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diff --git a/19332.txt b/19332.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b5d96a --- /dev/null +++ b/19332.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12311 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Michael Angelo Buonarroti by Charles +Holroyd + + + +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 http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: Michael Angelo Buonarroti + +Author: Charles Holroyd + +Release Date: September 19, 2006 [Ebook #19332] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTI*** + + + + + +Michael Angelo Buonarroti +By Charles Holroyd, + +Keeper of the National Gallery of British Art, with Translations of the +Life of the Master by His Scholar, Ascanio Condivi, and Three Dialogues +from the Portuguese by Francisco d'Ollanda + +London +Duckworth and Company + +New York +Charles Scribner's Sons + +1903 + + + + + + [Frontispiece] + + MICHAEL ANGELO + + From an early proof of the engraving by + GIULIO BONASONI + (_In the Print Room of the British Museum_) + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Preface +Illustrations +PART I + CHAPTER I + CHAPTER II + CHAPTER III + CHAPTER IV + CHAPTER V + CHAPTER VI + CHAPTER VII + CHAPTER VIII + CHAPTER IX + CHAPTER X + CHAPTER XI +PART II + CHAPTER I + CHAPTER II + CHAPTER III + CHAPTER IV + CHAPTER V + CHAPTER VI + CHAPTER VII + CHAPTER VIII + CHAPTER IX + CHAPTER X + CHAPTER XI +APPENDIX + FIRST DIALOGUE + SECOND DIALOGUE + THIRD DIALOGUE +THE WORKS OF MICHAEL ANGELO +A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL BOOKS CONSULTED BY THE AUTHOR +ERRATUM +INDEX + + + + + +PREFACE + + +Of all the many lives of Michael Angelo that have been written, that by +his friend and pupil, Ascanio Condivi, is the most valuable. For not only +is it a contemporary record, like the lives inserted by Giorgio Vasari in +the two editions of his famous book, "The Lives of the Most Eminent +Painters, Sculptors, and Architects," published in Florence in 1550 and +1568; but Condivi's work has almost the authority of an autobiography, +many phrases are in the same words, as certain letters in the hand of +Michael Angelo still in existence, especially those relating to the early +life and the ancestry of the master, to his favourite nephew Lionardo, and +concerning the whole story of the Tragedy of the Tomb to Francesco +Fattucci and others. + +Condivi's description of his master's personal appearance is so detailed +that we can see him with his sculptor's callipers measuring the head of +his dear master, and gazing earnestly into his eyes, recording the colours +of their scintillations, with the patience of a painter. + +Vasari's account has been translated more than once, but Condivi's never, +at least never completely. Extracts have been given, and it has been the +main resource of every writer on the master; but the faithful and reverent +character of the whole work can only be given in a complete translation, +its transparent honesty, and its loving devotion. Even had the subject of +this naif and unscholarly narrative been an ordinary man in an ordinary +period, it would have been worth translating for its truth to life and +human nature, much more, therefore, when it is about the greatest +craftsman of the Cinque Cento. + +Condivi published his "Vita di Michael Angelo Buonarroti" on July 16, +1553; probably incited thereto by the master himself, who desired to +correct certain misstatements of his excellent friend, Giorgio Vasari, +without hurting that worthy's feelings. Nevertheless, we gather from what +Vasari says in his second edition that he somewhat resented the appearance +of this new biographer. Perhaps this coloured his unflattering account of +Condivi as an artist, when describing Michael Angelo's scholars: "Ascanio +della Ripa took great pains, but no results have been seen, whether in +designs or finished works. He spent several years over a picture for which +Michael Angelo had given him the cartoon, and, at a word, the hopes +conceived of him have vanished in smoke." What a good thing it would have +been for Vasari's reputation if his art work had vanished in smoke, too, +and only his biographies remained. Condivi lives, as he said he wished to +live, in the dedication of his work to Pope Julius III., with the name of +being a faithful servant and disciple of Michael Angelo. + +A second edition of the "Vita di Michael Angelo," by Ascanio Condivi, was +published at Florence in 1746. The introduction informs us that Condivi +was born at Ripa Transona, and that he outlived his master ten years, +dying on February 17, 1563 (1564), aged nearly eighty-nine years. + +The second part of this book may be regarded as an appendix(1) to Condivi. +It is a supplementary account of the existing works of the master, and +details of their fashioning that may help us to realise the mystery of +their production, from contemporary documents: letters, contracts, and the +life by Vasari, with some few explanations that will not interest the +learned, but may help young students of the works of the great master. +Londoners have peculiar facilities for this study. The bas-relief in the +Diploma Gallery of the Royal Academy, the drawings in the British Museum, +and the unfinished and altered picture at the National Gallery, are an +excellent foundation from which to study the casts at Kensington and in +the Crystal Palace (the latter are unique in this country, but, alas! in a +poor state now). Students of to-day have one immense advantage over those +of former times in the magnificent series of photographs that have been +issued, especially those of the vault of the Sistine Chapel, which may +almost be said never to have been so well seen before. + +Since this book went to press, the author has seen an antique intaglio, +No. 210 in the Estense Collection at Modena, which he is informed came +from Ferrara in 1598, representing a Leda. This confirms the view +expressed in the note on page 61, as to the genesis of the Leda by Michael +Angelo, for it is exactly similar in composition. + +The author desires to express his gratitude to many friends for valuable +advice and assistance, especially to his wife for help in the +translations, and to Mr. S. Arthur Strong for kindly looking over the +proofs, and other aid; to the Earl of Leicester, of Holkham, for +permission to photograph and reproduce the Cartoon at Holkham Hall; to the +trustees of the British Museum and Mr. Sidney Colvin for facilities to +reproduce two engravings in the Print Room; to the Signori Fratelli +Alinari, Signor Anderson, Mm. Braun et Cie., and Signor Brogi, for kindly +allowing their photographs to be used in making the illustrations. + + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +MICHAEL ANGELO +THE RAPE OF DEIANEIRA AND THE BATTLE OF THE CENTAURS +THE ANGEL AT THE SHRINE OF SAINT DOMINIC +THE MADONNA BELLA PIETA +DAVID +DAVID +SAINT MATTHEW +THE MADONNA AND CHILD, WITH THE CHILD SAINT JOHN +THE HOLY FAMILY +THE CARTOON OF PISA +MOSES +TWO OF THE UNFINISHED MARBLE STATUES IN THE GROTTO OF THE BOBOLI GARDENS, +FLORENCE +THE CREATION OF THE SUN AND MOON, AND OF THE TREES AND HERBS +CREATION OF MAN +CREATION OF MAN +THE CREATION OF EVE +THE EXPULSION +THE DELUGE +ATHLETE +ATHLETE +ATHLETE +ATHLETE +THE DELPHIC SIBYL +THE PROPHET JOEL +THE PROPHET EZEKIEL +THE PROPHET DANIEL +THE LIBYAN SIBYL +THE PROPHET JEREMIAH +THE FLOOD +THE BRAZEN SERPENT +JUDITH WITH THE HEAD OF HOLOFERNES +ONE OF THE ANCESTORS OF CHRIST, OVER THE WINDOW INSCRIBED "JESSE" +ONE OF THE ANCESTORS OF CHRIST, OVER THE WINDOW INSCRIBED "IORAM" +ONE OF THE ANCESTORS OF CHRIST, OVER THE WINDOW INSCRIBED "ASA" +THE PROPHET JONAH +THE TOMB OF LORENZO DE' MEDICI, DUKE OF URBINO +THE TOMB OF GIULIANO DE' MEDICI, DUKE OF NEMOURS +LORENZO DE MEDICI, DUKE OF URBINO +THE HEAD OF THE DAWN +APOLLO +THE HEAD OF THE NIGHT +NIGHT +THE MADONNA AND CHILD +THE DAY OF JUDGMENT +THE JUDGE. FROM "THE DAY OF JUDGMENT" +SPIRITS OF THE BLESSED, PART OF "THE DAY OF JUDGMENT" +THE CRUCIFIXION OF SAINT PETER +THE CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL +THE PIETA OF SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE +BRUTUS + + + + + + +PART I + + +THE LIFE OF MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTI, +BY HIS SCHOLAR ASCANIO CONDIVI, +TRANSLATED BY CHARLES HOLROYD + + + + +CHAPTER I + + + THE RAPE OF DEIANIRA, OR THE BATTLE OF THE CENTAURS AND THE ANGEL OF THE + SHRINE OF SAINT DOMINIC + + +Michael Angelo Buonarroti, the unique painter and sculptor, was descended +from the Counts of Canossa, a noble and illustrious family of the land of +Reggio, both on account of their own worth and antiquity, and because they +had Imperial blood in their veins.(2) For Beatrice, sister of Enrico II., +was given in marriage to Count Bonifazio of Canossa, then Signor of +Mantua; the Countess Matilda was their daughter, a lady of rare and +singular prudence and piety; who, after the death of her husband +Gottifredo, held in Italy (besides Mantua) Lucca, Parma, Reggio, and part +of Tuscany, which to-day is called the Patrimonio of San Pietro; and, +having in her lifetime done many things worthy of memory, died and was +buried in the Badia of San Benedetto, beyond the walls of Mantua, which +abbey she had built, and largely endowed. + +II. Messer Simone then, of this family, coming to Florence as Podesta(3) +in the year 1250, was deemed worthy of being made a citizen, and head of a +_sesitiere_ or sixth part of the town, for into so many wards was the +township divided at that time; to-day the wards are _quartieri_ or fourth +parts. The Guelph party were in power in Florence, and he, from Ghibelline +that he was, became Guelph, because of the many benefits he received from +that faction, changing the colour of his coat-of-arms, which originally +was gules, a dog rampant with a bone in his mouth, argent--to azure, a dog +or; and the Signoria afterwards granted him five lilies, gules, in a +Rastrello, and at the same time the crest with two horns of a bull, the +one or, and the other azure, as may be seen to this day painted on their +ancient shields; the old arms of Messer Simone may be seen in the palace +of the Podesta, carved in marble by his orders, according to the custom of +those who held that office. + +III. The reason why the family in Florence changed their name from Canossa +to de'Buonarroti was because the name Buonarroto was usual in their house +from age to age, almost always, down to the time of Michael Angelo +himself, who had a brother called Buonarroto, and many of these Buonarroti +being of the Signori, that is of the supreme magistracy of the Republic; +the said brother especially, who was of that body at the time when Pope +Leo was in Florence, as may be seen in the annals of the city; this name +held by so many of them became a surname for the whole family, the more +easily as it is the custom of Florence in the lists of voters and other +nomination papers, after the proper name of the citizen, to add that of +his father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, and even of those +further removed. Therefore, from the many Buonarroti thus continued, and +from that Simone who was the first of the family to settle in Florence, +and who was of the House of Canossa, they became Buonarroti Simoni, for so +they are called at this day. Lastly, Pope Leo X. being at Florence, +besides many other privileges, gave to this family the right to bear on +their coat the palla or ball, azure, of the arms of the House of Medici, +with three lilies, or + +IV. Of such family, then, was Michael Angelo born; his father's name was +Lodovico di Leonardo Buonarroti Simoni, a good and religious man, somewhat +old-fashioned. Michael Angelo was born to him whilst he was Podesta of +Chiusi and Caprese(4) in the Casentino, in the year of our salvation +1474,(5) on the sixth day of March, four hours before daylight on a +Monday. A fine nativity truly, which showed how great the child would be +and of how noble a genius; for the planet Mercury with Venus in seconda +being received into the house of Jupiter with benign aspect, promised what +afterwards followed, that the birth should be of a noble and high genius, +able to succeed in every undertaking, but principally in those arts that +delight the senses, such as painting, sculpture, and architecture. Having +completed his term of office, the father returned to Florence and put the +child out to nurse in the village of Settignano, three miles from the +city, where he had a property, which was one of the first places in that +country bought by Messer Simone da Canossa. The nurse was a daughter of a +stone-carver and the wife of a stone-carver, so Michael Angelo used to say +jestingly, but perhaps in earnest too, that it was no wonder he delighted +in the use of the chisel, knowing that the milk of the foster-mother has +such power in us that often it will change the disposition, one bent being +thus altered to another of a very different nature. + +V. The child grew and came to be of a reasonable age. His father, noticing +his ability, desired that he should devote himself to letters; he +therefore sent him to the school of a certain Maestro Francesco da Urbino, +who in those days taught grammar in Florence;(6) but although Michael +Angelo made progress in these studies, still the heavens and his nature, +both difficult to withstand, drew him towards the study of painting, so +that he could not resist, whenever he could steal the time, drawing now +here, now there, and seeking the company of painters. Amongst his familiar +friends was Francesco Granacci, a scholar of Domenico del Grillandaio,(7) +who, seeing the ardent longing and burning desire of the child, determined +to aid him, and continually exhorted him to the study of art, now lending +him drawings and now taking him with him to the workshops of his master +when some works were going forward from which he might learn. These sights +moved Michael Angelo so powerfully, following as they did his nature, +which never ceased to urge him, that he altogether abandoned letters. So +that his father and his uncles, who held the art in contempt, were much +displeased, and often beat him severely for it: they were so ignorant of +the excellence and nobility of art that they thought shame to have her in +the house. This, however much he disliked it, was not enough to turn him +back, but, on the contrary, made him more bold: he wished to begin to +colour, and he borrowed a print from Granacci which represented the story +of St. Antony when he was beaten by devils. The engraver was a certain +Martino d'Olanda,(8) a brave artist for that time. Michael Angelo painted +it on a panel of wood, Granacci lending him colours and brushes, in such a +manner that not only did it raise the admiration of every one who saw it, +but also envy, as some will have it, even in Domenico, the most famous +painter of the day; as may be seen by what happened afterwards. Domenico +used to say that the painting came from his own workshop in order to make +it appear less wonderful. In this little picture, besides the figure of +the Saint, there were many strange forms and monstrosities in the demons; +these Michael Angelo executed with so much care that no part of them was +coloured without reference to the natural object from which it had been +derived. For that purpose he frequented the fish-market and observed the +forms and tints of the scales and fins of fish and the colours of their +eyes and all their other parts, copying them in his picture, which much +conduced to the perfection of that work, exciting the wonder of the world, +and, as I have said, some envy in Grillandaio; this was much more seen one +day when Michael Angelo asked to see his book of drawings in which were +represented shepherds with their flocks and dogs, landscapes, buildings, +ruins, and such like things. Domenico would not lend it to him--indeed, he +had the reputation of being a little envious: for not only was he hardly +courteous to Michael Angelo, but even to his own brother, when he saw that +he was progressing rapidly and having great hopes of himself: he sent him +into France, not so much that it might be to his advantage, as some say, +but that he himself might remain the first artist in Florence. The reason +I have mentioned this is because I have heard it said that the son of +Domenico attributes the excellence and divinity of Michael Angelo in great +part to the training he received from his father: he received absolutely +no assistance from him;(9) nevertheless, Michael Angelo does not complain +of it, nay, even praises Domenico both for his art and his manners. But +this is a slight digression; let us return to our story. + +VI. Possibly not less wonderful was another labour of Michael Angelo's +done at this time, perhaps as a jest. Some one lent him a drawing of a +head to copy; he returned his copy to the owner instead of the original +and the deception was not noticed, but the boy talking and laughing about +it with one of his companions it was found out. Many people compared the +two and found no difference in them, for besides the perfection of the +drawing, Michael Angelo had smoked the paper to make it appear of the same +age as the original. This brought him a great reputation.(10) + +VII. Now drawing one thing and now another, the boy had no fixed plan or +method of study. It happened one day that Granacci took him to the gardens +of the Medici at San Marco. In this garden the Magnificent Lorenzo, father +of Pope Leo, a man renowned for every excellence, had disposed many +antique statues and decorative sculptures. Michael Angelo, seeing these +things and appreciating the beauty of them, never afterwards went to the +workshop of Domenico, but spent every day at the gardens, as in a better +school, always working at something or other. Amongst the rest, he studied +one day the head of a Faun, in appearance very old, with a long beard and +a laughing face, although the mouth could hardly be seen because of the +injuries of time. As if knowing what would be, or because he liked the +style of it, he determined to copy it in marble. The Magnificent Lorenzo +was having some marble worked and dressed in that place to ornament the +most noble library that he and his ancestors had gathered together from +all parts of the world. (These works, suspended on account of the death of +Lorenzo and other accidents, were, after many years, carried on by Pope +Clement, but even then they were left unfinished, so that the books are +still packed in chests.) Now these marbles being worked, as I said, +Michael Angelo begged a piece from the masons and borrowed a chisel from +them: with so much diligence and intelligence did he copy that Faun that +in a few days it was carried to perfection, his imagination supplying all +that was missing in the antique, such as the lips, open, as in a man who +is laughing, so that the hollow of the mouth was seen with all the teeth. +At this moment passed the Magnificent to see how his works progressed; he +found the child, who was busy polishing the head. He spoke to him at once, +noticing in the first place the beauty of the work, and having regard to +the lad's youth he marvelled exceedingly, and although he praised the +workmanship he none the less joked with him as with a child, saying: "_Oh! +you have made this Faun very old, and yet have left him all his teeth: do +you not know that old men of that age always lack some of them?_" It +seemed a thousand years to Michael Angelo before the Magnificent went away +and he remained alone to correct his error. He cut away a tooth from the +upper jaw, drilling a hole in the gums as though it had come out by the +roots.(11) He awaited the return of the Magnificent upon another day with +great longing. At last he came. Seeing the willingness and +single-mindedness of the child he laughed very much, but afterwards +appreciating the beauty of the thing and the boy's youth, as father of all +talent he thought to bestow his favour upon such a genius and take him +into his house, and hearing from him whose son he was, he said: "_Let your +father know that I desire to speak with him._" + +VIII. When he got home Michael Angelo carried out the embassy of the +Magnificent; his father divining why he was called, with great persuasion +from Granacci and others made ready to go: lamenting to himself that his +son would be taken away. Stating, moreover, that he would never suffer his +son to be a stonemason, it was useless for Granacci to explain how great +was the difference between a sculptor and a mason. After all this long +disputation he ultimately was ushered into the presence of the +Magnificent, who asked him if he would deliver his son over to his care, +for he would not neglect him; "_Even so,_" he replied, "_not only Michael +Angelo, but all of us, with our lives and all our best faculties, are at +the service of your Magnificence._" And when the Magnificent asked what he +could do for himself, he replied: "_I have never practised any profession; +but have always lived upon my small income and attended to the small +property left to me by my ancestors; trying not only to keep it up +properly, but also endeavouring to increase it as far as I may with my +powers and by my diligence._" The Magnificent then replied: "_Very well, +look about you, see if there is not something in Florence that will suit +you; make use of me; I will do the best I can for you._" And so dismissing +the old man, he gave Michael Angelo a good room in his own house with all +that he needed,(12) treating him like a son, with a seat at his table, +which was frequented every day by noblemen and men of great affairs. Now +they had a custom that those who were present at the beginning of a meal +should take their places next to the Magnificent according to their rank, +and should not change them, no matter who came in afterwards; so that +often Michael Angelo was seated even above the sons of Lorenzo and other +persons of quality; for in that house noble persons abounded: by all of +them Michael Angelo was caressed and incited to his honourable work; but +above all by the Magnificent, who would often call for him many times in +the day to show him engraved gems,(13) cornelians, medals, and such like +things of great price, seeing that he had genius and good judgment. + +IX. Michael Angelo was between fifteen and sixteen years of age when he +entered the house of the Magnificent, and he stayed with him until his +death, which was in ninety-two,(14) a space of two years. During that time +an office in the customs fell vacant which could only be held by a +Florentine citizen; so Lodovico, the father of Michael Angelo, came to the +Magnificent and spoke for it: "_Lorenzo, I can do nothing but read and +write; the comrade of Marco Pucci in the Dogana is dead. I should like to +have his place. I believe I shall be able to carry out the duties +properly._" The Magnificent put his hand upon his shoulder and, smiling, +said: "_You will always be poor_," for he expected that he would ask for +some great thing. However, he continued, "_If you will be the comrade of +Marco, be it so, till something better turns up_." This place brought him +eight scudi(15) the month, a little more or a little less. + +X. In the meantime Michael Angelo prosecuted his studies, showing the +result of his labours to the Magnificent each day. In the same house lived +Poliziano, a man, as every one knows, and as is testified by his works, +most learned and witty. This man recognising the lofty spirit of Michael +Angelo loved him exceedingly, and little as he needed it, spurred him on +in his studies, always explaining things to him and giving him subjects. +One day, amongst others, he suggested "The Rape of Deianira" and "The +Battle of the Centaurs," telling him in detail the whole of the story. +Michael Angelo set himself to carve it out in marble in mezzo-rilievo, and +so well did he succeed, that I remember to have heard him say that when he +saw it again he recognised how much wrong he had done to his nature in not +following promptly the art of sculpture, judging by that work how well he +might have succeeded, nor does he say this boastingly, he was a most +modest man, but because he truly laments having been so unfortunate that +by the fault of others he has sometimes been ten or twelve years doing +nothing, as will be seen presently. This particular work may still be seen +in Florence in his house; the figures are about two palms high.(16) He had +hardly finished this work when the Magnificent Lorenzo passed out of this +life, and Michael Angelo returned to his father's house. So much grief did +he feel for his patron's death that for many days he was unable to work. +When he was himself again he bought a large piece of marble, that had for +many years been exposed to the wind and rain, and carved a Hercules out of +it, four braccia high, that was ultimately sent into France.(17) + +XI. Whilst he was working at this statue there was a great snowstorm in +Florence, and Pier de' Medici, the eldest son of Lorenzo, who occupied the +same position as his father, wished childishly to have a statue of snow +made in the middle of the court-yard, so he remembered Michael Angelo, and +had him found and made him carve the statue.(18) He desired him to live in +his house as he had done in his father's time, and gave him the same +apartment and a place at the table as before; where the same customs +obtained as when the father was living, that is, that after they had sat +down at the beginning of a meal no one should change his place however +great might be the personage who came in afterwards. + +XII. Lodovico, the father of Michael Angelo, now became more friendly to +his son, seeing that he was almost always in the society of great +personages, and he dressed him in finer clothes. The youth lived with +Piero some months and was much caressed by him. Piero used to say, +boastingly, that he had two remarkable men in his establishment: one was +Michael Angelo, and the other a certain Spanish groom who, besides being +marvellously beautiful to look upon, was so nimble and strong and so +long-winded that, let Piero ride as fast as he could, he was not able to +pass the runner by a finger. + +XIII. At this time, Michael Angelo, to please the Prior of Santo Spirito, +a church much venerated in Florence, carved a crucifix in wood, a little +under life size, which to this day may be seen over the high altar of that +church.(19) He had much familiar intercourse with the Prior, and received +many kindnesses from him, amongst others the use of a room and subjects to +enable him to study anatomy. Nothing could have given him more pleasure, +and this was the beginning of his study of the science of anatomy, which +he followed until fortune had made him a master of it.(20) + +XIV. There was living in the house of Piero a certain man named Cardiere, +who had been very acceptable to the Magnifico, he improvised songs to the +lyre most marvellously; in fact, he made a profession of it, and practised +his art nearly every evening after supper. This man was friendly with +Michael Angelo and imparted to him a vision, which was this: That Lorenzo +de' Medici had appeared to him with nothing but a black cloak, all torn, +over his naked body, and had commanded him to speak to his son, and tell +him that shortly he would be hunted out of his house and never return to +it again. Piero de' Medici was so proud and insolent that neither the +generosity of his brother, Giovanni the Cardinal, nor the courtesy and +kindness of Giuliano, were so powerful to keep him in Florence as those +vices were to hunt him out. Michael Angelo exhorted Cardiere to inform +Piero of the vision and carry out the will of Lorenzo, but he, fearing +Piero's nature, kept all to himself. One other morning Michael Angelo was +in the court-yard of the Palace, and beheld Cardiere all terrified and +weeping: that night, he said, Lorenzo had appeared to him again in the +same form as at first, and looking him through and through had given him a +terrible box on the ears, because he had not reported what he had seen to +Piero. Michael Angelo scolded him to such purpose that Cardiere plucked up +his spirit and set out on foot for Careggi, a country house of the Medici, +about three miles from the city, where his master was staying. But when he +was half-way there he met Piero on the road returning home to Florence; +Cardiere stopped him and told him all he had seen and heard. Piero only +laughed at him, and made even his grooms jeer at him. The Chancellor, who +was afterwards the Cardinal Bibbiena, said to him: "_You must be mad! Do +you think Lorenzo would rather appear to you or to his own son? Would he +not rather appear to him than to any one else?_" They ridiculed him and +let him go. He went home and bemoaned himself to Michael Angelo, and he +spoke so effectually of the vision, holding that the thing was true, that +two days afterwards with two companions they left Florence together for +Bologna, and from there went to Venice, fearful lest that which Cardiere +prophesied should come to pass, and Florence not be safe for them! + +XV. In a few days lack of funds (his companions having spent all his +money) made Michael Angelo think of returning to Florence; but coming to +Bologna a curious chance hindered them. Now there was a law in that land +in the time of Messer Giovanni Bentivogli that every stranger who entered +into Bologna should be obliged to have a great seal of red wax impressed +upon his nail. Michael Angelo inadvertently entered without being sealed, +so he was conducted, together with his companions, to the office of the +Bullette, and condemned to pay a fine of fifty Bolognese lire: not having +the wherewithal he was obliged to remain at the office. A certain +Bolognese gentleman, Messer Gian Francesco Aldovrandi, who was then of the +Sixteen, seeing him there, and hearing the reason, liberated him, chiefly +because he was a sculptor. Aldovrandi invited the sculptor to his house. +Michael Angelo thanked him, but excused himself because he had two +companions with him who would not leave him, and he would not burden the +gentleman with their company. To this the gentleman replied: "_I, too, +will come and wander over the world with you, if you will pay my +expenses._" With these and other words he prevailed over Michael Angelo, +who excused himself to his companions and took leave of them, gave them +what little money he had, and went to lodge with the gentleman. + +XVI. By this time the House of the Medici, with all their followers, +having been hunted out of Florence, came to Bologna and were lodged in the +House of the Rossi. Thus the vision of Cardiere, whether a delusion of the +devil, a divine warning, or a strong imagination that had taken hold of +him, was verified; a thing so truly remarkable that it is worthy of being +recorded. I have narrated it just as I heard it from Michael Angelo +himself. It was about three years after the death of the Magnificent +Lorenzo that his children were exiled from Florence, so that Michael +Angelo was between twenty and twenty-one years of age when he escaped the +first popular tumults by remaining with the aforesaid gentleman of Bologna +until the city of Florence settled down again. This gentleman honoured him +highly, delighting in his genius, and every evening he made him read +something from Dante or from Petrarca, or now and then from Boccaccio, +until he fell asleep. + +XVII. One day walking together in Bologna they went to see the ark of San +Domenico, in the Church dedicated to that Saint; two marble figures were +still lacking, a San Petronio and a kneeling angel supporting a +candlestick in his arms. The gentleman asked Michael Angelo if he had the +heart to undertake them, and he replying "yes," had it arranged that he +should have them to do; he was paid thirty ducats for it, eighteen for the +San Petronio, and twelve for the angel. The figures were three palms high; +they may still be seen in that same place. But afterwards Michael Angelo +mistrusted a Bolognese sculptor, who complained that he had taken away the +commission for the before-mentioned statues from him, as it had first been +promised to him, and as he threatened to do him an injury Michael Angelo +went back to Florence to accommodate matters,(21) as affairs had now +become quiet and he could live safely in his house. He remained with +Messer Gian Francesco Aldovrandi a little over a year. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + + THE BACCHUS AND THE MADONNA DELLA PIETA OF SAINT PETER'S + + +XVIII. Having returned to his native town Michael Angelo set to work to +carve out of marble a god of Love, between six and seven years of age, +lying asleep; this figure was seen by Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de' Medici +(for whom in the meantime Michael Angelo had carved a little Saint John), +and he judged that it was most beautiful and said of it: "_If you can +manage to make it look as if it had been buried under the earth I will +forward it to Rome, it will be taken for an antique and you will sell it +much better._" Michael Angelo hearing this immediately prepared it as one +from whom no craft was hidden, so that it looked as if it had been made +many years ago. In this state it was sent to Rome; the Cardinal di San +Giorgio bought it as an antique for two hundred ducats; though the man who +took all that money only paid thirty ducats to Michael Angelo as what he +had received for the Cupid. So much of a rogue was he that he deceived at +the same time both Lorenzo di Pier Francesco and Michael Angelo.(22) But +meanwhile it came to the ear of the Cardinal how the putto was made in +Florence. Angry at being made a fool of, he sent one of his gentlemen +there, who pretended to be looking for a sculptor to do some work in Rome. +After visiting many others he came to the house of Michael Angelo; with a +wary eye for what he wanted he observed the young man and inquired of him +if he could let him see any work; but Michael Angelo not having any to +show, took a pen (for in those days the pencil was not in general use) and +drew a hand with so much ease that the gentleman was astonished. +Afterwards he inquired if he had never done any works of sculpture. Yes, +replied Michael Angelo, and amongst the rest a Cupid, in such and such a +pose and action. The gentleman understood then that he had found the man +he sought, and narrated how the affair had gone, and promised him that if +he would come with him to Rome he would make the dealer disgorge, and +arrange matters with his lord which he knew would be much to his +satisfaction. Michael Angelo then, partly to see Rome, so much be praised +by the gentleman as the widest field for a man to show his genius in, went +with him and lodged in his house near the palace of the Cardinal, who, +advised by letter in the meantime how the matter stood, laid hands on the +merchant who had sold the Cupid to him as an antique, returned the statue +to him, and got his money back; it afterwards came, I know not how, into +the hands of the Duke Valentino, and was presented to the Marchesana of +Mantua. She sent it to Mantua, where it is still to be found in the house +of the lords of that city.(23) The Cardinal di San Giorgio was blamed in +this affair by many, for the work was seen by all the craftsmen of Rome, +and all, equally, considered it most beautiful; they thought that he ought +not to have deprived himself of it for the sake of two hundred scudi, +although it was modern, as he was a very rich man. But he, smarting under +the deceit, being able to punish the man, made him disburse the remainder +of the payment. But nobody suffered more than Michael Angelo, who never +received anything more for it than the money paid him in Florence. +Cardinal di San Giorgio understood little and was no judge of sculpture, +as is shown clearly enough by the fact that all the time Michael Angelo +remained with him, which was about a year, he did not give him a single +commission.(24) + +XIX. All the same, others were not wanting who understood such things and +who made use of Michael Angelo. For Messer Iacopo Galli, a Roman gentleman +of good understanding, made him carve a marble Bacchus, ten palms in +height, in his house; this work in form and bearing in every part +corresponds to the description of the ancient writers--his aspect, merry; +the eyes, squinting and lascivious, like those of people excessively given +to the love of wine. He holds a cup in his right hand, like one about to +drink, and looks at it lovingly, taking pleasure in the liquor of which he +was the inventor; for this reason he is crowned with a garland of vine +leaves. On his left arm he has a tiger's skin, the animal dedicated to +him, as one that lives on grapes; and the skin was represented rather than +the animal, as Michael Angelo desired to signify that he who allows his +senses to be overcome by the appetite for that fruit, and the liquor +pressed from it, ultimately loses his life. In his left hand he holds a +bunch of grapes, which a merry and alert little satyr at his feet +furtively enjoys. He appears to be about seven years old, and the Bacchus +eighteen.(25) The said Messer Iacopo desired also that he would carve him +a little Cupid.(26) Both of these works may still be seen in the house of +Messer Giuliano and Messer Paolo Galli, courteous and worthy gentlemen, +with whom Michael Angelo has always retained a real and cordial +friendship. + +XX. A little afterwards, at the request of the Cardinal de San Dionigi +(called the Cardinal Rovano), he carved from a block of marble that +marvellous statue of our Lady, which is now in the church of the Madonna +della Febbre;(27) although at first it was placed in the chapel of the +King of France in the Church of Santa Petronilla, near to the Sacristy of +Saint Peter's, formerly, according to some, a temple of Mars; this church +was destroyed by Bramante for the sake of his design for the new Saint +Peter's. The Madonna is seated on the stone upon which the Cross was +erected, with her dead son on her lap. He is of so great and so rare a +beauty, that no one beholds it but is moved to pity. A figure truly worthy +of the Humanity which belonged to the Son of God, and to such a Mother; +nevertheless, some there be who complain that the Mother is too young +compared to the Son. One day as I was talking to Michael Angelo of this +objection, "_Do you not know_," he said, "_that chaste women retain their +fresh looks much longer than those who are not chaste? How much more, +therefore, a virgin in whom not even the least unchaste desire ever arose? +And I tell you, moreover, that such freshness and flower of youth besides +being maintained in her by natural causes, it may possibly be that it was +ordained by the Divine Power to prove to the world the virginity and +perpetual purity of the Mother. It was not necessary in the Son; but +rather the contrary; wishing to show that the Son of God took upon himself +a true human body subject to all the ills of man, excepting only sin; he +did not allow the divine in him to hold back the human, but let it run its +course and obey its laws, as was proved in His appointed time. Do not +wonder then that I have, for all these reasons, made the most Holy Virgin, +Mother of God, a great deal younger in comparison with her Son than she is +usually represented. To the Son I have allotted His full age_." +Considerations worthy of any theologian, wonderful perhaps in any one +else, but not in Michael Angelo, whom God and Nature have formed not only +for his unique craftsmanship, but also capable of any, the most divine, +conceptions, as may be seen not only in this but in very many of his +arguments and writings. He may have been twenty-four or twenty-five years +old when he finished this work. He gained great fame and reputation by it, +so that already, in the opinion of the world, not only did he greatly +surpass all others of the time and of the times before, but also he +challenged the ancients themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + + THE DAVID AND THE CARTOON OF PISA + + +XXI. These works being finished, he had to return to Florence for family +affairs; he stayed there long enough to carve the statue called by all men +the Giant, which is placed to this day by the door of the Palazzo della +Signoria at the end of the balustrade.(28) The thing happened in this +wise. The Operai(29) of Santa Maria del Fiore possessed a piece of marble +nine braccia high, which had been brought from Carrara by an artist(30) +who was not so wise as he ought to have been, as it appeared. Because to +transport the marble with greater convenience and less labour, he had +roughed it out on the quay itself in such a clumsy way, however, that +neither he nor any one else had the courage to put their hands to the +block to carve a statue out of it, either of the full size of the marble +or even one very much less. As they were not able to get anything out of +this piece of marble likely to be any good, it seemed to Andrea del Monte +a San Savino, that he might obtain the block, and he asked them to make +him a present of it, promising that by joining certain pieces on to it he +would carve a figure from it; but the Operai, before disposing of it, sent +for Michael Angelo, and told him the wish and offer of Andrea, and, having +heard his opinion that he could get something good out of it, in the end +they offered it to him. Michael Angelo accepted it, and extracted the +above-mentioned statue without adding any other piece at all, so exactly +to size that the old surface of the outsides of the marble may be seen on +the top of the head and in the base. He has left the same roughnesses in +other of his works, as that statue for the tomb of Pope Julius II., which +represents Contemplative Life. This is the custom of great masters, lords +of their art. But in the Giant it is more wonderful than ever, because, +besides not adding any pieces, he amended the faults of the roughing out, +an impossible or, at least, a most difficult thing to do (as Michael +Angelo himself has said). He received four hundred ducats for this work, +and finished it in eighteen months. + +XXII. In order that no copy of the Giant should exist which was not his +own handiwork, he had it cast in bronze, of the size of the original, for +his good friend Pier Soderini, who sent it to France; and similarly he +cast a David with Goliath under him. The one to be seen in the middle of +the court-yard of the Palazzo de'Signori is by Donatello, a man excellent +in his art, and much praised by Michael Angelo, except for one thing--he +had not the patience to properly polish his works; so that in the distance +they look admirable, but close to they lose their quality. Michael Angelo +also cast a bronze group of the Madonna with her Son in her lap, which was +sent into Flanders(31) by certain Flemish merchants, the Moscheroni, great +people at home; they paid him one hundred ducats for it. And, in order not +altogether to give up painting, he executed a round panel of Our Lady(32) +for Messer Agnolo Doni, a Florentine citizen, for which he received +seventy ducats. + +XXIII. It was some time since he had worked at that art, having given +himself up to the study of poets and authors in the vulgar tongue and +writing sonnets for his own pleasure. After the death of Pope Alexander +VI. he was called to Rome by Pope Julius II., and received a hundred +ducats in Florence as his _viaticum_. At this time Michael Angelo was +about twenty-nine years old; for if we count from his birth in 1474, +already stated, to the death of the above Alexander, which was in 1503, we +shall find the number of years as given. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + + THE FIRST ACT OF THE TRAGEDY OF THE TOMB + + +XXIV. Coming then to Rome, many months(33) passed before Julius II. +resolved in what way to employ him. Ultimately it came into his head to +get him to make his monument. When he saw Michael Angelo's design it +pleased him so much that he at once sent him to Carrara to quarry the +necessary marbles, instructing Alamanno Salviati, of Florence, to pay him +a thousand ducats for this purpose. Michael Angelo stayed in these +mountains more than eight months with two workmen and his horse, and +without any other salary except his food. One day whilst he was there he +saw a crag that overlooked the sea, which made him wish to carve a +colossus that would be a landmark for sailors from a long way off, incited +thereto principally by the suitable shape of the rock from which it could +have been conveniently carved, and by emulation of the ancients, who, +perhaps with the same object as Michael Angelo not to be idle, or for some +other end, left several records unfinished and sketched out, which give a +good idea of their powers. And of a surety he would have done it if he had +had time enough, or the business upon which he had come had allowed him. +He afterwards much regretted not having carried it out. Enough marbles +quarried and chosen, he took them to the sea coast and left one of his men +to have them embarked. He himself returned to Rome, and because he stopped +some days in Florence on the way, when he arrived at Rome he found the +first boat already at the Ripa(34) unloading. He had the blocks carried to +the piazza of St. Peter's, behind Santa Caterina, where he had his +workshop near the Corridore.(35) The quantity of marble was immense, so +that, spread over the piazza, they were the admiration of all and a joy to +the Pope, who heaped immeasurable favours upon Michael Angelo; and when he +began to work upon them again and again went to see him at his house, and +talked with him of monuments and other matters as with his own brother; +and in order that he might more easily go to him, the Pope ordered that a +drawbridge should be thrown across from the Corridore to the rooms of +Michael Angelo, by which he might visit him in private. + +XXV. These many and frequent favours were the cause (as often is the case +at Court) of much envy, and, after the envy, of endless persecution, since +Bramante, the architect, who was much loved by the Pope, made him change +his mind as to the monument by telling him, as is said by the vulgar, that +it is unlucky to build one's tomb in one's lifetime. Fear as well as envy +stimulated Bramante, for the judgment of Michael Angelo had exposed many +of his errors. Bramante, as every one knows, was given to all kinds of +pleasures and a great spendthrift. The pension allotted to him by the +Pope, however rich it might be, was not enough for him; he tried to make +money out of the works, building the walls of bad materials, which, +notwithstanding their greatness and width, are not very firm or solid. As +is manifest to every one in the works of Saint Peter's, the Corridore di +Belvedere, the Convents di San Pietro ad Vincula, and other fabrics built +by him, it has been necessary to put new foundations and to strengthen all +of them by props and buttresses, like buildings about to fall. Now because +he had no doubt that Michael Angelo knew these errors of his, he always +sought to remove him from Rome, or, at least, to deprive him of the favour +of the Pope, and of the glory and usefulness that he might have acquired +by his industry. He succeeded in the matter of the tomb. There is no doubt +that if he had been allowed to finish it, according to his first +design,(36) having so large a field in which to show his worth, no other +artist, however celebrated (be it said without envy), could have wrested +from him the high place he would have held. Those parts which he did +finish show what the rest would have been like. The two slaves were done +for this work: those who have seen them declare that no such worthy +statues were ever carved. + +XXVI. And to give some idea of it, I say briefly that this tomb was to +have had four faces, two of eighteen braccia, that served for the flanks, +so that it was to be a square and a half in plan. All round about the +outside were niches for statues, and between niche and niche terminal +figures; to these were bound other statues, like prisoners, upon certain +square plinths, rising from the ground and projecting from the monument. +They represented the liberal arts, as Painting, Sculpture, and +Architecture, each with her symbol so that they could easily be +recognised; denoting by this that, like Pope Julius, all the virtues were +the prisoners of Death, because they would never find such favour and +nourishment as he gave them. Above these ran the cornice that tied all the +work together. On its plane were four great statues; one of these, the +Moses, may be seen in San Piero and Vincula. It shall be spoken of in its +proper place. So the work mounted upward until it ended in a plane. Upon +it were two angels who supported an arc; one appeared to be smiling as +though he rejoiced that the soul of the Pope had been received amongst the +blessed spirits, the other wept, as if sad that the world had been +deprived of such a man. Above one end was the entrance to the sepulchre in +a small chamber, built like a temple; in the middle was a marble +sarcophagus, where the body of the Pope was to be buried; everything +worked out with marvellous art. Briefly, more than forty statues went to +the whole work, not counting the subjects in mezzo rilievo to be cast in +bronze, all appropriate in their stories and proclaiming the acts of this +great Pontiff. + +XXVII. Having seen this design the Pope sent Michael Angelo to Saint +Peter's to decide where it might most conveniently be erected. The church +was in the form of a cross. At the head Pope Nicolas V. had begun to +rebuild the tribune; the walls were already three braccia above the ground +when he died. It seemed to Michael Angelo that this place was very +suitable. When he returned to the Pope he told him what he thought, and +added, that if it seemed good to his Holiness, it would be necessary to go +on with the building and roof it in. The Pope asked him, "_What would be +the cost of this?_" Michael Angelo replied, "_One hundred thousand +scudi._" "_Let it be two hundred thousand_," said Julius. And sending San +Gallo, the architect, and Bramante to see the place, by their suggestion +it came into the mind of the Pope to rebuild the church altogether. He +directed them to prepare designs, and that of Bramante was approved, as +being more graceful and better understood than the others. Thus, Michael +Angelo was the cause, both that those parts of the building already begun +were completed, which otherwise might have remained as they were to this +day, and that it came into the mind of the Pope to rebuild the rest of the +church on a more magnificent scale. + +XXVIII. Returning to our story, Michael Angelo became acquainted with the +change in the wishes of Julius in the following manner: The Pope +instructed Michael Angelo that if he needed money he was to come direct to +him and not to others, so that he might not have to go from one to another +for it. It happened one day that the rest of the marbles that had been +left at Carrara arrived at the Ripa; Michael Angelo had them disembarked +and carried to Saint Peter's, and desiring at once to pay the freight, the +landing, and the porterage, he went to ask the Pope for money, but found +access to the palace more difficult than usual, and his Holiness occupied. +So he returned home, and not to incommode the poor men who had earned +their wages he paid them all out of his own pocket, thinking that his +money would be returned by the Pope at a more convenient season. One +morning he returned and entered the ante-chamber for an audience. A groom +came up to him and said: "_Pardon me, I have been ordered not to admit +you_." A bishop was present, and hearing the words of the man, cried out: +"_You cannot know who this man is?_" "_I know him very well_," replied the +groom, "_but I am obliged to do what I am bid by my masters without +further question_." Michael Angelo, who had never before been kept waiting +or had the door barred against him, seeing himself so turned off and +scorned, was angered and replied: "_You may tell the Pope that, +henceforward, if he wants me he must look for me elsewhere_." So he +returned to his house and instructed his two servants to sell all his +furniture, and when they got the money to follow him to Florence. He +himself took horse and at the second hour of the night reached Poggibonsi, +a castle in the Florentine territory, eighteen or twenty miles from the +city, where, as in a safe place, he rested. + +XXIX. A little later five messengers from Pope Julius arrived with orders +to bring Michael Angelo back wherever they might find him. But overtaking +him in a place where they were unable to offer him any violence, Michael +Angelo threatening them with death if they dare lay hands on him, they +turned to entreaties; then not succeeding, they obtained from him the +concession that at least he would reply to the letter from the Pope which +they had given to him, and that he should particularly write that they had +only overtaken him in Florence that the Pope might understand that they +were unable to bring him back against his will. The letter of the Pope was +of this tenour: "At sight of this return immediately to Rome, under pain +of my displeasure." Michael Angelo replied briefly: "That he was never +going to return, and that his good and faithful service had not deserved +this change, to be hunted away from his presence like a rogue; and as his +Holiness did not wish to have anything more to do with the tomb, he was +free and did not wish to bind himself again." So dating the letter as has +been said he let the messengers go, he himself went on to Florence, where, +during the three months he remained there, three Briefs were sent to the +Signoria, full of menaces, demanding that he should be sent back either by +fair means or force. + +XXX. Pier Soderini, who was then Gonfaloniere of the Republic for life, +having formerly let him go to Rome much against his will, wished him to +work for him by painting in the Sala del Consiglio. On receipt of the +first Brief he did not oblige Michael Angelo to return, hoping that the +anger of the Pope would abate; but when a second and a third arrived, he +called Michael Angelo to him and said: "_You have braved the Pope as the +King of France would not have done, therefore prayer is unavailing. We do +not wish to go to war with him on your __account and risk the State, so +prepare yourself to return_."(37) Michael Angelo, seeing it had come to +this, and fearing the wrath of the Pope, thought of going to the Levant, +principally because he had been sought after by the Turk with rich +promises, through the agency of certain Franciscan Friars, to throw a +bridge from Constantinople to Pera, and for other works. But the +Gonfaloniere, hearing of this, sent for him and dissuaded him, saying: +"_That it was better to die with the Pope than to live with the Turk; +nevertheless, there was nothing to fear, for the Pope was kind, and sent +for him because he loved him well, not because he wished him harm; and if +he was still afraid, the Signoria would send him as ambassador, because +violence was not offered to public persons without it being offered to +those who sent them._" By reason of these and other arguments Michael +Angelo prepared to return. + +XXXI. Whilst he was still in Florence two things happened. One was that he +finished the marvellous cartoon he had begun for the Sala del Consiglio, +which represented the war between Florence and Pisa, and the many and +various events that occurred in it, which cartoon of consummate art was a +light to all those who afterwards took pencil in hand. I cannot tell what +evil fortune happened to it afterwards, it was left by Michael Angelo in +the Sala del Papa (a place so called in Florence) at Santa Maria Novella. +Fragments of it can be seen in the various places, preserved with greatest +care like something sacred.(38) The other thing was, that Pope Julius had +taken Bologna and had gone there; he was delighted with the acquisition, +and this gave courage to Michael Angelo to appear before him more +hopefully. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + + THE COLOSSAL BRONZE FOR THE FACADE OF SAN PETRONIO + + +XXXII. So he arrived at Bologna one morning, and going to San Petronio to +hear mass,(39) behold, the grooms of the Pope, who recognised him and +conducted him to his Holiness, who was at table in the Palazzo de' Sedici. +When he saw Michael Angelo in his presence, Julius, with an angry look, +said to him, "_You ought to have come to us, and you have waited for us to +come to you_." Meaning to say, that his Holiness being come to Bologna, a +place much nearer to Florence than Rome is, it was as if he (the Pope) had +come to him. Michael Angelo with a loud voice and on his knees craved +pardon, pleading that he had not erred maliciously but through +indignation, for he could not bear to be hunted away as he had been. The +Pope kept his head lowered and replied nothing, to all appearances much +troubled, when a certain monsignore, sent by the Cardinal Soderini to +excuse and intercede for Michael Angelo, broke in, saying: "_Your +Holiness, do not remember his fault, for he has erred through ignorance; +these painters in things outside their art are all like this._" The Pope +indignantly replied: "_You __abuse him, whilst we say nothing; you are the +ignorant one, and he is not the culprit; take yourself off in an evil +hour._" But as he was not going, he was, as Michael Angelo used to tell, +hustled out of the room with blows by the servants of the Pope. Thus the +Pope having spent his fury on the bishop, called Michael Angelo closer to +him, and pardoned him, ordering him not to leave Bologna until another +commission had been given to him. Nor was he long before he sent for him +and said that he wished Michael Angelo to make a great portrait statue of +him in bronze, which he wished to place on the front of the Church of San +Petronio. And he left a thousand ducats in the bank of Messer Antommaria +da Lignano to carry out the work when he departed for Rome. It is true +that before he left Michael Angelo had already modelled it in clay, but he +was doubtful as to what the statue should hold in the left hand, the right +was raised as if giving a benediction. He asked the Pope, who had come to +see the statue, if it pleased him that he should be made holding a book. +"_What! a book?_" he replied, "_a sword! As for me, I am no scholar._" And +jesting about the right hand, which was in vigorous action, he said, +smiling the while, to Michael Angelo, "_Does this statue of yours give a +blessing or a curse?_" Michael Angelo replied to him: "_It threatens this +people, Holy Father, lest they be foolish._" But, as I have said, Pope +Julius returned to Rome and Michael Angelo remained behind at Bologna, and +spent sixteen months in completing the statue and erecting it where the +Pope had directed. Afterwards, on the return of the Bentivogli to Bologna, +this statue was thrown to earth in the fury of the populace and destroyed. +Its height was more than three times that of life. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + + THE VAULT OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL + + +XXXIII. After he had finished this work he went to Rome, where Pope Julius +wished to employ him, keeping still to his purpose of not going on with +his tomb. It was put into his head by Bramante and other rivals of Michael +Angelo that he should make him paint the vault of the chapel of Sixtus the +Fourth, in the Vatican, making him believe that he would do wonders. This +was done maliciously, to distract the Pope from works of sculpture; and +because they thought it was certain, either, that by his not accepting +such a commission, he would stir up the Pope's anger against himself, or +that by accepting it he would come out of it very much inferior to +Raffaello da Urbino, whom they heaped with favours on account of their +hatred for Michael Angelo, judging that his principal art was sculpture, +as in truth it was. Michael Angelo, who as yet had never used colours and +knew the painting of the vault to be a very difficult undertaking, tried +with all his power to get out of it, proposing Raffaello and excusing +himself, in that it was not his art and that he would not succeed, +refusing so many demands that the Pope was almost in a passion. But seeing +his obstinacy, Michael Angelo set himself to do the work, which to-day is +seen in the palace of the Pope, and is the admiration and wonder of the +world; it brought him so much fame that it lifted him above all envy. I +will give some brief account of this work. + +XXXIV. The shape of this ceiling is what is commonly called a barrel +vaulting, resting on lunettes, six to the length and two to the width of +the building, so that the whole formed two squares and a half. In this +space Michael Angelo has depicted, firstly, the creation of the world, and +then almost the whole of the Old Testament. He has divided the work after +this fashion: Beginning at the brackets, where the horns of the lunettes +rest, up to almost a third of the arch of the vault, the walls appear to +continue flat, running up to that height with certain pilasters and +plinths imitating marble, which project into the open like a balustrade +over an additional storey, with corbels below, and with other little +pilasters above the same storey, where sit the prophets and sybils. The +first pilasters grow from the arches of the lunettes, placing the +pedestals in the middle, leaving, however, the greater part of the arch of +the lunette--that is to say, the space they contain between them. Above the +said plinths are painted some little naked children in various poses, who, +in guise of terminals, support a cornice, which binds the whole work +together, leaving in the middle of the vault from end to end, as it were, +the open sky. This opening is divided into nine spaces; for from the +cornices over the pilasters spring certain arches with cornices, which +traverse the highest part of the vault, and join the cornice on the +opposite side of the chapel, leaving from arch to arch nine openings, +large and small. In the smaller spaces are two fillets, painted like +marble that cross the opening in such a way that in the middle rest the +two parts and one of the bands, where medallions are placed, as shall be +told in due course; and this has been done to avoid monotony, which is +born of sameness. Now, at the head of the chapel, in the first opening, +which is one of the smaller ones, is seen how the Omnipotent God in the +heavens by the movement of His arms divides light from darkness. In the +second space is how He created the two great lights. The Creator is seen +with arms extended: with the right He lights the sun, and with the left +the moon. With Him are child-angels; one on the left hides his face +against the bosom of his Creator, as though shielding himself from the +harmful light of the moon. In the same space on the left God is seen +turning to create the trees and plants of the earth, painted with such art +that wherever you turn He appears to turn away also, showing the whole of +the back down to the soles of His feet--a thing most beautiful, and which +shows what may be done by foreshortening. In the third space the great God +appears in the heavens, again with a company of angels, looking upon the +waters and commanding them to bring forth all those forms of life +nourished in that element, just as in the second He commands the earth. In +the fourth is the creation of Man. God is seen with arm and hand stretched +forth as if giving His commandments to Adam, what to do and what not to +do; with His other arm He draws His angels about Him. In the fifth is how +He drew woman from the side of Adam. She comes forth with her hands +joined, raising them in prayer towards God, bending with gracious mien and +offering thanks as He blesses her. In the sixth is how the Devil tempted +man. From the middle upwards the wicked one is of human form, and the rest +of him like unto a serpent, his legs transformed into tails winding around +a tree. He seems to reason with the man and persuade him to act contrary +to the commands of his Creator, and he offers the forbidden apple to the +woman. On the other side of the space the two are seen driven forth by the +angel, terrified and weeping, flying from the face of God. In the seventh +is the sacrifice of Abel and of Cain;(40) the one grateful to and accepted +by God, the other hateful and refused. In the eighth is the Deluge, when +the ark of Noah is seen in the distance in the midst of the waters; some +men attempt to cling to it for safety. Nearer, in the same abyss of +waters, is a boat laden with many people, which, both by the excessive +weight she has to carry and by the many and tumultuous lashings of the +waves, loses her sail, and, deprived of every aid and human control, she +is already filling with water and going to the bottom. It is an admirable +thing to see the human race so wretchedly perishing in the waves. +Likewise, nearer to the eye, there still appears above the waters the +summit of a mountain, like unto an island, on which, fleeing from the +rising waters, collect a multitude of men and women, who exhibit different +expressions, but all wretched and all terrified, dragging themselves +beneath a curtain stretched over a tree to shelter them from the unusual +rains; and above them is represented with great art the anger of God, +which overwhelms them with water, with lightnings, and with thunderbolts. +There is also another mountain-top on the right,(41) much nearer the eye, +and a multitude labouring under the same disasters, of which it would be +long to write all the details; it shall suffice me to say that they are +all very natural and tremendous, just as one would imagine them in such a +convulsion. In the ninth, which is the last, is the story of Noah when he +was drunken with wine, lying on the ground, his shame derided by his son +Ham and covered by Shem and Japhet. Under the before-mentioned cornice +which finishes the walls, and above the brackets where the lunettes rest, +between pilaster and pilaster, sit twelve large figures--prophets and +sybils--all truly wonderful, as much for their grace as for the decoration +and design of their draperies. But admirable above all the others is the +prophet Jonah, placed at the head of the vault, because contrary to the +form of this part of the ceiling, by force of light and shade, the torso, +which is foreshortened so that it goes back away into the roof, is on the +part of the arch nearest the eye, and the feet and legs which, as it were, +project within the walls, are on the part more distant. A stupendous +performance, which shows what marvellous power was in this man of turning +lines in foreshortening and perspective. Now in the spaces that are below +the lunettes, as well as in those above, which have a triangular shape, +are painted all the genealogy, or, I should say, all the ancestors of the +Saviour, except the triangles at the corners, which come together, and so, +two make up one of double the area. In one then of these, above the wall +of the Last Judgment on the right hand,(42) is seen how Aman, by command +of King Ahasuerus, was hung upon a cross; and this was because, in his +pride and arrogance, he wished to hang Mordecai, the uncle Queen Ester, +for not honouring him with a reverence as he passed by. In another corner +is the story of the bronze serpent, lifted by Moses on a staff, in which +the children of Israel, wounded and ill-treated by lively little serpents, +are healed by looking up. Here Michael Angelo has shown admirable force in +those figures that are struggling to free themselves from the coils of the +serpents. In the third corner, at the lower end of the chapel, is the +vengeance wreaked upon Holofernes by Judith, and in the fourth that of +David over Goliath. And these are briefly all the histories. + +XXXV. But no less marvellous is that part which does not relate to the +histories at all, that is to say, certain nudes who sit upon plinths above +the before-mentioned cornice, one on either side holding up the +medallions, which, as has been said, appear to be of metal, on which, in +the style of reverses, are designed several stories, all however +appropriate to their principal histories. By the beauty of the divisions, +by the variety of the poses, and by the balance of the proportionate +parts, in all of them Michael Angelo exhibited the highest art. But to +tell the particulars of these things would be an infinite labour, a book +to them alone would not be enough; therefore I pass over them briefly, +wishing rather to give a little light upon the whole than to detail the +parts. + +XXXVI. In the meanwhile he did not lack troubles; for, having finished the +picture of the Deluge, the work began to grow mouldy,(43) so much so that +the figures could hardly be distinguished. Michael Angelo, thinking that +this excuse would suffice to enable him to shake off his burden, went to +the Pope and said to him: "_I have already told your Holiness that this is +not my art; all that I have done is spoiled; if you do not believe it send +and see._" The Pope sent Il San Gallo, who, when he examined the fresco, +saw that the plaster had been applied too wet, and the dampness running +down caused this effect; and informing Michael Angelo of this he made him +proceed, and the excuse was unavailing. + +XXXVII. Whilst he was painting Pope Julius went to see the work many +times, ascending the scaffolding by a ladder, Michael Angelo giving him +his hand to assist him on to the highest platform. And, like one who was +of a vehement nature, and impatient of delay, when but one half of the +work was done, the part from the door to the middle of the vault,(44) he +insisted upon having it uncovered, although it was still incomplete and +had not received the finishing touches. Michael Angelo's fame, and the +expectation they had of him, drew the whole of Rome to the chapel, where +the Pope also rushed, even before the dust raised by the taking down the +scaffolding had settled. + +XXXVIII. After this, Raphael, having seen this new and marvellous manner +as one who excelled in imitating, tried by the aid of Bramante to get the +rest of the chapel to paint. Michael Angelo was much troubled, came before +the Pope, and bitterly complained of the injury Bramante was doing him; +and in his presence grieved over it with the Pope, discovering to him all +the persecution he had suffered from him, and afterwards unfolded to him +many of Bramante's shortcomings, principally that in pulling down the old +church of Saint Peter's he threw to earth those marvellous columns that +were therein, not respecting them or caring whether they were broken to +pieces or not, when he might have lowered them gently and preserved them +whole; explaining how it was an easy thing to pile brick on brick, but to +make such a column was most difficult, and many other things that it was +most necessary to relate; so that the Pope, hearing of all these sad +doings, willed that Michael Angelo should continue the work, showing him +more favour than ever. He finished all this work in twenty months(45) +without assistance,(46) not even any one to grind the colours. It is true +that I have heard him say that the work is not finished as he would have +wished, as he was prevented by the hurry of the Pope, who demanded of him +one day when he would finish the chapel. Michael Angelo said: "_When I +can_." The Pope, angered, added: "_Do you want me to have you thrown down +off this scaffolding?_" Michael Angelo, hearing this, said to himself: +"_Nay, you shall not have me thrown down_," and as soon as the Pope had +gone away he had the scaffolding taken down and uncovered his work upon +All Saints Day. It was seen with great satisfaction by the Pope (who that +very day visited the chapel), and all Rome crowded to admire it. It lacked +the retouches "a secco" of ultramarine and of gold in certain places, +which would have made it appear more rich. Julius, his fervour having +abated, wished that Michael Angelo should supply them; but he considering +the business it would be to reerect the scaffolding, replied that there +was nothing important wanting. "_It should be touched with gold_," replied +the Pope. Michael Angelo said to him familiarly, as he had a way of doing +with his Holiness: "_I do not see that men wear gold._" The Pope again +said: "_It will seem poor_." "_Those who are painted here were poor +also_," Michael Angelo replied. This he threw out in jest; but so the +vault has remained. Michael Angelo received for this work and all his +expenses three thousand ducats, of which I have heard him say he spent in +colours about twenty or twenty-five. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + + THE RISEN CHRIST OF THE MINERVA + + +XXXIX. When he had finished this work Michael Angelo, because he had +painted so long a time with his eyes turned upwards towards the vault, +could hardly see anything when looking down, so that when he had to read a +letter or look at a minute object it was necessary for him to hold it +above his head. Nevertheless, little by little, he became able to again +read looking down. By this we are able to judge with how much attention +and assiduity he had carried out his work. Many other things happened to +him during the life of Pope Julius, who loved him from his heart, having a +more jealous care for him than for any one else he had about him, as one +may see clearly by what we have already written. Indeed, one day fearing +that Michael Angelo was angry, he immediately sent to pacify him. It +happened in this wise. Michael Angelo wanting to go to Florence for Saint +John's Day asked the Pope for money; and he demanded when his chapel would +be finished. Michael Angelo, as his custom was, replied, "_When I can_." +The Pope, who was of a hasty nature, struck him with a stick that he had +in his hand, saying: "_When I can, indeed; when I can!