character, to cast a +side-light on his amiable qualities, and to show how highly valued he +was by persons of the purest life. + + +IX + +There was nothing peculiarly severe about the infirmities of +Michelangelo's old age. We first hear of the dysuria from which he +suffered, in 1548. He writes to Lionardo thanking him for pears: "I +duly received the little barrel of pears you sent me. There were +eighty-six. Thirty-three of them I sent to the Pope, who praised them +as fine, and who enjoyed them. I have lately been in great difficulty +from dysuria. However, I am better now. And thus I write to you, +chiefly lest some chatterbox should scribble a thousand lies to make +you jump." In the spring of 1549 he says that the doctors believe he +is suffering from calculus: "The pain is great, and prevents me from +sleeping. They propose that I should try the mineral waters of +Viterbo; but I cannot go before the beginning of May. For the rest, as +concerns my bodily condition, I am much the same as I was at thirty. +This mischief has crept upon me through the great hardships of my life +and heedlessness." A few days later he writes that a certain water he +is taking, whether mineral or medicine, has been making a beneficial +change. The following letters are very cheerful, and at length he is +able to write: "With regard to my disease, I am greatly improved in +health, and have hope, much to the surprise of many; for people +thought me a lost man, and so I believed. I have had a good doctor, +but I put more faith in prayers than I do in medicines." His physician +was a very famous man, Realdo Colombo. In the summer of the same year +he tells Lionardo that he has been drinking for the last two months +water from a fountain forty miles distant from Rome. "I have to lay in +a stock of it, and to drink nothing else, and also to use it in +cooking, and to observe rules of living to which I am not used." + +Although the immediate danger from the calculus passed away, +Michelangelo grew feebler yearly. We have already seen how he wrote to +Lionardo while Cosimo de' Medici was urging him to come to Florence in +1557. Passages in his correspondence with Lionardo like the following +are frequent: "Writing is the greatest annoyance to my hand, my sight, +my brains. So works old age!" "I go on enduring old age as well as I +am able, with all the evils and discomforts it brings in its train; +and I recommend myself to Him who can assist me." It was natural, +after he had passed the ordinary term of life and was attacked with a +disease so serious as the stone, that his thoughts should take a +serious tone. Thus he writes to Lionardo: "This illness has made me +think of setting the affairs of my soul and body more in order than I +should have done. Accordingly, I have drawn up a rough sketch of a +will, which I will send you by the next courier if I am able, and you +can tell me what you think." The will provided that Gismondo and +Lionardo Buonarroti should be his joint-heirs, without the power of +dividing the property. This practically left Lionardo his sole heir +after Gismondo's life-tenancy of a moiety. It does not, however, seem +to have been executed, for Michelangelo died intestate. Probably, he +judged it simplest to allow Lionardo to become his heir-general by the +mere course of events. At the same time, he now displayed more than +his usual munificence in charity. Lionardo was frequently instructed +to seek out a poor and gentle family, who were living in decent +distress, _poveri vergognosi_, as the Italians called such persons. +Money was to be bestowed upon them with the utmost secrecy; and the +way which Michelangelo proposed, was to dower a daughter or to pay for +her entrance into a convent. It has been suggested that this method of +seeking to benefit the deserving poor denoted a morbid tendency in +Michelangelo's nature; but any one who is acquainted with Italian +customs in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance must be aware that +nothing was commoner than to dower poor girls or to establish them in +nunneries by way of charity. Urbino, for example, by his will bound +his executors to provide for the marriage of two honest girls with a +dowry of twenty florins apiece within the space of four years from his +death. + +The religious sonnets, which are certainly among the finest of +Michelangelo's compositions, belong to this period. Writing to Vasari +on the 10th of September 1554, he begins: "You will probably say that +I am old and mad to think of writing sonnets; yet since many persons +pretend that I am in my second childhood, I have thought it well to +act accordingly." Then follows this magnificent piece of verse, in +which the sincerest feelings of the pious heart are expressed with a +sublime dignity:-- + + _Now hath my life across a stormy sea, + Like a frail bark, reached that wide fort where all + Are bidden, ere the final reckoning fall + Of good and evil for eternity. + Now know I well how that fond phantasy + Which made my soul the worshipper and thrall + Of earthly art is vain; how criminal + Is that which all men seek unwillingly. + Those amorous thoughts which were so lightly dressed, + What are they when the double death is nigh? + The one I know for sure, the other dread. + Painting nor sculpture now can lull to rest + My soul, that turns to His great love on high, + Whose arms to clasp us on the cross were spread._ + +A second sonnet, enclosed in a letter to Vasari, runs as follows:-- + + _The fables of the world have filched away + The time I had for thinking upon God; + His grace lies buried 'neath oblivion's sod, + Whence springs an evil crop of sins alway._ + + _What makes another wise, leads me astray, + Slow to discern the bad path I have trod: + Hope fades, but still desire ascends that God + May free me from self-love, my sure decay. + Shorten half-way my road to heaven from earth! + Dear Lord, I cannot even half-way rise + Unless Thou help me on this pilgrimage. + Teach me to hate the world so little worth, + And, all the lovely things I clasp and prize, + That endless life, ere death, may be my wage._ + +While still in his seventieth year, Michelangelo had educated himself +to meditate upon the thought of death as a prophylactic against vain +distractions and the passion of love. "I may remind you that a man who +would fain return unto and enjoy his own self ought not to indulge so +much in merrymakings and festivities, but to think on death. This +thought is the only one which makes us know our proper selves, which +holds us together in the bond of our own nature, which prevents us +from being stolen away by kinsmen, friends, great men of genius, +ambition, avarice, and those other sins and vices which filch the man +from himself, keep him distraught and dispersed, without ever +permitting him to return unto himself and reunite his scattered parts. +Marvellous is the operation of this thought of death, which, albeit +death, by his nature, destroys all things, preserves and supports +those who think on death, and defends them from all human passions." +He supports this position by reciting a madrigal he had composed, to +show how the thought of death is the greatest foe to love:-- + + _Not death indeed, but the dread thought of death + Saveth and severeth + Me from the heartless fair who doth me slay: + And should, perchance, some day_ + _The fire consuming blaze o'er measure bright, + I find for my sad plight + No help but from death's form fixed in my heart; + Since, where death reigneth, love must dwell apart._ + +In some way or another, then, Michelangelo used the thought of death +as the mystagogue of his spirit into the temple of eternal +things--[Greek: ta aidia], _die bleibenden Verhaeltnisse_--and as the +means of maintaining self-control and self-coherence amid the +ever-shifting illusions of human life. This explains why in his +love-sonnets he rarely speaks of carnal beauty except as the +manifestation of the divine idea, which will be clearer to the soul +after death than in the body. + +When his life was drawing toward its close, Michelangelo's friends +were not unnaturally anxious about his condition. Though he had a +fairly good servant in Antonio del Franzese, and was surrounded by +well-wishers like Tommaso Cavalieri, Daniele da Volterra, and Tiberio +Calcagni, yet he led a very solitary life, and they felt he ought to +be protected. Vasari tells us that he communicated privately with +Averardo Serristori, the Duke's ambassador in Rome, recommending that +some proper housekeeper should be appointed, and that due control +should be instituted over the persons who frequented his house. It was +very desirable, in case of a sudden accident, that his drawings and +works of art should not be dispersed, but that what belonged to S. +Peter's, to the Laurentian Library, and to the Sacristy should be duly +assigned. Lionardo Buonarroti must have received similar advice from +Rome, for a furious letter is extant, in which Michelangelo, impatient +to the last of interference, literally rages at him:-- + +"I gather from your letter that you lend credence to certain envious +and scoundrelly persons, who, since they cannot manage me or rob me, +write you a lot of lies. They are a set of sharpers, and you are so +silly as to believe what they say about my affairs, as though I were a +baby. Get rid of them, the scandalous, envious, ill-lived rascals. As +for my suffering the mismanagement you write about, I tell you that I +could not be better off, or more faithfully served and attended to in +all things. As for my being robbed, to which I think you allude, I +assure you that I have people in my house whom I can trust and repose +on. Therefore, look to your own life, and do not think about my +affairs, because I know how to take care of myself if it is needful, +and am not a baby. Keep well." + +This is the last letter to Lionardo. It is singular that +Michelangelo's correspondence with his father, with Luigi del Riccio, +with Tommaso dei Cavalieri, and with his nephew, all of whom he +sincerely loved, should close upon a note of petulance and wrath. The +fact is no doubt accidental. But it is strange. + + +X + +We have frequently had occasion to notice the extreme pain caused to +Michelangelo's friends by his unreasonable irritability and readiness +to credit injurious reports about them. These defects of temper +justified to some extent his reputation for savagery, and they must be +reckoned among the most salient features of his personality. I shall +therefore add three other instances of the same kind which fell under +my observation while studying the inedited documents of the Buonarroti +Archives. Giovanni Francesco Fattucci was, as we well know, his most +intimate friend and trusted counsellor during long and difficult +years, when the negotiations with the heirs of Pope Julius were being +carried on; yet there exists one letter of unaffected sorrow from this +excellent man, under date October 14, 1545, which shows that for some +unaccountable reason Michelangelo had suddenly chosen to mistrust him. +Fattucci begins by declaring that he is wholly guiltless of things +which his friend too credulously believed upon the strength of gossip. +He expresses the deepest grief at this unjust and suspicious +treatment. The letter shows him to have been more hurt than resentful. +Another document signed by Francesco Sangallo (the son of his old +friend Giuliano), bearing no date, but obviously written when they +were both in Florence, and therefore before the year 1535, carries the +same burden of complaint. The