,,michelangelo  ,illustration3          
,,portrait ,,of ,,michelangelo ,,by     
,,marcello ,,venusti  ,capitoline       
,museum1 ,rome4     ,,michelangelo  ,,by
 ,,romain ,,rolland  ,author of         
,beethoven1 ,jean ,christophe1 etc4     
,translated by ,,frederick ,,street     
,,illustrated  ,illustration  ,,new     
,,york ,,duffield  ,,company #aiba      
,copyright1 #aiae by ,,duffield         
,,company   ,,note  ,this life of       
,michelangelo is published in ,france in
 the series called ,les ,matres de      
l',art1 and is here translated into     
,english for the first time4 ,it is     
entirely distinct from a study of       
,michelangelo by ,romain ,rolland which 
appeared some time ago4     ,,contents  
,,page  ,,introduction                  
xi  ,,chapter ,i--,,childhood ,,and     
,,youth 7#adge-aeje7                    
#a  ,,chapter ,,ii--,,michelangelo ,,and
 ,,julius ,,ii 7#aeje-aeab7             
#bf  ,,chapter ,,iii--,,the ,,failure   
,,of ,,the ,,great ,,plans 7#aeac-aecd7 

#de  ,,chapter ,,iv--,,vittoria         
,,colonna 7#aece-aedg7                  
#hj  ,,chapter ,v--,,old ,,age ,,and    
,,death 7#aedg-aefd7                    
#ajh  ,,chapter ,,vi--,,the ,,genius    
,,of ,,michelangelo ,,and ,,his         
,,influence ,,on ,,italian ,,art        
#adb  ,,chronological ,,table           
#afi  ,,catalogue ,,of ,,the ,,principal
 ,,works ,,of ,,michelangelo ,,in       
,,public ,,collections                  
#age  ,,note ,,on ,,the ,,drawings      
#agi  ,,bibliography                    
#aha  ,,index                           
#ahe     ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations    
,portrait of ,michelangelo by ,marcello 
,venusti4 7,capitoline ,museum1 ,rome47 
,frontispiece                           
,,facing ,,page  ,piet4 7,st4 ,peter's1 
,rome47                                 
#ad  ,david4 7,accademia delle ,belle   
,arti1 ,florence47                      
#ah  ,the ,holy ,family4 ,painted for   
,agnolo ,doni4 7,national ,gallery1     
,london47                               

#bb  ,the ,almighty ,creating the ,sun  
and the ,moon4 7,ceiling of the ,sistine
 ,chapel47                              
#cj  ,the ,creation of ,man4 7,ceiling  
of the ,sistine ,chapel47               
#cf  ,the ,prophet ,ezekiel4 7,ceiling  
of the ,sistine ,chapel47               
#dj  ,the ,libyan ,sibyl4 7,ceiling of  
the ,sistine ,chapel47                  
#df  ,the ,prophet ,jeremiah4 7,ceiling 
of the ,sistine ,chapel47               
#ej  ,the ,erythrean ,sibyl4 7,ceiling  
of the ,sistine ,chapel47               
#eh  ,jesse4 ,a ,figure in the ,series  
of the ,ancestors of ,christ4 7,ceiling 
of the ,sistine ,chapel47               
#fd  ,decorative ,figure4 7,ceiling of  
the ,sistine ,chapel47                  
#gj  ,decorative ,figure4 7,ceiling of  
the ,sistine ,chapel47                  
#gf  ,sketch for the ,tomb of ,julius   
,,ii4 ,drawing4 7,uffizi1 ,florence47   
#hd  ,slave4 ,figure for the ,tomb of   
,julius ,,ii4 7,louvre47                
#id  ,moses4 ,figure for the ,tomb of   

,julius ,,ii4 7,san ,pietro-in-,vinculi1
 ,rome47                                
#ajd  ,tomb of ,giuliano de ,medici4    
7,chapel of the ,medici in ,san         
,lorenzo1 ,florence47                   
#aad  ,dawn4 ,figure from the ,tomb of  
,lorenzo de' ,medici4 7,chapel of the   
,medici in ,san ,lorenzo1 ,florence47   
#abb  ,twilight4   ,figure from the     
,tomb of ,lorenzo de' ,medici4 7,chapel 
of the ,medici in ,san ,lorenzo1        
,florence47                     #acj    
,christ and the ,saints4 ,detail from   
,the ,last ,judgment4 7,sistine         
,chapel47                               
#ach  ,charon's ,boat4 ,detail from ,the
 ,last ,judgment4 7,sistine ,chapel47   
#adf  ,the ,resurrection4 ,drawing4     
7,louvre47                              
#aeb  ,the ,dome of ,st4 ,peter's4 ,from
 the ,original ,model in ,wood4         
7,preserved in the ,vatican47           
#aeh  ,the ,descent from the ,cross4    
7,duomo1 ,florence47                    
#afd     ,,introduction   ,the life of  

,michelangelo offers one of the most    
striking examples of the influence that 
a great man can have on his time4 ,at   
the moment of his birth in the second   
half of the fifteenth century the       
serenity of ,ghirlandajo and of         
,bramante illuminated ,italian art4     
,florentine sculpture seemed about to   
languish away from an excess of grace in
 the delicate and meticulous art of     
,rossellino1 ,disiderio1 ,mino da       
,fiesole1 ,agostino di ,duccio1         
,benedetto da ,maiano and ,andrea       
,sansovino4 ,michelangelo burst like a  
thunder-storm into the heavy1           
overcharged sky of ,florence4 ,this     
storm had undoubtedly been gathering for
 a long time in the extraordinary       
intellectual and emotional tension of   
,italy which was to cause the           
,savonarolist upheaval4 ,nothing like   
,michelangelo had ever appeared before4 
,he passed like a whirlwind1 and after  
he had passed the brilliant and sensual 
,florence of ,lorenzo de' ,medici and   

,botticelli1 of ,verocchio and          
,lionardo1 was ended forever4 ,all that 
harmonious living and dreaming1 that    
spirit of analysis1 that aristocratic   
and courtly poetry1 the whole elegant   
and subtle art of the ,quattrocento1 was
 swept away at one blow4 ,even after he 
had been gone for a long time1 the world
 of art was still whirled along in the  
eddies of his wild spirit4 ,not the most
 remote corner was sheltered from the   
tempest2 it drew in its wake all the    
arts together4 ,michelangelo captured   
painting1 sculpture1 architecture and   
poetry1 all at once2 he breathed into   
them the frenzy of his vigour and of his
 overwhelming idealism4 ,no one         
understood him1 yet all imitated him4   
,every one of his great works1 the      
,david1 the cartoon for the war against 
,pisa1 the vault of the ,sistine        
,chapel1 the ,last ,judgment1 ,st4      
,peter's1 dominated generations of      
artists and enslaved them4 ,from every  
one of these creations radiated despotic

 power1 a power that came above all from
 ,michelangelo's personality and from   
that tremendous life which covered      
almost a century4  ,no one work can be  
detached from that life and studied     
separately4 ,they are all fragments of  
one monument1 and the mistake that most 
historians make is to mutilate this     
genius by dividing it into different    
pieces4 ,we must try to follow the      
entire course of the torrent from its   
beginning to its end if we are to have  
any comprehension of its formidable     
unity4     ,,michelangelo     ,,chapter 
,i  ,,childhood ,,and ,,youth           
7#adge-aeje7   ,michelangelo was born on
 the sixth of ,march1 #adge1 at         
,caprese1 in ,casentino1 of the ancient 
family of the ,buonarroti-,simoni1 who  
are mentioned in the ,florentine        
chronicles from the twelfth century4    
,his father1 ,lodovico di ,lionardo     
,buonarroti-,simoni1 was then ,podesta  
of ,caprese and ,chiusi4 ,his mother1   
,francesca di ,neri di ,miniato del     

,sera1 died when he was only six years  
old1 and some years later his father    
married ,lucrezia ,ubaldini4            
,michelangelo had four brothers3        
,lionardo1 who was two years his senior2
 ,buonarroto1 born in #adgg2 ,giovan    
,simoni1 born in #adgi2 and ,sigismondo1
 born in #adha4 ,his foster-mother was  
the wife of a stone-cutter of           
,settignano and in later years he used  
to jokingly attribute his vocation to   
the milk upon which he had been         
nourished4 ,he was sent to school in    
,florence under ,francesco da ,urbino1  
but he busied himself only in drawing   
and neglected everything else4 ,because 
of this he greatly irritated his father 
and his uncles1 and they often beat him 
cruelly1 for they hated the profession  
of an artist1 and1 in their ignorance of
 the nobility of art1 it seemed a       
disgrace to have one in the house4#a    
,the elder ,buonarroti1 however1 was1   
like his son1 more violent than         
obstinate1 and he soon allowed the boy  

to follow his vocation4 ,in ,april1     
#adhh1 ,michelangelo1 by the advice of  
,francesco ,granacci1 entered the studio
 of ,domenico and ,david ,ghirlandajo4  
,that was the most famous studio in     
,florence4 ,domenico was an             
indefatigable worker who longed to cover
 with stories the entire circuit of the 
walls of ,florence and possessed of a   
calm1 simple and serene spirit1         
satisfied merely to exist without       
tormenting itself over subtleties4 ,this
 fortunate being1 who died at           
forty-four1 leaving an immense mass of  
completed work in which the magnificence
 and the moral force of ,florence still 
live1 was the best guide that could have
 been given to the young ,michelangelo4 
,domenico was then1 from #adhf to #adij1
 in the fulness of his power1 and at    
work on his masterpiece1 the paintings  
in the ,tornabuoni ,chapel in ,s4 ,maria
 ,novella4  ,it has been said that his  
influence on ,michelangelo amounted to  
nothing1 and it is true that we find no 

direct trace of it except in two        
drawings in the ,louvre and the         
,albertina4 ,still1 exact imitation is  
very rare with ,michelangelo4 ,he was   
made of too stubborn stuff ever to be   
much affected by masters or             
surroundings4 ,he felt contempt for     
,raphael because he was impressionable1 
and drew his superiority not from       
nature1 but from study4 ,i do not       
believe1 however1 that the time he spent
 in the school of ,ghirlandajo had no   
effect upon him4 ,even if it did not    
influence his style or his method of    
working1 he must have gained from the   
master of ,s4 ,maria ,novella and from  
his wholesome work a healthy point of   
view and a physical and moral vigour    
which could have been given him by no   
other artist in ,florence--not even the 
two great sculptors1 ,pollajuolo and    
,verrocchio1 who were indeed not there  
at that time--and which acted as a      
powerful balance to the neuroticism of  
the ,botticellian school4 ,i do not     

doubt that ,ghirlandajo helped to lay   
the foundations from which arose the art
 of the young ,michelangelo devoted to  
the expression of force and so          
contemptuous of morbid sentiment4       
,ghirlandajo's school was               
enthusiastically open-minded toward     
everything interesting in art4 ,it was  
eclectic and encouraged intellectual    
curiosity4 ,michelangelo while he was   
there studied passionately both the old 
and the new ,florentine painters and    
sculptors3 ,giotto1#b ,masaccio1#c      
,donatello1 ,ghiberti1 ,benedetto da    
,majano1 ,mino da ,fiesole1 ,antonio    
,rossellino and possibly1 even at that  
time1 ,jacopo della ,quercia and also   
the ,flemish and the ,german artists1   
then very much in vogue in ,italy1      
especially at the court of the          
,medici4#d ,he made a copy in colour of 
,martin ,schongauer's ,temptation of    
,st4 ,anthony and went to the           
,florentine fish-market to take notes   
for it4 ,later on he contemptuously     

disowned ,flemish realism1 but a trace  
of it was left in him always and in many
 of his drawings there appears a certain
 taste1 extraordinary in an idealist1   
for types of marked naturalism which are
 sometimes trivial or almost caricature4
 ,condivi asserts that these first      
attempts of ,michelangelo met with such 
success that ,ghirlandajo grew jealous4 
,to take from him the credit of this    
copy 7of the ,schongauer7 ,ghirlandajo  
used to say that it came out of his     
atelier1 as if he had had a part in it4 
,this jealousy showed very clearly when 
,michelangelo asked him for the book of 
drawings wherein he had sketched        
shepherds with their flocks and dogs1   
landscapes1 monuments1 ruins1 etc41 and 
he refused to lend it to him4 ,as a     
matter of fact1 he always had the       
reputation of being rather jealous1     
because of his disagreeable treatment   
not only of ,michelangelo1 but also of  
his own brother1 for when he saw the    
latter making good progress and showing 

great promise1 he sent him to ,france1  
not so much for his benefit1 as has been
 alleged1 as that he himself might      
remain first in his art at ,florence4 ,i
 have mentioned this1 adds ,condivi1    
because it has been said to me that     
,domenico's son was in the habit of     
attributing the divine excellence of    
,michelangelo to the training given by  
his father1 who really did not help him 
in any way4 ,it is true that            
,michelangelo never complained of him1  
but on the contrary praised him as much 
for his art as for his conduct4  ,it is 
very difficult to say how much is true  
in this story4 ,i am reluctant to       
ascribe so contemptible a jealousy to   
,ghirlandajo1 and repeat it only because
 of the last line where ,condivi is     
constrained to remark on the esteem     
which ,michelangelo1 when he was an old 
man1 expressed for his former master4   
,such admiration for other artists is   
too rare with him not to have especial  
weight in this case4  ,there is no doubt

 that a disagreement did arise between  
the master and the scholar1 for though  
,michelangelo had in #adhh signed a     
contract of apprenticeship which        
stipulated that he should remain three  
years with ,ghirlandajo1#e the very next
 year he went with his friend ,granacci 
into the school of ,bertoldo4           
,bertoldo1 a pupil of ,donatello1 was   
director of the ,school of ,sculpture   
and of the ,museum of ,antiquities      
maintained by ,lorenzo de' ,medici in   
the gardens of ,s4 ,marco4 ,i think that
 the real reason why ,michelangelo      
separated himself from ,ghirlandajo was 
that after a year of feeling his way he 
had just discovered the essence of his  
genius and was drawn toward sculpture   
with irresistible force4 ,it was really 
from painting that he was separating    
himself and never afterward did he      
consider it as his art4 ,we might almost
 say that if painting has immortalised  
him it is in spite of himself4 ,he never
 wished to be considered as anything but

 a sculptor4#f  ,two things drew him to 
,bertoldo3 the hope of finding the      
tradition of ,donatello and the         
fascination of the antique4 ,he found   
something even more valuable there in   
the friendship of the prince and of the 
lite of the ,florentine thinkers4       
,lorenzo took an interest in him1 lodged
 him in the palace and admitted him to  
his son's table1 and in this way        
,michelangelo found himself at the very 
heart of the ,renaissance1 in the midst 
of the humanists and the poets and in   
intimate relation with all whom ,italy  
counted most noble2 with ,pico della    
,mirandola1 with ,pulci1 ,benevieni and 
especially with ,poliziano1 who loved   
him greatly and urged him to study1     
although that was hardly necessary4#g   
,surrounded by this atmosphere of lofty 
paganism he became intoxicated with the 
classic idea and became himself a pagan2
 he made the heroic forms of ,greece    
live again while putting into them his  
own savage vigour4 ,following the       

suggestions of ,poliziano he wrought the
 bas-relief of the ,combat of the       
,centaurs and the ,lapith of the ,casa  
,buonarroti1 in which the figures are   
athletic and struggling and the faces   
impassive and proud4 ,he carved the     
bestial face of the ,laughing ,satyr    
with its violent and strained expression
 as of one who was not used to laughter1
 and a little later the relief of       
,apollo and ,marsyas4  ,nevertheless    
this paganism did not touch his         
,christian faith at all4 ,the struggle  
that was to endure almost all his life  
had already begun within him between    
those two hostile worlds which he vainly
 tried to reconcile4 ,in #adhi and #adij
 ,savonarola began in ,florence his     
fiery sermons on the ,apocalypse and    
,michelangelo went to hear them with all
 the rest of ,lorenzo's circle4 ,he had 
been brought up very religiously by his 
father1 a kind1 ,god-fearing man of the 
old style1 and his brother ,lionardo in 
#adia1 under the influence of           