_" After he got home +Michael Angelo was preparing, without more ado, to go to Florence, when +Accursio arrived, a highly favoured young man, sent by the Pope, and +brought him five hundred ducats and pacified him as best he could, making +the Pope's excuses. Michael Angelo accepted the apology and went away to +Florence. So that it seems as if Julius cared more than for anything else +to keep this man for himself; nor was he contented with his services +during his life only, but required them after his death; wherefore coming +to die he commanded that the Tomb which Michael Angelo had formerly begun +should be finished for him, giving this charge to the old Cardinal Santi +Quattro and the Cardinal Aginense, his nephew: they, however, had new +designs prepared, the first appearing to them too large. So Michael Angelo +again became involved in the Tragedy of the Tomb, which had no better +success than at first; on the contrary much worse, it brought him infinite +vexations, troubles, and labours; and, what is worse, by the malice of +certain men, shame, from which he was hardly able to clear himself for +many years. Michael Angelo then began all over again and set to work. He +brought many masters from Florence, and Bernardo Bini, who was trustee, +provided the money as he needed it. But it had not got on very far when he +was interrupted, much to his disgust, for it came into the head of the +Pope Leo, who had succeeded Julius, to ornament the facade of San Lorenzo, +in Florence, with sculpture and marble work. This was the church built by +the great Cosimo de' Medici; and, except for the facade mentioned above, +was all completely finished. This part, then, Pope Leo resolved to supply. +He thought of employing Michael Angelo, and sending for him he made him +prepare a design, and finally on that account wished him to go to Florence +and take upon himself all this charge. Michael Angelo, who was working +with love and diligence at the tomb of Julius, made all the resistance +that he could, saying that he was bound to Cardinal Santi Quattro and to +Aginense, and could not fail them. But the Pope, who was determined in +this matter, replied: "_Leave me to deal with them; I will content them._" +So he sent for both of them and made them release Michael Angelo, much to +the sorrow both of himself and the Cardinals, especially of Aginense, +nephew, as has been said, of Pope Julius, for whom, however, Pope Leo +promised that Michael Angelo should work in Florence, and that he would +not hinder him. In this fashion, weeping, Michael Angelo left the tomb and +betook himself to Florence. As soon as he arrived he put everything in +order for building the facade, he himself went to Carrara to transport +marbles, not only for the facade but also for the tomb, relying upon the +promise of the Pope that he would be able to go on with it. In the +meantime the Pope was informed that in the mountains of Pietrasanta, in +the Florentine territory, there were marbles as good and beautiful as at +Carrara. When this was discussed with Michael Angelo, he, as a friend of +the Marchese Alberigo, and having come to an understanding with him about +the marbles, preferred rather to quarry at Carrara than at these new +places in the State of Florence. The Pope wrote to Michael Angelo and +commanded him to go to Pietrasanta and see if it was as he heard from +Florence. He went there and found the marble very unmanageable and +unsuitable;(47) and even if it had been suitable, it would be a difficult +and very expensive business to bring it down to the sea; for it would +require a new road to be constructed for several miles over the mountains +with pickaxes, and across the plains, which were very marshy, on piles. +Michael Angelo wrote all this to the Pope; but he rather believed those +who had written to him from Florence, and ordered him to make the road. So +to carry out the will of the Pope he constructed this road,(48) and by it +carried a vast quantity of marble to the sea coast, amongst them five +columns of the right size; one of them is to be seen on the Piazza of San +Lorenzo, brought by him to Florence;(49) the other four, because the Pope +had changed his mind and turned his thoughts elsewhere, are still lying on +the sea shore. But the Marchese di Carrara, thinking that Michael Angelo, +as a citizen of Florence, might have been the originator of the quarrying +at Pietrasanta, became his enemy; nor would he allow him to return to +Carrara afterwards even for marble that he had already quarried, which was +a great loss to Michael Angelo. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + + THE SACRISTY OF SAN LORENZO + + +XL. Now having returned to Florence, and finding, as was said before, that +the fervour of Pope Leo was all spent, Michael Angelo, grieving, remained +there doing nothing for a long while, having, first in one thing and then +in another, thrown away much of his time, to his great annoyance. +Nevertheless, with certain blocks of marble that he had placed in his own +house, he proceeded with the work of the Tomb. But Leo departing this +life, Adrian was created Pope, and the work was interrupted again, for +they charged Michael Angelo with having received from Julius for this work +quite sixteen thousand scudi, and that he did not trouble himself to get +on with it, but stayed at Florence for his own pleasure. All these +accusations called for his presence in Rome; but the Cardinal de' Medici, +who afterwards became Pope Clement VII., and who then had the government +of Florence in his hand, did not wish him to go; and to keep him employed, +and to have an excuse, he made him begin the Medici Library in San +Lorenzo, and at the same time the sacristy with the tombs of his +ancestors, promising to satisfy the Pope for him, and arrange matters. +Then Adrian living only a few months and Clement succeeding him in the +Papacy, nothing more was said about the Tomb of Julius for some time. But +Michael Angelo was advised that the Duke of Urbino, Francesco Maria, +nephew of Pope Julius of happy memory, complained greatly of him, and +menaced him with vengeance if he did not quickly come to Rome. Michael +Angelo conferred with Pope Clement about the affair, and he counselled him +to call the agents of the Duke and prepare an account with them of all +that he had received from Julius and all the work he had done for him, +knowing that if Michael Angelo's work were properly estimated he would +turn out to be the creditor rather than the debtor. Michael Angelo +remained in Rome about this against his will; and having arranged affairs +returned to Florence, principally because he anticipated the ruin that a +little while afterwards came upon Rome. + +XLI. In the meantime the House of Medici was driven out of Florence by the +opposing faction, because they had taken more authority to themselves than +could be suffered in a free city that ruled herself by her Republic. As +the Signoria did not expect that the Pope would do anything to forego his +family's authority they expected certain war, and turned their minds to +the fortifications of their city, and appointed Michael Angelo +Commissary-General for that work. He then, accepting this preferment, +besides many other preparations carried out by him on every side of the +city, encircled with strong fortifications the hill of San Miniato, that +stands above the city and overlooks the surrounding plain. If the enemy +took this hill nothing could prevent him becoming master of the city also. +This fort was judged to be the saving of the country, and very dangerous +to the enemy; being, as I have said, of high elevation, it menaced the +hosts of their antagonists, especially from the bell-tower of the church, +where two pieces of artillery were placed, which continually did great +damage to the besiegers. Michael Angelo, notwithstanding that he had made +provision beforehand for whatever might occur, posted himself upon the +hill. After about six months the soldiers began to grumble amongst +themselves of I know not what treachery; Michael Angelo partly knowing +about this himself, and partly by the warnings of certain captains, his +friends, betook himself to the Signoria and discovered to them what he had +heard and seen, showing them in what danger the city stood, saying that +there was yet time to provide against the danger, if they would. But +instead of thanking him they abused him, and reproached him with being a +timid man and too suspicious. He who replied to him thus had better have +opened his ears to him, for the House of Medici entered into Florence and +his head was cut off; whereas, if he had listened, he might have been yet +alive. + +XLII. When Michael Angelo saw how little his word was considered, and how +the ruin of the city was certain, by the authority he had he caused a gate +to be opened, and went out with two of his people, and betook himself to +Venice. And certainly this notion of a treachery was no fable; but he who +arranged it judged that it would pass over with less disgrace if it was +not discovered just then, as time would achieve the same result by his +merely failing in his duty and hindering others who wished to do theirs. +The departure of Michael Angelo was the occasion of many rumours, and he +fell into great disgrace with the governors. All the same, he was recalled +with many prayers, with appeals to his patriotism, and by those who urged +that he must not abandon the responsibilities that he had taken upon +himself, and that the matter was not at such an extremity as he had been +given to understand, and many other things. Persuaded by all this, and by +the authority of the personages who wrote to him, but chiefly by his love +for his country, after he had received a safe conduct for ten days before +the day of his arrival in Florence, he returned, not without danger to his +life. + +XLIII. Again in Florence the first thing he did was to protect the +bell-tower of San Miniato, which was all broken by the continual +cannonading of the enemy, and had become very dangerous to those within. +The method of defence was in this wise: a large number of mattresses, well +filled with wool, were slung with stout cords from the top of the tower to +the bottom, covering parts likely to be hit. And as the cornice projected +considerably, the mattresses hung out from the main wall of the bell-tower +more than six hands, so that the cannon-balls of the enemy, partly on +account of the distance from which they were fired, and partly by the +opposition of these mattresses, did little or no damage, not even injuring +the mattresses themselves, because they were so yielding. Thus he held +that tower all the time of the siege, which lasted a year, without its +suffering any injury, and rejoicing greatly in the salvation of the land +and the damage he did to the enemy. + +XLIV. But afterwards the enemy entered the city by treachery, and many of +the citizens were taken and killed. The court sent to the house of Michael +Angelo to seize him; all the rooms and the chests were searched by them, +even to the chimney and closet; but Michael Angelo, afraid of what might +follow, had taken refuge in the house of a great friend. Here he remained +in hiding many days, no one knowing that he was there except the friend +who saved him. When the fury was over, Pope Clement wrote to Florence that +Michael Angelo must be sought out, and ordered that, when found, he should +be set at liberty if he would go on with the work of the Medici tombs +formerly begun, and that he must be used courteously. Michael Angelo, +hearing this, came out; and, although it was some fifteen years since he +had touched the chisel, yet he set himself so earnestly to his task that +in a few months he carved all the statues now to be seen in the sacristy +of San Lorenzo, urged on more by fear than by love.(50) It is true that +none of these statues have received their last touches; nevertheless, they +are carried so far that the excellence of the workmanship can be very well +seen; nor does the lack of finish impair the perfection and the beauty of +the work. + +XLV. The statues are four, placed in a sacristy erected for this purpose +on the left of the church opposite the old sacristy; and although each +figure balances the other in design and general shape, nevertheless, they +are quite different in form, idea, and action. The sarcophagi are placed +against the side walls, and above their lids recline two figures, larger +than life--that is to say, a man and a woman, signifying Day and Night; and +by the two of them Time, that consumes all things. And in order that his +idea might be better understood, he gave to the Night, who was made in the +form of a woman of a marvellous beauty, an owl and other symbols suitable +to her; similarly to the Day, his signs; and for the signification of Time +he intended to carve a rat, because this little animal gnaws and consumes, +just as Time devours, all things. He left a piece of marble on the work +for it, which he did not carve, as he was afterwards prevented. There were +besides other statues, which represented those for whom the tombs were +erected. All, in conclusion, were more divine than human; but above all, +the Madonna, with her little child straddling across her thigh, of this I +judge it better to be silent than to say but little, and so I pass it +by.(51) We owe thanks to Pope Clement for these masterpieces; and if he +had done no other praiseworthy act in his life (but, of course, he did +many), this one was enough to cancel all his faults, for through him the +world possesses these noble statues. And much more we owe him in that he +did not fail to respect the virtue of this man when Florence fell, just as +in olden times Marcellus respected the virtue of Archimedes when he +entered Syracuse, although in that case it was of no effect; in this case, +thanks be to God, it availed much. + +XLVI. For all that Michael Angelo lived in great fear, because he was +greatly disliked by the Duke Alessandro, a young man, as every one knows, +very fierce and vindictive. There is no doubt that, if it had not been for +the fear of the Pope, he would have had him put away long ago; the more +so, as this Duke of Florence, when erecting those fortresses of his, sent +for Michael Angelo, by Signor Alessandro Vitelli, to ride out with him and +indicate where they would most usefully be placed, and he would not, +replying that he had received no such commission from Pope Clement. The +Duke was much angered; so that for this reason, as well as for the old +ill-will he bore him, and on account of the nature of the Duke, Michael +Angelo had good reason to fear him. And truly it was a blessing of God +that he was not in Florence at the time of the death of Clement; he was +called to Rome by the Pontiff before he had quite finished the tombs at +San Lorenzo. He was received gladly. Clement respected this man like one +sacred, and talked with him familiarly, both on grave and trivial +subjects, as he would have done with his equals. He sought to relieve him +of the burden of the Tomb of Julius, so that he might settle in Florence +permanently, not only to finish the works already begun, but that he might +execute others no less worthy. + +XLVII. But before I say any more about this it behoves me to write of +another fact concerning Michael Angelo, which I have inadvertently +omitted. After the violent departure of the Medici from Florence, the +Signoria fearing, as I have said above, the coming war, and intending to +fortify their city, sent for Michael Angelo, as they knew him to be a man +of consummate ingenuity and most active in whatever he undertook; +nevertheless, by the advice of certain citizens who favoured the cause of +the Medici and wished covertly to hinder or delay the fortification of the +city, they sent him to Ferrara, under pretext that he should study the +system by which Duke Alfonso had armed and fortified his city, knowing +that his Excellency was most expert in these matters and in everything +else most prudent. The Duke received Michael Angelo gladly, not only for +the great worthiness of the man, but also because Don Ercole, his son and +now Duke in his stead, was Captain of the Signoria of Florence. The Duke +riding with him in person there was nothing that he did not show him, even +more than was needful, so many bastions, so many pieces of artillery, and, +indeed, he opened to him his cabinet also and showed him everything with +his own hands, especially certain works of painting and portraits of his +ancestors, by masters excellent in their day.(52) But when Michael Angelo +had to depart, the Duke said to him jestingly: "_Michael Angelo, you are +my prisoner. If you want me to let you go free you must promise to do some +work for me with your own hands, whatever suits you best, let it be what +you will, sculpture or painting._" Michael Angelo agreed, and returned to +Florence. Although much occupied in arming the country, yet he began a +large easel picture, representing Leda and the Swan, and near by the egg +from which Castor and Pollux were born, as is fabled by ancient writers. +When the Duke heard that the Medici had entered Florence, fearing to lose +so great a treasure in the tumult, he immediately sent one of his own +people. His man, when he came to the house of Michael Angelo and saw the +picture, said: "_Why! this is but a small matter._" Michael Angelo asked +him what his business was? Realising that every one thinks they know other +people's business best, he replied simpering, "_I am a merchant_;" perhaps +disgusted by such a question, and not being taken for a gentleman, while +at the same time despising the industry of the Florentine citizens, who +for the most part are merchants, as if he had said: "_You ask what is my +business, would you ever believe that I am a merchant?_" Michael Angelo +heard what he said, and replied: "_You have done bad business for your +lord; leave my sight._" So having dismissed the Ducal messenger, he gave +the picture shortly afterwards to one of his assistants, who had two +sisters to marry off. It was sent into France, where it still is,(53) and +was bought by King Francis. + +XLVIII. Now to return, Michael Angelo having been called to Rome by Pope +Clement, thereupon began the affair with the Duke of Urbino's agents +concerning the Tomb of Julius. Clement, who wished to employ him in +Florence, tried by every means to free him, and gave him for his attorney +one Messer Tommaso, of Prato, who afterwards became Datario. But Michael +Angelo, who knew and feared the ill-will of Duke Alessandro towards him, +and at the same time loved and revered the bones of Pope Julius, and all +the illustrious House della Rovere, did all he could to remain in Rome and +work at the Tomb; the more so because he was accused by every one of +having received from Pope Julius for that purpose fully sixteen thousand +scudi, and of having enjoyed it without doing what he had undertaken. As +he held his honour dear he could not bear the disgrace, and desired that +the affair should be cleared up, not refusing, although he was old, the +heavy task he had begun. It came to this pass: the adversaries were unable +to prove payments that came within a long way of the sum they had at first +stated; on the contrary, more than two-thirds were wanting of the entire +sum agreed upon by the two Cardinals. Clement thought this a fine +opportunity to get rid of the business, and to leave Michael Angelo free +to serve him. He called him and said: "_Come, tell me, you wish to +complete this tomb; but you want to know who is to pay for the rest of +it._" Michael Angelo, who knew the Pope's mind, and that he wished to make +use of him himself, replied: "_And what if some one were found who would +pay me?_" Pope Clement said to him: "_You are quite mad if you imagine +that any one is likely to come forward to offer you a penny._" So when +Messer Tommaso, his attorney, appeared in court making his proposition to +the agents of the Duke, they began to look one another in the face, and +determined together that some sort of tomb should be made for the money +that had already been advanced. Michael Angelo, thinking well of it, +consented willingly, moved chiefly by the influence of the Cardinal of +Montevecchio, a follower of Julius II. and uncle to Julius III., now, +thanks be to God, our Pontiff. The agreement was: That Michael Angelo +should make a tomb with one _facade_ only, and that he should use the +marbles already carved for the quadrangular tomb, arranging them as best +he could; and that he should supply six statues from his own hand. It was +conceded to Pope Clement that Michael Angelo should serve him in Florence, +or wheresoever he pleased, four months in the year, his Holiness requiring +this for the work in Florence. Such was the contract agreed upon between +his Excellency the Duke and Michael Angelo. + +XLIX. But now it must be understood that these accounts being settled +Michael Angelo, to appear more indebted to the Duke of Urbino and to give +Pope Clement less hope of sending him to Florence (where he did not by any +means wish to go), secretly agreed with the counsel and agent of his +Excellency that it should be said that he had received some thousand scudi +more on this account than he really had. This was done not only by word of +mouth, but without his knowledge and consent it was inserted in the +written contract, not when it was sealed but when it was written out, at +which he was much disturbed. Nevertheless, the counsel persuaded him that +it would not prejudice his case, for it did not matter whether the +contract specified twenty thousand or one thousand scudi, since they were +agreed that the scheme of the Tomb should now be reduced in scale +according to the amount of money actually received, adding that nobody but +themselves would question the proceeding, and his interests were secured +by the understanding that was between them. So with this Michael Angelo +was pacified, because it appeared to him that he might put his trust in +them, as also because he desired that this excuse should serve him with +the Pope for the purpose mentioned above. And thus the matter ended for +the time; but it was not nearly over yet, because after he had served the +four months at Florence and returned to Rome, the Pope sought to use him +in another way, by making him paint the end wall of the Sistine Chapel. +And as one who had a good wit, he thought of one thing after another until +finally he resolved to have the Day of the Last Judgment painted, +considering that the variety and grandeur of the subject would give a wide +field for this man to prove the power that was in him. Michael Angelo, +knowing the obligation he was under to the Duke of Urbino, endeavoured to +free himself from this new charge, but as he could not he put it off as +much as possible; whilst pretending to busy himself with the cartoon, as +he partly did, he was secretly working at the statues for the Tomb. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + + THE LAST ACT OF THE TRAGEDY OF THE TOMB, AND THE DAY OF JUDGMENT + + +L. Meanwhile Pope Clement died and Paul III. was elected. He sent for +Michael Angelo and requested him to serve him. Michael Angelo, fearing +that he would be hindered in the work of the Tomb, replied that he could +not, for he was engaged by contract to the Duke of Urbino until he had +finished the work that he had in hand. The Pope was much annoyed, and +said: "_It is some thirty years that I have had this wish, shall I not +satisfy it now I am Pope? Where is the contract that I may tear it up?_" +Michael Angelo, seeing it had come to this, was for leaving Rome and +betaking himself to the country about Genoa, to an abbey of the Bishops of +Aleria, to a follower of Julius, very much his friend, and there bring his +work to an end. This place was conveniently near Carrara and good for +carrying the marbles by sea. He thought also of going to Urbino, where he +had formerly designed to live, as a quiet resting-place, and where, for +the sake of Julius, he would be welcomed cordially. For this reason he had +sent one of his men some months before to buy a house and some land; but +fearing the greatness of the Pontiff, with good reason, he did not go, and +hoped with soft words to satisfy the Pope. + +LI. But the Pope continued firm in his proposals. One day he came to visit +Michael Angelo in his house, bringing with him eight or ten Cardinals. He +wished to see the cartoon for the wall of the Sistine Chapel made for +Clement, and the statues already carved for the Tomb, and minutely +examined everything. Then the Most Reverend Cardinal of Mantua, who was +present, seeing the Moses, of which we have already written, and of which +we will write more copiously by-and-bye, said: "_This statue alone is +enough to do honour to the Tomb of Pope Julius._" When Pope Paul had seen +everything he again asked Michael Angelo, in the presence of the +Cardinals, including the before-mentioned Most Reverend and Illustrious of +Mantua, to come and work for him, but finding Michael Angelo obdurate, he +said: "_I will arrange that the Duke of Urbino shall be satisfied with +these statues by your hand, and that the three remaining ones shall be +given to others to do._" He obtained a new contract from the agents, +confirmed by his Excellency the Duke, who did not wish to displease the +Pope. Although Michael Angelo might have avoided paying for these three +statues, this contract freeing him from the obligation, nevertheless he +wished to bear the expense himself, and he deposited for these and the +remaining works of the Tomb one thousand five hundred and eighty ducats. +Thus the agents of the Duke allowed it, and the Tragedy of the Tomb and +the Tomb itself had an end at last. To-day it may be seen in the Church of +San Pietro ad Vincula, not according to the first design with four sides, +but with one side, and that one of the lesser, not detached all round and +isolated, but built up against a wall on account of the hindrances +mentioned above. It is yet true that, although it is botched and patched +up, it is the most worthy monument to be found in Rome, or, perhaps, +anywhere else; if for nothing else, at least, for the three statues that +are by the hand of the master: among them that most marvellous Moses, +leader and captain of the Hebrews, who is seated in an attitude of thought +and wisdom, holding under his right arm the tables of the law, and +supporting his chin with his left hand, like one tired and full of cares. +Between the fingers of that hand escape long waves of his beard--a very +beautiful thing to see. And his face is full of life and thought, and +capable of inspiring love and terror, which, perhaps, was the truth. It +has, according to the usual descriptions, the two horns on his head a +little way from the top of the forehead. He is robed and shod in the +manner of the antique, with his arms bare. A work most marvellous and full +of art, and much more so because all the form is apparent beneath the +beautiful garments with which it is covered. The dress does not hide the +shape and beauty of the body, as, in a word, may be seen in all Michael +Angelo's clothed figures, whether in painting or sculpture. The statue is +more than twice the size of life. At the right hand of this statue, under +a niche, is one that represents Contemplative Life--a woman, larger than +life and of rare beauty, with bent knee, not to the ground but on a +plinth, with her face and both her hands raised to heaven, so that she +seems to breathe love in every part. On the other side, that is to say on +the left of Moses, is Active Life, with a mirror in her right hand, into +which she gazes attentively, meaning by this that our actions should be +governed by forethought; and in her left hand a garland of flowers. In +this Michael Angelo followed Dante, of whom he was always a great student, +for in his Purgatorio he feigns to have the Countess Matilda, whom he +takes to represent Active Life, in a field full of flowers. The Tomb is +altogether beautiful, especially the binding of the several parts together +by the great cornice, to which no one could take exception. + +LII. Now that is enough for this work; indeed, I fear it is only too much, +and that instead of giving pleasure it will have been tedious to the +reader. Nevertheless, it appeared to me necessary, in order to remove +those unfortunate and false scandals, rooted in men's minds, that Michael +Angelo had received sixteen thousand scudi, and then would not carry out +the work he had undertaken. Neither the one nor the other was true, +because he had from Julius for the Tomb only one thousand ducats, spent in +those months of quarrying marble at Carrara. How then could Michael Angelo +have received money for it from him, since he changed his purpose and +would hear no more of the Tomb? As to the money Michael Angelo received, +after the death of Pope Julius, from the two cardinals, his executors, +Michael Angelo possesses a written public acknowledgment--by the hand of a +notary, from Bernardo Bini, Florentine citizen, who was trustee, and payed +out the money--that the payments amounted to about three thousand ducats. +Never was man more anxious about his work than Michael Angelo in this, as +much because he knew how great fame it would bring him as for the loving +memory in which he always held the blessed spirit of Pope Julius, for that +reason he has always honoured and loved the House della Rovere, and +especially the Dukes of Urbino, for that reason he has contended with two +Popes, as has been said, who wished to withdraw him from the undertaking. +But what grieved Michael Angelo the most, is that instead of thanks all he +got was odium and disgrace. + +LIII. But returning to Pope Paul. I must tell you that after the last +agreement made between his Excellency the Duke and Michael Angelo, the +Pope took Michael Angelo into his service, and desired him to carry out +what he had begun in the time of Clement, to paint the end wall of the +Sistine Chapel, which he had already covered with rough-cast and screened +off with boards from floor to ceiling. As this work was instigated by Pope +Clement, and begun in his time, it does not bear the arms of Paul, +although he desired it; but Pope Paul so loved and reverenced Michael +Angelo that however much he desired it he would never have vexed him. In +this work Michael Angelo expressed all that the human figure is capable of +in the art of painting, not leaving out any pose or action whatsoever. The +composition is careful and well thought out, but lengthy to describe; +perhaps it is unnecessary, as so many engravings and such a variety of +drawings of it have been dispersed everywhere. Nevertheless, for those who +have not seen the real thing, and into whose hands the engravings have not +come, let us say, briefly, that the whole is divided into parts, right and +left, upper and lower, and central. In the central part, near to the +earth, are seven angels, described by Saint John in the Apocalypse, with +trumpets to their lips, calling the dead to judgment from the four corners +of the earth. With them are two others having an open book in their hands, +in which every one reads and recognises his past life, having almost to +judge himself. At the sound of these trumpets the graves open and the +human race issues from the earth, all with varied and marvellous gestures; +while in some, according to the prophecy of Ezekiel, the bones only have +come together, in some they are half clothed with flesh, and in others +entirely covered; some naked, some clothed in the shrouds and +grave-clothes in which they were wrapped when buried, and of which they +seek to divest themselves. Among these are some who are not yet fully +risen, and looking up to heaven in doubt as to whither Divine justice +shall call them. It is a delightful thing to see them with labour and +pains issue forth from the earth, and, with arms out-stretched to heaven, +take flight; those who are already risen lifted up into the air, some +higher and some lower, with different gestures and characters. Above the +angels of the trumpets is the Son of God in majesty, in the form of a man, +with arm and strong right hand uplifted. He wrathfully curses the wicked, +and drives them from before his face into eternal fire. With His left hand +stretched out to those on the right, He seems to draw the good gently to +Himself. The angels are seen between heaven and earth as executors of the +Divine commands. On the right they rush to aid the elect, whose flight is +impeded by malignant spirits; and on the left to dash back to earth the +damned, who in their audacity attempt to scale the heavens. Evil spirits +drag down these wicked ones into the abyss, the proud by the hair of the +head, and so also every sinner by the member through which he sinned. +Beneath them is seen Charon with his black boat, just as Dante described +him in the "Inferno," on muddy Acheron, raising his oar to strike some +laggard soul. As the bark touches the bank, pushed on by Divine justice, +all these souls strive to fling themselves ashore, so that fear, as the +poet says, is changed into longing. Afterwards they receive from Minos +their sentence, to be dragged by demons to the bottomless pit, where are +marvellous contortions, grievous and desperate as the place demands. In +the middle of the composition, on the clouds of heaven, the Blessed +already arisen form a crown and circle around the Son of God. Apart, and +beside the Son, appears His Mother, timorous and seeming hardly secure +herself from the wrath and mystery of God; she draws as near as possible +to the Son. Next to her the Baptist, the Twelve Apostles, and all the +saints of God, each one showing to the tremendous Judge the symbol of the +martyrdom by which he glorified God: St. Andrew the cross, St. Bartholomew +his skin, St. Lawrence the gridiron, St. Sebastian the arrows, San Biagio +the combs of iron, St. Catherine the wheel, and others other things +whereby they are known. Above these on the right and left, on the upper +part of the wall, are groups of angels, with actions gracious and rare, +raising in heaven the Cross of the Son of God, the Sponge, the Crown of +Thorns, the Nails, and the Column of the Flagellation, to reproach the +wicked with the blessings of God of which they have been so heedless, and +for which they have been so ungrateful, and to comfort and give confidence +to the good. There are infinite details which I pass over in silence. It +is enough that, besides the divine composition, all that the human figure +is capable of in the art of painting is here to be seen. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + + THE CHAPEL OF POPE PAUL AND THE PIETA OF SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE + + +LIV. Finally, Pope Paul having built a chapel on the same floor as the +before-mentioned Sistine, he desired to decorate it in his own memory, and +he made Michael Angelo paint the frescoes on the side walls. In one is +represented the crucifixion of St. Peter; in the other the story of St. +Paul--how he was converted by the apparition of Jesus Christ--both +stupendous in general composition as in the individual figures. And this +is the last work of painting by Michael Angelo that has been seen to this +day; he finished it in his seventy-fifth year. At present he has in hand a +group in marble, which he works at for his pleasure, as one who full of +ideas and powers must produce something every day. It is a group of four +figures, larger than life--a Deposition. The dead Christ is held up by His +Mother; she supports the body on her bosom with her arms and with her +knees, a wonderfully beautiful gesture. She is aided by Nicodemus above, +who is erect and stands firmly--he holds her under the arms and sustains +her with manly strength--and on the left by one of the Marys, who, although +exhibiting the deepest grief, does not omit to do those offices that the +Mother, by the extremity of her sorrow, is unable to perform. The Christ +is dead, all His limbs fall relaxed, but withall in a very different +manner from the Christ Michael Angelo made for the Marchioness of Pescara +or the Christ in the Madonna della Febbre. It is impossible to speak of +its beauty and its sorrow, of the grieving and sad faces of them all, +especially of the afflicted Mother. Let it suffice; I tell you it is a +rare thing, and one of the most laborious works that he has yet done, +principally because all the figures are distinct from each other, the +folds of the draperies of one figure not confused with those of the +others. + +LV. Michael Angelo has done infinitely more things of which I have not +spoken, such as the Christ that is in the Church of the Minerva, a St. +Matthew in Florence; when he began it he designed to carve all the twelve +Apostles to be placed near twelve pilasters in the Duomo. His cartoons for +several works of paintings, and of designs for buildings, both public and +private, are infinite in number; and, lastly, for a bridge to span the +Grand Canal of Venice, of a new shape and style of which the like was +never seen; and many other things never to be seen. It would be long to +describe them, so I make an end. He intends to give the Deposition from +the Cross to some church, and to be buried at the foot of the altar where +it is placed. The Lord God in His goodness long preserve him to us, for +without doubt the same day will end his life and his labours, as is +written of Socrates. His active and vigorous old age gives me firm hope +that he has many years to live, as also the long life of his father, who +lived to ninety-two years without knowing what it was to have a fever, and +then dying more for lack of resolution than for any illness; so that when +he was dead, as Michael Angelo relates, his face retained the same colour +that he had when living, appearing rather asleep than dead. + +LVI. From a child Michael Angelo was a hard worker, and to the gifts of +nature added study, not using the labours and industry of others, but, +desiring to learn from nature herself, he set her up before him as the +true example. There is no animal whose anatomy he did not desire to study, +much more than that of man; so that those who have spent all their lives +in that science, and who make a profession of it, hardly know so much of +it as he. I speak of such knowledge as is necessary to the arts of +painting and sculpture, not of other minutiae that anatomists observe. And +thus it is that his figures show so much art and learning, so that they +are inimitable by any painter whatever. I have always been of this +opinion, that the forces and efforts of nature have a prescribed end, +fixed and ordained by God, which it is impossible for ordinary powers to +pass; and this is so not only in painting and sculpture, but universally +in all arts and sciences; and that she gives power to one person that he +may be a rule and example in a particular art, giving him the first place; +so that afterwards, if any one desires to bring forth a great work in that +art, worthy to be read or seen, he must work in the same way as the first +great example, or, at least, similarly, and go by his road; for if he does +not his work will be much inferior, the worse the more he diverges from +the direct path. After Plato and Aristotle, how many philosophers have we +seen who, not following them, have been worth anything? How many orators +after Demosthenes and Cicero? How many mathematicians after Euclid and +Archimedes? How many doctors after Hypocrates and Galen? Or poets after +Homer and Virgil? And if there has been any one who has been able by his +own abilities to arrive at the first place in any one of these sciences +and finds it already occupied, he either acknowledges the first one to +have arrived at perfection, and gives up the attempt, or if he has sense +he follows him as the ideal of the perfect. This has been exemplified in +our own day in Bembo, in Sanazzaro, in Caro, in Guidoccione, in the +Marchioness of Pescara, and in other writers and lovers of the Tuscan +rhyme, who, although gifted with the highest and most singular genius, +none the less, not being able of themselves to do better than nature +exemplifies in Petrarca, they set themselves to follow him, but so happily +that they are judged worthy to be read and counted with the best. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + + CONCLUSION OF THE LIFE BY CONDIVI + + +LVII. Now to consider my remarks. I say, that it seems to me, that nature +has endowed Michael Angelo so largely with all her riches in these arts of +painting and sculpture, that I am not to be reproached for saying that his +figures are almost inimitable. Nor does it appear that I have allowed +myself to be too much carried away, for until now he alone has worthily +taken up both chisel and brush. Of the painting of the ancients there is +no memorial, and to whom does he yield in their sculpture (of which, +indeed, much remains)? In the judgment of men learned in the art, to no +one, unless we stoop to the opinion of the vulgar, who admire the antique +for the sole reason that they envy the genius and industry of their own +times. All the same, I have not yet heard any one say the contrary; this +man is so far above envy. Raffael da Urbino, although he desired to +compete with Michael Angelo, was often constrained to say that he thanked +God he was born in his time as he acquired from him a style very different +from that which he learnt from his father, who was a painter, and from his +master Perugino. But what greater and clearer sign can we ever have of the +excellence of this man than the contention of the Princes of the world for +him? From the four Pontiffs, Julius, Leo, Clement, and Paul, to the Grand +Turk, father of him who to-day holds the Empire. As I have said above, the +Sultan sent certain monks of the Order of Saint Francis with letters +begging Michael Angelo to come and stay with him; arranging by letters of +credit for the bank of the Gondi, in Florence, to advance the amount of +money necessary for his journey, and also that from Cossa, near Ragusi, he +should be accompanied to Constantinople most honourably by one of his +grandees. Francesco(54) Valesio, King of France, tried every means to get +him, crediting him with three thousand scudi for his journey whenever he +should go. Il Bruciolo was sent to Rome by the Signoria of Venice to +invite him to come and dwell in that city, and to offer him a provision of +six hundred scudi a year, not binding him to anything, only that he should +honour the Republic with his presence; with the condition also that if he +did any work in her service he should be paid for it as if he received no +pension from them at all. These are not ordinary doings that happen every +day, but new and out of the common use, and would only happen to singular +and most excellent worth, as was that of Homer, for whom many cities +contested, each one appropriating him as her own. + +LVIII. He is held of no less account, than by those already named, by the +present Pontiff, Julius III., a Prince of supreme wisdom and a lover and +patron of all the arts; but particularly inclined to painting, sculpture, +and architecture, as may be clearly known by the works he has done in the +Palazzo and the Belvedere, and now has ordered for his villa Giulia (a +memorial and scheme worthy of a noble and generous soul like his). It is +filled with so many statues, ancient and modern, so great variety of +beautiful stones, precious columns, plaster work, paintings, and every +other kind of ornament, of which I will write another time, as a unique +work, not yet in its perfection, requires. He does not ask Michael Angelo +to work for him. Having respect for his age, he understands well and +appreciates his greatness; but wishes not to overburden him. This regard, +in my judgment, brings Michael Angelo more honour than all his employment +under the other Popes. It is, however, true, that in the paintings and +architecture that his Holiness is continually having done, he almost +always seeks Michael Angelo's advice and judgment, frequently sending the +artists to seek him at his house. It grieves me, and it grieves also his +Holiness, that by reason of a certain natural timidity, or let us say +respect and reverence, which some call pride, Michael Angelo does not +profit by the goodwill, kindness, and liberality of so great a Pontiff and +so much his friend. As I first heard from the most Reverend Monsignor di +Forli, his chamberlain, the Pope has often said that (if it were possible) +he would willingly take from his own years and his own blood to add to the +life of Michael Angelo, that the world might not so soon be deprived of +such a man. I also, having access to his Holiness, heard it from his lips +with my own ears, and more also, that if he survives him, as in the +natural course of life is probable, he will have Michael Angelo's body +embalmed and keep it near him, so that it should be as lasting as his +works. He said this at the beginning of his Pontificate to Michael Angelo +himself in the presence of many. I do not know what could be more +honourable to Michael Angelo than these words, or a greater proof of the +esteem in which the Pope holds him. + +LIX. Again the Pope showed his esteem plainly when Pope Paul died and he +was created Pontiff, in a consistory, all the Cardinals then in Rome being +present. He defended Michael Angelo and protected him from the overseers +of the fabric of St. Peter's, who, for no fault of his, as they said, but +of his servants, wished to deprive him of, or at least to restrain, that +authority given him by Pope Paul by a _moto proprio_, of which more will +be said below. He defended him, and not only confirmed the _moto proprio_ +but honoured him by many kind words, not lending his ears to the quarrels +of the overseers or anybody else. Michael Angelo knows (as many times he +has told me) the love and kindness of his Holiness towards him, and how he +respects him; and because he cannot requite the Pope with his services, +and show his love, he will regret all the rest of his life that he seems +useless and appears ungrateful to his Holiness. One thing comforts him +somewhat (as he is accustomed to say); knowing the wisdom of his Holiness +he hopes to be excused, and being unable to give more, that his good will +may be accepted. Nor does he refuse, as far as he has the power, and for +all he may be worth, to spend his life in his service; this I have from +his own mouth. Nevertheless, at the request of his Holiness, Michael +Angelo designed the facade of a palace that the Pope had a mind to build +in Rome, a thing new and original to those who have seen it--not bound to +any laws, ancient or modern, as in many other works of his in Florence and +in Rome--proving that architecture has not been so arbitrarily handled in +the past that there is not room for fresh invention no less delightful and +beautiful. + +LX. Now to return to anatomy. He gave up dissection because it turned his +stomach so that he could neither eat nor drink with benefit. It is very +true that he did not give up until he was so learned and rich in such +knowledge that he often had in his mind the wish to write, for the sake of +sculptors and painters, a treatise on the movements of the human body, its +aspect, and concerning the bones, with an ingenious theory of his own, +devised after long practice. He would have done it had he not mistrusted +his powers, lest they should not suffice to treat with dignity and grace +of such a subject, like one practised in the sciences and in rhetoric. I +know well that when he reads Alberto Duro he finds him very weak, seeing +in his own mind how much more beautiful and useful his own conception +would be. To tell the truth, Alberto only treats of the proportions and +diversities of the body, for which one cannot make fixed rules, making +figures as regular as posts; and what matters more, says nothing of human +movements and gestures. And because Michael Angelo has now reached a ripe +old age, he thinks of putting his ideas in writing and giving them to the +world. With great devotion he has explained everything minutely to me; he +also conferred with Messer Realdo Colombo, an anatomist and most excellent +surgeon, a great friend of Michael Angelo's and mine. He sent to Michael +Angelo for study the body of a Moor, a very fine young man, and very +suitable to the purpose; he was sent to Santa Agata, where I then lived +and still live, as it is a quiet place. On this corpse Michael Angelo +showed me many rare and recondite facts, perhaps never before understood, +all of which I noted down, and hope one day, with the help of some learned +man, to publish for the advantage and use of painters and sculptors; but +enough of this. + +LXI. He devoted himself to perspective and to architecture, his works show +with what profit. Michael Angelo did not content himself with knowing only +the main features of architecture, but wished also to know about +everything that could be useful in any way in that profession, such as +ties, platforms, scaffolding, and such like, he knew as much of these +things as those who profess nothing else, which was exemplified in the +time of Julius II. in this wise. When Michael Angelo had to paint the +ceiling of the Sistine Chapel the Pope ordered Bramante to erect the +scaffolding. For all the architect he was he did not know how to do it, +but pierced the vault in many places, letting down certain ropes through +these holes to sling the platform. When Michael Angelo saw it he smiled, +and asked Bramante what was to be done when he came to those holes? +Bramante had no defence to make, only replied that it could not be done +any other way. The matter came before the Pope, and Bramante replied again +to the same effect. The Pope turned to Michael Angelo and said: _"As it is +not satisfactory go and do it yourself."_ Michael Angelo took down the +platform, and took away so much rope from it, that having given it to a +poor man that assisted him, it enabled him to dower and marry two +daughters. Michael Angelo erected his scaffold without ropes, so well +devised and arranged that the more weight it had to bear the firmer it +became. This opened Bramante's eyes, and gave him a lesson in the building +of a platform, which was very useful to him in the works of St. Peter's. +For all that, Michael Angelo, although he had no equal in all these +things, would not make a profession of architecture. On the contrary, when +at last Antonio da San Gallo, the architect of St. Peter's, died, and Pope +Paul wished to put Michael Angelo in his place, he refused the post, +saying that architecture was not his art. He refused it so earnestly that +the Pope had to command him to take it, and issue an ample _moto proprio_, +which was afterwards confirmed by Pope Julius III., now, as I have said, +by the grace of God, our Pontiff. For these, his services, Michael Angelo +received no payment; so he wished it to be stated in the _moto proprio_. +One day, when Pope Paul sent him a hundred scudi of gold by Messer Pier +Giovanni, then Gentleman of the Wardrobe to his Holiness, now Bishop of +Forli, as his month's salary on account of the building, Michael Angelo +would not accept it, saying it was not in the agreement they had between +them, and he sent them back. The Pope was very angry, as I have been told +by Messer Alessandro Ruffini, a gentleman of Rome, then Groom to the +Chambers and Carver before his Holiness; but this did not move Michael +Angelo from his resolution. When he had accepted this charge he made a new +model, both because certain parts of the old one did not please him in +many respects, and, besides, if it was followed one would sooner expect to +see the end of the world than St. Peter's finished. This model, praised +and approved by the Pope, is now being followed to the great satisfaction +of those who have judgment, although there be certain persons who do not +approve of it. + +LXII. Michael Angelo gave himself, then, whilst still young, not only to +sculpture and painting, but to all the kindred arts, with such devotion +that for a time he almost withdrew from the fellowship of men, only +consorting with a few. So that by some he was held to be proud, and by +others odd and eccentric, though he had none of these vices; but (like +many excellent men) a love of knowledge and continued exercise in the +learned arts made him solitary, and he was so satisfied and took such a +delight in them that company not only did not please him but even annoyed +him, as interrupting his meditations he was never less solitary than when +alone (as the great Scipio used to say of himself). + +LXIII. Nevertheless, he willingly kept the friendship of those from whose +wise and learned conversation he could gather any fruit and in whom shone +some ray of excellence, such as the Most Reverend and Illustrious +Monsignor Polo,(55) for his rare learning and singular goodness; and +similarly my Most Reverend patron the Cardinal Crispo, finding in him +besides his many good qualities a rare and excellent judgment. He had also +a great affection for the Most Reverend Cardinal Santa Croce, a man of +great weight and most prudent, of whom I have heard him speak more than +once with the highest esteem; and the Most Reverend Maffei, whose goodness +and learning he always speaks of; and generally loves and honours all the +House of the Farnese, for the lively memory he cherishes of Pope Paul, +recalling him with the utmost reverence, speaking of him constantly as a +good and holy old man. And so, too, the Most Reverend Patriarch of +Jerusalem, formerly Bishop of Cesena, with whom he has often conversed +familiarly, as one whose open and liberal nature much pleased him. He had +also a close friendship with my Most Reverend patron, the Cardinal +Ridolfi, of happy memory, the refuge of all men of talent. There are +others whom I leave out, so as not to be tedious, as Monsignor Claudio +Tolemei, Messer Lorenzo Ridolfi, Messer Donato Giannotti, Messer Lionardo +Malaspini, Il Lottino, Messer Tomaso de' Cavalieri, and other honourable +gentlemen, of whom I will not write at length. Finally, he has a great +affection for Annibal Caro. He has told me that he is sorry not to have +known him before, as he is so much to his taste. More particularly he +loved greatly the Marchioness of Pescara, of whose divine spirit he was +enamoured, being in return loved tenderly by her. He still possesses many +letters of hers, full of an honest and most sweet love, such as issued +from her heart. He has written to her also many and many sonnets, full of +wit and sweet desire. She often returned to Rome from Viterbo and other +places, where she had gone for her pastime and to spend the summer, for no +other reason than to see Michael Angelo; and he bore her so much love that +I remember to have heard him say: Nothing grieved him so much as that when +he went to see her after she passed away from this life he did not kiss +her on the brow or face, as he did kiss her hand. Recalling this, her +death, he often remained dazed as one bereft of sense. He made at the wish +of his lady a naked Christ, when He was taken down from the Cross, and His +dead body would have fallen at the feet of His most holy Mother, if it +were not supported by the arms of two angels; but she, seated under the +Cross with a tearful and sorrowful face, raises to heaven both hands with +her arms out-stretched, with this cry, which one reads inscribed on the +stem of the cross: + + + NON VI SI PENSA QUANTO SANGUE COSTA! + + +The Cross is like that which was carried in procession by the Bianchi at +the time of the plague of 1348, and afterwards placed in the Church of +Santa Croce, at Florence. He also made for love of her a drawing of a Jesu +Christ on the Cross, not as if dead, as is the common use, but with a +Divine gesture. Raising His face to the Father He seems to say, "Eli, +Eli." The body does not hang like a corpse but as if still living, and +contorted by the bitter agony of His death. + +LXIV. And as he greatly delighted in the conversation of the learned, so +he took pleasure in the study of the writers of both prose and poetry. He +had a special admiration for Dante, delighting in the admirable genius of +that man, almost all of whose works he knew by heart; he held Petrarca in +no less esteem. He not only delighted in reading, but occasionally in +composing, too, as may be seen by some sonnets that are to be found of +his. Concerning some of them, there have been published--"Lectures and +Criticisms by Varchi." But he wrote these sonnets more for his pleasure +than because he made a profession of it, always belittling them himself, +accusing himself of ignorance in these matters. + +LXV. Likewise, with deep study and attention, he read the Holy Scriptures, +both the Old and the New Testaments, and searched them diligently, as also +the writings of Savonarola, for whom he always had a great affection, +keeping always in his mind the memory of his living voice. He has also +loved the beauty of the human body, as one who best understands it; and in +such wise that certain carnal-minded men, who do not comprehend the love +of beauty, have taken occasion to think and speak evil of him, as if +Alcibiades, a youth of perfect beauty, had not been purely loved by +Socrates, from whose side he arose as from the side of his father. I have +often heard Michael Angelo reason and discourse of Love, and learned +afterwards from those who were present that he did not speak otherwise of +Love than is to be found written in the works of Plato. For myself I do +not know what Plato says of Love, but I know well that I, who have known +Michael Angelo so long and so intimately, have never heard issue from his +mouth any but the most honest of words, which had the power to extinguish +in youth every ill-regulated and unbridled desire which might arise. By +this we may know that no evil thoughts were born in him. He loved not only +human beauty, but universally every beautiful thing--a beautiful horse, a +beautiful dog, a beautiful country, a beautiful plant, a beautiful +mountain, a beautiful forest, and every place and thing beautiful and rare +after its kind, admiring them all with a marvellous love; thus choosing +the beauty in nature as the bees gather honey from the flowers, using it +afterwards in his works, as all those have done who have ever made a noise +in painting. That old master who had to paint a Venus was not content to +see one virgin only, but studied many, and taking from each her most +beautiful and perfect feature gave them to his Venus; and, in truth, who +ever expects to arrive at a true theory of art without this method of +study is greatly mistaken. + +LXVI. All through his life Michael Angelo has been very abstemious, taking +food more from necessity than from pleasure, especially when at work, at +which time, for the most part, he has been content with a piece of bread, +which he munched whilst he laboured. But latterly he has lived more +regularly, his advanced age requiring it. I have often heard him say: +"_Ascanio, rich man as I have made myself, I have always lived as a poor +one._" And as he took little food so he took little sleep, which, as he +says, rarely did him any good, for sleeping almost always made his head +ache, and too much sleep made his stomach bad. When he was more robust he +often slept in his clothes and with his buskins on; this he made a habit +of for fear of the cramp, from which he continually suffered, besides +other reasons; and he has sometimes been so long without taking them off +that when he did so the skin came off with them like the slough of a +snake. He was never miserly with his money, nor did he hoard it, contented +with enough to live honestly. Works from his hand were sought for more and +more by the gentry and rich people with large promises, but he has rarely +satisfied them; and when he has done so, it has been from friendship and +goodwill rather than for hope of reward. + +LXVII. He has given away many of his things, which, if he had wished to +sell them, would have brought him in endless money; as, for example, were +there no others, the two statues that he gave to Roberto Strozzi, his +great friend.(56) He has not only been liberal with his works, but with +his purse also he has often helped the talented and studious poor in their +need, whether men of letters or painters; of this I am able to testify, +having benefited by it myself. He was never jealous of the labours of +others even in his own art, more by his goodness of nature than any +opinion he had of himself. On the contrary, he has praised all +universally, even Raphael of Urbino, between whom and himself there was +formally some rivalry in painting, as I have written; only I have heard +him say that Raphael had not his art by nature, but acquired it by long +study. Nor is it true what many say of him, that he would not teach; on +the contrary, he has done so willingly, as I know myself, for to me he has +made known all the secrets of his art; but unfortunately he has met either +with pupils little apt, or even if apt without perseverance, so after +working under his discipline a few months they thought themselves masters. +Now, although he would readily do kindly acts, he was unwilling to have +them known, wishing more to do well than to appear to do so. It must also +be known that he has always desired to cultivate the arts in persons of +nobility, as was the manner of the ancients, and not in plebeians. + +LXVIII. Michael Angelo had a most retentive memory, so that although he +has painted so many thousand figures, as may be seen, he has never made +one like to another, or in the same pose; indeed, I have heard him say +that if ever he draws a line which he remembers to have drawn before, he +rubs it out if it is to come before the public. He has also a most +powerful imagination, from whence it comes, firstly, that he is little +contented with his work, his hand not appearing to carry out the ideas he +has conceived in his mind. And, secondly, from the same cause (as often +happens to those who lead a peaceful and contemplative life), he has +always been somewhat timid; saving only when a just indignation against +some wrong or lapse of duty to himself or to others moves him, then he +plucks up more spirit than those who are held to be courageous; otherwise +he is of a most patient disposition. Of his modesty it is not possible to +say as much as he deserves; and so also of his manners, and his ways, they +are seasoned with pleasantries and sharp sayings: for instance, his +conversation at Bologna with a certain gentleman, who, seeing the mere +largeness and mass of the bronze statue Michael Angelo had made, marvelled +and said: "_Which do you suppose to be the larger, this statue or a pair +of oxen?_" To whom Michael Angelo replied: "_It is according to the oxen +you mean; if it be these of Bologna doubtless they are much larger; if +ours of Florence they are much smaller._"(57) So also when Il Francia, who +was at that time thought to be an Apelles in Bologna, came to see that +same statue and said: "_This is a beautiful bronze_," it seemed to Michael +Angelo that he was praising the metal and not the form, so he laughingly +replied: "_If this be beautiful bronze, I must thank Pope Julius for it, +who gave it to me, as you have to thank the apothecaries who provide your +colours_." And another day, seeing the child of Francia, who was a very +beautiful boy: "_My son,_" said he, "_your father makes better living +pictures than painted ones._" + +LXIX. Michael Angelo is of a good complexion; his figure rather sinuous +and bony than fleshy and fat; healthy above all by nature, as well as by +the use of exercise and his continence of life and moderation in taking +food; nevertheless, as a child he was feeble and sickly, and as a man he +had two illnesses. He has suffered much for several years in the passing +of urine, which trouble would have turned into a stone if he had not been +relieved by the care and diligence of the before-mentioned Messer Realdo. +Michael Angelo has always had a good colour in his face; he is of middle +height; he is broad shouldered, with the rest of the body in proportion, +rather slight than not. The shape of his skull in front is round; the +height above the ear is a sixth part of the circumference round the middle +of the head, so that the temples project somewhat beyond the ears, and the +ears beyond the cheek-bones, and the cheek-bones beyond the rest of the +face; the skull in proportion to the face must be called large. The front +view of the forehead is square, the nose a little flattened, not +naturally, but because when he was a boy, one Torrigiano, a brutal and +proud fellow, with a blow almost broke the cartilage, so that Michael +Angelo was carried home as one dead; for this Torrigiano was banished from +Florence, and he came to a bad end.(58) Michael Angelo's nose, such as it +is, is in proportion to the forehead and the rest of the face. His lips +are mobile, the lower one somewhat the thicker, so that seen in profile it +sticks out a little. The chin goes well with the above-mentioned parts. +The forehead in profile is almost in front of the nose, which is little +less than broken, except for a small lump in the middle. The eyebrows have +few hairs; the eyes are rather small than otherwise, the colour is that of +horn, but changing, with sparkles of yellow and blue; the ears in +proportion; the hair black, and beard also, but, in this his seventy-ninth +year, plentifully sprinkled with grey; his beard is forked, four or five +fingers long and not very thick, as may be seen in his portraits. Many +other things remain to be said, but I have left them out because of the +hurry in which I bring out these writings, hearing that others(59) wish to +reap the reward of my labours, which I had confided to their hands; so, if +it should ever happen that another should undertake this work again, I +hereby offer to tell him all I know, or most lovingly to give it to him in +writing. I hope before long to bring out some of Michael Angelo's sonnets +and madrigals, which I have for a long time collected, both from himself +and from others, that the world may know the worth of his imaginations, +and how many beautiful conceits were born in his divine spirit, and with +this I close. + + + + + +PART II + + + THE WORKS OF MICHAEL ANGELO + + + "Non essendo homo in Italia apto ad expedire una opera di costesta + qualita, e necessario che lui solo, e non altro." + + _Piero Soderini to the Marchese Alberigo Malaspina_, GAYE ii. 107. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +THE RAPE OF DEIANEIRA, OR THE BATTLE OF THE CENTAURS, AND THE ANGEL OF THE + SHRINE OF SAINT DOMINIC + + +All accounts agree as to the precocity of the genius of Michael Angelo, +and Piero Soderini vouches for its practical character in the words quoted +above. It was not until he had suffered from the procrastination and +uncertainty of the patronage of the Popes, that his work took him so long +to finish that sometimes it had to be left incomplete. His early works +were remarkable, not only for their high finish but also for the +expedition with which they were carried out. + + + +Condivi has given us the story of his early difficulties and of his first +picture,(60) probably in Michael Angelo's own words; we may supplement +this account by the following extract from Vasari, who gathered his +information from the gossip of the workshops of Florence, and from Ridolfo +Ghirlandaio, the son of his first master. "Michael Angelo grew in power +and character so rapidly that Domenico(61) was astonished, seeing him do +things quite extraordinary in a youth, for it seemed to him that he not +only surpassed the other students, of whom Domenico had a large number, +but that he often equalled the work done by him as master. Now, one of the +lads who studied under Domenico made a pen-drawing of some women, draped, +after Ghirlandaio. Michael Angelo took up the paper, and with a thicker +pen went over the outline of one of the women with a new line, correcting +it, and making it perfect, so that it is wonderful to see the difference +between the two styles, and the ability and judgment of a boy, so spirited +and bold that he had the courage to correct his master's handiwork. This +drawing is to-day in my possession, valued as a relic. I had it from +Granacci to put it in my book of drawings with others given to me by +Michael Angelo. In the year 1550, being in Rome, I, Giorgio, showed it to +Michael Angelo, who recognised it and was pleased to see it again, saying +modestly that he knew more of art as a child than now as an old man.(62) +It happened that Domenico was working in the great Chapel of Santa Maria +Novella, and one day when he was out Michael Angelo set himself to draw +from nature the scaffolding, the tables with all the materials of the art, +and some of the young men at work. Presently Domenico returned, and saw +Michael Angelo's drawing. He was astonished, saying this boy knows more +than I do; and he was stupefied by this style and new realism: a gift from +heaven to a child of such tender years." + +The first art school of Michael Angelo was the beautiful Church of Santa +Maria Novella, called by him affectionately "_Mia Sposa_." Here, day by +day, he beheld the "Last Judgment" of Orcagna, the enthroned figures in +the Spanish Chapel, and the solemn blue Madonna, now in the Capella +Rucellai, with its little figures of prophets on the frame that are +already almost Michael Angelesque. Here he transferred cartoons for +Domenico and painted draperies and ornaments; here he mixed colours for +fresco painting after the Florentine fashion; and here possibly he first +painted on a vault. No certain trace of his handiwork can be identified +upon the walls, but there is a nude figure seated upon the steps resting +his chin upon his hand in the fresco of the Blessed Virgin going to the +Temple, that has a sinister expression and a force of modelling that +Domenico does not usually command. + + + +Now Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent, desired to encourage the art of +sculpture in Florence; he therefore established a museum of antiquities in +his garden near San Marco, and made Bertoldo, the pupil of Donatello and +the foreman of his workshop, keeper of the collection, with a special +commission to aid and instruct the young men who studied there. Lorenzo +requested Domenico Ghirlandaio to select from his pupils those he +considered the most promising, and send them to work in the garden. +Domenico sent Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Francesco Granacci; possibly +he was rather glad to get these talented elements of insubordination out +of his workshop. Thus it was that Michael Angelo came under the influence +of a pupil and foreman of Donatello. Bertoldo must be considered the +instructor of Michael Angelo in his beloved art of sculpture, and the most +important influence in shaping his genius. Very little is known of the man +upon whom this responsibility was placed, but he appears to have been +worthy of it. Vasari tells us that Bertoldo "was old and could not work; +that he was none the less an able and highly reputed artist, not only +because he had most diligently chased and polished the casts in bronze for +the pupils of Donatello his master, but also for the numerous casts in +bronze of battle-pieces and other little things, which he had executed of +his own; there was no one then in Florence more masterly in such work." We +have no important work entirely by Bertoldo, but he must have been a +considerable artist or he would not have been appointed to his important +post by such a wise man as Lorenzo the Magnificent. His share of the work +for the pulpits of San Lorenzo was probably much greater than we are +accustomed to think. Vasari's word _rinettato_ had a much wider meaning to +him than it has to us, the chasing of a bronze was considered no small +part of its quality by the Florentines. Lorenzo Ghiberti's supposed +superiority over his competitors for the doors of San Giovanni was more in +his superb finish than in anything else. The pulpits in San Lorenzo have +something about them that is between the art of Donatello and the art of +Michael Angelo; we may even owe a large part of the composition in some of +the stories to Bertoldo. Donatello must have needed a man of judgment and +ability to carry out the numerous and important commissions that issued +from his workshops in his old age. That Michael Angelo studied the pulpits +of San Lorenzo is proved by the numerous motives he took from them in +after life; the general aspect of the figures strangely suggests the +"terribilita" of his style, and the beginnings of several of his motives +can be traced to them, such as the _Centaurs_, the _Pieta_, and, in the +Sistine ceiling, the _Adam_; the monochrome putti used as Caryatides; the +single putto placed at the springing of two arches; the athletes +supporting garlands, similar in proportion to the cherubs supporting +garlands used for the capitals of columns in the pulpits; two figures for +the spaces over the windows. The man with the clean-shaven and bird-like +face writing in a book and dressed in trousers tied in at the ankles, like +the captive barbarians of Roman art, in one of the semi-circular spaces +round the windows, is very like a man standing behind the Madonna who +supports the dead Christ in the deposition of the pulpit. Perhaps it is a +portrait of old Bertoldo himself. In this panel, too, are horsemen riding +animals similar to the ones Michael Angelo drew in his last fresco, _The +Conversion of Saint Paul_. The composition for the scourging of Christ, +supplied by Michael Angelo to Sebastiano del Piombo for his wall painting +in San Pietro in Montorio, follows the lines of the bas-relief of the same +subject on the pulpit. What is more likely than that Bertoldo should have +educated his great pupil by directing him to the glories of the last work +of his master, Donatello, and that Michael Angelo should have studied them +eagerly, particularly if Bertoldo himself was partly responsible for some +of the panels, and may have been working upon them at this time.