details are sufficiently picturesque to +warrant the translation of a passage. After expressing astonishment at +Michelangelo's habit of avoiding his society, he proceeds: "And now, +this morning, not thinking that I should annoy you, I came up and +spoke to you, and you received me with a very surly countenance. That +evening, too, when I met you on the threshold with Granacci, and you +left me by the shop of Pietro Osaio, and the other forenoon at S. +Spirito, and to-day, it struck me as extremely strange, especially in +the presence of Piloto and so many others. I cannot help thinking that +you must have some grudge against me; but I marvel that you do not +open out your mind to me, because it may be something which is wholly +false." The letter winds up with an earnest protest that he has always +been a true and faithful friend. He begs to be allowed to come and +clear the matter up in conversation, adding that he would rather lose +the good-will of the whole world than Michelangelo's. + +The third letter is somewhat different in tone, and not so personally +interesting. Still it illustrates the nervousness and apprehension +under which Michelangelo's acquaintances continually lived. The +painter commonly known as Rosso Fiorentino was on a visit to Rome, +where he studied the Sistine frescoes. They do not appear to have +altogether pleased him, and he uttered his opinion somewhat too freely +in public. Now he pens a long elaborate epistle, full of adulation, to +purge himself of having depreciated Michelangelo's works. People said +that "when I reached Rome, and entered the chapel painted by your +hand, I exclaimed that I was not going to adopt that manner." One of +Buonarroti's pupils had been particularly offended. Rosso protests +that he rather likes the man for his loyalty; but he wishes to remove +any impression which Michelangelo may have received of his own +irreverence or want of admiration. The one thing he is most solicitous +about is not to lose the great man's good-will. + +It must be added, at the close of this investigation, that however hot +and hasty Michelangelo may have been, and however readily he lent his +ear to rumours, he contrived to renew the broken threads of friendship +with the persons he had hurt by his irritability. + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +I + +During the winter of 1563-64 Michelangelo's friends in Rome became +extremely anxious about his health, and kept Lionardo Buonarroti from +time to time informed of his proceedings. After New Year it was clear +that he could not long maintain his former ways of life. Though within +a few months of ninety, he persisted in going abroad in all weathers, +and refused to surround himself with the comforts befitting a man of +his eminence and venerable age. On the 14th of February he seems to +have had a kind of seizure. Tiberio Calcagni, writing that day to +Lionardo, gives expression to his grave anxiety: "Walking through Rome +to-day, I heard from many persons that Messer Michelangelo was ill. +Accordingly I went at once to visit him, and although it was raining I +found him out of doors on foot. When I saw him, I said that I did not +think it right and seemly for him to be going about in such weather +'What do you want?' he answered; 'I am ill, and cannot find rest +anywhere.' The uncertainty of his speech, together with the look and +colour of his face, made me feel extremely uneasy about his life. The +end may not be just now, but I fear greatly that it cannot be far +off." Michelangelo did not leave the house again, but spent the next +four days partly reclining in an arm-chair, partly in bed. Upon the +15th following, Diomede Leoni wrote to Lionardo, enclosing a letter by +the hand of Daniele da Volterra, which Michelangelo had signed. The +old man felt his end approaching, and wished to see his nephew. "You +will learn from the enclosure how ill he is, and that he wants you to +come to Rome. He was taken ill yesterday. I therefore exhort you to +come at once, but do so with sufficient prudence. The roads are bad +now, and you are not used to travel by post. This being so, you would +run some risk if you came post-haste. Taking your own time upon the +way, you may feel at ease when you remember that Messer Tommaso dei +Cavalieri, Messer Daniele, and I are here to render every possible +assistance in your absence. Beside us, Antonio, the old and faithful +servant of your uncle, will be helpful in any service that may be +expected from him." Diomede reiterates his advice that Lionardo should +run no risks by travelling too fast. "If the illness portends +mischief, which God forbid, you could not with the utmost haste arrive +in time.... I left him just now, a little after 8 P.M., in full +possession of his faculties and quiet in his mind, but oppressed with +a continued sleepiness. This has annoyed him so much that, between +three and four this afternoon, he tried to go out riding, as his wont +is every evening in good weather. The coldness of the weather and the +weakness of his head and legs prevented him; so he returned to the +fire-side, and settled down into an easy chair, which he greatly +prefers to the bed." No improvement gave a ray of hope to +Michelangelo's friends, and two days later, on the 17th, Tiberio +Calcagni took up the correspondence with Lionardo: "This is to beg you +to hasten your coming as much as possible, even though the weather be +unfavourable. It is certain now that our dear Messer Michelangelo must +leave us for good and all, and he ought to have the consolation of +seeing you." Next day, on the 18th, Diomede Leoni wrote again: "He +died without making a will, but in the attitude of a perfect +Christian, this evening, about the Ave Maria. I was present, together +with Messer Tommaso dei Cavalieri and Messer Daniele da Volterra, and +we put everything in such order that you may rest with a tranquil +mind. Yesterday Michelangelo sent for our friend Messer Daniele, and +besought him to take up his abode in the house until such time as you +arrive, and this he will do." + +It was at a little before five o'clock on the afternoon of February +18, 1564, that Michelangelo breathed his last. The physicians who +attended him to the end were Federigo Donati, and Gherardo +Fidelissimi, of Pistoja. It is reported by Vasari that, during his +last moments, "he made his will in three sentences, committing his +soul into the hands of God, his body to the earth, and his substance +to his nearest relatives; enjoining upon these last, when their hour +came, to think upon the sufferings of Jesus Christ." + +On the following day, February 19, Averardo Serristori, the Florentine +envoy in Rome, sent a despatch to the Duke, informing him of +Michelangelo's decease: "This morning, according to an arrangement I +had made, the Governor sent to take an inventory of all the articles +found in his house. These were few, and very few drawings. However, +what was there they duly registered. The most important object was a +box sealed with several seals, which the Governor ordered to be opened +in the presence of Messer Tommaso dei Cavalieri and Maestro Daniele da +Volterra, who had been sent for by Michelangelo before his death. Some +seven or eight thousand crowns were found in it, which have now been +deposited with the Ubaldini bankers. This was the command issued by +the Governor, and those whom it concerns will have to go there to get +the money. The people of the house will be examined as to whether +anything has been carried away from it. This is not supposed to have +been the case. As far as drawings are concerned, they say that he +burned what he had by him before he died. What there is shall be +handed over to his nephew when he comes, and this your Excellency can +inform him." + +The objects of art discovered in Michelangelo's house were a +blocked-out statue of S. Peter, an unfinished Christ with another +figure, and a statuette of Christ with the cross, resembling the +Cristo Risorto of S. Maria Sopra Minerva. Ten original drawings were +also catalogued, one of which (a Pieta) belonged to Tommaso dei +Cavalieri; another (an Epiphany) was given to the notary, while the +rest came into the possession of Lionardo Buonarroti. The cash-box, +which had been sealed by Tommaso dei Cavalieri and Diomede Leoni, was +handed over to the Ubaldini, and from them it passed to Lionardo +Buonarroti at the end of February. + + +II + +Lionardo travelled by post to Rome, but did not arrive until three +days after his uncle's death. He began at once to take measures for +the transport of Michelangelo's remains to Florence, according to the +wish of the old man, frequently expressed and solemnly repeated two +days before his death. The corpse had been deposited in the Church of +the SS. Apostoli, where the funeral was celebrated with becoming pomp +by all the Florentines in Rome, and by artists of every degree. The +Romans had come to regard Buonarroti as one of themselves, and, when +the report went abroad that he had expressed a wish to be buried in +Florence, they refused to believe it, and began to project a decent +monument to his memory in the Church of the SS. Apostoli. In order to +secure his object, Lionardo was obliged to steal the body away, and to +despatch it under the guise of mercantile goods to the custom-house of +Florence. Vasari wrote to him from that city upon the 10th of March, +informing him that the packing-case had duly arrived, and had been +left under seals until his, Lionardo's, arrival at the custom-house. + +About this time two plans were set on foot for erecting monuments to +Michelangelo's memory. The scheme started by the Romans immediately +after his death took its course, and the result is that tomb at the +SS. Apostoli, which undoubtedly was meant to be a statue-portrait of +the man. Vasari received from Lionardo Buonarroti commission to erect +the tomb in S. Croce. The correspondence of the latter, both with +Vasari and with Jacopo del Duca, who superintended the Roman monument, +turns for some time upon these tombs. It is much to Vasari's credit +that he wanted to place the Pieta which Michelangelo had broken, above +the S. Croce sepulchre. He writes upon the subject in these words: +"When I reflect that Michelangelo asserted, as is well known also to +Daniele, Messer Tommaso dei Cavalieri, and many other of his friends, +that he was making the Pieta of five figures, which he broke, to serve +for his own tomb, I think that his heir ought to inquire how it came +into the possession of Bandini. Besides, there is an old man in the +group who represents the person of the sculptor. I entreat you, +therefore, to take measures for regaining this Pieta, and I will make +use of it in my design. Pierantonio Bandini is very courteous, and +will probably consent. In this way you will gain several points. You +will assign to your uncle's sepulchre the group he planned to place +there, and you will be able to hand over the statues in Via Mozza to +his Excellency, receiving in return enough money to complete the +monument." Of the marbles in the Via Mozza at Florence, where +Michelangelo's workshop stood, I have seen no catalogue, but they +certainly comprised the Victory, probably also the Adonis and the +Apollino. There had been some thought of adapting the Victory to the +tomb in S. Croce. Vasari, however, doubted whether this group could be +applied in any forcible sense allegorically to Buonarroti as man or as +artist. + +Eventually, as we know, the very mediocre monument designed by Vasari, +which still exists at S. Croce, was erected at Lionardo