,savonarola1 entered the ,monastery of  
the ,dominicans at ,pisa4  ,he could not
 remain indifferent to the burning words
 of a prophet who was like an elder     
brother of the prophets of the ,sistine 
and whose sombre visions and fiery      
purity must have pierced the heart of   
the youth who listened to the preaching 
in ,s4 ,marco or the ,duomo4 ,i am      
convinced1 nevertheless1 that historians
 have very much exaggerated the effect  
of this influence on ,michelangelo4 ,in 
the beginning he certainly did not feel 
very strongly the heroic grandeur of the
 frail little preacher who from his high
 pulpit launched his lightnings against 
pope and princes4 ,his first impression 
seems to have been almost entirely one  
of terror2 he did not escape from the   
contagion of fear which seized the      
entire city at the thunder of the gloomy
 prophecies which held the bloody sword 
of ,god suspended over ,italy and which 
filled the streets of ,florence with    
people weeping madly4 ,when at last     

there came the new ,cyrus1 foretold by  
the monk of ,s4 ,marco1 ,charles ,,viii1
 ,king of ,france1 ,michelangelo was    
seized with panic and fled to ,venice   
7#adid74  ,these superstitious terrors1 
irrational and uncontrollable1 which    
reappeared more than once in            
,michelangelo's life do not prove       
anything in favour of his               
,savonarolaism4 ,it might be supposed on
 the contrary that a true disciple of   
,savonarola would have remained beside  
his master rather than have abandoned   
him in the hour of danger4 ,these panics
 which he could not control prove       
nothing but the unhealthy               
over-excitement of his nerves1 which his
 reason fought against in vain all his  
life4 ,it would be hard to find in his  
work at that period any appreciable     
effect of the ideas of ,savonarola4 ,the
 impassive ,virgin with the robust      
child--the bas-relief in bronze of the  
,casa ,buonarroti--is far more a school 
piece by a pupil of ,donatello than a   

religious work4 ,what we know of the    
little wooden crucifix1 carved in #adid 
for the prior of the ,convent of ,s4    
,spirito1 shows us the artist without   
mysticism and with a passion for the    
observation of nature1 who was eagerly  
studying anatomy from corpses until     
their putrefaction made him ill and     
forced him to stop4 ,at ,bologna1 where 
he lived in #addi after his flight from 
,florence1 and where he heard of the    
results of ,savonarola's preachings--the
 expulsion of the ,medici1 the death of 
,pico della ,mirandola and of ,poliziano
 and the scattering of the little circle
 of ,florentine poets and               
philosophers--he spent his time in      
reading ,petrarch1 ,boccaccio and ,dante
 to his protector1 the noble            
,gianfrancesco ,aldovrandi1 and when he 
worked at the ,arca 7tabernacle7 of ,s4 
,domenico it was to carve that athletic 
angel1 superb and expressionless1 which 
contrasts so strikingly with the pious  
figure of ,niccolo dell',arca to which  

it is the pendant4 ,he was evidently    
much more occupied in studying and      
assimilating the imposing manner of     
,jacopo della ,quercia1 his indolent and
 heavy but powerful ,siennese precursor1
 than in meditating on the prophecies of
 ,savonarola4  ,he returned to ,florence
 in #adie1 and arrived in the midst of  
the struggle of the two parties1 the    
,arrabtiati and the ,piagnoni1 at the   
very height of the carnival4 ,he was    
consulted about the construction of the 
hall of the ,grand ,council in the      
,palace of the ,signory4 ,the ,virgin of
 ,manchester which suggests the school  
of ,ghirlandajo may be attributed to    
this period1 and also the ,entombment of
 the ,national ,gallery1 which with all 
its sad grandeur is proud and cold4     
,michelangelo left ,florence in ,june1  
#adif4 ,he went to ,rome and in that    
town so full of classic memories he     
absorbed himself in classic works4 ,it  
is fair to say that he was never so     
pagan as from #adib to #adig1 the years 

during which the tragedy of ,savonarola 
was enacted4 ,this is the period of the 
colossal ,hercules#h in marble 7#adib71 
of the famous sleeping ,cupid1 wrought  
in the very heart of mystical           
,florence--and sold as an antique to    
,cardinal ,riaro 7#adif7--of the large  
,cupid of the ,south ,kensington1 of the
 ,dying ,adonis of the ,museo ,nazionale
 and of the ,drunken ,bacchus which ,e4 
,guillaume calls the nearest to the     
antique of all modern works4 ,these last
 statues1 made in ,rome the very year of
 the ,bruciamento delle ,vanit1 when the
 ,florentine ,piagnoni danced in fanatic
 zeal around bonfires of works of art1  
seem almost like a defiance launched    
against the puritanism of ,savonarola4  
,his older brother1 ,lionardo1 a monk at
 ,viterbo1 who was forced to flee from  
his monastery because of his            
,savonarolaist convictions1 joined him  
in ,rome and ,michelangelo gave him some
 money with which to return to          
,florence1 but he did not go with him4  

,the ever-growing danger which          
threatened the prophet and his followers
 did not draw him back to his country   
and ,savonarola's death--he was burnt in
 ,may1 #adih--;has not left a trace in  
any of his letters4#i  ,i do not mean to
 say that he was entirely untouched by  
that grand and tragic drama4 ,he was by 
nature silent and never spoke of what he
 felt most deeply1 and he was also      
prudent and afraid of compromising      
himself4 ,if ,savonarola's ideas did    
have some influence on him it was at a  
later time when1 in his advanced age1   
under the influence of strong and deep  
friendships1 the disillusions of life   
and the fear of the hereafter1 religious
 preoccupations gained with him the     
place of first importance4 ,he was not  
among those who1 like ,botticelli1 in   
#adih1 consented to the dethronement of 
the pagan pride of the ,renaissance4    
,religious he certainly was and a       
,christian as always1 but his proud     
,christianity was not that of the rest  

of the world4 ,he was never understood  
by his own time4 ,even when he was      
painting the ,last ,judgment1 and his   
faith was most ardent1 he must have     
scandalised the devout4 ,he was         
altogether a ,platonist4 ,he could have 
said with ,lorenzo de' ,medici and his  
illustrious friends of the gardens of   
,s4 ,marco that without studying ,plato 
one could neither be a good citizen nor 
an enlightened ,christian4 ,savonarola  
undoubtedly admired and loved ,plato4   
,still he felt the object of art to be  
religious edification and showed that   
ideal to artists in the face of a pious 
woman when she is praying1 illuminated  
by a ray of divine beauty4#aj           
,michelangelo despised that art made for
 the devout and left it to the          
,flemings4#aa ,he had a horror of       
sentimentality and almost of sentiment4 
,true painting1 he said1 never will make
 any one shed a tear4#ab  ,it should    
contain no expression of religion or    
worship1 for good painting is religious 

and devout in itself4 ,among the wise   
nothing more elevates the soul or better
 raises it to adoration than the        
difficulty of attaining the perfection  
which approaches ,god and unites itself 
to ,him4#ac ,he believed himself to be  
more religious in creating beautiful1   
harmonious human bodies than in         
searching for a psychological or moral  
expression intended for women1          
especially for the old or the very      
young1 or for monks1 nuns and those who 
are deaf to true harmony4#ad ,the ,piet 
of ,st4 ,peter's1 undertaken the year of
 ,savonarola's death1 has a more        
,christian character than the earlier   
works of ,michelangelo1 but this        
,christianity is still far from         
conforming to the expressive and        
pathetic ideal of the artists of the    
fifteenth century1 or from the tragic   
expression and agony of suffering of the
 virgins of ,donatello1 ,signorelli or  
,mantegna4 ,very different indeed is the
 noble harmony of this group and the    

calm beauty of the young ,virgin on     
whose knees rests the supple body of    
,christ relaxed like that of a sleeping 
child4 ,even though ,michelangelo       
explained the eternal youth of the      
,virgin#ae by an idea of chivalric      
mysticism it is evident that at that    
time the desire for beauty was as strong
 in his heart as any regard for faith   
and that there was a certain            
relationship between these beautiful    
,gods of ,calvary and those of ,olympus 
whose charm had intoxicated him4        
,illustration3 ,,piet  ,st4 ,peter's1   
,rome 7#adih-aejj74  ,michelangelo spent
 two years on the ,piet4#af ,in the     
spring of #aeja he returned to ,florence
 and there met ,cardinal ,piccolomini1  
with whom he signed a contract to       
deliver in three years' time1 for the   
sum of five hundred ducats1 fifteen     
figures of apostles and saints for the  
,piccolomini altar in the ,cathedral of 
,sienna4 ,this was the first of those   
overpowering commissions which          

,michelangelo never hesitated to        
undertake in the first intoxication of  
his imagination without any just        
estimate of his powers and which weighed
 on him all his life1 like remorse4 ,in 
#aejd he had delivered only four of the 
figures and sixty years later in #aefa  
he was still tormented by the thought of
 this unfulfilled contract4  ,another   
undertaking1 more tempting to him by its
 very difficulty1 took entire possession
 of him a few months after he had made  
the agreement with ,cardinal            
,piccolomini4  ,a gigantic block of     
marble had been delivered in #adfd to   
,agostino di ,duccio by the ,board of   
,works of ,s4 ,maria del ,fiore to be   
used for the statue of a prophet4 ,the  
work had been interrupted at this point4
 ,the ,gonfalonier ,soderini wanted to  
entrust the completion of it to         
,lionardo da ,vinci1 but in ,august1    
#aejb1 it was given to ,michelangelo and
 he set to work on it at once4 ,from    
that block of marble came forth the     

colossal ,david4 ,by ,january #be1      
#aejd1 the work was completed and a     
commission of artists among whom were   
,botticelli1 ,filippino ,lippi1         
,lionardo da ,vinci and ,perugino was   
considering where it should be placed4  
,they hesitated between the ,loggia dei 
,lanzi and the entrance of the ,palace  
of the ,signory4 ,the latter position   
was decided upon at the expressed       
preference of ,michelangelo4 ,the       
architects of the ,duomo1 ,simone del   
,pollajuolo 7,cronaca71 ,antonio da ,san
 ,gallo1 ,baccio d',agnolo and ,bernardo
 della ,cecca were charged with the     
transportation of the enormous mass of  
stone which was placed in position on   
the eighth of ,june1 #aejd1 on the left 
of the entrance to the ,palazzo ,vecchio
 where until then the ,judith of        
,donatello had stood4  ,to-day the      
,david is in the ,accademia delle ,belle
 ,arti in ,florence4 ,there it is in too
 confined a space4 ,that colossus needs 
the open air1 he stifles under the roof 

of a ,palace and his disproportion to   
everything around him is shocking4 ,we  
can perhaps judge better what he really 
is from the reproduction in bronze1     
which on the hill of ,san ,miniato      
raises its inspiring silhouette above   
the town4 ,there the irregularity of the
 details disappears in the impression of
 the whole4 ,incredible energy emanates 
from that gigantic force in repose--from
 that great face in the small head1 and 
from that huge body with the slender    
waist1 thin arms and the enormous hands 
with swollen veins and heavy fingers4   
,all of ,michelangelo is there in that  
mixture of proud nobility and almost    
barbarous vulgarity4 ,he is all there1  
and he only1 entirely regardless of his 
subject4 ,the head of the ,david with   
its wrinkled forehead1 thick eyebrows   
and scornful lips--a type that he often 
used afterward--is1 like the heads of   
,lorenzo and of ,giuliano de' ,medici1 a
 lyric work into which ,michelangelo    
poured his own sadness1 disdain and     

melancholy4  ,michelangelo had not      
waited to finish this work before       
accepting other commissions which he was
 to abandon along the way4 ,in #aejb a  
,david#ag in bronze for ,pierre de      
,rohan1 ,marchal de ,gi1 the favorite of
 ,louis ,,xii1 which in the end was     
finished by ,benedetto da ,rovezzano in 
#aejg and sent1 after the disgrace of   
,rohan1 to the new royal favourite1     
,florimond ,robertet1 ,secretary of     
,finance4  ,in #aejc he undertook twelve
 statues for the ,cathedral of          
,florence1 but began only one1 a ,st4   
,matthew1 which was never finished and  
is now in the ,accademia delle ,belle   
,arti4 ,his vacillating1 uncertain      
genius1 wherein discouragement succeeded
 to enthusiasm1 drove him into planning 
works with fierce energy and then almost
 immediately so diverted his attention  
that he could not force himself to      
finish them4  ,illustration3 ,,david    
,accademia delle ,belle ,arti1          
,florence4  ,in #aejd the ,florentine   

,signory brought him into competition   
with another great irresolute1 ,lionardo
 da ,vinci1 whose universal intellectual
 curiosity was1 no less than the        
temperament of ,michelangelo1 an eternal
 obstacle to the achievement of his     
great undertakings4 ,the two men seem to
 have met about #adie4 ,they could not  
have understood each other very well1   
for they both stood alone1 each in his  
own way4 ,lionardo was now fifty-two    
years old4 ,when he was thirty he had   
left ,florence1 where the bitterness of 
the political and religious passions was
 unbearable to his delicate and slightly
 timid nature and to his serene and     
sceptical intelligence which was        
interested in everything but refused to 
take sides4 ,driven back to ,florence by
 the death or ruin of his protectors1   
the ,duke of ,milan and ,csar ,borgia1  
he came into contact there from the very
 first with ,michelangelo entirely      
absorbed in his own faith and passions1 
however changing they might be1 and who1

 while he hated the enemies of his party
 and of his faith1 hated still more     
those who had neither party nor faith4  
,brutally and publicly1 on many         
occasions1 ,michelangelo made ,lionardo 
feel his aversion for him4  ,when the   
,gonfalonier ,soderini put the two in   
direct competition in a common work1 the
 decoration of the ,council ,hall in the
 ,palace of the ,signory1 the rivalry   
was intense4 ,in ,may1 #aejd1 ,lionardo 
began the cartoon of the ,battle of     
,anghiari4 ,in ,august1 #aejd1          
,michelangelo received the order for the
 cartoon for the ,battle of ,cascine4   
,florence was divided into two camps    
keenly enthusiastic for one or the other
 of the rivals4 ,time has made them     
equal1 for both pictures have           
disappeared4 ,michelangelo's cartoon1   
finished in ,march1 #aeje1 was          
apparently destroyed about #aeab1 during
 the disturbances in ,florence which    
resulted from the return of the ,medici1
 and even the fragments which in #aege  

were still preserved by the ,strozzi in 
,mantua have been lost4#ah  ,as for     
,lionardo's fresco1 he succeeded in     
destroying it himself4 ,he took it into 
his head to try to perfect the technique
 of fresco and he gave himself up once  
more to his evil spirit of invention and
 once more everything was lost4 ,he     
tried a glaze of oil which did not hold1
 and the painting which he abandoned in 
#aejf in discouragement by #aeej no     
longer existed4  ,the two cartoons of   
,lionardo and ,michelangelo had time1   
nevertheless1 to exert a blinding       
fascination over all ,italian painting4 
,they formed the style and influenced   
the thought of artists from #aejf on but
 without being able to transmit their   
own grandeur4 ,lionardo1 who had a      
cavalry combat to represent1 reasoned   
out coldly1 as nearly as we can tell1#ai
 all the circumstances of a battle and  
then reproduced them with his marvellous
 lucidity which was perhaps a little too
 analytic to interpret the excitement of

 passion4  ,michelangelo1 who was given 
an episode of the war of #acfd against  
the ,pisans under the leadership of the 
condottiere ,john ,hawkwood 7,giovanni  
,acuto7 had intentionally turned his    
back on history and the real subject and
 painted naked men bathing1 noble in    
form and free in movement1 in the       
classic manner4#bj  ,the two            
masterpieces contained each of them the 
germ of a different danger2 in          
,lionardo's the excess of analysis1 in  
,michelangelo's the excess of           
abstraction4 ,this last was the most    
dangerous of the two but both were of   
the intellect and agreed in substituting
 for the charm of life and of real and  
spontaneous movement the formula of     
types and of logical action4            
,illustration3 ,,the ,,holy ,,family    
,painted for ,agnolo ,doni 7between     
#aeja-aeje7  ,national ,gallery1        
,london4  ,the influence of this work   
became at once universal and tyrannical4
 ,benvenuto ,cellini says in #aeei3 ,the

 cartoon of ,michelangelo was placed in 
the palace of the ,medici1 that of      
,lionardo in the ,hall of the ,pope4 ,as
 long as they remained there they were  
the school of the world4 ,raphael copied
 them many times from ,october1 #aejd1  
until ,july1 #aeje4 ,fra ,bartolommeo   
was inspired by them and ,andrea del    
,sarto1 when he was very young1 spent   
whole days in studying them4 ,among the 
artists who taught themselves in that   
school are ,perino del ,vaga1 ,rosso1   
,battista ,franco1 ,salviati1 ,vasari1  
,bronzino1 ,ridolfo ,ghirlandajo1       
,cellini1 ,pontormo1 ,jacopo ,sansovino1
 ,franciabigio1 ,aristotele da ,san     
,gallo1 ,f4 ,granacci1 ,bandinelli1     
,morto da ,feltro1 ,lorenzetto--almost  
all the famous men of the period4 ,this 
influence was certainly more dangerous  
than useful4 ,the first fruits of it    
were the sudden unpopularity--almost    
like a decree of exile of all the       
charming primitive painters1 like       
,pinturicchio#ba and ,signorelli#bb at  