(63) + +The pulpits of San Lorenzo were the second school of Michael Angelo, and +Bertoldo was his master. No great style ever sprang complete from the +brain of its great exponent, but grew and developed from master to pupil +until its supreme exponent blazed it before the world full of the +traditional fire of his predecessors, but distinctly marked by his own +dominant personality. The root of the style of Michael Angelo may be seen +in the works of Donatello and in the pulpits of San Lorenzo. His study of +the antique,(64) modified by his love of grace, of high finish, and his +own powerful character, only had to be added to complete the perfect +flower of Florentine art, Michael Angelo, the topmost bloom of the lily. + + [Image #2] + + THE RAPE OF DEIANEIRA AND THE BATTLE OF THE CENTAURS + + CASA BUONARROTI, FLORENCE + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari. Florence_) + + +By good fortune, Michael Angelo attracted the notice of Lorenzo the +Magnificent, as Condivi has related;(65) and thus at the age of fifteen +years he entered the most cultured house in Italy and there acquired that +distinction of style that he kept all through his life, both in his art +and his manner. In these halcyon days at this hospitable table Michael +Angelo met such men as Massilio Ficino, the interpreter of Plato; Pico +della Mirandola, the phoenix of erudition; Luigi Pulci and Angelo +Poliziano--the latter is supposed to have incited Michael Angelo to carve +the bas-relief(66) now in the Casa Buonarroti, called by Condivi "The rape +of Deianeira and the battle of the Centaurs." This is the earliest work +that we know from the master's hand to which we can give a date; it +already shows his double love for the Hellenistic and for the Tuscan +styles. The degree of relief is alto-rilievo, like those on the Roman +sarcophagi and the pulpits of the Pisani; in shape it is almost as high as +it is long; this unusual proportion is similar to some of the divisions of +the bronze reliefs in the Donatello pulpits at San Lorenzo. The struggling +figures, Centaurs, and Lapithae, already exhibit Michael Angelo's power +over rhythm of line in a crowded composition as in the later groups of +"Moses raising the Serpent in the Wilderness," and "The Last Judgment," +both in the Sistine Chapel. The method is extraordinarily free for so +young a sculptor; he evidently thinks out his work as it proceeds; his +delight in the beauty of the male human form is shown in every figure. +Some critics have been unable to distinguish the figure of Deianeira, as +her form has been so little differentiated or emphasised by the master. +She is towards the left of the composition; a man holds her by the hair of +her head. The centre figures and the two at the lower corners remind us +forcibly of the pulpits of San Lorenzo. + + [Image #3] + + THE ANGEL AT THE SHRINE OF SAINT DOMINIC + + BOLOGNA + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +Vasari mentions another bas-relief executed at this period, a seated +Madonna with the Infant Jesus, in the manner of Donatello; the inferior +bas-relief, now in the Casa Buonarroti, is said to be this work. If the +club-shaped feet and thick hands of the Madonna are compared with the +beautiful long feet and graceful hands of the angel holding a candlestick, +at San Domenico, in Bologna, certainly by Michael Angelo, it cannot be +supposed that these two works were either executed or even designed by the +same artist. The pose of the Holy Child in the Madonna bas-relief has been +arranged by some one who has seen "The Day" on the tomb of Giuliano at San +Lorenzo; in the background are children on a stairway, somewhat in the +style of Donatello, but they are more like imitations of the later works +of Michael Angelo. The folds of the draperies are like the folds of some +silken material, whereas the folds of the robe of the angel at San +Domenico are large, like the folds of a blanket, a characteristic of all +the draperies designed by the master. This bas-relief, now in the Casa +Buonarroti, was presented to Cosimo de Medici, first Grand Duke of +Tuscany, by Michael Angelo's nephew Leonardo,(67) as a work by his uncle, +but we do not know that Leonardo was a good judge of his uncle's works, +and this bas-relief was supposed to have been executed more than fifty +years before its presentation; afterwards it came back into the possession +of the Buonarroti family, and was presented by them to the city of +Florence along with the house in Via Ghibellina. + +Michael Angelo, like all young artists who have had the opportunity, drew +and studied in the Brancacci Chapel of the Church of the Carmine, +containing the frescoes of Masaccio and his followers; the result of these +studies may be seen in some of the compositions, and especially in the +draperies of the Sistine ceiling. There are two pen-drawings in Vienna +that show us the sort of work Michael Angelo did at this time: one +represents a kneeling figure, evidently from a picture by Pesellino; the +other, two standing figures, that might be after Ghirlandaio. The +draperies have been specially studied. Another pen-drawing, in the Louvre, +is a careful study from Giotto's fresco of the Resurrection of St. John in +the Cappella Peruzzi at Santa Croce. + + + +A gloom was cast over all Italy by the death of Lorenzo de' Medici on +April 8, 1492. Michael Angelo lost his best friend and returned to his +father's house; here he worked upon a statue of Hercules that stood in the +Strozzi Palace until the siege of Florence in 1530, when Giovanni Battista +della Palla bought it and sent it into France as a present to the French +King. It is lost. + +In the year 1495, whilst living with Aldovrandi at Bologna, as Condivi +tells us, Michael Angelo, for the sum of thirty ducats, completed the +drapery of a San Petronio, begun by Nicolo di Bari on the arca or shrine +of San Domenico, and carved the very beautiful and highly finished +statuette of an angel holding a candlestick, still to be seen there.(68) + +When Michael Angelo returned to Florence a government had been established +by Savonarola. No doubt, like all the other citizens, the master listened +to the voice of the preacher, but we have no evidence that he was +particularly influenced by his teaching, though many of his biographers +would have us believe that Savonarola made him Protestant, Lutheran, or +what not, according to the sect of the biographer. Michael Angelo loved +the sermons of the eloquent Frate as works of art; no doubt, if the +prophets of the Sistine could speak, they would preach with the voice of +Savonarola. + + + +Michael Angelo set to work and carved a San Giovannino for Lorenzo di Pier +Francesco, a cousin of the exiled Medici. The Berlin Museum acquired, in +1880, a marble statue of a young St. John, which had been placed in the +palace of the Counts Gualandi Rosselmini, at Pisa, in 1817, and was +rediscovered there in 1874. It is supposed to be this San Giovannino by +Michael Angelo, though it has nothing of the large quality of Michael +Angelo's work. Donatello has been suggested as the author, but it has +still less of the square planes and ascetic character of the great Donato. +It is a charming, almost a cloying statue. St. John seems to find his +honeycomb distinctly sweet. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + + THE BACCHUS, AND THE MADONNA DELLA PIETA OF SAINT PETER'S + + +The story of a Cupid, carved and coloured in imitation of the antique, is +given by Condivi.(69) It was the cause of Michael Angelo's first visit to +Rome. As soon as he reached the Eternal City he set to work at his +sculpture, as the purchase of a piece of marble mentioned in his letter to +Pier Francesco de' Medici, sent to Florence under cover to Sandro +Botticelli,(70) indicates. During the whole of this very important visit +he worked in marble. We have, however, one record of a cartoon by him for +a Saint Francis receiving the Stigmata, to be painted by a certain barber; +but that is all. He studied the works of antique art and imitated the +finish and softness of the Hellenic style: marbles of debased Greek +workmanship abound to this day in the Roman collections. Messer Jacopo +Gallo, a Roman gentleman and a banker, commissioned a Bacchus, now in the +Bargello at Florence, and a Cupid, said to be the statue now in the +Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington. Condivi records these +commissions.(71) This Bacchus is the least dignified work that Michael +Angelo ever executed. Perhaps, like a young artist struggling to get on, +he listened too much to the wishes and suggestions of his intelligent +patron. The finish and the truth to nature of the unpleasant youth are +exquisite. The folds of the skin and the softness of the flesh are +perfectly rendered, but the work is repulsive, save for the mischievous +little Satyr who steals the grapes; he seems to take us out into the open +air, and away from the fumes of the wine shop. Condivi calls the second +statue a Cupid,(72) but Springer points out(73) that Ulisse Aldovrandi, +who saw the statue in Messer Gallo's house at Rome, talks of an Apollo +quite naked, with a quiver at his side and an urn at his feet. The work, +Cupid or Apollo, at Kensington, is not so finely finished as the other +statues of this first Roman period; the head is like a copy of the head of +the David, the division between the pectoral muscles is weak, and their +attachments to the breast-bone are round, regular, and without +distinction, very different from either the naturalism of the Bacchus, the +delicate truth of the Pieta, or the dignified abstraction of the David, +done very shortly afterwards. This work at Kensington was discovered some +fifty years ago in the cellars of the Gualfonda (Rucellai) Gardens by +Professor Miliarini and the sculptor Santarelli. The left arm was broken, +the right hand damaged, and the hair unfinished, as may be seen to-day; +Santarelli restored the arm. The statue is like the work of a poor +imitator. A work by Michael Angelo may easily have been destroyed in +troublous times, but can never have been lost and forgotten. He has always +had lovers in every age; unlike the primitives and the quattrocentisti, he +has never been out of fashion. + +Whilst Michael Angelo was working away in Rome he was much troubled by +family affairs in Florence. After the expulsion of the Medici in 1495, +Lodovico lost his post at the Customs, and his three younger sons appear +to have been put into trade. Buonarroto, who was the only sensible one +left at home, and dearly loved by Michael Angelo, was born in 1477; he was +sent to serve in the Strozzi cloth warehouse in the Porta Rossa. All the +noble families of Florence practised some trade, in order that they might +share in the Government. Giovan Simone, another brother, born in 1479, led +a vagabond life until he joined Buonarroto in a cloth business that was +bought for them by Michael Angelo. Sigismondo, born in 1481, was a +soldier. At the age of forty he settled down on the small paternal farm at +Settignano, and became a mere peasant, very much to the annoyance and +chagrin of his famous brother, Michael Angelo, who spent his earnings for +the advantage of his brothers, and the advancement of his family, with a +kindness and generosity as beautiful as it is rare. Francesca, the mother +of Michael Angelo and of the other sons of Lodovico Buonarroti, was +married to him in 1472. When she died is not known, but Lodovico married +his second wife Lucrezia in 1485. She died childless in 1497, and was +buried upon July 9 in the Church of Santa Croce. + + + +In the year 1497 Buonarroto visited Rome, and informed Michael Angelo, the +only hope of the family, of their pecuniary troubles. Michael Angelo wrote +kindly to his father: + + + "DOMINO LODOVICO BUONARROTI, _in Florence_. + + "In the name of God, the 19th day of August, 1497. + + "DEAREST FATHER, &c.--Bonarroto arrived on Friday; as soon as I + knew of it I went to seek him at the inn, and he told me by word + of mouth how you are doing, and informed me that Consiglio, the + mercer, annoys you very much, and will not, by any means, come to + an agreement, and that he wishes to have you arrested. I tell you + that you must satisfy him and pay him some ducats on account; and + whatever you agree to pay him for the balance, send and tell me, + and I will send it to you, if you have it not; although I have but + little myself, as I have told you, I will contrive to borrow it, + so that you need not take money out of the Monte,(74) as Bonarroto + says. Do not wonder that I have sometimes written irritably, for I + often get very angry, owing to the many annoyances that happen to + one away from his home. + + "I had an order to do a work for Piero de' Medici and bought the + marble; but I never began it because he did not do as he had + promised, so I stayed at home and carved a figure for my pleasure. + I bought a piece of marble for five ducats; it was not good; the + money was thrown away. Afterwards I bought another piece, another + five ducats, and worked at it for my pleasure; so you must believe + that I also have expenses and troubles, and you must make + allowances. I will send you the money, though I should have to + sell myself into slavery. + + "Buonarroto arrived in safety and has returned to his inn; he has + a room; he is all right and lacks nothing for as long as he likes + to stay. I have no accommodation for him to stay with me, because + I am living in another's house. It suffices that I do not let him + want for anything. Well, as I hope you are. + + "MICHAEL ANGELO, in Rome." + + (In the hand of Lodovico.) + + "He says he will help me to pay Consiglio."(75) + + +Nevertheless, Milanesi tells us in a note, Lodovico settled with +Consiglio, to whom he owed ninety gold florins, in the way Michael Angelo +did not approve and after going to law about it. A letter of Lodovico's +refers to the kindness of Michael Angelo in establishing his brothers in +the cloth business. It is dated December 19, 1500. "... and more, I know +that you have advanced money, and the love you have for your brothers; it +is a great consolation to me. About this matter of the money with which +you wish to set up Buonarroto and Giansimone in a shop, I have hunted and +I am still hunting, but as yet I have not found anything to please me. +True it is I have my hands on a good thing, but it is necessary to keep +one's eyes open and to take care not to get into difficulties; I want to +go slowly and with good counsel, and I will tell you all about it day by +day. Buonarroto tells me how you live yonder, very economically, or rather +penuriously; economy is good, but penuriousness is evil, for it is a vice +displeasing to God and man, and, moreover, it is bad for the body and +soul. Whilst you are young you will be able to bear these hardships for a +time, but when the strength of youth fails you, disease and infirmities +will develop, for they are engendered by hardship, mean living, and +penurious habits. As I said, economy is good. But, above all, do not be +penurious; live moderately and do not stint yourself; above all things +avoid hardships, because in your art, if you fall ill (which God forbid), +you are a lost man; above all things have a care of your head, keep it +moderately warm, and never wash; have yourself rubbed down, but never +wash. Buonarroto also tells me that you have a swelling on your side; it +comes from hardship or fatigue, or from eating something bad and windy, or +suffering the feet to be cold or damp. I have had one myself, and it still +troubles me when I eat windy food, or when I endure cold or such like +things. Our Francesco formerly had one, too, and also Gismondo similarly. +Be careful about it because it is dangerous." + +The name of Michael Angelo's good friend, Jacopo Gallo, appears in the +agreement drawn up concerning the crowning work of this the first Roman +period, the Pieta, called the Madonna della Febbre, first placed in the +Chapel of Santa Petronilla, and now in the Chapel of Santa Maria della +Febbre, on the right of the entrance to St. Peters, in Rome. The +commission for this work was given by the Cardinal Jean de la Grostaye de +Villiers Francois, Abbot of St. Denis, called in Italy Cardinal di San +Dionigi. It is dated August 26, 1498. + + [Image #4] + + THE MADONNA BELLA PIETA + + SAINT PETER'S, ROME + (_By permission, of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +"Be it known and manifest to whoso shall read the ensuing document, how +the Most Reverend Cardinal of San Dionigi has agreed with the master, +Michael Angelo, sculptor of Florence, that the said master shall make a +Pieta of marble at his own cost; that is, a Virgin Mary clothed, with the +dead Christ in her arms, of the size of a proper man, for the price of +four hundred and fifty golden Papal ducats, within the term of one year +from the day of the beginning of the work" (the Cardinal agrees to pay +certain sums in advance). The contract concludes: "And I, Jacopo Gallo, +promise to his Most Reverend Monsignore that the said Michael Angelo will +finish the said work within one year, and that it shall be the most +beautiful work in marble which Rome to-day can show, and that no master of +our days shall be able to produce a better. And similarly I promise the +said Michael Angelo that the Most Reverend Cardinal will disburse the +payments as written above; and in good faith, I, Jacopo Gallo, have made +the present writing with my own hand, according to date of year, month, +and day, as above."(76) + + + +Jacopo's boast and promise were justified, for even now there is no finer +complete work of sculpture in the whole of Rome than the Pieta at St. +Peter's. It is said that Michael Angelo overheard certain Lombards ascribe +the Pieta to their own sculptor, Cristoforo Solari, called "Il Gobbo." He +therefore carved his name upon the belt of the Madonna's robe. He never +signed any other work. Nothing closes the great period of the fifteenth +century so fitly as the Pieta of Michael Angelo, prophesying at the same +time the power of the art of the sixteenth. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + + THE DAVID AND THE CARTOON OF PISA + + +Family affairs recalled Michael Angelo to Florence in the spring of 1501. +He returned full of honours gained in Rome, and took up his position as +the first sculptor of the day. His next commission came from Cardinal +Francesco Piccolomini, afterwards Pope Pius III. A contract was signed on +June 5, 1501, by which Michael Angelo agreed to complete some fifteen +statues of male saints within the time of three years, for the Piccolomini +Chapel, in the Duomo of Siena. A Saint Francis was begun by Piero +Torrigiano, and may have been finished by Michael Angelo. The rest of the +four works that were the outcome of this commission can have had nothing +to do with the chisel of the sculptor of the Madonna della Febbre and the +David. Michael Angelo must have merely contracted to supply them, as the +master sculptor of a sculptor's yard, possibly furnishing the designs +himself. There is a drawing at the British Museum of a bearded saint, +cowled and holding a book in his left hand, which may be a design for one +of these inferior works. + + [Image #5] + + DAVID + + THE ACADEMY, FLORENCE + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari Florence_) + + + [Image #6] + + DAVID + + IN THE PIAZZA + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + + [Image #7] + + SAINT MATTHEW + + THE COURT OF THE ACADEMY, FLORENCE + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +In August of the same year, 1501, Michael Angelo began the colossal statue +of David, that used to stand in the Piazza and is now in the Academy at +Florence. The first contract for this work, signed between Michael Angelo, +the Arte della Lana, and the Opera del Duomo, is dated August 16, 1501. It +states "That the worthy master, Michael Angelo, son of Lodovico Bonarroti, +citizen of Florence, has been chosen to fashion, complete, and perfectly +finish the male statue, already rough hewn and called the giant, of nine +cubits in height,(77) now existing in the workshop of the Cathedral, badly +blocked out afore-time by Master Agostino,(78) of Florence. The work shall +be completed within the term of the next ensuing two years, dating from +September, at a salary of six golden florins(79) per month; and whatever +is needful for the accomplishment of this task, as workmen, wood, &c., +which he may require, shall be supplied him by the said Operai; and when +the said 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." Michael Angelo began to work in a +wooden shed, erected for that purpose near the Cathedral, on Monday +morning, September 13, 1501, and the "David" is said to be almost entirely +finished in a note, dated January 25, 1503,(80) when a solemn council of +the most important artists, then resident in Florence, met at the Opera +del Duomo to consider where the statue should be placed. What an original +way of deciding aesthetic questions! They came to the admirable conclusion +that the choice of the site should be left to Michael Angelo. Amongst +those who spoke at the meeting were Francesco Monciatto, a wood carver, +who suggested that the statue should be erected in front of the Duomo, +where the block was originally meant to be set up; he was supported by the +painters Cosimo Rosselli and Sandro Botticelli. Giuliano da San Gallo +proposed to place it under the Loggia dei Lanzi, because "the imperfection +of the marble, which is softened by exposure to the air, renders the +durability of the statue doubtful." Messer Angelo de Lorenzo Manfidi +(second herald) objected because it would break the order of certain +ceremonies held in the Loggia. Leonardo da Vinci followed San Gallo; he +did not think it would injure the ceremonies. Salvestro, a jeweller, and +Filippino Lippi supported Piero di Cosimo, who proposed that the precise +spot should be left to the sculptor who made it, "as he will know better +how it should be." Michael Angelo elected to have his David set up on the +steps of the Palazzo Vecchio, on the right side of the entrance. Its +effect in that position may be well seen, appropriately enough, in a +picture by the same Piero di Cosimo (No. 895), in the National Gallery, +where the Piazza della Signoria forms the background to a portrait of a +man in armour. Il Cronaca, Antonio da San Gallo, Baccio d'Agnolo, Bernardo +della Cecca, and Michael Angelo were associated in the task of +transporting the giant from the workshop near the Duomo to the Piazza +della Signoria. It was encased in planks and suspended upright from great +beams. "On May 14, 1504, the marble giant was dragged from the Opera. It +came out at twenty-four o'clock, and they broke the wall above the door +enough to let it pass. That night some stones were thrown at the Colossus +with intent to injure it; a watch had to be set over it at night, and it +made way very slowly, bound as it was upright, suspended so that the feet +were off the ground by enormous beams with much ingenuity. It took four +days to reach the Piazza, arriving on the 18th at the hour of twelve. More +than forty men were employed to make it go, and there were fourteen logs +to go beneath it, which were changed from hand to hand. Afterwards they +worked until June 8, 1504, to place it on a pedestal 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 Michael Angelo Buonarroti."(81) The +great marble David stood in the Piazza three hundred and sixty-nine years; +it was removed to the hall of the Accademia delle Belle Arti in 1873 for +its better preservation. It has suffered very little from its exposure in +the fine air of Florence, but the left arm was broken by a huge stone +thrown during the tumults of 1527. Giorgio Vasari and his friend Cecchino +Salviati collected the broken pieces and brought them to the house of +Michael Angelo Salviati, father of Cecchino. They were carefully put +together and restored to the statue in 1543. The David was the first work +by Michael Angelo that displayed the awe-inspiring quality known as his +_Terribilita_; from the fierce frown of the brow to the sharp, strained +forms of the feet and toes there is an expression of strenuous force +struggling against an almost overwhelming power. The force of the David +may succeed against Goliath; but in Michael Angelo's later works the +struggle always appears to be a hopeless one, nobly as his Titans fight +against fate and omnipotence. The face of the David is a development of +the Saint George of Or San Michele, by Donatello, and the figure is of the +same type, only this triumphant boy of Michael Angelo's shows a more exact +study of the antique than the naturalistic work of his master. In +Donatello the planes are given as flat, and their junctions are sharp and +hard; in Michael Angelo they are carefully rounded and finished with the +grace of the antique and of life. The details of the head, although so +high up, are so absolutely perfect that the separate features have been, +and are still, the models set before all students of art when they first +begin to study the human figure, and they are known as _the_ nose, _the_ +eye, _the_ ear, and _the_ mouth. We have noticed that the young student is +more interested in his work when he is told that they are the features of +_the_ David. Michael Angelo carved his giant without modelling a full-size +clay figure first, but with the guidance of drawings and small wax models +about eighteen inches high only, carving the figure out of the block in +the way that is so well seen in the unfinished Saint Matthew in the court +of the Accademia delle Belle Arti, in Florence. There are two small wax +models of the David in the Casa Buonarroti at Florence, said to be Michael +Angelo's designs for this figure, but they are of very doubtful authority. +Later in his life he is said to have worked from full-sized models, as +Benvenuto Cellini tells us in his _Trattati dell' Oreficeria_, &c.(82) +Vasari tells the story of how Michael Angelo contented the Gonfaloniere +and silenced his criticism of the David: "While still surrounded by the +scaffolding Pier Soderini inspected the statue, which pleased him +immensely, and when Michael Angelo was re-touching it in parts, Soderini +said to him that the nose appeared to him too big. Michael Angelo, knowing +that the Gonfaloniere was close under the statue and that from this point +of view the truth was not to be discerned, mounted the scaffolding, which +was as high as the shoulder of the giant, and quickly took a chisel in his +left hand with a little of the marble dust from the platform and began to +let fall a little of it at each touch of the tool, but he did not alter +the nose from what it was before; then he looked down to the Gonfaloniere, +who stood watching below: 'Look at it now,' said Michael Angelo. 'I like +it better. You have given it life,' said the Gonfaloniere," rubbing the +dust out of his eyes. + + + +On August 12, 1502, Michael Angelo undertook another commission for the +Republic--another giant David. This time it was to be in bronze, two cubits +and a quarter in height; in the casting he was to be assisted by Benedetto +da Rovezzano. It has been suggested that the pen and ink drawing in the +Louvre is a design for this second David, but the drawing of an arm on the +same sheet is so like the right arm of the first David that it is more +probably an early idea for the first David, in which we see that Michael +Angelo's design needed more room than the cramped block of marble allowed; +it makes us wonder the more at the marvellous freedom of action that he +managed to get out of the cramped stone. The bronze David was intended for +the French statesman, Pierre de Rohan, Marechal de Gie, as a present from +the Florentine Republic, but before it was finished the Marechal fell into +disgrace and could be of no further use to the Florentines. The Signory +therefore determined to send the bronze to Florimond Robertet, Secretary +of Finance to the French King. A minute of the Signory dated November 6, +1508, informs us that the bronze David, weighing about 800 pounds, had +been "packed in the name of God," and sent to Signa on its way to Leghorn. +Florimond Robertet placed it in the courtyard of his chateau of Bury, near +Blois. It remained there for more than a hundred years, then it was +removed to the chateau of Villeroy, and disappeared no one knows whither. + + + +On April 24, 1503, the Consuls of the Arte della Lana and the Operai of +the Duomo ordered Michael Angelo to carve out of Carrara marble twelve +Apostles, each four and a quarter cubits high, to be placed inside the +church. One was to be finished each year, the Operai paying all expenses, +including the cost of living for the sculptor and his assistants, and +paying him two golden florins a month. They built a house and workshops +for him in the Borgo Pinti; it was designed by Il Cronaca. Michael Angelo +lived there rent free until it was evident that the contract could not be +carried out. He then hired it on a lease, but on June 15, 1508, the lease +of the house was transferred to Sigismondo Martelli. The St. Matthew, now +in the courtyard of the Accademia delle Belle Arti, in Florence, is the +only work we know of resulting from this commission. The apostle is just +emerging from the marble, and shows us Michael Angelo's method of work. +Vasari says: "At this time he also began a statue in marble of San Matteo +in the works of Santa Maria del Fiore, which, though but roughly hewn, +shows his perfections, and teaches sculptors how to carve figures from the +stone without maiming them, always gaining ground by cutting away the +waste stone, and being able to draw back or alter in case of need." The +deep chisel marks in the stone are sometimes as much as four inches long, +and their directions indicate that Michael Angelo worked equally well with +either hand, a fact confirmed by Raffaello de Montelupo in his +"Autobiographie."(83) "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, Michael Angelo 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." + + [Image #8] + + THE MADONNA AND CHILD, WITH THE CHILD SAINT JOHN + + THE BARGELLO, FLORENCE + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +The Florentine love of bas-relief explains to some extent their extreme +devotion to the tondo, or circular shape, in paintings and in sculptures. +According to Vasari, it was at this time that Michael Angelo carved two +tondi: one for Bartolommeo Pitti, now in the Bargello at Florence, and the +other for Taddeo Taddei, now at Burlington House, in the Diploma Gallery +of the Royal Academy, London. It was acquired by Sir George Beaumont, and +is the most valuable work the Academy possesses. If it were in an +out-of-the-way palace in Florence many of us would see it more frequently +than we do now, although we have only to climb a few steps to visit this +glorious work any day we are in Piccadilly. Both of these reliefs +represent the Madonna and Child, with the child St. John. The one in the +Bargello appears to be the earlier; the composition is very beautiful and +simple, and fills the circular space admirably. The Madonna is seated +facing the spectator, and looks out full towards him with an enigmatical +expression on her proud features; the Child stands beside her, His elbow +on her knee, as in the Bruges Madonna. The St. John is only roughly cut, +but the movement and forms are so well realised under the marble that one +does not wish for any further finish. In the Royal Academy tondo the +Madonna is seated more to the side of the circle, and is in profile; the +Child reclines upon her knee, clinging to her arm, startled but interested +by the little bird St. John has brought to show Him (a favourite motive +with Italian artists). The head and shoulders of the Madonna and the torso +of the Child Jesus are the only parts that are near completion, yet the +whole group is so much there that we do not ask for another touch; in +fact, the works of Michael Angelo were finished from the very first +strokes. The rough charcoal drawing upon the block of marble, could we see +it, would have been complete to us, only Michael Angelo could add anything +to it; and so it is with every fragment of stone or other piece of work by +his hand, from the lightest charcoal drawing to the great marble fragments +in the grotto of the Boboli Gardens. They are complete to us; the thing he +thought is there, and the art is there, and we are satisfied. + + [Image #9] + + THE HOLY FAMILY + + THE UFFIZI, FLORENCE + (_Reproduced by permission from a photograph by Sig. D. Anderson, Rome_) + + +Another tondo executed about this time is the painting now in the Uffizi, +the only easel picture known with certainty to be by the hand of Michael +Angelo. This Holy Family, with naked shepherds in the background, was +painted for Angelo Doni, the same man whose portrait was painted by +Raphael. Vasari says that Michael Angelo asked seventy ducats for the +work, but that Doni only offered forty when the picture was delivered. +Michael Angelo sent word that he must pay a hundred or send back the +picture. Doni offered the original seventy; but Michael Angelo replied +that if he was bent on bargaining, he should not pay less than one hundred +and forty. In this composition the Madonna is seated upon the ground, +forming a pyramid, of which the heads of Joseph and the Child form the +apex; her lithe and strong form has a Greek loveliness as she turns +quickly and receives the beautiful Child on to her shoulder from the arms +of Joseph. Never in any painting have the drawing and modelling of the +human figure been so perfectly executed as in the figure of this Child and +the arms of the Madonna; the hands and feet are modelled with the delicacy +of a Flemish miniature, and at the same time have a beauty and suavity of +modelling and a magnificent choice of line altogether Italian. On either +side of the central triangle the spaces between it and the circumference +of the tondo are filled by the introduction of the infant St. John and +some nude shepherds; the landscape background is austere as the mountain +tops of some primeval world where such titanic beings as these of Michael +Angelo's alone could dwell. The old painters loved to decorate their +Madonna pictures with all the most beautiful things they could think of, +or most loved. The Florentines with fair and pleasant gardens; the +Umbrians with spacious colonnades, distant landscapes, and rare skies; the +Venetians with fruits and garlands of foliage and fruit, and even +vegetables, if they had a particular regard for them, as Crivelli had for +the cucumber. One painter only before this time decorated his pictures +with nude human figures, Luca Signorelli. Michael Angelo may have seen a +Madonna of his, with two nude figures in the background, executed for +Lorenzo de' Medici, and now hung in the Gallery of the Uffizi. Michael +Angelo, who knew the beauty of the human form better than any one, would +never be content to decorate his tondo with any less beautiful offering +after seeing this picture by Signorelli. The tondo form was a favourite +one with Signorelli. His two pictures of this shape in Florence perhaps +helped Michael Angelo in the three compositions we have been considering; +and this is the only debt Michael Angelo owes to the Umbrian painter. +Their way of looking at the nude and their ideals of its beauty are so +absolutely different, the one from the other, that possibly the Florentine +could hardly bear to look at the work of the Umbrian. + + + + [Image #10] + + THE CARTOON OF PISA + + FROM THE MONOCHROME AT HOLKHAM HALL + (_By permission of the Earl of Leicester_) + + +In August 1504, Michael Angelo was commissioned to prepare cartoons for +the decoration of a wall in the Sala del Gran Consiglio in the Palazzo +Vecchio, opposite the wall for which Leonardo da Vinci was already +preparing designs. Michael Angelo had a workshop given him in the Hospital +of the Dyers at San Onofrio, under the date October 31, 1504; a minute of +expenditure shows that paper for the cartoon was provided. Leonardo's +design was the famous "Fight for the Standard." Michael Angelo chose an +episode from the war with Pisa, when, on July 28, 1364, a band of four +hundred Florentines were surprised bathing in the Arno by Sir John +Hawkwood (Giovanni Acuto) and his cavalry, then in the service of the +Pisans, a subject that enabled Michael Angelo to express his delight in +the beauty of the human form, and his power of drawing and foreshortening +the naked limbs of the bathers as they hurry out of the river and don +their armour at the sound of the alarm. This great central work of Michael +Angelo's prime has disappeared, and we must be very careful in studying it +to allow for the weakness of the work of the copyists and engravers who +preserved what little record of it is left for us, especially in the +drawing of the nude. If we compare the vault of the Sistine Chapel with +the contemporary engravings we shall be able to estimate the enormous +difference between the cartoon, which may have been the greatest work of +art produced in Italy, and the copies of it that exist. The most complete +copy of the cartoon is the monochrome painting belonging to the Earl of +Leicester, at Holkham Hall. There is a sketch of the whole composition in +the Albertina Gallery at Vienna, and the line engraving by Marc Antonio +Raimondi of three principal figures with a foolish Italian rendering of a +German engraved landscape in the background, utterly destroying what +little Michael Angelesque dignity the engraver was able to get into the +figures, with his poor knowledge of the nude. The best remnants we have +are some few of Michael Angelo's own studies from the nude, done +especially for this composition; they are full of the power, vigour, and +naturalism peculiar to this period, rude forms hacked out of the paper +with a broad pen, altered with charcoal, chalk, white paint, or anything +handy and effective; from them we must try and imagine the power, breadth +and dignity of the great composition. The work was done upon ordinary +paper, stretched over canvas or linen fixed on a wooden frame, like the +few cartoons by the great masters that have come down to us. The outlines +were usually pricked, and when finished the cartoon was cut into +convenient sizes for pouncing on the wall or other foundation upon which +the picture was to be painted, unless the artist took the precaution of +putting a plain piece of paper under the original drawing and pricking +both together and transferring the outlines by the aid of the second +sheet. These cut-up cartoons became the property of the whole workshop, +and were used by the pupils when they wished. No doubt the roughness of +this treatment soon destroyed many of them. Vasari, who cannot have seen +the Cartoon of Pisa, gives us a long, enthusiastic description of it, +ending with some helpful notes as to the materials with which it was +drawn, and an account of its effect upon contemporary artists. He +continues: "In addition, you discovered groups of figures sketched in +various methods, some outlined with charcoal, some shaded with lines, some +rubbed in, some heightened with white-lead, the master having sought to +prove his empire over all materials of draughtsmanship.(84) The craftsmen +of design remained therewith astonished and dumbfounded, recognising the +fullest 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 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 +Michael Angelo, 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 Grillandaio, Rafael Santio da Urbino, Francesco +Granaccio, Baccio Bandinelli, and Alonso Berugetta, the Spaniard; they +were followed by Andrea del Sarto, il Franciabigio, Jacomo Sansovino, il +Rosso, Maturino, Lorenzetto, Tribolo (then a boy), Jacomo da Puntormo, and +Pierin del Vaga, all of them first-rate masters of the Florentine school." + +Benvenuto Cellini's account is important, for he himself copied the +cartoon in 1513 just before it disappeared. He says: "Michael Angelo +portrayed a number of foot soldiers, who, the season being summer, had +gone to bathe in the Arno. He drew them at the moment the alarm is +sounded, and the men, all naked, rush 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 Leonardo 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 Michael Angelo in later life finished that great +chapel of Pope Julius, he never rose half-way to the same pitch of power; +his genius never afterwards attained to the force of those first studies." + +These years spent under the shadow of the Duomo, away from which no +Florentine is happy, working at his sculptures and drawings, were probably +some of the happiest years of Michael Angelo's whole life. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + + THE FIRST ACT OF THE TRAGEDY OF THE TOMB + + + [Image #11] + + MOSES + + THE TOMB OF JULIUS II. SAN PIETRO IN VINCOLI, ROME + (_By permission of Sig. Giacomo Brogi, Florence_) + + +The cartoon, The Apostles for the Duomo, and all these works, had to be +left unfinished, as Michael Angelo was summoned to Rome in the beginning +of 1505 by Pope Julius II. From this period Michael Angelo was the +servant, often the unwilling servant, of the Popes (his Medusa as he +said). Much of his time was wasted owing to the different dispositions and +likings of his patrons, yet we must be thankful to them for the +opportunities they gave him in their great undertakings. Now began what +Condivi called "The Tragedy of the Tomb"; the phrase is so apt that we +imagine he must have got it from Michael Angelo himself. Julius appears to +have appreciated his artist from the first; both were what the Italians +call _uomini terribili_, men whose brains worked with furious energy, +grand and formidable in their imaginations. Michael Angelo was packed off +to Carrara for marble as soon as his design was approved. There is a +contract signed by him and two shipowners of Lavagna, dated November 18, +1505. Thirty-four cartloads of marble were then ready for shipment, +together with two blocked-out figures. He probably left Carrara soon +afterwards, returning to Rome by way of Florence. The only authoritative +account of the original project of the Tomb is that of Condivi; Vasari's +account was not published until his second edition in 1558. The +architectural drawings, said to be designs for this Tomb, are of doubtful +authenticity; most of them are certainly not by Michael Angelo. We must +therefore study Condivi, who probably got the details from Michael Angelo +himself, though he, too, must have had great difficulty in recalling the +ideas of forty-eight years ago.(85) The plans for the new church of St. +Peter's, the largest church in Christendom, were altered to embrace this +huge monument, but a transept of the little church of San Pietro in +Vincoli gave ample space for the final scheme, when it was set up in 1545. +The only statues we know belonging to it by Michael Angelo are the Moses +and the two bound Slaves in the Louvre; the other six statues in San +Pietro in Vincoli were finished by assistants. The unfinished marble +figures so unworthily housed in the stupid rock-work grotto of the Boboli +Gardens, Florence, may have been for the Tomb, although their measurements +do not agree with the Slaves of the Louvre. How well these superlative +fragments would look in the corners of the Loggia dei Lanzi, or in the +courtyard of the Bargello. In the Bargello two groups, the Victory and the +Dying Adonis, may have been originally intended for the Tomb, but we +believe they have been finished and considerably altered by some later +workman; possibly they were only blocked out by Michael Angelo. The +movement of the figure and the position of the head have been altered in +the Victory, and the whole subject of the Adonis has been changed by the +introduction of the insignificant boar. Vasari tells us that in his time +there were, besides the Moses, Victory, and two Slaves, eight figures +blocked out by Michael Angelo at Rome, and five at Florence; possibly +these five at Florence were the four in the Boboli Gardens and an earlier +state of the Adonis. + + + +After his flight from Rome in 1506 Michael Angelo had some six months at +Florence, working on his cartoon in the workshop at the Spedale dei +Tintori. When he went to Julius at Bologna in November it was finished, +and was exhibited in the Sala del Papa at Santa Maria Novella. All this +time Bramante and his set had the Pope's ear in Rome. He has been accused +of suggesting that Michael Angelo should paint the vault of the Sistine +Chapel, in the hope that he would ignominiously fail in such an unusual +task; but we do not think we can thank Bramante even for that indirect +service, for Michael Angelo's friend, Pietro Rosselli, wrote on May 6, +1506:-- + + [Image #12] + +TWO OF THE UNFINISHED MARBLE STATUES IN THE GROTTO OF THE BOBOLI GARDENS, + FLORENCE + + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +"Dearest in place of a brother, after salutations and kind regards:--I +inform you how on Saturday evening, when the Pope was at supper, I showed +him certain designs that Bramante and I had to examine. When the Pope had +supped and I had showed them to him, he sent for Bramante and said to him: +'Sangallo goes to Florence and will bring Michael Angelo back with him.' +Bramante replied to the Pope, and said: 'Holy Father, he will do no such +thing, because I know Michael Angelo well enough, and he has told me many +a time that he will not undertake the Chapel, which you wanted to put upon +him; and that he intended to apply himself to sculpture all the time and +not to painting.' And he said: 'Holy Father, I believe that he has not +courage enough for it, because he has not painted many figures, and +especially as these will be high up and foreshortened; and that is quite +another thing to painting on the ground.' Then the Pope replied, and said: +'If he does not come he will do me wrong, so I think he will return +anyhow.' Upon this I up and abused him soundly there in the presence of +the Pope; and said what I believe you would have said for me, so that he +did not know what to reply, and he seemed to think he had made a mistake. +And I said further: 'Holy Father, he has never spoken to Michael Angelo, +and as to what he has now told you, if it be true may you cut my head off, +for he never did speak to Michael Angelo; and I believe he will return by +all means, whenever your Holiness desires.' And so the thing ended. I have +nothing more to tell you. God keep you from harm. If I can do anything for +you let me know; I will do it willingly. Remember me to Simone il +Pollaiuolo."(86) + +Bramante was not far wrong in what he said about vault painting. He +alluded to the method of foreshortening employed by his fellow countryman, +Melozzo da Forli, by which he made figures painted on domes and vaults +look as if they were suspended in the air really above the spectators, and +not simply a pattern painted on the surface of the plaster; this method +was perfected by Correggio, but was never practised successfully by a +Florentine. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + + THE COLOSSAL BRONZE FOR THE FACADE OF SAN PETRONIO + + +The Pope entered Bologna in triumph on November 11, 1506, after the +marvellous campaign by which he restored two rich provinces to the Church +with only five hundred men-at-arms and his twenty-four Cardinals. Less +than ten days afterwards he inquired for his artist. The Cardinal of Pavia +wrote an autograph letter to the Signory of Florence on the 21st, urgently +requesting that they would despatch Michael Angelo immediately to that +town, inasmuch as the Pope was impatient for his arrival, and wanted to +employ him on important works. On November 27 Soderini wrote to the +Cardinal of Pavia introducing Michael Angelo and praising the cartoon the +artist had to leave unpainted, and to the Cardinal of Volterra more +formally as follows:-- + + + "The bearer will be Michael Angelo, the sculptor, whom we send to + please and satisfy his Holiness our Lord. We certify your Lordship + that he is a worthy young man, and in his own art without a peer + in Italy; perhaps also in the universe. We cannot recommend him + too highly. He is of such a nature, that with good words and + kindness one can make him do anything. Show him love and show him + kindness, and he will do things that will make all who see them + wonder. We inform your Lordship that he has begun a story for the + Republic which will be admirable, and also XII Apostles, each + 4-1/2 to 5 braccia high, which will be remarkable. We recommend + him to your lordship as much as we can. + + "The XXVII of November, 1506."(87) + + +Michael Angelo says in his letter to Fattucci(88) that the portrait he now +modelled of Pope Julius was in bronze, sitting, about seven cubits in +height.(89) At the end of the two years that it took him to finish the +work he had to cast it twice. He says. "I found that I had four and a half +ducats left. I never received anything more for this work; and all the +moneys paid out during the said two years were the 1000 ducats with which +I promised to cast it." Michael Angelo worked in the Stanza del Pavaglione +behind the Cathedral; he employed three assistants, from Florence--Lapo +Antonio di Lapo, a sculptor; Lodovico del Buono, called Lotti, a founder; +and Pietro Urbano, a man who worked for him for a long time. His way of +life was frugal and sordid in the extreme. In his letter to his brother +Buonarroto he says(90):-- + + + "With regard to Giovansimone coming here, I do not advise it as + yet, for I am lodged in one wretched room, and have bought one + single bed, in which we all four of us sleep. And I shall not be + able to receive him suitably. But if he will come all the same, + let him wait till I have cast the figure I am doing, and I will + send away Lapo and Lodovico who are helping me, and I will send + him a horse so that he may come decently and not like a beggar. No + more. Pray to God for me that things may go well. + + "MICHAEL ANGELO, Sculptor, in Bologna." + + +Another letter tells of a visit from the Pope, troubles with his workmen, +and his usual generosity to his brothers and father. + + + "_To_ BUONARROTO DI LODOVICO SIMONE, _in Firenze_(91) + + "To be delivered at the shop of Strozzi, wool merchant, in the + street of the Porta Rossa. + + "BUONARROTO,--I hear by one of yours how things went about the + little farm; it is a great comfort to me and pleases me well, if + it is a sure thing. Of the affairs of Baronciello I am well + informed, and from what I understand it is a much more serious + thing than you make out; and for my part, it not being to my + taste, I do not ask it. We are all obliged to do all we can for + Baronciello, and so we will, especially everything that is in our + power. You must know that on Friday evening at twenty-one o'clock + Pope Julius came to my house where I work, and stayed about half + an hour while I was at work; then he gave me the benediction, and + went away, and showed himself well pleased with what I am doing. + For all this we must thank God heartily; and so I beg you to do, + and pray for me. I inform you further, how that on Friday morning + I sent away Lapo and Lodovico, who were with me. Lapo I dismissed + because he is good for nothing and a rogue, and would not serve + me. Lodovico is better, and I would have kept him another two + months; but Lapo, so as not to be the only one blamed, so + corrupted him that they both had to go. I write this not because I + care for them, for they are not worth three halfpence between + them, but because, if they come to talk to Lodovico, he must not + be surprised. Tell him by no means to lend them his ears; and if + you want to know about them go to Messer Agnolo, the Herald of the + Signoria, for I have written all the story to him, and he, out of + his kindness, will relate it to you. Of Giovansimone I have heard. + I shall be pleased if he goes to the shop of your master and is + careful to do his best; and so comfort him, because, if all goes + well, I have hopes of placing you both in a good position, if you + will be discreet. About that land which is beside that of Mona + (92) Zanobia, if Lodovico likes it, tell him to see about it and + let me know. I think, according to what is rumoured here, the Pope + will leave about the time of Carnival. + + "The first day of February, 1506. + + "MICHAEL ANGELO DI LODOVICO + "DI BUONARROTA SIMONI, + "Sculptor, in Bologna." + + +Notwithstanding this warning, the silly old man, his father, wrote a +scolding letter to his son about the workmen. Michael Angelo's humble +reply was dated February 8, 1507.(93) + + + "MOST REVERED FATHER,--I have received a letter from you to-day, + from which I learn that you have been talked to by Lapo and + Lodovico. I am glad that you should rebuke me, because I deserve + to be rebuked as a miserable sinner, as much as any one, perhaps + more. But you must know that I have not been guilty in this affair + for which you blame me now." + + +He goes on to explain his dealings with the rogue Lapo. There is also +trouble about a sword-hilt(94) Michael Angelo had designed for Pietro +Aldobrandini. However, Aldobrandini objected that the blade was too short. +Michael Angelo affirmed that it was ordered exactly to the measure sent, +and bade his brother present it to Filippo Strozzi as a compliment from +the Buonarroti family; but the stupid fellow bungled it in some way, for +Michael Angelo writes to say that he is sorry "he behaved so scurvily +towards Filippo in so trifling an affair." + +Michael Angelo must have spent his spare time in studying the bas-reliefs +by Jacopo della Quercia upon the facade of San Petronio, for he used many +of the motives in his next great work, the Sistine vault. When the wax +model of the statue of Pope Julius was ready, Michael Angelo sent to +Florence for the ordnance founder to the Republic, Maestro dal Ponte, of +Milan, to cast it for him. This master's leave of absence was signed on +May 15, 1507. Just before the casting Michael Angelo wrote to Buonarroto:-- + + + "_To_ BUONARROTO DI LODOVICO SIMONI, _in Florence, at the Shop of_ + LORENZO STROZZI, _Wool Merchant, in Porta Rossa, Florence_. + + "BUONARROTO,--I have received yours by the hand of Master Bernardo, + who has arrived; by it I hear all are well except Giovansimone, + who has not yet recovered. I am very sorry, and it grieves me not + to be able to help him. But soon I hope to be with you, and I will + do something that will please him, and you others, too. Therefore + comfort him and tell him to be of good cheer. Tell Lodovico also + that about the middle of next month I hope to cast my figure + without fail; therefore, if he will offer prayers, or anything + else for its good success, let him do so betimes, and say I beg + this of him. I have no time to write more. Things go well. + + "The twenty-sixth day of May (1507). + + "MICHAEL ANGELO, in Bologna."(95) + + +At last, on July 1, it is done, but done badly; and he writes:-- + +To the same. + + + "BUONARROTO,--We have cast my figure, and it has come out so badly + that I truly believe I shall have to do it all again. I cannot + write all the particulars, because I have other things to think + of. Enough that it has come badly. Thanks be to God all the same, + because I believe everything is for the best. Before long I shall + know what I have to do and will write to you. Tell Lodovico about + it, and be of good cheer. And if it should be that I have to do it + all again, and that I am not able to return to you, I will find + means somehow to do what I have promised in the best way I can. + + "The first day of July. + + "MICHAEL ANGELO, in Bologna."(96) + + +He gives further details in his next letter:-- + + + "BUONARROTO,--Understand how that we have cast my figure. I have + not had much luck in it; for Master Bernardino, either by + ignorance or misfortune, did not sufficiently melt the bronze. How + it happened would be long to tell; it is enough that my figure has + come out up to the girdle; the rest of the stuff, that is to say + the metal, remained in the furnace; it was not melted; so that to + get it out I shall have the furnace taken to pieces, and that I am + doing now, and I will have it remade again this week. Next week I + will recast the upper part and finish filling the mould, and I + believe that this bad business will go very well, but not without + the greatest devotion, labour, and expense. I would have believed + that Master Bernardino could have cast it without fire, so much + faith had I in him; all the same, it is not that he is not a good + master and that he did not work with a will. But he who fails, + fails. And he has failed enough to my loss and his own, for he + blames himself so much that he cannot lift his eyes in Bologna. If + you see Baccio d'Agnolo read him this letter and ask him to tell + San Gallo, at Rome, and remember me to him and to Giovanni da + Ricasoli, and to Granaccio give my respects. I hope, if the thing + goes well, in from fifteen to twenty days to be through with it + and to return to you. If it should not go well, I should perhaps + have to do it again. I will tell you all. Let me know how + Giovansimone is. + + "The sixth day of July. (_No signature_.) + + "With this will be a letter to go to Rome for Giuliano da San + Gallo. Send it safely and as quickly as you can; but if he should + happen to be in Florence, give it to him."(97) + + +Again, to the same:-- + + + "BUONORROTO,--I hear by one of yours that you are well and happy. + It pleases me very much. My business here, I hope, will turn out + well after all, but as yet I know nothing. We have recast the + upper part which was wanting, as I informed you, but have not been + able to see how it has come, for the sand is so hot that we cannot + as yet uncover it. By next week I shall know and will tell you. + Master Bernardino left here yesterday. When he salutes you receive + him kindly enough. + + "The tenth day of July. + + "MICHAEL ANGELO, in Bologna."(98) + + +To the same, later (July 18, 1501):-- + + + "BUONARROTO,--My affairs might have turned out much better and also + much worse; at any rate, all of it is there as far as I can make + out, for it is not yet all uncovered. I estimate that it will take + some months to chase, for it has come out with a bad surface; all + the same, we must thank God! for, as I say, it might have been + worse. If anything is said to you by Salvestro del Pollaiolo(99) + or others, tell them that I do not need any one, so that no one + will be sent here to be on my shoulders, because I have spent so + much that there hardly remains enough for me to live on, let alone + keeping others. About next week I will let you know more when I + have uncovered the whole figure. + + "MICHAEL ANGELO, in Bologna."(100) + + +After several letters describing his labours, he writes, ultimately, to +the same:-- + + + "BUONARROTO,--I marvel you write to me so seldom. I am sure you + have much more time to write to me than I to write to you, so let + me hear often how things go. I understand by your last how, with + good reason, you wish me to return soon. It made me anxious for + several days; therefore, when you write to me, write strongly and + clearly what the matter is so that I may understand it--and enough. + Know that I desire to return soon even more than you desire it, + for I pass my life here in the greatest discomfort and with the + hardest labour, doing nothing but work day and night, and I have + endured so much fatigue and hardship that if I should have to go + through it again, I do not believe my life would hold out, for it + has been an enormous undertaking, and if it had been in any one + else's hands it would have come out very badly. But I believe the + prayers of some one have sustained me and kept me in health, for + all Bologna was of opinion that I should never finish it after it + was cast, and before also, when no one would believe that I should + ever cast it. Enough that I have brought it to a good end, but I + shall not quite have finished it by the end of this month, as I + hoped; but next month, at any rate, it will be done, and I will + return. So be all of good cheer, for I will do as I promised + whatever happens. Comfort Lodovico and Giovansimone for me and + write to me how Giovansimone does. Mind and learn to keep shop, so + that you will know how to do it when you need, which will be soon. + + "The tenth day of November. + + "MICHAEL ANGELO, in Bologna."(101) + + +He worked on until February, and wrote to the same:-- + + + "BUONARROTO,--It is now a fortnight since I expected to be with + you, for I thought that directly my figure was finished they would + place it. And now these people are dawdling and doing nothing; and + I have orders from the Pope not to leave until it is placed, so + that it seems to me I shall be prevented. I shall stay and look + after it all this week too; if there are no further orders I will + come away at all costs, without observing the command. With this + will be a letter to go to the Cardinal of Pavia, in which I reply + to him about it all, so that he cannot complain. So put it in a + cover and direct it to Giuliano da San Gallo on my part, and + desire him to deliver it with his own hand. + + "Di Bologna (the 18th day of February, 1508)."(102) + + +On February 21, 1508, the statue of Pope Julius II. was hoisted on to its +pedestal above the great central door of San Petronio. Alas! this work +which cost Michael Angelo a year and three months of hard, unremitting +labour only existed for about twice that period. It was destroyed by the +worst enemy of art--war. The Papal Legate fled from Bologna in 1511 and the +Bentivogli again entered the city. The people of their party dragged the +heavy bronze to the ground and broke it into pieces on December 30. The +broken fragments were sent to Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, who cast a +huge cannon with the metal, which the Italians, with their usual mocking +spirit, immediately called La Giulia. The Duke kept the head only, and +said he would not take its weight in gold for it; it weighed six hundred +pounds. This head has disappeared too; there is no drawing, engraving, or +any fragment to help us to reconstruct in our minds this mighty bronze; +only, perhaps, we may imagine that we have an echo of this Pope by Michael +Angelo when we turn our eyes from the bare front of San Petronio to the +niche on the Palazzo Comunale to the right of the square, where a bronze +Pope, Gregory XIII., stretches his hand to curse the iconoclastic people. +In the Piazza Dante, at Perugia, is the bronze statue of Pope Julius III., +by Vincenzio Dante, that makes us think of the master, and in Rimini a +mighty bronze form stretches out his right hand with a threatening +gesture. He, too, is a Pope--Paul V. + + [Image #13] + + THE CREATION OF THE SUN AND MOON, AND OF THE TREES AND HERBS + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence) + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + + THE VAULT OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL + + +Michael Angelo's work in Bologna well over, he returned to Florence upon +March 18, 1508, and hired his house at Borgo Pinti from the Operai del +Duomo, probably intending to proceed with the Twelve Apostles for that +church. Michael Angelo's father now emancipated his son from parental +control. The date of the document is March 13; it was entered in the State +Archives upon March 28. According to the law of Florence a son was not of +age until his father had executed this document. Michael Angelo appears to +have had the idea of settling in Florence at this time, but "his Medusa," +as he called the Pope, commanded the presence of his artist in Rome as +soon as he heard that the work at Bologna was finished. Michael Angelo +obeyed at once this time. We have a good account by his own hand of what +happened when he arrived in Rome, his famous letter to Fattucci, written +sixteen years later. + + + "_To_ SER GIOVAN FRANCESCO FATTUCCI, _in Rome_. + + "_From_ FLORENCE (_January_ 1524). + + "MESSER GIOVAN FRANCESCO,--You ask of me in your letter how my + affairs stood with Pope Julius. I tell you that I estimate that I + could demand payment and interest on it, to receive money rather + than give it. For when he sent for me to Florence, I believe it + was in the second year of his Pontificate, I had begun to decorate + the half of the Sala del Consiglio of Florence, that is to paint + it. I was to have had three thousand ducats for it, and the + cartoon was already completed, as was well known to all Florence, + so that they seemed to me half earned. And of the Twelve Apostles, + which I had still to do for Santa Maria del Fiore, one was + sketched out, as may still be seen; and I had carried thither the + greater part of the marbles. Pope Julius calling me away, I + received nothing for either undertaking. Afterwards, I being in + Rome with the said Pope Julius, he commissioned me to make his + tomb, into which was to go a thousand ducats' worth of marbles. He + paid me the money, and sent me to Carrara for them; there I stayed + eight months having them blocked out, and brought them almost all + to the piazza of St. Peter's; a part remained at the Ripa. After I + had paid the freightage of these said marbles the money received + for this work came to an end. I furnished the house I had on the + piazza of St. Peter's with beds and furniture with my own money, + on my hopes of the tomb, and sent for workmen from Florence (some + of whom are still living), and paid them with my own in advance. + By this time Pope Julius had changed his mind, and no longer + wished to have it done. I, not knowing this and going to him for + money, was chased from the room; and for this insult I immediately + left Rome, and everything I had in my house went to the bad; and + these marbles which I had bought lay on the piazza of St. Peter's + until the creation of Pope Leo; and on every side things went + wrong. Among other things that I can prove, two pieces, of four + braccia and a half each, on the Ripa were stolen from me by + Agostino Chigi, which had cost me more than fifty gold ducats; and + these could be claimed for, because there are witnesses. But to + return to the marbles. From the time that I went for them, and + that I remained at Carrara, until I was driven from the Palace, + was more than a year, for which period I never received anything, + and I paid out many tens of ducats. + + [Image #14] + + CREATION OF MAN + + SISTINE CHAPEL + (_By permission of Messrs. Braun, Clement & Co., in Dornach, + Alsace_) + + + "Afterwards, the first time Pope Julius went to Bologna, I was + obliged to take my courage in both hands and go there to beg his + pardon; then he ordered me to make his portrait in bronze, which + was seated, about seven braccia high. He asking me what it would + cost, I said I believed I could cast it for a thousand ducats, but + that it was not my art and that I could not promise. He replied to + me: 'Go to work and cast it until it come well, and we will give + you what will content you.' To be brief, it was cast twice. At the + end of the two years that I stayed there I found myself four + ducats and a half in pocket; and during that time I never received + anything for all the expenses that I had, except the thousand + ducats which I had said that I could cast it for; these were paid + me in several installments by Messer Antonio Maria da Legnia + (_me_), the Bolognese. + + "Having hoisted the figure on to the facade of San Petronio, and + returned to Rome, Pope Julius did not yet wish me to go on with + the tomb, but set me to paint the vault of Sisto, and we made an + agreement for three thousand ducats. The first design was for + twelve apostles in the lunettes, and for the rest certain + compartments filled with ornaments of the usual sort. + + "After beginning the said work it seemed to me it would be but a + poor thing. He asked me why? I told him, because they also were + poor. Then he gave me a new order to do what I would, and that he + would satisfy me, and that I was to paint down to the stories + below. When the vault was almost finished the Pope returned to + Bologna, where I went twice for money I needed, uselessly, and + lost all my time, until he returned to Rome. I returned to Rome + and set myself to work on the cartoons for the said vault, that + is, for the ends and sides of the said Chapel of Sisto, hoping to + have money to finish the work. I never could obtain anything; and + complaining one day to Messer Bernardo da Bibbiena and Attalante + how that I was unable to stay any longer in Rome, but that I must + go away, with the help of God, Messer Bernardo said to Attalante + that he must remember that he was to give me money in any case, + and he had two thousand ducats of the Chamber given to me, which + are the moneys, with that first thousand for marbles, that they + put to the account of the tomb; and I estimate that I should have + more for the time lost and the work done. And of the said moneys, + Messer Bernardo and Attalante having obtained it for me, I gave to + the one a hundred ducats, to the other fifty. + + "Then came the death of Pope Julius, and in the first years of + Leo, Aginensis, wishing to enlarge the tomb, that is, to make a + greater work than the design I had at first prepared, we made a + contract, and I not wishing the said three thousand ducats I had + received to be put to the account of the tomb, and showing that I + ought to have much more, Aginensis said to me that I was a + swindler."(103) + + + [Image #15] + + CREATION OF MAN + + DETAIL, SISTINE CHAPEL + + +The preliminary works for the vault of the Sistine Chapel were carried on +without delay, and there is a note in Michael Angelo's hand, saying: "I +record how on this day, the tenth of May, in the year one thousand five +hundred and eight, I, Michael Angelo, Sculptor, have received from the +Holiness of our Lord Pope Julius II. five hundred 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 Chapel of +Pope Sisto, on which I begin to work this 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 a-piece, on this condition, that is to say, that when they are here +and are working in accord with me, the said twenty ducats shall be +reckoned to each man's salary; the said salary to begin upon the day they +leave Florence to come here. And if they do not agree with me, half the +said money shall be paid them for their travelling expenses and for their +time."