Buonarroti's +expense, the Duke supplying a sufficiency of marble. + + +III + +It ought here to be mentioned that, in the spring of 1563, Cosimo +founded an Academy of Fine Arts, under the title of "Arte del +Disegno." It embraced all the painters, architects, and sculptors of +Florence in a kind of guild, with privileges, grades, honours, and +officers. The Duke condescended to be the first president of this +academy. Next to him, Michelangelo was elected unanimously by all the +members as their uncontested principal and leader, "inasmuch as this +city, and peradventure the whole world, hath not a master more +excellent in the three arts." The first great work upon which the Duke +hoped to employ the guild was the completion of the sacristy at S. +Lorenzo. Vasari's letter to Michelangelo shows that up to this date +none of the statues had been erected in their proper places, and that +it was intended to add a great number of figures, as well as to adorn +blank spaces in the walls with frescoes. All the best artists of the +time, including Gian Bologna, Cellini, Bronzino, Tribolo, Montelupo, +Ammanati, offered their willing assistance, "forasmuch as there is not +one of us but hath learned in this sacristy, or rather in this our +school, whatever excellence he possesses in the arts of design." We +know already only too well that the scheme was never carried out, +probably in part because Michelangelo's rapidly declining strength +prevented him from furnishing these eager artists with the necessary +working drawings. Cosimo's anxiety to gain possession of any sketches +left in Rome after Buonarroti's death may be ascribed to this project +for completing the works begun at S. Lorenzo. + +Well then, upon the news of Michelangelo's death, the academicians +were summoned by their lieutenant, Don Vincenzo Borghini, to +deliberate upon the best way of paying him honour, and celebrating his +obsequies with befitting pomp. It was decided that all the leading +artists should contribute something, each in his own line, to the +erection of a splendid catafalque, and a sub-committee of four men was +elected to superintend its execution. These were Angelo Bronzino and +Vasari, Benvenuto Cellini and Ammanati, friends of the deceased, and +men of highest mark in the two fields of painting and sculpture. The +church selected for the ceremony was S. Lorenzo; the orator appointed +was Benedetto Varchi. Borghini, in his capacity of lieutenant or +official representative, obtained the Duke's assent to the plan, which +was subsequently carried out, as we shall see in due course. + +Notwithstanding what Vasari wrote to Lionardo about his uncle's coffin +having been left at the Dogana, it seems that it was removed upon the +very day of its arrival, March II, to the Oratory of the Assunta, +underneath the church of S. Pietro Maggiore. On the following day the +painters, sculptors, and architects of the newly founded academy met +together at this place, intending to transfer the body secretly to S. +Croce. They only brought a single pall of velvet, embroidered with +gold, and a crucifix, to place upon the bier. When night fell, the +elder men lighted torches, while the younger crowded together, vying +one with another for the privilege of carrying the coffin. Meantime +the Florentines, suspecting that something unusual was going forward +at S. Pietro, gathered round, and soon the news spread through the +city that Michelangelo was being borne to S. Croce. A vast concourse +of people in this way came unexpectedly together, following the +artists through the streets, and doing pathetic honour to the memory +of the illustrious dead. The spacious church of S. Croce was crowded +in all its length and breadth, so that the pall-bearers had +considerable difficulty in reaching the sacristy with their precious +burden. In that place Don Vincenzo Borghini, who was lieutenant of the +academy, ordered that the coffin should be opened. "He thought he +should be doing what was pleasing to many of those present; and, as he +afterwards admitted, he was personally anxious to behold in death one +whom he had never seen in life, or at any rate so long ago as to have +quite forgotten the occasion. All of us who stood by expected to find +the corpse already defaced by the outrage of the sepulchre, inasmuch +as twenty-five days had elapsed since Michelangelo's death, and +twenty-one since his consignment to the coffin; but, to our great +surprise, the dead man lay before us perfect in all his parts, and +without the evil odours of the grave; indeed, one might have thought +that he was resting in a sweet and very tranquil slumber. Not only did +the features of his countenance bear exactly the same aspect as in +life, except for some inevitable pallor, but none of his limbs were +injured, or repulsive to the sight. The head and cheeks, to the touch, +felt just as though he had breathed his last but a few hours since." +As soon as the eagerness of the multitude calmed down a little, the +bier was carried into the church again, and the coffin was deposited +in a proper place behind the altar of the Cavalcanti. + +When the academicians decreed a catafalque for Michelangelo's solemn +obsequies in S. Lorenzo, they did not aim so much at worldly splendour +or gorgeous trappings as at an impressive monument, combining the +several arts which he had practised in his lifetime. Being made of +stucco, woodwork, plaster, and such perishable materials, it was +unfortunately destined to decay. But Florence had always been liberal, +nay, lavish, of her genius in triumphs, masques, magnificent street +architecture, evoked to celebrate some ephemeral event. A worthier +occasion would not occur again; and we have every reason to believe +that the superb structure, which was finally exposed to view upon the +14th of July, displayed all that was left at Florence of the grand +style in the arts of modelling and painting. They were decadent +indeed; during the eighty-nine years of Buonarroti's life upon earth +they had expanded, flourished, and flowered with infinite variety in +rapid evolution. He lived to watch their decline; yet the sunset of +that long day was still splendid to the eyes and senses. + +The four deputies appointed by the academy held frequent sittings +before the plan was fixed, and the several parts had been assigned to +individual craftsmen. Ill health prevented Cellini from attending, but +he sent a letter to the lieutenant, which throws some interesting +light upon the project in its earlier stages. A minute description of +the monument was published soon after the event. Another may be read +in the pages of Vasari. Varchi committed his oration to the press, and +two other panegyrical discourses were issued, under the names of +Leonardo Salviati and Giovan Maria Tarsia. Poems composed on the +occasion were collected into one volume, and distributed by the +Florentine firm of Sermatelli. To load these pages with the details of +allegorical statues and pictures which have long passed out of +existence, and to cite passages from funeral speeches, seems to me +useless. It is enough to have directed the inquisitive to sources +where their curiosity may be gratified. + + +IV + +It would be impossible to take leave of Michelangelo without some +general survey of his character and qualities. With this object in +view I do not think I can do better than to follow what Condivi says +at the close of his biography, omitting those passages which have been +already used in the body of this book, and supplementing his summary +with illustrative anecdotes from Vasari. Both of these men knew him +intimately during the last years of his life; and if it is desirable +to learn how a man strikes his contemporaries, we obtain from them a +lively and veracious, though perhaps a slightly flattered, picture of +the great master whom they studied with love and admiration from +somewhat different points of view. This will introduce a critical +examination of the analysis to which the psychology; of Michelangelo +has recently been subjected. + +Condivi opens his peroration with the following paragraphs:-- + +"Now, to conclude this gossiping discourse of mine, I say that it is +my opinion that in painting and sculpture nature bestowed all her +riches with a full hand upon Michelangelo. I do not fear reproach or +contradiction when I repeat that his statues are, as it were, +inimitable. Nor do I think that I have suffered myself to exceed the +bounds of truth while making this assertion. In the first place, he is +the only artist who has handled both brush and mallet with equal +excellence. Then we have no relics left of antique paintings to +compare with his; and though many classical works in statuary survive, +to whom among the ancients does he yield the palm in sculpture? In the +judgment of experts and practical artists, he certainly yields to +none; and were, we to consult the vulgar, who admire antiquity without +criticism, through a kind of jealousy toward the talents and the +industry of their own times, even here we shall find none who say the +contrary; to such a height has this great man soared above the scope +of envy. Raffaello of Urbino, though he chose to strive in rivalry +with Michelangelo, was wont to say that he thanked God for having been +born in his days, since he learned from him a manner very different +from that which his father, who was a painter, and his master, +Perugino, taught him. Then, too, what proof of his singular excellence +could be wished for, more convincing and more valid, than the +eagerness with which the sovereigns of the world contended for him? +Beside four pontiffs, Julius, Leo, Clement, and Paul, the Grand Turk, +father of the present Sultan, sent certain Franciscans with letters +begging him to come and reside at his court. By orders on the bank of +the Gondi at Florence, he provided that whatever sums were asked for +should be disbursed to pay the expenses of his journey; and when he +should have reached Cossa, a town near Ragusa, one of the greatest +nobles of the realm was told off to conduct him in most honourable +fashion to Constantinople. Francis of Valois, King of France, tried to +get him by many devices, giving instructions that, whenever he chose +to travel, 3000 crowns should be told out to him in Rome. The Signory +of Venice sent Bruciolo to Rome with an invitation to their city, +offering a pension of 600 crowns if he would settle there. They +attached no conditions to this offer, only desiring that he should +honour the republic with his presence, and stipulating that whatever +he might do in their service should be paid as though he were not in +receipt of a fixed income. These are not ordinary occurrences, or such +as happen every day, but strange and out of common usage; nor are they +wont to befall any but men of singular and transcendent ability, as +was Homer, for whom many cities strove in rivalry, each desirous of +acquiring him and making him its own. + +"The reigning Pope, Julius III., holds him in no less esteem than the +princes I have mentioned. This sovereign, distinguished for rare taste +and judgment, loves and promotes all arts and sciences, but is most +particularly devoted to painting, sculpture, and architecture, as may +be clearly seen in the buildings which his Holiness has erected in the +Vatican and the Belvedere, and is now raising at his Villa Giulia (a +monument worthy of a lofty and generous nature, as indeed his own is), +where he has gathered together so many ancient and modern statues, +such a variety of the finest pictures, precious columns, works