,rome 7#aejh7 just after their          
masterpieces at ,sienna and ,orvieto and
 ,perugino at ,florence 7#aejd7 four    
years after the exquisite decoration of 
the ,cambio of ,perugia--and the loss of
 so much grace1 elegance and vigour     
sacrificed to a form of beauty          
undoubtedly superior1 but to which      
everyone can not attain4 ,instead of    
giving them a broader point of view1 the
 admiration for ,lionardo and           
,michelangelo narrowed and limited their
 followers4 ,during #aejh-aeji ,pope    
,julius ,,ii had the frescoes of        
,sodoma1 ,perugino1 ,signorelli and     
,piero della ,francesca put aside to    
leave space for ,raphael4 ,thenceforth  
everyone was governed by the same ideal1
 and whoever felt in himself fancy1     
imagination and youth gave them up in   
favour of an attempt at breadth and     
power which were not for him4 ,filippino
 ,lippi renounced his serious simplicity
 for pedantic dilettanteism and affected
 gestures4 ,instead of being the first  

in the second rank ,lorenzo di ,credi1  
,ridolfo ,ghirlandajo1 ,raffaellino del 
,garbo and ,piero di ,cosimo preferred  
to be the last of the first rank4  ,the 
same rivalry which had brought about the
 competition between ,michelangelo and  
,lionardo in the ,council ,hall appears 
again in a series of works which belong 
to this ,florentine period 7#aeja-aeje74
 ,these are representations of the ,holy
 ,family in which ,michelangelo attempts
 to solve the same problem of           
composition as ,lionardo and ,fra       
,bartolommeo in placing the figures in a
 circle4 ,such are the two circular     
bas-reliefs1 the ,madonna and ,child of 
the ,museo ,nazionale made for ,taddeo  
,taddei and the ,holy ,family of the    
,academy of ,fine ,arts in ,london made 
for ,bartolommeo ,pitti4 ,chief of them 
all is the great picture in distemper of
 the ,holy ,family of the ,uffizi       
painted for ,agnolo ,doni--a heroic work
 filled with the lofty serene life of   
,olympus and the ,parthenon4 ,the       

painting is the most carefully executed 
of all ,michelangelo's4 ,the colouring1 
blue1 rose1 orange and golden brown1 has
 an effect that is rather inharmonious1 
but young and fresh4 ,the aerial        
perspective is mediocre and the         
composition shows as usual              
,michelangelo's supreme contempt for the
 sentiment of the subject4 ,he has      
filled the background with graceful nude
 figures simply because he considered   
them to be beautiful--per mostrare      
maggiormente l'arte sua essere          
grandissima1 says ,vasari1 and except   
for the type of face used for ,st4      
,joseph there is nothing religious about
 the group of the ,holy ,family4 ,the   
impression is religious1 nevertheless1  
through its grace1 sweetness and proud  
strength4 ,we feel that ,michelangelo   
desired to contrast the puritan and     
virile sobriety of this work with the   
voluptuous languor of the art of        
,lionardo4  ,the calm ,madonna of       
,bruges belongs also to this period4    

,this was bought in #aejf by two        
,flemish merchants1 ,john and ,alexander
 ,mouscron1 who placed it in their      
chapel where ,drer had already seen it  
during his travels in ,belgium in #aeba4
     ,,chapter ,,ii  ,,michelangelo     
,,and ,,julius ,,ii  7#aeje-aeac7   ,in 
,march1 #aeje1 ,michelangelo was called 
to ,rome by ,pope ,julius ,,ii4 ,then   
began the heroic period of his life and 
the tragedy of the monument of ,julius  
,,ii which was not to end until forty   
years later4 ,the pope and the artist1  
both of them proud and violent1 were    
well fitted to work together--so long as
 their ideas did not conflict4 ,their   
brains seethed with tremendous ideas4   
,the first years of their friendship    
were a feverish delirium of plans4      
,julius ,,ii was on fire with enthusiasm
 for the plan for his tomb which        
,michelangelo submitted to him4 ,it was 
to be a mountain of architecture with   
more than forty statues1 some of them of
 colossal size1 and with many bronze    

reliefs4 ,michelangelo's design pleased 
the pope so much1 says ,condivi1 that he
 sent him at once to ,carrara 7,april1  
#aeje7 with an order to cut as much     
marble as he needed4444 ,michelangelo   
stayed more than eight months in the    
mountains with two servants and a horse4
 ,he was the victim of superhuman       
exaltation and in his enthusiasm dreamt 
of carving a whole mountain4 ,in        
,december1 #aeje1 he returned to ,rome1 
where the blocks of marble which he had 
chosen had already begun to arrive from 
,carrara4 ,they were unloaded at ,la    
,ripa and then transported to the       
,piazza di ,san ,pietro behind ,s4      
,caterina1 where ,michelangelo lived4   
,the mass of the stones was so great    
that they aroused the wonder and joy of 
the pope4 ,michelangelo set to work4    
,the pope in his impatience came        
constantly to see him and conferred with
 him over the monument and other works1 
with as much familiarity as if he had   
been his brother4 ,in order that he     

might visit him the more easily he had a
 drawbridge thrown across from the      
gallery of the ,vatican to              
,michelangelo's house which gave him a  
secret passage4  ,but this favour did   
not last4 ,the character of ,julius ,,ii
 was as passionate and as changeable as 
that of ,michelangelo4 ,his mind1 always
 in a ferment1 took up in rapid         
succession and ever with the same       
eagerness the most varied projects4     
,another idea drove the plan for the    
tomb from his mind4 ,in order that he   
might gain immortal glory by one        
gigantic work he decided to reconstruct 
,st4 ,peter's4 ,he was encouraged in    
this by enemies of ,michelangelo1 who   
himself writes in #aedb3bc  ,all the    
difficulties which arose between the    
pope and myself were the work of        
,bramante and of ,raphael4 ,it was their
 jealousy that kept him from having his 
tomb made while he was still alive4     
,they tried to ruin me4 ,raphael had    
good reason for doing this1 since all   

that he knew of art he learnt from me4  
,it is not easy to say how far ,raphael 
was carried along by the party of       
,bramante1 who was his friend and       
fellow-countryman1 but there is no doubt
 that ,bramante was chiefly responsible 
for the check to ,michelangelo's great  
undertaking and that he profited by his 
absence in ,carrara to destroy his      
influence over the pope4  ,the marks of 
his favour which ,julius ,,ii had       
showered on ,michelangelo1 says         
,condivi1 resulted1 as often happens at 
courts1 in exciting jealousy against    
him1 and1 following the jealousy1       
endless persecution4 ,bramante1 the     
architect1 who was dear to the pope1    
made him change his plans4 ,he reminded 
him of the popular superstition that it 
was of bad augury to build your tomb    
while you were still alive1 and other   
stories of the same kind4 ,bramante was 
driven to do this1 not only through     
jealousy1 but from fear that            
,michelangelo's knowledge would reveal  

his own mistakes4 ,for ,bramante1 as    
everyone knows1 was much given to       
pleasure and very dissipated4 ,the      
salary he received from the pope1 though
 it was great1 was not nearly enough for
 him1 so that he tried to make more out 
of his work by constructing walls of bad
 material and neither solid nor strong  
enough for their height and thrust4     
,anyone can prove this by the           
construction of ,st4 ,peter's1 or the   
,belvedere gallery1 or the cloister of  
,s4 ,pietro in ,vinculi and other       
buildings which he erected and which it 
has been necessary to support all over  
again and to strengthen with            
buttresses1#bd either because they have 
fallen down or because they very soon   
would have done so4 ,bramante realised  
that ,michelangelo would have discovered
 his mistakes1 and so he always tried to
 keep him away from ,rome and to deprive
 him of the pope's favour and of the    
influence which he had gained over the  
pope by his works4 ,for it is clear that

 if the tomb of ,julius ,,ii had been   
actually undertaken ,michelangelo would 
have stood out supreme over all other   
artists1 however famous they might be1  
for he would then have had a vast field 
in which to show what he could do4      
,bramante succeeded4 ,in ,january1      
#aejf1 ,julius ,,ii ordered the         
reconstruction of ,st4 ,peter's4 ,the   
tomb was abandoned and ,michelangelo was
 not only humiliated and disappointed1  
but in debt1 according to what he says  
himself3  ,when the pope changed his    
mind and the boats arrived with the     
marble from ,carrara ,i had to pay the  
charge of transport myself4 ,and as at  
this same time the stone-cutters who had
 come from ,florence for the tomb also  
arrived at ,rome and ,i had had the     
house which ,julius had given me behind 
,s4 ,caterina prepared for them1 ,i     
found myself without money and greatly  
embarrassed4 ,i urged the pope as       
strongly as ,i could to continue the    
construction of the tomb and then one   

morning when ,i wished to talk with him 
about it he had me put out by a groom4  
,then it was that the famous flight to  
,florence took place4 ,michelangelo1    
outraged by this affront1 took horse and
 fled from ,rome and refused to return  
in spite of the messengers which the    
pope sent after him4 ,the indignity of  
the affront was not1 by his own account1
 the only reason for his flight4 ,in a  
letter to ,giuliano da ,san ,gallo he   
implies that his life was in danger from
 ,bramante's threats4  ,illustration3   
,,the ,,almighty ,,creating ,,the ,,sun 
,,and ,,the ,,moon  ,ceiling of the     
,sistine ,chapel 7#aejh-aeab74  ,that   
was not the only reason for my leaving4 
,there was still another which ,i would 
rather not speak about4 ,it is enough to
 say that it made me think that if ,i   
stayed in ,rome that town would more    
likely be my tomb than that of the pope4
 ,and that was the reason for my sudden 
departure4  ,nothing justifies us in    
believing that ,bramante had thought of 

having recourse to a crime1 but it was  
enough that ,michelangelo believed him  
to be capable of it and1 in one of those
 accesses of sudden terror which        
contrast so strangely with the stubborn 
boldness of his genius1 he ran away4    
,moreover1 ,bramante understood         
perfectly how to terrorise his rivals   
and to make life near him impossible for
 them4 ,only a little while after       
,michelangelo ,giuliano da ,san ,gallo1 
who was ,bramante's last rival at ,st4  
,peter's1 also had to flee4  ,there was1
 however1 still another reason for the  
sudden departure of ,michelangelo1 and  
though he himself has taken good care to
 say nothing about it1 ,i am surprised  
that the historians have not brought it 
out more clearly4 ,michelangelo fled on 
the seventeenth of ,april1 #aejf4 ,on   
the eighteenth of ,april there took     
place the solemn ceremony of the laying 
of the first stone of ,st4 ,peter's4    
,this is the true reason for his sudden 
withdrawal2 he did not want to be       

present at the triumph of his enemy4    
,he had hardly left before ,bramante so 
arranged matters that he could not come 
back4 ,he ruined his work and his       
fortunes4  ,that affair1 writes         
,michelangelo1 caused me a loss of more 
than a thousand ducats4 ,when ,i left   
,rome there arose a great riot because  
of the shame put upon the pope1 and     
almost all the blocks of marble which ,i
 had on the square of ,st4 ,peter's were
 taken from me1 especially the smaller  
pieces1 which made it necessary for me  
later on to begin the whole work over   
again4  ,nevertheless ,julius ,,ii was  
furious at the revolt of his sculptor   
and sent letter after letter to the     
,signory of ,florence where             
,michelangelo had betaken himself4 ,the 
,signory1 anxious not to compromise     
themselves1 tried to persuade           
,michelangelo to take once more the road
 to ,rome1 but he would do nothing of   
the kind4 ,he had tranquilly taken up   
his work on the cartoon of ,the ,battle1

 the ,twelve ,apostles for the cathedral
 and the ,madonna of ,bruges1 and he    
stubbornly persisted in his             
unwillingness to return4 ,he proposed   
his own terms and pretended to be       
working on the tomb of ,julius ,,ii at  
,florence4 ,when1 toward the end of     
,august1 #aejf1 ,julius ,,ii went to war
 with ,perugia and ,bologna and grew    
more importunate in his demands         
,michelangelo had the idea of           
expatriating himself4 ,he thought of    
going to ,turkey1 where the ,sultan1    
through the ,franciscans1 invited him to
 come to ,constantinople and build a    
bridge at ,pera4#be  ,in the end he had 
to give in1 and in the latter part of   
,november1 #aejf1 he went1 much against 
his will1 to ,bologna1 where ,julius    
,,ii had just entered the town as a     
conqueror4 ,there took place that famous
 interview when the pope1 angry and     
scolding1 divided between the desire of 
punishing the rebel and the fear of     
losing the artist whom he valued1 poured

 out his wrath on an unlucky bishop who 
was present1 and forgave ,michelangelo4 
,unfortunately1 ,michelangelo in order  
to make his peace with the pope1 had to 
submit to his caprices and to that      
all-powerful will which had now turned  
in a new direction4 ,it was no longer a 
question of the tomb1 but of a colossal 
bronze statue which ,julius wished to   
have raised to himself in ,bologna4  ,in
 vain ,michelangelo protested that he   
understood nothing about the casting of 
bronze4 ,he had two assistants1 ,lopo   
and ,lodovico1 come from ,florence1 and 
a foundryman1 ,bernadino d',antonio dal 
,ponte4 ,but he could never get along   
with any assistant4 ,he fell out with   
,lodovico and ,lopo1 who stole from him2
 then the foundryman turned out to be   
incapable and in ,june1 #aejg1 the      
casting failed4  ,the figure came out   
only as far down as the waist4          
,everything had to be done over again4  
,fifteen months were spent in the midst 
of all kinds of troubles and            

mortifications4 ,michelangelo was busy  
with his work until ,february1 #aejh4   
,he nearly ruined his health over it1   
and he wrote to his brother that he     
would never be in condition to make such
 an effort again during his life4 ,for  
so great a struggle1 the result was     
miserable4 ,the statue of ,julius ,,ii1 
raised on ,february #ba1 #aejh1 in front
 of the faade of ,s4 ,petronio remained 
there only four years4#bf ,in ,december1
 #aeaa1 it was destroyed on the return  
of the ,bentivogli1 and ,alphonso       
d',este had his bombardier ,quirino cast
 a cannon from its fragments4           
,michelangelo returned to ,rome and     
,julius ,,ii laid upon him another task 
not less unexpected and not less        
hazardous4 ,he ordered the sculptor1 who
 never painted except with reluctance   
and who knew nothing of the technique of
 fresco1 to paint the ceiling of the    
,sistine ,chapel4 ,he had already talked
 with him about it before the rupture in
 #aejf and the disinclination of        