(104) + +From this important record we learn that Michael Angelo, who still calls +himself "sculptor," intends to engage five painter assistants, and very +wisely arranges terms by which he can send them away if he does not get on +with them, and also that he began to work upon May 10, 1508. This must not +be taken to mean that he began to paint, but only to prepare the vault by +carefully pointing the bricks and covering it with rough cast plaster +ready for the fine coat called intonaca, in this case made of marble dust +and Roman lime, prepared each day and plastered on the wall in patches +sufficient for one day's work only. In true fresco painting the colour is +put on the plaster only whilst it is still wet. Michael Angelo must also +have prepared a general scheme to scale from his small design, approved by +the Pope, and set it off with very careful measurements on the surface of +the rough cast, at least as to the architectural framework. The cartoons +for the figure-subjects and details he may have left until they were +needed. He considerably altered the scale of the figures in his stories as +he proceeded with the work; this alteration in scale is not only +observable in the central subjects or pictures of the vault, but also in +the decorative figures on the framework, called Athletes; those at the +end, near the stories of Noah and the Flood, and where Michael Angelo +began to work, are at least a head smaller than those at the other end of +the chapel over the altar, where the stories relate to the Creation. This +can be seen even in a photographic reproduction. Although the development +of the great scheme was so much upon the traditional lines of Italian art, +yet the details of arrangement and placing must have fully occupied the +artist for some months. He cannot have begun actually to paint on the +vault until late autumn, at least, not any of the work we see now, for his +assistants did not arrive from Florence until August, and he had to +experiment with their work, and find it wanting, before he dismissed them, +destroyed their work, and began alone. All the work of the part of the +vault executed first is by Michael Angelo's own hand, as far as can be +judged from the floor of the chapel, or from the cornice level with the +windows. The following receipts for the plaster, or for rough-coating the +vault, show that painting cannot have begun so early as has been +assumed:(105) + + [Image #16] + + THE CREATION OF EVE + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + + + "In the name of God, the 11th day of May, 1508. + + "I, Piero di Jacopo Roselli, Master Mason, have this day received, + the 11th of May as above said, from Michael Angelo Bonaroti, + Sculptor, ten ducats in gold, full weight, on account of + 'Scialbatura' on the vault of Pope Sixtus, and for rough + plastering in his chapel, and doing that which was needful by + order of Pope Julius; and in faith of the truth I have done this + with my own hand, this day above said. Ducats 10 of gold, full + weight." + + +This payment was made by Michael Angelo. The second receipt of Rosselli +for fifteen ducats was made out on May 24, to Francesco Granacci, so he +was already in Rome, helping his friend. The next payment of ten ducats +was also made by Granacci on June 3, and another on June 10. On July 17 +Michael Angelo himself paid the mason; so Granacci had gone to Florence by +then to hire the other assistants. On July 27 Michael Angelo paid Rosselli +thirty golden ducats, full weight, for rough plastering and other details. +The amount paid, and the time taken, go to prove that the whole vault was +plastered. Granacci(106) wrote from Florence about the assistants. Heath +Wilson gives a literal translation of his rather bewildering letter. + + + "VERY DEAR FRIEND,--I recommend myself and wish you infinite + health. This is to your Excellency, as to-day I met Raffaelino, + the painter, and gathered from him in fine that if you have need + of him he will come at your bidding, should you be pleased to pay + him the salary which he has received from the Master Pietro Matteo + d'Amelia, who, he says, gave him ten ducats a month. Ever faithful + to your Excellency, I give the advice as from myself. If you have + need to employ him, offer him your amount of salary; he is ready + to do what you may command as to work. He is a good master and + honest. And if for me there is anything, advise me, for I am + always here to do for you those things which are useful and + honourable. If I can do one thing more than another let me know; I + will do it with love and solicitude. Nothing more. Christ have you + in his keeping. _Bene Valeti_. + + "This day, 22nd of July, 1508. + + "YOURS, + "FRANCESCO GRANACCI. + + "If you can employ me as above is said, I shall be willing to be + with you. Nothing more. + + "GIOVANNI MICHI, + "San Lorenzo, Florence + "(Faithful service and honest man). + + "Directed to the Excellent Master + Michael Angelo, Florence, at + St. Peter's, Sculptor, Rome. + + "Given from the Bank of Baldassare in Campo di Fiore." + + + [Image #17] + + THE EXPULSION + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_By permission of Messrs. Braun, Clement & Co., in. Dornach, Alsace_) + + +Neither Raffaellino del Garbo nor Giovanni Michi were employed, but the +next letter of Granacci, dated July 24, 1508, mentions Giuliano +Buggiardini and Jacopo L'Indaco, who were both tried. Vasari informs us +that Granacci, Jacopo di Sandro, and the elder Indaco, Agnolo di Donnino, +and Aristotile da Sangallo also accepted work. We have another proof that +the actual fresco painting did not begin at this period, in a document +preserved in the National Archives at Florence. Heath Wilson obtained +legal opinion that Michael Angelo must have been in Florence in person +when this deed was executed. It runs: "In the year of our Lord, 1508, on +the 11th day of August, Michael Angelo, the son of Ludovico Lionardo di +Buonarroto, cancelled his lawful claim upon the estate of his uncle +Francis by a deed drawn up by Ser Giovanni di Guasparre da Montevarchi, +Florentine notary, on the 27th of the month of July, 1508." Another +instance of Michael Angelo's generosity to his family. If Michael Angelo +at once proceeded to Rome, he and his assistants may have begun work +towards the end of August. During all this period we must notice how +troubled he was by the affairs of his family and his household +arrangements. Michael Angelo, while living like a poor man in Rome, sent +money to, and purchased land for, his family in Florence, and helped to +establish Buonarroto in business, but they were never satisfied, and his +letters to his father and Giovan Simone show how his mind was troubled. +There is a letter in the British Museum that belongs to this summer of +1508. + + + "MOST REVEREND FATHER,--I have learnt by your last how things go + with you, and how Giovan Simone behaves himself. I have not had + worse news for ten years than on the evening when I read your + letter, for I thought that I had arranged their affairs so that + they had reason to hope they would make a good shop with my aid. + Now, I see, they do the contrary, especially Giovan Simone. From + this I know that it is profitless to try and do him good. Had it + been possible on the day when I received your letter I should have + mounted on horseback and by this time should have settled + everything; but not being able to do so, I write him such a letter + as appears to me to be necessary, and if from now he does not + change his nature, or if ever he takes from the home so much as a + stick, or does anything to displease you, I pray you to let me + know, because I will obtain leave from the Pope to come to you, + when I shall show him his error. I wish you to be certain that all + the labours which I have continually endured have been more for + your sake than for my own, and the property which I have bought I + have bought that it may be yours whilst you live. Had it not been + for you I should not have bought it. Therefore, if it please you + to let this house or the farm, do so; and with that income and + with what I shall give you you will live like a gentleman. Were it + not that the summer were coming on I would say come and live with + me here, but it is not the season, for here in summer you would + not live long. It has occurred to me to take from him (Giovan + Simone) the money which he has in the shop, and to give it to + Gismondo, so that he and Buonarroto may get on together as well as + they can ... and if you let these said houses and the farm of the + Pazolatica, and with that income and with the help that I will + give you besides, you will take refuge in some place where you + will be comfortable, and you will be able to keep some one to + serve you either in Florence or outside Florence, and leave that + good-for-nothing ... I pray you to consider yourself, and in all + things whatever you wish to do--that is, for yourself in all you + desire--I will aid you all I know and can. Let me hear about + Cassandra's affairs. I am advised not to go to law about it here. + I am told that I shall spend here three times as much as there; + and this is certain, for a grosso goes further there than two + carlini here. Besides, I have no friend here to trust to, and I + could not attend to such things. It seems to me, when you desire + to attend to it, that you should go by the usual way, as reason + demands, and you must defend yourself as well as you are able and + know how; and for the money that is necessary to spend I will not + fail as long as I have any. Have as little fear as you can, for it + is not a case of life and death. No more. Let me know, as I told + you above. + + "From MICHAEL ANGELO, in Rome."(107) + + + [Image #18] + + THE DELUGE + + A DETAIL, SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_Reproduced by permission from a photograph by Sig. D. Anderson, Rome_) + + +Truly his family did all they could to disturb his mind during this +important period of the development of his greatest work. The mind that +wrote the following letter to Giovan Simone cannot have been in a good +state for work; but as he never lets a thought about his art appear in his +letters, so, no doubt, when once the mood of work was upon him, all other +thoughts were left without the workshop door: + + + "ROME, _July_ 1508. + + "GIOVAN SIMONE,--It is said that when one does good to a good man + it makes him become better, but a bad man becomes worse. I have + tried now many years 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 bad man, + but you are of such sort that you have ceased to please 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 + on you. To cut the matter short, I will tell you for a certain + truth 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. Enough, I + tell you that you have nothing in the world; and if I hear the + least thing about your goings on, I will come post-haste and show + you your error, 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 let you know on what false + grounds you found your pride. + + "I have something else to say to you which I have not said before. + If you will endeavour to live rightly, and to honour and revere + your father, I will help you like the rest, and make you able + shortly to open a good shop. If you do not do so, I shall come and + settle your affairs in such a fashion that you will know what you + are better than you ever did, and will understand what you have in + the world, and it will be seen in every place where you may go. No + more. What I lack in words I will supply with deeds. + + "MICHAEL ANGELO, in Rome. + + [Image #19] + + ATHLETE + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + + "I cannot refrain from adding two lines. It is this: I have gone + these twelve years past, drudging about through all Italy, borne + every shame, suffered every hardship, worn my body in every toil, + put my life into a thousand dangers, solely to help the fortunes + of my house, and now that I have begun to raise it up a little, + you alone choose to destroy and ruin in one hour all that I have + done in so many years, and with such labours. By Christ's body + this shall not be! for I am the man to confound ten thousand such + as you whenever it be needed. Be wise in time then, and do not try + one who has other things to vex him." + + +So with hindrances enough, private and public, we must imagine the great +artist climbing his scaffolding to the vault of the Pope's chapel, +followed by his assistants, and setting them their task, transferring his +full-size outline cartoons, prepared from the general designs, to the +roof. We may fancy L'Indaco, Buggiardini, and the rest, staring with +amazement at the huge figures and the great flowing lines before them, and +trying to fit their dry manner of painting to the new grandeur of design. +It could but end in one way. The clause prepared beforehand by Michael +Angelo in the contracts came into effect, and they had to be sent away, +with plenty of grumbling on their part, no doubt. Michael Angelo was too +exacting in the perfection of his taste to allow any work short of the +absolute ideal he had imagined. Unlike Raphael, who was working in the +neighbouring stanze, and who was contented to pass, and some would have us +believe to execute, ill-turned foreshortenings and false drawing, so long +as his general effect was preserved and the work done in reasonable time. +Perhaps his gentle and sunlike genius could not bear to use harsh words +and shut the door against the mediocre men with whom he was surrounded. +Michael Angelo could brook no imperfection of whatever kind, so that he +destroyed all that his assistants had done and shut himself up alone in +the chapel. He was the only man who could do the work to his satisfaction; +so he did it, alone and unaided, as to the actual painting, and produced a +work unequalled in perfection since Phidias worked in Athens. + + + +The dismissal of his assistants appears to have begun about the New Year +1509. It is hinted at in this letter:-- + + + "DEAREST FATHER,--I have to-day received one of yours. When I read + it I was sufficiently displeased. I doubt that you are more timid + and fearful than you need be. I should like you to tell me what + you imagine they can do to you, that is, if it should come to the + worst. I have no more to say. It grieves me that you should be in + such fear, so I comfort you by advising you to be well prepared + against their power, with good advice, and then think no more + about it; for if they took away all you have in the world you + should not lack means to be comfortable as long as I was there. + Therefore be of good cheer. I am still in a great quandary, for it + is now a year since I received a groat from the Pope, and I do not + ask for it, for my work does not go forward in such a fashion as + to deserve it, as it seems to me. And this is because of the + difficulty of the work, and also that it is not my profession. And + so I lose my time fruitlessly. God help me. If you are in need of + money go to the Spedalingo(108) and make him give you anything up + to fifteen ducats, and let me know what remains. Jacopo,(109) the + painter whom I brought here, has just left, and as he has been + grumbling here about my doings, I expect he will grumble there + also. Turn a deaf ear to him. It is enough. For he is a thousand + times in the wrong. I have good reason to complain of him. Take no + notice of him. Tell Buonarroto that I will reply to him another + time. + + "The day twenty 7 of January. + + "MICHAEL ANGELO, in Rome."(110) + + + [Image #20] + + ATHLETE + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +Buggiardini appears to have fared better than L'Indaco. He painted a +portrait of Michael Angelo with a towel tied round his head like a turban, +now in the Casa Buonarroti, at Florence. From the age of the sitter it +appears to belong to this period; the towel may have been used to protect +the hair and head of the artist from falling colour as he painted the roof +above him. It is an energetic head, with jet black hair and sallow +complexion, with many lines and wrinkles for so young a face, determined, +sad, and scornful in expression; a slight weakness and affectation may be +due to the personality of the painter. Buggiardini also executed a +painting from the cartoon of the master, the Madonna and Child with +Angels, number 809, of the National Gallery. The beauty and grandeur of +the lines of this design are far above the imagination of any one except +Michael Angelo, but the details of the execution of the hands and the feet +are inferior to any authentic work of his. The hatchings in the shadows, +especially of the draperies, are made up of short and feeble lines, and do +not express the form of the folds at all in the same way as we are +accustomed to see Michael Angelo express them, even in his earlier +drawings, the copies from Giotto and the primitives. The form of the +mouths, and the expression and shape of the heads, especially in the +second angel on the right, are similar to the work of Buggiardini as seen +in Florence, Milan, and the Cathedral of Pisa. Buggiardini is the only one +of the assistants who seems to have reaped any benefit, beyond their +wages, from the work they did for the great master. This trouble with his +assistants was not the only difficulty that Michael Angelo had to contend +with in the execution of his work. Vasari says that he shut himself alone +in the chapel, without any one to help him even in the grinding of his +colours; but, as he adds, that he took great precautions to prevent the +workmen informing the public as to what he was doing, we must assume that +Vasari was repeating a fable that had grown up about the marvellous work +forty years after it was executed, much as we might at this day repeat +stories of the making of the Wellington Monument by Alfred Stevens. The +carpenters and plasterers Michael Angelo employed would soon learn to +perform the more mechanical part of his work, such as laying the intonaco, +pricking the cartoons, and grinding colours, and as they could not have +inserted into the work any tradition contrary to the new manner of the +artist, would be preferred by him to second-rate artist assistants; no +doubt, too, the boy he employed in household work would be made to help. +The trouble he had in his household arrangements before the time of his +trusted servant, Urbino, may be illustrated by a letter relating to the +boy he got from Florence about this time. He never would have a woman to +work for him in any way. + + [Image #21] + + ATHLETE + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + + "_To_ LODOVICO DI BUONARROTA SIMONI, _in Florence_. + + "ROME (_January_ 1510). + + "MOST REVERED FATHER,--I answered you about the business of + Bernardino, as I wished first to settle the affairs of my + household as you know, and so I now reply to you. I sent first for + him because I was promised that within a few days he would be + ready and that I might get to work. Afterwards I saw that it would + be a long business; in the meantime I am seeking another suitable + one to get out of it. I won't have any work done until I am ready, + but tell him how the matter stands. About the boy who came, that + rascal of a muleteer did me out of a ducat. He took an oath that + he had agreed for two broad golden ducats, and all the lads who + come here with the muleteers do not give more than ten carlinos. I + was more angry than if I had lost twenty-five ducats, because I + see it is the fault of the father, who wanted to send him on + muleback in state. Oh! I had never such good fortune! not I. + Although the father declared, and the son likewise, that he would + do anything, attend to the mule, and sleep on the ground if + necessary; and now I have to look after him. Did I need any more + bothers than I have had since my return? Here I have my boy, whom + I left here, ill since the day I returned until now. He is now + better it is true, but he has been between life and death, given + up by the doctors, so that for about a month I have not been in + bed, let alone many others. Now I have this nuisance of a boy, who + says, and says again, that he does not want to lose time, that he + must learn. And he told me that he would be satisfied with two or + three hours a day. Now all day is not enough, so that he will be + drawing all night also. These are counsels of the father. If I say + anything he would declare that I did not wish him to learn. I want + some one to mind the house, and if he did not feel like doing it + they should not have put me to this expense. But they are no good, + no good at all, and are working for their own ends; but enough. I + beg you to have him taken away from before me, for he annoys me so + much that I cannot stand him any longer. The muleteer has had so + much money that he can very well take him back again; he is a + friend of his father's. Tell the father to send for him. I'll not + give him another farthing, for I have no money, I will have + patience until he sends for him, and if he is not sent for I will + turn him out, for I have done so already, on the second day after + his arrival and other times as well, and he won't believe it. + + "For the business of the shop I will send you a hundred ducats + next Saturday. With this, if you see that they are diligent and do + well, give it to them and make me their creditor, as I was to + Buonarroto when he went away. If they are not diligent, and do + badly, place it to my account at Santa Maria Nuova. It is not yet + time to buy. + + "Your MICHAEL ANGELO, in Rome. + + "If you are speaking to the father of the boy, put the matter + nicely, mannerly; that he is a good lad, but too genteel, and that + he is not fit for my work, and that he must send for him."(111) + + + [Image #22] + + ATHLETE + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +The more gentle tone of the postscript is very characteristic. Outwardly +he would be rough, consumed with anger and indignation; but inwardly his +nature was kindly to a degree to those he had about him. + +Condivi tells us of the delay in the works in the Sistine due to the mould +on the surface of the fresco, and of the haste of Julius. The progress was +fast enough, one would have thought, even for that exacting Pontiff; for +although the whole work consists, on counting heads, of some three hundred +and ninety-four figures, the majority ten feet high; the prophets and +sibyls, twelve in number, would be eighteen feet high if they stood up; +yet by the following letters to his brother Buonarroto, of October 1509, +we know he had finished the first half, consisting probably of some two +hundred figures, even then; or assuming that he began to paint when the +assistants were dismissed in January 1509, he worked at the rate of about +a figure a day. + + + _To_ BUONARROTO DI LODOVICO DI BUONARROTA, _in Florence_. + + _From_ ROME, _the 17th of October, 1509._ + + "BUONARROTO,--I got the bread: it is good, but it is not good + enough to make a trade of, for there would be little gain. I gave + the knave five carlini, and he would hardly hand it over. I learn + by your last how Lorenzo(112) will pass this way, and how I am to + give him a good reception. It appears you do not know how I am + situated here, all the same I excuse you. What I can do, I will. + About Gismondo and how he intends to come here to advance his + business, tell him from me not to have any designs on me, not + because I do not love him as a brother, but because I am unable to + help him in anything. I am obliged to love myself more than + others, and I have not enough for my own needs. I live here in + great distress and with the greatest fatigue of body, and have not + a friend of any sort, and do not want one, and have not even + enough time to eat necessary food; therefore, do not annoy me any + more, for I cannot bear another ounce. + + For the shop I encourage you to be careful. It pleases me to hear + that Giovanni Simone begins to do well. Endeavour to advance a + little, or, at least, maintain what you have got, so that you will + know how to manage larger affairs afterwards; for I have a hope, + when I return to you, that you will be men enough to manage for + yourselves. Tell Lodovico that I have not replied to him because I + had not the time, and not to wonder if I do not write. + + "MICHAEL ANGELO, Sculptor, in Rome."(113) + + +To the same. + + + _From_ ROME (_Oct. 1509_). + + "BUONARROTO,--I hear by your last how that all are well, and how + Lodovico has another office. It all pleases me, and I encourage + him to accept it if it will allow him to return when necessary to + his post in Florence. I am here just as usual, and shall have + finished my painting by the end of next week, that is, the part of + it I began; and when I have uncovered it I believe I shall receive + my money, and I will endeavour again to get leave to come to you + for a month. I do not know whether it will be, but I need it for I + am not very well. I have no time to write more. I will tell you + what happens. + + "MICHAEL ANGELO, Sculptor, in Rome."(114) + + + [Image #23] + + THE DELPHIC SIBYL + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_Reproduced by permission from a photograph by Sig. D. Anderson, Rome_) + + +The work was exposed to view upon November 1, 1509. So at the longest +possible estimate of time from May 10, 1508, to November 1, 1509, Michael +Angelo took four hundred and sixty-two working days to paint it. The more +probable, in fact, almost certain estimate of the time occupied in +painting the fresco, as we now see it, is from the time his assistants +left him, about New Year's Day 1509, to November 1 in the same year, or +two hundred and thirty-four working days. As the plaster could only be +painted on whilst wet, we can tell, by the marks of the divisions between +the separate days' plasterings, how many days the larger individual +figures took. One of the largest and most prominent, as well as one of the +finest and most finished, the Adam in the Creation of Man, was painted in +three sittings only. The lines of the junctions of the plaster may be seen +in a photograph; one is along the collar bone, and one across the junction +of the body and the thighs. There is also a division all round the figure, +an inch or so from the outline, so we know that the beautiful and highly +finished head and neck were painted in one day; the stupendous torso and +arms in another; and the huge legs, finished in every detail, in a third. +Such power of work and of finish is utterly inconceivable to any artist of +to-day. Some will even excuse the imperfection of the study of a head by +saying that they had only three or four sittings. + +Condivi asserts, and Vasari follows him, that the part uncovered in +November 1509, was the first half of the whole vault, beginning at the +large door of entrance and ending in the middle. But Albertini states in +his _Mirabilia Urbis_(115) that the upper portion of the whole vaulted +roof had been uncovered when he saw it in 1509, and this statement is +corroborated by the work itself. There is a distinct enlargement of the +style from the Sin of the Sons of Ham through the series of the Creation +and the Athletes to the Prophets and Sibyls, and again from the first of +these, near the large door, to those near the altar wall. So it may have +been the complete work on the flat part of the vault that was shown to the +world, including the story of the Creation and Fall of Man; and it was +not, therefore, so very unreasonable of Bramante to propose that Raphael +should continue the work, for he probably did not know of Michael Angelo's +intention of commemorating the promise of the Redeemer by his prophets and +sibyls upon the curved surface of the vaulting. Michael Angelo was +naturally indignant at his action, but Julius, who probably was the only +man who knew Michael Angelo's scheme, commanded him to complete his work. + +We gather from a letter to his father that the scaffolding for completing +the painting of the vault was not put up on September 7, 1510. + + [Image #24] + + THE PROPHET JOEL + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + + _To_ LODOVICO DI BUONARROTA SIMONI, _in Florence_. + + _From_ ROME, _September 7, 1510._ + + "DEAREST FATHER,--I have received your last, and hear with the + greatest anxiety that Buonarroto is ill; therefore, as soon as you + see this, go to the Spedalingo(116) and make him give you fifty or + an hundred ducats; you may need them. Arrange that all things + necessary be provided in good time, and that there be no lack of + money. Let me tell you how that I am waiting to receive from the + Pope five hundred ducats, well earned, and he should give me as + much again to put up the scaffolding and go on with the other part + of my work. And he has gone from here without leaving me any + orders. I have written him a letter. I do not know what will + follow. I should have come to you immediately on the receipt of + your last, but if I left without permission I doubt the Pope would + be angry, and I should lose all that I ought to have. + Nevertheless, let me know immediately if Buonarroto should still + be very bad, because if you think I ought to come I will ride post + and be with you in two days, for men are worth more than money. + Let me know at once, for I am very anxious. + + "On the 7th day of September. + + "Your MICHAEL ANGELO, Sculptor, in Rome."(117) + + +The following note tells of the end of the work: + +"I have finished the Chapel which I painted. The Pope is very well +satisfied, but other things do not happen as I wished. Lay blame on the +times, which are unfavourable to art." It is a note by Michael Angelo in +the Buonarroto manuscripts of the British Museum, but undated. It is +probably of October 1512, and marks the close of this period of enormous +work. The decoration of the Sistine Chapel now consisted, firstly, on the +flat of the vault, of Michael Angelo's history of the Creation and the +Fall of Man, of the Punishment of the Flood, and the Second Entry of Sin +into the World; secondly, on the pendentives, of the Prophets and Sibyls +proclaiming the coming of a Redeemer; and thirdly, of the Ancestors of +Christ, filling the arches of the windows and the arches on the two end +walls. Those on the altar wall are now covered by angels bearing the +instruments of the Passion of Christ, parts of the great fresco of the +Last Judgment, finished by Michael Angelo thirty years afterwards. At +Oxford there are two drawings after these two destroyed frescoes of the +Ancestors of Christ series. Fourthly, at the four corners the four great +Deliverances of the Chosen People, emblems of the Redemption; fifthly, +below, between the windows, a row of the figures of the Popes by Sandro +Botticelli and others; these are still in existence, except the three that +were on the wall of the high altar, now occupied by the Last Judgment. +They were the earliest of the Popes, St. Peter probably in the centre. +Lastly, below again, the great series of frescoes of the History of Christ +and the History of Moses by Sandro Botticelli, Domenico del Ghirlandaio, +Cosimo Rosselli, Pietro Perugino, Bernardino Pintoricchio, Luca +Signorelli, and Bartolomeo della Gatta. This splendid series forms a +worthy predella to the epic work of Michael Angelo above; that they are +worthy the one of the other is the highest compliment that can be paid to +either. These stories well repay prolonged study, and help to keep our +mind fresh to enjoy the idea of the advance Michael Angelo made in the art +of painting. It is very instructive to compare his work with these +frescoes of men who were almost his contemporaries. Above the altar three +of this series were destroyed to make way for the Last Judgment; they were +all three by Perugino, and represented the Assumption of the Virgin in the +centre, the Nativity on the right, and the finding of Moses on the left. +At the opposite end, over the great door, were two pictures by Domenico +del Ghirlandaio, representing the Resurrection of Christ, and Michael +contending with Satan for the Body of Moses, completing the series of the +lives of the Redeemer and of his prototype in the Old Testament: Moses, +the Deliverer. These last two works were destroyed for the ridiculous +caricatures of Arrigo Fiammingo and Mattei da Lecce. Ultimately the +Tapestry woven after the cartoons by Raphael, now at South Kensington +Museum, completed the cycle of decoration down to the ground level. + + [Image #25] + + THE PROPHET EZEKIEL + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +When Pope Julius prevented Michael Angelo from going on with his beloved +project of the Tomb and made him paint the vault, the master set to work +to produce a similar conception to the Tomb in a painted form. The vault +became a great temple of painted marble and painted sculptures raised in +mid-air above the walls of the chapel. The cornices and pilasters are of +simple Renaissance architecture, the only ornaments he allowed himself to +use being similar to those he would have used as a sculptor. Acorns, the +family device of the della Rovere, rams' skulls, and scallop shells, and +the one theme of decoration that Michael Angelo always delighted in--the +human figure. The Prophets and Sibyls took the positions occupied by the +principal figures designed for the Tomb, like the great statue of Moses. +The Athletes at the corner of the ribs of the roof were in place of the +bound captives, two of which are now in the Louvre, and the nine histories +of the Creation and the Flood fill the panels like the bronze reliefs of +the Tomb. The detail and completeness of this fresco are the best +refutation of the frequent criticism that Michael Angelo did not finish +his work. The fact is, that he finished more than any one. Had Michael +Angelo done no work but this vault of the Sistine Chapel, it would have +represented an output equal in quantity alone to that of the most prolific +of his brother Italian artists. It is veritably a large picture-gallery of +his works in itself. An idea of its numerical magnitude may be got by +dividing it up into its component units and making an inventory of them. +The vault itself, according to Heath Wilson, is one hundred and thirty-one +feet six inches long, by forty-five feet two and a half inches wide at the +large door end, and forty-three feet two and a half inches at the altar +end, an area of nearly six thousand square feet, which apparently does not +represent the arch measurement but only the plane covered by the arch, nor +does it take account of the triangular and semicircular spaces above the +windows. This vast surface is divided into:-- + +Four large pictures stretching over more than one-third of the width of +the roof, and containing from five to more than forty-five figures, some +of them twelve feet in height. + +Five pictures, half the size of the last, with from one to eight figures +in each. + +Twenty colossal nude figures of Athletes. + +Ten circular medallions. + +Seven large figures of Prophets. + +Five large figures of Sibyls; these Prophets and Sibyls would be eighteen +feet high if they stood upright, and most of them have secondary figures +of angel boys between them, twenty-three in all. + +Twenty-four decorative pilasters of two children each, in monochrome. + + [Image #26] + + THE PROPHET DANIEL + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +Four large triangular compositions representing the Redemptions of Israel, +and containing from five to twenty-two colossal figures. + +Eight triangular spaces above the windows, representing the Ancestors of +Christ, containing from two to four colossal figures. + +Twenty-four groups in the semicircular spaces above the windows, also of +the Ancestors of Christ, of from one to four colossal figures. + +Ten large figures of children forming brackets under the figures of +Prophets and Sibyls, at the springing of the arches between the windows. + +Twenty-four bronze-coloured colossal figures filling up the spaces in the +architectural framework. + +Thus, the vault may be regarded as a gallery of one hundred and forty-five +separate pictures by Michael Angelo. There is one reservation, and that +is, that the twenty-four groups of two children forming pilasters are in +pairs, of the same outline but reversed; as they are differently lighted +they may still be taken as different pictures. These pilasters form the +sides of the thrones of the Prophets and Sibyls, and repeating them in +reversed outline on either side of the same throne has a very valuable +decorative effect, well known to the old Italian workmen, who frequently +repeated the forms of their fruit and flower decorations in this manner, +by the expedient of reversing the paper-pricking from one and the same +cartoon. It is interesting to find Michael Angelo resorting to this simple +trick to get the effect of balance in figure decoration. The light and +shade of the reversed figures follow the general scheme of the +illumination, so that the figures traced from the same cartoons look very +dissimilar when painted, but if the outlines are traced from a photograph, +and reversed on the corresponding figures, they will be seen to coincide. +It seems impossible to explain the exactness in any other way, a few +measurements on the vault itself would make it certain. Probably the same +method was employed in transferring the twenty-four bronze-coloured +decorative figures also. + +The historical sequence of the events in the nine pictures on the central +space of the vault represents the Story of the Creation, the Fall, the +Flood, and the second entry of Sin into the world, demonstrating the need +for a scheme of Salvation, promised by the Prophets and Sibyls in the +second part of the decoration. The series represented is an old invention, +and all the scenes may be found in Byzantine and early Italian works; but +the new treatment gives them a character of grandeur only equalled by the +Old Testament narrative which they illustrate. All the human figures and +most of the angels appear to be dominated by an idea of impending doom, +but they nobly act their part in a fateful present, although they know +that the future cannot be changed by any effort of theirs, however noble +it may be. They are all fatalists, but all noble in their pessimism; they +reflect the mind of the artist. The individual motives of the figures, +their grouping and their action, are frequently taken from earlier art, +especially sculpture, and they show how carefully and reverently Michael +Angelo studied the works of his predecessors, Massaccio, Lorenzo Ghiberti, +Donatello, and Jacopo della Quercia. + + [Image #27] + + THE LIBYAN SIBYL + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_Reproduced by permission from a Photograph by Sig. Anderson, Rome_) + + + [Image #28] + + THE PROPHET JEREMIAH + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +The first division above the High Altar represents the creation of light. +God separates light from darkness, and brings order out of chaos. In the +second division, one of the larger pictures, God creates the sun and moon; +He passes on and spreads His hand in blessing over a segment of the earth +where the trees and herbs spring forth. In the third, God gathers together +in one place the waters which were under the firmament. In these works +Michael Angelo designed a figure of the Creator that has remained ever +since the only possible pictorial symbol of God the Father. He is like an +old man in appearance and in wisdom, but as alert and powerful as a young +man. The creation of Adam is the central composition of the ceiling. The +Deity, accompanied by six angels, gives life to Adam by the touch of +finger tips. The figure of Adam is the most beautiful in modern art. It +appears to have been inspired by a Greek intaglio. The angels are much +varied in type. They are without the tinsel and gold embroidery used by +earlier artists to represent celestial glory. The simple and solemn lines +of the landscape showing the curved surface of the globe give a cosmic +character to the scene, and the beautiful indigo blue of the distance +forms a fine background for the supremely modelled flesh. This composition +is the first in the order of execution in which Michael Angelo fully +realised his scheme of decoration, as to scale and form, making a few +figures fill the space allotted to them with ease and freedom of movement. +Truly the space occupied appears to have been arranged and cut specially +to suit the figures, and not the figures made, as was the fact, to fit the +space. The next compartment, the creation of Eve, is only less beautiful +than that of the Adam. It is small, and the space is a little crowded: the +composition is taken exactly from the beautiful bas-relief by Jacopo della +Quercia at Bologna. The Almighty is shrouded in a voluminous mantle; Eve +joins her hands in worship. The figure is modelled with a delicious +softness, and the pearly colour is a delightful rendering of the lighter +flesh tints of woman, something like the quality sought by Correggio in +later times. The Adam reclining in the corner fills that part of the space +as a good medal design fits its circumference; the grey of the shadow, +especially in the darker parts, envelops the figures in a way that had +never been attempted in fresco painting, but is somewhat like a hand in +shadow by Rembrandt. The representations of the Fall and the Expulsion +fill the next compartment, a large one. Here we have another rendering of +a female nude; the type, and especially the modelling of the flank, is a +prophecy of the figure of Dawn in the Sacristy of San Lorenzo. The upper +part of the serpent has a woman's form, and the junction is most admirably +managed after the manner of the sea maidens in Graeco-Roman art. In this +story is the only foreground tree in full leaf ever painted by Michael +Angelo, and yet it is as supreme as everything else. It is remarkable that +the Paradise of Michael Angelo should be such a rocky place, like the side +of a marble mountain, for in his time such places were regarded with +distaste. The landscape into which Adam and Eve are expelled is a lone +flat desert, where no marble could be found. This part of the composition +is taken almost exactly from Massaccio's version in the Brancacci Chapel. +The Sacrifice of Noah fills the next, a smaller compartment. It is placed, +historically, before the Deluge, and must be taken to represent how Noah, +the just man and perfect, and his family, found grace in the eyes of the +Lord. As there are five male persons present, this scene cannot represent +the sacrifice immediately after the Flood, nor is any rainbow to be seen +as was usual in the traditional representations of that subject, like the +one in the Chiostro Verde at Santa Maria Novella. Raphael also gives more +figures than can be accounted for as having been in the ark in his +composition of the sacrifice of Noah, in the series called the Bible of +Raphael in the Loggia. The large composition of the Deluge gives us some +idea of what the cartoon of Pisa may have been like. There never was a +collection of naked figures so many and so beautiful. One is filled with +sorrow at the idea of their being drowned. They are all, too, engaged in +noble works; charity, energy, and inventiveness are amongst the virtues +they exhibit; there is no panic, or struggling one with another; no anger +or selfishness, excepting only in the boat in the middle distance; a woman +helps her children, a man his wife, an old man bears a young man in his +arms, Priam carrying AEneas, an even more pathetic imagination than +Homer's; others attempt to save their household goods; others erect a +tent; others, again, attempt to scale the sides of the ark or break into +it with axes--one cannot but hope they will succeed. The female figures are +especially beautiful in this picture, and again we have a foretaste of +that wonderful modelling of the flank and thigh seen to perfection in the +tombs at San Lorenzo. The weird sea and sky, the ark and the dead tree, +show what Michael Angelo could do when he liked, in departments of art +other than the human figure. The individual figures in the Deluge are +difficult to see on account of the smallness of scale in this part of the +vault. It must have been after seeing them from the floor of the chapel, +by removing some of the boards of his scaffolding, that Michael Angelo +determined to alter the scale in the remaining compositions. In no other +way can we account for the change in the size of the Athletes, at any +rate. The difference of scale between those surrounding the Sin of Ham +over the large door, and those surrounding the separation of Light from +Darkness over the High Altar, must be almost two feet. The increase is +gradual along the ceiling. Similarly the Sybilla Delphica is very much +smaller than the Sybilla Lybica, and the Prophet Joel than the Prophet +Jeremiah. The last composition of this series--a small one--represents the +Sin of Ham, and was the first painted. The vat and the wine jug are +wonderful still-life, reminding us of Bassano. + + [Image #29] + + THE FLOOD + + A DETAIL, SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_Reproduced by permission from a photograph by Sig. D. Anderson, Rome_) + + +The twenty Athletes that decorate the corners of these central +compositions, and support bronze medallions held in place by oak garlands +or by draperies, are nothing but the most direct of transcripts from the +nude model, but the most noble that have been executed in the art of +painting. They are finished to the smallest detail, and are as truthful to +nature as it was possible for a man with an innate sense of grandeur of +line to make them. Italian models have been posed in the positions of most +of them, and drawings from them compared with the photographs of these +figures; they are marvellously true, to the very wrinkles of the skin +under the arms and about the knees, and the drawing of the curves and +creases of the torso as the body bends. So naturalistic are they that +Michael Angelo must have posed a model and made drawings in the chapel +itself, perhaps even on the scaffolding, and worked straight away. He +appears to have used only three models for this purpose. The Athletes +drawn from the same model can easily be distinguished; they are actual +portraits. One was the man who sat for the Adam, and was of a noble +proportion with a small head, a beautiful brow, and a solemn mouth. His +hair was wavy and of a wispy character; he had broad shoulders; his +extremities were small, the thighs large and well developed, showing the +individual muscles by large forms with flat planes. He may be seen, as we +have said, in the Adam, and in the four figures surrounding the fresco +representing God dividing the Light from the Darkness; in the two figures +near the Adam in his creation of Eve; and best of all, for comparison, in +the figures near the foot of Adam in the creation of Man. Another model +was of a rounder and more bacchanalian character, not unlike the Dancing +Fawn in the Uffizi; but he was not in such good training. He was decidedly +fat, his face was mobile, and very easily took jovial expressions, his +cheeks dimpled, his eyes round and large, the pupils very dark and the +whites very white; his hair went into short, soft, frizzy curls; his +shoulders were small and round, the arms feeble, the thighs short, round, +and formless; his back was well developed, the folds of the skin in the +torso, when he bent, were very large and fat in line. It was probably for +this that Michael Angelo chose him. He is well seen in three of the +figures surrounding the third panel from the High Altar representing The +Spirit of God upon the Face of the Waters, and the two figures nearest to +the Adam and Eve in the scene of the Expulsion. The other model was of +more ordinary but of still very fine proportion. His head was rather +large, and his mouth petulant in expression, the upper eyelids very thick; +his hair is broken into large, hard curls. He is seen in the figures +surrounding the Sin of Ham, and was probably the first employed for this +work. These Athletes are the very epitome of the work of Michael Angelo. +If a man does not love them he cannot care for the work of Michael Angelo. +They express his highest idea of beauty--man created in the image of God, +as he testifies in this vault, and in the sonnet ending:-- + + Ne Dio, suo grazia, mi si mostra altrove, + Piu che'n alcun leggiadro e mortal velo; + E quel sol amo, perche'n quel si specchia. + + Nor hath God deigned to show himself elsewhere + More clearly than in human form sublime + Which, since they image Him, alone I love.(118) + +No leaves or branches, minor works of the Great Artist, still less +draperies of cloth or even of gold brocade, the works of the hand of man, +shall cover any portion of the Divine Image. So all these figures are +frankly naked, the genii of the Beauty of the Human Race. + +The festoons these Athletes carry support large medallions painted like +bronze. They were probably the portion that Michael Angelo intended to +finish with gilding, but owing to the impatience of the Pope they were +left in their present state. They are a most valuable part of the +decorative scheme. Continuity is given by the repetition of these +bronze-coloured circles. + + [Image #30] + + THE BRAZEN SERPENT + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +A great cornice divides the scheme of the flat part of the vault already +described, and perhaps the first portion executed, from the curved part +containing the Prophets and Sibyls. They are larger in scale and freer in +style than any portion of the flat part of the vault, as though with +practice Michael Angelo's hand had grown even bolder than before. He may, +too, have thought the new scale of figures easier to see from the floor of +the chapel, for we must remember that this was his first experiment in +vault painting, and no doubt he would be glad to see its effect from below +when he was ordered to remove the scaffolding, and he must have learnt by +it. The Prophets and Sibyls appear to be the last word of Michael Angelo +in decorative painting, as Raphael knew, for he assimilated the teaching +both in the beautiful figures of Sibyls at Santa Maria della Pace and the +Prophet Isaiah of San Agostino. The motives of the genii or angels, wise +children whispering in the ears of the foretellers, seem to be inspired by +the sculpture of Giovanni Pisano as seen in the pilasters of the pulpit of +the Church of San Andrea at Pistoia. + +It would be endless to try and tell all the thoughts and emotions, both +literary and artistic, suggested by the contemplation of these figures and +by the groups representing the Ancestors of Christ. Suffice it to say, +that all the thoughts that come into the minds of the beholders are as +nothing compared to the thoughts that passed through the mind of the +solitary artist composing and painting upon the high scaffolding of the +quiet chapel. + +The series of the Ancestors of Christ illustrate the life of a being upon +this earth, from the terrible moment when the pregnant woman first feels +the pangs of approaching labour, in the semicircle of the window +(inscribed Roboam, Abias) to the lean and slippered pantaloon, who needs a +stick to help him rise from his seat (over the window inscribed Salmon, +Boaz, Obeth); there is the happy mother sleeping with her infant wrapped +in swaddling-clothes (Salmon, Boaz, Obeth); and the old man playing with +the children, (Eleazr, Matthew); the student attentively poring over his +book regardless of the female figure, possibly Inspiration, speaking to +him from the other side of the window (Naason). These figures, the +Ancestors of Christ, are more slightly painted than the rest of the vault. +They loom out of the darkness, caused by contrast to the light of the +windows they surround, grow in and out of the background and have an +atmospheric effect unequalled in fresco painting. Those who walk from the +Ponte Saint Angelo up the Borgo to the Vatican any morning early may see +at the back of the dim recesses of the arched cellar-like shops such +groups as these. The series may be regarded as the sketch-book of Michael +Angelo, in which he recorded his impressions of the life about him as he +trudged to his work. + +The four triangular compositions that fill the corners of the chapel, the +four great Redemptions of Israel, are absolute masterpieces of space +arrangement, different methods of overcoming the same difficulty being +used in each picture, from the two principal figures and the tent in the +David and Goliath to the marvellous crowd of twisted limbs in the story of +the Brazen Serpent. In the composition of the Death of Holofernes Judith +covers with a napkin the severed head, which is carried in a basket on the +head of her handmaid; a most lovely group, said to have been taken from an +intaglio representing a vintage scene, in which a nymph fills with grapes +a basket supported on the head of a companion. + +Under each of the Prophets and Sibyls, upon the side walls, is a +decorative putto supporting the name plate, standing at the springing of +the arches, as in Donatello's bas-relief representing Christ before +Pilate, in the pulpit of San Lorenzo. These ten beautiful figures are +seldom noticed, but evidently Raphael thought them worthy of study, as may +be seen in the lovely child-figure attributed to him in the Accademia di +San Lucca. + + [Image #31] + + JUDITH WITH THE HEAD OF HOLOFERNES + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_By permission of Messrs. Braun, Clement & Co., in Dornach, Alsace_) + + +The whole vault contains hardly one unworthy human being, the only sins +they commit are the Sins of Adam and of Ham, necessary for the story. They +are all beautiful and all holy. Can Michael Angelo have had any thought of +the doom of these his creations, as exemplified by him on the altar wall, +twenty-two years afterwards? The great work was finished, the public saw +it, and, as Michael Angelo says, "the Pope was very well pleased." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + + THE RISEN CHRIST OF THE MINERVA + + +Julius II. died on February 21, 1513. He will ever be remembered as the +man who compelled Michael Angelo to paint the Sistine vault. He was the +best friend Michael Angelo ever had, notwithstanding their bickerings, and +he understood him as no one ever did afterwards; but he bequeathed to him +the Tragedy of the Tomb. In 1514 Michael Angelo signed the agreement for a +new commission:-- + +"Deed with Michael Angelo for the figure in marble(119) of a Risen Christ +for the Church of the Minerva, in Rome. The 14 day of June, 1514. Let it +be known and manifest to whoever reads this scrip, how Messere Bernardo +Cencio, Canon of St. Peter's, and Messeri Mario Scappucci and Metello +Vari, have ordered Michael Angelo di Lodovico Simoni, Sculptor, to carve a +figure in marble of Christ as large as life, nude, standing, bearing a +cross, in whatever attitude the said Michael Angelo thinks good, for the +price of two hundred gold ducats of the Camera, to be paid in this manner, +that is to say: At the present time one hundred and fifty gold ducats of +the Camera, and the remainder, that is fifty similar ducats, the said +Messeri Mario and Metello delli Vari promise to pay when the work is +finished. As soon as the said Michael Angelo begins to work on the said +figure, which he promises to place in the Minerva in whatever position the +before-mentioned shall approve; and at his own expense to make a niche +where the said figure is to be placed; and every other adornment that +should be needful, it is understood that the before-mentioned Messer +Bernardo and Messer Mario shall supply at their own expense. This figure +the said Michael Angelo promises to do by the end of the next four years, +more or less as appears to him good, engaging, however, that he will not +exceed four years." + + [Image #32] + + ONE OF THE ANCESTORS OF CHRIST, OVER THE WINDOW INSCRIBED "JESSE" + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +Then follow their affirmations in due form. Metello Vari dei Porcari, a +Roman of an old family, appears to have been the real patron to whom +Michael Angelo was responsible. The first block of marble was found to be +faulty, so another one had to be carved. The work was not completed until +1521. It is now in the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva at Rome. + +In 1515 Michael Angelo was still at work on the Tomb, but apprehensive of +interruption from Pope Leo. + + + _To_ BUONARROTO DI LODOVICO SIMONI, _in Florence_. + + "BUONARROTO,--I have written the letter to Filipo Strozzi; see if + you like it and give it to him. If it is not well, I know he will + hold me excused, for it is not my profession; enough if it serves + its purpose. I wish you to go to the Spedalingo(120) of Santa + Maria Nuova, and tell him to pay to me here one thousand and four + hundred ducats of what he has of mine, because I must make a great + effort this summer to finish my work quickly, because I expect + soon to have to enter the Pope's service. And for this I have + bought perhaps twenty thousands of bronze for casting certain + figures. I must have money; so when you see this arrange with the + Spedalingo to have it paid over to me; and if you are able to + arrange with Pier Francesco Borgerini, who is there, that he + should have it paid to me by his people here, I should be glad, + for Pier Francesco is my friend and will serve me well; and do not + talk about it for I wish it to be paid to me here secretly; and + for what remains at Santa Maria Nuova, accept security from the + Spedalingo, on account. I wait for the money. No more. + + "On the 16th day of June, 1515. + + "MICHAEL ANGELO, in Rome."(121) + + +So now, besides the Moses and the Captives in marble, the panels in relief +were, perhaps, ready for casting. The lower portions of the architectural +base, now in San Pietro in Vincula, were also probably finished. Half the +period spent by Michael Angelo in quarrying and road-making for Pope Leo +would have sufficed for the completion of the Tomb, which would then have +been a monument of Michael Angelo's power as a sculptor, fit to rank with +the monument of his power as a painter in the Sistine Chapel: a monument +containing four figures, equal in execution and size to the Moses, twelve +figures like the Slaves, altogether some forty statues and numerous bronze +bas-reliefs besides. It is a great misfortune that we have no bronze +bas-reliefs by Michael Angelo, for all his works prove that his genius +would have been well expressed in this art. + + [Image #33] + + ONE OF THE ANCESTORS OF CHRIST, OVER THE WINDOW INSCRIBED "IORAM" + + (_Reproduced by permission from a photograph by Sig. D. Anderson, Rome_) + + +The early years of the Pontificate of Leo X. were wasted over the project +for the facade of San Lorenzo. Michael Angelo was continually at Carrara. +In a letter, dated May 8, 1517, to Domenico Buoninsegna, Michael Angelo +writes with enthusiasm about his new scheme, and undertakes to carry it +out for 35,000 golden ducats in six years. Buoninsegna replied that the +Cardinal expressed the highest satisfaction at "the great heart he had for +conducting the work of the facade." The friendly relations of Michael +Angelo with the natives of Carrara continued until the Pope obliged him to +leave their quarries and open up those of Pietra Santa, in Tuscan +territory, by which act Michael Angelo lost much time. He had positively +to make roads down the mountains and over the marshes before he could get +a single block to the river. The Marquis of Carrara became his enemy, and +the contracts with the people of Carrara caused him much annoyance and +great loss. The orders from Rome were peremptory and had to be +obeyed.(122) Ten years of the best of Michael Angelo's working life were +wasted; the numberless delays of this period, and the delays over the Tomb +of Julius, positively seem to have changed the character of the artist +from a man of action to a man of thought. Possibly advancing age had +something to do with it; but the fact remains that the man who executed +the bronze statue of Julius in two years, and painted the vault of the +Sistine in less than three years, took seven years to finish the Last +Judgment, which covers a surface about one-third the extent of the vault, +and also is in a much more favourable position for painting. + + + +There is a document shown in the rooms of the State Archives at the Uffizi +that belongs to this period; it is a memorial addressed by the Florentine +Academy to Pope Leo X., asking him to authorise the translation of the +bones of Dante from Ravenna, where they still rest under "the little +cupola, more neat than solemn," to Florence. It is dated October 20, 1518. +All but one of the signatures appended are written in Latin; that one is +as follows:--"I, Michael Angelo, 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 honour-place in this city." Michael +Angelo's devotion to Dante was well known to his contemporaries; he is +known to have filled a book with drawings to illustrate the "Divina Com +media"; this volume perished at sea, whilst in the possession of the +sculptor Antonio Montanti, who was shipwrecked on a journey from Leghorn +to Rome. + +On April 17, 1517, Michael Angelo bought some ground in the Via Mozza, now +Via San Zanobi, Florence, from the Chapter of Santa Maria del Fiore, to +build a workshop for finishing his marbles; the purchase was completed on +November 24, 1518. This studio remained in his possession until his death. +He describes it to Lionardo di Compago, the saddle-maker, as an excellent +workshop, where twenty statues can be set up together. + +Meanwhile he went on working at Pietra Santa for the facade. In August +1518, he writes:---- + + [Image #34] + + ONE OF THE ANCESTORS OF CHRIST, OVER THE WINDOW INSCRIBED "ASA" + + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + + "The place of quarrying is very rugged, and the workmen are very + ignorant of this sort of work. So for some months I must be very + patient until the mountains are tamed and the men are mastered. + Then we shall get on more quickly. Enough, what I have promised + that will I do by some means, and I will make the most beautiful + thing that has ever been done in Italy if God helps me." + + +The melancholy end of this scheme is told in a Ricordo in the Archivio +Buonarroti, March 10, 1520. + + + "Now Pope Leo, perhaps, to carry out more quickly the + above-mentioned facade of San Lorenzo than according to the + agreement he made with me, and I consenting, sets me free, and for + all the above-said money that I have received, are counted the + road that I have made to Pietra Santa, and the marbles that were + quarried there and rough-hewn as may be seen to-day; and he + declares himself content and satisfied with me, as is said, about + all the money received for the said facade of San Lorenzo, and + every other work that I have had to do for him until this tenth + day of March, 1519; and so he leaves me my freedom, and not + obliged to render account to any one for anything that I have had + to do for him or with others for him."(123) + + +We have a series of most interesting letters from Sebastiano del Piombo, +Michael Angelo's favourite gossip in Rome; most of them are dated from +1520 to 1533, and give Michael Angelo at Carrara news of Sebastiano and +the art world of Rome, They often relate to designs that Sebastiano wished +to get from Michael Angelo in order that he might be entrusted with +commissions from the Pope that would otherwise be given to the scholars of +Raphael. In one, dated October 27, 1520, he says:-- + + + "For I know how much the Pope values you, and when he speaks of + you it is as if he were speaking of his own brother, almost with + tears in his eyes; for he has told me that you were brought up + together, and shows that he knows and loves you. But you frighten + everybody, even Popes!"(124) + + +Michael Angelo seems to have taken exception to the remark, for Sebastiano +in his next letter but one says:-- + + + "As to what you reply to me about your terribleness, I for my part + do not find you terrible; and if I have not written to you about + this, do not wonder, for you do not appear to me terrible except + only in art--that is to say, the greatest master that has ever + been; so it seems to me if I am in error I am to blame. I have no + more to say. Christ keep you safe. 9th day of November, 1520. + Remember me to friend Leonardo and to Master Pier Francesco. + + "Your most faithful gossip, + + "BASTIANO, Painter, in Rome. + + "The Lord Michael Angelo de Bonarotis, the most worthy sculptor, + Florence."(125) + + +After Michael Angelo had been dismissed from the work of the facade of San +Lorenzo he appears to have remained quietly at Florence, possibly engaged +upon the marbles for the Tomb of Julius II. About the same time, at the +instigation of the Cardinal de' Medici, he began to design the new +sacristy and the tombs at San Lorenzo. + + [Image #50] + + THE PROPHET JONAH + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +In the Ricordi, which run from April 9 to August 19, 1521, he says that on +April 9 he received two hundred ducats from the Cardinal de' Medici to go +to Carrara and lodge there, to quarry marbles for the tombs which are to +be placed in the new sacristy at San Lorenzo. "And there I stayed about +twenty days and made out drawings to scale, and measured models in clay +for the said tombs." On August 16 the contractors for the blocks, all of +which were excavated from the old Roman quarry of Polvaccio, came to +Florence, and were paid on account. + +The statue of the "Risen Christ" was forwarded to Rome during the summer. +The smaller detached, or more easily broken portions, were left in the +rough to prevent accidents during the journey, and Pietro Urbino went to +Rome with orders to complete the work there. Sebastiano del Piombo, like +the good friend he was, kept Michael Angelo informed of the progress of +the young scamp of a pupil, from whom his master had extracted a promise +that he would avoid the company of dissolute Florentines in Rome more than +he had previously done. On November 9, 1520, Sebastiano writes that his +gossip, Giovanni da Reggio, "goes about saying that you have not done the +figure yourself, but that it is the work of Pietro Urbino. Be sure that it +may be seen to be from your hand, so that poltroons and babblers may +burst." This was written whilst the work was still at Florence. On +September 6, 1531, after it had arrived at Rome, Sebastiano says of +Pietro: "Firstly, you sent him to Rome with the statue, to finish and +erect it. What he did and did not do you know; but I must let you +understand that wherever he has worked he has maimed it. Chiefly, he has +shortened the right foot, and it is plainly seen that he has cut off the +toes. He has shortened the fingers of the hands, too, more especially +those of the one which holds the cross, the right; Frizzi says, it seems +to have been worked by a cake-maker, not carved in marble. It looks as if +it had been made by one who worked in dough, it is so stunted. I do not +understand these things, not knowing the manner of working in marble; but +I can very well tell you that those fingers look to me very stumpy. I can +tell you, too, that it is easy to see he has been working on the beard. I +believe a baby would have had more discretion; it looks as though he had +done the hair with a knife without a point; but this can easily be +remedied. He has also cut one of the nostrils, so that with a little more +the whole nose would have been spoiled, so that no one but God could have +mended it, and I believe God inspired you to write your last letter to +Master Zovane da Reggio, my comrade, for if the figure had remained in the +hands of Pietro he would undoubtedly have ruined it." Michael Angelo +transferred the work of finishing from Pietro to Federigo Frizzi. +Sebastiano goes on to say: "Pietro is most malignant now that he is cast +off by you. He does not seem to value you or any one else alive, but +thinks he is a great master; he will find out what he is fast enough, for +I believe the poor young man will never know how to make statues. He has +forgotten the art. The knees of your statue are worth more than all Rome." + +Frizzi mended up the mistakes and finished the work on the hair, face, +hands, feet, cross, and the parts undercut. Michael Angelo was evidently +anxious as to the result of this touching up, and as he was much attached +to Vari, he offered to make a new statue, but the courtly Roman replied +that he was entirely satisfied with the one he had received. He regarded +it and esteemed it as a thing of gold, and said that Michael Angelo's +offer 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.(126) + +This Christ of the Minerva is like a late Greek embodiment of the +Christian ideal; it is a work that has been a good deal criticised, +particularly as to the details, which the letters just quoted prove to +have been finished by assistants away from the supervision of the master. +The arms and torso, and, as Sebastiano justly says, the knees, are very +splendid, and if the spoiled head and extremities were broken away the +fragment, that is to say, the part really executed by the master, would be +as famous as many a fine work of Greece or of Old Rome. As it stands near +a column in the centre of the church in a subdued light it has a presence +of great beauty and sweetness, never allied with so much power before, +notwithstanding that brazen draperies and a sandal hide much of the +reverent workmanship. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + + THE SACRISTY OF SAN LORENZO + + +After the death of Leo X., on December 1, 1521, Adrian IV. was elected to +fill the seat of St. Peter. He was not an Italian and loved not the arts. +He is recorded to have called statues "idols of the Pagans," and he spent +no money on pictures or frescoes. No wonder the artists who were +accustomed to the patronage of the Popes rejoiced when he died, +notwithstanding his goodness, and hailed his physician as saviour of the +Fatherland. The Cardinal Giuliano de' Medici was elected in his stead, +under the name of Clement VII., and Michael Angelo expressed the feelings +of most of his countrymen and all the artists when he wrote to his friend, +Topolino, at Carrara "You will have heard how the Medici is made Pope; it +seems to me that all the world is glad of it, so I imagine that here +(Florence) many things will soon be set going in art. Therefore, serve +well and with faithfulness, so that we may have honour."(127) + + [Image #35] + + THE TOMB OF LORENZO DE' MEDICI, DUKE OF URBINO + + THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +In the year 1523 the Senate of Genoa banked 300 ducats towards the +expenses of a colossal statue of Andrea Doria, the great sea-captain, to +be carved by Michael Angelo. Unfortunately Michael Angelo was unable to +execute this congenial task. There is a magnificent portrait of this +prince, as Neptune, by Sebastiano del Piombo in the private rooms of the +Doria Palace at Rome. The admiral points down with Michael Angelesque +forefinger as though he were condemning his enemies to descend to the +lowest depths of the sea. It looks as if it had been inspired by a drawing +of Michael Angelo's, possibly for this statue, which may have been +designed as a nude figure of Neptune; the parapet in front of the picture +is decorated with a painted bas-relief of a Roman galley. + +Michael Angelo's last known letter to his father is supposed to have been +written in June 1523.(128) It is a bitter complaint of the testy manner in +which his father always treated him, and the continual interruptions of +his work. It must have been a great grief to Michael Angelo when the old +man came to die if he had not made up this quarrel with him, for he loved +him in a way that is marvellous to us when we consider the character of +the old man as evidenced in the correspondence. + +Clement VII. lost no time, after he was elected Pope, in setting Michael +Angelo to work, but again it was against the inclination of the artist, +who passionately desired to complete the Tomb of Julius, partly for the +love of his memory and partly to free himself from the importunity of the +executors, who threatened him with a lawsuit. Michael Angelo replied to +the agent of Clement, Francesco Fattucci, who requested plans for the +Laurentian Library: "I understand from your last that his Holiness our +Lord wishes that the design for the Library should be by my hand. I have +heard nothing and do not know where he wishes it to be built. True, +Stefano talked to me about it, but I did not give my mind to it. When he +returns from Carrara I will inform myself about it from him, and will do +all I can, although it is not my profession." + +Clement, who really seems to have had a regard for the artist, and wished +to bind him to his interests, desired to provide for him for life. If +Michael Angelo would have consented to make the vows of celibacy he would +have given him an ecclesiastical appointment, failing that he offered him +a pension. Michael Angelo only asked for fifteen ducats a month. Fattucci, +on January 13, 1524, rebuked him for this modesty, and wrote that "Jacopo +Salviati has given orders that Spina should be instructed to pay you a +monthly provision of fifty ducats." A house also was assigned to him at +San Lorenzo, rent free, that he might be near his work. Stefano di Tomaso, +miniatore, was Michael Angelo's right-hand man at this time, and his name +continually recurs in the Ricordi. He was not altogether a satisfactory +servant, and in April 1524, Antonio Mini seems to have taken his place. +This helps us to date the roofing of the sacristy of San Lorenzo, as in an +undated letter to Pope Clement Michael Angelo says that Stefano finished +the lantern and it was universally admired. This is the work of which it +is recorded that when folk told Michael Angelo it would be better than the +lantern of Brunelleschi, he replied: "Different, perhaps; but better, no!" +In the British Museum there is a drawing with a bit of advice to young +artists, personified in his new pupil, Antonio Mini. It is in Michael +Angelo's own hand:-- + + _Disegna Antonio, disegna Antonio, disegna e non perder tempo._ + + Draw Antonio, draw Antonio, draw and do not lose time. + +And now in August 1524,(129) the Tombs of the Medici in the new sacristy +were fairly under way. There are several preliminary designs in the Print +Room of the British Museum, the Albertina at Vienna, and the Uffizi, +Florence.(130) The first idea was for the tombs to be isolated in the +centre of the chapel, but we gather from a letter, written in May +1524,(131) that it had already been decided to have mural monuments. The +sarcophagi were to support portrait statues of the Dukes and Popes, of +Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano. At the foot were to be six rivers, two +under each tomb--the Arno, Tiber, Metauro, Po, Taro, and Ticino. The +drawings go to prove that the architectural background, as we see it now, +is as incomplete as it looks. Some of the drawings have elaborate +candlesticks at the top; others a circular panel supported by putti. In +several the first ideas for some of the final forms may be seen, but one +point is very important: in almost every case the sarcophagi are large +enough to support the figure or figures to be placed upon them, and never +do we see that uncomfortable arrangement by which the figures appear to be +sliding off their supports. Letters to Fattucci in October 1525, and April +1526,(132) give us an idea of the progress of the works. "I am working as +hard as I can, and in fifteen days I intend to begin the other captain. +Afterwards the only important things left will be the four rivers. The +four figures on the top of 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 the figures I mean to +carve with my own hand, and of them I have begun six; and I have +sufficient spirit to finish them in a convenient time, and bring partially +forward the others which are not of so much importance." The six he had +begun are those that are now in the chapel. The Giuliano and Lorenzo, Day +and Night, Dawn and Evening. The Madonna, perhaps Michael Angelo's finest +work in sculpture, was also carved by his own hand; the two other works, +now in the chapel representing the patron saints of the Medici family, +Cosmo and Damiano, were carved by Montelupo and Montorsoli; they do not +seem to have anything of Michael Angelo about them, not even in design. + +Meanwhile Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, the executor of Julius, was +pressing the affair of the Tomb; he threatened a lawsuit to recover money +advanced for the work. Michael Angelo appeals to the Pope in a letter +addressed to Giovanni Spina, of April 19, 1525:-- + + [Image #36] + + THE TOMB OF GIULIANO DE' MEDICI, DUKE OF NEMOURS + + THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + + "It seems to me it is no good sending a power of attorney about + the Tomb of Pope Julius, because I do not want to plead. They + cannot bring a suit against me if I acknowledge 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 this, as intermediary, and it would be the greatest + blessing to me, seeing that I am not able to finish the said Tomb + of Julius, both on account of my age and infirmity, he might + express his will that I should repay what I have received for + doing it, so as to release me of this burden, and so that the + relatives of Pope Julius, with this repayment, may have the work + done to their satisfaction by any one they like. Thus his Holiness + our Lord could please me very greatly. Still, I wish to pay back + as little as possible in reason. Making them listen to some of my + arguments, such as the time spent for the Pope at Bologna, and + other time lost without any payment, as Ser Giovanni Francesco, + whom I have informed of everything, knows. As soon as I know + clearly what I have to restore, I will make a division of what I + have, sell, and arrange my affairs so as to repay all. Then I + shall be able to think of the Pope's business, and work. If this + is not done I cannot work. There is no way more safe for myself, + nor more agreeable, nor more likely to clear my spirit. It can be + done amicably without a lawsuit. I pray to God that the Pope may + become willing to arrange it in this fashion, for it does not seem + to me that any one else can do it."