in +stucco, wall-painting, and every kind of decoration, of the which I +must reserve a more extended account for some future occasion, since +it deserves a particular study, and has not yet reached completion. +This Pope has not used the services of Michelangelo for any active +work, out of regard for his advanced age. He is fully alive to his +greatness, and appreciates it, but refrains from adding burdens beyond +those which Michelangelo himself desires; and this regard, in my +opinion, confers more honour on him than any of the great +under-takings which former pontiffs exacted from his genius. It is +true that his Holiness almost always consults him on works of painting +or of architecture he may have in progress, and very often sends the +artists to confer with him at his own house. I regret, and his +Holiness also regrets, that a certain natural shyness, or shall I say +respect or reverence, which some folk call pride, prevents him from +having recourse to the benevolence, goodness, and liberality of such a +pontiff, and one so much his friend. For the Pope, as I first heard +from the Most Rev. Monsignor of Forli, his Master of the Chamber, has +often observed that, were this possible, he, would gladly give some of +his own years and his own blood to add to Michelangelo's life, to the +end that the world should not so soon be robbed of such a man. And +this, when I had access to his Holiness, I heard with my own ears from +his mouth. Moreover, if he happens to survive him, as seems reasonable +in the course of nature, he has a mind to embalm him and keep him ever +near to his own person, so that his body in death shall be as +everlasting as his works. This he said to Michelangelo himself at the +commencement of his reign, in the presence of many persons. I know not +what could be more honourable to Michelangelo than such words, or a +greater proof of the high account in which he is held by his Holiness. + +"So then Michelangelo, while he was yet a youth, devoted himself not +only to sculpture and painting, but also to all those other arts which +to them are allied or subservient, and this he did with such absorbing +energy that for a time he almost entirely cut himself off from human +society, conversing with but very few intimate friends. On this +account some folk thought him proud, others eccentric and capricious, +although he was tainted with none of these defects; but, as hath +happened to many men of great abilities, the love of study and the +perpetual practice of his art rendered him solitary, being so taken up +with the pleasure and delight of these things that society not only +afforded him no solace, but even caused him annoyance by diverting him +from meditation, being (as the great Scipio used to say) never less +alone than when he was alone. Nevertheless, he very willingly embraced +the friendship of those whose learned and cultivated conversation +could be of profit to his mind, and in whom some beams of genius shone +forth: as, for example, the most reverend and illustrious Monsignor +Pole, for his rare virtues and singular goodness; and likewise the +most reverend, my patron, Cardinal Crispo, in whom he discovered, +beside his many excellent qualities, a distinguished gift of acute +judgment; he was also warmly attached to the Cardinal of S. Croce, a +man of the utmost gravity and wisdom, whom I have often heard him name +in the highest terms; and to the most reverend Maffei, whose goodness +and learning he has always praised: indeed, he loves and honours all +the dependants of the house of Farnese, owing to the lively memory he +cherishes of Pope Paul, whom he invariably mentions with the deepest +reverence as a good and holy old man; and in like manner the most +reverend Patriarch of Jerusalem, sometime Bishop of Cesena, has lived +for some time in close intimacy with him, finding peculiar pleasure in +so open and generous a nature. He was also on most friendly terms with +my very reverend patron the Cardinal Ridolfi, of blessed memory, that +refuge of all men of parts and talent. There are several others whom I +omit for fear of being prolix, as Monsignor Claudio Tolomei, Messer +Lorenzo Ridolfi, Messer Donato Giannotti, Messer Lionardo Malespini, +Lottino, Messer Tommaso dei Cavalieri, and other honoured gentlemen. +Of late years he has become deeply attached to Annibale Caro, of whom +he told me that it grieves him not to have come to know him earlier, +seeing that he finds him much to his taste." + +"In like manner as he enjoyed the converse of learned men, so also did +he take pleasure in the study of eminent writers, whether of prose or +verse. Among these he particularly admired Dante, whose marvellous +poems he hath almost all by heart. Nevertheless, the same might +perhaps be said about his love for Petrarch. These poets he not only +delighted in studying, but he also was wont to compose from time to +time upon his own account. There are certain sonnets among those he +wrote which give a very good notion of his great inventive power and +judgment. Some of them have furnished Varchi with the subject of +Discourses. It must be remembered, however, that he practised poetry +for his amusement, and not as a profession, always depreciating his +own talent, and appealing to his ignorance in these matters. Just in +the same way he has perused the Holy Scriptures with great care and +industry, studying not merely the Old Testament, but also the New, +together with their commentators, as, for example, the writings of +Savonarola, for whom he always retained a deep affection, since the +accents of the preacher's living voice rang in his memory. + +"He has given away many of his works, the which, if he had chosen to +sell them, would have brought him vast sums of money. A single +instance of this generosity will suffice--namely, the two statues +which he presented to his dearest friend, Messer Ruberto Strozzi. Nor +was it only of his handiwork that he has been liberal. He opened his +purse readily to poor men of talent in literature or art, as I can +testify, having myself been the recipient of his bounty. He never +showed an envious spirit toward the labours of other masters in the +crafts he practised, and this was due rather to the goodness of his +nature than to any sense of his own superiority. Indeed, he always +praised all men of excellence without exception, even Raffaello of +Urbino, between whom and himself there was of old time some rivalry in +painting. I have only heard him say that Raffaello did not derive his +mastery in that art so much from nature as from prolonged study. Nor +is it true, as many persons assert to his discredit, that he has been +unwilling to impart instruction. On the contrary, he did so readily, +as I know by personal experience, for to me he unlocked all the +secrets of the arts he had acquired. Ill-luck, however, willed that he +should meet either with subjects ill adapted to such studies, or else +with men of little perseverance, who, when they had been working a few +months under his direction, began to think themselves past-masters. +Moreover, although he was willing to teach, he did not like it to be +known that he did so, caring more to do good than to seem to do it. I +may add that he always attempted to communicate the arts to men of +gentle birth, as did the ancients, and not to plebeians." + + +V + +To this passage about Michelangelo's pupils we may add the following +observation by Vasari: "He loved his workmen, and conversed with them +on friendly terms. Among these I will mention Jacopo Sansovino, Rosso, +Pontormo, Daniele da Volterra, and Giorgio Vasari. To the last of +these men he showed unbounded kindness, and caused him to study +architecture, with the view of employing his services in that art. He +exchanged thoughts readily with him, and discoursed upon artistic +topics. Those are in the wrong who assert that he refused to +communicate his stores of knowledge. He always did so to his personal +friends, and to all who sought his advice. It ought, however, to be +mentioned that he was not lucky in the craftsmen who lived with him, +since chance brought him into contact with people unfitted to profit +by his example. Pietro Urbano of Pistoja was a man of talent but no +industry. Antonio Mini had the will but not the brains, and hard wax +takes a bad impression. Ascanio dalla Ripa Transone (_i.e._, Condivi) +took great pains, but brought nothing to perfection either in finished +work or in design. He laboured many years upon a picture for which +Michelangelo supplied the drawing. At last the expectations based upon +this effort vanished into smoke. I remember that Michelangelo felt +pity for his trouble, and helped him with his own hand. Nothing, +however, came of it. He often told me that if he had found a proper +subject he should have liked, old as he was, to have recommended +anatomy, and to have written on it for the use of his workmen. +However, he distrusted his own powers of expressing what he wanted in +writing, albeit his letters show that he could easily put forth his +thoughts in a few brief words." + +About Michelangelo's kindness to his pupils and servants there is no +doubt. We have only to remember his treatment of Pietro Urbano and +Antonio Mini, Urbino and Condivi, Tiberio Calcagni and Antonio del +Franzese. A curious letter from Michelangelo to Andrea Quarantesi, +which I have quoted in another connection, shows that people were +eager to get their sons placed under his charge. The inedited +correspondence in the Buonarroti Archives abounds in instances +illustrating the reputation he had gained for goodness. We have two +grateful letters from a certain Pietro Bettino in Castel Durante +speaking very warmly of Michelangelo's attention to his son Cesare. +Two to the same effect from Amilcare Anguissola in Cremona acknowledge +services rendered to his daughter Sofonisba, who was studying design +in Rome. Pietro Urbano wrote twenty letters between the years 1517 and +1525, addressing him in terms like "carissimo quanto padre." After +recovering from his illness at Pistoja, he expresses the hope that he +will soon be back again at Florence (September 18, 1519): "Dearest to +me like the most revered of fathers, I send you salutations, +announcing that I am a little better, but not yet wholly cured of that +flux; still I hope before many days are over to find myself at +Florence." A certain Silvio Falcone, who had been in his service, and +who had probably been sent away because of some misconduct, addressed +a letter from Rome to him in Florence, which shows both penitence and +warm affection. "I am and shall always be a good servant to you in +every place where I may be. Do not remember my stupidity in those past +concerns, which I know that, being a prudent man, you will not impute +to malice. If you were to do so, this would cause me the greatest +sorrow; for I desire nothing but to remain in your good grace, and if +I had only this in the world, it would suffice me." He begs to be +remembered to Pietro Urbano, and requests his pardon if he has +offended him. Another set of letters, composed in the same tone by a +man who signs himself Silvio di Giovanni da Cepparello, was written by +a sculptor honourably mentioned in Vasari's Life of Andrea da Fiesole +for his work at S. Lorenzo, in Genoa, and elsewhere. They show how +highly the fame of having been in Michelangelo's employ was valued. He +says that he is now working for Andrea Doria, Prince of Melfi, at +Genoa. Still he should like to return, if this were possible, to his +old master's service: "For if I lost all I