,michelangelo for this work had         
something to do with his flight to      
,florence4 ,this may be inferred from   
the letter of a friend of ,michelangelo 
written in ,may1 #aejf1 which shows that
 ,bramante1 satisfied by the withdrawal 
of his rival1 justified him for refusing
 the burden of this heavy undertaking4  
,last ,saturday evening1 writes ,pietro 
,rosselli1 when the pope was supping1 he
 called ,bramante and said1 ',san ,gallo
 is going tomorrow to ,florence and he  
will bring back ,michelangelo4'         
,bramante answered1 ',holy ,father1     
,michelangelo will do nothing of the    
kind4 ,i have talked a great deal with  
him and he has often said to me that he 
would not undertake the chapel which you
 wished to entrust to him4 ,he asks to  
be allowed with your permission to      
devote himself entirely to sculpture1   
for he wants to have nothing to do with 
painting4' ,he added1 ',holy ,father1 ,i
 do not think he has the courage to     
undertake the work1 for he has had      

little experience in the painting of    
figures1 and these must be painted on   
the ceiling and foreshortened1 which is 
very different from painting on the     
ground4' ,the pope answered1 ',if he    
does not come he will be treating me    
badly1 and for that reason ,i think he  
will return4' ,i threw myself into the  
conversation and there in the pope's    
presence replied properly to that fellow
 and spoke for you as you would surely  
have spoken for me4 ,bramante remained  
silent1 realising that he had made a    
mistake in saying what he had4 ,i went  
on in these words3 ',holy ,father1 that 
man has never exchanged a word with     
,michelangelo1 and if what he says is   
true you can cut my head off4 ,he has   
never talked with him1 and ,i am sure   
that ,michelangelo will come back if    
,your ,holiness wishes it4' ,when       
,michelangelo returned ,bramante changed
 his tactics4 ,as ,michelangelo's       
friends had imprudently asserted that he
 could accomplish this task for which1  

as ,bramante knew better than any one   
else1 he was entirely unprepared1       
,bramante pretended to believe this and 
forced his rival into a position where  
he had to accept the commission4 ,a     
failure would have been particularly    
serious to ,michelangelo just then since
 in that same year1 #aejh1 ,raphael     
began his incomparable painting of the  
,stanze and ,michelangelo had either to 
surpass him or be entirely eclipsed4    
,this at least is what ,condivi asserts4
  ,illustration3 ,,the ,,creation ,,of  
,,man  ,ceiling of the ,sistine ,chapel 
7#aejh-aeab74  ,bramante and his other  
rivals suggested to the pope to make    
,michelangelo paint the ceiling of the  
chapel of ,pope ,sixtus ,,iv by         
persuading him that he would do marvels 
there4 ,they did him this service       
maliciously to distract the pope from   
any plan for sculpture and because they 
thought that ,michelangelo would either 
refuse the commission and quarrel with  
the pope or that he would accept it and 

be less successful than ,raphael1 for   
they considered that ,michelangelo's    
talent was for sculpture1 which indeed  
was true4 ,michelangelo1 who until then 
had not worked in colours and who knew  
how difficult it is to paint a ceiling1 
tried in every way to extricate himself4
 ,he proposed ,raphael in his place and 
gave as an excuse that this was not his 
art and that he could not succeed in it1
 and went so far in his attempts at     
refusal that the pope began to grow     
angry and showed such obstinate         
determination that ,michelangelo decided
 to undertake the work4  ,the tremendous
 task began on ,may #aj1 #aejh4 ,the    
first plan was simply to represent the  
figures of the twelve apostles in the   
lunettes and to fill the rest of the    
space with an ornamental decoration4    
,bramante raised a scaffolding in the   
chapel and several painters who had had 
practical experience in fresco painting 
were brought from ,florence4 ,we have   
already said that ,michelangelo could   

only work alone4 ,he began by declaring 
that ,bramante's scaffolding was of no  
use and replaced it with one of his own 
invention4 ,as for the ,florentine      
painters who ,francesco ,granacci had   
recruited for him1 ,giuliano            
,bugiardini1 ,jacopo di ,sandro1 the    
elder ,indaco1 and ,agnolo di ,donnino1 
he took a dislike like to them and sent 
them away4 ,he remained alone1 shut up  
in the chapel with a few workmen1 like  
,giovanni ,michi1 and far from allowing 
the great difficulty of the undertaking 
to dampen his courage he enlarged his   
plan and decided to paint not only the  
ceiling1 but the walls of the chapel    
down to the old frescoes4  ,it is       
dangerous to attempt to describe the    
,last ,judgment2 it is indeed           
impossible4 ,analyses and commentaries  
have been multiplied1 but they kill the 
spirit by taking it in detail4 ,we must 
face the vision squarely and lose       
ourselves in the abyss of that spirit4  
,it is terrifying and1 if regarded      

calmly1 incomprehensible--it must be    
hated or adored4 ,it stifles and        
excites2 there is no nature1 no         
landscape1 no atmosphere1 no tenderness1
 almost nothing human2 the symbolism of 
a primitive and the science of a        
decadent2 an architecture of naked      
convulsed bodies2 a barren1 savage and  
devouring thought1 like a south wind    
over a sandy desert4 ,there is no corner
 of shade1 no spring to slake the       
thirst2 it is a whirling spout of fire1 
the vertigo of a delirious emotion1 with
 no goal except the ,god in which it    
loses itself4 ,the whole calls on ,god1 
fears ,him and proclaims ,him4 ,a       
whirlwind blows across this throng of   
giants--the same whirlwind which sweeps 
through space the ,god who has created  
the sun and hurled it like a ball of    
fire into the ether4 ,there is no escape
 from the groaning of the tempest which 
surrounds and deafens you4 ,either you  
must hate this brutal force or abandon  
yourself to it without resistance like  

those souls of ,dante whirled along by  
an eternal cyclone4 ,when we realise    
that that hell was for four years the   
very soul of ,michelangelo we understand
 why his life was burnt out by it and   
why for a long time afterward he        
remained like a soil exhausted by too   
much use and no longer productive4      
,above that ceiling and those vaults    
built up of huge bodies1 where          
tumultuous confusion and powerful unity 
combine to evoke the monstrous dream of 
a ,hindu and the imperious logic and    
iron will of ancient ,rome1 there blooms
 a beauty that is natural and pure4     
,there has never been anything like it4 
,it is at once both bestial and divine1 
the exquisite perfume of ,hellenic grace
 mingles with the savage odour of       
primitive humanity4 ,these giants with  
their ,olympian shoulders and huge      
thighs and loins wherein we feel1 as the
 sculptor ,guillaume said1 the weight of
 heavy entrails are as yet hardly free  
from their double origin1 their two     

progenitors1 the beast and the god4 ,a  
series of drawings at ,oxford           
,university shows in what springs of    
realism the genius of ,michelangelo     
bathed itself and of what common clay   
his heroes are moulded4  ,illustration3 
,,the ,,prophet ,,ezekiel  ,ceiling of  
the ,sistine ,chapel4  ,on the flat part
 of the vault1 in the centre1 are the   
nine scenes from ,genesis1 schylean     
visions3#bg the divine solitude1 the    
dreadful moment of the creation1 the    
athletic god carried by clouds of       
spirits1 man just rousing from the sleep
 of earth and regarding as an equal1    
face to face1 the ,god who awakes       
him--both in silent readiness for the   
struggle--the calm and powerful woman in
 whom sleeps humanity--those human      
frames like temples of flesh and blood1 
torsos like trunks of trees1 arms like  
columns and great thighs2 those beings  
great with power and passion and crime  
and the results and punishments of their
 crimes--the ,temptation1 ,cain and the 

,deluge4  ,at the angles of the cornice 
which frames these scenes are the twenty
 savage ,ignudi1 living statues1 either 
struggling in convulsions of fear and   
fury or falling back1 overwhelmed and   
exhausted--a symphony of mad force which
 sweeps in every direction and beats    
against the walls4  ,as gigantic        
supporters of the ceilings are seated in
 the pendentives twelve prophets and    
sibyls who suffer and dream2 disdainful 
,lybica2 ,persica1 purblind and         
restless2 ,cuma1 with huge arms and     
pendent breasts2 the beautiful ,erythra1
 strong1 calm and scornful2 ,delphica1  
the virgin with the lovely body and     
fierce eyes2 ,daniel1 his lips          
compressed1 his eyes fixed2 ,isaiah1    
bitter and contemptuous2 ,ezekiel1 at   
war with himself and with a ,genius of  
sombre beauty who seems to be pointing  
out to him the one who is to come2      
,jeremiah1 plunged in the depths of     
silence1 and ,jonah1 panting and        
breathless1 cast out from the jaws of   

death--all those tragic torches of      
thought which burned in the night of the
 pagan and ,jewish world2 all the human 
knowledge which awaited the ,saviour4   
,above the twelve windows the           
,precursors and ,ancestors of ,christ   
also wait and dream in the midst of the 
storm4 ,the night is long and full of   
evil visions4 ,they try to sleep1 they  
try to forget how long they must wait2  
they are silent and they ponder1 anxious
 and overwhelmed4 ,a seated woman alone 
dares to look squarely in the face of   
the menacing future4 ,in her fixed and  
dilated eyes ,i can see that secret     
feeling which weighs on all these       
beings1 a burden they dare not          
acknowledge--fear4 ,at the four angles  
of the ceiling are displayed the        
sinister acts which saved the people of 
,god--,david slaying ,goliath1 ,judith  
bearing the head of ,holofernes1 the    
,hebrews writhing under the bites of the
 serpents of ,moses1 and ,haman         
crucified4 ,fierce barbaric stories of  

murderous fanaticism--a roundhead in    
,cromwell's time would have chosen no   
other subjects4  ,fear1 sadness1        
suspense4 ,we who know how thirty years 
later ,michelangelo completed with the  
,last ,judgment the cycle of his idea1  
we know what they awaited--the ,christ  
who comes to destroy4  ,michelangelo had
 suffered terribly during this gigantic 
labour4 ,his letters show intense       
discouragement which even his wonderful 
visions could not help4 ,this is not my 
profession1 he complained4 ,i waste my  
time without any results4 ,god help     
me4#bh  ,these were years of desperate  
efforts in the midst of enemies who     
spied upon him and hoped for his        
failure4 ,he nearly gave up the work and
 fled again4 ,just as he began to paint 
the ,deluge the whole ceiling began to  
grow mouldy so that the figures could   
hardly be distinguished4 ,michelangelo  
seized that as an excuse for giving up1 
but ,san ,gallo discovered that the     
trouble came from the lime1 which had   

too much water in it1 and the pope      
ordered the artist to go on with his    
work4  ,julius ,,ii was irritated by    
,michelangelo's slowness and by the fact
 that he persisted in hiding his work   
from him4 ,there was constant friction  
between them4  ,one day1 says ,condivi1 
the pope asked him when he would finish 
and ,michelangelo answered1 according to
 his custom1 ',when ,i can4' ,the pope1 
who was irritable1 struck him with his  
staff1 saying1 ',when ,i can1 when ,i   
can6' ,michelangelo rushed home and     
began to make his preparations to leave 
,rome4 ,luckily the pope sent hurriedly 
after him an amiable young man named    
,accursio1 who gave him five hundred    
ducats1 soothed him as well as he could 
and apologised for ,julius ,,ii and     
,michelangelo accepted the excuses4 ,the
 next day1 however1 they began again and
 when the pope threatened to have him   
thrown from his scaffolding             
,michelangelo had to give way4 ,he had  
the scaffolding removed and uncovered   

the ceiling sooner than he had intended4
 ',that is why1' he said1 'that that    
work was not carried on as far as ,i    
would have wished4 ,the pope's          
impatience prevented4'  ,the first part 
of the paintings was finished on        
,september #ast1 #aeaj1 and the pope was
 able to see the four chief compositions
 of the ceiling before his departure for
 ,bologna4 ,in ,january and ,february1  
#aeaa1 ,michelangelo drew the cartoons  
for the teste e faccie attorno di ditta 
capella1 the pictures for the corners   
and the lunettes1 and the second period 
of the work began4 ,on ,august1 #aeaa1  
,julius ,,ii celebrated mass in the     
,sistine ,chapel1 ut picturas novas     
ibidem noviter detectas videret2 and the
 entire work was finished in ,october1  
#aeab4 ,on ,october #ca1 #aeab1 the     
,sistine ,chapel was opened to the      
public4  ,soon after1 on ,february #ba1 
#aeac1 ,julius ,,ii died4     ,,chapter 
,,iii  ,,the ,,failure ,,of ,,the       
,,great ,,plans  7#aeac-aecd7           

,michelangelo1 freed from the ,sistine  
,chapel1 returned to sculpture and to   
the great project which he had most at  
heart1 the tomb of ,julius ,,ii4#bi     
,julius ,,ii in his will had charged    
,cardinal d',agen1 ,lionardo ,grossi    
della ,rovere and the ,prothonotary     
,lorenzo ,pucci 7later on ,cardinal de  
,santi ,quatro7 to continue the         
enterprise4 ,he had stipulated that the 
monument should not be executed in the  
colossal proportions which were         
originally determined on4 ,but it does  
not appear that his executors complied  
with this request4 ,michelangelo writes 
in #aebd at the death of ,pope ,julius  
and the beginning of ,leo's reign       
,aginensis 7,cardinal d',agen7 wished to
 enlarge the monument and to make the   
work more considerable than was my first
 design and a contract was made4  ,the  
sixth of ,march1 #aeac1 ,michelangelo   
signed what was in effect a new contract
 by which he pledged himself to execute 
the monument in seven years and not to  

undertake any other work of importance  
till it was finished4 ,he was to receive
 sixteen thousand five hundred ducats1  
from which were deducted the three      
thousand five hundred which had been    
paid during the life of ,julius ,,ii4#cj
 ,the new plan included thirty-two large
 statues1 and the monument was to be    
built against the wall of the church4   
,at each of the three sides were two    
tabernacles1 both containing a group of 
two figures2 in front of each of the    
pilasters flanking the tabernacles was  
to be a statue4 ,between the tabernacles
 were reliefs in bronze1 on the platform
 above was the statue of the pope       
supported by four figures and surrounded
 by six others on pedestals4 ,finally   
from the platform was to rise a little  
sanctuary thirty-four palms high#ca and 
containing five statues larger in size  
than the others4#cb  ,illustration3     
,,the ,,libyan ,,sibyl  ,ceiling of the 
,sistine ,chapel 7#aejh-aeab74  ,for    
three years ,michelangelo devoted       

himself almost exclusively to this work 
and from that period of vigour and      
maturity1 of relative calm and          
satisfying accomplishment1 came his most
 perfect piece of sculpture1 the ,moses4
 ,this statue1 originally intended for  
one of the six colossal figures crowning
 the upper story of the tomb1 in the end
 was itself the complete expression of  
the whole monument4 ,the ,moses is the  
older brother of the ,prophets of the   
,sistine1 sprung from the same vehement 
and passionate inspiration1 but more    
commanding1 more sure and more master of
 himself 7we shall come upon him again  
at the completion of the work thirty    
years later1 for ,michelangelo was never
 tired of returning to him74 ,the two   
,slaves#cc now in the ,louvre1 who were 
to be placed against the pilasters of   
the lower story1 immortal symbols of the
 weariness of living and of the revolt  
against life1--the voluptuous hero with 
his beautiful body overcome by deadly   
torpor and the athlete1 vanquished but  

unsubdued1 who writhes in his bonds1    
bent like a spring1 gathering himself   
together and hurling his scorn into the 
face of heaven--both belong to this     
period4 ,probably the ,caryatid of the  
,hermitage at ,st4 ,petersburg1 which   
was certainly meant for one of the      
groups of conquerors in the niches1 was 
made at this time as well as the models 
for many statues4  ,the general subject 
of the monument according to ,condivi   
and to ,vasari who preserved the sayings
 of ,michelangelo himself1 was an       
allegory cold1 abstruse and             
courtier-like1 as we must admit the     
subjects of his undertakings very often 
were4 ,his nature was timid and lacked  
independence1 but fortunately the force 
of his passionate feeling carried       
everything before it4 ,vainly did he    
bind himself to lifeless and commonplace
 programs1 vainly attempt to force      
himself to glorify the established order
 and the powers that be4 ,at the very   
first step he took all false pretenses  

fell away and a furious cry of revolt   
against the baseness of the world and   
the bondage of life broke forth4 ,so the
 statues of this monument which was to  
express with stale flattery that all the
 virtues were prisoners of death now    
that the pope was dead became1          
unconsciously perhaps to their creator1 
hymns of heroic scorn and expressions of
 moral grandeur crushed by force yet    
rising unconquered4  ,but the peculiar  
quality of these figures compared with  
the work which was to follow is that    
they preserve in all their passionate   
agony a balance and a certain melancholy
 serenity which the artist of the tombs 
of the ,medici no longer possessed4#cd  
,in that serene and fruitful period1    
while the excitement of his work in the 
,sistine ,chapel quieted little by      
little1 like the calming of a stormy    
sea1 ,michelangelo seems to have        
accepted only one other commission1 that
 for the ,christ of the ,minerva which  
came from three ,romans1 ,bernardo      