(133) + + +Michael Angelo had a wholesome fear of the law, not because he was guilty +but because of the power of his antagonist. There can be no doubt that he +was perfectly honest in these transactions, and, as Pope Clement said, he +was rather creditor than debtor. Clement appears to have arranged matters +to some extent with the executors, and we have a hint of the new +arrangement in a letter by Michael Angelo to Fattucci,(134) dated +Florence, October 24, 1525:-- + + + "MESSER GIOVAN FRANCESCO,--In reply to your last, the four statues + I have in hand are not yet finished, and much has still to be done + upon them. The four others, for rivers, are not begun, because the + marble was wanting, but now it has come. I do not tell you how + because there is no need. With regard to the affair of Julius, I + wish to make the Tomb like that of Pius in St. Peter's, as you + have written, 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 hold + my pension and my house, as you have written; that is to say, the + house where I lived yonder in Rome, with the marbles and movables + therein. So that I should not have to give to them, I mean to the + heirs of Julius, in order to be quit of the Tomb contract, + anything of what I have received hitherto, except the said Tomb, + completed, like that of Pius in Saint Peter's. Moreover, I + undertake to perform the work within a reasonable time, and to + finish the statues with my own hand." He now turns to his + annoyances at San Lorenzo: "And given my pension as was said, I + will never stop working for Pope Clement with what strength I + have, though that be little, for I am old. At the same time I must + not be slighted and affronted as I am now, for it weighs greatly + on my spirits, and has prevented me from doing what I wished to do + these many months; one cannot work at one thing with the hands, + and at another with the brain, and especially in marble. 'Tis said + here that these annoyances are meant to spur me on; but I maintain + that those are scurvy spurs that make a good steed jib. I have not + touched my pension during the last year, and struggle with + poverty. I am alone in my troubles, and have many of them, which + keep me more busy than my art, for I cannot keep a servant for + lack of means." + + +There is a kind letter from Michael Angelo to Sebastiano del Piombo that +belongs to this period, May 1525.(135) It refers to a picture by +Sebastiano, probably the portrait of Anton Francesco degli Albizzi, +referred to in letter cccxcvi.:-- + + + "MY MOST DEAR SEBASTIANO,--Last evening our friend the Capitano + Cuio(136) and certain other gentlemen were so good as to invite me + to sup with them, which gave me very great pleasure, since it took + me a little out of my melancholy, or rather folly. Not only did I + enjoy the supper, which was very good, but I had far more pleasure + in the conversation, and more than all it increased my pleasure to + hear your name mentioned by the said Capitano Cuio; nor was this + all, for it further rejoiced me exceedingly to hear from the + Capitano that, in art, you are peerless in the world, and that so + you were esteemed in Rome. If I could have rejoiced more I would + have done so. So you see my judgment is not false, therefore do + not any more deny that you are peerless, when I tell it you, for I + have too many witnesses. And behold there is a picture of yours + here, God be thanked, which wins credence for me with every one + who can see daylight." + + +From the Ricordi we learn that Michael Angelo was busy with the Library of +San Lorenzo. He had in his employ stone hewers and masters in various +crafts: Tasio and Carota for wood carving, Battista del Cinque and Ciapino +for carpentry, and Giovanni da Udine, a pupil of Raphael, for the +grotesque decoration for the dome of the chapel. Clement added a +postscript in his own hand to one of his secretary's letters: "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. And so also the library. Wherefore we recommend +both to thy diligence. Meanwhile we will betake us (as thou said'st +erstwhile) 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." (Clement signs with his baptismal name.)(137) + +The Pope set Michael Angelo to make a Sacrarium for the relics belonging +to San Lorenzo. It was placed above the entrance door of the church, and +the details of that portion of the interior were altered for it. A design +by Michael Angelo at Oxford is for part of these alterations. Another +commission Clement desired Michael Angelo to undertake was of a curiously +absurd character. Fattucci wrote to say that the Pope wished a colossal +statue to be erected on the piazza of San Lorenzo, opposite the Stufa +Palace. The giant was to top the roof of the Medician 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 constructed of separate pieces +fitted together. This project, evidently intended as a truly Florentine +insult to the house of Stufa, did not please Michael Angelo, and his +letter, of October 1525, in reply is an instance of his heavy, elephantine +humour:-- + + [Image #37] + + LORENZO DE MEDICI, DUKE OF URBINO + + THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + + "_To my dear friend_ MESSERE GIOVAN FRANCESCO, _priest of Saint + Mary of the Flower of Florence, in Rome._ + + "MESSER GIOVAN FRANCESCO,--If I had as much strength as I have had + pleasure from your last letter, I should expect to carry out, and + that quickly, all the things you write to me about, but as I have + not I will do what I can. + + "About the colossus of forty braccia, of which you tell me, that + is to go, or rather to be erected, at the corner of the loggia of + the Medician garden, opposite the corner of Messer Luigi della + Stufa, I have thought of it not a little, as you told me, and it + seems to me that it would not do in that corner, for it would take + up too much of the roadway; but in the other corner, where the + barber's shop is, it would turn out much better according to my + way of thinking, because it has the piazza in front of it and + would not be so much in the way; and perhaps as they would not + allow the shop to be removed, for love of the income from it, I + have been thinking that the said figure might be in a sitting + position, and the seat high, the said work to be hollow within, as + is right when working in pieces, so that the barber's shop would + come underneath, and the rent would not be lost. And again, so + that the said shop may have wherewithal to dispose of its smoke as + it has now, it occurred to me to give the said statue a horn of + plenty in its hand, hollow within, which would serve for the + chimney. Then having the head of the said figure empty, like the + other members, of that also I believe we could make some use, for + there is here in the piazza a huckster, very much my friend, who + tells me in secret that it would make a very fine dovecot. Another + fancy strikes me that would be much better, but we should have to + make the figure ever so much larger. And it might be done, for a + tower is built up of pieces; and that is, that the head should + serve as campanile for San Lorenzo, which needs one badly. And the + bells hanging within, the sound clanging from the mouth, it would + seem that the said colossus were howling for mercy, and especially + on feast days, when they ring oftenest and with the largest bells. + + "About the transport for the marbles for the above-mentioned + statue, so that no one shall know of it, meseems they should come + by night and well covered up, so that they may not be seen. There + will be danger at the gates, and we must provide for it somehow; + at the worst, we shall have San Gallo.(138) + + "As to doing, or not doing, the things that are to do, and which + you say may stand over, it is better to let them be done by those + who will do them, for I have so much to do that I do not care to + undertake more. To me it will suffice if it be something worthy. + + "I do not reply to all you say, for lo Spina comes shortly to + Rome, and will answer your letter by word of mouth, and more in + detail than I can with the pen. + + "Your MICHAEL ANGELO, Sculptor, in Florence." + + +This letter had its desired effect, nothing more was heard of the +colossus. + + + +The Sack of Rome in 1527 by the rabble of Germany and Spain, called the +Imperial army, naturally stopped all artistic work, for war is the worst +enemy of art. Clement was besieged in the Castle Saint Angelo for nine +months, and the Medici lost their power in Florence. The Cardinal of +Cortona, with the young princes Ippolito and Alessandro de' Medici, fled, +and Niccolo Capponi was elected President of the Popular Government. +Michael Angelo was in Florence all this time. A Ricordo given in Lettere, +p. 598, says: "I record how, some days ago, Piero di Filippo Gondi asked +to enter the new sacristy at San Lorenzo to hide there certain goods of +his because of the peril in which we now find ourselves. This evening of +the 29th of April, 1527, he has begun to bring in certain bundles. He says +they are linen of his sisters, and I, not to witness what he does, or +where he hides the stuff, have given him the key of the said sacristy this +said evening." + + + +Upon July 2, 1528, Michael Angelo's favourite brother, Buonarroto, died of +the plague. Gotti tells how Michael Angelo held his brother in his +arms(139) while he was dying, notwithstanding the great risk to his own +life, and took care of his family after his death. There are minutes of +the expenses he incurred; the clothes were burnt to avoid infection; he +repaid the widow Bartolommea her dowry, placed his niece Francesca in a +convent until she was of an age to marry, and provided for his nephew +Lionardo, as if for a son of his own. + + + +The citizens of Florence, fearing the anger of the Pope and his new +allies, now that their power was in the ascendant, prepared to endure a +siege. Michael Angelo was appointed general over the construction of the +walls and defences of the city in 1529. He had many difficulties with the +council; often they objected to his plan of fortifying the heights of San +Miniato. Michael Angelo went to Pisa and Arezzo to superintend the +strengthening of the works there. He was sent also to Ferrara with letters +from the Signori and the Ten to the Duke, the greatest Italian authority +upon fortification, and to their envoy, Galeotto Giugni, who wrote to +inform the Florentines that Michael Angelo refused to abandon the inn and +receive the hospitality of the Duke, who with great honour personally +conducted him over the fortresses and walls of Ferrara; no doubt at the +same time showing him his art collections. It would be interesting to know +if Michael Angelo looked upon the portrait-head of Julius II., broken from +his Bologna statue, when the bronze was turned into a cannon. Perhaps he +also saw La Giulia, the cannon herself. It may be that amongst the +engraved gems in the Duke's collection was one representing "Leda and the +Swan," and that Michael Angelo talked with the Duke as to the +possibilities of this composition for pictorial treatment. Soon after +Michael Angelo returned to Florence he received warning from a mysterious +person that there was treachery in the garrison, so he fled to Venice. He +had no idea of wasting his life uselessly when he thought certain +destruction was before the city, and so he determined to leave Italy and +accept the overtures that had been made to him from the Court of France. +The courage that fears not to undertake the greatest and most difficult +works is of a different temper from that of a soldier, a bravo, or a +Benvenuto Cellini; all the noble and virtuous qualities cannot belong to +one hero. Unfortunately, the judgment of Michael Angelo turned out to be +right after all. Nevertheless, hearing better news, and hoping against +hope, he courageously returned to Florence in her extremity and went on +with the fortifications. Some of the works at San Miniato still remain. +Vauban is said to have found them of such interest that he surveyed and +measured them. During this sad time Michael Angelo laboured in secret at +the tombs of the Medici. The sad and despairing thoughts of the artist are +evident in the work he produced. No one can enter that solemn sacristy +without feeling the spirit of deepest sadness brooding over all--Il +Penseroso, and the figures of Day and of Night, of Morning and of Evening. + + + +The city fell in August 1530. Marco Dandolo, of Venice, when he heard of +it, exclaimed aloud, "Baglioni has put upon his head the cap of the +biggest traitor upon record." The prominent citizens who escaped, +including Michael Angelo, were outlawed and their property confiscated. +Many who remained in the city were imprisoned, tortured, and beheaded. +Michael Angelo hid himself, the Senator Filippo Buonarroti says, in the +bell-tower of San Nicolo beyond Arno.(140) After the fury was over and +Clement's anger abated, Michael Angelo, hearing a message of peace from +the Pope, came forth from his hiding-place and resumed work on the statues +at San Lorenzo, moved thereto more by fear of the Pope than by love of the +Medici. During November or December his pension of fifty crowns a month +was renewed, the Pope's agent in Florence being Battista Figiovanni, Prior +of San Lorenzo. + +In 1528 a block of marble had been assigned to Michael Angelo, from which +he determined to extract a heroic group of Hercules and Cacus. There is a +small wax model of this composition at South Kensington, attributed to +Michael Angelo, which may be for this design. The Medici Government handed +over the blocks to the craven Baccio Bandinelli, who produced the horrible +work, representing the same subject, now in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. + +The Leda for the Duke of Ferrara,(141) but presented by Michael Angelo to +his pupil Mini, was painted during the siege. It was probably a design +from some antique gem in the Duke's cabinet. The original, and a copy by +Benedetto Bene, were taken to Paris by Antonio Mini, where they passed +into the possession of the King. Michael Angelo's Leda hung at +Fontainebleau until the time of Louis XIII., when a Minister of State, M. +Desnoyers, ordered its destruction, as it seemed to him to be an improper +picture. Pierre Mariette informs us that the picture was only hidden away, +and that it reappeared and was seen by him. It was restored and sent to +England. In the offices of the National Gallery is the best edition of +this picture. The head and arm are repainted, but the thigh and hip are +modelled in a magnificent style that reminds us of the figure of Night in +the Medician tombs that he was at this very time carving. From the power +of this portion of the work we may assume that it is the damaged and much +restored original by Michael Angelo. + + [Image #38] + + THE HEAD OF THE DAWN + + THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +Vasari informs us that about this time "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 rare beauty, though not quite completed." This work +was presented by the artist to Baccio Valori, the powerful agent of the +Medici. It is now in one of the upper rooms of the Bargello, in Florence. +The rough hatchings of the chisel lines are everywhere visible; the figure +is palpitating with life under a veil of hewn marble; the pose of the +young god as he glides along and turns his head over his shoulder is one +of the most beautiful and graceful Michael Angelo ever imagined. Until +1533 Michael Angelo worked at the Medici monuments. The ever recurring +trouble about the Tomb of Julius distracted him in 1532; a new contract +was made out in the May of that year, and Michael Angelo evidently +expected that he would have to go to Rome about it. This may be gathered +from the important letter written on February 24, 1531, by Sebastiano del +Piombo, in Rome, to Michael Angelo, in Florence; it marks the renewal of +the intercourse of the two old friends after the dangers and troubles they +had passed through during the siege of Florence and the sack of Rome. +Sebastiano's previous letter, as far as we know, is dated April 25, 1525:-- + + + _1531, 24th February._ + + "MY DEAREST COMRADE,--By Master Domenico, called Menichella, who + has been to see me on your behalf. God knows how dear it was to + me. After so many sorrows, hardships, and dangers, Almighty God + has left us alive and well in His mercy and pity. A fact truly + miraculous when I think over it; everlasting thanks to His Divine + Majesty, and if I could express to you with my pen the anxiety and + worry I have had on your account you would marvel at it. The + Signor Fernando di Gonzaga will bear me witness, and God knows + what sorrow I had when I heard you had been to Venice. If you had + found me at Venice things would have been very different; but + enough. Now gossip mine, now that we have been through fire and + water, and experienced things one could never have imagined, let + us thank God for all things, and for the little life that is left + to us; at least, let us spend it in what quiet we may. Verily, we + must put no faith in fortune, she is so perverse and sad. I am + come to this; for aught I care the universe may be ruined. I + should laugh at everything. Menichella will tell you by word of + mouth of my life and how I am. I do not as yet seem to myself to + be the same Bastiano that I was before the sack. I cannot collect + my thoughts. I say no more. Christ keep you well. + + "The 24th day of February, 1531, in Rome. + + "About your coming here, according to what Master Menichella tells + me, it does not seem to be necessary, unless you come for a jaunt + or to put your house in order; which, in truth, is going to the + bad in more ways than one, as in the roofs and other things. I + suppose you know that the workshop, with the carved marbles in, + has tumbled to pieces; it is a great pity. You will be able to + remedy this and make some arrangements. As for me I should dearly + love to enjoy your company for a while; truly I am dying to see + you. I am all impatience; but do as you think best. + + "Your very faithful gossip, + + "SEBASTIANO LUCIANIS. + + "LORD MICHAEL ANGELO DE BONAROTIS, + + "Most rare Sculptor, in Florence." + + + [Image #39] + + APOLLO + + THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, THE BARGELLO, FLORENCE + (_By permission from the photograph by Sig. G. Brugi, Florence_) + + +Sebastiano continued his good services to his friend with regard to the +Tomb of Julius all through 1531. The course of events may be followed in +his letters. The Pope was interested, and always consulted, in the affair, +and most favourably disposed to Michael Angelo. All this anxiety preyed +upon the master and injured his health. Paolo Mini, the father of Antonio, +Michael Angelo's assistant, wrote to Baccio Valori on September 29(142): +"Michael Angelo 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;(143) and for his heart, the best remedy would be +if his Holiness could accommodate matters with the Duke of Urbino." On +November 21 Clement 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 Medician monuments, and to take better +care of his health. On the 26th Benvenuto Valpaio added that his Holiness +desired Michael Angelo to select some workshop more convenient than the +cold and cheerless sacristy. + + + +Sebastiano's letters during 1533 often refer to an edition of some +madrigals written by Michael Angelo and set to music by Bartolomeo +Tromboncino, Giacomo Arcadelt, and Constanzo Festa.(144) Gottif(145) +publishes an essay by Leto Puliti on this music with the score of three of +the madrigals. Many of Michael Angelo's poetical compositions may be +referred to this period of comparative inaction as to painting and +sculpture. All through his life he wrote sonnets and poems when his other +work did not proceed quickly. + + + +In 1535 Michael Angelo finally left Florence. His father and his favourite +brother were dead, and so he left the shadow of the great Duomo, all +Florentines love, for ever. At Rome he dreamed a dream of another Dome, +that has given to that city the feature by which we know it best, and to +Romans a possession not less beloved than Bruneleschi's gift to the +Florentines. + + [Image #40] + + THE HEAD OF THE NIGHT + + THE NEW SACRISTY OF SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +When Michael Angelo left, the works at San Lorenzo were all unfinished; +the facade was not begun, the Sagrestia Nuova, the ground plan of which is +similar to Bruneleschi's Sagrestia Vecchia, was left in the rough, and the +Library he designed to hold the priceless Medician manuscripts, collected +by Cosimo Pater Patriae and Lorenzo the Magnificent, now known as the +"Biblioteca Laurenziana," was only begun. As Michael Angelo's designs and +working drawings were of the roughest description, and he usually left a +great deal to be settled after he had seen the effect of the earlier part +of his works, we cannot blame him only for certain faults, such as, for +instance, the awkward approach to the Library. If he had completed the +work he very likely would have made an entrance from the piazza, as roomy +and convenient, as the curious staircase in the corner of the cloister is +awkward and cramped. It was completed by Giorgio Vasari, whose letters to +Michael Angelo about this difficult work, and Michael Angelo's chaotic +replies, belong to a much later period. The curious manner of cutting up +the wall by pilasters and framed spaces cannot properly be judged without +the bronze bas-reliefs that they were intended to contain. Considered as a +method of hanging or displaying a collection of works of art they are +admirable, and might well serve for the interior decoration of a great +museum. The vestibule, with its curious stairway, large consoles, and +green and white colour, leaves an impression of power and eccentricity in +architecture like the effect of the serious caricatures of Leonardo da +Vinci in drawing. The buildings at San Lorenzo should be regarded as the +prentice work of the architect of the Dome of St. Peter's. The decorations +of the Sagrestia Nuova, too, were left unfinished; the statues of Day, +Night, Morning, and Evening were left where he had worked upon them, on +the floor of the chapel. From Vasari's letter to him of 1562, instigated +by the Duke Cosimo, who desired to complete the work according to Michael +Angelo's designs, asking for help and advice,(146) we gather that Michael +Angelo intended to have placed statues in all the niches above the +sepulchres, and in the frames above the doors works of painting, stucco +for the arches, and painting to adorn the flat walls and semicircular +spaces of the chapel. Michael Angelo, on account of his great age, was +unable or unwilling to assist in the work. The present sarcophagi cannot +have been intended to hold the allegorical figures in the way they do, for +the under surfaces of the statues do not fit the top of the mouldings, and +certainly the rough stones that project over them, forming a base for the +feet, must have been intended to be supported by solid marble, and not to +rest uneasily on air. The sarcophagi are of a greyer marble than the +figures or than the panelling behind them. The architectural ornament +appears to be of three dates: First, the niches and panels of the walls; +second, the sarcophagi and their supports; third, the doors of the chapel +and niches over them. In the first, the grotesque heads in the mouldings +are like the dull grotesques Michael Angelo appears to have designed in +the architecture of the Tomb of Julius and on the armour of the captains +in this chapel. In the second, the four-horned skulls of rams on the sides +of the supports of the sarcophagi are very feeble and poor in design. If +we compare them with the powerful and true drawing of the rams' heads used +in the frame-work of the vault of the Sistine Chapel, we shall see that it +is impossible for Michael Angelo to have designed them, or even let them +pass whilst he was superintending the works. The shell and rope patterns +are even worse and more feeble; they are easily seen to be executed by +different hands. The simple bosses of the base under "Dawn and Evening" +are still unfinished: that would go to prove that Michael Angelo had +designed them and seen them cut as far as they go--not necessarily that he +had seen them in position--and that the academicians, when they did their +best to complete the chapel, rightly decided to leave them as they were. +The base under Day and Night has no bosses; they had not been begun as in +the former case; we may presume the academicians thought it best to have +them flat. These simple bases are the most effective portions of the +architectural scheme of the monument, in character with the allegorical +figures, reminding us of the plinths or seats provided for the Athletes +and the Prophets of the Sistine. Perhaps they were the only portions, +except the figures and the panelling of the walls, seen by Michael Angelo +himself. The supports and lid of the sarcophagi, and the sarcophagus of +Giuliano, are of different marble to the actual receptacle of the body of +Lorenzo, that is under Dawn and Evening. The quiet mouldings of the latter +are much finer and more in character with the walls. The lids are of a +white sugary marble, the mouldings coarse and semicircular in section, and +the volutes and circular endings of the lids are of a perfectly stupid +design. These lids cannot have been seen by Michael Angelo; and, +therefore, he cannot have seen the figures in their places upon them. The +sarcophagus under the Day and Night has been copied from the one seen by +Michael Angelo: its mouldings are still beautiful, but heavier, more +deeply cut, and of less subtle line in the section. The difference is +perceptible to the eye and evident with the aid of a good foot-rule. This +sarcophagus is of a different marble, as has been said. As to the third +period, the garlands and little pretty vases over the doors of the chapel, +and the consoles and niches above, are like nothing else in the world but +those carved frames that in Florence to this day are called "Vasari +frames." + +The marble candlesticks upon the altar of the chapel are of different +marble from the altar on which they stand, and appear to be of an earlier +date. The grotesques on the bases are of good design, and the drill holes +of the marble cutting are simply left to tell their story of how the work +was done, instead of being cut away and hidden as in later work. May they +not have been designed in Michael Angelo's time, possibly for the brackets +on the cornice of the panelling behind the tombs? On the altar is the +inscription: + + + PAULUS V. PONT. MAX. + + MDCX. + + +The figures of Giuliano and Lorenzo are perfectly finished; they cannot be +regarded as portraits, but as symbols. The armour of the warrior Giuliano +is magnificently designed, and must have been founded upon some antique +example. The grotesque upon the breastplate is not unlike a grotesque in a +similar place upon an antique marble bust in the Naples Museum. The +helmeted Lorenzo, Il Penseroso, broods over what might have been, had he +acted his part in Florence. Under his elbow rests a box of peculiar +design, possibly the representation of a political instrument used in the +offices of his family's unwise government. The unfinished head of Day is +an example of how the master appears to complete his work from the first +stroke of his chisel. The vigorous giant, just rising to his work, looks +over his shoulder at the bright sun. The rough chiselling of the face +suggests already the dazzle of the light in his eyes; how he tears his +right hand as yet half stone from out his stony breast! With his left hand +behind his back he appears to count the quattrini of his wage; this action +of the thumb placed on the second finger is Michael Angelo's favourite one +for the hand; it may be seen many times in this chapel alone. The +shortness of the feet in the figure of Day appears to be due to a +miscalculation as to the size of the block; but, perhaps, had the head and +torso been thinned down in the finishing they would have been correct in +proportion. At the same time, the feet are finished most carefully and +beautifully, and are so true that photographs of them look almost like +photographs from the finest of living models. + + [Image #41] + + NIGHT + + THE NEW SACRISTY OF SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +How much has been written about the Night and her meanings! We have good +proof that her maker intended her to have some of these many meanings in +the reply of Michael Angelo to Giovan Battista Strozzi's complimentary +verses:-- + + La Notte, che tu vedi in si dolci atti + Dormire, fu da un Angelo scolpita + In questo sasso, e perche dorme ha vita; + Destala, se no'l credi, e parleratti. + + The Night, that thou seest, so sweetly sleeping, + Was by an angel carved in the rude stone, + Sleeping, she lives, if thou believ'st it not, + Wake her, and surely she will answer thee. + +The reply of Michael Angelo is in a much higher vein, and teaches us to +look to a far different aim in his work than the mere form represented:-- + + Grato m'e 'l sonno e piu l'esser di sasso; + Mentre che 'l danno e la vergogna dura + Non veder, non sentir m'e gran ventura; + Pero non mi destar; deh! parla basso! + + Dear is my sleep, more dear to be but stone; + Whilst deep despair and dark dishonour reign + Not to hear, not to feel is greatest gain; + Then wake me not; speak in an undertone. + +No one ever before gave such tragic beauty to the worn and tired figure of +a woman who has lived through her many days of toil and suffered many +labours. It is believed by a medical authority that the master meant the +statue to represent rest after a labour, but it is rather the +nightmare-troubled sleep of a tired woman, whose beautiful firm hips and +worn breasts prove her to have bravely met and passed through many cares, +and suckled many children. A horrid mask, symbolising these memories, in +bad dreams, grimaces beside her left hand. The eyes of the mask are cut +double so that the thing alters its glance as you move about the chapel, +fascinates and is intolerable. The noble and splendid thighs of the woman +again realise a favourite problem of Michael Angelo's. He represented +these powerful limbs in the Flood and other parts of the Sistine vault, +and in the Leda. Beneath is seen an owl; never before in sculpture has a +bird been represented with such power and dignity, save only by the Greeks +in the eaglets head on the coin of Eiis. There are wreaths of poppy heads, +symbols of sleep, and a moon and stars to crown the head that is like the +head of a greater than Diana. + +Evening, a brawny, hard-worked man, looks across the chapel with pity +towards the Night. He appears to be in the act of straightening and +stretching out his limbs, lately bent by the toils of the day, in +longed-for rest. + + [Image #42] + + THE MADONNA AND CHILD + + THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +The virgin Dawn lifts her weary head, as it were, in despair, that another +day of shame and reproach is beginning; her long, lithe limbs and narrow +hips contrast with the ample girth and muscular power of the Night. The +modelling of the torso of this figure is, perhaps, the finest piece of +workmanship in the chapel, and should be studied from every point of view, +even from the back of the monument. The muscular forms and the disposition +of the lines are so beautiful and true that it is a veritable marvel and +wonder of the world. The right proportion of development necessary for a +figure of that colossal size to move and live has never been so well +calculated. The head is so beautiful that it cannot be spoken about; but +must be seen in the position Michael Angelo designed it for, and not +tilted upright on an ordinary pedestal as it is always seen in the art +schools. All the four figures struggle with the trials, difficulties, and +despair of their lives, as who should say, to such a pass has Medici rule +reduced existence in Florence. + +One other statue in the Chapel is entirely by the hand of the master, a +Madonna suckling the child Jesus, a strong boy straddling across her knee +and turning right round to reach the breast. Although unfinished, it is +one of Michael Angelo's noblest works; it is a notable example of +compactness of design, and of how he left the shape of the block of marble +evident in his finished work. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + + THE LAST ACT OF THE TRAGEDY OF THE TOMB, AND THE DAY OF JUDGMENT + + +As soon as Michael Angelo arrived in Rome, in 1535, he set to work to +complete his contract for the Tomb of Julius, and marbles that had waited +in silence for his liberating hand began to resound with the clink of the +iron. The two Slaves in the Louvre appear to have been worked upon once +again at this date, if we may judge by their likeness to the work in the +Dawn and the Day. After the death of Clement the new Pope, Paul III., +Farnese, sent for him and requested him to enter his service, as Condivi +tells us.(147) Paul III., in a brief dated September 1, 1535,(148) +appointed Michael Angelo chief architect, sculptor, and painter at the +Vatican; he became a member of the Pope's household, with a pension of +1200 golden crowns, raised on the revenue from a ferry across the river +Po, at Piacenza. This was so unremunerative, however, that it was +exchanged for a post on the Chancery at Rimini. And now the doors of the +Sistine Chapel once more close upon the master, not to be opened again +until the Christmas of 1541. + + [Image #43] + + THE DAY OF JUDGMENT + + (_From a print in the British Museum_) + + +Michael Angelo had to destroy three frescoes by Perugino and two lunettes +of his own upon the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel for his new scheme. +He is said to have had the wall rebuilt of well-baked bricks, so possibly +the old frescoes had suffered from damp and dirt. Vasari says Fra +Sebastiano del Piombo prepared the wall for Michael Angelo, and secretly +had it grounded for oil painting, no doubt hoping himself to be employed +in the work, as oil was his special medium. Michael Angelo was very wroth +with his old friend for this, and declared that oil painting was an art +only fit for women and crazy fellows. We hear of no further intercourse +between Michael Angelo and the jovial frate. Vasari attributes their +coolness to this incident. + + + +Hieronimo Staccoli wrote a letter in July 1537,(149) to the Duke of +Camerino, son and heir to the Duke of Urbino, about a salt-cellar designed +for him by Michael Angelo. This prince was afterwards a good friend to the +master, and his letter of September 7, 1539, informs us of the position of +affairs with regard to the Tomb of Julius during the progress of the large +painting in the Sistine:-- + + + "DEAREST MESSER MICHAEL ANGELO,--It always has been, and now is, + more than ever our infinite desire, as you will naturally imagine, + to see the Tomb to the sainted memory of Pope Julius, my uncle, + brought to a good conclusion by you, and we know well that it + belongs to our duty to have good care of it, and see it ultimately + finished, being held to it as you so well know by that sainted + spirit: nevertheless, having heard by letters from our ambassador + at Rome the great desire of our Lord, we must comfort ourselves + with all patience whilst this said work is passed over by you. As + long as His Holiness holds you busy in finishing the picture in + the said chapel of Sisto; not being able or willing, but by our + duty and our natural inclination in this as in all things to + otherwise than comply with his wishes, we are contented to agree + with a good grace, on reflection and by the reverence we bear to + His Holiness. You may, therefore, fairly go on with the painting + until the work is finished; but with a firm hope and belief that + when it is done you will give yourself up entirely to finishing + the said Tomb, redoubling your diligence and care to make up for + the loss of time, as His Holiness has also promised you shall, + kindly offering himself to urge you to do it; and to this end we + have written you this letter. So long a time has passed since this + said Tomb was begun that we cannot persuade ourselves but that you + are equally desirous with us to see it finished; and esteeming you + an honourable man, as we certainly believe you are--you cannot be + otherwise with your singular virtue--we judge it superfluous to + give you any admonition except that you keep yourself in good + health, in order that you may honour those sainted bones that + living honoured you and the other gifted men of that age, by all + that we have so often heard. We beg you will make use of us if + there is any other matter in which we can do you pleasure, for we + shall do it with that good will which your most rare gifts + deserve. And keep well." + + + [Image #44] + + THE JUDGE. FROM "THE DAY OF JUDGMENT" + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_By permission of the Fratelli, Alinari, Florence_) + + +Shortly before the fresco was finished, Vasari informs us that Michael +Angelo had a bad fall from the scaffolding, and injured his leg. He +returned home, shut himself up in his house, and would not allow any +doctor to come near him or even enter the house. A certain Florentine +physician and lover of the arts, Baccio Rontini, contrived to creep in by +a back door, and roamed about until he found the master. He then insisted +upon remaining with him, looking after him until he had effected a +complete cure. + +The Last Judgment was shown to the public upon Christmas Day, 1541. In +this picture of the Day of Wrath, Michael Angelo has concentrated all his +energies to represent the terror of the wrath of God. It is Jehovah with +His thunders that rises before the frightened mass of human souls. The +Holy Mother crouches beside Him, turning her face away so as not to see +the wrath to come. Even the saints look with dread towards the great +Judge, fearing lest they too should be condemned. Martyrs brandish the +emblems of their martyrdom before His eyes to plead for them, and, as some +have said, claim vengeance for their pains. Michael Angelo would have us +realise that no human soul is innocent beside the Holiness of Heaven. The +gentle happiness of the redeemed, as represented by the blessed Frate +Angelico is absent from the scene--it could not appear without destroying +the unities of the tragedy. Peace will follow as the blessed walk in the +Elysian fields after they have passed, with a fearful joy, from the +judgment seat. Michael Angelo has followed the traditional composition of +the subject in all its lines and details, adapting it with the least +change possible to the space at his command, and to the superior knowledge +of the drawing of the human form that he possessed. It is most interesting +to compare this rendering with the same subject in the Campo Santo at +Pisa. Every part of the composition is repeated, the action of the Judge, +the Madonna beside Him on His right, Apostles on either side, the +resurrection of the dead, the descent into hell, the angels blowing the +trumpets in the centre of the lower part, the angels bearing the cross and +other implements of the Passion in the upper corners. This crowded mass of +figures is divided into nine several parts, all the figures and groups +having room enough to move, and to spare. The more this work is studied in +detail the more beautiful the forms appear, and the more daring and +skilful the foreshortenings are found to be. Every figure is beautiful, +and every one of them noble. The picture is full of symbolism in the +details, and may be studied every day, and new thoughts and new meanings +found in it. Souls that help each other in their upward struggle. Beads of +prayers with which one good righteous man draws souls to heaven. The wife +who lifts up her despairing husband; his expression of awe and doubt as he +rises upward. Souls long separated by death rush together in close +embrace; father and son, husband and wife. Dante is there thirsting for +deepest mysteries, his face positively thrust between St. Peter and St. +Paul. Souls driven down to hell, beautiful and noble as are those destined +for heaven; even their despair is dignified as if they assented to their +doom as just. Old Charon, in his boat, "with eyes of brass, who beats the +delaying souls with uplifted oar," is taken directly from Dante:-- + + Caron demonio con occhi di bragia + Loro accenando, tutte le raccoglie, + Batte col remo qualunque si adagia. + + [Image #45] + + SPIRITS OF THE BLESSED, PART OF "THE DAY OF JUDGMENT" + + SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +Those portions of the fresco in the semicircular spaces at the top, angels +bearing implements of the Passion, appear to have been painted the last. +They approximate in style to the works afterwards done in the Pauline +Chapel, and are not so absolutely true in drawing as the rest of the work. +Here, for the first time, is a sense of fatigue in the workmanship. They +appear to have been treated as two separate compositions filling their +lunettes. Michael Angelo has used the favourite device of Raphael to give +movement, direction, and force of line, two figures pointing almost side +by side in almost exactly parallel actions. Nothing gives so much sense of +rush, as may be seen in many of the compositions in the Loggia. One +instance here is the angel bearing the Crown of Thorns and the figure near +him. Another is just below, two figures near the right arm of the Judge. +One of the finest and most superb groups ever designed by Michael Angelo +is the group of angels blowing the trumpets of doom in the forefront of +the fresco. Their energy and power, compared with the placid angels of +Pisa and Orvieto, exhibit the different aims of the artist most +effectively. It must be noticed how carefully Michael Angelo has arranged +his composition, so that the baldacchino used behind the High Altar upon +great occasions shall not injure his composition. The group of angel +trumpeters, the Charon and the devils in a cave, are all hidden and cut +off exactly by the curtains, and the composition generally is positively +improved by their absence. Michael Angelo, no doubt, thought the fresco +would be most seen on such occasions, and designed his work accordingly. +The space hidden, however, he did not neglect, but placed in it some of +his finest work. + +The prophet above this end of the chapel is Jonah, whose history is a +symbol of the resurrection of the dead. His presence there makes us +suppose that Michael Angelo always contemplated the possibility of his +having to paint the Last Judgment upon this wall, although he himself +painted the lunettes now covered by the larger composition. The colour of +this fresco is very much darkened by dust and by smoke from the altar +candles; and, as it is more within reach than the vault, it has been +retouched. It should be a source of comfort to those who get tired with +looking upward at pictures in high places, if they will but remember that +their beloved paintings have often been protected from the restorer by +their high position. There is an interesting early copy of this fresco in +the Corsini Gallery in Florence, which, though rather crude, gives us a +good idea of the light tone of the painting in its early state. + +This work was received by artists with enthusiasm, reflected in the pages +of Vasari. They came from all parts to study it; in fact, most of the +drawings attributed to Michael Angelo in collections are their studies +from it, and not his studies for it, as they are called. As a general +rule, whenever there are two or more figures drawn in a group, all equally +finished and accurately in the same position as the figures in the fresco, +the drawing may be assumed to be a copy. + +Two sections of the public, even then, were unable to receive Michael +Angelo's message of the beauty and purity of the human figure. Not only +scandalous persons, like Aretino, objected to them, but pious people, who +could not and cannot yet be brought to believe in the splendour and +holiness of the Creator's work. Vasari tells us that when Michael Angelo +had almost finished the work Pope Paul came to see it, and Messer Biagio +da Cesena, Master of the Ceremonies, a very particular person, was with +him in the chapel, and was asked what he thought of it. Messer Biagio da +Cesena replied that he considered it highly improper to paint so many +shameless, naked figures in such an honourable building, and that it was +not a fit work for the Pope's chapel, but more suitable to a bagno or an +inn. Michael Angelo nettled by this resolved to revenge himself at once. +As soon as they left the chapel he set to work and drew Messer Biagio's +portrait, from memory, in hell as Minos, with a great serpent twisted +round his legs, surrounded by a crowd of devils. Messer Biagio complained +to the Pope, who asked him where he was placed? "In hell," was the reply. +"Then I can do nothing to help you," said the Pope; "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_." Some +years afterwards Paul IV. objected to the naked figures, and employed +Daniele da Volterra to patch draperies on to some of them, with Michael +Angelo's consent, whereby Daniele obtained the nickname of Il Braghettone, +or the breeches-maker. Daniele did his work with a good deal of +discretion, hiding as little of the original fresco as possible: the +additions are unfortunately offensive in colour. The early engravings show +the picture in its original state, and show that the additions are not so +many or so important as might be supposed, as most of the larger masses of +draperies are seen to be Michael Angelo's own work. When the Pope obtained +Michael Angelo's consent to this alteration, the artist replied to his +messenger: "Tell his Holiness this is a small matter, and can easily be +set right. Let him look to setting the world in order: to reform a picture +costs no great trouble." Pius V. also employed Girolamo da Fano to make +some further alterations. These retouches _a secco_ have destroyed to a +great extent the atmospheric quality and the relation of the planes in +Michael Angelo's suave true-fresco method, which, as may be seen in the +vault, gives the grey half-tints of the flesh-tones in a way only equalled +by Andrea del Sarto in fresco and Rembrandt in oil painting. + +As soon as Michael Angelo had finished the Last Judgment, Paul III. set +him to work again to fresco the walls of the chapel of the Holy Sacrament, +just completed by Antonio da San Gallo, and now known as the Cappella +Paolina. Michael Angelo had hoped to complete the Tomb of Julius at once, +with his own hand, but the Pope's determination necessitated further +negotiations with the Duke of Urbino. The Duke wrote to Michael Angelo +upon March 6, 1542, saying that he would 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 him.(150) + +There is also a petition from Michael Angelo to Paul III.(151) stating +that his Holiness the Pope's commission for Michael Angelo to work and +paint in his new chapel prevents him finishing the Tomb as agreed with the +illustrious signor Duke of Urbino. "Already Raffaello da Monte Lupo, the +Florentine, considered one of the best masters of the time, was well +forward with the standing group of the Madonna with the Child in her arms, +and a Prophet and a Sibyl seated, for four hundred scudi. The rest of the +decoration, excepting the part in front, was in the hands of Master +Giovanni de' Marchesi and Francesco da Urbino, chisellers and carvers in +stone, for seven hundred scudi. But there still remained to be supplied +the three figures to be carved by Michael Angelo's own hand, that is to +say, a Moses and two captives. But as the two said captives were designed +for the work when it was to have been on a much larger scale, they would +not fit in the reduced design, nor could they in any way be made to look +well there. Accordingly the said Messer Michael Angelo, not to lose his +honour, had blocked out two new statues to go on either side of the Moses, +representing the Active and Contemplative Life, which are well advanced, +so that they may be easily finished by another master. Michael Angelo +desires and supplicates his Holiness our Lord the Pope Paul the Third, in +order that he may work in his chapel, which needs all his energies and his +entire care, and he being aged, and desiring to serve the Pope with all +his power, to free him from his obligation to the signor Duke of Urbino +with regard to the said Tomb, cancelling and annulling every obligation. +Especially, to allow him to hand over the two statues that remain to be +done to the said Raffaello da Montelupo, or to some one pleasing to his +Excellency, for a good price, which it is thought would be 200 scudi. The +Moses will be finished entirely by Michael Angelo, and arrangements will +be made by Michael Angelo to pay the money due for these workers ... and +so he will be free in all things and able to serve and satisfy his +Holiness." Finally, he deposits a sum of 1200 crowns, and guarantees that +the work shall be efficiently executed in all its details. The final +contract in agreement with this petition was signed upon August 20, +1542.(152) + +The mighty design of Michael Angelo's early years of enthusiasm dwindled +down to the Moses, but what a height above other men's biggest designs is +this single figure! The Cardinal was right who said the statue of Moses +alone was a sufficient memorial of Julius. In a letter to Salvestro da +Montauto, of February 3, 1545(153), Michael Angelo says that the Duke of +Urbino ratified the deed, and the five statues were given to Raffaello da +Montelupo to be carved. "Of these five statues my Lord the Pope having at +my earnest prayer and for my satisfaction conceded to me a little time, I +finished two of them with my own hand, that is to say, the Contemplative +Life and the Active Life for the same sum that the said Raffaello was to +have had." From the works themselves we may be sure that there is a good +deal of Raffaello da Montelupo about these figures all the same. +Notwithstanding all this evidence of the desire of Michael Angelo to carry +out his contract, we have a letter(154) from Annibale Caro to Antonio +Gallo as late as 1553 entreating him to plead with the Duke of Urbino for +Michael Angelo. "I assure you that the extreme distress caused him by +being in disgrace with his Excellency is sufficient to bring his grey hair +with sorrow to the grave before his time." + +In the finished work there are statues not yet accounted for, that is to +say, the recumbent portrait of the Pope which was executed by Maso del +Bosco, the coat of arms of the Della Rovere by Battista Benti of Pietra +Santa, and the terminal figures by Giacomo del Duca. The greatest drawback +to the effect of the whole is the change in the architectural treatment +and decorations. The lower part belongs to the period when the work was +begun in 1505, and the upper, with no transition but a joint in the stone, +to the heavier and coarser style of the period when it was finished, 1545. +The jointing and the masonry generally are not of a satisfactory +character,(155) and Michael Angelo's assistants cannot be congratulated +upon the way they did their share of the work. With the exception of the +figures of Active and Contemplative Life, the work of the assistants would +be better away. + +The two bound captives which were too big for the altered monument are now +the glory of the Italian sculpture galleries of the Louvre. They were +presented by Michael Angelo to Roberto degli Strozzi, because, when the +sculptor was ill in 1544, Luigi del Riccio, his friend, nursed him and +looked after him in the Strozzi Palace. They were taken to France and +offered to the King of France, who gave them to the Connetable de +Montmorenci; they were placed by him in Ecouen. They were bought for the +French nation by M. Lenoir when the Republic put them up for sale in 1793. + +Four unfinished colossal figures, which still appear to be wrenching +themselves from their prison of stone, now lurk in the corners of a +repulsive grotto in the Boboli Gardens. They are supposed to have been +also for the Tomb of Julius. Heath Wilson suggests that they may have been +intended for the facade of San Lorenzo. The difficulty as to scale that +caused a doubt as to their being intended for the Tomb does not really +disprove it; for Michael Angelo was never very particular as to the +comparative size of the figures in his monuments, and the many alterations +of his schemes for the Tomb make it possible for them to have been worked +in somehow. It is very probable that when he was at Florence, and after +some of the more threatening letters of the executors, he set savagely to +work upon some blocks ready to his hand, with the idea of having them +conveyed to Rome afterwards. They belong to about the time of the siege of +Florence, and are more suggestive of his method of work, and of his +thoughts in the presence of the stone, than any other of his statues. If +they were removed from their ugly surroundings and placed, say, in the +Tribuna of David in the Belle Arti at Florence instead of the plaster +casts that represent the master in his own city, they, with the other +fragments, such as the Saint Matthew, the Apollo, the Victory, and the +other works in the Bargello, would make a gallery of his art even worthy +of Michael Angelo. Failing such a possibility, they might, at least, be +placed under the Loggia dei Lanzi, away from the repulsive grotesque of +stucco and stalactite that grins at them in the grotto. If something must +be left as a companion to the ugly thing, plaster casts would be quite +good enough. + +The Victory, of the Bargello, was said by Vasari to have been designed for +the Tomb, but it may just as well have been intended for an angel +overcoming a demon, part of the ruined scheme for the facade of San +Lorenzo. The lower figure is still left in the rough, and is supposed to +be like the artist. The head of the upper figure is so dull that it cannot +have been carved by the sculptor who finished the torso so exquisitely. It +may have been left a mere block, like the head of one of the captives of +the Boboli. The man who carved the head, and also worked on other portions +of the group, turned the neck round too much. If we imagine the head less +turned and looking down towards the crouching figure, conquered by the +young genius of beauty and victory, we shall see the grace in the pose of +the torso to greater advantage. We imagine a somewhat similar story for +the figure in the Bargello, called the Adonis. The boar cannot be by +Michael Angelo's hand, and, indeed, very little of the figure suggests his +grasp of plastic possibilities; the figure cannot have been much more than +blocked out by him, and was finished after his death by some artist of the +type of Vincenzio Danti. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + + THE CHAPEL OF POPE PAUL, AND THE PIETA OF SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE + + +Michael Angelo wrote a number of sonnets and made many drawings for his +friends, especially for the Marchioness of Pescara and Messer Tomaso dei +Cavalieri, a noble Roman gentleman. For him they were generally subjects +from Greek and Roman mythology, but for the Marchioness the drawings +always represented episodes from the story of the Passion of our Lord. A +Pieta, drawn for this lady, was engraved by Giulio Bonasoni and Tudius +Bononiensis in 1546. There are several drawings in the Print Room of the +British Museum and the Windsor and Oxford Collections of this character +and period. One at Oxford was probably the original sent to Vittoria, but +all are of the same sacred inspiration; in fact, the religious element +becomes very strong indeed in all his later work, just as in the later +work of Titian. These artists had the near prospect of death in view, and +thus they turned their thoughts entirely to work from which they hoped for +reward in the world to come. The fear of hell was not without its +influence upon both of them. + +Some of the drawings made by Michael Angelo for his friend, Tomaso +Cavalieri, are mentioned in one of Tomaso's letters, dated 1533.(156) + + [Image #46] + + THE CRUCIFIXION OF SAINT PETER + + THE CHAPEL OF POPE PAUL, THE VATICAN, ROME + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + + "UNIQUE MY LORD,--Some days ago I received a letter from you, which + was very welcome, both because I learned by it that you are well, + and also because I can now be sure that you will soon return. I + was very sorry not to answer at once. However, when you know the + cause, you will hold me excused. On the day your letter reached me + I was very sick, and in such a high fever that I was at the point + of death; and verily I should have died if it had not revived me. + Since then, thank God, I have been well. Messer Bartolomei has now + brought me a sonnet by you, which has made it my duty to write. + Some three days since I received my drawing of Phaeton, 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 a + Tityos and Ganymede done in crystal. I could not prevent him from + using the Tityos, and it is now being executed by Master Giovanni. + I struggled hard to save the Ganymede. The other day I went, as + you requested, to Fra Sebastiano. He sends a thousand messages, + but all to pray you to come back. + + "Your affectionate, + + "THOMAS CAVALIERI." + + +Messer Tomaso feared the drawings would be damaged in the workshop of the +gem engraver. There are several of these drawings in existence in good +condition, with no marks of the thumbs of workmen about them. + + + +From the letters referring to the last contract about the Tomb of Julius, +we learn that the frescoes in the Cappella Paolina were not begun in +October 1542. Michael Angelo worked at them with slight interruptions for +seven years; they represent the Conversion of Saint Paul and the Martyrdom +of Saint Peter. They are very highly finished in execution and studied in +grace of composition, but frigid, and too evidently the work of an old +man. The skill of the drawing and foreshortening is masterly as ever, but +he does not appear to have referred to nature for the forms; and even +Michael Angelo without nature became stale. Vasari says, after describing +the frescoes without his customary enthusiasm, "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." + +In the spring of 1546 Francis I. of France wrote to Michael Angelo asking +for some fine monument by his hand, and copies of the Pieta della Febbre, +now in St. Peter's, and of the Christ holding the Cross, in Santa Maria +Sopra Minerva, for his chapel. A draft of Michael Angelo's reply runs:-- + + [Image #47] + + THE CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL + + THE CHAPEL OF POPE PAUL + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + + _To the most Christian King of France._(157) + + "SACRED MAJESTY,--I do not know which is the greater, the grace or + the wonder at it, that your Majesty should have deigned to write + to a man like me, and still more to ask him for things of his, + unworthy even of the name of your Majesty; but, whatever they are, + let your Majesty understand that for a long time I have desired to + serve you in them; but, not having had the opportunity, because + you have not been in Italy where my work is, I have not been able + to do it. Now I am old, and have been occupied these many months + with the work for Pope Paul. But if a little life is still left me + after all these occupations, what I have desired is, as I have + said, a little time to work for your Majesty at my art--one work to + be in marble, one in bronze, and one in painting. And if death + hinders me from carrying out my wish, and if it be possible to + carve statues or to paint in the other life, 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 happy life. + + "From Rome, the day XXVI. of April, MDXLVI." + + +In the letters and poems of this period we note the endeavour to attain to +a style in literature full of rich conceits and elaborate compliment, +which may be compared to the style, elaborate and ornamental, but somewhat +cold and unattractive, of the frescoes in the Cappella Paolina. As he grew +older he devoted himself more entirely to architecture and literature. The +arts of sculpture and painting, as exercised by him, could not be carried +on by assistants; he now perforce had to employ himself upon work in which +the execution could be left to younger hands. He sought the help of +scholars to overhaul and set to rights his poems, sonnets, and thoughts in +words, as the masons and master-builders expressed his thoughts in +architecture--the Dome of St. Peter's, and the cornice of the Farnese +Palace. In the devotional drawings we have mentioned, and an unfinished +group in sculpture, the Deposition from the Cross, now behind the High +Altar of Santa Maria del Fiore at Florence, we have the only further +manifestation of Michael Angelo's genius in his favourite arts. Many of +these drawings appear to be designs for a great picture of the +Crucifixion. He went on executing them long after the death of the +Marchioness of Pescara, who first seems to have incited him to this work. +It almost appears to have become a religious exercise with him; they have +the same meaning as these last lines of a Sonnet. + + Ne pinger ne scolpir fia piu che quieti + L' anima volta a quell' Amor divino + Ch' aperse, a prender noi, in croce le braccia. + + 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.(158) + + [Image #48] + + THE PIETA OF SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE + + FLORENCE + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari Florence_) + + +The marble group of the Deposition is so religious in character that it +can be compared with no work of art executed since Michael Angelo's own +early work the Pieta, in St. Peter's, the Madonna della Febbre. Both for +its earnestness and its noble religious sentiment it is an act of worship +to look at it, and the days and nights spent in its execution must have +been periods of the heartiest religious devotion and sorrowing love. The +old sculptor intended this work to have been his monument. The unfinished +head of Nicodemus, who sustains the body of his dear Lord, is his own +portrait, and, unfinished as it is, expresses the deepest devotion and +sadness. Vasari saw this work in progress, and gives us a glimpse into the +home-life of the aged worker, who was never content out of his workshop, +and spent his sleepless nights working at this huge marble with a paper +cap on his head, in which he stuck a lighted candle to see by. The +solitary figure of the old man in the vast and dimly lighted studio, +groping round the inchoate marble; the stillness of the night, broken only +by the sharp click of the mallet and the grating of the chisel, is a +picture of many of the bravest hours of his old age. Vasari, observing all +this, and wishing to do the revered artist a kindness, sent 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 night-fall, and presented them to Michael Angelo. He refused, and +said he did not want them. The man answered: "Sir, they have almost broken +my back carrying them all this long way from the bridge, and I will not +carry 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 Michael Angelo heard this he gave way: "Lay them +down; I do not mean you to play pranks at my house door." Vasari tells +another anecdote about the Deposition. Pope Julius III. sent him late one +evening to Michael Angelo's house for a certain drawing. The aged master +came down with a lantern, and, hearing what was wanted, told Urbino to +look for the design. Meanwhile, Vasari turned his attention to one of the +legs of the Christ, which Michael Angelo had been altering. In order to +prevent his seeing it Michael Angelo let the light fall, and they remained +in darkness. He then called for another light, and stepped forth from the +screen of planks behind which he worked, saying: "I am so old that +oftentimes Death 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." + +"If life gives us pleasure we ought not to expect displeasure from death, +seeing it is made by the hand of the same master," was a favourite +reflection of Michael Angelo's upon mortality. This Deposition was never +completed, flaws appeared in the marble, and perhaps whilst working in the +imperfect light Michael Angelo's impatient chisel cut too deep. He began +to break up the work, but luckily his servant Antonio, successor to +Urbino, begged the fragments from his master. Francesco Bandini, a +Florentine exile settled in Rome, wished for a work by the master, and, +with Michael Angelo's consent, bought it from Antonio for two hundred +crowns. It was patched up, but apparently not worked upon, and remained in +the garden of Bandini's heir at Monte Cavallo. It was afterwards taken to +Florence and was finally placed in the Duomo in 1722 by the Grand Duke +Cosimo III., where it may now be seen behind the high altar, well-placed, +so that the great cross of the altar looks like the tree from which the +body has just been lowered. So well does the line of the cross behind cut +the group that we cannot help imagining that the artist intended some such +erection to have been placed behind his figures. Those who would see this +group aright must visit the Duomo before seven o'clock on a summer +morning, when the light of the sun falls, though the white robe of a +bishop in one of the high eastern windows, upon the neighbouring pillars +and the floor, and lights up that end of the church; at other times the +darkness of the dome covers the group as the darkness covered the earth +during the tragic hours at Golgotha. + +The right arm of the Christ has become over polished and much worn because +it is used as a balustrade by the acolytes, who carelessly run up and down +the steps between the group and the back of the high altar to light the +candles during service. On the other side a rough metal handle has +positively been let into the left side of the Joseph of Arimathea, so that +a clumsy boy may climb the more easily; wooden steps also fit so closely +to the marble that they injure the lines of the group. All the +characteristics of Michael Angelo's impassioned period may be studied in +this group; his favourite mannerisms are there also. Examine the hand of +Joseph, with the middle finger touching the thumb, and compare it with the +allegorical statues of the Medici Chapel. Vasari tells us that Michael +Angelo began another Pieta on a smaller scale; this may be the beautiful +group that has been spoiled by an alteration, now in the courtyard of the +Palazzo Rondini, No. 418, the Corso, Rome. There is a cast of it in the +Belle Arti at Florence. The hanging limbs of the Christ have a most +pathetic effect, and so has the whole expression of the group. The effect +is obtained by the length of the principal lines. + +There is a medallion of the Madonna clasping her dead son at the Albergo +dei Poveri, at Genoa, attributed to Michael Angelo; it may have been begun +by him during this long period of old age, but it cannot be called his +work. It has been entirely recarved by an imitator. + + + +Michael Angelo made his famous report condemning the design of Antonio da +Sangallo for the rebuilding of the Farnese palace upon the shores of the +Tiber; it is a mysterious document, in Michael Angelo's own hand, and does +not leave Sangallo a single merit. All the theories are proved by the +precepts of Vitruvius. The adherents of Sangallo resented it very +naturally, and the "Setta Sangallesca" became his bitter enemies. The Pope +himself was dissatisfied with Sangallo, and the design for the cornice was +thrown open to competition. Perino del Vaga, Sebastiano del Piombo, +Giorgio Vasari, and Michael Angelo all competed. Michael Angelo's design +was eventually carried out after he had placed a wooden model of part of +his cornice in position. Vasari, who is the best authority upon this +period of the life of Michael Angelo, attributes to him also the exterior +of the palace from the second story upwards, and the whole of the central +courtyard above the first story, "making it the finest thing of its sort +in Europe." Michael Angelo had also a serious disagreement with Sangallo +before the military committee fortifying the Borgo for the Pope. + +When Antonio da Sangallo died at Terni on October 3, 1546, Michael Angelo +succeeded to his post in Rome, architect-in-general to the Pope, the +principal work was, of course, the great Church of St. Peter's. Bramante, +Raphael, and Peruzzi had all been architects-in-chief, and many were the +alterations in the plans. Notwithstanding their differences during his +early life, the design of Bramante was the one that commended itself to +Michael Angelo; he abandoned Sangallo's design; the model for it still +exists and we cannot wonder at Michael Angelo's decision. His criticisms +are given in a letter supposed to be to Bartolomeo Amanati.(159) "It +cannot be denied that Bramante was a brave architect, equal to any one +from the times of the ancients until now. He laid the first plan of Saint +Peter's, not confused, but clear and simple, full of light and detached +from surrounding buildings, so as not to injure any part of the palace. It +was considered a fine thing, and, indeed, it is still manifest that it was +so; and all the architects who have departed from the plan of Bramante, as +Sangallo has done, have departed from the truth. And so it is, and all who +have not prejudiced eyes can see it in his model. He, with his outer +circle of chapels, in the first place takes all the light from the plan of +Bramante; and not only this, but he has not provided any other means of +lighting, and there are so many lurking places, both above and below, all +dark, which would be very convenient for innumerable knaveries, a secure +hiding-place for bandits, false coiners, and all sorts of ribaldry, and +when it was shut up at night twenty-five men would be needed to clear the +building of those in hiding there, and it would be difficult enough to +find them. There is yet another inconvenience: the circle of buildings +with their adjuncts outside added to Bramante's plan would make it +necessary to pull down to the ground the Capella Paolina, the offices of +the Piombo and the Ruota, and more besides; nay, even the Sistine Chapel +would, I believe, not escape." May it not have been that this malicious +arrangement of Sangailo's to destroy Michael Angelo's masterpieces made +the great artist so bitter against him. + + + +Paul III. conferred the post of architect-in-chief at St. Peter's upon +Michael Angelo on January 1, 1547, "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 workmen +and foremen employed upon the same." For all this work Michael Angelo +refused payment, declaring that he meant to labour, without recompense, +for the love of God and the reverence he felt for the Prince of the +Apostles. Speaking broadly, the former architects had designed ground +plans of St. Peter's on two lines, the Greek and the Latin crosses. +Bramante, and Baldassare Peruzzi used the Greek cross; Raphael, the +Basilica form, the addition of a long nave made the plan like a Latin +cross; and Sangallo, by adding a huge portico to Peruzzi's design, made +his ground plan a Latin cross. Michael Angelo followed the lines of +Bramante, the Greek cross, designed so that the cupola should be the +dominant note of the building and its principal feature, whether from +within or without, and from whichever side the building was approached. +Michael Angelo's intention may be realised at the back of the present +building, and his work best judged as one walks round the great mass of +masonry to the old entrance to the Sculpture Galleries of the Vatican. +Those who approach Rome in the best way at present open to the newcomer, +by the light railway line from Viterbo, get a magnificent view of the +cupola, apparently rising out of a green hillside, just before they enter +the Eternal City, and then, on their way to the Trastevere station, they +pass behind the building and get their first impression of St. Peter's +from Michael Angelo's own work.