had in the world, and found +myself with you, I should think myself the first of men." A year later +Silvio was still at work for Prince Doria and the Fieschi, but he +again begs earnestly to be taken back by Michelangelo. "I feel what +obligations I am under for all the kindness received from you in past +times. When I remember the love you bore me while I was in your +service, I do not know how I could repay it; and I tell you that only +through having been in your service, wherever I may happen now to be, +honour and courtesy are paid me; and that is wholly due to your +excellent renown, and not to any merit of my own." + +The only letter from Ascanio Condivi extant in the Buonarroti Archives +may here be translated in full, since its tone does honour both to +master and servant:-- + +"Unique lord and my most to be observed patron,--I have already +written you two letters, but almost think you cannot have received +them, since I have heard no news of you. This I write merely to beg +that you will remember to command me, and to make use not of me alone, +but of all my household, since we are all your servants. Indeed, my +most honoured and revered master, I entreat you deign to dispose of me +and do with me as one is wont to do with the least of servants. You +have the right to do so, since I owe more to you than to my own +father, and I will prove my desire to repay your kindness by my deeds. +I will now end this letter, in order not to be irksome, recommending +myself humbly, and praying you to let me have the comfort of knowing +that you are well: for a greater I could not receive. Farewell." + +It cannot be denied that Michelangelo sometimes treated his pupils and +servants with the same irritability, suspicion, and waywardness of +temper as he showed to his relatives and friends. It is only necessary +to recall his indignation against Lapo and Lodovico at Bologna, +Stefano at Florence, Sandro at Serravalle, all his female drudges, and +the anonymous boy whom his father sent from Rome. That he was a man +"gey ill to live with" seems indisputable. This may in part account +for the fact that, unlike other great Italian masters, he formed no +school. The _frescanti_ who came from Florence to assist him in the +Sistine Chapel were dismissed with abruptness, perhaps even with +brutality. Montelupo and Montorsoli, among sculptors, Marcello Venusti +and Pontormo, Daniele da Volterra and Sebastiano del Piombo, among +painters, felt his direct influence. But they did not stand in the +same relation to him as Raffaello's pupils to their master. The work +of Giulio Romano, Giovanni da Udine, Francesco Penni, Perino del Vaga, +Primaticcio, at Rome, at Mantua, and elsewhere, is a genial +continuation of Raffaello's spirit and manner after his decease. +Nothing of the sort can be maintained about the statues and the +paintings which display a study of the style of Michelangelo. And this +holds good in like manner of his imitators in architecture. For worse +rather than for better, he powerfully and permanently affected Italian +art; but he did not create a body of intelligent craftsmen, capable of +carrying on his inspiration, as Giulio Romano expanded the Loggie of +the Vatican into the Palazzo del Te. I have already expressed my +opinions regarding the specific quality of the Michelangelo tradition +in a passage which I may perhaps be here permitted to resume:-- + +"Michelangelo formed no school in the strict sense of the word; yet +his influence was not the less felt on that account, nor less powerful +than Raffaello's. During his manhood a few painters endeavoured to add +the charm of oil-colouring to his designs, and long before his death +the seduction of his mighty mannerism began to exercise a fatal charm +for all the schools of Italy. Painters incapable of fathoming his +intention, unsympathetic to his rare type of intellect, and gifted +with less than a tithe of his native force, set themselves to +reproduce whatever may be justly censured in his works. To heighten +and enlarge their style was reckoned a chief duty of aspiring +craftsmen, and it was thought that recipes for attaining to this final +perfection of the modern arts might be extracted without trouble from +Michelangelo's masterpieces. Unluckily, in proportion as his fame +increased, his peculiarities became with the advance of age more +manneristic and defined, so that his imitators fixed precisely upon +that which sober critics now regard as a deduction from his greatness. +They failed to perceive that he owed his grandeur to his personality, +and that the audacities which fascinated them became mere whimsical +extravagances when severed from his _terribilita_ and sombre +simplicity of impassioned thought. His power and his spirit were alike +unique and incommunicable, while the admiration of his youthful +worshippers betrayed them into imitating the externals of a style that +was rapidly losing spontaneity. Therefore they fancied they were +treading in his footsteps and using the grand manner when they covered +church-roofs and canvases with sprawling figures in distorted +attitudes. Instead of studying nature, they studied Michelangelo's +cartoons, exaggerating by their unintelligent discipleship his +willfulness and arbitrary choice of form. + +"Vasari's and Cellini's criticisms of a master they both honestly +revered may suffice to illustrate the false method adopted by these +mimics of Michelangelo's ideal. To charge him with faults proceeding +from the weakness and blindness of the Decadence--the faults of men +too blind to read his art aright, too weak to stand on their own feet +without him--would be either stupid or malicious. If at the close of +the sixteenth century the mannerists sought to startle and entrance +the world by empty exhibitions of muscular anatomy misunderstood, and +by a braggadocio display of meaningless effects--crowding their +compositions with studies from the nude, and painting agitated groups +without a discernible cause for agitation--the crime surely lay with +the patrons who liked such decoration, and with the journeymen who +provided it. Michelangelo himself always made his manner serve his +thought. We may fail to appreciate his manner and may be incapable of +comprehending his thought, but only insincere or conceited critics +will venture to gauge the latter by what they feel to be displeasing +in the former. What seems lawless in him follows the law of a profound +and peculiar genius, with which, whether we like it or not, we must +reckon. His imitators were devoid of thought, and too indifferent to +question whether there was any law to be obeyed. Like the jackass in +the fable, they assumed the dead lion's skin, and brayed beneath it, +thinking they could roar." + + +VI + +Continuing these scattered observations upon Michelangelo's character +and habits, we may collect what Vasari records about his social +intercourse with brother-artists. Being himself of a saturnine humour, +he took great delight in the society of persons little better than +buffoons. Writing the Life of Jacopo surnamed L'Indaco, a Florentine +painter of some merit, Vasari observes: "He lived on very familiar +terms of intimacy with Michelangelo; for that great artist, great +above all who ever were, when he wished to refresh his mind, fatigued +by studies and incessant labours of the body and the intellect, found +no one more to his liking and more congenial to his humour than was +Indaco." Nothing is recorded concerning their friendship, except that +Buonarroti frequently invited Indaco to meals; and one day, growing +tired of the man's incessant chatter, sent him out to buy figs, and +then locked the house-door, so that he could not enter when he had +discharged his errand. A boon-companion of the same type was +Menighella, whom Vasari describes as "a mediocre and stupid painter of +Valdarno, but extremely amusing." He used to frequent Michelangelo's +house, "and he, who could with difficulty be induced to work for +kings, would lay aside all other occupations in order to make drawings +for this fellow." What Menighella wanted was some simple design or +other of S. Rocco, S. Antonio, or S. Francesco, to be coloured for one +of his peasant patrons. Vasari says that Michelangelo modelled a very +beautiful Christ for this humble friend, from which Menighella made a +cast, and repeated it in papier-mache, selling these crucifixes +through the country-side. What would not the world give for one of +them, even though Michelangelo is said to have burst his sides with +laughing at the man's stupidity! Another familiar of the same sort was +a certain stone-cutter called Domenico Fancelli, and nicknamed +Topolino. From a letter addressed to him by Buonarroti in 1523 it +appears that he was regarded as a "very dear friend." According to +Vasari, Topolino thought himself an able sculptor, but was in reality +extremely feeble. He blocked out a marble Mercury, and begged the +great master to pronounce a candid opinion on its merits. "You are a +madman, Topolino," replied Michelangelo, "to attempt this art of +statuary. Do you not see that your Mercury is too short by more than a +third of a cubit from the knees to the feet? You have made him a +dwarf, and spoiled the whole figure." "Oh, that is nothing! If there +is no other fault, I can easily put that to rights. Leave the matter +to me." Michelangelo laughed at the man's simplicity, and went upon +his way. Then Topolino took a piece of marble, and cut off the legs of +his Mercury below the knees. Next he fashioned a pair of buskins of +the right height, and joined these on to the truncated limbs in such +wise that the tops of the boots concealed the lines of juncture. When +Buonarroti saw the finished statue, he remarked that fools were gifted +with the instinct for rectifying errors by expedients which a wise man +would not have hit upon. + +Another of Michelangelo's buffoon friends was a Florentine celebrity, +Piloto, the goldsmith. We know that he took this man with him when he +went to Venice in 1530; but Vasari tells no characteristic stories +concerning their friendship. It may be remarked that Il Lasca +describes Piloto as a "most entertaining and facetious fellow," +assigning him the principal part in one of his indecent novels. The +painter Giuliano Bugiardini ought to be added to the same list. Messer +Ottaviano de' Medici begged him to make a portrait of Michelangelo, +who gave him a sitting without hesitation, being extremely partial to +the man's company. At the end of two hours Giuliano exclaimed: +"Michelangelo, if you want to see yourself, stand up; I have caught +the likeness." Michelangelo did as he was bidden, and when he had +examined the portrait, he laughed and said: "What the devil have you +been about? You have painted me with one of my eyes up in the temple." +Giuliano stood some time comparing the drawing with his model's face, +and then remarked: "I do not think so; but take your seat again, and I +shall be able to judge better when I have you in the proper pose." +Michelangelo, who knew well where the fault lay, and how little +judgment belonged to his friend Bugiardini, resumed his seat, +grinning. After some time of careful contemplation, Giuliano rose to +his feet and cried: "It seems to me that I have drawn it right, and +that the life compels me to do so." "So then," replied Buonarroti, +"the defect is nature's, and see you spare neither the brush nor art." + +Both Sebastiano del Piombo and Giorgio Vasari were appreciated by +Michelangelo for their lively parts and genial humour. The latter has +told an anecdote which