,cencio1 ,mario ,scapucci and ,metello  
,varj4 ,yet beginning with the summer of
 #aeae his letters show that he feared  
and foresaw the interruption of his     
work4  ,i must make a great effort this 
summer1 he writes on ,june #af to his   
brother ,buonarroto1 to bring my work   
rapidly to an end1 for ,i think that ,i 
shall soon have to enter the service of 
the pope4  ,the new pope1 ,leo ,x       
7,giovanni ,medici71 at first left      
,michelangelo entirely free4 ,he was so 
anxious to gain the hearts of his former
 adversaries that he took very good care
 not to seem to put any obstacle in the 
way of the glorification of his         
predecessor4 ,he soon found1 however1   
that the tomb absorbed ,michelangelo's  
energies completely and he decided to   
draw him away from it in order to devote
 him to the service of his own house4   
,he planned to build the faade of ,s4   
,lorenzo1 the church of the ,medici in  
,florence4 ,several artists1 ,baccio    
d',agnolo1 ,antonio da ,san ,gallo1     

,andrea and ,jacopo ,sansovino and      
,raphael himself brought their plans to 
him during his stay in ,florence in     
,november and ,december1 #aeae4 ,but    
whether because ,raphael was kept in    
,rome by his post of superintendent of  
the construction of ,st4 ,peter's in    
which he had lately succeeded the old   
,giuliano da ,san ,gallo in ,august1    
#aeae1 or whether ,leo ,x wished to     
attach to himself ,michelangelo--whose  
family pride he had already flattered by
 naming his brother ,buonarroto ,comes  
,palatinus and by giving the ,buonarroti
 the right to place in their arms the   
palla of the ,medici with their lilies  
and the monogram of the pope--at any    
rate it was to him that ,leo ,x turned4 
,michelangelo1 stirred by the growing   
fame of ,raphael1 allowed himself to be 
drawn into this new task which it was   
physically impossible for him to        
accomplish without neglecting the old   
one and which was to cause him endless  
worry and vexation4 ,his correspondence 

with ,domenico ,buoninsegni shows       
plainly that he tried to deceive himself
 into thinking that he could carry on   
the two undertakings simultaneously4    
,illustration3 ,,the ,,prophet          
,,jeremiah  ,ceiling of the ,sistine    
,chapel 7#aejh-aeab74  ,the heirs of    
,julius ,,ii1 however1 were more        
clear-sighted and in order to fight fire
 with fire they tried to bind him by a  
third contract on ,july #h1 #aeaf4 ,by  
this agreement the monument of the pope 
was to be diminished by one-half and the
 number of the statues reduced from     
thirty-two to twenty4 ,they gave        
,michelangelo nine years more in which  
to complete the work1 with full liberty 
to execute it in ,florence1 ,pisa or    
,carrara4 ,in return they forced from   
him the formal agreement that he would  
not undertake any other important work  
opus saltim magni momenti4 ,that clause 
was aimed directly at the plans of ,leo 
,x4 ,michelangelo signed this in good   
faith1 for he thought that it would not 

prevent his making some statues for the 
faade of ,s4 ,lorenzo4 ,his imagination 
carried him away4 ,he was more and more 
attracted by ,leo's project and he let  
himself go so far as to write that he   
would undertake the work and he sent a  
design for the faade4 ,then1 almost at  
once1 he was seized with scruples and   
wanted to rid himself of the greater    
part of the task by turning it over to  
the architect ,baccio d',agnolo and only
 reserving for himself the principal    
statues4 ,the pope agreed to everything1
 sure of what would happen1 for it was  
no secret that ,michelangelo was        
incapable of collaborating with anyone1 
no matter who he might be4 ,as a matter 
of fact ,michelangelo was not satisfied 
with the model of the faade which       
,baccio made according to his plan4 ,he 
made another one1 and in the end grew   
irritated with ,baccio1 whom he accused 
of having an understanding with his     
enemies4 ,little by little his          
enthusiasm for the work grew4  ,he wrote

 restlessly to ,domenico ,buoninsegni in
 ,july1 #aeag3 ,i wish to make of this  
faade of ,s4 ,lorenzo a work which shall
 be a mirror of architecture and of     
sculpture for all ,italy4 ,the pope and 
the cardinal#ce must make up their minds
 quickly whether they want me to do it  
or not4 ,if they want me to do it they  
must sign a contract and give me full   
powers4 ,i will finish it in six years4 
,messer ,domenico1 give me an exact     
answer as to the intentions of the pope 
and the cardinal4 ,that would afford me 
the greatest satisfaction4  ,here it is 
,michelangelo himself who begs ,leo ,x  
to give him this heavy burden1 who      
trembles for fear of not getting it1 and
 is consumed with the desire to bind    
himself to a new servitude6 ,january    
#ai1 #aeah1 he signed a contract with   
,leo ,x by which he agreed to erect the 
faade of ,s4 ,lorenzo in eight years4   
,it was to be composed of3  ,first3 ,an 
inferior order of eight fluted columns1 
eleven brasses#cf high1 three portals   

with four statues five brasses high and 
seven bas-reliefs2 and around the sides 
on each lateral face two columns1 and   
between them a figure in high relief4   
,second3 ,a superior order of eight     
pilasters from six to seven brasses     
high2 on the faade four seated bronze   
statues2 and on each side two pilasters 
and a statue4  ,third3 ,the upper       
cornice carrying an entablature of eight
 pilasters in front and two on the side1
 with four niches in the faade1 and one 
on each side intended for six marble    
statues five and a half brasses high4   
,there were besides on the faade1       
undoubtedly in the lower story1 seven   
bas-reliefs of marble with life-size    
subjects1 five squares and two round    
plaques4 ,in the centre a pediment with 
the arms of the ,medici4  ,michelangelo 
had the choice of executing the work    
himself or of having it done after his  
models4 ,the heirs of ,julius ,,ii were 
obliged to give way to the order of ,leo
 ,x and to be satisfied with the        

permission which he gave to             
,michelangelo still to go on with the   
work on the monument of ,julius in      
,florence4 ,even that permission was    
very soon withdrawn1 according to       
,michelangelo4 ,pope ,leo1 he writes1   
does not want me to do the monument of  
,julius4 ,when he began to work on it   
again in his atelier in ,florence he    
says3 ,the ,medici1 who later on became 
,pope ,clement and who was then in      
,florence1 saw that ,i was working at   
the tomb and he would no longer permit  
it4 ,for that reason ,i was prevented   
from doing anything until the ,medici   
became pope4  ,michelangelo always      
sought excuses for not finishing his    
undertakings4 ,the real culprit was his 
eager and changeable genius1            
uncontrollable and constantly seized    
with enthusiasm for some new idea4 ,he  
no more succeeded in raising the faade  
of ,s4 ,lorenzo than in finishing the   
tomb4  ,his terrible mania for doing    
everything himself drove him--instead of

 staying and working in ,florence--into 
going to ,carrara to oversee the        
quarrying of the blocks of marble4      
,there he found himself in all sorts of 
difficulties4 ,the ,medici wanted to use
 the quarries of ,pietra ,santa1 which  
had been lately bought by ,florence1    
instead of those of ,carrara and        
,michelangelo1 because he took sides    
with the ,carrarese1 found himself      
suspected by the ,cardinal ,giulio de'  
,medici of having been bought by them2  
and because he was forced in the end to 
obey the strict orders of the pope he   
was persecuted by the people of         
,carrara1 who made an arrangement with  
the ,genoese boatmen at ,pisa so that he
 could not secure any barge to transport
 his marble4 ,he had to build a road    
several miles in length across the      
mountains with pick and shovel4 ,the    
ill-will of the people of ,pietra ,santa
 and the stupidity of the workmen who   
did not understand their work so upset  
him that he fell ill at ,seravezza from 

over-strain and worry4 ,he felt that his
 vigour1 his health and his ideas were  
being wasted in this life of an engineer
 and contractor4 ,he was dying with     
impatience to begin the faade1 but the  
blocks of marble did not reach ,florence
 because the barges were stopped or the 
,arno was dry4 ,they arrived at last and
 the marble was unloaded1 but instead of
 setting to work ,michelangelo returned 
to ,seravezza and ,pietra ,santa4 ,he   
was obstinately determined not to begin 
until he had gathered in ,florence1 just
 as he had done before in ,rome for the 
tomb of ,julius ,,ii1 all the material  
which would be necessary for the entire 
undertaking1 a veritable mountain of    
marble4 ,he kept putting off the moment 
of beginning4 ,was it not the           
truth--though he did not admit it even  
to himself--that he was really afraid of
 the great architectural undertaking    
into which he had imprudently plunged   
and for which he had so little training8
 ,how1 indeed1 could he have acquired   

this new art which he had had no chance 
of practising8 ,had he not promised too 
much and did he not feel himself in a   
blind alley with no way out1 where he no
 longer dared either to advance or      
retreat8  ,all his efforts were         
unsuccessful1 even those for the        
transportation of the marble4 ,he was   
cheated by his workmen1 and four of the 
six monolithic columns sent to ,florence
 were shattered on the way1 one of them 
at ,florence itself4 ,at last the pope  
and ,cardinal de' ,medici grew impatient
 at this useless loss of so much        
precious time in the marshes and        
quarries of ,pietra ,santa and on ,march
 #aj1 #aebj1 an order of the pope       
clearly and completely released         
,michelangelo from the agreement of     
#aeah concerning the faade of ,s4       
,lorenzo and from all obligations in    
regard to it4 ,michelangelo only knew of
 this through the arrival at ,seravezza 
of the gangs of workmen sent by         
,cardinal ,giulio to take his place4 ,he

 was cruelly hurt4  ,i do not begrudge  
the cardinal1 he says1 the three years  
which ,i have lost here4 ,i do not blame
 him because ,i am exhausted by this    
work for ,s4 ,lorenzo4 ,i do not blame  
him for the great affront of having     
ordered me to do this work and then of  
taking it away from me--,i do not even  
know for what reason4 ,i do not count   
against him all that ,i have spent1     
which amounts to this3 ,pope ,leo takes 
back the quarry with the blocks already 
cut2 ,i have left the money that ,i have
 in hand--#ejj ducats--and ,i am given  
my liberty4  ,he could not hold his     
patrons responsible4 ,the fault was his 
own1 as he well knew1 and that was his  
worst punishment4 ,justi has said1 not  
unreasonably1 that he committed the sin 
against the ,holy ,ghost in wasting so  
many years in such unimportant work4    
,what did he accomplish from #aeae to   
#aebj in the fulness of his vigour8     
,plans which he could never carry out1  
plans for the faade of ,s4 ,lorenzo1    

plans for the tomb of ,julius ,,ii1     
plans for the tomb of ,dante1 whose     
remains the ,academicians of ,florence  
wanted to bring back from ,ravenna to   
his own country#cg--;for in ,october1   
#aeai1 in the midst of the very worst of
 his difficulties he had not hesitated  
to offer his services to ,leo ,x to     
raise to the divine poet a monument     
worthy of him4  ,one single work was    
realised amidst all these dreams3 the   
,christ of the ,minerva1 and it is the  
coldest and dullest thing he ever did--a
 work of ,michelangelo 7and this is     
almost unbelievable7 which is           
commonplace and uninspiring4 ,it can    
hardly even be called his1 for he did   
not finish it himself1 but gave it over 
to the neglect of his assistant1 ,pietro
 ,urbano1 a bungler without talent and  
incurably lazy1 who1 when he was ordered
 to accompany the statue to ,rome and to
 finish it1 ruined it by his awkwardness
 and left it there hopelessly marred4#ch
  ,illustration3 ,,the ,,erythrean      

,,sibyl  ,ceiling of the ,sistine       
,chapel 7#aejh-aeab74  ,cardinal ,giulio
 de' ,medici1 when he had extricated    
,michelangelo from this hopeless        
enterprise1 determined to turn his      
genius in a new direction and one in    
which he could direct him more closely4 
,he entrusted him with the construction 
of the new sacristy of ,s4 ,lorenzo and 
the tombs of the ,medici4 ,in ,november1
 #aebj1 ,michelangelo submitted to him a
 drawing which met with his approval4   
,this original plan was for four tombs3 
those of ,lorenzo the ,magnificent1     
,giuliano his brother1 his son          
,giuliano1 ,duke of ,nemours1 and his   
grandson ,lorenzo1 ,duke of ,urbino4    
,the work was begun before ,april1      
#aeba1 but was not pushed vigorously    
until after the nomination on ,november 
#ai1 #aebb1 of ,cardinal ,giulio de'    
,medici to the pontifical throne under  
the name of ,clement ,,vii4#ci  ,in     
,may1 #aebd1 ,clement ,,vii accepted the
 idea1 suggested to him by the          

flattering ,salviati1 of adding to the  
four sarcophagi already planned tombs   
for ,leo ,x and for himself and of      
giving them the place of honour4 ,in    
,june ,michelangelo sent him a new plan 
as well as the drawings for the ,library
 of ,s4 ,lorenzo1 the building of which 
had also been entrusted to him4         
,clement ,,vii wished to monopolise     
,michelangelo's services1 and he        
suggested to him in ,january1 #aebd1    
that he should join the order of the    
,franciscans so that he might be given a
 benefice4 ,michelangelo refused to do  
this1 but the pope decided1             
nevertheless1 to allow him a monthly    
pension of three times the amount for   
which he had asked#dj and a house in the
 neighbourhood of ,s4 ,lorenzo4         
,everything seemed to be going well and 
the work on the chapel was progressing  
when ,michelangelo suddenly left the    
house which had been given to him and   
refused to accept ,clement ,,vii's      
pension4 ,he was going through another  

crisis of discouragement and doubt4 ,the
 heirs of ,julius ,,ii could not forgive
 him for having abandoned the work that 
he had undertaken4 ,they accused him of 
unfaithfulness and threatened him with  
the law4 ,he was terrified at the idea  
of a lawsuit1 for his conscience told   
him that his adversaries were in the    
right1 and he was tormented by the      
thought that he had not kept his word4  
,he felt that he could not accept the   
money of ,clement ,,vii as long as he   
had not yet either given back that of   
,julius ,,ii or carried out his         
promises4 ,but struggle as he would he  
lacked strength to free himself from the
 ties which bound him to the pope1 and  
necessity forced him to take the pension
 which he had refused4 ,he continued to 
protest while he worked4 ,by the end of 
,october1 #aebe1 he had only blocked out
 four figures1 the allegories of the    
seasons4 ,he was always thinking of the 
monument of ,julius ,,ii and he tried to
 simplify his plan by changing it to a  

tomb built against the wall1 like those 
of ,pius ,,ii and ,pius ,,iii at ,st4   
,peter's4 ,he felt that he could finish 
the figures within a stated time and    
then give to ,pope ,clement all the rest
 of his powers1 and in truth they are   
feeble1 for ,i am old and ought not to  
have all these worries1 for they affect 
me greatly4 ,you can not work while your
 hands are doing one thing and your head
 another1 especially in sculpture4#da   
,clement ,,vii seemed at times to be    
touched by ,michelangelo's troubles and 
expressed an affectionate interest in   
him and his work4 ,he sent him a letter 
on ,december #bc1 #aebe1 in which he    
said3  ,you know that popes do not have 
long lives and we could not long more   
ardently than we do to see the chapel   
with the tombs of our family and to know
 that it is finished and also the       
,library4 ,we recommend them both to    
your zeal4 ,nevertheless we are trying  
to possess ourselves in salutary        
patience and we pray ,god that ,he may  

inspire you to carry on all these works 
at once4 ,do not fear that you will ever
 lack either work or rewards as long as 
we live4 ,go on with ,god and our       
blessing4  ,but the incurable frivolity 
of the ,medici regained the upper hand1 
and instead of relieving ,michelangelo  
of part of his work he laid new burdens 
on him2 a ,ciborium for ,s4 ,lorenzo and
 a ridiculous ,colossus which it was    
proposed to put up outside the ,medici  
gardens1 the fantastic plans for which  
took up much of ,michelangelo's time4#db
  ,it is sad to see this poor great man 
trying so hard to understand the absurd 
whims of his ,mcenas that he ends by    
almost becoming interested in them4  ,i 
have thought about the ,colossus1 he    
writes to ,fattucci in the autumn of    
#aebe2 ,i have indeed thought a great   
deal about it4 ,it seems to me that it  
would not be well placed outside the    
,medici gardens because it would take up
 too much room in the street4 ,a better 
place1 ,i think1 would be where the     