(160) + +Michael Angelo began his work by pulling down much of Sangallo's +construction, and by severely repressing all sorts of jobbery in +connection with the supply of materials. + +Michael Angelo states in a letter to Cardinal Ridolfo Pio of Carpi,(161) +that the study of the nude human figure is necessary to an architect. If +he had also stated that it was an essential to all art workers, many good +judges would have agreed with him. + + + "MOST REVEREND MONSIGNOR,--When a plan has divers parts all those + which are of one type in quality and quantity have to be decorated + in the same fashion and in the same style, and similarly their + counterparts. But when the plan changes form altogether it is not + only allowable but necessary to change the said adornments and + likewise their counterparts. The intermediate parts are always as + free as you like, just as the nose, which stands in the middle of + the face, is not obliged to correspond with either of the eyes; + but one hand is obliged to be like the other, and one eye must be + as its fellow, because they balance each other. Therefore it is + very certain that the members of architecture depend upon the + members of man. Who has not been, or is not a good master of the + figure, and especially of anatomy, cannot understand it. + + "MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTI." + + +Vasari tells us "that the Pope approved of Michael Angelo's model, which +reduced the cathedral to smaller dimensions, but also to a more essential +greatness. He discovered that four of the 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 a winding staircase 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." + +The sect of Sangallo, headed by Nanni di Baccio Bigio, continued to annoy +and conspire against the aged architect, and though Michael Angelo brought +their machinations to the notice of the Superintendent of the Fabric in +1547,(162) he could not get his chief enemy dismissed. + +The master's good friend, Pope Paul III., died in 1549. Michael Angelo +wrote of him to his nephew(163): "It is true that I have suffered great +sorrow and not less loss by the Pope's death, because I have received +benefits from his Holiness, and hoped for even more. God's will be done. +We must have patience. His death was beautiful, fully conscious to the +last word. God have mercy on his soul." His successor, Julius III., was +also friendly to Michael Angelo, who spoke of him in a letter to his old +friend, Giovan Francesco Fattucci, at Florence.(164) + + + "_To_ MESSER GIOVAN FRANCESCO FATTUCCI, _priest of Santa Maria del + Fiore, My most dear friend at Florence._ + + "MESSER GIOVAN FRANCESCO,--Dear friend, although for many months we + have not written to each other, yet I have not forgotten our long + and faithful friendship, and wish you well, as I have always done, + and love you with all my heart and more, for the endless + kindnesses I have received. As regards old age, which is upon us + both alike, I should much like to know how yours treats you, for + mine does not content me greatly, so I beg you will write + something to me. You know how that we have a new Pope, and who he + is. All Rome rejoices, thanks be to God, and expects nothing but + the greatest benefit to all, especially to the poor, on account of + his liberality...." + + +Efforts were made to dislodge Michael Angelo from his post of architect to +St. Peter's. A memorial of grievances(165) was drawn up by the +Superintendent and set before the Pope, stating that Michael Angelo was +"carrying on with a high hand, and letting them know nothing of the work, +so that they do not like his ways, especially in what he keeps pulling +down. The demolition has been, and to-day is, so great that all who +witness it are moved to pity." Michael Angelo evidently satisfied the +Pope, for he was confirmed in his office with even greater powers than +before. + + + +Another plot ripened in 1557, and is excellently described by Vasari:-- + + + "It was some little while before the beginning of 1551, when + Vasari, on his return from Florence to Rome, found the sect of + Sangallo plotting against Michael Angelo. They induced the Pope to + hold a meeting in Saint Peter's, where all the overseers and + workmen connected with the building should attend, and his + Holiness should be persuaded by false insinuations that Michael + Angelo 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 Saint Peter's would be badly lighted. When all + were assembled the Pope told Michael Angelo 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: 'We are here.' Michael Angelo 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. Michael Angelo responded: 'I am + not, nor do I mean to be, obliged to tell your lordships, or + anybody else, what I ought or wish to do. It is your business to + provide the money, and to see that it is not stolen. As regards + the plans of the building, you have to leave them to me.' Then he + turned to the Pope and said: 'Holy Father, behold what gains are + mine! Unless the hardships I endure are beneficial to my soul, I + lose my time and my labour.' The Pope, who loved him, laid his + hands upon his shoulders and said: 'You are gaining both for soul + and body; have no fear!' Michael Angelo's 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 matters + of art." + + +Vasari also tells us of the transfer of a piece of engineering work from +Michael Angelo to his enemy--if such a small man deserves to be called the +enemy of Michael Angelo--Nanni di Baccio Bigio. The old bridge of Santa +Maria had long shown signs of giving way, and it had to be rebuilt. Paul +III. entrusted the work to Michael Angelo. Nanni got it transferred to him +by the influence of his friends with the new Pope. The man laid his +foundations badly. Michael Angelo, riding over the new bridge one day with +Vasari, cried out: "Giorgio, the bridge shakes beneath us; let us spur on +before it gives way with us upon it." Ultimately the prophecy was +fulfilled, and the bridge fell during a great inundation. Its ruins are +known as the Ponte Rotto to this day. + + + +Julius III. died in 1555, and Cardinal Marcello Cervini was elected in his +stead, under the title of Marcellus II. He had been Michael Angelo's +adversary at the great conference, so the hopes of the Setti Sangalleschi +revived, and Michael Angelo began to think of accepting the oft-repeated +invitations of the Duke of Tuscany, who had long pressed him to come and +reside again in Florence, and dignify his native city with his presence +during his remaining years; but Marcellus died after a reign of only a few +weeks, and Pius IV., the next Pope, persuaded Michael Angelo not to +forsake his work at Saint Peter's. In a letter to Vasari, intended for the +ears of the Duke, Michael Angelo states his mind.(166) + + + "_To_ MESSER GIORGIO, _Excellent Painter, in Florence._ + + "I was set to work upon Saint Peter's by force, and I have served + now about eight years, not only for nothing, but with the utmost + injury and discomfort to myself. Now that the work is getting + forward, and there is money to spend, and I am about to turn the + vault of the cupola, if I left Rome it would be the ruin of the + edifice, and for me a great disgrace throughout all Christendom, + and to my soul a grievous sin. Therefore, Messer Giorgio, my + friend, I pray you that on my part you will thank the Duke for his + most gracious offer, and that you will ask his Lordship to give me + leave to continue here until such time as I can depart with fame + and honour and without sin. + + "The eleventh day of May, 1555. + + "Your MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTI, in Rome." + + +Early in the year 1557 serious illness seized Michael Angelo, and his good +friends the Cardinal of Carpi, Donato Giannotti, Tomaso Cavalieri, +Francesco Bandini, and Lottino ultimately succeeded in persuading him to +make a model of his cupola, that the work might not be impeded or altered +in the event of his death. He mentions this in a letter to his nephew, +Lionardo.(167) "I prayed his Lordship that he would concede me so much +time that I could leave the works at St. Peter's at such a point that my +plans could not be changed. As yet this point has not been reached; and +more, I am now obliged to construct a large wooden model for the cupola +and lantern, to secure its being finished as it was meant to be. All Rome, +and especially the Cardinal of Carpi, prayed me to do this, so that I +believe 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 Saint Peter, so +that I may come home to Florence without such a grief, but with a mind +free from the necessity of returning to Rome." This model was constructed +by a French master, named Jean, and took a year to make, as Michael Angelo +expected. + +Continuous intrigues caused Michael Angelo to send in his resignation in a +haughty letter dated February 13, 1560, but Pius IV. confirmed the aged +artist in his office, and forbade any alteration of his design for Saint +Peter's after his death. Nanni di Baccio Bigio managed to influence the +deputies so that they appointed him Clerk of the Works instead of Pier +Luigi, surnamed Gaeta, who was recommended by Michael Angelo in a +letter(168) to them. + +Nanni then made a report, severely blaming Michael Angelo. The Pope had an +interview with the artist, and sent his relative, Gabrio Serbelloni to +report on the works. It was found that the irrepressible Nanni had again +calumniated Michael Angelo, and he was therefore dismissed. + +Notwithstanding the Pope's brief Michael Angelo's design was most +seriously altered after his death by the erection of a long nave, making +the ground plan a Latin instead of Greek Cross. His idea appears to have +been that people should enter the church up a majestic flight of steps +through a gigantic door, and the hollow recesses of the huge dome should +be the dominant impression as soon as the portal was passed. To get his +effect it is necessary to proceed half-way up the present nave with closed +eyes, or merely looking at the pavement, the eyes religiously kept down. +Any one who will make this simple experiment (it is necessary to have a +friend as guide to tell you when you have arrived at the right point of +view) will see that Michael Angelo intended his building to have the +effect of a coherent geometrical whole. The sublime concave of the dome, +with the four arms of the great cross of equal size, will be all at once +grasped by the eye. The huge building is like a great naturally-formed +crystal with mathematically proportioned limbs, beautiful in large things +as in small. An old writer has well said: "The cross, which Michael Angelo +made Greek, is now Latin; and if it be thus with the essential form, judge +ye of the details!" The wooden model of the dome made under Michael +Angelo's eyes is still in existence, and was followed fairly accurately by +Giacomo della Porta, who completed that portion of the work. + +Amongst the other schemes that occupied Michael Angelo was the plan of the +improvements upon the Campidoglio, undertaken by a society of gentlemen +and artists. Paul III. approved their design, and we may believe, as all +Roman citizens will tell us, that Michael Angelo conceived, at least in +its broad lines, the present effect of the Capitol. Vasari informs us that +Michael Angelo's old friend, Tomaso dei Cavalieri, superintended the work +after the great sculptor's death; we may trust him not to have departed +from the master's plans. Another scheme that interested Michael Angelo +considerably was the design for the church that the Florentine residents +in Rome wished to erect to their patron saint, San Giovanni. A letter to +his nephew Lionardo mentions it.(169) "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 +here by the Duke's licence for the work at Saint Peter's, and that without +his leave they will get nothing out of me." The Duke not only gave his +permission but was enthusiastic about the scheme. Michael Angelo promised +to send him his plan. "This I have had 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." Vasari tells us that Tiberio Calcagni, +"of gentle manners and discreet behaviour," not only copied this design, +but also made a model in clay under the master's supervision. Michael +Angelo informed the building committee that "if they carried it out, +neither the Romans or the Greeks ever erected so fine an edifice in any of +their temples; words, the like of which neither before or afterwards +issued from his lips, for he was exceedingly modest," says Vasari. Money +was lacking and the scheme fell through; both model and drawing were +allowed to perish. The present church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, in +Strada Giulia, is the work of Giacomo della Porta; the west part is by +Alessandro Galilei. + +Tiberio Calcagni was appointed to finish the bust of Brutus, now in the +Bargello at Florence. Michael Angelo began it for Cardinal Ridolfi at the +request of his friend, Donato Giannotti. Tiberio had the sense and good +feeling not to touch his master's own work, but only carved the base and +the drapery; the face of the bust remains a magnificent specimen of the +great sculptor's handiwork. This powerfully-conceived head is said to have +been taken from a small intaglio cut in cornelian. It has been pointed out +that the chisel marks are cut by both the right and left hand. The vigour +of the workmanship indicates that the bust was begun soon after Michael +Angelo left Florence in 1584, and may indicate Michael Angelo's feelings +towards the tyrant Alessandro de' Medici. We may remember in this +connection that the exiles nicknamed Lorenzino, his murderer, Brutus. + +The Duke of Florence, through Vasari,(170) attempted to get at the ideas +of Michael Angelo with regard to the Medici Chapel and the entrance to the +Laurenziana, but the old man had lost and forgotten the plans, if he had +ever made them. The difficulties that beset the Duke and the academicians +in completing the designs, and the meagreness of Michael Angelo's +instructions to them, must give us pause when we attempt to attribute the +faults of these monuments to the master mind. "About the staircase of the +Library, of which so much has been said to me, believe that if I could +remember how I had arranged it I should not need to be begged for +information. There comes into my mind, as in a dream, the image of a +certain staircase, but I do not believe this can be the one I then thought +of, for it seems so stupid. Nevertheless, I will write about it." + +Leone Leoni erected the monument of Giangiacomo de' Medici in Milan +Cathedral from a design supplied by Michael Angelo at the request of Pope +Pius IV. It is a fine monument and the bronzes are excellent. In +criticising the design we must remember that Michael Angelo had never seen +the church where it was to be placed, and that Leone was not the man to +hesitate in taking liberties with another's design, good sculptor as he +was, and no doubt Michael Angelo would have approved of a good sculptor +like him making the design fit the workmanship. + + [Image #49] + + BRUTUS + + THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, THE BARGELLO, FLORENCE + (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) + + +The old master is supposed to have supplied designs for many other +buildings in Rome, such as the Porta Pia and the Porta del Popolo, but +there is nothing about them to tell us that his genius is in them; +probably slight sketches were handed over to journeymen, who did pretty +much as they liked with them. It was otherwise with the great restoration +of the Baths of Diocletian. Michael Angelo was commissioned by Pius IV. to +convert them into the Christian Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. The +design has been altered by Vansitelli in 1749, and horrible coloured +imitations of clumsy marble altars have been painted on the walls. +Churchwardens' whitewash would here be well applied. If the visitor will +wait in this church until dusk, when all the tawdry paintings vanish into +darkness, then the great columns will stand out in all their dignity, and +the noble cornice cast a splendid shadow over the pillars of the huge +hall. The roof and the pavement, with their expression of space and +distance, will whisper "Michael Angelo!" + +When Henry II. of France died, in 1559, his widow, Catherine de' Medici, +wrote to Michael Angelo asking him to supply at least the design for the +equestrian statue of the late King she desired to set up in the courtyard +of the royal chateau at Blois. The sketch was prepared and the work given +to Daniele da Volterra. Catherine wrote again in 1560,(171) telling the +sculptor that she had deposited 6000 golden scudi with Gianbattista Gondi +for the said work, "therefore, since on my side nothing remains to be +done, I entreat you by the love you have always shown to my house, to our +country,(172) and lastly to genius, that you will endeavour with all +diligence and assiduity, so far as your years permit, to carry out this +noble work, so that we may see and recognise my lord as in life by the +accustomed excellence of your unique genius. Although you cannot add to +your fame, yet you will at least augment your reputation for a most +grateful and loving spirit toward myself and my ancestors, and will +through centuries keep fresh the memory of my lawful and only love, for +which I shall be ready and willing to reward you liberally." The Queen had +seen Michael Angelo's sketch, and she adds in a postscript that "the +king's head must be without curls, and the modern rich style of armour and +trappings must be employed." She is very particular about the likeness and +sends a portrait; evidently she did not want anything like the Roman +generals in the Medici Chapel at Florence. When Michael Angelo died the +work was left in the hands of Daniele, who was a slow workman, as Cellini +tells us. In 1566 Daniele died also, and only the horse was cast; it now +serves as part of Biard's statue of Louis XIII. + +In 1560 Leone Leoni made the well-known medal of Michael Angelo, which is +our best portrait of him. It represents him in old age. Vasari relates the +incident: "At this time the Cavaliere Leone made a very lovely portrait of +Michael Angelo 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 TVAS, ET IMPII AD TE CONVERTENTUR + +It pleased Michael Angelo so much that he gave Leone a wax model of a +Hercules strangling Antaeus, by his own hand, together with some drawings. +There exist no other portraits of Michael Angelo, 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 many copies have been made, and a great number of them have been +seen by me in several parts of Italy and abroad." Francesco d'Olanda made +a drawing of the old man in hat and mantle.(173) Another portrait of +Michael Angelo is introduced into Marcello Venusti's copy of the Last +Judgment, now in the Picture Gallery at Naples. The original study for it +may be the portrait in the Casa Buonarroti, at Florence; it was frequently +repeated by him. One replica may be the portrait, said to be by Michael +Angelo's own hand, at the Capitol. The apostle in red on the spectator's +right of the picture of the Assumption, by Daniele da Volterra, in the +Church of the Trinita de' Monti, in Rome, is also said to be a portrait of +Daniele's friend and master, who had supplied him with the design for his +great Crucifixion in the same church. There is a life-size, full-face +charcoal drawing of the master in the Teyler Museum at Haarlem which may +be by the hand of Daniele, it has been pricked for tracing. Bonasoni +engraved a profile portrait of Michael Angelo; it is dated 1546. It is a +very faithful and beautiful piece of work, and tells us what he looked +like at the age of seventy-two.(174) The bronze bust by Daniele da +Volterra, of which there are several copies, looks as if it had been +modelled from a mask taken after death; at least, it was finished from +one. Battista Lorenzi executed the bronze bust on Michael Angelo's tomb at +Santa Croce, in Florence, from a similar mask.(175) + +During all these later years, Michael Angelo kept up a brisk +correspondence with his dutiful nephew Lionardo about the purchase of land +in Florence, and other family matters. + +Giovan Simone, the elder of Michael Angelo's surviving brothers, died in +1548.(176) + + + "LIONARDO,--I hear from your last of Giovan Simone's death. It + gives me the greatest sorrow, for I still hoped, although I am + old, to have seen him before he died, and before I died. God has + willed it so. Patience! I should like to hear particularly how he + died, and if he confessed and communicated with all the ordinances + of the Church. For if he did so, and I know it, I shall suffer + less." All through his life Michael Angelo is most punctilious + about the observances of the Church. + + Lionardo was now the only hope of continuing the family, so his + uncle reminds him that if he does not soon marry and get children, + his property will all go to the Hospital of San Martino.(177) Old + bachelor as he is, he gives his nephew advice, in another letter, + as to the choice of a wife: "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. + Let me tell you not to run after money, but only look for virtue + and good name." + + +Lionardo married Cassandra Ridolfi in the year 1553, and the first child +born of this marriage was a boy, by Michael Angelo's wish he was named +Buonarroto. "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."(178) +Vasari wrote to Michael Angelo describing the festivities at the +christening. Giorgio held the child at the font in the Baptistry, "Mio bel +Giovanni," as Michael Angelo always called it. + +The letters to Vasari are full of a courtly friendship and regard; they +are very pleasant reading. One of them is the most beautiful and touching +letter by his hand, referring to the death of his servant Francesco, +called Urbino.(179) + + + "MESSER GIORGIO, DEAR FRIEND,--Although I write but badly, yet will + I say a few words in reply to yours. You know that Urbino is dead, + for which I owe the greatest thanks to God; at the same time my + loss is heavy and sorrow infinite. The grace is this, that while + Urbino living kept me alive, in dying he has taught me to die not + unwillingly, but rather with a desire for death. I had him with me + twenty-six years, and always found him faithful and true. Now that + I had made him rich, and thought to keep him as the staff and rest + of my old age, he has departed, and the only hope left to me is + that of seeing him again in Paradise, and of this God has given a + sign in his most happy death. Even more than dying, it grieved him + to leave me alive in this treacherous world, with so many + troubles; the better part of me went with him, nothing is left to + me but endless sorrow. I commend myself to you, and beg you, if it + is not a trouble to you, to make my excuses to Messer + Benvenuto(180) for not answering his letter, for grief abounds in + such thoughts as these, so that I cannot write. Commend me to him, + and I commend myself to you. + + "Your MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTA, in Rome. + + "The 23 day of February, 1556." + + +Was ever servant loved after this fashion by his master? + + + +Urbino appointed Michael Angelo as one of his executors, and the old man +fulfilled his irksome duties with fidelity. Urbino's brother was Raphael's +well-known pupil Il Fattore. Cornelia, Urbino's wife, corresponded about +the children and other affairs. Michael Angelo had to approve her choice +of a second husband, and interviewed him, and made him promise to be a +second father to Urbino's children. + + + +The unusual event of an excursion by Michael Angelo into the country took +place in 1556, possibly with a view to avoiding the troubles feared in +Rome from the Duke of Alva, Spanish Viceroy of Naples. Michael Angelo +informed his nephew that he was making a pilgrimage to Loreto, but feeling +tired stopped to rest at Spoleto. To Vasari he says: "I have in these days +had a great pleasure, but with great discomfort and expense, among the +mountains of Spoleto, visiting the hermits there. Less than half of me has +come back to Rome, for truly there is no peace except among the +woods."(181) + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + + THE END + + +Michael Angelo's little circle of devoted friends in Rome were very +anxious about him during the winter of 1563-64. Although almost fourscore +years and ten he would still walk abroad in all weathers, and took none of +the precautions usual for a man of his age. Tiberio Calcagni, writing on +February 14 to Lionardo, says in the letter published by Daelli:(182) +"Walking through Rome to-day I heard from many persons that Messer Michael +Angelo was ill, so 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, with the look and colour of his +face, made me extremely uneasy about his life. The end may not be just +now, but I fear greatly that it cannot be far off." The gray colour and +the uneasiness of an old man who has suffered a slight stroke are +evidently indicated here. During the next four days he lived in his +arm-chair. On the 15th, Diomede Leoni wrote to Lionardo, with a letter +enclosed, signed by Michael Angelo but written by Daniele da +Volterra.(183) After exhorting Lionardo to come to Rome, but to run no +risks by travelling too fast, he adds, "as you may be certain Messer +Tomaso dei Cavalieri, Messer Daniele, and I will not fail during your +absence in every possible service in your place. Besides, Antonio, the old +and faithful servant of the master, will give a good account of himself +under any circumstances. ... If the illness of the master be dangerous, +which God forbid, you could not be in time to find him alive, even if you +could make more haste than is possible. But to give you a little account +of the state of Messere up to this hour, which is the third of the +night,(184) I inform you that just now I left him quite composed and fully +conscious, but oppressed with continual drowsiness. In order to shake it +off, between twenty-two and twenty-three,(185) this very day he tried to +mount his horse and go for a ride, as he was wont to do every evening in +good weather, but the coolness of the season and the weakness of his head +and legs prevented him, so he went back to his seat a little way from the +fire. He greatly prefers this chair to his bed. We all pray God to +preserve him unto us still for some years and that He may bring you here +in safety, to whom I earnestly commend myself." + +Two days later, on the 17th, Tiberio Calcagni wrote:(186) "This is only to +beg you to hasten your coming as much as possible, even though the weather +be bad. For your Messer Michael Angelo is going to leave us indeed, and he +would have this one satisfaction the more." + +Michael Angelo died a little before five o'clock on the afternoon of +February 18, 1564. His physicians, Federigo Donati and Gherardo +Fidelissimi, were with him at the last. Giorgio Vasari tells us "he made +his will in three words, committing his soul into the hands of God, his +body to the earth, and his goods to his nearest relatives, telling them +when their hour came to remember the Passion of Jesus Christ." + +The Florentine envoy sent a despatch to inform the Duke of the event, and +he tells him the arrangements made as to the inventory of property and the +disposal for safe-keeping of seven or eight thousand crowns found in a +sealed box, opened in the presence of Messer Tomaso dei Cavalieri and +Maestro Daniele da Volterra. The people of the house are to be examined +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 list of works of art found in the house is very small. They +were: + +A blocked-out statue of Saint Peter. + +An unfinished Christ with another figure. + +A statuette of Christ with the Cross, like the Risen Christ in Santa Maria +Sopra Minerva; and + +Ten original drawings, one, a Pieta, belonged to Tommaso dei Cavalieri. + +A little design for the facade of a palace. + +A design for a window in the Church of Saint Peters. + +An old plan of the Church of Saint Peter's, said to be after the model of +San Gallo, on several pieces of paper glued together. + +A drawing of three small figures. + +Architectural drawings for a window and other details. + +A large cartoon for a Pieta, with nine figures, unfinished. + +Another large cartoon, with three large figures and two putti. + +Another large cartoon, with one large figure only. + +Another large cartoon, with the figures of our Lord Jesus Christ and the +glorious Virgin Mary, His mother. + +Another, the Epiphany. + +This last drawing was presented to the notary who drew up the will, and is +supposed to be the cartoon now in the British Museum; all the others went +to Lionardo Buonarroti. Lionardo arrived three days after the death. The +body was deposited upon a catafalque in the Church of the Santissimi +Apostoli, where the funeral was celebrated by all the artists and +Florentines in Rome. In fulfilment of the wish of Michael Angelo, repeated +two days before his death, Lionardo made arrangements for the removal of +his uncle's remains to Florence. But the Romans, who regarded him as a +fellow citizen, resented this, and Lionardo was obliged to send the body +away disguised as a bale of merchandise, addressed to the custom-house at +Florence. Vasari wrote, on March 10, duly informing him that the +packing-case had arrived, and had been left under seals until Lionardo's +arrival at the custom-house. Notwithstanding this letter from Vasari, it +appears that the body was removed, on March 11, to the oratory of the +Assunta, beneath the Church of San Pietro Maggiore. Next day the painters, +sculptors, and architects of the newly-founded Academy, of which Michael +Angelo had been elected Principal after the Duke, met at the church, +intending to bring the body secretly to Santa Croce. They had with them +only an embroidered pall of velvet and a crucifix to place upon the bier. +At night the elder men lighted torches and the younger strove with one +another to bear the coffin. Meantime the curious Florentines found out +that something was going forward, and a great concourse assembled as the +news spread that Michael Angelo was being carried to Santa Croce, and huge +crowds followed the humble procession, lighted by the flaring torches such +as the Misericordia carry to this day. The vast church of Santa Croce was +so crowded that the pall-bearers had difficulty in reaching the sacristy +with their burden. When they at last got there, Don Vincenzo Borghini, +Lieutenant of the Academy, "thinking he would do what was pleasing to +many, and also, as he afterwards confessed, desiring to behold in death +one whom he had never seen in life, or, at any rate, at such an age that +he did not remember it, ordered the coffin to be opened. When this was +done, whereas he and all of us present expected to find the corpse already +corrupted and defaced, inasmuch as Michael Angelo had been dead +twenty-five days and twenty-two in his coffin, lo! we beheld him instead +perfect in all his parts and without any evil odour; indeed, we might have +believed that he was resting in a sweet and very tranquil slumber. Not +only were the features of his face exactly the same as when he was in life +(except that the colour was a little like that of death), none of his +limbs were injured or repulsive; the head and cheeks to the touch felt as +though he had passed away only a few hours before. When the eagerness of +the multitude who crowded round had calmed down a little, the coffin was +deposited in the church, behind the altar of the Cavalcanti." + +Those who would read of the gorgeous catafalque of stucco, woodwork, and +painting erected in the Church of San Lorenzo by the Academy, may do so in +the pages of Vasari, and in the book called "Esequie del Divino Michel +Angelo Buonarroti, celebrate in Firenze dall' Academia, &c., Firenze, i +Giunti, 1564," and Varchi's "Orazione Funerali," published by the same +house at the same date. The great artist is dead: let us leave him to his +rest in Santa Croce, the Westminster Abbey of his city and the church of +his ward. + +Vasari received from Lionardo Buonarroti the commission to design the tomb +for Santa Croce. He did his best to get the Pieta now in the Duomo to +serve as the principal part of the monument, asserting that it had been +intended by Michael Angelo for his monument. "Besides, there is an old man +in the group who represents the sculptor." This plan did not succeed, and +the ugly monument now in existence was designed instead. The Duke supplied +the marbles, and the figures were carved by Giovanni dall' Opera, Lorenzi +and Valerio Cioli. The bust portrait in bronze was modelled by Battista +Lorenzi. It was erected in 1570, and bears the inscription: + + MICHAELI ANGELO BONAROTIO + E VETVSTA SIMONIORVM FAMILIA + SCVLPTORI. PICTORI. ET ARCHITECTO + FAMA OMNIBVS NOTISSIMO. + LEONARDVS PATRVO AMANTIS. ET DE SE OPTIME MERITO + TRANSLATIS ROMA EIVS OSSIBVS. ATQVE IN HOC TEMPLO MAIOR + SVOR SEPVLCRO CONDITIS. COHORTANTE SERENISS. COSMO MED. + MAGNO HETRVRIAE DVCE. P. C. + ANN. SAL. CIC. IC. LXX + VIXIT ANN. LXXXVIII. M. XI. D. XV. + +The Romans also erected a monument in the church where they had hoped to +keep the bones of the artist who did more for their Immortal City than any +man who ever lived. Over this monument is the following epitaph: + + MICHAEL ANGELUS + BONARROTIUS + SCULPTOR PICTOR ARCHITECTUS + MAXIMA ARTIFICUM FREQUENTIA + IN HAC BASILICA SS. XII APOST. F.M.C. + XI CAL. MART. A. MDLXIV ELATUS EST + CLAM INDE FLORENTIAM TRANSLATUS + ET IN TEMPLO S. CRUCIS EORUMD. F. + V. ID. MART. EJUSD. A. CONDITUS + TANTO NOMINI + NULLUM PAR ELOGIUM + +Michael Angelo formed no school, his love of excellence would not permit +him to leave any inferior work behind him, as Raphael did in certain +portions of the Stanze and Loggia of the Vatican. Michael Angelo's +disposition was not so genial nor were his manners so universally pleasing +as those of the gentle Raphael, so he was unable to keep a body of workmen +together in good temper; the result is, we have no Sala of Constantine, or +Palazzo del Te, to remind us of the passing of the master of a school. At +the same time, to his few assistants and workmen Michael Angelo was as +kind as father to son, when once he became accustomed to them about him. +He gave help to various other artists, and it may be noted that all those +he influenced became men devoted to high finish and the utmost perfection +possible. Decadence in Italian art began long before his death; but the +imitators of Michael Angelo are by far the best and most interesting +figures of that unfortunate period. They, at least, have great intentions, +and strive to attain a style of dignity and distinction, and do not grudge +any labour that may help them to their ideals. Vasari tells us of some of +these men and their works: "He loved his workmen and was on friendly terms +with them. Among them were Jacopo Sansovino, Il Pontormo, Daniele da +Volterra, and Giorgio Vasari Aretino, to whom he showed infinite +kindness...." He goes on to say that "he was unfortunate in those who +lived with him, since he chanced upon natures unfit to follow him. For +Pietro Urbano, of Pistoja, his pupil, was a man of talent, but would never +work hard. Antonio Mini had the will but not the brain, and hard wax takes +a bad impression. Ascanio della Ripa Transone (Condivi) worked very hard, +but nothing came of it either in work or in designs." Jacopo l'Indaco and +Mineghella were boon companions of the master. A stone-cutter Domenico +Fancelli nicknamed Topolino, Pilote the goldsmith, Giuliano Bugiardini the +painter, were of this company. The melancholy Michael Angelo is said to +have burst his sides with laughing at Mineghella's stupidity. The very +proper Vasari describes the latter as "a mean and stupid painter of +Valdarno, but a very amusing person; and Michael Angelo, who could with +difficulty be made to work for kings, would leave everything to make +simple drawings for this fellow, San Rocco, San Antonio, or San Francesco, +to be coloured for one of the man's many peasant patrons; among others +Michael Angelo made him a very beautiful model of a Christ on the Cross, +made a mould from it, and Mineghella cast it in _papier-mache_ and went +about selling it all over the country-side." It may be that the familiar +and often-repeated Crucifix in common use is an adaptation or copy, far +removed from this original; it has something of the style of Michael +Angelo's later work, the figure is most beautifully disposed. + +Sebastiano del Piombo lightened the old man's labour by his genial humour +and jovial companionship; Sebastiano followed his teaching with great +industry and skill, as all his later works show; such as the Scourging of +Christ, in San Pietro in Montorio, and the Raising of Lazarus, in our own +National Gallery: drawings by the hand of Michael Angelo still exist for +the principal figures in both these pictures. There is a Pieta by +Sebastiano, at Viterbo, evidently following the lines of one of Michael +Angelo's religious drawings; it is so beautiful in the expression of its +colour and the high finish of the nude, that we cannot but think that +Michael Angelo's exacting eyes were peering over the shoulder of +Sebastiano when he painted it. + + Per ritornar la donde venne fora, + L' immortal forma al tuo carcer terreno + Venne com' angel di pieta si pieno + Che sana ogn' intelletto, e'l mondo onora. + + Questo sol m' arde, eqesto m' innamora; + Non pur di fora il tuo volto sereno: + Ch' amor non gia di cosa che vien meno + Tien ferma speme, in cu' virtu dimora. + + Ne altro avvien di cose altere e nuove + In cui si preme la natura; e'l cielo + E ch' a lor parto largo s' apparecchia. + + Ne Dio, suo grazia, mi si mostra altrove, + Piu che 'n alcun leggiadro e mortal velo; + E quel sol amo, perche 'n quel si specchia. + + + + + +APPENDIX + + + THREE DIALOGUES ON PAINTING COMPOSED + BY FRANCISCO D'OLLANDA, A PORTUGUESE + MINIATURE PAINTER WHO WAS IN ROME + IN THE YEAR 1538. TRANSLATED + FROM THE PORTUGUESE, WITH + THE HELP OF MR. A.J. CLIFT, + BY CHARLES HOLROYD. THE + MANUSCRIPT WAS PUBLISHED + FOR THE FIRST + TIME IN THE RENASCENCA + PORTUGUEZA + NO. VII. + PORTO, + 1896 + + + + +FIRST DIALOGUE + + +My intention in going to Italy was not to seek for advantage or honour, +but to study. I was sent there by my King, and I had no other interest in +view (such as having intercourse with the Pope or with the Cardinals of +the Court; and this God knows and Rome knows, if I had wished to dwell +there per-adventure I did not lack opportunities, both for myself and by +the favour of the principal persons in the Pope's household), but all +ideas of this kind were so subdued in me, that I did not even allow them +to enter into my imagination; others I had, more noble and more to my +taste, which had much more power over me than covetousness or expectation +of benefits such as many people have who go to Rome. What alone was always +present to me was how I, with my art, might serve the king our Lord, who +had sent me there, communing always with myself how I could steal and +convey away to Portugal the excellencies and beauties of Italy to please +the King and the Infantas and the most serene Infante D. Luiz. I used to +say to myself: What fortresses or foreign cities have I not yet in my +book? What immortal buildings and what noble statues does this city still +possess which I have not already stolen from it and carried away without +carts or ships on thin paper? What painting, stucco, or grotesque has been +discovered amongst these grottoes and antiquities of Rome, Puzol, and +Baias, of which the most rare is not to be found in my sketch-books? Thus +I beheld nothing either antique or modern in painting, sculpture or +architecture of which I did not make some record of its best part, it +appearing to me that these were the greatest benefits that I could carry +away with me, more honourable and profitable to the service of my King and +to my own taste. I do not think I have made a mistake (although some +people tell me I have), for as these things alone were my care, my dispute +and demand, no great Cardinal Fernes had to help me, nor had I a greater +Dattario to obtain, in order to go one day to see D. Julio de Macedonia, a +most famous illuminator, and another day Master Michael Angelo, now Baccio +the noble sculptor; then Master Perino, or Bastiaeo Veneziano, and +sometimes Valerio de Vicenca, or Jacopo Mellequino, architect, and +Lactancio Tolomei, the acquaintance and friendship of these men I valued +much more than others of more parade and pretension (as if there could be +greater in the world, and so Rome values them); because from them, and +from their works in my art, I obtained some fruit and knowledge. I amused +myself in discussing with them many rare and noble works both of ancient +and modern times. Master Michael especially I esteemed so much that if I +met him either in the palace of the Pope or in the street, we could not +part until the stars sent us to rest. D. Pedro Mascarenhas, the +Ambassador, is my witness what a great thing this was and how difficult; +and, too, of the tales M. Angelo, when coming out of vespers one day, told +about me and about a book of mine in which I had drawn some things in Rome +and Italy, to Cardinal Santtiquatro and to him. Now my habit was to go +round the solemn temple of the Pantheon and note all its columns and +proportions; the Mausoleum of Adrian and that of Augustus, the Coliseum, +the Thermae of Antoninus and those of Diocletian, the Arch of Titus and +that of Severus, the Capitol, the theatre of Marcellus and all the other +notable things in that city, the names of which have already escaped me. +At times, too, I was not turned out of the magnificent chambers of the +Pope, I only went there because they were painted by the noble hand of +Raphael of Urbino. I loved more those antique men of stone sculptured on +the arches and columns of the old buildings, than those more inconstant +which everywhere weary one with talking, I learned more from them and from +their grave silence. + +Now amongst the days which I thus passed in that Court there was a Sunday +on which I went to see Messer Lactancio Tolomei, as others did; it was he, +with the assistance of Messer Blosio, the Pope's secretary, who gave me +the friendship of Michael Angelo. And this M. Lactancio was a very +important personage, both on account of nobility of mind and of blood (he +being a nephew of the Cardinal of Siena), as well as through his knowledge +of Latin, Greek and Hebrew letters, and for the authority of his years. +But finding in his house a message that he was at Monte Cavallo, in the +church of St. Silvester, with the Lady Marchioness of Pescara, listening +to a lecture from the Epistles of St. Paul, I went to Monte Cavallo and to +St. Silvester. Now Senhora Vittoria Colonna, Marchioness of Pescara, and +sister of Senhor Ascanio Colonna, is one of the most illustrious and +famous ladies in Italy and in all Europe, which is the world, chaste yet +beautiful, a Latin scholar, well-informed and with all the other parts of +virtue and fairness to be praised in woman. She, after the death of her +great husband, took to a private and simple life, contenting herself with +the fact that she had already lived in her estate, and loving henceforward +only Jesu Christ and good deeds, doing good to poor women and bearing the +fruits of a true Catholic. For my friendship with this lady also I was +indebted to M. Lactancio, who was the most intimate friend that she had. + +Having commanded me to sit down, the lecture and its praises over, the +Marchioness looking at me and at M. Lactancio, if I remember rightly, +said: + +"Francisco d'Ollanda will be better pleased to hear M. Angelo talk about +painting, than Brother Ambrosio expound this lesson." + +Then I, almost angry, answered her: + +Why, madam, does it appear to your Excellency that I can attend to nothing +but painting? Truly I shall always be pleased to hear M. Angelo, but when +the Epistles of St. Paul are read, I prefer to hear Brother Ambrosio." + +"Do not be angry, M. Francisco," M. Lactancio then said, "for the +Marchioness does not think that the man who is a painter will not be +everything. We esteem painting higher in Italy. But perchance she said +that to you in order to give you, beyond what you already have, the +further pleasure of hearing Michael." + +I then replied: + +"Her Excellency will be doing no more than she is in the habit of doing, +giving always greater favours than one dares to ask." + +The Marchioness, knowing my mind, called one of her servants, and said, +smiling: + +"To those who know how to express thanks one must study how to give, +especially as I get as much in the giving as Francisco d'Ollanda does in +receiving. Foao, go to the house of M. Angelo and tell him that I and M. +Lactancio are here in this quiet chapel, and that the church is closed and +very pleasant, if he cares to come and lose a little of the day with us, +so that we may gain it with him. And do not tell him that Francisco +d'Ollanda, the Spaniard, is here." + +As I was whispering something about the discretion of the Marchioness in +everything, in the ear of Lactancio, she desired to know what it was +about. + +"He was telling me," said Lactancio, "how well your Excellency knows how +to preserve decorum in everything, even in a message. M. Michael is +already more his friend than mine, for he tells me that when they meet, +Michael Angelo does all he can to shun his company, seeing that when they +once come together they never can part." + +"I know that, for I know Master Michael Angelo," she returned; "but I do +not know in what manner we shall treat him so that we may lead him on to +talk of painting." + +Brother Ambrosio of Siena (one of the appointed preachers to the Pope), +who had not yet gone, said: "I do not believe that if Michael knows the +Spaniard to be a painter, he will talk about painting at all, therefore +let him hide himself that he may hear him." + +"It is perhaps not so easy to hide this Portuguese," I replied with +emphasis to the Friar, "from the eyes of Master Michael Angelo; he will +know me better hidden than your reverence does here where I am, even if +you put on spectacles; and you will see that, being here, he will see me +very plainly if he comes." + +Then the Marchioness and Lactancio laughed, but not I nor yet the Friar, +who however heard the Marchioness say that he would find me to be +something more than a painter. + +After remaining but a short time silent, we heard a knocking at the door, +and all began to fear that Michael would not come, as the messenger had +returned so quickly. But Michael, who resides at the foot of Monte +Cavallo, happened by good luck to be walking towards St. Silvester, on his +way to the Thermae by the Esquiline road with his Orbino, philosophising +by the way; being informed of the message, he could not run away from us, +nor did he fail to be the person knocking at the door. The Marchioness +rose to receive him, and remained standing awhile before causing him to +take a seat between her and M. Lactancio. I sat a little way off, but the +Marchioness, remaining awhile without speaking, not wishing to delay her +practice of honouring those who conversed with her, and the place where +she was, commenced, with an art that I could not describe, to say many +things very well expressed, and with thoughts most graciously stated, +without ever touching on painting, in order to ensure the great painter to +us; and I saw her as one wishing to reduce a well armed city by discretion +and guile; and we saw the painter, too, standing watchful and vigilant, as +if he were besieged, placing sentries in one place and ordering bridges to +be raised in another, making mines and defending all the walls and towers; +but finally the Marchioness had to conquer, nor do I know who could defend +himself against her. + +She said: "It is known that whoever comes into conflict with M. Angelo in +his own speciality, which is discretion, cannot but be vanquished. It is +necessary, M. Lactancio, that we should talk with him about actions or +briefs or painting to put him to silence and to obtain any advantage over +him." + +"Nay," I then said, "I know of no better way of wearying M. Angelo than by +informing him that I am here, as he has not seen me hitherto. But I +already know that the way not to see a person is to have him before one's +eyes." + +You should then have seen Michael turn himself towards me with +astonishment, and say: + +"Forgive me, M. Francisco, for not having seen you for had I not the +Marchioness before my eyes, but as God has sent you here, assist and help +me as a comrade." + +"For that reason only will I forgive you; but it seems to me that the +Marchioness causes with one light contrary effects, as the sun does, which +with the same rays melts and hardens, because you were blinded by seeing +her and I both hear and see you, because I see her; and also because I +know how much a wise person will occupy himself with her Excellency, and +how little time she leaves for others; and therefore at times I do not +take the advice of some friars." + +Here the Marchioness laughed again. + +Then Friar Ambrosio rose and took leave of the Marchioness and of us, +remaining thenceforward a great friend of mine, and he went away. + +And now the Marchioness began to speak thus: + +"His Holiness has done me the favour of allowing me to build a nunnery for +ladies here at the foot of Monte Cavallo, by the broken portico, where it +is said that Nero saw Rome burning, so that the wicked footprints of such +a man may be trodden out by others more honest of holy women. I do not +know, M. Angelo, what shape and proportions to give to the house, where +the door should be placed, and whether some of the old work may be adapted +to the new?" + +"Yes, madam," said Michael, "the broken portico might be used as a +campanile." + +And this was so pleasant, and Michael said it so seriously and in such a +manner that M. Lactancio could not help calling attention to it; and the +great painter added these words: + +"I quite think your Excellency may build the nunnery; and when we leave +here, with your permission, we may very well go and look at the site, so +as to give you some drawing for it." + +"I did not dare to ask you for so much," she said, "but I already knew +that in everything you follow the doctrine of the Lord: _deposuit +potentes, exaltavit humiles_; and in that also you are excellent, for you +acknowledge yourself at last as discreetly generous and not as an ignorant +prodigal. And therefore in Rome those who know you esteem you even more +than your works; and those who do not know you esteem only the least of +you, which are the works of your hands. And certainly I do not give any +less praise to your knowledge of how to retire within yourself and fly +from our useless conversations, and to your wisdom in not painting for all +the princes who ask you to do so, but confining yourself to the painting +of a single work during all your life as you have done," + +"Madam," said Michael, "perchance you attribute to me more than I deserve; +but in doing so you remind me that I wish to make a complaint against many +persons, on my own behalf and on behalf of painters of my temperament, and +also on behalf of M. Francisco here. + +"There are many persons who maintain a thousand lies, and one is that +eminent painters are eccentric and that their conversation is intolerable +and harsh, they are only human all the while, and thus fools and +unreasonable persons consider them fantastic and fanciful, allowing them +with much difficulty the conditions necessary to a painter. It is quite +true that such conditions are only necessary where there is a real +painter, which is in very few places, as in Italy, where there is the +perfection of all things; but foolish, idle persons are unreasonable in +expecting so many compliments from a busy man: few mortals fulfil their +duty well, one who does will not accuse another who is fulfilling his; +painters are not in any way unsociable through pride, but either because +they find few pursuits equal to painting, or in order not to corrupt +themselves with the useless conversation of idle people, and debase the +intellect from the lofty imaginations in which they are always absorbed. +And I affirm to your Excellency that even his Holiness annoys and wearies +me when at times he talks to me and asks me somewhat roughly why do I not +come to see him, for I believe that I serve him better in not going when +he asks me, little needing me, when I wish to work for him in my house; +and I tell him that, as M. Angelo, I serve him more thus than by standing +before him all day, as others do," + +"Oh, happy M. Angelo," said I at this stage, "my prince is not a Pope, can +he forgive me such a sin?" + +"Such sins, M. Francisco, are just those which kings pardon," said he, and +added: "Sometimes, I may tell you, my important duties have given me so +much licence that when, as I am talking to the Pope, I put this old felt +hat non-chalantly on my head, and talk to him very frankly, but even for +that he does not kill me; on the contrary, he has given me a +livelihood.(187) And as I say, I have paid him more compliments in his +service than unnecessary ones to his person. If perchance a man were so +blind as to invent such an unprofitable exchange, as it is for a man to +separate himself and content himself with himself whilst he loses his +friends and makes enemies of all, would it not be very wrong if they bore +him ill-will for that? But whoever has such a complexion both because the +force of his duty demands it, and because of his having been born with a +dislike of ceremony and dissimulation, it seems very foolish not to allow +him to live. And if such a man is so moderate that he does not want +anything of you, what do you want with him? And why should you wish to use +him in those vanities for which his quietness is not fitted? Do you not +know that there are sciences that require the whole man without ever +leaving him free for your idle trivialities? When he has as little to do +as you have, let him be killed if he does not observe your rules of +etiquette and compliment even better than you. 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 a pope or an emperor +converse with him. And I dare affirm that he cannot be a great man who +tries to satisfy idle persons rather than the men of his own craft, nor +can one who is in nowise singular and reserved or whatever you may be +pleased to call it, be better than the ordinary and vulgar talents which +are to be found without a lantern in the market-places of the world...." + +Here Michael ceased speaking, and a little while afterwards the +Marchioness said: + +"If those friends of whom you are speaking had the discretion of the +friends of old, the evil would be smaller; when Arcesilaus went one day to +see Apelles, who was ill and in need, this good friend raised his artist's +head so as to arrange the pillow and put underneath a sum of money for his +cure, which sum, having been found by the old woman attending him, who was +frightened at the amount, Apelles, smiling, said: 'This money was stolen +from Arcesilaus; do not be astonished.'" + +Then Lactancio added, in this manner, his opinion: "Skilful artists would +not exchange places with any other kind of men however great they may be, +so satisfied are they with some special joyousness which they get from +their art; but I would counsel them to exchange at least with the happy +ones, if it seemed to me that they wished to do so, and were it not that +they consider themselves the most happy of mortals. The mind which is +capable of the very highest painting knows where the lives and pleasures +of the pre-sumptuous lead them and what they are, and how they die +nameless and without knowledge of the things which in the world are most +worthy of being known and esteemed, and how we cannot even remember that +such a man was born however much money he may have kept in his coffers. +And thus he understands that good work and the good name of immortal +virtue is the felicity of this life and all or almost all that is to be +desired; and therefore he esteems himself more because he is on the road +to attain that glory than one who does not know this and never even knew +how to desire it. Many are content with much less power than that of +imitating a work of God as in painting; and if one never attained to the +distinction of governing a great province, it is but human to be satisfied +with things which are more difficult and more uncertain than governing a +country which stretched from the Columns of Hercules to the Indian River +Ganges. Such an one never killed an enemy more difficult to conquer than +is the conforming the work to the desire or idea of the great painter, and +the one was never so satisfied drinking out of a golden cup as the other +drinking out of an earthen pot. Nor was the Emperor Maximilian wrong in +saying that he could indeed make a duke or a count, but as for an +excellent painter God alone could make him when He so pleased, for which +reason he abstained from putting to death a painter who deserved to die." + +"What do you advise me to do, Master Lactancio," the Marchioness then +said; "shall I put a question to M. Angelo about painting, as he now, in +order to prove to me that great men are justified in their ways and not +eccentric, may take measures like those he is accustomed to take?" + +And Lactancio: "For your Excellency, Madam, M. Michael cannot help +constraining himself and giving out here that which it is well that he +keeps close elsewhere." + +M. Angelo said: "I beg of your Excellency to tell me what I can give to +her and it shall be given." + +And she, smiling: "I very much wish to know, as we are dealing with this +subject, what you think of the painting of Flanders and whom it will +satisfy, because it appears to me more devout than the Italian style." + +"The painting of Flanders, Madam," answered the artist slowly, "will +generally satisfy any devout person more than the painting of Italy, which +will never cause him to drop a single tear, but that of Flanders will +cause him to shed many; this is not owing to the vigour and goodness of +that painting, but to the goodness of such devout person; women will like +it, especially very old ones, or very young ones. It will please likewise +friars and nuns, and also some noble persons who have no ear for true +harmony. They paint in Flanders, only to deceive the external eye, things +that gladden you and of which you cannot speak ill, and saints and +prophets. Their painting is of stuffs, bricks and mortar, the grass of the +fields, the shadows of trees, and bridges and rivers, which they call +landscapes, and little figures here and there; and all this, although it +may appear good to some eyes, is in truth done without reasonableness or +art, without symmetry or proportion, without care in selecting or +rejecting, and finally without any substance or verve, and in spite of all +this, painting in some other parts is worse than it is in Flanders. +Neither do I speak so badly of Flemish painting because it is all bad, but +because it tries to do so many things at once (each of which alone would +suffice for a great work) so that it does not do anything really well. + +"Only works which are done in Italy can be called true painting, and +therefore we call good painting Italian, for if it were done so well in +another country, we should give it the name of that country or province. +As for the good painting of this country, there is nothing more noble or +devout, for with wise persons nothing causes devotion to be remembered, or +to arise, more than the difficulty of the perfection which unites itself +with and joins God; because good painting is nothing else but a copy of +the perfections of God and a reminder of His painting. Finally, good +painting is a music and a melody which intellect only can appreciate, and +with great difficulty. This painting is so rare that few are capable of +doing or attaining to it. And I further say (which whoever notes it will +consider important) that of all the climates or countries lighted by the +sun and the moon, in no other can one paint well but in the kingdom of +Italy; and it is a thing which is nearly impossible to do well except +here, even though there were more talented men in the other provinces, if +there could be such, and this for reasons which we will give you. Take a +great man from another kingdom, and tell him to paint whatever he likes +and can do best, and let him do it; and take a bad Italian apprentice and +order him to make a drawing, or to paint whatever you like, and let him do +it; you will find, if you understand it well, that the drawing of that +apprentice, as regards art, has more substance than that of the other +master, and what he attempted to do is worth more than everything that the +other ever did. Order a great master, who is not an Italian, even though +it be Alberto,(188) a man delicate in his manner, in order to deceive me, +or Francisco d'Ollanda there, to counterfeit a work which shall be like an +Italian work, and if it cannot be a very good one let it be an ordinary or +a bad painting, and I assure you that it will be immediately recognised +that the work was not done in Italy, nor by the hand of an Italian. I +likewise affirm that no nation or people (I except one or two Spaniards) +can perfectly satisfy or imitate the Italian manner of painting (which is +the old Greek manner) without his being immediately recognised as a +foreigner, whatever efforts he may make, and however hard he may work to +do so. And if by some great miracle such a foreigner should succeed in +painting well, then, although he may not have done it in order to imitate +Italian work, it will be said that he painted like an Italian. Thus it is +that all painting done in Italy is not called Italian painting, but all +that is good and direct is, for in this country works of illustrious +painting are done in a more masterly and more serious manner than in any +other place. We call good painting _Italian_, which painting, even though +it be done in Flanders or in Spain (which approaches us most) if it be +good, will be Italian painting, for this most noble science does not +belong to any country, _as it came from heaven_; but even from ancient +times it remained in our Italy more than in any other kingdom in the +world, and I think that it will end in it." + +So he spoke. Seeing that Michael was now silent, I urged him on in this +manner. "So, Master Michael Angelo, you assert that out of all the nations +of the world it is only Italians who can paint? (Ollanda continues.) + +"But what wonder in that? You must know that in Italy painting is done +well for many reasons, and outside Italy painting is done badly for many +reasons. Firstly, the nature of the Italians is studious in the extreme, +and the talented already bring with them, when they are born, power of +work, taste and love of that to which they are inclined, and of that which +demands their genius; and if any one determines to make a profession, and +to pursue some art or liberal science, he does not content himself with +what is sufficient for him to become rich thereby, and one of the number +of the craftsmen, but in order to be unique and distinguished he watches +and works continuously, and keeps before his eyes the great hope of being +a paragon of perfection (I speak where I know I am believed) and not a +mere mediocrity in that art or science. This is because Italy does not +esteem mediocrity, deeming it an exceedingly poor thing; and speaks only +of those, and even praises them to the skies, who, like _eagles_, surpass +all others, and penetrating the clouds approach the light of the sun. +Then, again, you are born in a province (is not this an advantage?) which +is the mother and protectress of all sciences and disciplines, amongst so +many relics of your ancestors, which do not exist anywhere else, that +already as children you find before your eyes in the streets a great part +of whatever your inclination or genius may be inclined to; and from youth +upwards you are accustomed to see those things which old men never saw in +other kingdoms. Then, growing up, although you may have been rude and +rough, by nature you are already so accustomed to have your eyes full of +the forms of the many old things of renown, that you cannot fail to +imitate them; and to all this are joined (as I say) distinguished talent +and indefatigable study and taste. You have remarkable masters to imitate, +and their works, and as regards new works the cities are full of the +curious things and novelties which are discovered and found every day. And +if all these things do not suffice, although I should consider them quite +sufficient for the perfection of any science, at least this is quite +enough; namely, that we, Portuguese, although some of us may be born with +nice talent and minds--as many are born--have a contempt for and consider it +fine to take little account of the arts, and we almost feel it a disgrace +to know much about them, wherefore we always leave them imperfect and +unfinished. You Italians alone, (I cannot even say Germans or Frenchmen), +give the greatest honour, the greatest nobility and the power to be more, +to a man who is a splendid painter or splendid in some faculty; and of all +your noblemen, captains, wise men, satirists, cardinals and Popes, that +man only who may attain the reputation of being perfect and rare in his +profession is ever exalted or thought much of by you. And as great princes +are not esteemed nor have any name in Italy, so it is a painter alone that +they call the _divine_--Michael Angelo, as you will find in letters which +Aretino, satirist of all Christian gentlemen, wrote you. Now, the payments +and prices that in Italy are given for paintings also appear to me to have +a great deal to do with the fact that painting cannot be done anywhere but +here, because frequently for a head or face from nature one thousand +'cruzados' are paid, and many other works are paid for as you, gentlemen, +know better than I, very differently from the way they are paid for in +other kingdoms, seeing that mine is among the magnificent and wide. Now, +your Excellency, please to judge whether these be hindrances or helps." + +"It seems to me," answered the Marchioness, "that before these hindrances +you must place talent and knowledge, which are not transalpine but belong +to the good Italian; however, everywhere virtue is the same, good is the +same, and evil is the same, although they may have a different +civilisation from ours." + +"If that," I answered, "were heard in my country, well, Madam, they would +be astonished both at your Excellency praising me and in that manner, and +by your making that difference between Italians and other men whom you +call 'transalpine,' or from beyond the mountains: + + 'Non adeo obtusa gestamos pectora Poeni, + Nec tam auersus equos, Lysia, sol iungit ab urbe.' + +"We have, Madam, in Portugal, good and ancient cities, and principally my +birthplace, Lisbon; we have good manners, and good courtiers and valiant +cavaliers and courageous princes, both in war and in peace, and above all +we have a very powerful and splendid king, who with great calmness tempers +and governs us, and commands very distant provinces of barbarians, whom he +has converted to the Faith; and he is feared by the whole East and by the +whole of Mauritania and is a patron of the Fine Arts, so much so that, +through making a mistake as to my talent, which in my youth promised some +fruit, he sent me to see Italy and its civilisation, and Master Michael +Angelo, whom I see here. It is quite true that we have not such buildings +and pictures as you have, but they are already being made, and little by +little they are losing that barbarian superfluity that the Goths and Moors +sowed throughout Spain. I also hope that, on arriving in Portugal after +leaving here, I may assist either in the elegance of building or in the +nobility of painting, so that we may be able to compete with you. Our +science is almost entirely lost, and without honour or renown in those +kingdoms, and not through the fault of others, but through the fault of +the place and disusage, to such extent that very few esteem it or +understand it unless it be our most serene king, by supporting all virtue +and patronising it; and likewise the most serene infante D. Luiz, his +brother, a very valorous and wise prince, who has a very nice knowledge +and discretion in every liberal art. All the others neither understand nor +esteem painting." + +"They do well," said M. Angelo. + +But Master Lactancio Tolomei, who had not spoken for some time, proceeded +in this manner: + +"We Italians have this very great advantage over all other nations in this +great world, in the knowledge and honour of all the illustrious and most +worthy arts and sciences. But I would have you to know, M. Francisco +d'Ollanda, that whoever does not understand and esteem the most noble art +of painting does so because of his own defects and not because of the art, +which is very noble and clear; and because he is a barbarian and without +judgment, and has no honourable part in being a man. And this is proved by +the example of the most powerful old and modern emperors and kings, and of +the philosophers and wise persons who attained everything, and who so +greatly esteemed and appreciated the knowledge of painting, and spoke of +it with such high praises and examples, and in making use of it and paying +for it so liberally and magnificently and, finally, by the great honour +that the Mother Church does it, with the holy Pontiffs, cardinals, and +great princes and prelates. And so you will find in all the past +centuries, all the past valorous peoples and nations held this art in so +much honour, that they admired nothing more nor considered anything as a +greater wonder. And then we see Alexander the Great, Demetrius, and +Ptolomy, famous kings, together with many other princes, who readily boast +of understanding it; and amongst the Caesars, Augustus the divine Caesar, +Octavian Augustus, M. Agrippa, Claudius, and Caligula and Nero, in this +alone virtuous, likewise Vespasian and Titus, as was shown in the famous +retable of the Temple of Peace, which he built after having vanquished the +Jews and their Jerusalem. What shall I say of the great Emperor Trajan? +What of Helius Adrianus, who with his own hand painted singularly well, as +the Greek Dion writes in his life, and Spartianus? Then the divine Marcus +Aurelius Antoninus, Julius Capitolinus, says how he learned to paint, +Diognetus being his teacher; and even AElius Lampridius relates that the +Emperor Severus Alexander, who was an exceedingly powerful prince, himself +painted his genealogy to show that he descended from the lineage of the +Metelos. Of the great Pompey, Plutarch says that in the city of Mitylene +he drew with a style the plan and shape of the theatre, in order to have +it afterwards built in Rome, which he did. + +"And although, owing to its great effects and beauties, noble painting +merits all veneration without seeking praise from other virtues, beside +those proper to it, I still wished to show here, before one who knows it, +by what sort of men it was esteemed. And if by chance, at any time or in +any place, there should be found any one who, because of being highly +placed and great, refuses to esteem this art, let him know that others +still greater appreciated it greatly. Who can compare himself with +Alexander the Greek? Who will exceed the prowess of Caesar the Roman? Who +is of greater glory than Pompey? Who more a prince than Trajan? For these +Alexanders and Caesars not only dearly loved the divine painting, and paid +great prices for it, but with their own hands they occupied themselves +with it and touched it. Or who, out of bravery and presumption, will +despise it and be not rather very humble and very unworthy before +painting, before her severe and grave face?" + +Thus it seemed that Lactancio was finishing, when the Marchioness +proceeded, saying: + +"Or who will be the virtuous and serene man (if he despises it for its +sanctity) who will not show great reverence and adore the spiritual +contemplation and devotion of holy painting? I think that time would +sooner be lacking than material for the praises of this virtue. It +produces joy in the melancholy, it brings both the contented and the angry +man to the knowledge of human misery; it moves the obstinate to +compunction, the mundane to penitence, the contemplative to contemplation, +and the fearful to shame. It shows us death and what we are, more gently +than in any other way; the torments and dangers of hell; so far as is +possible, it represents to us the glory and peace of the blessed, and the +incomprehensible image of our Lord God. It represents to us the modesty of +His saints, the constancy of the martyrs, the purity of the virgins, the +beauty of the angels, and the love and ardour with which the seraphim +burn, better than in any other way, and lifts up our spirit and plunges +our mind into the depths beyond the stars, to imagine the empirean that +there exists. What shall I say of how it brings before us the worthies who +passed away so long ago, and whose bones even are not now upon this earth, +to enable us to imitate them in their bright deeds? Or how it shows us +their councils and battles by examples and delightful histories? Their +great deeds, their piety and their manners? To captains it shows the +manoeuvres of the old armies, the cohorts and their disposition, their +discipline and their military order. It animates and creates daring, by +emulation and an honest envy of the famous ones, as Scipio the African +confessed. + +"It leaves a memorial of the present times for those who come after. +Painting shows us the garb of the pilgrim or of antiquity, the variety of +foreign peoples and nations, buildings, animals, and monsters, which in +writing it would be prolix to hear about, and even then it would be but +badly understood. And not only these things does this noble art, but it +places before our eyes the image of any great man who should be seen and +known because of his deeds, and likewise the beauty of a woman who is +separated from us by many leagues, a thing on which Pliny reflects much. +To one who dies it gives many years of life, his own face remaining behind +painted, and his wife is consoled, seeing daily before her the image of +her deceased husband, and the sons who were left little children rejoice +when men to know the presence and the aspect of their dear father, and +fear to shame him." + +As the Marchioness, almost weeping, made a pause here, M. Lactancio, in +order to draw her out of her sorrowful imagination and memories, said: + +"Besides all these things, which are great, what is there that more +ennobles or makes other things more beautiful than painting, whether on +arms, in temples, in palaces, or fortresses, or anywhere else where beauty +and order may have a place? And so great minds assert that there is +nothing a man can find to fight against his mortality or against the +flight of time but painting only. Nor did Pithagoras depart from this view +when he said that only in three things were men similar to the immortal +God: in science, in painting, and in music." + +Here Master Michael said: + +"I am sure that if in your Portugal, M. Francisco, they were to see the +beauty of the painting that is in some houses in Italy, they could not be +so uncultured as not to esteem it greatly, and wish to attain to it; but +it is not surprising that they do not know or appreciate what they have +never seen and what they do not possess." Here M. Angelo rose, showing +that it was already time for him to retire and go; and likewise the +Marchioness rose; I asked her as a favour to invite all that distinguished +company for the following day in that same place, and that M. Angelo +should not fail to appear. She did so, and he promised that he would come. +And the Marchioness going with the rest, M. Lactancio left with Michael, +and I and Diogo Zapata, a Spaniard, went with the Marchioness from the +monastery of St. Silvester at Monte Cavallo to the other monastery where +there is the head of St. John the Baptist, and where the Marchioness +resides, and we left her with the mothers and nuns, and I went to my +residence. + + + + +SECOND DIALOGUE + + +All that night I thought of the past day, and was preparing myself for the +one to come; but it frequently happens that our arrangements prove +uncertain and vain, and very contrary to what we expect, as I then learnt. +On the following day M. Lactancio sent me word that we could not meet as +we had arranged, owing to certain business matters which had cropped up +both for the Lady Marchioness and likewise for Michael Angelo himself, but +he asked me to be at St. Silvester's in eight days' time, as that day had +been agreed upon. + +I found those eight days long, but finally, when Sunday came, the time +appeared to me to have been but short, for I should have liked to have +been better armed with knowledge for such a noble company. When I arrived +at St. Silvester the lesson from the Epistles which Friar Ambrose read was +finished and he was gone, and they were beginning to complain of my being +late and about me. + +After they had pardoned me, I having confessed to being a laggard, and +after the Marchioness had bantered me a little, and I Messer Angelo in my +turn, I obtained permission to proceed with the former conversation about +painting; I commenced saying: + +"I think, Senhor Michael Angelo, that last Sunday, when we were about to +part, you told me that if in the kingdom of Portugal, which you here call +Spain, they were to see the noble pictures of Italy, they would esteem +them greatly, for which reason I beg as a favour (for I have come here for +nothing else) that you will not disdain to inform me what famous works in +painting there are in Italy, so that I may know how many I have already +seen, and how many I still have to see." + +"You ask me a question which would take long to answer, M. Francisco," +said M. Angelo, "wide and difficult to put together, for we know that +there is no prince or private person or nobleman in Italy, or any one of +any pretension, however little curious he may be about painting (to say +nothing of those excellent ones who adore it), who does not take steps to +have some relic of divine painting, or who at least, in so far as he can, +does not order many works to be executed. So that a good portion of the +beauty of our art is spread over many noble cities, castles, +country-seats, palaces and temples, and other private and public +buildings; but as I have not seen them all in an orderly manner, I can +only speak of some which are the principal ones. + +"In Siena there is some singular painting in the Municipal Chamber and in +other places; in Florence, my native place, in the Palaces of the Medici, +there is a grotesque by Giovanni da Udine, and so throughout Tuscany. In +Urbino, the Palace of the Duke, who was himself half a painter, has a +great deal of praiseworthy work, and also in his country-seat called +'Imperial,' near Pesaro, erected by his wife, there is some very +magnificent painting. So, too, the Palace of the Duke of Mantua, where +Andrea painted the Triumph of Caius Caesar, is noble; but more so still is +the work of the Stable, painted by Julius, a pupil of Raphael, who now +flourishes in Mantua. In Ferrara we have the painting of Dosso in the +Palace of Castello, and in Padua they also praise the loggia of M. Luis, +and the Fortress of Lenhago. Now in Venice there are admirable works by +Chevalier Titian, a valiant man in painting and in drawing from nature, in +the Library of St. Mark, some in the House of the Germans, and others in +churches and in other good hands; and the whole of that city is a good +painting. + +"So in Pisa, in Lucca, in Bologna, in Piacenza, in Parma, where there is +the Parmesano,(189) in Milan, and in Naples. So in Genoa there is the +house of Prince Doria, painted by Master Perino, with great judgment, +especially the Storm of the Vessels of AEneas, in oils, and the ferocity of +Neptune and his sea-horses; and likewise in another room there is a +fresco, Jupiter fighting against the giants in Phlegra, overthrowing them +with thunderbolts; and nearly the whole city is painted inside and out. +And in many other castles and cities of Italy, such as Orvieto, Esi,(190) +Ascoli, and Como, there are pictures nobly painted, and all of great +price, for I only speak of such; and if we were to speak of the private +paintings and pictures that every one holds dearer than life, it would be +to speak of the innumerable, and there are to be found in Italy some +cities which are nearly all painted with tolerable painting, inside and +out." + +It seemed that Michael was coming to a conclusion, when the Lady +Marchioness, looking at me, said: + +"Do you not remark, M. Francisco, that M. Michael abstained from speaking +of Rome, the mother of painting, so as not to talk of his own works? Now +what he would not do, let us not fail to do for the purpose of ensnaring +him the more, for when one deals with famous paintings, no other has such +value as the fount from which they are derived and proceed. And this work +is in the head and fount of the Church, I mean in St. Peter's in Rome; a +great vault, in fresco, with its circuit and curvatures of arches, and a +facade, in which M. Angelo divinely made us understand and divided into +histories how God first created the world, with many images of Sibyls and +figures of exceedingly great artistic beauty and artifice. And what is +singular is, that doing nothing more than this work, which as yet he has +not completed, and having commenced it when a youth, there is therein +comprised the work of twenty painters united in that vault alone. Raphael +of Urbino painted in this city a second work of such art that it would +have been the first if the other had not existed. It is a hall and two +chambers and a loggia in fresco, in the palaces of the said St. Peter, a +magnificent thing of many elegant stories of a very decorous description. +And the story of Apollo playing his harp amongst the nine muses in the +Parnasus is singular. In the house(191) of Augustimguis (Chigi) Raphael +has painted very preciously a poetry, the story of Psyche, and very +gracefully he surrounded Galatea by mermen in the middle of the waves and +by cupids in the air. The picture in S. Pietro in Montorio of the +Transfiguration of our Lord,(192) in oils, is very good, and another in +Aracoeli, and in the Temple of Peace, in fresco.