illustrates the old man's eccentricity. He was +wont to wear a cardboard hat at night, into which he stuck a candle, +and then worked by its light upon his statue of the Pieta. Vasari +observing this habit, wished to do him a kindness by sending him 40 +lbs. of candles made of goat's fat, knowing that they gutter less than +ordinary dips of tallow. His servant carried them politely to the +house two hours after nightfall, and presented them to Michelangelo. +He refused, and said he did not want them. The man answered, "Sir, +they have almost broken my arms carrying them all this long way from +the bridge, nor will I take them home again. There is a heap of mud +opposite your door, thick and firm enough to hold them upright. Here +then will I set them all up, and light them." When Michelangelo heard +this, he gave way: "Lay them down; I do not mean you to play pranks at +my house-door." Varsari tells another anecdote about the Pieta. Pope +Julius III. sent him late one evening to Michelangelo's house for some +drawing. The old man came down with a lantern, and hearing what was +wanted, told Urbino to look for the cartoon. Meanwhile, Vasari turned +his attention to one of the legs of Christ, which Michelangelo had +been trying to alter. In order to prevent his seeing, Michelangelo let +the lamp fall, and they remained in darkness. He then called for a +light, and stepped forth from the enclosure of planks behind which he +worked. As he did so, he remarked, "I am so old that Death oftentimes +plucks me by the cape to go with him, and one day this body of mine +will fall like the lantern, and the light of life will be put out." Of +death he used to say, that "if life gives us pleasure, we ought not to +expect displeasure from death, seeing as it is made by the hand of the +same master." + +Among stories relating to craftsmen, these are perhaps worth gleaning. +While he was working on the termini for the tomb of Julius, he gave +directions to a certain stone-cutter: "Remove such and such parts here +to-day, smooth out in this place, and polish up in that." In the +course of time, without being aware of it, the man found that he had +produced a statue, and stared astonished at his own performance. +Michelangelo asked, "What do you think of it?" "I think it very good," +he answered, "and I owe you a deep debt of gratitude." "Why do you say +that?" "Because you have caused me to discover in myself a talent +which I did not know that I possessed."--A certain citizen, who wanted +a mortar, went to a sculptor and asked him to make one. The fellow, +suspecting some practical joke, pointed out Buonarroti's house, and +said that if he wanted mortars, a man lived there whose trade it was +to make them. The customer accordingly addressed himself to +Michelangelo, who, in his turn suspecting a trick, asked who had sent +him. When he knew the sculptor's name, he promised to carve the +mortar, on the condition that it should be paid for at the sculptor's +valuation. This was settled, and the mortar turned out a miracle of +arabesques and masks and grotesque inventions, wonderfully wrought and +polished. In due course of time the mortar was taken to the envious +and suspicious sculptor, who stood dumbfounded before it, and told the +customer that there was nothing left but to carry this masterpiece of +carving back to him who fashioned it, and order a plain article for +himself.--At Modena he inspected the terra-cotta groups by Antonio +Begarelli, enthusiastically crying out, "If this clay could become +marble, woe to antique statuary."--A Florentine citizen once saw him +gazing at Donatello's statue of S. Mark upon the outer wall of +Orsanmichele. On being asked what he thought of it, Michelangelo +replied, "I never saw a figure which so thoroughly represents a man of +probity; if S. Mark was really like that, we have every reason to +believe everything which he has said." To the S. George in the same +place he is reported to have given the word of command, "March!"--Some +one showed him a set of medals by Alessandro Cesari, upon which he +exclaimed, "The death hour of art has struck; nothing more perfect can +be seen than these."--Before Titian's portrait of Duke Alfonso di +Ferrara he observed that he had not thought art could perform so much, +adding that Titian alone deserved the name of painter.--He was wont to +call Cronaca's church of S. Francesco al Monte "his lovely peasant +girl," and Ghiberti's doors in the Florentine Baptistery "the Gates of +Paradise."--Somebody showed him a boy's drawings, and excused their +imperfection by pleading that he had only just begun to study: "That +is obvious," he answered. A similar reply is said to have been made to +Vasari, when he excused his own frescoes in the Cancelleria at Rome by +saying they had been painted in a few days.--An artist showed him a +Pieta which he had finished: "Yes, it is indeed a _pieta_ (pitiful +object) to see."--Ugo da Carpi signed one of his pictures with a +legend declaring he had not used a brush on it: "It would have been +better had he done so."--Sebastiano del Piombo was ordered to paint a +friar in a chapel at S. Pietro a Montorio. Michelangelo observed, "He +will spoil the chapel." Asked why, he answered, "When the friars have +spoiled the world, which is so large, it surely is an easy thing for +them to spoil such a tiny chapel."--A sculptor put together a number +of figures imitated from the antique, and thought he had surpassed his +models. Michelangelo remarked, "One who walks after another man, never +goes in front of him; and one who is not able to do well by his own +wit, will not be able to profit by the works of others."--A painter +produced some notably poor picture, in which only an ox was vigorously +drawn: "Every artist draws his own portrait best," said +Michelangelo.--He went to see a statue which was in the sculptor's +studio, waiting to be exposed before the public. The man bustled about +altering the lights, in order to show his work off to the best +advantage: "Do not take this trouble; what really matters will be the +light of the piazza;" meaning that the people in the long-run decide +what is good or bad in art.--Accused of want of spirit in his rivalry +with Nanni di Baccio Bigio, he retorted, "Men who fight with folk of +little worth win nothing."--A priest who was a friend of his said, "It +is a pity that you never married, for you might have had many +children, and would have left them all the profit and honour of your +labours." Michelangelo answered, "I have only too much of a wife in +this art of mine. She has always kept me struggling on. My children +will be the works I leave behind me. Even though they are worth +naught, yet I shall live awhile in them. Woe to Lorenzo Ghiberti if he +had not made the gates of S. Giovanni! His children and grandchildren +have sold and squandered the substance that he left. The gates are +still in their places." + + +VII + +This would be an appropriate place to estimate Michelangelo's +professional gains in detail, to describe the properties he acquired +in lands and houses, and to give an account of his total fortune. We +are, however, not in the position to do this accurately. We only know +the prices paid for a few of his minor works. He received, for +instance, thirty ducats for the Sleeping Cupid, and 450 ducats for the +Pieta of S. Peter's. He contracted with Cardinal Piccolomini to +furnish fifteen statues for 500 ducats. In all of these cases the +costs of marble, workmen, workshop, fell on him. He contracted with +Florence to execute the David in two years, at a salary of six golden +florins per month, together with a further sum when the work was +finished. It appears that 400 florins in all (including salary) were +finally adjudged to him. In these cases all incidental expenses had +been paid by his employers. He contracted with the Operai del Duomo to +make twelve statues in as many years, receiving two florins a month, +and as much as the Operai thought fit to pay him when the whole was +done. Here too he was relieved from incidental expenses. For the +statue of Christ at S. Maria sopra Minerva he was paid 200 crowns. + +These are a few of the most trustworthy items we possess, and they are +rendered very worthless by the impossibility of reducing ducats, +florins, and crowns to current values. With regard to the bronze +statue of Julius II. at Bologna, Michelangelo tells us that he +received in advance 1000 ducats, and when he ended his work there +remained only 4-1/2 ducats to the good. In this case, as in most of +his great operations, he entered at the commencement into a contract +with his patron, sending in an estimate of what he thought it would be +worth his while to do the work for. The Italian is "pigliare a +cottimo;" and in all of his dealings with successive Popes +Michelangelo evidently preferred this method. It must have sometimes +enabled the artist to make large profits; but the nature of the +contract prevents his biographer from forming even a vague estimate of +their amount. According to Condivi, he received 3000 ducats for the +Sistine vault, working at his own costs. According to his own +statement, several hundred ducats were owing at the end of the affair. +It seems certain that Julius II. died in Michelangelo's debt, and that +the various contracts for his tomb were a source of loss rather than +of gain. + +Such large undertakings as the sacristy and library of S. Lorenzo were +probably agreed for on the contract system. But although there exist +plenty of memoranda recording Michelangelo's disbursements at various +times for various portions of these works, we can strike no balance +showing an approximate calculation of his profits. What renders the +matter still more perplexing is, that very few of Michelangelo's +contracts were fulfilled according to the original intention of the +parties. For one reason or another they had to be altered and +accommodated to circumstances. + +It is clear that, later on in life, he received money for drawings, +for architectural work, and for models, the execution of which he +bound himself to superintend. Cardinal Grimani wrote saying he would +pay the artist's own price for a design he had requested. Vasari +observes that the sketches he gave away were worth thousands of +crowns. We know that he was offered a handsome salary for the +superintendence of S. Peter's, which he magnanimously and piously +declined to touch. But what we cannot arrive at is even a rough +valuation of the sums he earned in these branches of employment. + +Again, we know that he was promised a yearly salary from Clement VII., +and one more handsome from Paul III. But the former was paid +irregularly, and half of the latter depended on the profits of a +ferry, which eventually failed him altogether. In each of these cases, +then, the same circumstances of vagueness and uncertainty throw doubt +on all investigation, and render a conjectural estimate impossible. +Moreover, there remain no documents to prove what he may have gained, +directly or indirectly, from succeeding Pontiffs. That he felt the +loss of Paul III., as a generous patron, is proved by a letter written +on the occasion of his death; and Vasari hints that the Pope had been +munificent in largesses bestowed upon him. But of these occasional +presents and emoluments we have no accurate information; and we are +unable to state what he derived from Pius IV., who was certainly one +of his best friends and greatest admirers. + +At his death in Rome he left cash amounting to something under 9000 +crowns. But, since he died intestate, we