barber's shop is4 ,there it would not be
 so much in the way4 ,as for the        
expenses of expropriation1 ,i think to  
reduce them we could make the figure    
seated1 and as it could be hollow1 the  
shop could be placed inside so the rent 
would not be lost4 ,it seems to me a    
good idea to put in the hand of the     
,colossus a horn of abundance1 and this 
could be hollow and would serve as a    
chimney4 ,the head could also be made   
use of1 ,i should think1 for the        
poultryman1 my very good friend who     
lives on the square1 said to me secretly
 that it would make a wonderful         
dovecote4 ,i have another and still     
better idea--but in that case the statue
 must be made very much larger1 which   
would not be impossible1 for towers are 
made with stone--and that is that the   
head should serve as a bell-tower to ,s4
 ,lorenzo1 which now has none4 ,by      
placing the bell so that the sound would
 come out of the mouth it would seem as 
if the giant cried for mercy1 especially

 on holidays when they use the big      
bells4  ,michelangelo had constant      
trouble with his workmen1 and to these  
worries and his pangs of conscience were
 added domestic difficulties which never
 ceased to embitter his life4 ,during   
the period of the ,sistine frescoes it  
was his relations with his brothers that
 gave him most trouble1 for they tried  
to make use of him and he had to watch  
them sharply4 ,then it was his father   
whom he adored with almost religious    
reverence and who undoubtedly loved him1
 but who1 irritable like himself1 and   
peevish and suspicious1 picked unfair   
quarrels and spread odious calumnies    
about him4  ,in the midst of all these  
difficulties the work did not progress  
at all4 ,a letter of ,june1 #aebf1 says 
that one statue of a captain had been   
begun1 as well as four allegories and   
the ,madonna1 but as a matter of fact   
not one of these was ready in #aebg4 ,as
 for the ,library and the ,medici       
,chapel they were hardly begun4  ,at    

this moment the revolution broke out in 
,florence 7,april1 #aebg74              
,illustration3 ,,jesse  ,a ,figure in   
the ,series of the ,ancestors of        
,christ4  ,ceiling of the ,sistine      
,chapel 7#aejh-aeab74  ,michelangelo had
 until then shown in politics the same  
indecision from which he had suffered so
 much in his own affairs and even in his
 art4 ,he never succeeded in reconciling
 his love of liberty with his           
obligations to the ,medici4 ,it must be 
admitted that this violent genius was   
always timid in action2 he never        
incurred any risk through struggling    
against the powers of this world on     
political or religious grounds4 ,he was 
afraid of compromising himself4 ,he was 
afraid of everything4 ,he was always    
afraid4 ,if in spite of his natural     
timidity he let himself be drawn into   
the ,florentine ,revolution of #aebg he 
must have been driven by deep despair   
and the belief that his life was        
practically lost4 ,that extremity of    

suffering brought to the surface and    
into action his fundamental beliefs4    
,his timid introspective soul was       
secretly ardently republican4 ,we can   
see this in the violent discussions     
which he had in #aede with intimate     
friends1 ,luigi del ,riccio1 ,antonio   
,petreo and ,donato ,giannotti1 who made
 note of them in his ,dialogues on      
,dante's ,divine ,comedy4 ,in these     
talks he defends tyrannicide with       
enthusiasm4  ,he found himself in the   
front ranks of the ,florentine          
revolutionists in those days of national
 and republican revival which1 in       
,florence1 followed the news of the     
taking of ,rome by the ,imperialists    
7,may #f1 #aebg7 and the driving out of 
,ippolito and ,alessandro de' ,medici   
7,may #agth74 ,at first the ,republic   
seems only to have given him artistic   
commissions4 ,he was ordered to cut from
 a block of marble a colossal group of  
two figures as a companion-piece to the 
,david4 ,he obeyed1 and began a         

,hercules and ,cacus2#dc then changed   
his plan and made a sketch for a ,samson
 slaying the ,philistines4 ,but the     
situation grew tragic and he was called 
to more pressing tasks4 ,in ,october1   
#aebh1 at ,san ,miniato he took part in 
a council presided over by the          
,gonfalonier ,niccolo ,capponi to       
discuss the question of the             
fortification of the town4 ,florence had
 summoned the architect ,sebastiano     
,serlio and the engineer ,pierfrancesco 
d',urbino and had sent ,francesco da    
,san ,gallo and ,amadio d',alberto to   
examine the fortifications of ,prato1   
,pistoia1 ,pisa and ,livorno4           
,michelangelo was chosen in his turn on 
,january #aj1 #aebi1 in the ,collegium  
of the ,nove di ,milizzia to direct the 
works of defense4 ,he was named on      
,april #fth for one year ,governatore   
,generale and ,procuratore of the       
fortifications of ,florence1 and was    
given a salary of one golden ducat a    
day4#dd ,he realised that the important 

point of defense was ,san ,miniato for1 
if the enemy gained possession of that  
hill they would be master of the city4  
,he determined1 therefore1 to strengthen
 that position with bastions1 but he    
encountered the ill-will of the         
,gonfalonier ,capponi1 who tried to send
 him away from ,florence on various     
missions4  ,in ,june1 #aebi1 he was     
ordered to inspect the citadel of ,pisa 
and the fortifications of ,arezzo and   
,livorno4 ,in ,july and ,august he was  
sent to ,ferrara to examine the         
celebrated defensive works there and to 
consult with the ,duke1 a great expert  
in fortifications4 ,the ,duke received  
him with great honour and took him over 
the fortifications himself1 showed him  
his art collection and asked him for one
 of his works4#de ,but ,michelangelo    
suspected ,capponi and the party of the 
,medici of taking advantage of his      
absence to delay the fortification of   
the town and his suspicions were        
confirmed by the neglected condition in 

which he found the work on his return4  
,to block these intrigues he installed  
himself at ,san ,miniato and would not  
stir from there again4 ,his restless    
spirit felt the least breath of the     
rumours of treason which1 as always1    
circulated in a besieged town and which 
unhappily1 as the future showed1 were   
only too well founded4  ,capponi1 under 
suspicion1 had been replaced as         
,gonfalonier by ,francesco ,carducci1   
but the untrustworthy ,malatesta        
,baglioni1 who later on was to give up  
the town1 was named ,condottiere and    
governor-general of the ,florentine     
troops4 ,michelangelo foresaw his       
treason and confided his suspicions to  
,carducci4 ,malatesta did not fail to   
hear of this denunciation4 ,he was      
all-powerful at ,florence as            
,generalissimo1 and since a man of his  
type would stop at nothing when it was a
 question of revenge or of the removal  
of a dangerous adversary1 ,michelangelo 
believed himself lost4 ,i had resolved1 

however1 to await without fear the end  
of the war1 he writes on ,september #be1
 #aebi1 to ,battista della ,palla4 ,but 
on ,tuesday morning the twenty-first of 
,september a certain man came to me     
outside of the ,porta ,san ,niccolo1    
where ,i was on the bastions1 and       
whispered in my ear that if ,i wished to
 save my life ,i must not stay any      
longer in ,florence4 ,he went with me to
 my house1 brought me some horses1 and  
did not leave me again until he had put 
me outside of ,florence4  ,varchi1      
filling in the details1 gives the name  
of the ,councellor ,rinaldo ,corsini#df 
and adds that ,michelangelo had sewed   
twelve thousand golden florins into     
three quilted shirts1 and that it was   
not without difficulty that he escaped  
from ,florence with ,rinaldo and his    
pupil ,antonio ,mini by the gate of     
,justice1 which was the least guarded4  
,that was on the morning of ,september  
#bast4 ,he went through ,ferrara without
 stopping there and arrived at ,venice  

on ,september #beth4 ,the ,signory at   
once sent two gentlemen to do anything  
for him which he might need 7a proof of 
the fame which he enjoyed already       
throughout the whole of ,italy74        
,michelangelo1 however1 refused         
everything and withdrew to the          
,giudecca4 ,he thought of going to      
,france and spoke of this intention to  
,battista della ,palla1 the agent of    
,francis ,i in ,italy for the purchase  
of works of art4 ,lazare de ,baf1 the   
ambassador of ,france at ,venice1 was   
told of this and wrote immediately to   
,francis ,i and to the ,constable de    
,montmorency1 urging them to profit by  
this chance to secure ,michelangelo4    
,the ,king at once offered ,michelangelo
 a pension and a house1 but by the time 
the letter arrived at ,venice he had    
already returned to ,florence4  ,his    
flight had caused a great sensation     
there4 ,the ,signory on ,september #cjth
 decreed that all those who had deserted
 should be declared rebel and banished  

if they did not return by ,october #gth4
 ,on the date fixed ,michelangelo had   
not returned4 ,a decree declared the    
fugitives rebels and their goods        
confiscated1 but the name of            
,michelangelo did not figure on the     
list4 ,they gave him another chance4 ,a 
few days later the ,florentine envoy at 
,ferrara1 ,galeotto ,guigni1 informed   
the ,signory that ,michelangelo had     
heard of the decree too late and that he
 was ready to return if he would be     
pardoned4 ,the ,signory promised to     
forgive him and had a safe conduct sent 
to him in ,venice by the stone-cutter1  
,bastiano di ,francesco1 who brought him
 at the same time letters from ten of   
his friends all beseeching him to return
 to ,florence4 ,he had had time to      
reflect on what he had done and was     
ashamed of his pitiful panic4 ,he went  
back to ,florence on ,november #bj1     
#aebi1 and on the #bcrd the decree of   
banishment was removed by the ,signory1 
but the ,grand ,council was closed to   

him for three years4 ,according to a    
letter of ,sebastiano del ,piombo1      
,michelangelo also had to pay to the    
city a fine of fifteen hundred ducats4  
,from that time on he did his duty      
bravely4 ,he took his place again at    
,san ,miniato1 which the enemy had been 
bombarding for a month4 ,he had the hill
 fortified all over again1 and it is    
said that he saved the campanile by     
covering it with bales of wool and      
mattresses hung on cords4 ,the last     
record of his activity during the siege 
is a note of ,february #bb1 #aecj1 which
 shows him climbing the dome of the     
cathedral1 doubtless to watch the       
movements of the enemy or to examine    
into the condition of the dome itself1  
strained by the bombardment4            
,illustration3 ,,decorative ,,figure    
,ceiling of the ,sistine ,chapel        
7#aejh-aeab74  ,the misfortune which he 
had foreseen took place on ,august #b1  
#aecj1 when ,malatesta ,baglioni turned 
traitor4 ,on the #abth ,florence        

capitulated1 and the ,emperor turned the
 town over to the representative of the 
pope1 ,baccio ,valori4 ,then the        
executions began4 ,during the first few 
days nothing checked the vengeance of   
the conquerors and some of              
,michelangelo's best friends were among 
the victims4 ,michelangelo hid himself1 
it is said1 in the tower of ,s4 ,niccol 
oltr',arno4 ,he had especial reason to  
fear because the report had been spread 
that he had wished to tear down the     
palace of the ,medici4 ,when the wrath  
of ,clement ,,vii had subsided1 says    
,condivi1 he wrote to ,florence that    
,michelangelo should be searched for4   
,he added that if he was found and was  
willing to go on working at the tombs of
 the ,medici he should be treated with  
all the consideration he deserved1      
,michelangelo came out of his           
hiding-place and in ,september or       
,october1 #aecj1 again undertook his    
work for the glory of those against whom
 he had fought4  ,it was not the glory  

of the ,medici he wrought1 but his own  
sorrow and wrath4 ,the same thing       
happened here as with the tomb of       
,julius ,,ii4 ,michelangelo did not have
 the force to refuse a task unworthy of 
him3 his genius was heroic1 his will not
 so at all4 ,he accepted the order1 he  
even outlined a program whose           
sychophantic affectation arouses a      
feeling of sadness and of pity for the  
humiliation of so great a man1 forced to
 lie4 ,a note in his own hand at the    
,casa ,buonarroti explains one of the   
monuments in the following way4  ,day   
and ,night talk together and say3 ,in   
our rapid flight we have brought ,duke  
,giuliano to death4 ,it is therefore    
just that he should avenge himself4 ,his
 vengeance1 now that we have killed him1
 is to snatch away the light from us2 by
 closing his eyes1 he has closed ours1  
which will no longer illumine the earth4
 ,what would he have done with us if he 
had remained alive8  ,is not that       
insipid interpretation the veil of      

prudence which he wrapped about his     
rebel spirit8 ,how much of this is      
really left in the work8 ,who can find  
it there8 ,who thinks only of the       
,medici before this tragic expression of
 a lonely and despairing soul8 ,the     
burning and mighty spirit of the        
,sistine breathes again1 and austere    
forms rise from the shade4 ,yet here    
everything is sadder2 a funereal silence
 reigns4 ,it is no longer the tragic    
struggle of the ,son of ,man4 ,it is the
 void which weighs on these giants who  
groan and complain and on those two     
sombre1 pondering heroes4 ,the superb   
imperfection of some of these colossal  
figures1 from which the sculptor has    
only torn aside with his chisel part of 
the veil of marble that covers them1    
adds still more to the impression of    
mysterious terror expressed by these    
classic divinities1 half released from  
chaos and soon to exhaust themselves in 
a vain struggle against the forces of   
destruction4 ,action1 resigned and      

powerless1 turns his head aside4 ,at his
 feet ,day in fierce contempt for all   
things1 shows for a moment over his     
shoulder1 his face wrapped in clouds4   
,he turns his back on life and plunges  
into passionate isolation4 ,night1      
overcome by leaden sleep and burning    
with fever1 sinks into the midst of a   
stifling nightmare1 like a stone into a 
gulf4  ,thought1 self-divining1 bends   
toward the tomb his austere face bathed 
in shadow and considers the succession  
of his days4 ,dawn1 so beautiful and    
pure1 wakened against her will1 weary of
 living and exhausted1 stirs in mortal  
pain2 ,twilight1 with bended brow1      
bitter and disabused1 remembers the past
 without regret4 ,the dolorous and      
resigned ,virgin looks on at this       
threnody of negation while the child    
,god1 famished1 gnaws her breast in     
anger4#dg  ,it was in this outburst of  
despair that ,michelangelo drowned his  
shame at raising this monument of       
slavery4#dh ,he fell ill from           

over-excitement and ,clement ,,vii      
attempted in vain to soothe him4 ,he    
sent affectionate messages to him by his
 secretary1 ,pier ,paolo ,marzo1 urging 
him not to overexert himself1 to work   
reasonably and at his leisure1 to take a
 walk occasionally1 and not to reduce   
himself to the condition of a drudge4   
,in the autumn of #aecd his life was in 
danger4 ,giovanni ,battista di ,paolo   
,mini wrote on ,september #bith to      
,valori1 ,michelangelo is worn and      
emaciated4 ,i have spoken of it to      
,bugiardino and ,antonio ,mini2 we      
agreed that he had not long to live     
unless someone looks out for him4       
,clement ,,vii was disturbed and on     
,november #ba1 #aeca1 by a special      
letter he forbade ,michelangelo under   
pain of excommunication to work in any  
way whatever1 except on the tomb of     
,julius ,,ii and the undertaking which  
we have entrusted to you 7ne aliquo modo
 laborare debeas nisi in sepulture et   
opera nostra quam tibi comisimus7 so    

that you may still bring glory to ,rome1
 your family and yourself4  ,he         
protected ,michelangelo against the     
importunities of those who came to beg  
for works of art1 and he reprimanded him
 paternally for accepting these orders4 
,when anyone asks you for a painting1 he
 said1 you should fasten a brush to your
 foot1 make four strokes and say1 ',the 
picture is done4' ,he promised also to  
arrange ,michelangelo's difficulties    
with the heirs of ,julius ,,ii4  ,on    
,april #bi1 #aecb1 by his mediation a   
fourth contract was agreed upon between 
the representative of the heir to       
,julius ,,ii1 the ,duke of ,urbino1     
,francesco ,maria della ,rovere and     
,michelangelo4 ,michelangelo promised to
 make a new model of the tomb1 to       
deliver the six statues already begun   
and still unfinished1 as well as        
everything else that was ready2 to      
complete it in the course of three years
 at ,s4 ,pietro in ,vinculi and to pay  
all the expenses as well as two thousand

 ducats in compensation for the sums    
which he had already received4 ,the pope
 gave him permission to come for two    
months every year to ,rome for this     
work4 ,michelangelo was agreeing to the 
ruin of the greatest undertaking of his 
life and he had besides to pay so much  
that he was forced to sell houses and   
goods4  ,like the plans for ,julius     
,,ii1 the plans for the ,medici         
collapsed4 ,clement ,,vii died on       
,september #bh1 #aech4 ,michelangelo was
 at that time away from ,florence and he
 never went back there4 ,duke           
,alessandro de' ,medici hated him1 and  
only his fear of the pope prevented the 
tyrant from assassinating him4          
,michelangelo therefore left ,florence  
7where his brother ,buonarroto died in  
,january1 #aecd7 just after he had lost 
his father1 ,lodovico1 in ,june of that 
same year4 ,nothing bound him any longer
 to his own country1 and he was never to
 see it again4  ,illustration3          
,,decorative ,,figure  ,ceiling of the  