(193) The picture in S. +Pietro in Montorio by the hand of Bastiaeo Veneziano(194) is famous; he did +it in competition with Raphael. There are many facades of palaces in this +city, in white and black,(195) by Baltesar(196) di Siena, architect, and +by Marturino and by Polidoro, a man who in that manner of working +magnificently enriched Rome. Further, there are here many palaces of +Cardinals and other men painted in grotesque and in stucco and with many +other varieties of art, for the city is more painted than any other in the +whole world, apart from the private pictures that every one holds dearer +than life itself. But of the things outside the city, the Vigna, begun by +Pope Clement VII., at the foot of Monte Mario, is most worth seeing; it is +ornamented by the fine painting and sculpture of Raphael and Julius, where +the giant lies sleeping, whose feet the satyrs are measuring with +shepherds' crooks. You now see whether these are works which would lead us +to be silent about our city." + +And she was already ceasing to speak, when I remembered me, and said: + +"No doubt your Excellency also forgot the famous tomb or chapel of the +Medici in San Lorenzo, at Florence, painted in marble by M. Angelo, with +such a generous number of statues in full relief that it can certainly +compete with any of the great works of antiquity; where the goddess or +image of Night, sleeping above the nocturnal bird, and the melancholy +Death in Life pleased me the most, although there are there many noble +sculptures around the Dawn. But I cannot omit the mention of a painting +which I saw, even though it was outside Italy, in France or Provence, in +the City of Avignon, in a Franciscan monastery: it is that of a dead woman +who had been very beautiful, she was called the Beautiful Anna; a king of +France who liked painting and who painted (if I am not mistaken) called +Reynel, came to Avignon and inquired whether the Beautiful Anna was there +because he greatly desired to see her to paint her from life, and having +been told that she had died shortly before, the king caused her to be +disinterred to see whether still in her bones there were some traces of +her beauty. He found her clothed, in the old style, as if she were alive, +with her golden hair dressed on her head, but all the gay beauty of the +face, which alone was uncovered, had changed into a skull; notwithstanding +this, the painter king considered it so beautiful that he painted her from +nature, surrounding his work with verses which mourn and are still +mourning for her. Which work I saw in that place and I thought it very +worthy." + +All were pleased with my picture, and M. Angelo added that in Narbonne I +would have also seen the picture St. Sebastian in the Cathedral, and he +said: + +"In France there is some good painting, and the King of France has many +palaces and pleasure houses with innumerable paintings, both in +Fontainebleau, where the king kept together two hundred painters, well +paid, for a certain time; and in Madrid, the pleasure house which he +built, where he voluntarily imprisons himself at times, in memory of +Madrid in Spain where he was a prisoner." + +"I think," said M. Lactancio, "that I heard a while ago Francisco +d'Ollanda name amongst paintings the tomb that you, Senhor Michael, +sculptured in marble; but I do not understand how sculpture can be called +painting." + +Then I began to laugh heartily, and begging permission of the Master, +said: + +"To save Senhor Michael trouble I will reply to Senhor Lactancio +concerning this doubt of his, which has followed me here from my own +country. + +"As you will find that all the employments which have most art and +reasonableness and grace are those which most nearly approach the drawing +or painting, so those which most nearly approach it proceed from it and +are a part or member of it, such as sculpture or statuary, which is +nothing else but painting itself, although it may well appear to some to +be a separate art; it is, however, condemned to serve painting, its +mistress. + +"And this I will give as a sufficient proof (as your Excellencies well +know), that in the books we find Phidias and Praxiteles called painters, +whilst it is certain that they were sculptors in marble, seeing that the +statues from their hands in stone are here near us, on this hill, the +horses which they made, which King Teridade sent to Nero as a present, for +which reason in recent times this place is called Monte Cavallo. And +should this not be enough, I will add how Donatello (who, with the +permission of Master Michael, was one of the first modern ones who in +sculpture merited fame and name in Italy) never said anything else to his +pupils, when teaching them, but draw, telling them in a single word of +doctrine: 'Pupils, I give you the whole art of sculpture when I tell +you--_draw!_' And so Pomponio Gaurico, sculptor, also affirms in the book +he wrote 'De Re Statuaria.' But why do I seek examples and proofs afar, +when perchance they are near me? And so as not to speak of myself, I say +the great draughtsman, M. Angelo, who is here, also sculptures in marble, +which is not his art, and better even (if one may say it) than he paints +with the brush on a panel, and he himself has told me sometimes that he +finds the sculpture of stone less difficult than the using of colours, and +that he deems it to be a very much greater thing to make a masterly stroke +with the brush than with the chisel. And even a famous draughtsman, if he +so desires, will by himself sculpture and carve in hard marble, in bronze +and in silver, exceedingly large statues in full relief (which is a great +thing), without ever having taken a chisel in his hand; and this is owing +to the great virtue and power of drawing. It does not, therefore, follow +that a sculptor will know how to paint or how to hold a brush, nor will he +know how to paint and make a stroke like a master, as I learnt a few days +ago on going to see Baccio Blandino,(197) the sculptor, whom I found +trying to paint in oils and unable to do so. The draughtsman will be a +master in building palaces or temples, and will carve statues and will +paint pictures; for the said Master Michael and Raphael and Baltesar di +Siena,(198) famous painters, taught architecture and sculpture, and +Baltesar di Siena, after briefly studying that art, equalled Bramante, a +most eminent architect, who passed all his life in its discipline, and yet +he used to say that it gave him an advantage, for he appreciated the +invention, fancy and freedom of drawing. I am speaking of true painters." + +"But I say, Senhor Lactancio," said Michael, assisting M. Francisco, "that +the painter of whom he speaks not only will be instructed in liberal arts +and other sciences such as architecture and sculpture, which are his own +province, but also in all other manual crafts which are practised +throughout the world; should he wish, he will do them with more art than +the actual masters of them. However that may be, I sometimes set myself +thinking and imagining that I find amongst men but one single art or +science, and that is drawing or painting, all others being members +proceeding therefrom; for if you carefully consider all that is being done +in this life you will find that each person is, without knowing it, +painting this world, creating and producing new forms and figures here, in +dress and the various garbs, in building and occupying spaces with painted +buildings and houses, in cultivating the fields and ploughing the land +into pictures and sketches, in navigating the seas with sails, in fighting +and dividing the spoil, and finally in the 'firmamentos' and burials and +in all other operations, movements and actions. I leave out all the +handicrafts and arts, of which painting is the principal fount, of which +some are rivers which spring from it, such as sculpture and architecture; +some are brooks, such as mechanical trades; and some are stagnant ponds, +which do not flow (such as useless handicrafts like cutting out with +scissors and such like), formed from the waters of the flood when drawing +overflowed its banks in old time and inundated everything under its +dominion and empire, as one sees in the works of the Romans, all done in +the manner of painting. In all their painted buildings and fabrics, in all +works in gold, silver, or in metals, in all their vases and ornaments, and +even in the elegance of their coins, and in their dress and armour, in +their triumphs as well as in all their other operations and works, one +easily recognises how, in the time when they held sway over all the earth, +my lady painting was the universal sovereign and mistress of all their +deeds and trades and sciences, extending herself even to writing, and +composing or writing histories. So that whosoever well considers and +understands human works, will find without doubt that they are all either +painting itself or some part of painting; and although the painter be +capable of inventing what has not as yet been found, and of doing all the +handicrafts of the others with much more grace and elegance than their own +professors, yet no one but he can be a true painter or draughtsman." + +"I am satisfied," answered Lactancio, "and understand better the great +power of painting, which, as you stated, is seen in all things of the +ancients and even in writing and composing. And perhaps notwithstanding +your great imagination you will not have been as much struck as I have +been with the conformity which letters have with painting (for you will +certainly hold letters to be a part of painting); nor by how these two +sciences are such legitimate sisters that, if one be separated from the +other, neither is perfect, although it seems that these present times keep +them in some way separated. But yet every learned and consummate man will +find that in all his works he is always exercising to a great extent the +office of a good painter, painting and colouring some intention of his +with much care and devotion. Now in opening the old books, the famous ones +are few which are not like painting; and it is certain that those which +are the heaviest and most confused are so for no other reason but because +the writers are not good draughtsmen and are not very skilful in drawing +and dividing up their work; and the most facile and terse are those of the +best draughtsman. And even Quintilian in the perfection of his _Rhetoric_ +lays it down that not only in the division of the words his orator should +draw, but that with his own hand he should know how to sketch and draw; +and hence it is, Senhor M. Angelo, that you may at times call a great man +of letters or a great preacher a good painter; and a great draughtsman you +may call a man of letters, and whosoever most penetrates into real +antiquity will find that painting and sculpture were both called painting, +and that in the time of Demosthenes they called _writing_ 'antigraphia,' +which means _drawing_, and it was a word common to both these sciences, +and that the writings of Agatharco can be called the painting of +Agatharco. And I think that the Egyptians also--all of them who had to +write or express anything--were accustomed to know how to paint, and even +their hieroglyphic signs were painted animals and birds, as is shown by +some obelisks in this city which came from Egypt. But if I speak of +poetry, it seems to me that it will not be very difficult for me to show +how true a sister she is to painting. But so that Senhor Francisco may +know how much necessity he has for poetry, and how much he may gain from +the best of it, I will show him here how much care the poets take +(although this is matter for a young man rather than for me) of their +profession and intelligence, and how much they praise and celebrate their +art as being free from penalties and blots; and it does not seem that the +poets worked for anything except to teach the beauties of painting, and +what ought to be avoided or done in it, with all their suavity and music +of verses, and with so many just and fluent words that I do not know how I +can repay them. Now one of the things in which they put the most study and +work (I speak of the famous poets) is in painting well or in imitating a +good painting; and this is due to the accuracy which, with the greatest +promptness and care, they desire to express and attain. And the one who +can attain this is the one who is the most excellent and clear. I remember +that the prince of them, Virgil, threw himself down to sleep at the foot +of a beech-tree, and how he has painted in words the forms of two vases +that Alcimedon had made in a cavern covered with a wild vine, with some +goats chewing willows, and some blue hills smoking in the distance; then +he remains resting on one hand the whole day, to study how many winds and +clouds he will put into the Tempest of AEolus, and how he will paint the +Port of Carthage in a bay, with an island standing apart, and with how +many rocks and woods he will surround it. Afterwards he paints Troy +burning; then some feasts in Sicily, and beyond near Cumas the gate of +hell with a thousand monsters, and chimeras, and many souls passing +Acheron; then the Elysian Fields, the host of the Blest, the pains and +torments of the Impious, and afterwards the Arms of Vulcan, a fine piece +of work; shortly afterwards a painted Amazon, and the ferocity of capless +Turnus. He paints the routs in battle, the many dead, the fates of noble +men, the many spoils and trophies. Read the whole of Virgil and you will +not find in it anything but the handicraft of a Michael Angelo. Lucan +employs a hundred pages in painting an enchantress and the breaking up of +a fine battle. Ovid is nothing else but a 'retavolo' (copyist). Statius +paints the house of sleep and the walls of great Thebes. The poet +Lucretius likewise paints, and Tibullus and Catullus and Propertius. One +paints a fountain, and a wood close by, with Pan, the shepherd, playing a +flute amongst the ewes. Another paints a shrine with nymphs around +dancing. Another draws the drunken Bacchus, surrounded by wild women, with +old Silenus, half falling from an ass, who would have fallen were he not +held up by a satyr who carries a leathern bottle. Even the satirical poet +paints the picture of the labyrinth. Now what do the lyric poets do, or +the wits of Martial, or the tragic or comic ones? What do they do but +paint reasonably? And what I say I do not invent, for each one of them +himself confesses that he paints: they called painting dumb poetry." + +At this point I said: "Senhor Lactancio, in calling painting _dumb_ poetry +it seems to me that the poets did not know how to paint well, because, if +they understood how much more painting declares and speaks than poetry, +her sister, they would not say it was dumb, and I will maintain rather +that poetry is the more dumb." + +The Marchioness said: "How will you prove, Spaniard, what you say? how +will you prove that painting is not dumb and that poetry is? Let us hear, +for in no more worthy discourse could this day be spent, hearing what you +maintain on that subject; afterwards it may be possible to bring this +company together again, in another place." + +"How can your Excellency wish," I answered, "that I should dare to do so +at once, and how should I be able to interest this company with my little +knowledge, especially as I am a pupil of the lady who is dumb and has no +tongue? Particularly, too, as it is already late, if the light through +these windows does not deceive me; how can you order me to praise my +innamorata before her own husband and in such an honourable court of those +who know her worth? If there were some powerful adversaries here I might +attempt it, although in this I am wrong, for it would be much easier to +vanquish enemies than to please these friends. But if your Excellency +desires so much to see me put to silence I will speak, not as an enemy of +poetry, for I am much indebted to her, and I owe her much in the virtue of +my profession, and in the perfection which I so much desire, but to defend +the other lady, who is still more mine, for whose sake only I rejoice to +live, and for whom I confess I have a voice and speak, she being dumb, +solely because I one day saw her move her eyes; and as she teaches one to +speak by her eyes, what would she do if she were to move her wise lips? +Good poets (as Senhor Lactancio said) do not do more with words than even +mediocre painters do with their works, for the former recount what the +latter express and declare. They with fastidious meanings do not always +engage one's ears, whilst the latter satisfy one's eyes, as with some +beautiful spectacle they hold all men prisoners and entranced; and the +passage over which good poets most trouble themselves, and which they hold +as the greatest finesse, is to show you in words (perchance too many and +too long), as if painting a storm on the sea, or the burning of a city, +which storm, if they were able, they would rather paint, for when you +finish the work of reading, you have already forgotten the commencement, +and you have only present the short verse on which your eyes were last +fixed; and the one who shows you this best is the best poet. + +"Now, how much more does painting say which shows you that storm +altogether with the thunder, lightning, waves, vessels, and reefs, and you +see: _omniaque viris ostentant praesentem mortem_, and in the same place: +_ex-templo Aeneas tendens ad sidera palmas_ and _tres Eurus abreptas in +saxa latentia torquet emissamque hyemem sensit Neptunus et imis_, and +likewise it shows very present and visibly all the burning of the city, in +every part, represented and seen as if it were really true; on one side +those who run through the streets and squares, on the other those who jump +from the walls and towers; here the temples half demolished and the +reflection of the flames in the rivers, and the surrounded shores +illuminated; how Pantheus as he runs away limping with his idols, leading +his grandchild by the hand; how the Trojan horse gives birth in the centre +of a great square to armed men; how Neptune, very wrath, throws down the +walls; how Pyrrhus beheads Priam; AEneas with his father on his shoulders, +and Ascanius and Creusa who follow him in the darkness of night, full of +fear; and all this so present and so connected and natural that very often +you are moved to think that you are not safe before it, and you are glad +to know they are only colours and that they cannot inspire or do harm. It +does not show you this spread out in words, whilst you remember only the +part which is before your eyes having already forgotten the past and not +knowing the future, and which verses only the ears of a grammarian can +understand with difficulty, but one's eyes visibly enjoy that spectacle as +being true, and one's ears seem to hear the actual cries and clamour of +the painted figures; it seems as if you smell the smoke, you fly from the +flames, you fear the fall of the buildings; you are ready to give a hand +to those who are falling, you defend those who are fighting against +numbers; you run away with those who run away and stand firm with the +courageous. Not only the learned are satisfied, but also the simple, the +countryman, the old woman; not only these, but also the Sarmatian +stranger, the Indian, and the Persian (who never understood the verses of +Virgil, or Homer, which are dumb to them), delight themselves with and +understand that work with great pleasure and quickness; the barbarian +ceases to be barbarian, and understands, by virtue of the eloquent +painting, that which no poetry or numbered feet could teach him. And the +law of painting says: _in ipsa legunt qui literas nesciunt_, and further +on says: _pro lectione pictura est_. When Cebes, a Theban, wished to write +an opinion of his for a law of human life, he simulated and painted it on +a 'panel,' as he thought that he would express it better thus, and that it +would be more noble and more easily understood by all men; he then desired +more to know how to paint, in order to speak, than how to write. But even, +if after all this, poetry still affirms that a Venus painted at the feet +of a Jupiter does not speak, nor Turnus painted, showing his valour before +King Latinus, even this reason cannot render learned painting dumb so that +she does not speak, and show in all things that she is in this also the +first, or perhaps the companion, of my lady poetry. For the great painter +will paint Venus weeping at the feet of Jupiter, with all the following +advantages, which the poet will not have: the first one is that he paints +heaven where it is supposed to be, and the person, dress, and action or +movement of Jupiter and his eagle with the thunderbolt; and he will paint +fully the luxurious beauty of Venus, and her robe of gauzy raiment with +all her graceful movements, so elegant and light and with such skill that, +although she may not speak with her mouth, yet it appears from her eyes, +hands, and mouth that she is really speaking (nor do you hear the soft and +sweet speech of Venus, when a croaking school-master reads the words and +sayings of Venus). She appears to be uttering all those pious sayings and +complaints which Virgil Maro writes concerning her. And also the great +painter will make even King Latinus more copious in his work and the +Councillors of the Laurentes more defined, clearer, some with perturbed +face, and others more collected and quiet, different in appearance and +physiognomy and age, different in movements, which the poet cannot do +without too much prolixity and confusion. And even then he will not do it; +and the painter will do it so that it may be seen with greater pleasure +and move the spectator more, and likewise he will place before your eyes +the brave image of Turnus, boastful and furious with the coward Drances, +that it seems as if you fear him yourself and that he is saying: _Larga +quidem semper, Drance, tibi copia fandi_. Therefore I with my small +talent, as a pupil of a mistress without a tongue, still deem the power of +painting to be greater than that of poetry in making greater effects and +in having more force and vehemence whether to move mind and soul to joy +and laughter, or to sorrow and tears, with more effective eloquence. But +let the muse Calliope be the judge in this matter, for I will be content +with her judgment." + +And having said that I ceased. The Marchioness honoured me in bantering +terms thus: + +"You, Senhor Francisco, have done so well for your innamorata, painting, +that, if Master Michael does not show just as great a sign of love for +her, we may perhaps get her to divorce him and go with you to Portugal." + +And, smiling, Michael said: "He knows, Madam, that I have already done so, +and that I have already released her entirely to him; for as I do not +possess such powers as such great love demands, he has said what he has +said, as of one who belongs to him." + +"I confess," said I, "Madam, that he has released her to me, but she does +not wish to go with me, so that she still remains at home with him; +neither would I, although she is so worthy, like to see her come to my +country, for there are but few there who know how to esteem her, and my +most serene king, unless it were in his unoccupied moments, would not +favour her, especially if there happened to be any unrest through war, in +which she is of no use; and so she would become angry and perhaps in a fit +of temper she would one day throw herself into the ocean, which is hard +by, and cause me to sing many times the verse: + + Audieras: et fama fuit; sed opera tantum + nostra valent, Lycida, tela inter maria, quantum + chaonias dicunt aquila veniente columbas. + +But if she were of use in time of war, I would desire her to come at +once." + +"I quite understand," said the Marchioness, "but as now the day is far +spent, let your question be for next Sunday." And as she said this she +rose, and all of us with her, and we went away. + + + + +THIRD DIALOGUE + + +Not only were we unable to meet together on the following Sunday with the +Marchioness and M. Angelo, but even on the next one, eight days later, we +were almost prevented, and indeed did not wish to meet, because at that +time was being celebrated in the city of Rome the feast of the twelve +triumphal cars in the Camp Nagao(199) in the ancient manner. Starting from +the Capitol with such magnificence and ancient pomp that it seemed as if +one were back in the old times of the Emperors and the triumphs of the +Romans. This feast was celebrated on the occasion of the marriage(200) of +Senhor Ottavio,(201) son of Pedro Luiz, and grand-nephew of our Lord Pope +Paul III., to Senhora Margarida,(202) adopted daughter of the Emperor. She +had been a short time previously the wife of Alessandro de Medici, Duke of +Florence, who was killed through treason in Florence. And now, she being a +widow and very young and beautiful, his Holiness and his Majesty married +her to Senhor Ottavio, a very young and estimable man, consequently the +city and the Court feasted them as much as could be at night with +serenades and banquets, and the whole of Rome ablaze with lights and +illuminations, especially the Castle of St. Angelo, and every day feasts +and great expenditure. Such as the feast of Monte Trestacho, with its +twenty bulls attached to twenty carts, killed as a public spectacle in the +square of St. Peter's; and the race which was run between buffaloes and +horses along the entire Via di Nostra Signora Transpontina to the square +of the said palace. And also those festivals which I have mentioned of the +twelve triumphal cars, gilded and ornamented with many fine figures and +very noble devices; there were Romans and the heads of the districts of +Rome, dressed in the old style, with all the pomp and pride that could be +desired; one hundred sons of citizens on horseback, so brave and so +bizarre in their gallantry of painted antiquity, that in comparison with +them the velvet mantles and plumes and the infinity of novelties and +costumes in which Italy exceeds every other province of Europe, appeared +very ordinary. But when I had seen this noble phalanx and company +descending from the Capitol with many infantry, and had viewed all the +bravery of the cars and the ediles, dressed in the old fashion, and had +seen Senhor Giulio Cesarino pass with the standard of the city of Rome, on +a horse with trappings covered with a white coat of arms and black +brocade, I at once turned my horse towards Monte Cavallo, and thus went +riding along the Thermae road pondering over many things of the olden +times, in which I then felt myself to be more than in the present. + +Then I ordered my servant to go without fail to St. Silvester and learn +whether perchance the Marchioness or Senhor M. Angelo happened to be +there. The servant was not long in returning, telling me that Senhor M. +Angelo and Senhor Lactancio and Brother Ambrose were all together in the +friar's cell, which was itself in St. Silvester, but that no mention +whatever had been made of the Marchioness. I went on towards St. +Silvester, but the truth is that I intended to pass before it and to +return to the city, when I saw coming a certain Capata, a great servitor +of the Marchioness, and a very honourable person and my friend. I being on +horseback and he on foot, I was obliged to dismount; and he having told me +that he had been sent by the Marchioness, we went into St. Silvester. As +we were entering Senhores, M. Angelo and M. Lactancio were coming out by +way of the garden or court, in order to take their siesta under the trees +by the running water. + +"Oh! welcome," said Senhor Lactancio, "both of you; you could not arrive +at a better moment; you have been very wise to fly from the confusion in +the city and take shelter in this quiet haven." + +"That is all very well," we said, "but this flattery does not console us, +nor is it sufficient to compensate us for the loss of the absent one." + +"He said that for the Marchioness," said Senhor Michael, "and you are so +far right, that if you had not come this instant I might have gone." + +Conversing thus we sat down on a stone bench in the garden at the foot of +some laurels, on which there was room for all of us, and we were very +comfortable, leaning back against the green ivy which covered the wall, +and from there we could see a good part of the city, very graceful and +full of ancient majesty. + +"Let us not lose everything," said Senhor Capata, after making excuses for +the Marchioness; "let us get some profit out of such a goodly assembly as +we have here; please continue the same noble discussion which you held a +few days ago, on the most noble art of painting, seeing that the +Marchioness very reluctantly commissioned me to that end, for she herself +would have liked to be present. But you must know that she sent me here to +report to her everything stored in my memory, to relate to her everything +treated of, without losing a single point. And therefore we are bound, +gentlemen, I to hear and to be silent about what I do not understand, and +you to give me something to remember and report." + +"Senhor Michael," I answered, "must fulfil the wishes of the Marchioness +when she heard me in the last discussion, and practically promised to show +me whether painting would be entirely useless in time of war, for I +remember that her Excellency named last Sunday, in which we did not meet, +for that purpose." + +Here M. Angelo laughed, and added: + +"So you, M. Francisco, expect the Marchioness to have as much power when +absent as when present. Well, as you have so much faith in her, I do not +wish you to lose it through me." + +All said that it would be well, and then M. Angelo began to say: + +"And what is there more profitable in the business and undertaking of war, +or what is of more use in the operations of sieges and assaults than +painting? Do you not know that when Pope Clement and the Spaniards +besieged Florence, it was only by the work and virtue of the painter M. +Angelo that the besieged were defended a good while, not to say, the city +released, and the captains and soldiers outside were for a good while +astonished and oppressed and killed through the defences and strongholds +which I made on the tower, lining them in one night on the outside with +bags of wool and other materials, emptying them of earth and filling them +with fine powder, with which I burnt a little the blood of the +Castillians, whom I sent through the air torn in pieces? So that I +consider great painting as not only profitable in war, but exceedingly +necessary; for the engines and instruments of war and for catapults, rams, +mantlets, testudines, and iron-shod towers and bridges, and (as this bad +and iron time does not make any use of these arms now, but rejects them) +mortars; for the shaping of the mortars, battering-rams, strengthened +cannons, and arquebuses, and especially for the shape and proportions of +all fortresses and rocks, bastions, strongholds, fences, mines, +countermines, trenches, loop-holes, casemates; for the entrenchments for +horsemen, ravelins, gabions, battlements, for the invention of bridges and +ladders, for the emplacement of camps, for the order of the lines, +measurement of the squadrons, for the difference and design of arms, for +the designs of the banners and standards, for the devices on the shields +and helmets, and also for new coats of arms, crests and medals which are +given on the field to those who show great prowess, for the painting of +trappings (I mean, the giving of instruction to other lesser painters as +to how they ought to be painted, and seeing that the excellent painters +can paint the trappings of the horses and the shields and even the tents +for valorous princes); for the manner of dividing and selecting +everything; for the description and assortment of the colours and +liveries, which but few can determine. Moreover, drawing is of exceedingly +great use in war to show in sketches the position of distant places and +the shape of the mountains and the harbours, as well as that of the ranges +of mountains and of the bays and seaports, for the shape of the cities and +fortresses, high and low, the walls and the gates and their position, to +show the roads and the rivers, the beaches and the lagoons and marshes +which have to be avoided or passed; for the course and spaces of the +deserts and sandy pits of the bad roads and of the woods and forests; all +this done in any other way is badly understood, but by drawing and +sketching all is very clear and intelligible; all of these are great +things in warlike undertakings, and the drawings of the painter greatly +aid and assist the intentions and plans of the captain. What better thing +can any brave cavalier do than show before the eyes of the raw and +inexperienced soldiers the shape of the city that they have to attack +before they approach it, what river, what mountains and what towns have to +be passed on the morrow? And the Italians, at least, say that, if the +Emperor when he entered Provence had first ordered the course of the river +Rodano to be drawn, he would not have sustained such great losses, nor +retired his army in disorder, nor would he have been painted afterwards in +Rome as a crab, which crawls sideways, with the words borne by the columns +of Hercules, _Plus ultra_, for, wishing to go forward, he went back. And I +well believe that Alexander the Great in his great undertakings frequently +made use of the skill of Apelles, even if he himself did not know how to +draw. And in the works and commentaries, written by the monarch Julius +Caesar, we may see how much he availed himself of drawing, through some +capable man whom he had in his army. And I even think that the said Caesar +was extremely intelligent in painting, that the great Captain Pompey drew +very well and with style, he being vanquished by Caesar, as Caesar was a +better draughtsman. And I assert that a modern captain who commands a +great army and who is not capable and intelligent in painting and cannot +draw, cannot do any great feats or deeds of arms; and that he who +understands and esteems it will do deeds of renown which will be long +remembered, and will know his ways and how he stands, and how and where he +will break through, and how he will order his retreat, and he will know +how to make his victory appear much greater. For painting in war is not +only advantageous but very necessary. What country warmed by the sun is +more bellicose and better armed than our Italy, or where are there more +continuous wars and greater routs and sieges? and in what country warmed +by the sun is painting more esteemed and celebrated than in Italy?" + +M. Angelo was already reposing when Joao Capata said: + +"It indeed seems to me, Master Michael, that in arming excellently +Francisco d'Ollanda's lady you disarmed the Emperor Charles, not +remembering that we here are more Colonna than Orsino. I do not wish to +revenge myself for that except by asking you, since you have shown the +worth of painting in war, to now say what it can do in peace, because it +appears to me that you have said so many profitable things of it in the +time of arms that I doubt whether you will find as many in the time of the +toga." + +He laughed and answered: + +"Your Excellency will please not to count me as an Orsino. You will +remember how I at once became one of those columns that the crab was going +to seek;" and afterwards he added: + +"If it was a trouble for me to show the advantage of this our art in time +of war, I hope it will not be so to show its worth in the time of the toga +and of peace; then princes are in the habit of availing themselves with +pleasure and cost of things of very little importance and almost of no +value at all; and we see that some men are so clever in idle things that +by works of no nobility or profit, and without any learning or substance, +they are able to acquire a name, honour, profit and substance for +themselves and loss to whomsoever may give them their profit. We see that +in the domains and states which are governed by a senate and republic they +make much use of painting in public places, in the cathedrals, in the +temples, in halls of justice, in courts, porticos, basilicas and palaces, +in libraries, and generally for public ornament; and every noble citizen +has privately in his palaces or chapels, country seats or 'vignas,' a good +portion of painting. But as it is not lawful in such a country for any one +to make more show than his neighbour, by giving commissions to painters so +as to make themselves out rich and well-to-do, with how much more reason +ought this profitable art and science to be made use of in the obedient +and peaceful kingdoms where God permits one man to incur all these +magnificent expenses and carry out all the sumptuous works that his taste +and honour may desire and demand, particularly as it is such a generous +art that one person can do alone and without any adviser what many men +together cannot do? And a prince would be doing a great wrong to +himself--to say nothing of the fine arts--if, when he obtains quietness and +saintly peace, he does not undertake great enterprises in painting both +for the ornamentation and glory of his estate and for his private +contentment and the recreation of his mind. And then in times of peace +there are so many things in which painting may be of use, that it seems to +me that peace is obtained with so much labour of arms, for nothing else +but in order to do her work, and carry out enterprises with the quiet +which she merits and demands, after the great services she has rendered in +war. For what name will remain alive in consequence of a great victory or +a great feat of arms, if afterwards, when quiet comes, it be not kept in +perpetual memory (a thing so important and necessary amongst men), by +virtue of painting and architecture, in arches, triumphs and tombs, and in +many other ways. And Augustus Caesar departed not from my saying when, +during the universal peace in all lands, he closed the doors of the Temple +of Janus, because in closing those doors of iron he opened the doors of +gold of the treasures of the Empire, in order to spend more largely in +peace than he had done even in war; and perhaps amongst such ambitious and +magnificent works as those with which he ornamented Mount Palatine and the +Forum, he paid as much for a figure in painting as he would have paid to a +regiment of soldiers in a month. So that the peace of great princes should +be desired in order that they may give their country great works in +painting for the ornamentation of their estate and their glory, and +receive from them spiritual and special contentments and beautiful things +to behold." + +"I do not know, Senhor Michael," said I, "how you will prove to me that +Augustus paid as much for a painted figure as he would pay to a regiment +of soldiers for a month; if you were to say that in Spain it would be more +difficult to believe you, than if you said that there were such bad +painters in Italy that they painted the Emperor with the legs of a crab +and with the label, _Plus ultra_!" + +Senhor Michael laughed once more, without the Marchioness, and afterwards +said: + +"I well know that in Spain people do not pay so well for painting as in +Italy, and therefore you will be surprised at the great sums paid for it, +as you are only accustomed to small sums; and I have been well informed of +this by a Portuguese servant that I had, and therefore painters live and +exist here, and not in the Spains. Of the Spaniards, the finest nobility +in the whole world, you will find some who applaud and praise and like +painting to a certain extent, but on pressing them further, they have no +mind to order even a small work, nor to pay for it; and, what I consider +baser still they are astonished when they are told that there are persons +in Italy who give good prices for paintings; indeed, in my judgment they +do not act in this like such noble people as they say they are, even +though it were for nothing else but not to undervalue that which they have +no experience of and cannot do; it recoils on their own head, however, +they demean themselves and disgrace the nobility of which they boast; and +not indeed that virtue, which will always be esteemed so long as there are +men here in Italy and in this city. And for this reason a painter ought +not to desire to be away from this land in which we are; and you, M. +Francisco d'Ollanda, if you hope to be appreciated through the art of +painting in Spain or in Portugal, I tell you at once that you are living +in a vain and false hope, and that in my judgment you ought rather to live +in France or in Italy, where talent is recognised and great painting is +much esteemed, because you will find here private persons and gentlemen, +even those who at present do not take much pleasure in painting, as for +instance Andrea Doria, who nevertheless had his palace painted +magnificently, and magnificently paid Master Perino his painter; and like +Cardinal Fernes, who does not know what painting is, but who made a very +nice allowance to the said Master Perino, merely to call him his painter, +giving him twenty 'cruzados' per month and rations for him and for a horse +and servant, besides paying him very well for his works. See what Cardinal +Della Valla or Cardinal de Cesis did. Likewise Pope Paul, who, although +not very musical nor interested in painting, yet treats me well, and at +least better than I ask; and then there is Urbino, my servant, to whom he +gives solely for grinding my colour ten 'cruzados' a month besides rations +in the palace. I say nothing of his vain favours and kindnesses, of which +I sometimes feel ashamed. Now, what shall I say of the diverting Sebastian +Veneziano? to whom (although he did not come at a favourable time) the +Pope gave the Leaden Seal, with the honour and profit which appertain to +that office, without the lazy painter having painted more than two things +in Rome, which will not astonish Senhor Francisco much. So that in this +our country, even those who do not esteem painting greatly, pay for it +much better than those who are greatly delighted with it in Spain or +Portugal; and therefore I advise you as a son that you ought not to depart +from Italy, because I fear that if you do you will repent it." + +"I thank, you, Senhor Michael Angelo, for your advice," I said to him, +"but still I am serving the King of Portugal, and in Portugal I was born +and hope to die, and not in Italy. But as you make such a difference in +the value of painting in Italy and in Spain, do me the favour of teaching +me how painting ought to be valued, because I am in this matter so +scandalised that I do not trust myself to value any work." + +"What do you call valuing?" he replied. "Do you wish the painting which we +are discussing to be paid for according to a valuation, or do you think +that any one knows how to value it? for I consider that work to be worth a +great price which has been done by the hand of a very capable man, even +though in a short time; if it were done in a very long time who will know +how to value it? And I hold that to be of very little value which has been +painted in many years by a person who does not know how to paint, although +he be called a painter; for works ought not to be esteemed because of the +amount of time employed and lost in the labour, but because of the merit +of the knowledge and of the hand which did them; for if it were not so, +they would not pay more to a lawyer for an hour's examination of an +important case, than to a weaver for as much cloth as he may weave during +the course of his whole life, or to a navvy who is bathed in sweat the +whole day by his work. By such variation nature is beautiful, and that +valuation is very foolish which is made by one who does not understand the +good or the bad in the work: some paintings worth little are valued +highly, and others, which are worth more, do not even pay for the care +with which they are done or for the discomfort that the painter himself +experiences when he knows that such persons have to value his work, or for +the exceeding disgust he feels asking for payment from an unappreciative +treasurer. + +"It does not seem to me that the ancient painters were content with your +Spanish payments and valuations; and I certainly think they were not, for +we find that some were so magnificently liberal that, knowing that there +was not sufficient money in the country to pay for their works, they +presented them liberally for nothing, having spent on such work, labour of +their mind, time and money. Such were Zeuxis, Heracleotes and Polygnotus +Thasius and others. And there were others of a more impatient nature who +used to waste and break up the works that they had done with so much +trouble and study, on seeing that they were not paid for as they deserved; +like the painter who was commanded by Caesar to paint a picture, and having +asked a sum of money for it that Caesar would not give, perhaps in order to +effect his intention the better, the painter took the picture and was +about to break it up, his wife and children around him bemoaning such +great loss; but Caesar then delighted him, in a manner proper to a Caesar, +giving him double the sum which he had previously asked, telling him that +he was a fool if he expected to vanquish Caesar." + +"Now, Senhor Michael," said Joao Capata, a Spaniard, "one thing I cannot +understand in the art of painting: it is customary at times to paint, as +one sees in many places in this city, a thousand monsters and animals, +some of them with faces of women and with legs and with tails of fishes, +and others with arms like tigers' legs, and others with men's faces; in +short, painting that which most delights the painter and which was never +seen in the world." + +"I am pleased," said Michael, "to tell you why it is usual to paint that +which was never seen in the world, and how right such licence is, and how +true it is, for some who do not understand him are accustomed to say that +Horace, a lyric poet, wrote this verse in abuse of painters: + + Pictoribus adque poetis + Quidlibet audendi semper fuit acqua potestas. + Scimus et hanc veniam petimusque damusque vicissim. + +This verse does not in any way insult painters, but rather praises and +honours them; for it says that poets and painters have power to dare, I +mean to dare to do whatever they may approve of; and this good insight and +this power they have always had, for whenever a great painter (which very +seldom happens) does a work which appears to be false and lying, that +falsity is very true, and if he were to put more truth into it it would be +a lie, as he will never do a thing which cannot be in itself, nor make a +man's hand with ten fingers, nor paint on a horse the ears of a bull or +the hump of a camel, nor will he paint the foot of an elephant with the +same feeling as for that of a horse, nor in the arm or face of a child +will he put the senses of an old man, nor an ear nor an eye out of its +place by as much as the thickness of a finger, nor is he even permitted to +place a hidden vein in an arm anywhere he likes; for such things as these +are very false. But should he, in order better to retain the decorum of +the place and time, alter some of the limbs (as in grotesque work, which +without that would indeed be without grace and therefore false) or a part +of one thing into another species such as to change a griffin or a deer +from the middle downwards into a dolphin, or from thence upwards into any +figure he may wish, putting wings instead of arms, putting off arms if +wings suit it better, that limb which he changes, whether of a lion, horse +or bird, will be quite perfect of the species to which it belongs; and +this although it may appear false can only be called well imagined and +monstrous. The reason is it is better decoration when, in painting, some +monstrosity is introduced for variety and a relaxation of the senses and +to attract the attention of mortal eyes, which at times desire to see that +which they have never yet seen, nor does it appear to them that it can be +more unreasonable (although very admirable) than the usual figures of men +or animals. And so it is that insatiable human desire took licence and +neglected at times buildings with columns and windows and doors for others +imitated in false grotesque, the columns of which are made of children +springing from the leaves of flowers, with the architraves and summit of +branches of myrtle and gates of canes and other things, which appear to be +very impossible and out of reason, and yet all this is very grand if done +by one who understands it." + +He ended, and I said: + +"Does it not seem to you, Senhor, that this feigned work is much more +suitable for ornament in its proper place (such as a country seat or a +pleasure house) rather than, for instance, a procession of friars, which +is a very natural thing, or a King David doing penance, is it not a great +insult to drag him from his oratory? And does not the god Pan playing on +the pipes, or a woman with the tail of a fish and wings (which is seldom +seen), appear to you to be a more suitable painting for a garden or for a +fountain? And it is a much greater falsity to put an imagination in a +place where the real is demanded, and this reasoning explains all the +things which some call 'impossibilities' in painting. Still the obstinate +will say: 'How can a woman with a beautiful face have the tail of a fish +and the legs of the swift deer or panther, with wings on her back like an +angel?' To such one may however reply that if such nonconformity is in +just proportion in all its parts it is quite in harmony and is very +natural; and that much praise is due to the painter who painted a thing +which was never seen and is so impossible, with such wit and judgment that +it seems to be alive and possible, so that men wish that such things did +exist in the world, and say that they could pluck feathers from those +wings and that it is moving hands and eyes. And so one who paints (as a +book said) a hare which, in order to be distinguished from the dog +following it, required a label indicating it, such a person, painting a +thing so little deceitful, may be said to paint a great falsehood, more +difficult to find amongst the perfect works of nature than a beautiful +woman with the tail of a fish and wings." + +They agreed with what I said, even Joao Capata himself, who was not well +instructed in the beauties of painting. And Master Michael, seeing that +his conversation was not badly employed on us, said: + +"Now what a high thing is decorum in painting! and how little the painters +who are no painters try to observe it! and what attention the great man +pays to this!" + +"And are there painters who are not painters?" asked Joao Capata." + +"In many places," answered the painter, "but as the majority of people are +without sense and always love that which they ought to abhor, and blame +that which deserves most praise, it is not very surprising that they are +so constantly mistaken about painting, an art worthy only of great +understandings, because without any discretion or reason, and without +making any difference, they call a painter both the person who has nothing +more than the oils and brushes of painting and the illustrious painter who +is not born in the course of many years (which I consider to be a very +great thing); and as there are some who are called painters and are not +painters, so there is also painting which is not painting, for they did +it. And what is marvellous is that a bad painter neither can nor knows how +to imagine, nor does he even desire to do good painting, his work mostly +differs but little from his imagination, which is generally somewhat +worse; for if he knew how to imagine well or in a masterly manner in his +fantasy, he could not have a hand so corrupt as not to show some part or +indication of his good will. But no one has ever known how to aspire well +in this science, except the mind which understands what good work is, and +what he can make of it. It is a serious thing, this distance and +difference which exist between the high and the low understanding in +painting." + +At this point M. Lactancio, who had not spoken for some time, said: + +"I cannot suffer at all one indiscretion of bad painters, the images which +they paint without consideration or devotion in the churches. And I should +like to direct our discussion to this end, being sure that the +carelessness with which some paint the holy images cannot be good. Work +which a very incapable painter or man dares to do, without any fear, so +ignorantly that instead of moving mortals to devotion and tears, he +sometimes provokes them to laughter." + +"This sort of painting is a great undertaking," proceeded M. Angelo; "in +order to imitate to some extent the venerable image of our Lord it is not +sufficient merely to be a great master in painting and very wise, but I +think that it is necessary for the painter to be very good in his mode of +life, or even, if such were possible, a saint, so that the Holy Spirit may +inspire his intellect. And we read that Alexander the Great put a heavy +penalty upon any painter other than Apelles who should paint him, for he +considered that man alone able to paint his appearance with that severity +and liberal mind which could not be seen without being praised by the +Greeks and feared and adored by the barbarians. And therefore if a poor +man of this earth so commanded by edict concerning his image, how much +more reason have the ecclesiastical or secular princes to take care to +order that no one shall paint the benignity and meekness of our Redeemer +or the purity of Our Lady and the Saints but the most illustrious painters +to be found in their domains and provinces? And this would be a very +famous and much praised work in any lord. And even in the Old Testament +God the Father wished that those who only had to ornament and paint the +_arca foederis_ should be masters not merely excellent and great, but also +touched by His grace and wisdom, God saying to Moses that He would imbue +them with the knowledge and intelligence of His Spirit so that they might +invent and do everything that He could invent and do. And therefore if God +the Father willed that the ark of His Covenant should be well ornamented +and painted, how much more study and consideration must He wish applied to +the imitation of His Serene Face and that of His Son our Lord, and of the +composure, chastity and beauty of the glorious Virgin Mary, who was +painted by St. Luke the Evangelist, the work is in the Sancto Sanctorum, +and the head of our Saviour which is in San Giovanni in Laterano, as we +all know, and especially Messer Francisco. Frequently the images badly +painted distract and cause devotion to be lost, at least in those who +possess little; and, on the contrary, those that are divinely painted +provoke and lead even those who are little devout and but little inclined +to worship to contemplation and tears, and by their grave aspect imbue +them with reverence and fear." + +M. Lactancio then said, having turned towards me: + +"Why did M. Angelo say of the picture of the Saviour, 'as we all know and +especially Messer Francisco'?" + +I answered: "Because, Senhor, he has already met me two or three times on +the road to San Giovanni Laterano, going to obtain His grace for my +salvation." + +And I thereupon wished to cease speaking, but he desiring me to continue, +I recommenced thus: + +"Senhor, the Most Serene Queen of Portugal, being desirous of seeing the +precious face of Our Saviour, ordered our ambassador to have it drawn from +the original, but I, not trusting this to anybody, wished, with the desire +that I have to serve her, to dare to undertake this enterprise myself, for +it is very fine as regards execution and no less as regards accuracy. And +thus I have sent it to her, done under such difficulties as Your +Excellencies can suspect." + +"You cannot be a friend of the Lady Marchioness," said Joao Capata," for +you did not show her a thing which is so much to her liking; but tell me, +Messer Francisco, did you do it with that severe simplicity which the old +painting has and with that fear in those divine eyes which in the original +seem to belong to the very Saviour?" + +"I did it that way," I said to him, "and in it I desired to put all the +truth, neither to increase nor diminish anything of that grave severity. +But I fear that this, which was my greatest work, will be the one the +least known." + +"No it will not," answered M. Lactancio Tolomei, "as in that they will +trust to your knowledge, and it will be an image which will lead them to +build a noble temple for it. I am astonished at your being able to +reproduce and send it, for neither the Popes nor the Brothers of San +Giovanni Laterano ever allowed the King of France or other devout +princesses to do so." + +Then M. Angelo said: + +"It is astonishing how M. Francisco worked, and how he robbed Rome of this +precious relic, and how he painted it in oils, although in all his life he +had never been a painter in oils, and only made pictures hitherto easily +contained on a small parchment." + +"How can it be," said M. Lactancio, "that one who never painted in oils is +capable of doing it, and that one who has always done little things can +also do big ones?" + +And as I did not reply, Michael Angelo answered him: + +"Do not be surprised, sir, and as regards this I wish now to state my +views about the noble art of painting. Let every man who is here +understand this well: design, which by another name is called drawing, and +consists of it, is the fount and body of painting and sculpture and +architecture and of every other kind of painting, and the root of all +sciences. Let whoever may have attained to so much as to have the power of +drawing know that he holds a great treasure; he will be able to make +figures higher than any tower, either in colours or carved from the block, +and he will not be able to find a wall or enclosure which does not appear +circumscribed and small to his brave imagination. And he will be able to +paint in fresco in the manner of old Italy, with all the mixtures and +varieties of colour usually employed in it. He will be able to paint in +oils very suavely with more knowledge, daring and patience than painters. +And, finally, on a small piece of parchment he will be most perfect and +great, as in all other manners of painting. Because great, very great is +the power of design and drawing. Senhor Francisco d'Ollanda can paint, if +he wishes, everything that he knows how to draw." + +"I will not ask again about another doubt," said M. Lactancio, "because I +dare not." + +"Please to dare, Your Excellency," said Michael Angelo, "for as we have +already sacrificed the day to painting, let us likewise offer up the night +which is setting in." + +He then said: "I wish finally to know what this painting that is so fine +and rare must possess or what it is? Whether there must be tourneys +painted, or battles, or kings and emperors covered with brocade, or +well-dressed damsels, or landscapes and fields and towns? Or whether +perchance it must be some angel or some saint painted and the actual form +of this world? Or what must it be? Whether it must be done with gold or +with silver, whether with very fine tints or with very brilliant ones?" + +"Painting," M. Angelo began, "is not such a great work as any of those +which you have mentioned, sir, only the painting which I so much vaunt and +praise will be the imitation of some single thing amongst those which +immortal God made with great care and knowledge and which He invented and +painted, like to a Master: and so downwards, whether animals or birds, +dispensing perfection according as each thing merits it. And in my +judgment that is the excellent and divine painting which is most like and +best imitates any work of immortal God, whether a human figure, or a wild +and strange animal, or a simple and easy fish, or a bird of the air or any +other creature. And this neither with gold nor silver nor with very fine +tints, but drawn only with a pen or a pencil, or with a brush in black and +white. To imitate perfectly each of these things in its species seems to +me to be nothing else but to desire to imitate the work of immortal God. +And yet that thing will be the most noble and perfect in the works of +painting which in itself reproduced the thing which is most noble and of +the greatest delicacy and knowledge. And what barbarous judge is there +that cannot understand that the foot of a man is more noble than his shoe? +His skin than that of the sheep from which his clothes are made? And who +from this will proceed to find the merit and degree in everything? But I +do not mean that, because a cat or a wolf is vile, the man who paints them +skilfully has not as much merit as one who paints a horse, or the body of +a lion, as even (as I have said above) in the simple shape of a fish there +is the same perfection and proportion as in the form of man, and I may say +the same of all the world itself with all its cities. But all must be +ranked according to the work and study which one demands more than +another, and this should be taught to some ignorant persons who have said +that some painters painted faces well but that they could not paint +anything else. Others have said that in Flanders they painted clothes and +trees extremely well, and some have maintained that in Italy they paint +the nude and symmetry or proportions better. And of others they say other +things. But my opinion is that he who knows how to draw well and merely +does a foot or a hand or a neck, can paint everything created in the +world; and yet there are painters who paint everything there is in the +world so imperfectly and so much without worth that it would be better not +to do it at all. One recognises the knowledge of a great man in the fear +with which he does a thing the more he understands it. And on the +contrary, the ignorance of others in the foolhardy daring with which they +fill pictures with what they know nothing about. There may be an excellent +master who has never painted more than a single figure, and without +painting anything more deserves more renown and honour than those who have +painted a thousand pictures: he knows better how to do what he has not +done than the others know what they do. + +"And not only is this as I tell you, but there is another wonder which +seems greater, namely, that if a capable man merely makes a simple +outline, like a person about to begin something, he will at once be known +by it--if Apelles, as Apelles; if an ignorant painter, as an ignorant +painter. And there is no necessity for more, neither more time, nor more +experience, nor examination, for eyes which understand it and for those +who know that by a single straight line Apelles was distinguished from +Protogenes, immortal Greek painters." + +And Michael Angelo having stopped, I proceeded: + +"It is also a great thing that a great master, although he may wish and +work hard to do so, cannot so change or injure his hand as to paint +something appearing to have been done by an apprentice, for whoever +carefully examines such a thing, will find in it some sign by which he +will know that it was done by the hand of a skilful person. And on the +contrary, one who knows little, although he may endeavour to do the +smallest thing so that it may appear to have been done by a great man, +will have his trouble in vain, because immediately, when placed beside the +work of a great man, it will be recognised as having been done by a +prentice hand. But I should like now to know something more from Senhor +Michael Angelo, to see whether he agrees with my opinion, and that is that +he should tell me whether it is better to paint a work quickly or slowly?" + +And he answered: + +"I will tell you: to do anything quickly and swiftly is very profitable +and good, and it is a gift received from the immortal God to do in a few +hours what another is painting during many days; for if it were not so +Pausias of Sicyon would not work so hard in order to paint in one day the +perfection of a child in a picture. If he who paints quickly does not on +that account paint worse than one who paints slowly, he deserves therefore +much greater praise. But should he through the hurry of his hand pass the +limits which it is not right to pass in art, he ought rather to paint more +slowly and studiously; for an excellent and skilful man is not entitled to +allow his taste to err through his haste when thereby some part is +forgotten or neglected of the great object perfection, which