have no will to guide us as +to the extent and nature of his whole estate. Nor, so far as I am +aware, has the return of his property, which Lionardo Buonarroti may +possibly have furnished to the state of Florence, been yet brought to +light. + +That he inherited some landed property at Settignano from his father +is certain; and he added several plots of ground to the paternal +acres. He also is said to have bought a farm in Valdichiana +(doubtful), and other pieces of land in Tuscany. He owned a house at +Rome, a house and workshop in the Via Mozza at Florence, and he +purchased the Casa Buonarroti in Via Ghibellina. But we have no means +of determining the total value of these real assets. + +In these circumstances I feel unable to offer any probable opinion +regarding the amount of Michelangelo's professional earnings, or the +exact way in which they were acquired. That he died possessed of a +considerable fortune, and that he was able during his lifetime to +assist his family with large donations, cannot be disputed. But how he +came to command so much money does not appear. His frugality, +bordering upon penuriousness, impressed contemporaries. This, +considering the length of his life, may account for not contemptible +accumulations. + + +VIII + +We have seen that Michelangelo's contemporaries found fault with +several supposed frailties of his nature. These may be briefly +catalogued under the following heads: A passionate violence of temper +(_terribilita_), expressing itself in hasty acts and words; extreme +suspiciousness and irritability; solitary habits, amounting to +misanthropy or churlishness; eccentricity and melancholy bordering on +madness; personal timidity and avarice; a want of generosity in +imparting knowledge, and an undue partiality for handsome persons of +his own sex. His biographers, Condivi and Vasari, thought these +charges worthy of serious refutation, which proves that they were +current. They had no difficulty in showing that his alleged +misanthropy, melancholy, and madness were only signs of a studious +nature absorbed in profound meditations. They easily refuted the +charges of avarice and want of generosity in helping on young artists. +But there remained a great deal in the popular conception which could +not be dismissed, and which has recently been corroborated by the +publication of his correspondence. The opinion that Michelangelo was a +man of peculiar, and in some respects not altogether healthy nervous +temperament, will force itself upon all those who have fairly weighed +the evidence of the letters in connection with the events of his life. +It has been developed in a somewhat exaggerated form, of late years, +by several psychologists of the new school (Parlagreco and Lombroso in +Italy, Nisbet in England), who attempt to prove that Michelangelo was +the subject of neurotic disorder. The most important and serious essay +in this direction is a little book of great interest and almost +hypercritical acumen published recently at Naples. Signor Parlagreco +lays great stress upon Michelangelo's insensibility to women, his +"strange and contradictory feeling about feminine beauty." He seeks to +show, what is indeed, I think, capable of demonstration, that the +man's intense devotion to art and study, his solitary habits and +constitutional melancholy, caused him to absorb the ordinary instincts +and passions of a young man into his aesthetic temperament; and that +when, in later life, he began to devote his attention to poetry, he +treated love from the point of view of mystical philosophy. In support +of this argument Parlagreco naturally insists upon the famous +friendship with Vittoria Colonna, and quotes the Platonising poems +commonly attributed to this emotion. He has omitted to mention, what +certainly bears upon the point of Michelangelo's frigidity, that only +one out of the five Buonarroti brothers, sons of Lodovico, married. +Nor does he take into account the fact that Raffaello da Urbino, who +was no less devoted and industrious in art and study, retained the +liveliest sensibility to female charms. In other words, the critic +appears to neglect that common-sense solution of the problem, which is +found in a cold and physically sterile constitution as opposed to one +of greater warmth and sensuous activity. + +Parlagreco attributes much value to what he calls the religious +terrors and remorse of Michelangelo's old age; says that "his fancy +became haunted with doubts and fears; every day discovering fresh sins +in the past, inveighing against the very art which made him famous +among men, and seeking to propitiate Paradise for his soul by acts of +charity to dowerless maidens." The sonnets to Vasari and some others +are quoted in support of this view. But the question remains, whether +it is not exaggerated to regard pious aspirations, and a sense of +human life's inadequacy at its close, as the signs of nervous malady. +The following passage sums up Parlagreco's theory in a succession of +pregnant sentences. "An accurate study, based upon his correspondence +in connection with the events of the artist's life and the history of +his works, has enabled me to detect in his character a persistent +oscillation. Continual contradictions between great and generous ideas +upon the one side, and puerile ideas upon the other; between the will +and the word, thought and action; an excessive irritability and the +highest degree of susceptibility; constant love for others, great +activity in doing good, sudden sympathies, great outbursts of +enthusiasm, great fears; at times an unconsciousness with respect to +his own actions; a marvellous modesty in the field of art, an +unreasonable vanity regarding external appearances:--these are the +diverse manifestations of psychical energy in Buonarroti's life; all +which makes me believe that the mighty artist was affected by a degree +of neuropathy bordering closely upon hysterical disease." He proceeds +to support this general view by several considerations, among which +the most remarkable are Michelangelo's asseverations to friends: "You +will say that I am old and mad to make sonnets, but if people assert +that I am on the verge of dotage, I have wished to act up to my +character:" "You will say that I am old and mad; but I answer that +there is no better way of keeping sane and free from anxiety, than by +being mad:" "As regards the madness they ascribe to me, it does harm +to nobody but myself:" "I enjoyed last evening, because it drew me out +of my melancholy and mad humour." + +Reviewing Parlagreco's argument in general, I think it may be justly +remarked that if the qualities rehearsed above constitute hysterical +neuropathy, then every testy, sensitive, impulsive, and benevolent +person is neuropathically hysterical. In particular we may demur to +the terms "puerile ideas," "unreasonable vanity regarding external +appearances." It would be difficult to discover puerility in any of +Buonarroti's utterances; and his only vanity was a certain pride in +the supposed descent of his house from that of Canossa. The frequent +allusions to melancholy and madness do not constitute a confession of +these qualities. They express Michelangelo's irritation at being +always twitted with unsociability and eccentricity. In the +conversations recorded by Francesco d'Olanda he quietly and +philosophically exculpates men of the artistic temperament from such +charges, which were undoubtedly brought against him, and which the +recluse manner of his life to some extent accounted for. + +It may be well here to resume the main points of the indictment +brought against Michelangelo's sanity by the neo-psychologists. In the +first place, he admired male more than female beauty, and preferred +the society of men to that of women. But this peculiarity, in an age +and climate which gave larger licence to immoderate passions, exposed +him to no serious malignancy of rumour. Such predilections were not +uncommon in Italy. They caused scandal when they degenerated into +vice, and rarely failed in that case to obscure the good fame of +persons subject to them. Yet Michelangelo, surrounded by jealous +rivals, was only very lightly touched by the breath of calumny in his +lifetime. Aretino's malicious insinuation and Condivi's cautious +vindication do not suffice to sully his memory with any dark +suspicion. He lived with an almost culpable penuriousness in what +concerned his personal expenditure. But he was generous towards his +family, bountiful to his dependants, and liberal in charity. He +suffered from constitutional depression, preferred solitude to crowds, +and could not brook the interference of fashionable idlers with his +studious leisure. But, as he sensibly urged in self-defence, these +eccentricities, so frequent with men of genius, ought to have been +ascribed to the severe demands made upon an artist's faculties by the +problems with which he was continually engaged; the planning of a +Pope's mausoleum, the distribution of a score of histories and several +hundreds of human figures on a chapel-vaulting, the raising of S. +Peter's cupola in air: none of which tasks can be either lightly +undertaken or carried out with ease. At worst, Michelangelo's +melancholy might be ascribed to that _morbus eruditorum_ of which +Burton speaks. It never assumed the form of hypochondria, +hallucination, misogyny, or misanthropy. He was irritable, suspicious, +and frequently unjust both to his friends and relatives on slight +occasions. But his relatives gave him good reason to be fretful by +their greediness, ingratitude, and stupidity; and when he lost his +temper he recovered it with singular ease. It is also noticeable that +these paroxysms of crossness on which so much stress has been laid, +came upon him mostly when he was old, worn out with perpetual mental +and physical fatigue, and troubled by a painful disease of the +bladder. There is nothing in their nature, frequency, or violence to +justify the hypothesis of more than a hyper-sensitive nervous +temperament; and without a temperament of this sort how could an +artist of Michelangelo's calibre and intensity perform his life-work? +In old age he dwelt upon the thought of death, meditated in a +repentant spirit on the errors of his younger years, indulged a pious +spirit, and clung to the cross of Christ. But when a man has passed +the period allotted for the average of his race, ought not these +preoccupations to be reckoned to him rather as appropriate and +meritorious? We must not forget that he was born and lived as a +believing Christian, in an age of immorality indeed, but one which had +not yet been penetrated with scientific conceptions and materialism. +There is nothing hysterical or unduly ascetic in the religion of his +closing years. It did not prevent him from taking the keenest interest +in his family, devoting his mind to business and the purchase of +property, carrying on the Herculean labour of building the +mother-church of Latin Christendom. He was subject, all through his +career, to sudden panics, and suffered from a constitutional dread of +assassination. We can only explain his flight from Rome, his escape +from Florence, the anxiety he expressed about his own and his family's +relations to the Medici, by supposing that his nerves were sensitive +upon this point. But, considering the times in which he lived, the +nature of the men around him, the despotic temper of the Medicean +princes, was there anything morbid in this timidity? A student of +Cellini's Memoirs, of Florentine history, and of the dark stories in +which the private annals of the age abound, will be forced to admit +that imaginative men of acute nervous susceptibility, who loved a +quiet life and wished to keep their mental forces unimpaired for art +and thought, were justified in feeling an habitual sense of uneasiness +in Italy of the Renaissance period. Michelangelo's timidity, real as +it was, did not prevent him from being bold upon occasion, speaking +the truth to popes and princes, and making his personality respected. +He was even accused of being too "terrible," too little of a courtier +and time-server. + +When the whole subject of Michelangelo's temperament has been calmly +investigated, the truth seems to be that he did not possess a nervous +temperament so evenly balanced as some phlegmatic men of average +ability can boast of. But who could expect the creator of the Sistine, +the sculptor of the Medicean tombs, the architect of the cupola, the +writer of the sonnets, to be an absolutely normal individual? To +identify genius with insanity is a pernicious paradox. To recognise +that it cannot exist without some inequalities of nervous energy, some +perturbations of nervous function, is reasonable. In other words, it +is an axiom of physiology that the abnormal development of any organ +or any faculty is balanced by some deficiency or abnormality elsewhere +in the individual. This is only another way of saying that the man of +genius is not a mediocre and ordinary personality: in other words, it +is a truism, the statement of which appears superfluous. Rather ought +we, in Michelangelo's case, to dwell upon the remarkable sobriety of +his life, his sustained industry under very trying circumstances, his +prolonged intellectual activity into extreme old age, the toughness of +his constitution, and the elasticity of that nerve-fibre which +continued to be sound and sane under the enormous and varied pressure +put upon it over a period of seventy-five laborious years. + +If we dared attempt a synthesis or reconstitution of this unique man's +personality, upon the data furnished by his poems, letters, and +occasional utterances, all of which have been set forth in their +proper places in this work, I think we must construct him as a being +gifted, above all his other qualities and talents, with a burning +sense of abstract beauty and an eager desire to express this through +several forms of art--design, sculpture, fresco-painting, +architecture, poetry. The second point forced in upon our mind is that +the same man vibrated acutely to the political agitation of his +troubled age, to mental influences of various kinds, and finally to a +persistent nervous susceptibility, which made him exquisitely +sensitive to human charm. This quality rendered him irritable in his +dealings with his fellow-men, like an instrument of music, finely +strung, and jangled on a slight occasion. In the third place we +discover that, while accepting the mental influences and submitting to +the personal attractions I have indicated, he strove, by indulging +solitary tastes, to maintain his central energies intact for +art--joining in no rebellious conspiracies against the powers that be, +bending his neck in silence to the storm, avoiding pastimes and social +diversions which might have called into activity the latent +sensuousness of his nature. For the same reason, partly by +predilection, and partly by a deliberate wish to curb his irritable +tendencies, he lived as much alone as possible, and poorly. At the +close of his career, when he condescended to unburden his mind in +verse and friendly dialogue, it is clear that he had formed the habit +of recurring to religion for tranquillity, and of combating dominant +desire by dwelling on the thought of inevitable death. Platonic +speculations upon the eternal value of beauty displayed in mortal +creatures helped him always in his warfare with the flesh and roving +inclination. Self-control seems to have been the main object of his +conscious striving, not for its own sake, but as the condition +necessary to his highest spiritual activity. Self-coherence, +self-concentration, not for any mean or self-indulgent end, but for +the best attainment of his intellectual ideal, was what he sought for +by the seclusion and the renunciations of a lifetime. + +The total result of this singular attitude toward human life, which +cannot be rightly described as either ascetic or mystical, but seems +rather to have been based upon some self-preservative instinct, +bidding him sacrifice lower and keener impulses to what he regarded as +the higher and finer purpose of his being, is a certain clash and +conflict of emotions, a certain sense of failure to attain the end +proposed, which excuses, though I do not think it justifies, the +psychologists, when they classify him among morbid subjects. Had he +yielded at any period of his career to the ordinary customs of his +easy-going age, he would have presented no problem to the scientific +mind. After consuming the fuel of the passions, he might have subsided +into common calm, or have blunted the edge of inspiration, or have +finished in some phase of madness or ascetical repentance. Such are +the common categories of extinct volcanic temperaments. But the +essential point about Michelangelo is that he never burned out, and +never lost his manly independence, in spite of numerous nervous +disadvantages. That makes him the unparalleled personality he is, as +now revealed to us by the impartial study of the documents at our +disposal. + + +IX + +It is the plain duty of criticism in this age to search and probe the +characters of world-important individuals under as many aspects as +possible, neglecting no analytical methods, shrinking from no tests, +omitting no slight details or faint shadows that may help to round a +picture. Yet, after all our labour, we are bound to confess that the +man himself eludes our insight. "The abysmal deeps of personality" +have never yet been sounded by mere human plummets. The most that +microscope and scalpel can perform is to lay bare tissue and direct +attention to peculiarities of structure. In the long-run we find that +the current opinion formed by successive generations remains true in +its grand outlines. That large collective portrait of the hero, slowly +emerging from sympathies and censures, from judgments and panegyrics, +seems dim indeed and visionary, when compared with some sharply +indented description by a brilliant literary craftsman. It has the +vagueness of a photograph produced by superimposing many negatives of +the same face one upon the other. It lacks the pungent piquancy of an +etching. Yet this is what we must abide by; for this is spiritually +and generically veracious. + +At the end, then, a sound critic returns to think of Michelangelo, not +as Parlagreco and Lombroso show him, nor even as the minute +examination of letters and of poems proves him to have been, but as +tradition and the total tenor of his life display him to our +admiration. Incalculable, incomprehensible, incommensurable: yes, all +souls, the least and greatest, attack them as we will, are that. But +definite in solitary sublimity, like a supreme mountain seen from a +vast distance, soaring over shadowy hills and misty plains into the +clear ether of immortal fame. + +Viewed thus, he lives for ever as the type and symbol of a man, +much-suffering, continually labouring, gifted with keen but rarely +indulged passions, whose energies from boyhood to extreme old age were +dedicated with unswerving purpose to the service of one master, +plastic art. On his death-bed he may have felt, like Browning, in that +sweetest of his poems, "other heights in other lives, God willing." +But, for this earthly pilgrimage, he was contented to leave the +ensample of a noble nature made perfect and completed in itself by +addiction to one commanding impulse. We cannot cite another hero of +the modern world who more fully and with greater intensity realised +the main end of human life, which is self-effectuation, +self-realisation, self-manifestation in one of the many lines of +labour to which men may be called and chosen. Had we more of such +individualities, the symphony of civilisation would be infinitely +glorious; for nothing is more certain than that God and the world +cannot be better served than by each specific self pushing forward to +its own perfection, sacrificing the superfluous or hindering elements +in its structure, regardless of side issues and collateral +considerations. + +Michelangelo, then, as Carlyle might have put it, is the Hero as +Artist. When we have admitted this, all dregs and sediments of the +analytical alembic sink to the bottom, leaving a clear crystalline +elixir of the spirit. About the quality of his genius opinions may, +will, and ought to differ. It is so pronounced, so peculiar, so +repulsive to one man, so attractive to another, that, like his own +dread statue of Lorenzo de' Medici, "it fascinates and is +intolerable." There are few, I take it, who can feel at home with him +in all the length and breadth and dark depths of the regions that he +traversed. The world of thoughts and forms in which he lived +habitually is too arid, like an extinct planet, tenanted by mighty +elemental beings with little human left to them but visionary +Titan-shapes, too vast and void for common minds to dwell in +pleasurably. The sweetness that emerges from his strength, the beauty +which blooms rarely, strangely, in unhomely wise, upon the awful crowd +of his conceptions, are only to be apprehended by some innate sympathy +or by long incubation of the brooding intellect. It is probable, +therefore, that the deathless artist through long centuries of glory +will abide as solitary as the simple old man did in his poor house at +Rome. But no one, not the dullest, not the weakest, not the laziest +and lustfullest, not the most indifferent to ideas or the most +tolerant of platitudes and paradoxes, can pass him by without being +arrested, quickened, stung, purged, stirred to uneasy self-examination +by so strange a personality expressed in prophecies of art so pungent. + +Each supreme artist whom God hath sent into the world with inspiration +and a particle of the imperishable fire, is a law to himself, an +universe, a revelation of the divine life under one of its innumerable +attributes. We cannot therefore classify Michelangelo with any of his +peers throughout the long procession of the ages. Of each and all of +them it must be said in Ariosto's words, "Nature made him, and then +broke the mould." Yet, if we seek Michelangelo's affinities, we find +them in Lucretius and Beethoven, not in Sophocles and Mozart. He +belongs to the genus of deep, violent, colossal, passionately striving +natures; not, like Raffaello, to the smooth, serene, broad, +exquisitely finished, calmly perfect tribe. To God be the praise, who +bestows upon the human race artists thus differing in type and +personal quality, each one of whom incarnates some specific portion of +the spirit of past ages, perpetuating the traditions of man's soul, +interpreting century to century by everlasting hieroglyphics, mute +witnesses to history and splendid illustrations of her pages. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti +by John Addington Symonds + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHELANGELO *** + +***** This file should be named 11242.txt or 11242.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/2/4/11242/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Keith M. 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