,sistine ,chapel 7#aejh-aeab74  ,that   
was the end of the chapel of the        
,medici4 ,it was never completed4#di    
,what we know of it to-day is only a    
very far-away suggestion of what he had 
dreamed4 ,barely the lifeless skeleton  
of the architectural decoration is left4
 ,michelangelo had only made 7partially7
 seven statues--,lorenzo da ,urbino1    
,giuliano de ,nemours1 the four         
allegorical figures and the             
,madonna--and he had barely begun some  
of the others which were planned2 he had
 abandoned to ,raffaelo da ,montelupo   
and ,giovanni ,montorsoli the figures of
 ,s4 ,cosmo and ,s4 ,damien for the tomb
 of ,lorenzo the ,magnificent and to    
,tribolo the figures for the tomb of    
,giuliano the brother of ,lorenzo1 which
 were to represent the ,earth crowned   
with cypress1 her head bowed1 weeping1  
and ,heaven with lifted arms1 radiant   
with joy4 ,when these statues were ready
 to be placed no one knew where they    
should go4 ,vasari inquired in vain of  

,michelangelo in #aefb what statues he  
had intended for the empty niches beside
 the captains1 above the doors and in   
the pavilions at the corners and what   
sort of painting he had planned for the 
walls4 ,evidently the ,medici ,chapel1  
so bare and cold to-day1 was to have had
 a complete decoration of painting and  
sculpture of which it is impossible for 
us to form any idea4  ,almost the same  
thing is true of the ,laurentian        
,library4 ,michelangelo never took any  
interest in it except in #aebe-aebf1    
when the pope wanted him to write about 
it almost every week4 ,when he left     
,florence he had only completed the     
construction of the vestibule and the   
ceiling of the chief structure4 ,the    
staircase had not been begun4 ,when the 
,grand ,duke ,cosmo wished to have it   
finished by ,tribolo in #aeeh no model  
of ,michelangelo's could be found4      
,vasari begged him to say what his plan 
had been and ,michelangelo answered that
 he would tell him willingly if he could

 remember it1 but he had only a vague   
idea1 as if in a dream1 of a certain    
staircase1 but he did not think it could
 be the one he had planned1 because it  
was absurd4#ej  ,he had so completely   
given up all these undertakings that he 
had wiped them from his memory1 or      
rather his memory had disappeared with  
them4  ,memory and mind have gone on    
ahead1 he wrote1 to wait for me in the  
other world4     ,,chapter ,,iv         
,,vittoria ,,colonna  7#aece-aedg7      
,michelangelo1 worn out and discouraged1
 returned definitely to ,rome on        
,september #bc1 #aecd1 and there he     
remained until his death4 ,he was in a  
condition of great mental unrest1 his   
heart hungry for love4 ,this was the    
period of those strange violent and     
mystical passions for beautiful young   
men like ,gherardo ,perini1 ,febo di    
,poggio and1 most loved of all and most 
worthily so1 ,tommaso dei ,cavalieri4   
,these attachments1 about which most    
historians have preferred to be silent1 

were an almost religious delirium of    
love for the divinity of beauty and hold
 an important place in the work of      
,michelangelo4 ,it is to their          
inspiration that most of his love-poems 
are due4 ,for a long time this was      
either not known or a stupid and        
unfortunate attempt was made to conceal 
it4 ,even in #afbc ,michelangelo's      
grandnephew in his first edition of the 
,rime did not dare publish the poems to 
,tommaso dei ,cavalieri with their real 
titles1 but dedicated them to a woman4  
,this error persisted until ,csare      
,guasti1 in his edition of #ahfc1       
re-established the exact text1 but      
nevertheless did not dare admit that    
,tommaso dei ,cavalieri was a real      
person and forced himself to believe    
that ,vittoria ,colonna was concealed   
under the fictitious name4 ,mezires in  
his ,l',o,euvre et la ,vie de           
,michelange1 published in #ahgf1        
repeated this same mistake1 which was   
only finally denounced and corrected by 

,scheffler and ,symonds in #ahgh4       
,tommaso dei ,cavalieri1 according to   
,vasari and ,varchi1 was a young ,roman 
gentleman1 devoted to art and of        
incomparable personal beauty1 whom      
,michelangelo met in the autumn of      
#aecb4 ,it is in #aecc-aecd that this   
friendship reached its height and       
inspired his most ardent poems and      
letters4 ,cavalieri remained a faithful 
friend to ,michelangelo to his very last
 hour1 at which indeed he was present4  
,he made use of this friendship only for
 the good of his friend4 ,not only did  
he take devoted care of the old man in  
his last years1 but he saw to the       
carrying out of his wishes while he was 
alive and after his death4 ,it was he   
who persuaded him to complete the wooden
 model of the dome of ,st4 ,peter's and 
who preserved his plans for the         
construction of the ,capitol4 ,their    
names would always be associated        
together even if his beauty had not     
inspired some of ,michelangelo's most   

perfect sonnets4#ea  ,all these         
attachments1 however1 were to be        
eclipsed by his friendship with         
,vittoria ,colonna4 ,she was the        
daughter of ,fabrizio ,colonna1 ,lord of
 ,paliano1 ,prince of ,tagliacozzo1 and 
of ,agnesena di ,montefeltro1 daughter  
of the great ,federigo1 ,duke of        
,urbino4 ,she had married ,ferrante     
,francesco d',avalos1 ,marquis di       
,pescara1 the victor of ,pavia1 who     
treated her badly1 but whom she loved4  
,a widow since #aebe1 she had turned for
 consolation to religion and poetry4    
,her sonnets1 in which she sang her     
idealised love1 had been well known     
throughout ,italy since #aecj and had   
won for her a fame unique among the     
women of her day4 ,she was a friend of  
all the great poets and great writers3  
,bembo1 ,castiglione who entrusted to   
her the manuscript of his ,cortegiano1  
,ariosto who celebrated her in his      
,orlando1 ,paul ,jove1 ,bernardo ,tasso 
and ,ludovico ,dolce4 ,but after #aecd  

religion absorbed her and she was       
carried away by the movement for the    
reform and regeneration of the ,catholic
 ,church4 ,although she was a friend of 
all the men who personified in ,italy   
this spirit of religious freedom1       
,cardinal ,contarini and ,cardinal      
,pole1 ,giberti1 ,sadolet1 ,bernadino   
,ochino1 ,pietro ,carnesecchi1 and in   
touch with ,rene of ,ferrara and        
,marguerite of ,navarre1 yet she could  
not1 like many of her friends1 break    
away from the church of ,rome1 and later
 she sacrificed her sympathies to her   
faith4  ,michelangelo knew her about    
#aece1 but their friendship did not     
really begin until the end of #aech4    
,she was then forty-six years old and he
 was sixty-three4  ,it was a serious and
 devout friendship4 ,they met on        
,sundays in the church of ,s4 ,silvestro
 at ,monte ,cavallo1 and there they had 
those noble discussions which the       
,portuguese painter1 ,francis of        
,holland1 has preserved for us in his   

four ,dialogues sur la ,peinture1 which 
took place in ,rome in #aech-aeci and   
were written in #aedh4  ,then ,vittoria1
 driven by her religious doubts1 left   
,rome in #aeda1 to retire first to      
,orvieto to the cloister of ,s4 ,paolo  
and later to ,viterbo to the cloister of
 ,s4 ,caterina near ,cardinal ,pole1 her
 friend and spiritual guide4 ,she       
returned to ,rome from time to time to  
see ,michelangelo and she wrote to him4 
,we have only a very few of these       
letters which ,michelangelo sacredly    
preserved4 ,they are affectionate1 but  
cold1 and we feel that she was much more
 detached from him than he was from her4
 ,he often complains that she does not  
answer him4 ,she wrote him3             
,magnificent ,messer ,michelangelo--,i  
did not reply earlier to your letter    
because it was1 as one might say1 an    
answer to my last2 for ,i thought that  
if you and ,i were to go on writing     
without intermission according to my    
obligation and your courtesy1 ,i should 

have to neglect the ,chapel of ,s4      
,catherine here1 and be absent at the   
appointed hours for company with my     
sisterhood1 while you would have to     
leave the ,chapel of ,s4 ,paul1 and be  
absent from morning through the day from
 your sweet usual colloquy with painted 
forms1 the which with their natural     
accents do not speak to you less clearly
 than the living persons around me speak
 to me4 ,thus we should both of us fail 
in our duty1 ,i to the brides1 you to   
the vicar of ,christ4 ,for these        
reasons1 inasmuch as ,i am well assured 
of our steadfast friendship and         
affection1 bound by knots of ,christian 
kindness1 ,i do not think it necessary  
to obtain the proof of your good-will in
 letters by writing on my side1 but     
rather to await with well-prepared mind 
some substantial occasion for serving   
you4 ,meanwhile ,i address my prayers to
 that ,lord of whom you spoke to me with
 so fervent and humble a heart when ,i  
left ,rome1 that when ,i return thither 

,i may find you with ,his image renewed 
and enlivened by true faith in your     
soul1 in like measure as you have       
painted it with perfect art in my       
,samaritan4#eb ,believe me to remain    
always yours and your ,urbino's4        
,illustration3 ,,sketch ,,for ,,the     
,,tomb ,,of ,,julius ,,ii  ,drawing4    
,uffizi1 ,florence4  ,in this way she   
merely made use of her powers to soothe 
her friend's spirit and to stimulate him
 to work4 ,most of all she relit that   
light of faith which had never ceased to
 burn in his soul1 although enveloped in
 a night of doubt and despair4 ,besides 
,the ,samaritan ,woman at the ,well1    
which is spoken of in the letter from   
,vittoria1 ,michelangelo made for her a 
drawing of a descent from the cross with
 these words of ,dante1 ,non vi si      
pensa1 quaneo sangue costa1 and a tragic
 crucifixion in which ,jesus writhes as 
he implores ,heaven4 ,perhaps the two   
admirable drawings of the ,resurrection 
in the ,louvre and the ,british ,museum 

are of this same period4  ,vittoria1 in 
sending him1 after #aeci1 her ,sonetti  
,spirituali1 also opened before his     
poetical genius another path to         
immortality4  ,ever since his childhood 
he had made verses from an impelling    
need of expression4 ,he covered his     
drawings1 his letters and loose sheets  
of paper with thoughts in verse which he
 took up again and again1 corrected and 
worked over ceaselessly4 ,we have only a
 very few of these poems of his youth1  
for he burned many of them in #aeah with
 some drawings4 ,he did not think them  
of value until he met the banker ,luigi 
del ,riccio and ,donato ,giannotti1 who 
advised him to publish a collection of  
them4 ,donato took the matter up        
seriously about #aede4 ,michelangelo    
made a selection from his poems and his 
friends recopied them4 ,but the death of
 ,riccio in #aedf and perhaps also that 
of ,vittoria in #aedg distracted him    
from this thought of worldly fame1 and  
the poems remained unpublished until his

 death4 ,nevertheless they were passed  
from hand to hand and the most famous   
composers of the time1 ,g4 ,archadelt1  
,bartolommeo ,tromboncino1 ,costanzo    
,festa1 ,consilium--,italians1          
,frenchmen and ,flemings--set his       
madrigals to music4 ,cultured people    
admired them1 and ,varchi1 reading and  
commenting on one of these sonnets in   
#aedf before the ,academy of ,florence1 
declared that it had the clarity of the 
classic and the richness of the thought 
of ,dante4  ,michelangelo was in fact   
nourished on ,dante4 ,no one understood 
him better or knew his works more       
perfectly1 says ,donato ,giannotti1 who 
placed him as arbiter in his dialogues  
on ,dante in #aede4ec  ,michelangelo    
dedicated to ,dante one of his most     
beautiful sonnets in which he envied his
 exile and his glory3      ,fuss'io pur 
lui6 c'a tal fortuna nato1     ,per     
l'aspro esilio suo con la virtute       
,dare' del mundo il pi felice stato4#ed 
,he knew equally well all the other     

classics of ,italian lyric poetry1      
,cavalcanti1 ,cino da ,pistoia and      
,petrarch4 ,his style is wrought from   
theirs1 but his thought is entirely his 
own4  ,you speak words only1 but he     
speaks in deeds1 wrote ,francesco ,berni
 to the poets of his time4      ,tacete 
umquanco pallide viole     ,et liquidi  
cristalli et fere snelli3     ,et dice  
cose1 e voi dite parole4#ee  ,it is true
 that this was not achieved without a   
great obscurity of thought1 remarked    
even by his contemporaries and which to 
us often makes their reading very       
difficult4  ,he writes what ,phoebus1   
,euterpe and the divine fury dictate to 
him1 and afterward he hardly understands
 what he has written1 says ,lodovico    
,martelli4#ef  ,the sonnet form cramped 
him1 and characteristically he loved    
that form because of its difficulty4 ,he
 always delighted in doing violence to  
his genius and in making himself suffer4
 ,his poetry has often been compared to 
his sculpture4 ,we can almost see him1  

as in ,mariette's account1#eg making the
 chips of marble fly under his chisel or
 tearing from the block of his thought  
the idea that is haunting him1 leaving  
it scarcely freed from the matrix4      
,frey1 in his admirable edition1 which  
is the only exact one of the ,rime of   
,michelangelo1 reveals the heroic fury  
with which he composed4 ,he strikes only
 the main chord on his instrument1      
nothing more--no development1 no        
variations4 ,his dominant emotion once  
expressed1 there is nothing more to say1
 the idea is exhausted4 ,most of his    
poems have remained in the condition of 
blocked-out torsos4  ,the most beautiful
 of these verses were written under the 
inspiration of ,vittoria ,colonna and   
the religious ideas which she revived in
 him4 ,separated from each other1 they  
exchanged sonnets2 she sent him forty   
from ,viterbo#eh and he answered her in 
verse4#ei  ,in #aedd ,vittoria returned 
to ,rome to live in the cloister of ,s4 
,anna and remained there until her death

 on ,february #be1 #aedg4 ,her death    
prostrated ,michelangelo4 ,he remained  
for a long time stupefied and out of his
 senses1 says ,condivi4 ,but the faith  
which she had given back to him never   
again left him4 ,the death of his friend
 only deepened it1 and the two strange  
and powerful sonnets which celebrate    
that death#fj are a hymn of triumphant  
faith and love4  ,when ,michelangelo    
finally left ,florence in #aecd and went
 to settle in ,rome he expected to be at
 last free and able to discharge his    
debt to the memory of ,julius ,,ii4 ,but
 no sooner was the new pope elected than
 he hastened to attach ,michelangelo to 
himself4 ,he was ,paulo ,,iii ,farnese1 
a choleric man1 ambitious1 daring1 full 
of intelligence and cunning1            
ostentatious1 one of the last great     
popes of the ,renaissance and the one   
who perhaps did the most to beautify    
,rome1 the great builder among the popes
 of the sixteenth century4#fa  ,he      
summoned ,michelangelo1 overwhelmed him 

with promises1 and asked him to work for
 him4  ,michelangelo wanted to decline1 
alleging as excuse his old contracts    
with the heirs of ,julius ,,ii1 but     
,paul ,,iii was furious and declared    
that he would tear up all those         
contracts and that ,michelangelo should 
work for him in spite of everything4    
,michelangelo thought of taking flight  
to ,urbino or to ,genoa to his friend1  
the bishop of ,almeria1 but he gave in  
as usual1 too weak to resist4 ,the pope1
 who came with ten of his cardinals to  
see the statues already completed for   
the monument of ,julius ,,ii1 went into 
ecstasies over them1 especially over the
 ,moses1 of which the ,cardinal of      
,mantua said that that figure alone     
would be enough to honour the memory of 
,pope ,julius1 and he was even more     
determined than before to reserve       
,michelangelo exclusively for his own   
plans4  ,on ,september #a1 #aece1 he    
appointed him by official letters       
architect-in-chief1 sculptor and painter