is what must +be always sought; hence it is not a vice to work a little slowly or even +to be very slow, nor to spend much time and care on works, if this be done +for more perfection; only the want of knowledge is a defect. + +"And I wish to tell you, Francisco d'Ollanda, of an exceedingly great +beauty in this science of ours, of which perhaps you are aware, and which +I think you consider the highest, namely, that what one has most to work +and struggle for in painting is to do the work with a great amount of +labour and study in such a way that it may afterwards appear, however much +it was laboured, to have been done almost quickly and almost without any +labour, and very easily, although it was not. And this is a very excellent +beauty, at times some things are done with little work in the way I have +said, but very seldom: most are done by dint of hard work and appear to +have been done very quickly. + +"But Plutarch says in his book _De Liberis educandis_, that a poor painter +showed Apelles what he was doing, telling him: 'This painting has just +this moment been done by my hand,' Apelles answered: 'Even if you had not +said so I should have known that it was by your hand and that it was done +quickly, and I am surprised that you do not do many of them every day.' + +"However I should prefer (if one had either to err or be correct) to err +or be correct quickly rather than slowly, and that my painter should +rather paint diligently and a little less well than one who is very slow, +painting better, but not much better. + +"But now I wish to know this of you, M. Francisco, to see whether you +agree with my opinion, namely, that you should tell me if there are many +different ways of painting almost of equal goodness; which of them will +you consider the worst, or which of them are bad?" + +"That is still a greater question," I replied, "Senhor Michael, than the +one I put to you; but just as Mother Nature has produced in one place men +and animals, and in another place men and animals, all made according to +one art and proportion, and yet very different to each other, so it is, +almost miraculously, with the hands of painters, as you will find many +great men each of whom paints in his own manner and style men and women +and animals, their styles greatly differing, and yet they all of them +retain the same proportions and principles; and yet all these different +styles may be good and worthy of being praised in their differences. For +in Rome Polidoro, a painter, had a very different style to that of +Balthazar, of Siena; M. Perino different from that of Julius, of Mantua; +Martorino did not resemble Parmesano; Cavalliere Tiziano in Venice was +softer than Leonardo da Vinci; the sprightliness of Raphael of Urbino and +his softness does not resemble the work of Bastiao Veneziano; your work +does not resemble any other; nor is my small talent similar to any other. +And although the famous ones whom I have mentioned have the light and +shade, the design and the colours different from each other, they are none +the less all great and famous men, and each distinguished by his +difference and style, and their works very worthy of being valued at +almost the same price, because each of them worked to imitate Nature and +perfection in the manner that he considered to be the most proper, and his +own, and in accordance with his idea and intention." + +And this said, we rose and went away as it was already night. + + + + + +THE WORKS OF MICHAEL ANGELO + + +The Rape of Deianira, or the Battle of the Centaurs, a bas-relief, 1490. +Casa Buonarroti, Florence. + +The Angel of the Shrine of Saint Dominic, a marble statuette, 1494. +San Domenico, Bologna. + +The Bacchus, a marble statue, 1497. +National Museum, Florence. + +The Madonna della Pieta, a marble group, 1499. +St. Peter's, Rome. + +The David, a colossal marble statue, 1504. +Accademia della Belle Arti, Florence. + +St. Matthew, an unfinished heroic marble statue. +The Court of the Accademia delle Belle Arti, Florence. + +The Madonna and Child, marble statue, 1506. +St. Bavon, Bruges. + +The Madonna and Child, a tondo, marble bas-relief, unfinished. +National Museum, Florence. + +The Madonna and Child, a tondo, marble bas-relief, unfinished. +The Diploma Gallery of the Royal Academy, London. + +The Holy Family, a tondo, painted on wood. +No. 1139, The Uffizi, Florence. + +The Moses, a heroic marble statue. +San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome. + +The Vault of the Sistine Chapel, ceiling frescoes, 1512. +Vatican, Rome. + +The Madonna and Infant Christ, St. John the Baptist and Angels, an +unfinished painting on wood by Bugiardini, the Cartoon alone by Michael +Angelo. +No. 809, The National Gallery, London. + +The Risen Christ, a marble statue, 1521. +Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome. + +The Tombs of Lorenzo dei Medici, Duke of Urbino and Giuliano, Duc de +Nemours, heroic marble statues, the figures of Day and Evening and the +architecture left unfinished by the master in 1534. +New Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence. + +The Madonna and Child, heroic marble statue. +New Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence. + +Four Slaves, unfinished heroic marble statues. +The Grotto of the Boboli Gardens, Florence. + +The Apollo, an unfinished marble statue. +The National Museum, Florence. + +The Leda, a painting, damaged and restored as to the head, arms, and +shoulder, 1529. +Offices of the National Gallery, London. + +The Slaves, two heroic marble statues. +Room of Renaissance Sculpture, the Louvre, Paris. + +The Brutus, an unfinished marble bust. +The National Museum, Florence. + +The Day of Judgment, fresco, 1541. +The Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome. + +The Entombment of our Lord, an unfinished painting on wood, the figures of +our Lord and the men very much repainted, the three women and the +background by the master. +No. 790, the National Gallery, London. + +The Martyrdom of St. Peter, a fresco, 1549. +Cappella Paolina, Vatican, Rome. + +The Conversion of St. Paul, a fresco, 1549. +Cappella Paolina, Vatican, Rome. + +The Pieta of Santa Maria del Fiore, a marble group. +The Duomo, Florence. + + + + + +A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL BOOKS CONSULTED BY THE AUTHOR + + +BERENSON, BERNHARD. +The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance. London and New York, 1896. + +BLACK, CHARLES CHRISTOPHER. +Michael Angelo Buonarroti, Sculptor, Painter and Architect. London, 1875. + +CELLINI, BENVENUTO. +Vita di, Scritta da lui Medesimo. Firenze, 1885. + +CLEMENT, CHARLES. +Michelangelo. London, 1880. + +CONDIVI, ASCANIO. +Vita di Michelangelo Buonarroti, Scritta da A.C. suo discepolo. Pisa, +1746. First edition Roma, 1553. + +GOTTI, AURELIO. +Vita di Michelangelo Buonarroti. Firenze, 1875. + +HASENCLEVER, SOPHIE. +Saumtliche Gedichte Michelangelo's. Leipzic, 1875. + +HOLLANDA, FRANCESCO DE. +Quatro Diologos da Pintura Antigua, La Renascenca Portugueza. Porto, 1896. + +MILANESI, GAETANO; and LE DOCTEUR A LE PILEUR. +Les Correspondants de Michel-Ange, i Sebastiano del Piombo. Librairie de +l'Art. Paris, 1890. + +MILANESI, GAETANO. +Le Lettre di Michelangelo Buonarroti, publicate coi Ricordi ed i Contratti +Artistici. Firenze, 1875. + +SYMONDS, JOHN ADDINGTON. +The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti. London, 1893. +The Sonnets of Michael Angelo Buonarroti and Tomaso Campanella. London, +1878. + +VASARI, GIORGIO. +Le Vite de' pin eccellenti Pittori, Scultori et Architetti. Bologna, 1647. +And first edition, Firenze, 1550. Second edition, Firenze, 1558. + +WILSON, CHARLES HEATH. +Life and Works of Michelangelo Buonarroti. London, 1881. + + + + + +ERRATUM + + +Page 27, note 1, line 2, _for_ 1831, _read_ 1873 + + + + + +INDEX + + +Abel, 44 + +Academy: Florence, 117, 260 + +Accursio: a messenger from Julius II., 51 + +Active Life; The Tomb of Julius II., 68, 225, 226, 227 + +Adam: Sistine Chapel, 13, note; 43, 163, 165, 171-175 + +Adonis, 129, 229 + +Adrian IV.: Pope 54, 190 + +Aginense: Cardinal, 51, 52, 146 + +Agnolo: Herald of Florence, 135 + +Agnolo: _see_ Doni + +Agostino: _see_ Duccio + +Agostino: San, the Isaiah of Raphael at, 177 + +Agnolo di Donnino: assistant, 151 + +Alberigo: Marchese, 52 + +Alberto: _see_ Duerer + +Albertina: Vienna, 193 + +Albertini: his statement, 164 + +Albizzi: Anton Francesco degli, portrait by Sebastiano, 197 + +Alcibiades, 87 + +Aldobrandini: sword-hilt designed for, 136 + +Aldovrandi: Gian Francesco, his kindness to the master, 18 + +Aldovrandi: Ulisse, sees a statue of Apollo, 108 + +Alessandro da Carnossa, 3, note + +Alessandro de' Medici: +Duke, his ill-will to the master, 59, 60, 62; +flight, 201; 250, 305 + +Alexander the Great, 285, 286, 309, 320 + +Alexander VI.: Pope, 29 + +Alfonso: Duke of Ferrara, 60, 61, 204 + +Alva: Duke of, 265 + +Aman, 45 + +Amanati: _see_ Bartolomeo + +Ambrosio: Brother, 272-274; 289, 306 + +Anatomy: +studies at Santo Spirito, 16; +of animals as well as man, 75; +dissection and a treatise upon it, 81 + +Ancestors of Christ: Sistine Chapel, 166, 169, 177 + +Andrea del Sarto, 103, note; +studies the Cartoon, 127, 224 + +Angel: for the Shrine of San Domenico, 19, 104 + +Angelico: Fra, 219 + +Angeli: S.M. degli, 251 + +Anna: the Beautiful, 293 + +Antonio: a servant, successor to Urbino, 236, 258 + +Antonio: Maria da Legnia, 145 + +Antonio: +San, copy, 7, 97; +Cartoon for Mineghella, 264 + +Antonio: _see_ Mini + +Apelles, 278, 309; 320, 325, 326 + +Apollo: in the Bargello, 204, 228 + +Arcadelt: Giacomo, sets the master's madrigals to music, 207 + +Aretino, 222, 283 + +Arezzo: fortifications at, 202 + +Arno, 193; +and _see_ Cartoon + +Arrigo Fiamingo: fresco, Sistine Chapel, 167 + +Ascanio: _see_ Condivi + +Assumption: by Daniele, with a portrait of the master, 253 + +Assunta: oratory of, 260 + +Athletes: Sistine Chapel, 13, note; 164, 167, 168, 173-178, 211 + +Athens, 156 + +Attalante, 146 + +Avignon, 293 + +Bacchus: carved in Rome, 24, 107, 108 + +Baccio d'Agnolo, 116 + +Baglioni: the traitor, 203 + +Baldassare: _see_ Peruzzi + +Baldassari: del Milanese, buys the god of Love, 21 + +Bandinelli: Baccio, studies the Cartoon, 126; +Hercules and Cacus, 204, 270, 295 + +Bandini: Francesco, 236, 246 + +Baptistry: Florence, 255 + +Bargello: +Florence, mask of a faun, 11; +Tondo, 121, 129; +Apollo, 205, 228; +Brutus, 249 + +Bartolomei: Messer, 231 + +Bartolomeo: Amanati, letter to, 238 + +Bartolommea: widow of Buonarroto, 201 + +Bas-relief: Florentine love of, 121 + +Bassano, 174 + +Bathers: _see_ Cartoon + +Battista Benti: carves details in the Tomb of Julius II., 226 + +Battista del Cinque: carpenter, 197 + +Batista Lorenzi, 253, 262 + +Beatrice: of Mantua, 3 + +Beaumont: Sir George, presents a tondo to the Royal Academy, 121 + +Belvedere: works ordered by Julius III., 78 + +Beinbo, 76 + +Bene: Benedetto, copies the Leda, 204 + +Bentivogli: +law, 18; +return to Bologna, 40, 141 + +Benvenuto: _see_ Cellini + +Bernardo Cencio: Canon of St. Peter's, 180, 181 + +Bernardo da Bibbiena, 146 + +Bernardo della Ciecha, 116 + +Berlin, 106 + +Bertoldo: the master of Michael Angelo in Sculpture, 99, 100, 102 + +Berugetta: Alonso, 126 + +Biagio da Cesena: objects to nude figures, 222 + +Bibbiena: Cardinal, rebukes Cardieri, l7 + +Bible: +the master's study, 86; +of Raphael, 173 + +Bini: Bernardo, trustee for the Tomb, 51, 69 + +Blois: Chateau, 251 + +Boboli Gardens: the grotto with four statues, 129, 227 + +Boccaccio, 19 + +Bologna: +flight to, 18-20; +with Julius II. at, 39, 40; +conversations at, 90, 132; +the Colossal Bronze destroyed, 141, 171, 195, 291 + +Bonasoni: +Giulio, engravings, a Pieta, 230; +portrait of the master, 253 + +Bonifazio: Count, 3 + +Bononiensis: Tudius, engraves a Pieta, 230 + +Boon companions: of the master, 264 + +Borgerini: Pier Francesco, 182 + +Borghini: Don Vincenzo, opens the coffin, 261 + +Borgia: Cesare, _see_ Valentino + +Borgo, 178, 238 + +Botticelli: +Sandro, letter addressed to him, 23, 107, 116; +Popes and histories by, 166 + +Bramante: +destroys S. Petronilla, 25; +Tomb of Julius, 31; +his errors, 32; +rebuilding of S. Peter's, 34; +suggests the painting of the vault, 41; +and Raphael to finish it, 47; +his shortcomings, 48; +scaffold, 82; +has the Pope's ear in Rome, 130; +vault painting, 131, 164; +"a brave architect," 238, 240-242, 295 + +Brancacci Chapel: _see_ Masaccio + +Brazen Serpent: Sistine Chapel, 46; 178 + +British Museum: +drawings, advice to Mini, 192; +for the tombs, 193 + +Bronze-coloured figures: Sistine Chapel, 169 + +Brothers of the master: _see_ Buonarroto, Giovan Simone, Sigismondo + +Bruciolo: invites the master to Venice, 78 + +Bruges, 29, 121 + +Brunelleschi: +the lantern of, 192; +his dome, 208 + +Brutus: +bust of, Bargello, 249; +nickname of Lorenzino, 250 + +Buggiardini: +Giuliano assistant, 150, 155; +paints the master's portrait, and a Madonna and Child from a cartoon of +the master's, 157, 158, 252, 264 + +Buonarroti: _see_ Michael Angelo + +Buonarroti: +Casa, bas-reliefs in, 102; 104; +presented to Florence, 105; +wax models of the David, 118 + +Buonarroti: Senator Filippo, 203 + +Buonarroto: +brother of the master, 4; +established in business, 109, 151, 152; +letters to, 133, 134, 136, 141, 161, 181; +his health, 165; +dies of the plague in the master's arms, 201 + +Buoninsegna: Domenico, 183 + +Cain, 44 + +Calcagni: _see_ Tiberio + +Camerino: Duke of, writes to the master, 217 + +Campidoglio: +plans of the master, 248; +his portrait there, 253, 270, 305 + +Campo Santo: Pisa, 219, 220 + +Canossa, 3-5 + +Capata: Joao, 306, 307, 310, 316, 318, 321 + +Capitol: _see_ Campidoglio + +Capponi: Niccolo, 201 + +Caprese: the master born at, 5 + +Cardiere: improvisatore, his dream, 16, 17 + +Carlino: chamberlain, 147 + +Carlo degli Albizzi, 147 + +Caro: Annibal, 76, 85 + +Carota: woodcarver, 197 + +Carpi: Cardinal, 246 + +Carrara, 30, 52, 53, 183, 185, 190, 192 + +Cartoon of Pisa, 37, 124, 125; +Vasari's account, 126; +Cellini's, 127 + +Cassandra Ridolfi: marries Leonardo, 254 + +Caterina: Santa, 31 + +Catherine de' Medici: letter from, 251 + +Cavalcani, 24 + +Cavalcanti: altar of, 261 + +Cavalieri: +Tomaso dei, a friend, 85; +drawings for, 230; +letter from, 231, 246, 248, 258, 259 + +Cellini: +Benvenuto, 91, 92, 118; +describes the Cartoon, 127, 202, 252, 255 + +Centaurs: battle of, _see_ Deianira + +Cesena: Bishop of, 85 + +Charles: the Emperor, 309, 310, 312 + +Charon, 71 + +Chigi, 292 + +Chiostro Verde: S.M. Novella, 173 + +Christ: +on the Cross, modelled for Mineghella, 264; +taken down from the Cross, Vittoria Colonna, 85; +the Risen, in the Minerva, 74, 180, 181, 187-189; +a statuette, 259 + +Ciapino: carpenter, 197 + +Cioli: _see_ Valerio + +Clement VII: +Pope, 10; +Medici Library, 54; +clemency, 58; +Medici Tombs, 59; +recalls the master to Rome, 60, 64; +orders the Day of Judgment, 64, 78; +the New Sacristy, 186; +elected Pope, 190-192, 195; +his postscript, 197; +and curious commission, 198; +besieged in St. Angelo, 200; +anger abates, 203, 207, 231, 277, 292, 308 + +Colombo: Realdo, anatomist, 81 + +Colonna: +Vittoria, Marchioness of Pescara, poetry, 76; +a Christ made for her, 74; +the master is enamoured of her divine spirit, 85; +visits her death-bed, 85; +drawings and sonnets for her, 230, 234; +conversations at St. Silvester, 271-304, 306-308, 312 + +Colossus: a proposed, 198, 199 + +Condivi: Ascanio della Ripa, the Life by, 3-93, 163, 164 + +Connetable: de Montmorenci, and the Slaves, 227 + +Consiglio: a mercer, 110, 111 + +Consiglio: Cartoon for the Sala del, 37 + +Constantinople: +the designs to throw a bridge from Pera to, 37; +is invited to, 78 + +Contemplative Life: Tomb of Julius II., 28, 225-227 + +Contracts: +for the Madonna della Pieta of St. Peter's, 112; +the David, 115; +and the Risen Christ, 180, 181 + +Conversion of St. Paul, 232 + +Cornelia: wife of Urbino, 256 + +Correggio: perfected Melozzo's method, 131, 172 + +Cortono: Cardinal, 201 + +Cosimo: _see_ Medici + +Cosmo: St., 194 + +Creation: +the, 164, 165, 167, 170; +of Eve, 171, 175, 291; +of man, _see_ Adam + +Creator: the, Sistine Chapel, 43, 44, 171 + +Crispo: Cardinal, 84 + +Croce: _see_ Santa Croce + +Cronaca: Il, 116, 120 + +Crucifixion: +in wood for Santo Spirito, 16; +drawings, 234; +by Daniele, 253 + +Cuio: Capitano, the master sups with, 197 + +Cupid: _see_ Love + +Damino: St., 194 + +Dandolo: Marco, opinion of Baglioni, 203 + +Daniele da Volterra, 223, 251-253; +writes for the master and acts as executor, 257-259, 263 + +Dante, 19, 68, 71; +the master's special devotion to, 86, 184, 220 + +Danti: Vincenzio, 229 + +David and Goliath: Sistine Chapel, 46, 178 + +David: +the bronze, 28, 119; +sent to France, 120 + +David: +the colossal statue, 27, 114; +the contract, 115; +contemporary account of the transport, 116; +removed to the Academy, 117 + +Dawn: marble statue in the New Sacristy, 172, 194, 203, 209, 211, 214, +293. + +Day: marble statue in the New Sacristy, 58, 194, 203, 209, 212 + +Day of Judgment: +Sistine Chapel, 45, 166, 183; +the fresco begun, 216; +shown to the public, 219; +described, 219; +copies in the Corsini Palace, 222, +and in the Naples Museum, 253 + +Death: the master's sayings on, 236, 236 + +Deianira: the rape of, a bas-relief, 14, 103 + +Deliverances of the Chosen People, 166, 169, 178 + +Delphic Sibyl, 174 + +Deluge: _see_ Flood + +Demosthenes, 75, 298 + +Deposition: _see_ Pieta + +Design: the power of, 295-298, 308-311, 322. + +Desnoyers: orders the destruction of the Leda, 62, 204 + +Diocletian: the Baths of, a restoration, 251 + +Diognetus, 286 + +Diomede Leoni: letter to Leonardo, 257 + +Dionigi: Cardinal di, orders a Pieta, 25, 112 + +Diploma Gallery: Burlington House, the tondo, 121 + +Divina Commedia: the master's drawings for, 184 + +Dome of St. Peter's, 208, 233, 246 + +Domenico: _see_ Ghirlandaio + +Domenico: San, Bologna, The Angel for the Shrine, 19, 104 + +Donatello: +praised by the master, 28, +who comes under the influence of his foreman, 99, 106; +St. George, and Judith, 117; +his influence, 118, 170, 178, 295 + +Donati: Federigo, physician, 258 + +Donato: _see_ Giannoti + +Doni: Agnolo, the tondo painted for, 29, 122 + +Doria: +Andrea, project for his statue 190; +his portrait by Sebastiano, 191, 291, 313 + +Dosso, 290 + +Drawing: +Ghirlandaio's book, 8; +copies of old masters, 9; +for the tombs of the Medici, 193; +its power, 295-297; +in war, 308, +and in peace, 311, 322 + +Duccio: Agostino, and the block of marble, 27 + +Duke of Florence, 246, 248, 250, 259, 260, 262 + +Duoino of Florence: +the shadow of, 127, 208; +the Pieta, placed under, 236 + +Duerer: Albert, 29, 81, 281 + +Ecouen: the slaves at, 227 + +Enrico II., 3 + +Epiphany: a cartoon, 260 + +Ercole: Don, captain of Florence, 61 + +Esi, 291 + +Esther: Queen, 46 + +Euclid, 75 + +Eve, 43 + +Evening, 194, 203, 209, 214 + +Expulsion, 172, 175 + +Facade of San Lorenzo, 183, 185, 227, 228 + +Fall of Man: Sistine Chapel, 43, 164, 165, 170 + +Farnese Palace: the cornice, 233, 237 + +Farnese: the House of, the master's love for, 84 + +Father of the master: _see_ Lodovico + +Fattore: Il, 256 + +Fattuci: +Ser Giovan Francesco, letters to, 133, 143, 191, 193, 195, 199, 242; +he rebukes the master for his modesty, 192 + +Faun: +a copy in marble, 10; +the Mask in the Bargello, 11, note; +a drawing in the Louvre, 98, note + +Febbre: Madonna della, _see_ Madonna + +Fernando di Gonzaga: Signer, 205 + +Femes: Cardinal, 270, 313 + +Ferrara: the master visits the fortifications, 60, 202 + +Ferrara: +Duke of, disposes of the Colossal Bronze, 141; +the master's visit to, 202, 290 + +Festa: Constanza, sets the master's madrigals to music, 208 + +Ficino: Masilio, 102 + +Fidelissimi: Gherardo, physician, 258 + +Fight for the Standard: Leonardo da Vinci's cartoon, 124, 127 + +Figio Vanni: Battista, Pope's agent, 203 + +Filippiuo: _see_ Lippi + +Flanders: the master's opinion of the painting of, 279-281, 324 + +Flood: the, Sistine Chapel, 44, 46, 165, 167, 170-173, 214 + +Florence, 3-6, 15-20, 22-29, 36, 37, 50, 51; +siege of, 56, 201; +is betrayed, 57, 203; 62; +gossip, 97; 106-114; 130; 158; +the master purchases land for a studio, 184, 208, 253-255, 260, 290, 293, +305 + +Fontainebleau: the Leda at, 204, 294 + +Forli: Bishop of, Pier Giovanni, 83 + +Fortification: +the master made Commissary-General, 55; +the Borgo, 238 + +France: +statue of Hercules sent to, 14; +painting in, 294 + +Francesca: daughter of Buonarroto, 201 + +Francesca: mother of the master, 109 + +Francesco d'Ollanda, 269-327 + +Francesco: +San, a cartoon drawn for a barber, 107; +and another for Mineghella, 264 + +Francesco: _see_ Bandini and Urbino + +Francesco: Urbino, da, schoolmaster, 6 + +Franciabigio: Il, studies the Cartoon, 127 + +Francia: Il, 90 + +Francis I.: +of France buys the Leda, 62; +invites the master to France, 78; +letter to, 232, 294 + +Frizzi: Frederigo, finishes the Risen Christ, 188 + +Gaeta: _see_ Pier Luigi + +Galatea: by Raphael, 292 + +Galli: Jacopo, commissions the Bacchus, 24, 107, 112 + +Galli: owned the Bacchus and the little Cupid, 25 + +Gallio Subelloni, 247 + +Gallo: Antonio, 226 + +Ganymede: a drawing, 231 + +Gatta: Bartolommeo della, 166 + +Gems: +engraved, shown to the master by the Magnificent, 13; +motives from intaglios, Adam, 171; +Judith, 178; +Leda, 202 + +Genoa: +the master proposes to retire to, 66; +the Senate orders a statue of Doria, 190; +the medallion, Albergo dei Poveri, 237, 291 + +George: St., by Donatello, 117 + +Germany, 200, 283, 291 + +Ghibelline, 4 + +Ghiberti: Lorenzo, 100, 170 + +Ghirlandaio: +Domenico, the master's first teacher, 7, 8, 97; +the master leaves him, 10, 99; +histories in the Sistine Chapel, 166 + +Ghirlandaio: +Ridolfo, Vasari's gossip, 97; +worked from the Cartoon, 126 + +Giacomo del Duca: carves details on the Tomb of Julius II., 226 + +Giacomo della Porta, 249 + +Giangiacomo de' Medici: his monument at Milan, 250 + +Giannotti: Donato, a friend of the master's, 85, 246, 249 + +Giant: _see_ David + +Gie: Marechal de, 119 + +Giorgio: _see_ Vasari + +Giotto: studies from, 105, 158 + +Giovanni da Reggio, 187, 188 + +Giovanni da Udine, 197, 290 + +Giovanni dall' Opera, 262 + +Giovanni de' Marchesi: stone-carver, 224 + +Giovanni de' Medici, 17 + +Giovanni: a gem-engraver, 231 + +Giovanni: San, in Laterano, 320, 321 + +Giovanni: Michi, 150 + +Giovanni: San, dei Fiorentini, designs for, 248 + +Giovannino: San, a, 106 + +Giovan Simone: +joins Buonarroto in the cloth business, 109, 133, 135; +his behaviour troubles the master, 151; +a letter to him, 153; +he begins to do well, 162; +death, 254 + +Girolamo da Fano: retouches the Day of Judgment, 223 + +Gismondo: +to join Buonarroto, 152; +visits Rome, 161 + +Giugni: Galeotto, envoy, 202 + +Giulia: La, the cannon cast from the wreck of the Bronze, 141, 202 + +Giulia: the Villa, works ordered by Julius III., 78, 292 + +Giuliano: a marble statue in the New Sacristy, 193, 194, 211, 212 + +Giuliano de' Medici: his courtesy, 17 + +Giulio Romano, 290, 293 + +Gondi: the bank of, 78 + +Gondi: Filippo, hides his goods, 201 + +Gondi: Giambattista, 251 + +Gonfaloniere: _see_ Soderini + +Gottifredo, 3 + +Granacci: +Francesco, 7, 9, 11, 98, 99; +studies the Cartoon, 126; +helps to provide assistants, his letter, 149, 151 + +Grand Canal: a design for a bridge, 74 + +Grotesque, 316-318 + +Guelph, 4 + +Guidobaldo: Duke of Urbino own's the god of Love, 23 + +Guidoccione, 76 + +Haarlem: drawings in the Teyler Museum, 253 + +Hawkwood: Sir John, 124 + +Henry II.: of France, 251 + +Hercules: a marble statue, 14, 105 + +Hercules and Cacus, 204 + +Hercules strangling Antaeus: a wax model, 252 + +Holkham Hall: Cartoon at, 38, 124, 125 + +Holy Family with Shepherds, the, 122 + +Homer, 76, 78, 173 + +Human form: the master's love for the beauty of, 87 + +Imitators of the master, 263 + +Indaco: +Jacopo L', assistant, 150, 155; +he grumbles, 157, 264 + +Inscriptions, 262, 263 + +Intaglio: _see_ Gems + +Ippolito de' Medici, 201 + +Isaiah: by Raphael, 177 + +Italian painting; the master's opinion of, 280, 281 + +Jacopo del Conte, 252 + +Jacopo della Quercia: studied by the master, 136, 170, 171 + +Jacopo di Sandro: an assistant, 151 + +Jacopo: _see_ Galli, L'Indaco, Sansovino + +Jean: makes a model of the Dome, 247 + +Jeremiah: the Prophet, 174 + +Joel, 174 + +Jonah, 221 + +Judith, 13, 46, 178; +of Donatello, 117 + +Julius II.: +Pope, calls the master to Rome and orders his Tomb, 28-30, 128, 129; +offends the master, 35, 38, 130; +the Colossal Bronze for Bologna, 40, 130, 132, 134; +it is placed on San Petronio, but is destroyed by the mob and made into a +cannon, 141; +orders the Vault of the Sistine Chapel to be painted, 48, 50, 164; +the master's love for him, 62; +and his house, 69, 77; +he is satisfied, 165, 179; +death, 180, 195, 202; +the Tragedy of the Tomb of, 216, 224, 226 + +Julius III.: +Pope, 63; +a patron of the Arts and of the master, 78, 80, 83, 235, 242; +confirms the master in his office, 244; +death, 245 + +Julius Caesar, 310, 315 + +King of France gives the Slaves to Montmorenci, 227, +and _see_ Francis I. + +Lactancio Tolomei, 271-322 + +Lana: Consuls of the Arte della, 115, 120 + +Lantern: of the New Sacristy, 192 + +Lapo Antonio di Lapo: +assistant at Bologna, 133; +is dismissed, 134; 136 + +Last Judgment: _see_ Day of Judgment + +Leda: +the, motive from a gem, 13, note; +painted for the Duke of Ferrara but sent to France, 61, 202, 204, 214 + +Leghorn, 184 + +Leicester: the Earl of, his cartoon at Holkham, 125 + +Lenoir: M., purchases the Slaves for France, 227 + +Leo X.: +Pope, 4, 5, 10; +orders the facade of San Lorenzo, 51; +his fervour spent, 54, 78, 182-185; +death, 190 + +Leone Leoni: +the monument at Milan, 250; +his medal of the master, 252 + +Letters: +from, +Catherine de' Medici, 251; +Duke of Camerino, 217; +Francesco Granacci, 149; +Lodovico, 111; +Pietro Roselli, 130; +Sebastiano, 185, 186, 187, 188, 205; +Tomaso del Cavalieri, 231. +From the master to, +Amanati, 238; +Buonarroto, 133, 134, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 161, 162, 181; +Cardinal Carpi, 241; +Fattucci, 133, 143, 191, 193, 195, 199, 242; +Francis I., 232; +Giovansimone, 153; +Lionardo, his nephew, 246, 248, 254, 257; +Lodovico, 110-112, 135, 151, 156, 159, 164; +Lorenzo di' Pierfrancesco, 23; +nephew of Pope Paul, 242; +Sebastiano, 197; +Spina, 194; +Topolino, 190; +Vasari, 245, 255. +From Diomede Leoni to Lionardo, 257; +from Tiberio Calcagni to Lionardo, 257 + +Library: Medici, ordered by Clement VII., 54, 197, 250 + +Libyan Sibyl, 174 + +Light separated from Darkness, Sistine Chapel, 170, 174, 176 + +Lignano: Antommaria, banks money for the Colossal Bronze, 40 + +Lionardo da Vinci, 116; +his cartoon, 124, 209, 327 + +Lionardo di Compago: saddle-maker, 184 + +Lionardo: +nephew of the master, 104; +letters to, 246, 248, 254, 257; +marries Cassandra, 254; +receives news of the master's illness, 257; +and death, 260; +orders Vasari to design the Tomb, 262 + +Lippi: Filippino, 116 + +Lodovico del Buono: founder, assists the master at Bologna, 133, 134 + +Lodorico di Leonardo Buonarroti Simoni, +father of the master, 5, 7, 11, 13, 15, 109; +letters to, 110, 111, 112, 135, 137, 151, 156, 159, 162, 164: +letter from, 111 + +Loggia dei Lanzi, 116, 129, 228 + +Loggia of the Vatican, 263, 292 + +Lorenzetto: worked from the cartoon, 127 + +Lorenzino: nicknamed Brutus, 250 + +Lorenzo: +San, the facade, 51, 183, 185; +obsequies of the master at, 262 + +Lorenzo: San, the pulpits of, 100, 103, 178 + +Loreto, 265 + +Lottino: Il, 85, 246 + +Louis XIII: 204 + +Louvre: the two Slaves, 116 + +Love: +a god of, in marble, made to imitate the antique, 21, 107; +a little, carved for Galli, 25, 107, 108 + +Lucan, 299 + +Lucca, 3 + +Lucrezia: second wife of Lodovico, 109 + +Luiz: Infanta D., 169 + +Madonna and Child: a bas-relief in the Casa Buonarroti, 104 + +Madonna and Child: marble statue, Bruges, 29 + +Madonna and Child: marble statue, New Sacristy, San Lorenzo, 59, 194, 215 + +Madonna and Child with Angela: National Gallery, from a cartoon by the +master, 157 + +Madonna and Child with St. John: marble tondo, Bargello, 121, 122 + +Madonna and Child with St. John: marble tondo, Diploma Gallery, 121, 122 + +Madonna and Child with St. Joseph: painted tondo, Ufflzi, 29, 122 + +Madonna della Pieta: of St. Peter's 25, 26, 112, 113, 232, 234 + +Madonna: medallion at Genoa, 237 + +Maffei: the Most Reverend, 84 + +Malaspina: Lionardo, 85 + +Manfidi: Angelo, second herald, 116 + +Mantegna: Andrea, 290 + +Mantua, 3, 290 + +Mantua: Cardinal of, commends the Moses, 67 + +Mantua: the Marchesana, 22, 23 + +Marc Antonio Raimondi: his engraving of the Cartoon, 125 + +Marcello Venusti: his copy of the Day of Judgment, 253 + +Marcellus II.: +Pope, Cardinal Marcello Cervini, 244; +Pope, 245 + +Margarite: of Austria, 305 + +Mario Scappuci, 180; 181 + +Martin Schongauer: the master copies his engraving, 7, 97 + +Masaccio: study of, 105, 172 + +Maso del Bosco: carves the portrait of Julius II. for the Tomb, 226 + +Matilda: Countess, 3 + +Mattea da Lecce: Sistine Chapel, 167 + +Matthew: St., marble statue in the Court of the Academy, Florence, 74, +118, 228 + +Maturino: worked from the Cartoon, 127, 292 + +Maximilian: Emperor, 279 + +Medal: Leone's, of the master, 252 + +Medici: Alessandro de', 59, 60, 62, 201, 250, 305 + +Medici: Cardinal de', _see_ Clement VII. + +Medici: Cosimo de' 51, 208 + +Medici: Cosimo de', First Grand Duke of Tuscany, 104, 209 + +Medici Garden, 9, 99 + +Medici: House of, driven out of Florence, 18, 55, 201, 290 + +Medici: +Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de', 21, 23, 106; +letter to, 107 + +Medici: +Lorenzo de', the Magnificent, sees the master at work in his garden, 10, +100; +takes him into his household, 12, 13; +death, 14, 105; +his ghost appears to Cardiere, 16, 17, 193, 194, 208, 211, 212 + +Medici: Pier de', 15, 17 + +Medici rule, 215 + +Medici Tombs: in the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo, 58, 173, 203, 208, 250, +252 + +Melozzo da Forli: vault painting of, 131 + +Menichella: Domenico, 205, 206 + +Metauro, 193 + +Metello Vari: dei Porcari, 180, 181, 188 + +Michael Angelo: +claims descent from the House of Canossa, 3; +his ancestors, 4; +birth and horoscope, 5; +foster-mother and schoolmaster, 6; +first painting, 7, 97; +apprenticed to Ghirlandaio, 8, 97; +drawings, 8, 9, 98; +studies in the Medici Gardens under Bertoldo, 9, 99; +carves the head of a faun, 10, 11; +enters the House of Medici, 12, 102; +halcyon days with Lorenzo who presents him with a violet-coloured mantle, +12, note, 102; +incited by Poliziano, he carves the Rape of Deianira, 14, 103; +grief at the loss of his patron, 14; +the lost Hercules, 14, 105; +makes a snow-statue for Piero, 15; +studies anatomy at Santo Spirito and carves a crucifix in wood for the +Prior, 16; +fears of Cardiere, 17; +and flight to Bologna, 18; +the Angel of the Shrine of San Domenico, 19, 105; +returns to Florence, 21, 106; +the San Giovannino and the god of Love, 21, 22, 23, 106, 107; +first visit to Rome, 22, 107; +carves a Bacchus and a little Cupid, 24, 25, 107, 108; +and the Madonna della Pieta, 25, 112; +returns to Florence, 27, 28, 114-120; +the Madonna of Bruges, 29, 121; +the three Tondi, 29, 121-124; +the Cartoon of Pisa, 37, 38, 124-127; +summoned to Rome by Julius II., 29, 128; +who orders the Tomb, 30-34, 128-130; +marbles brought from Carrara, 30, 34, 128; +flight from Rome, 85, 36, 130; +works in Florence on the Cartoon, 37, 130; +joins Julius at Bologna, 39, 132; +the Colossal Bronze, 40, 133-142, 144, 145; +returns to Florence, 143; +but is summoned to Rome, 143; +to paint the vault of the Sistine Chapel, 41-49, 145-165; +descriptions of the vault, 42-46, 167-179; +death of Julius, 50, 146, 180; +proceeds with the Tomb, 51, 180-182; +but Leo X. orders a facade for San Lorenzo, 51; +quarries at Carrara and Pietra Santa, 52, 183, 185; +the facade abandoned, 54, 185; +the Library, 54; +the New Sacristy, 54, 186; +and the Medici Tombs, 68-60, 192-194, 208-216; +the Siege of Florence, the master made Commissary-General of +Fortifications, 55-58; +visits Ferrara, 60; +flight to Venice, 66; +return to duty, 57; +the fall of Florence, 67, 203; +the master in hiding, but he is allowed to return to work on the Tombs, +68, 203; +the Leda, 61, 62, 202; +the Risen Christ, 74, 180, 187, 188; +new agreement with the executors of Julius, 62-64, 194; +the master is called to Rome by Clement VII. and leaves Florence for the +last time, 62, 208; +the Day of Judgment, 64, 70, 71, 216-224; +Paul III. appoints the master chief architect, sculptor, and painter to +the Vatican, 216; +the Tomb of Julius erected in San Pietro ad Vincula, 67-69, 195, 224-227; +the frescoes in the Cappella Paolino, 73, 232; +the Pieta of S.M. del Fiore, 73, 234-237; +the cornice of the Farnese Palace, 238; +St. Peter's, 238, 239, 246; +the Brutus, 249; +S.M. degli Angeli, 251; +a grand-nephew born, 265; +death of Urbino, 256, 256; +a visit to the country near Spoleto, 256; +illness, 268; +death, 258; +works left in his house, 259; +his body is deposited in SS. Apostoli, 260; +conveyed to Florence, 260; +and carried to Santa Croce, 261; +his imitators, 263; +character and endowments of the master, 77; +his love of all beautiful things, 87; +his abstemious life, 88; +generosity, 88, 264, 265; +a description of his person, 91; +and the colour of his hair and eyes, 92; +the master visits S. Silvester, 273; +and expresses his opinion of the quiet life of work, 276; +of painting in Flanders, 279; +on drawing, 295-297, 308-322; +on working quickly or slowly, 325; +on the value of paintings, 314; +on grotesque, 316; +and on devotional painting, 319. + +Milan, 158, 250 + +Milliarini: Professor, discovers a statue, 108 + +Minerva: the church of S.M. Sopra, 74, 180, 181 + +Mini: Antonio, pupil of the master, 192, 204, 264 + +Mini: Paolo, 207 + +Miniato: San, fortifications, 55, 202, 203 + +Minighella, 264 + +Monciatto: woodcarver, 115 + +Montanto: Antonio, 184 + +Montelupo, 194 + +Montevarchi: Ser Giovanni di Guasparre, 151 + +Montevecchio; Cardinal, 63 + +Montorsoli, 194 + +Moscheroni: Flemish merchants, 29 + +Moses: marble statue, the Tomb of Julius, 33, 67, 68, 129, 167, 182, 225 + +Mother: of the Master, _see_ Francesca + +Mould on the Vault, 46, 161 + +Mozza: Via, 184 + +Nanni di Baccio Bigio: his intrigues, 242, 244, 247 + +Naples: copy of the Day of Judgment, 253 + +National Gallery, 116, 157, 204, 265, 292, 330, 331 + +Neptune: proposed statue of Andrea Doria as, 190, 191 + +Nero, 275, 285 + +New Sacristy of San Lorenzo, 192, 208, 293 + +Nicholas V.: Pope, 34 + +Nicolo di Bari: the ark of San Domenico, 105 + +Nicolo: San, beyond Arno, 203 + +Night: marble statue, New Sacristy, 58, 194, 203, 204, 209, 213, 214, 293 + +Noah: the Sacrifice of, Sistine Chapel, 44, 45 + +Novella: S.M., the first art school of the master, 99 + +Oil painting; the master's opinion of 217 + +Ollanda: _see_ Francesco + +Onofrio: San, the master's workshop at, 124 + +Operai: of the Duomo, 115, 120 + +Orcagna, 99 + +Orvieto, 221 + +Ottavio Farnese: the marriage of, 306 + +Ovid, 299 + +Oxford: +drawings at, anatomy students, 16; +after two destroyed frescoes, 166; +design for alterations at San Lorenzo, 198, 230 + +Padua, 290 + +Palla: Giovanni Battista della, 105 + +Paolina: Cappella, 224 + +Paolo Galli: owned the Bacchus and the little Cupid, 25 + +Paris: the Leda goes to, 204 + +Parma, 3, 291 + +Parmigiano, 291, 327 + +Paul: St., conversion of, fresco, 73, 101 + +Paul III.: +Pope, elected, 66; +visits the master, 67; +orders him to proceed with the Day of Judgment, 70, 73, 78, 80, 84; +appoints the master chief architect, 216; +his answer to Messer Biagio, 223; +orders the frescoes for his chapel, 224, 225, 237, 239; +death, 242, 248, 276, 314 + +Paul IV.: Pope, 223 + +Pavia: Cardinal of, 132, 141, 147 + +Penseroso: Il, 203 + +Perino del Vaga, 127, 238, 270, 291, 327 + +Perspective, 82 + +Perugino, 77, 166, 216 + +Peruzzi: Baldassari, 238, 240, 242, 292, 295, 327 + +Pesaro, 290 + +Pescara: Marchioness of, _see_ Colonna + +Pesellino: studies from, 105 + +Peter: St., a blocked out statue, 259 + +Peter: St., crucifixion of, alfresco, 73 + +Peter's: +the church of St., new design for, 25, 33, 83; +plans altered to embrace the project of the Tomb, 129; +the master undertakes the works, 238, 243, 244, 245, 249, 259, 291, 292, +305 + +Petrarca, 19; +and Tuscan rhyme, 76 + +Petronilla: Santa, the Madonna della Pieta placed in the church of, 25, +112 + +Petronio: San, a marble statuette finished by the master, 105 + +Petronio: San, the master hears mass in the church of, 39 + +Phaeton: a drawing, 231 + +Phidias, 156, 294 + +Piacenza: the ferry revenue goes to the master, 216 + +Piecolomini: Cardinal Francesco, orders fifteen statues, 114 + +Pico della Mirandola, 102 + +Pier Luigi: Gaeta, 247 + +Piero di Cosimo, 103, note, 116 + +Pierre Mariette: the fate of the Leda, 204 + +Pieta: a drawing, 259 + +Pieta: of S.M. del Fiore, 73, 233, 236, 262 + +Pieta: the Palazzo Rondini, 237 + +Pieta: Viterbo, by Sebastiano, 265 + +Pieta: _see_ Madonna della Pieta + +Pietra: Santa, marble quarries, 52, 53, 183-185 + +Pietro Matteo d'Amelia, 150 + +Pietro: San, in Montorio, wall painting by Sebastiano, 101, 265, 292 + +Pietro: San, in Viticula, the Tomb of Julius II. set up, 67, 129, 182 + +Pietro: San, Maggiore, Florence, 260 + +Pietro Urbano: a workman, 133 + +Pietro Urbino, 187, 264 + +Pilote: goldsmith, 264 + +Pinti: Borgo, the master's house in, 120 + +Pintoricchio: Bernardino, 166 + +Piombo: _see_ Sebastiano + +Pisa: +fortifications, 202; +picture by Buggiardini, 158; 291 + +Pisa: _see_ Cartoon + +Pisani: pulpits of the, 103 + +Pisano: Giovanni, 177 + +Pistoia: San Andrea at, 177; 264 + +Pitti: Bartolomineo, 121 + +Pius III.: Pope, _see_ Piccolomini. + +Pius IV.: +Pope, elected, 245; +confirms the master in his office, 247, 250 + +Pius V.: injures the Day of Judgment, 228 + +Plato, 75, 87 + +Plutarch, 286, 326 + +Po: +the river, 193; +revenue of a ferry, 216 + +Poggibonsi, 35 + +Pole: Cardinal, a friend of the master, 84 + +Polidoro, 292, 327 + +Poliziano: recognises the master's lofty spirit, 13, 102, 103 + +Pollaiuolo: Salvestro del, nephew of Antonio, 139 + +Pollaiuolo: Simone il, 131 + +Polvaccio: Roman quarry, 187 + +Pompey, 286, 310 + +Ponte: Maestro Bernardo dal, helps to cast the Colossal Bronze, 136, 139 + +Ponte Rotto, 245 + +Pontormo: Il, 127, 264 + +Porta del Popolo, 251 + +Porta Pia, 251 + +Portraits of the master, 252, 263 + +Praxiteles, 294 + +Prophets: Sistine Chapel, 42, 45, 164, 166-170, 176-178, 211 + +Protogenes, 325 + +Psyche: the Story of, by Raphael, 292 + +Pulci: Luigi, 102 + +Raffaellino: offers to come as assistant, 149 + +Raffaello da Monte Lupo: +his autobiography, 121; +the Madonna for the Tomb of Julius, 224-226 + +Raising of Lazarus: by Sebastiano, the master's design for, 265 + +Raphael: +da Urbino, proposed by the master as painter of the Sistine, 41, 47; +studies the style of the master, 77; +he is praised by the master, 89; +his painting of Doni, 122; +studied the Cartoon, 126; +his manner with his assistants, 155; +the proposition of Bramante, 164; +cartoons for tapestry, 167; +his composition of the Sacrifice of Noah, 173; +Sibyls at S.M. della Pace, 177; +a putto, 178, 197, 221, 238, 240, 242, 256, 263, 271, 292 + +Ravenna, 184 + +Realdo: physician, 91 + +Redemptions of Israel, 166, 169, 178 + +Reggio, 3 + +Rembrandt, 172, 224 + +Reynel: King of France, 293 + +Riccio: Luigi del, nurses the master when ill, 227 + +Ricordi: +the vault finished, 165; +the facade of San Lorenzo abandoned, 185; +marbles for the sacristy, 187; 192; +Gondi hides goods in the New Sacristy, 201 + +Ridolfi: Cardinal, 85 + +Ridolfo Pio of Carpi: +Cardinal, letter to, 241; +the Brutus for, 249 + +Ridolfo: _see_ Ghirlandaio + +Rimini: a post on the Chancery bestowed on the master, 216 + +Risen Christ: _see_ Christ + +Robertet: Florimond, secretary, receives the bronze David, 119, 120 + +Rocco: a San, drawn for Minighella, 264 + +Rondini: Palazzo, Pieta in, 237 + +Rontini: Baccio, cures the master from the effects of his fall, 219 + +Romans: claim him as a citizen, 260 + +Rome: +the master's first visit, 29, 30 37, 41, 107, 109, 111, 121, 128 130, 184, +185; +the sack of, 200, 205; +the master returns finally, 216, 237, 240, 246, 247, 253, 256, 260, 270, +291, 305, 314 + +Rosselli: Cosimo, 116, 166 + +Rosselli: Piero di Jacopo, plasters the vault, 149 + +Rosselli: Pietro, letter to the master, 130 + +Rosselmini: Count Guarlandi, 106 + +Rosso: II, worked from the Cartoon, 127 + +Rovere: _see_ Julius II. + +Rovezzano: Benedetto da, 119 + +Rovano: Cardinal, _see_ Dionigi + +Royal Academy: _see_ Diploma Gallery + +Rucellai: recommendation to, 24 + +Ruffilni: Alessandro, groom of the Chamber, 83 + +Sacrarium: at San Lorenzo, design, 198 + +Sacrifice of Noah, 172, 173 + +Sacristy of San Lorenzo: _see_ Medici Tombs + +Sack of Rome, 200, 205 + +Salt-cellar: design for, 217 + +Salvestro da Montanto, 226 + +Salvestro: jeweller, 116 + +Salviati: Alamano, 30 + +Salviati: Cardinal, 244 + +Salviati: Cecchino, rescues fragments of the arm of the David, 117 + +Salviati: Michael Angelo, father of Cecchino, 117 + +Salviati: Jacopo, 192 + +Sanazzaro, 76 + +Sangallo; Antonio da, 34, 47, 85, 116, 237, 238, 240-242, 259 + +Sangallo: Aristotele, assistant, 151 + +Sangallo: Ginliano da, 116, 141 + +San Gallo: Porta, 200 + +Sansovino: Andrea del Monte a, 27 + +Sansovino: Jacopo, 263 + +Santa Croce: Cardinal, 84 + +Santa Croce: Florence, 253, 260-262 + +Santarelli: sculptor, discovers a statue, 108 + +Santiquattro: Cardinal, 61, 52 + +Sarto: _see_ Andrea + +Savonarola: +the master's affection for, 87; +his sermons, 106 + +Scaffolding: +designed by the master, 82; +drawing of, 98; +fall from, 218 + +Schongauer: _see_ Martin Scipio, 84 + +Scourging of Christ: drawn for Sebastiano, 101, 265 + +Sebastiano del Piombo, 101: +a walk in Rome, 121; +letters from, 185, 187, 188, 205; +portrait of Doria, 191; +letter to, 197; +prepares the wall for the Day of Judgment, 217, 231, 238, 253, note; +his genial humour, 264; +designs for, 265, 292, 314, 327 + +Setta Sangallesca, 237, 242-245 + +Settignano: the master nursed at, 6 + +Sibyls, 42, 45, 164, 166-170, 176-178; +by Raphael, 177 + +Siege of Florence, 201, 205 + +Siena, 273, 292, 327 + +Sigismondo: a brother, 109 + +Signorelli: +Luca, pictures in the Uffizi, 123; +and Sistine Chapel, 166; +slight influence of, 123, 124 + +Silvester: San, at Monte Cavallo, 271-327 + +Simone da Canossa: ancestor, 4, 6 + +Sin of Ham, 164, 170, 174, 179 + +Sistine Chapel, 41-49, 167-180, 210 + +Sixtus IV.: Pope, 41 + +Slaves: the two, marble statues, given to Strozzi, 89, 129, 116; 182, 216, +225, 227 + +Snow: a statue in, 15 + +Socrates, 87 + +Soderini: Cardinal, 39 + +Soderini: +Pier, Gonfaloniere, 28, 36, 37, 96, 97; +his criticism of the David, 118, 132 + +Solari: Cristoforo, Il Gobbo, 113 + +Spain, 200, 312, 313 + +Spanish Chapel, 99 + +Spedalingo: head of the hospital of S.M. Nuova, 157, 181, 182 + +Spina: +Giovanni, to pay a provision to the master, 192; +letter to, 194 + +Spirito: Santo, a crucifix for, 16 + +Spoleto, 256 + +Staccoli: Hieronimo, his letter to the Duke of Camerino, 217 + +Stairway to the Library, 250 + +Stanze: of the Vatican, 263, 270, 271, 292 + +Stefano: di Tomaso, 191, 192 + +Strozzi: Filippo, a sword hilt given to, 136 + +Strozzi: Giovan Battista, verses on the Night, 218 + +Strozzi: Lorenzo, 161 + +Strozzi Palace: the Hercules there until the siege, 105 + +Strozzi: Roberto, Slaves given to, 88, 89, 227 + +Stufa: Luigi della, a colossus to spoil the front of his palace, 198, 199 + +Sword-hilt: designed for Aldobrandini but given to Strozzi, 186 + +Tapestry: Raphael's cartoons for, 167 + +Tasio: wood-carver, 197 + +Taro: river, 193 + +Te: Palazzo del, 263 + +Teridade: King, 294 + +Terribilita: the master's, 101, 117 + +Teyler Museum: Haarlem, 253 + +Tiber, 193 + +Tiberio Calcagni, 249; +letter to Lionardo, 257, 258 + +Ticino: river, 193 + +Titian: his later work, 230, 290, 327 + +Tityos: drawing, 231 + +Tolemei: Claudio, 85 + +Tomaso: _see_ Cavalieri + +Tomaso: of Prato, attorney, 62 + +Tomb of Julius: +first design, 30-33, 128, 129; +description, 67; +moneys received for, 69, 183, 186; +the master's desire to complete it, 191; +and trouble concerning it, 194, 205, 207 + +Tondi: _see_ Madonna and Child + +Topolino: Domenico Fancelli, letter to, 190; 264 + +Torrigiano: +strikes the master, 91; +his history, 92; +a St. Francis by, 114 + +Tribolo: studied the Cartoon, 127 + +Trinita de' Monti, 253 + +Tromboncini: Bartolomeo, music to the madrigals, 207 + +Turk: The Grand, invites the master, 37, 78 + +Uffizi: +Florence, the painted tondo, 29, 122; +the dancing Faun, 175; +Signorelli's pictures 123; +drawings, 193 + +Urbino: Francesco, 255, 256, 273, 314 + +Urbino: +Francesco Maria, Duke of, finds fault with the slow progress of the Tomb +of Julius II., 55, 62-64; +Paul III. arranges a new contract, 67, 69, 207; +final contract, 225, 226, 290 + +Urbino: the master thinks of retiring to, 66 + +Urbino: the Palace of the Duke, 290 + +Valdarno, 264 + +Valori: Baccio, the Apollo presented to, 205, 207 + +Valentino: Duke, sends the god of Love to Mantua, 22, 23 + +Valerio Cioli, 262 + +Valerio de Vincenca, 270 + +Valpaio: Benvenuto, 207 + +Valuation of works of art, 314 + +Vansitelli, 251 + +Varchi: +Lectures and criticisms on the sonnets, 86; +oration, 262 + +Vari: _see_ Metello + +Vasari: +Giorgio, his famous book, 92, 97, 98; +preserves the broken fragments of the arm of the David, 117; +the story of the Gonfaloniere, 118; +the St. Matthew, 120; +the tondi, 121, 122; +the Cartoon, 126; +seventeen statues for the Tomb of Julius completed, 130; +a list of assistants, 150, 151; +his fable of the vault, 158, 163; +the Apollo, 204; +he completes the works at San Lorenzo, 209, 211; +how Sebastiano prepared the wall, 217; +the master's fall, 218; +the Day of Judgment, 222; +the Cappella Paolino, 232; +he sees the master working at night, 235; +a Pieta, 237; +the cornice, 238; +St. Peter's, 241; +plots, 243; +the bridge of Nanni, 245; +the church for the Florentines in Rome, 249; +the medal of Leone, 252; +he holds another Buonarroto at the font, 255; +a letter to, referring to the death of Urbino, 255, 256; +the master's will, 269; +he receives the master's body in Florence, 260; +and describes the opening of the coffin in Santa Croce, 261; +and the obsequies at San Lorenzo, 262; +he designs the Tomb, 262; +and enumerates the pupils, 263 + +Vauban: studies the fortifications at San Miniato, 203 + +Vault: +of the Sistine Chapel, 41-49; +works begun, 149; +painting begins, 151; +assistants dismissed, 156; +mould on the fresco, 161; +exposed to view, 163; +finished, 165; +a description, 167-179, 291 + +Vecchio: +Palazzo, 116; +cartoon for, 124; +Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus, 204 + +Venice: +the master invited to, 78; +flees to, 202; +Sebastiano refers to, 206, 290, 327 + +Venusti: _see_ Marcello + +Victory: the, a marble statue in the Bargello, 129, 228 + +Vincenzo: _see_ Borghini + +Vinci: _see_ Lionardo + +Vincula: +San Pietro in, Bramante's work needs support, 32; +the Moses placed in, 33 +Virgil, 76, 298, 303 + +Vitelli: Alessandro, 60 + +Viterbo: +Vittoria Colonna visits, 85, 240; +the Pieta by Sebastiano, 265 + +Vitruvius, 237 + +Vittoria: _see_ Colonna + +Volterra: Cardinal, letter from Soderini to, 132 + +Volterra: _see_ Daniele + +Windsor: drawings, 230 + +Works of art in the house of the master when he died, 259 + +Zanobi: Via San, 184 + +Zanobi: Mona, land near her estate, 135 + +Zapata: Diogo, 289 + +Zeuxis, 315 + + + + + +Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + +London & Edinburgh + + + + + + + 1 For convenience of reference the chapters in the two parts are + divided so as to cover the same periods of time in the life of the + master. + + 2 Count Alessandro da Canossa acknowledged relationship to Michael + Angelo in a letter, dated October 4, 1520 (Gotti, i. 4), addressing + the master as "honoured kinsman," but the relationship cannot now be + proved. The ancestors of Michael Angelo have been traced to one + Bernardo who died before the year 1228, and they played their part + as citizens of Florence, no mean city, for more than two hundred + years--a noble pedigree even for Michael Angelo. + + 3 A paid magistrate or mayor, generally from a neighbouring town or + country and not a citizen of the place where he was on duty. + + 4 Caprese is made up of scattered hamlets and farmhouses near Arezzo, + upon the watershed between the Tiber and the Arno. + + 5 Upon March 6, 1475, according to our present reckoning, Lodovico + wrote in his note-book: + + "I record that on this day, March 6, 1474, a male child was born to + me. I gave him the name of Michael Angelo, 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." + Then follow the godfathers; there are ten of them. + + 6 Maestro Francesco only taught Michael Angelo to read and write in + the vulgar tongue, for his pupil complained in after life that he + knew no Latin; this was not Francesco's fault, for his pupil soon + followed his friend's--another Francesco--influence and neglected + literature for the art that made him famous. + + 7 Ghirlandaio, born 1449, died 1494. + + 8 Martin Schongauer, born at Colmar about 1450, died 1488. + + 9 When Michael Angelo was thirteen years old Lodovico gave in to his + wishes and apprenticed him to Domenico Ghirlandajo (he was called + Ghirlandajo because as a goldsmith he had made garlands of golden + leaves for the brows of the Florentine ladies) upon the unusual + terms set forth in the following minute from Domenico's ledger under + the date 1488: + + "I record this first of April how that I, Lodovico di Lionardo di + Buonarrota, bind my son Michael Angelo to Domenico and Davit di + Tommaso di Currado for the next three ensuing years, under these + conditions and contracts: to wit that the said Michael Angelo 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 order of the + above-named; and they for their part, shall give him in the course + of these three years twenty-four florins (fiorini di Sagello, _L_8 + 12_s._); 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 note of April 16, 1488, records that two florins were paid to + Michael Angelo upon that day. The total sum is estimated by Gotti + (p. 6, note) to equal 206.40 lira present value--about _L_8 12_s._ It + was usual for apprentices to pay a sum to their masters rather than + to be paid. + + 10 Drawings, even by old masters, were of no pecuniary value in those + days; they were merely kept for use in the workshop. The fashion of + collecting drawings for their own sake was invented by Giorgio + Vasari some sixty years later. + + 11 There is a mask of a grinning faun to be seen in the Bargello at + Florence, attributed to Michael Angelo and said to be this his first + work in sculpture. It does not correspond with either the account of + Vasari or of Condivi; it is a poor and ugly piece of work, and shows + no sign whatever of the early style of Michael Angelo, but is more + likely a work of a later period by some one who had seen the mask + under the left arm of "The Night" on the tomb of Lorenzo at San + Lorenzo. + + 12 "During this time Michael Angelo received from the Magnifico an + allowance of five ducats per month, and was furthermore presented + for his gratification with a violet-coloured mantle. But, indeed, + all the young men who studied in the gardens received stipends of + greater or less amount from the liberality of that Magnificent and + most noble citizen, being constantly encouraged and rewarded by him + whilst he lived." (Vasari.) + + 13 Many motives from antique gems may be traced in the art of Michael + Angelo, such as the Judith and her maid, some of the athletes the + Leda, and even the Adam. + + 14 Lorenzo died upon the eighth day of April, 1492. + + 15 Equal to-day to 20.60 lire--about seventeen shillings. + + 16 Nineteen and a quarter inches according to the measurements of Heath + Wilson ("Michael Angelo and his Works," p. 17, ed. 1881). This + relief is in the Casa Buonarroti, Florence. + + 17 We have no record of this work, and its whereabouts is not known. + + 18 The boy, Michael Angelo, probably enjoyed this frolic and its + attendant festivities as much as Piero, he could not have done much + other work in the dungeon-like studios of Florence in such cold + weather. This incident has been regarded as an insult to the artist + and a sign of Piero's want of taste. Michael Angelo cannot have felt + aggrieved as he stayed on at the palace. Condivi relates that he + remained "some months." Piero should rather be blamed for not + employing his artist guest upon some more lasting work also. + + 19 Nothing is known as to the fate of this work, it is not now in the + church. + + 20 Vasari states that Michael Angelo devoted much time to the study of + anatomy. "For the church of Santo Spirito, in Florence, Michael + Angelo made a crucifix in wood, which is placed over the lunette of + the high altar. This he did to please the Prior, who had given him a + room wherein he dissected many dead bodies, zealously studying + anatomy." (Vasari.) + + A pen drawing at Oxford shows us two students studying anatomy at + night; the body of the subject supports the torch; one student holds + a pair of compasses in his right hand for measuring the proportions. + + 21 Michael Angelo left Bologna hastily under fear of personal violence + from the sculptors and native craftsmen, who said he was taking the + bread out of their mouths, rather a strong compliment to a boy of + twenty. + + 22 The dealer Baldassari del Milanese paid Michael Angelo thirty ducats + for this work, and sold it to Raffaello Riario, Cardinal di San + Giorgio, as an antique for two hundred ducats, an evidence, not of + the Cardinal's foolishness, but of Michael Angelo's careful study of + the antique. + + 23 The Cardinal S. Giorgio made Messer Baldassari refund the two + hundred ducats and take the Cupid back, so Michael Angelo got + nothing for his journey. Cesare Borgia presented this Cupid to + Guidobaldo di Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. After Cesare Borgia + sacked the town of Urbino in 1592 he sent the Cupid to the + Marchioness of Mantua, who wrote on July 22, 1592, describing the + Cupid as "without a peer among the works of modern times." There is + a sleeping Cupid at Mantua in the Museo Civico, but it is not by + Michael Angelo. Signor Fabriczy holds that a Cupid preserved in the + museum at Turin may be Michael Angelo's original work, but the + translator has not seen it. + + 24 Michael Angelo arrived in Rome for the first time at the end of June + 1496, and wrote in July to Lorenzo di' Pier Francesco de' Medici. + The letter bears a superscription to Sandro Botticelli; historians + presume from this that it was not safe to write openly to any of the + Medici. + + "2nd day of July, 1496. + + "Magnificent Lorenzo,--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. On Sunday the Cardinal came into the new house, and had me + sent for. I went to him, and he asked me what I thought about the + things 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 if I had the courage to make some + beautiful work. 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. On Monday last I presented your other letter of + recommendation to Rucellai, who offered me what money I might want; + also those to Cavalcanti. Afterwards I gave your letter to + Baldassare, and asked him for the child (the sleeping Cupid), 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 writing 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. No more by this. To you I recommend myself. + May God keep you from evil. + + "Michael Angelo, in Rome. + + "To Sandro Botticelli, at Florence." + + (Gotti, ii. 32.) + + 25 This ugly, but marvellously-finished statue is now in the western + corridor of the Uffizi, in Florence. See p. 107. + + 26 See p. 108. + + 27 The work is now in the first chapel on the right in the nave of the + Basilica of Saint Peter's. + + 28 Now in the Accademia delle Belle Arti of Florence, where it was + placed for its better preservation in 1831. + + 29 The Office of Works. + + 30 Documents, copies of which are to be found in "Gaye," vol. ii. pp. + 454-464, go to prove that this sculptor was Agostino di Antonio di + Duccio, who was born in 1418 and died in 1481. He was the author of + the relief illustrating the life of S. Gemignano upon the facade of + the Duomo at Modena, and some of the beautiful and delicate marble + reliefs set in the polychromatic front of the Oratory of S. + Bernardino at Perugia, and the fairy-like low relief (bassissimi + rilievi) panels that decorate the interior of the temple of + Malatesta at Rimini. + + 31 The Madonna and Child in the church of Notre Dame at Bruges, + identified as this work, is in marble. Vasari also states that the + work for the Moscheroni, Merchants of Bruges, was a bronze, but both + accounts were written fifty years after the event. Albert Duerer saw + this work in the church and mentions it as a marble statue in his + "Netherlands Diary," 1520-21. + + 32 Now in the Tribuna of the Uffizi, Florence. + + 33 Michael Angelo received payment for the cartoon probably in Florence + on February the 28th, 1505 ("Gaye," ii., p. 93), and he went to + Carrara in April of that year, so the delay was only two months, a + short enough time to prepare his great design. + + 34 The right bank of the Tiber below Rome. On the opposite shore is the + Marmorata, where blocks of marble were unloaded in the times of the + ancient Romans; some are there to this day. + + 35 The covered way from the Vatican to the Castle of Saint Angelo. + + 36 Heath Wilson estimates the area it would have covered as 34-1/2 ft. + by 23 ft. (p. 74). + + 37 Michael Angelo fled from Rome during the week after Easter, 1506. He + relates the circumstances in a letter of October 1542, No. c. d. + xxxv. "Le Lettere p. 489," which corroborates Condivi's story word + for word, and is another proof of the autobiographical nature of + these memoirs. + + 38 No fragments of this cartoon remain; perhaps the best copy is that + in possession of the Earl of Leicester at Holkham Hall. See also p. + 124. + + 39 Like the good Catholic he was, he went to hear mass as soon as he + had completed his journey; he always behaved as a good son of the + Church. + + 40 This composition is generally known as the "Sacrifice of Noah," see + p. 172. Condivi evidently did not refer these descriptions to the + master, they are so full of curious individualities of his own. + + 41 That is the picture right. + + 42 The picture right, _i.e._, the spectator's left. + + 43 "To bloom," as a painter of to-day would say. + + 44 See p. 163. + + 45 See pp. 147-165 and 183. The first half may be estimated to have + taken eight months and a few days, and the second half from January + 1510 to October 1512, with intervals for journeys to Florence, to + Bologna, and other interruptions. + + 46 That is professional assistance by artists or pupils. Workmen were + employed to plaster each day's section of work, writers to do the + lettering, and even decorative workmen for architectural details. + + 47 These quarries are in the Alpi Apuane near Viareggio, we are + informed by a modern Florentine sculptor that this marble is of + excellent quality. + + 48 See pp. 183-185. + + 49 This column was still lying in the Piazza of San Lorenzo in 1888; it + has now been removed. + + 50 Michael Angelo's love for Lorenzo the Magnificent never abated, and + these tombs may be regarded as a tribute to his early patron's + memory. He worked upon them in secret during the siege itself. + + 51 Condivi had not seen this sacristy and described it merely from the + fragmentary recollections of the master. + + 52 Possibly in the Duke's collection there may have been an antique gem + engraved with the story of Leda which influenced Michael Angelo in + his choice of this classical subject for the picture he painted for + the Duke. + + 53 The best version of this picture is in one the offices of the + National Gallery, London; it is probably the much restored original + which was supposed to have been destroyed by order of M. Desnoyers. + See p. 204. + + 54 Francis I. + + 55 Afterwards Cardinal Pole, Papal Legate in the time of King Henry + VIII. and Queen Mary I., born at Stourton Castle, Staffordshire, + 1500; died November 18, 1558. + + 56 The Slaves, now in the Louvre, Paris. + + 57 The ox, in Italian banter, appears to have taken the position of the + ass with us in England, as a dull, heavy beast, a fool. Michael + Angelo's answer was, as it were: "It is according to the asses you + mean; if it be these asses of Bolognese doubtless they are much + bigger; if ours of Florence they are much smaller. You are bigger + asses in Bologna than we are in Florence." + + 58 Piero Torrigiano gave his version of the affair to Benvenuto Cellini + long afterwards: "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 his + grave." Cellini adds--"These words begat in me such hatred of the man + since I was always gazing at the masterpieces of the divine Michael + Angelo, that, although I felt a wish to go with him to England, I + now could never bear the sight of him." + + Torrigiano worked for Henry VIII. of England in Henry VII. chapel, + Westminster, and at Hampton Court. Afterwards he went to Spain and + came to a bad end there, as Condivi says. He died in the prisons of + the Inquisition, he had been condemned for destroying a figure of + the Madonna of his own carving; his patron paid him insufficiently, + so he went to the house, hammer in hand, and destroyed the statue, + with this unfortunate result. He starved himself to death in prison + as a worse fate awaited him. See Vasari. + + 59 Can this refer to the Second Edition of "The Lives of the Painters, + Sculptors, and Architects," by the kindly Giorgio Vasari? + + 60 --_The Temptation of Saint Anthony_, from the engraving by Martin + Schongauer. + + 61 Ghirlandaio. + + 62 There is a drawing in the Louvre of a faun's head, in pen and ink, + by Michael Angelo, over a red chalk drawing by an inferior hand. It + does not appear to be this drawing mentioned by Vasari, but a + caprice possibly of the same period, in which the master has + undertaken to draw a head with a pen, in which the projections and + indentations of the profile shall contradict the outline of the + conventional red chalk drawing below. + + 63 Vasari tells us that one of these pulpits had not been placed in its + position in the church even when Michael Angelo's funeral service + was held there in 1564, so it is quite likely that it was still in + the workshop in 1489. + + 64 That is the Hellenic work of the degenerate Greeks in Italy: all + that was to be seen in his day. + + 65 Page 10. + + 66 All the works of Michael Angelo, whether sculpture, painting, or + drawing partake of the nature of bas-relief, that old Tuscan art + developed to such good purpose by the Florentines. The marks of his + chisel hatch out the forms and develop the planes just as the + parallel strokes of his pen cut out the reliefs of his drawings from + the paper. His method of sculpture in the round was that of a carver + of bas-reliefs. He gradually cut away the background more and more + until the relief was actually the highest relief possible, the + round. Every piece of sculpture Michael Angelo executed is the + better for a background, whether niche or wall, for they all partake + of this bas-relief nature; and his paintings and drawings may every + one of them be thought of as bas-reliefs, and so it is with all the + works of the Florentines, his contemporaries and predecessors. Space + and distance never entered into their calculations before the time + of Piero di Cosimo and his pupil Andrea del Sarto, and even then + with but indifferent results. They were all content with the flat + bas-relief effects familiar to them in the gates of the Baptistry + and the jewel-like decorations of the Campanile. Their favourite + problem was the expression of force by form, and no art was so + useful for that purpose as bas-relief, because of its fixed main + lines of composition and its absolute power of expressing the detail + of the action of muscle and bone. + + 67 Leonardo may have shown it to Vasari also as an early work of the + master's; Condivi does not mention it. + + 68 The cast of an angel from this shrine at the Victoria and Albert + Museum, South Kensington, is not from the one carved by Michael + Angelo, nor is it of his school as the label states; it is probably + by Nicolo del Arca. Michael Angelo's figure is the companion angel + on the other side of the altar. + + 69 See p. 21. + + 70 Probably because it was dangerous to write to any member of the + Medici family. It proves to us that Michael Angelo and Sandro + Botticelli were on confidential terms. + + 71 See p. 24. + + 72 See p. 25. + + 73 Vol. i. p. 22. + + 74 The "Monte di Pieta" is a savings-bank and pawn-broker's, + established by the state or city. + + 75 Le Lettere, ii. p. 4. + + 76 Gotti, ii. p. 33 (Archivio Buonarroti). + + 77 Nine cubits = 5.31 metres, or 13 feet 6 inches. + + 78 Agostino di Duccio. + + 79 Gotti estimates six golden florins at 57.60 francs, or about _L2 + 6s_. + + 80 S.C. 1504. See "Le Lettere," &c., p. 620. + + 81 A contemporary account, Gotti, vol. i. p. 29. + + 82 Firenze: Le Monnier, 1857, p. 197. + + 83 Perkins "Tuscan Sculptors," vol. ii. p. 74. + + 84 This reason given by Vasari for the use of various mediums is just + the sort of reason he would have had himself for using them. Michael + Angelo merely used different materials because it was the best way + of getting the different effects he wanted, or, sometimes possibly, + because they happened to be handy. + + 85 We know how difficult it is to get facts about the works done a few + decades ago, even though the artists be still living; for instance, + how little we know of the cartoon competition held in Westminster + Hall in 1843, or the fresco of Justice painted by Mr. G.F. Watts, + R.A., in the New Hall of Lincoln's Inn. + + 86 Gotti, i. p. 46 (in the Archivio Buonarroti). + + 87 Gaye, vol. ii. pp. 83, 84, 85, 91, 93, gives all the correspondence. + + 88 Lettere, No. ccclxxxiii. + + 89 About fourteen feet, that is to say, at least three times the size + of life, as it was a sitting figure. + + 90 Lettere, No. xlviii. p. 61 (in the British Museum). + + 91 Le Lettere, No. 1. p. 65 (in the Archivio Buonarroti). + + 92 That is, Dame Zanobia. + + 93 Le Lettere, No. iv. p. 8 (in the British Museum). + + 94 We should like to see it; we have nothing of Michael Angelo's which + can help us to imagine what this work was like. + + 95 Le Lettere, No. lx. p. 76 (in the British Museum). + + 96 Le Lettere, No. lxii. p. 78 (in the Archivio Buonarroti). + + 97 Le Lettere, No. lxiii. p. 79 (in the British Museum). + + 98 Le Lettere, No. lxiv. p. 80 (in the Archivio Buonarroto). + + 99 Nephew of Antonio del Pollaiuolo. + + 100 Le Lettere, No. lxv. p. 81 (in the Archivio Buonarroto). + + 101 Le Lettere, No. lxxii. p. 88 (in the British Museum). + + 102 Le Lettere, No. lxxv. p. 91 (in the Archivio Buonarroti). + + 103 Lettere, No. ccclxxxiii. p. 426 (in the Archivio Buonarroti). + + 104 Le Lettere, No. c. (Ricordi) p. 563 (in the British Museum). + + 105 In the Buonarroti Archives; quoted by Heath Wilson, p. 123. + + 106 ._Ibid._ p. 124. + + 107 Le Lettere, No. vii. p. 13 (in the British Museum). + + 108 The head of the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence, where + Michael Angelo banked his money. + + 109 L'Indaco. + + 110 Le Lettere, No. x. p. 17 (in the British Museum). + + 111 Le Lettere xvii. p. 27 (in the British Museum). + + 112 Lorenzo Strozzi, to whose wool-shop Buonarroto went. + + 113 Lettere, No. lxxx. p. 97 (in the British Museum). + + 114 Lettere, No. lxxxi. p. 98 (in the British Museum). + + 115 Albertini, _Mirabilia Urbis_, quoted by Grimm vol. i. p. 523. + Albertini's words are _pars testudinea superior_. + + 116 Director of the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, where Michael Angelo + banked his money. + + 117 Le Lettere, No. xxi. p. 31 (in the British Museum). + + 118 J.A. Symonds. "The Sonnets of Michael Angelo and Campanella," No. + lvi. p. 90. + + 119 Milanesi Lettere, Contratti, &c., xiv. p. 641. + + 120 The director of the hospital where Michael Angelo banked his money. + + 121 Milanese, Le Lettere, No. xcvii. p. 115. + + 122 Michael Angelo wrote a postscript to letter No. cxvi.: "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." + + 123 Milanese. Ricordi, &c., p. 581. + + 124 Milanese. "Les Correspondants de Michel Ange," p. 24. + + 125 ._Ibid._ p. 24. + + 126 The letters of Vari are in the Buonarroti Archives, Cod. xi., No. + 740-761; Symonds, vol. i. p. 362. + + 127 Le Lettere, No. ccclxxx., p. 423 (in the Archivio Buonarroti). + + 128 Le Lettere, No. xliv., p. 55 (in the British Museum). + + 129 Le Lettere, No. cccxc. p. 437. Milanese dates this letter August 8, + 1524. Michael Angelo to Giovanni Spina; he signs it "at San + Lorenzo." + + 130 Several are by the hand of Michael Angelo, but some are done in the + mannered style of the architectural draughtsman of the period, and + suggest a Florentine assistant. + + 131 Gotti, i. 158 + + 132 Lettere, Nos. cd. and cdii. pp. 450, 453. + + 133 Le Lettere, No. cccxciv. p. 442 (in the Archivio Buonarroti). + + 134 Le Lettere, No. cd. p. 450 (in the Archivio Buonarroti). + + 135 Le Lettere, No. cccxcvii. p. 446 (in the Archivio Buonarroti). + + 136 Surnamed Dini; he fell in the sack of Rome. + + 137 Le Lettere, No. cccxcix. p. 448 (in the Archivio Buonarroti). + + 138 The gate called San Gallo, which remained open until daylight. + + 139 Vol. i. p. 207. + + 140 Gotti, i. 199. San Nicolo is a little church on the way to San + Miniato; the tower forms the foreground in the view from the top of + the hill. + + 141 See p. 61. + + 142 The letter is in Gaye, ii. 229. + + 143 Any one who has spent a winter day drawing there will confirm Paolo + in this statement. + + 144 "Correspondants," pp. 108-112. + + 145 Vol. ii. pp. 89, 122. + + 146 In the Archivio Buonarroti, Codici xi. No. 765; Bottari, Lettere + Pittoriche, vol. iii. pp. 78-84; and Symonds, vol. ii. p. 25. + + 147 See p. 66. + + 148 Gotti, ii. p. 123. + + 149 Gotti, ii. p. 125. + + 150 See Gaye, iv. 289-309, and "Lettere," &c., pp. 709-712. + + 151 Lettere, No. cdxxxiii., dated July 20. + + 152 Lettere, p. 715. + + 153 Lettere, No. cdxlv. p. 505 (in the "Biblioteca Nazionale," + Florence.) + + 154 Bottari, Lett. pitt. iii. 796. + + 155 Heath Wilson, p. 449. + + 156 Archivio Buonarroti, Cod. vii. + + 157 Le Lettere, No. cdlix. p. 519 (in the Archivio Buonarroti). + + 158 "The Sonnets of Michael Angelo." By J.A. Symonds. No. lxv. + + 159 Le Lettere, No. cdlxxiv. p. 535, written in 1555 (in the Archivio + Buonarroti). + + 160 If the traveller has no luggage, or has sent it on before, he can + walk from the Trastevere station, past the Ponte Rotto, past the + Temple of Janus to the Forum, and see Rome for the first time so. + + 161 Le Lettere, No. cdxc., under date 1560, p. 554 (in the Archivio + Buonarroti). + + 162 Gotti, i. 309. + + 163 Le Lettere, No. ccxxxi. (December 21st), p. 260 (in the British + Museum). + + 164 Le Lettere, No. cdlxvi. (October 1549), p. 527 (in the Archivio + Buonarroti). + + 165 Gotti, i. 311. + + 166 Le Lettere, No. cdlxxv. p. 537 (in the Archivio Buonarroti). + + 167 Le Lettere, No. cccii., dated February 13, 1557, p. 333 (in the + Archivio Buonarroti). + + 168 Le Lettere, No. cdxciv. p. 558 (in the Archivio Buonarroti). + + 169 Le Lettere, No. cccxiv., dated July 15, 1559, p. 345 (in the + Archivio Buonarroti). + + 170 Le Lettere, Nos, cdlxxxv., cdlxxxvi. pp. 548, 550. + + 171 Gotti. i. 351. + + 172 Florence. + + 173 Reproduced in Yriarte's Florence, p. 280, English edition. + + 174 See Frontispiece. + + 175 May we not hope that Michael Angelo's good friend, the Frate + Sebastiano del Piombo, painted a portrait of him during their long + friendship, and that it will come to light one of these days? + + 176 Le Lettere, cxci.-cxciii. pp. 217, 219, are on this subject (in the + British Museum). + + 177 A hospital in Florence for the benefit of the Poveri Vergognosi, + poor folk who have come down in the world. + + 178 Le Lettere, No. cclxix. p.299 (in the British Museum). + + 179 Le Lettere, No. cdlxxv p. 539. + + 180 Cellini. + + 181 Le Lettere, No. cdlxxix. Dec. 28, 1556, p. 541. + + 182 "Carte-Michelesche Inedite," p. 41. + + 183 Gotti, i. 354. + + 184 A little after 8 P.M. + + 185 Four o'clock in the afternoon. + + 186 Gotti, i. p. 354. + + 187 Clement VII. used to say, "When Buonarroti comes to see me I always + take a seat and bid him be seated at once, feeling sure that he will + do so without leave or licence otherwise."--TRANSLATOR. + + 188 Albert Duerer. + + 189 Parmigiano. + + 190 Assisi (?). + + 191 The Farnesina. + + 192 Now in the Vatican Gallery. + + 193 The church of Santa Maria della Pace. + + 194 Sebastiano del Piombo; the picture was the Raising of Lazarus, No. 1 + in the National Gallery. + + 195 Chiaroscuro, monochrome. + + 196 Baldassare Peruzzi. + + 197 Bandinelli(?). + + 198 Baldassare Peruzzi. + + 199 Piazza Navona? + + 200 In 1538. + + 201 Ottavio Farnese. + + 202 Margarite of Austria, natural daughter of Charles V. + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTI*** + + + +CREDITS + + +September 2005 + + Project Gutenberg Edition + Juliet Sutherland + Joshua Hutchinson + Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +A WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG + + +This file should be named 19332.txt or 19332.zip. + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + + + http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/3/3/19332/ + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one -- the old editions will be +renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one +owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and +you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission +and without paying copyright royalties. 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