 to the ,apostolic ,palace with a salary
 for life of twelve hundred golden      
crowns a year1 of which six hundred were
 the revenue 7uncertain and at once     
contested7 of a toll-bridge on the ,po  
near ,placentia4#fb  ,ever since ,april1
 #aece1 ,michelangelo had agreed to work
 on the ,last ,judgment4 ,the idea of   
completing the decoration of the        
,sistine ,chapel with that fresco       
originated with ,clement ,,vii1 who had 
already talked to ,michelangelo about it
 in #aecc4 ,at that time the plan also  
included a ,fall of ,lucifer#fc on the  
entrance wall of the ,sistine4  ,the    
first thing to be done was to destroy   
the frescoes of ,perugino which covered 
the great wall below the altar4#fd      
,this did not1 of course1 trouble       
,michelangelo1 who despised ,perugino   
and called him a blockhead4 ,he worked  
on the ,last ,judgment from #aecf to    
#aeda4fe  ,while he was working at it   
probably in #aeci he fell from the      
scaffold and injured himself seriously  

in the leg4 ,still he completed his     
immense task by ,december #be1 #aeda1   
the day when the public was admitted to 
see it4  ,no one of his works has been  
more diversely judged4 ,before          
considering it at all1 we should        
remember that it was the work of an old 
man between sixty and sixty-six4 ,the   
vitality which this terrible man still  
possessed after a life of exhausting    
labours and troubles is1 whatever we may
 think of the work1 something           
superhuman4 ,the first thing which      
strikes us in that colossal fresco      
twenty metres high and ten wide and     
swarming with hundreds of figures1 is   
order1 reason and imperious will1       
controlled and almost cold4 ,the        
innumerable human bodies1 a throng which
 produces at first a sense of stifling  
discomfort1 are gathered in a dozen     
groups which balance each other and are 
all drawn along in a dizzying whirl from
 right to left around the ,christ4  ,if 
we turn to the drama itself we are      

overwhelmed by an impression of brutal  
force4 ,force alone rules4 ,there is no 
soul2 nothing but unreasoning physical  
force and the terror of it4 ,the moment 
chosen is terrible4 ,through the thunder
 of the trumpets blown to bursting by   
the angels1 the herculean ,christ       
curses4  ,now there is no longer any    
time for pity or room for pardon4#ff    
,before that implacable gesture which   
launches eternal death all the army of  
gigantic bodies swerves and bows1 a prey
 to one feeling--that of fear2 crushing1
 horrible fear relieved by no reasoning 
thought1 a fear of blows like that of a 
dog under the whip4 ,the tremendous     
vigour of these trembling athletes      
throws more harshly into relief their   
abject helplessness4 ,the martyrs in    
order to recall to the ,master their    
claims on ,his mercy exhibit servilely  
the instruments of their martyrdom4 ,st4
 ,laurence covers himself with his      
gridiron2 ,st4 ,blaise waves his rack2  
,st4 ,bartholomew holds out his bloody  

skin and lifts his bare knife with such 
ferocity that he appears rather to be   
the flayer than the flayed4 ,the ,virgin
 withdraws into the background so as not
 to see4 ,abel hides behind ,adam1 and  
one of his sisters throws herself1      
terrified1 on ,eve's knees and buries   
her face in the arms of her mother4 ,the
 tempest howls above4 ,the heavy flight 
of angels rolls through space1 head over
 heels1 bearing with an exaggerated and 
forced violence the column1 the cross   
and the instruments of the ,passion4    
,below at the right is a savage mle of  
souls and angels in a hand-to-hand      
struggle4 ,at the left the bodies rise  
heavily from ,purgatory like inflated   
balloons drawn up by the sun4 ,at the   
bottom is the monstrous harvest of the  
earth giving up its dead2 ,hell1 full of
 the atrocious horror of suffering and  
the still more atrocious joy of creating
 suffering4 ,charon with eyes like      
burning coals1 who smites with his oars4
 ,the maddened damned1 crowded together 

like a herd of sheep1 demons grabbing   
shrieking souls who hide their eyes and 
ears with horror1 the falling of bodies 
which come down like masses of lead1 and
 in the extreme right-hand corner       
,minos1 evil and undisturbed4  ,there is
 in such a work a mass of wrath1        
vengeance and hate which is suffocating4
 ,if it was not purified by colossal and
 almost elementary force it would be    
insupportable4  ,illustration3 ,,slave  
,figure for the tomb of ,julius ,,ii    
7#aeac-aeaf74 ,louvre4  ,this1 then1 is 
what the ,prophets and the ,sibyls are  
looking forward to1 this is what the    
convulsive agony of the paintings of the
 ceiling predicts4 ,this implacable     
conclusion of human history conformed   
perfectly to the essence of ,christian  
thought1 but the expression of it was so
 audacious and so stripped of all       
compromise that it revolted the majority
 of ,christians1 whom ,michelangelo1    
aristocratic in his faith as in his     
whole spirit1 never considered at all4  

,it was not only ,biagio da ,cesena1#fg 
,master of ,ceremonies to ,paul ,,iii1  
who declared the painting to be         
improper--opera da stufe o d'osterie    
7work fit only for a bagnio or an inn71 
but the majority of ,catholic opinion   
agreed4 ,aretino sounded the alarm4 ,he 
might not seem to be very well qualified
 to do this1 but he wanted to revenge   
himself on ,michelangelo1 who had not   
shown that regard for him which the     
,master ,singer knew how to exact even  
from kings4#fh ,the author of ,the      
,hypocrite1#fi the prototype of         
,tartuffe1 was also the model4          
,messire1 he wrote in ,november1 #aede1 
as a baptised man ,i am ashamed of the  
license which you have permitted        
yourself in expressing your conception  
of that end toward which turn all the   
aspirations of our true faith4 ,now     
behold that this ,michelangelo1 a man of
 such astounding fame and universally   
admired1 has exposed to the world as    
much impiety and irreligion as          

perfection of painting4 ,is it possible 
that you1 who1 being divine1 do not     
condescend to have commerce with men1 is
 it possible that you have done this in 
the greatest temple of ,god1 above the  
highest altar of ,christ1 in the most   
sacred chapel in the world1 where the   
great hinges of the church1 the         
venerable pontiffs1 the ,vicars of      
,christ1 by the ,catholic ceremonies and
 holy prayers confess1 contemplate and  
adore ,his body and blood8 ,in so lofty 
a representation you draw saints and    
angels1 the first without any           
terrestrial decency and the others      
deprived of all celestial honours4      
,remember the ,pagans1 who1 when they   
made statues of ,diana1 clothed her and 
even made the naked ,venus cover with   
her hands those parts which should not  
be shown1 and behold here a ,christian1 
who1 placing art above faith1 holds it a
 royal spectacle not to observe equal   
decency toward the martyrs and the      
virgins1 and shows gestures so coarse   

that even women of the street would shut
 their eyes so as not to see them4 ,such
 a style belongs only in a voluptuous   
bagnio and not in the most holy chapel4 
,it would be a lesser crime not to      
believe than to attack in such a way the
 faith of others4 ,already the          
excellence of these indiscreet wonders  
has been punished1 since they have      
accomplished the miracle of killing your
 glory4 ,therefore regain your honour by
 placing flames of fire over the        
shameful parts of the damned1 and rays  
of sunlight over those of the saved1 or1
 still better1 imitate the modesty of   
the ,florentines1 who hid under golden  
leaves the belly of your beautiful      
colossal ,david1 even though that stood 
in a public square and not in a sacred  
place4 ,may ,god forgive you4 ,i do not 
say this to you through resentment at   
not having received what ,i asked you   
for1 although you should have sent me   
what you agreed1 and you would have done
 well to have taken the greatest        

possible trouble about it1 for you would
 in that way put an end to the rumours  
which say that no one can get anything  
from you but ,gherardi and ,tomai4#gj   
,but if the treasure which ,julius ,,ii 
left you so that his remains should be  
placed in a monument carved by you1 has 
not been enough to make you keep your   
promises1 what could ,i expect8 ,anyway1
 it is a fact that your failure to      
redeem that debt is considered as a     
theft4444 ,but since our souls have more
 need of faith than of lifelikeness of  
drawing1 may ,god inspire his ,holiness1
 ,paul ,,iii1 as ,he inspired the       
blessed ,gregory who decided to strip   
,rome of the superb statues of the idols
 rather than to do harm through them to 
the respect due to the humble images of 
the saints6 ,finally1 to sum up1 if you 
had taken counsel in your composition of
 the universe1 the abyss and paradise of
 the glorious and terrible sketch which 
,i sent you and of my instructions1 and 
of the knowledge which the world has so 

praised in me1 ,i dare say that no one  
would have regretted it4#ga  ,this      
venomous letter was1 unluckily1 not a   
simple act of vengeance and of          
blackmail4 ,it was the hypocritical echo
 of many sincere protestations4 ,a      
,florentine in #aedi called             
,michelangelo the creator of that       
vileness1 irreproachable in art but not 
in faith1 and he added1 ,all the modern 
painters and sculptors imitate such     
,lutheran abominations4#gb ,they paint  
and carve even in the least important   
churches only such figures as are       
calculated to destroy faith and         
devotion2 but ,i hope that some day ,god
 will send ,his saints to overthrow such
 idolatries4 ,the trial of ,veronese in 
a certain measure justifies these       
accusations4 ,brought before the        
,inquisition on ,july #ah1 #aegc1 for   
the indecency of his ,feast in the      
,house of ,simon1 ,veronese did not fail
 to intrench himself behind the example 
of the ,last ,judgment4#gc ,it is true  

that the ,inquisition undertook nobly   
the defense of ,michelangelo against    
him4  ,do you not know that in          
representing the ,last ,judgment1 in    
which we can not imagine any clothing1  
there was no ground for painting any8   
,but what is there in those figures that
 is not inspired by the ,holy ,spirit8  
,there are neither buffoons nor dogs1   
nor arms or other mockeries4444  ,but   
,rome had not so lofty a spirit2 the    
ideas of ,biagio and ,aretino made their
 way4 ,neither the ,european glory of   
,michelangelo nor his favour with the   
popes nor the respect inspired by the   
nobility of his life and his well-known 
faith succeeded in protecting the ,last 
,judgment from the zeal of the bigots4  
,paul ,,iv ,caraffa had for a while the 
idea of covering up the entire fresco4  
,by his order ,daniele da ,volterra     
clothed the nakedness which wounded     
,aretino's modesty 7in #aeei-aefj7 and  
gained for this the surname of          
,braghettone4  ,under ,pius ,v in #aeff 

,girolamo da ,fano continued this holy  
work4 ,this was not enough to satisfy   
the wrath of the good people1 for in    
#aeif ,clement ,,viii ,aldobrandini     
again wanted to have the ,judgment      
painted out4 ,he was prevented by a     
protest from the ,academy of ,st4       
,luke4#gd ,indeed1 until the eighteenth 
century the work of ,michelangelo was   
shamelessly redressed1 retouched and    
repainted4#ge ,it is therefore          
impossible to judge to-day exactly of   
the original appearance and especially  
of the colour1 the harmony of which has 
been outrageously destroyed4#gf         
,michelangelo1 unmoved1 watched the     
mutilation of his work4 ,he was asked   
his opinion1 and he answered without    
anger and with calm contempt3 ,say to   
his ,holiness that this is a little     
thing which can easily be put in order4 
,let him attend to putting the world in 
order2 to reform a painting is not much 
trouble4  ,in spite of everything the   
,last ,judgment was the school of the   

world4 ,men came from all over ,italy   
and from abroad to be present at its    
unveiling on ,december #be1 #aeda4      
,hosts of ,italian1 ,french1 ,flemish   
and ,german artists followed each other 
without respite through the ,sistine    
,chapel1 copying zealously the entire   
fresco1 and the glory of ,michelangelo1 
far from being diminished as ,aretino   
predicted1 became colossal on account of
 it4  ,that sublime painting1 writes    
,vasari1 should serve as a model in our 
art4 ,divine ,providence made this      
present to the world to show how much   
intelligence she could bestow on certain
 men whom she sends to the earth4 ,the  
most learned draughtsman will tremble   
when he sees those bold outlines and    
those marvellous foreshortenings4 ,in   
the presence of that celestial work our 
senses are paralysed and we ask         
ourselves what will exist of the works  
which were made before this and the     
works that will be made after it4 ,one  
can call oneself happy when one has seen

 this prodigy of art and of genius4 ,o  
fortunate ,paul ,,iii6 ,heaven has      
allowed you to be the patron of that    
glory4 ,your name will live forever     
beside that of ,buonarroti whose fame   
fills the universe4  ,the fresco of the 
,sistine was hardly finished when the   
insatiable ,paul ,,iii insisted that    
,michelangelo1 in spite of his extreme  
old age1 should paint the frescoes of   
the ,pauline ,chapel4 ,with a great     
effort he completed the conversion of   
,st4 ,paul and the ,crucifixion of ,st4 
,peter which1 begun in #aedb1 injured   
after #aede by a fire1 interrupted by   
two severe illnesses in #aedd and #aedf1
 were finally completed in #aedi-aeej4  
,he complained1 says ,vasari1 that he   
had suffered greatly in executing these 
works4 ,painting1 and especially fresco1
 is not fitted for an old man4 ,he was1 
as a matter of fact1 seventy-five years 
old4 ,both frescoes to-day have almost  
disappeared4 ,in spite of the           
exaggeration of the attitudes and the   

abuse of virtuosity1 ,michelangelo had  
preserved in them his rough vigour1 and 
we can still see there a tumultuous     
force which struggles in darkness4#gg   
,during this fifteen years' work the old
 man had lost all hope of ever finishing
 the monument of ,julius ,,ii1 and had  
with great difficulty prevented ,paul   
,,iii from taking some of the statues to
 serve as ornaments of the ,pauline     
,chapel4 ,he had had to sign1 on ,august
 #bj1 #aedb1 a fifth and last contract  
with the heirs of ,julius ,,ii4 ,by this
 agreement he relinquished for the time 
being three statues1 which must have    
been the ,moses and the two ,slaves4#gh 
,then he decided that the ,slaves were  
not any longer fitted to the tomb and he
 began two other figures1 ,active ,life 
and ,contemplative ,life4#gi  ,in       
addition1 ,michelangelo agreed to give  
fourteen hundred crowns#hj to his pupil 
,urbino and to ,raffaello da ,montelupo 
for finishing the monument1 after which 
he was to be free from all obligation   

forever4  ,but he had not reached the   
end of his troubles1 for the heirs of   
,julius ,,ii continued persecuting the  
poor man with insulting demands for     
money which they pretended to have      
previously disbursed to him4            
,michelangelo went almost mad1 as he had
 done in the time of ,clement ,,vii over
 the ,medici ,chapel1 and it was in vain
 that ,paul ,,iii commanded him not to  
think about it1 but to give himself up  
entirely to his painting of the ,pauline
 ,chapel4  ,he answered1 ,you paint with
 your head and not with your hands4 ,who
 does not think for himself dishonours  
himself4 ,that is why ,i can do nothing 
good so long as ,i have these           
preoccupations4 ,i have been chained to 
this trouble all my life1 he continued1 
bitterly1 ,i have lost my youth over it2
 ,i have been ruined by my too great    
conscientiousness4 ,it is my fate2 ,i   
see many people who live tranquilly on  
an income of two or three thousand      
crowns and ,i have only succeeded after 

a terrible struggle in being poor4#ha   
,to satisfy his creditors he finished   
with his own hands the statues of       
,active ,life and ,contemplative        
,life1#hb although he was not obliged to
 do so4  ,at last the monument of       
,julius ,,ii was finished and shown in  
the ,church of ,s4 ,pietro in ,vinculi  
in ,february1 #aede4 ,what was left of  
the beautiful original plan8 ,only the  
,moses which had become the central     
figure after having been merely one of  
the details4 ,would the complete work   
have been a prodigy analogous for       
sculpture to what the ,sistine ,chapel  
is for painting8 ,certainly no prophet  
of the ,sistine ,chapel attains to the  
sovereign perfection of the ,moses4     
,illustration3 ,,moses  ,figure for the 
,tomb of ,julius ,,ii 7#aeac-aeaf74     
,san ,pietro-in-,vinculi1 ,rome4  ,the  
,moses is a supernatural and savage     
apparition half beast1 half god4 ,pagan8
 ,christian8 ,no one knows4 ,two horns  
pierce the narrow skull1 a flowing beard

 descends from his face to his knees    
like a parasitical vine attached to a   
great tree4 ,he seems calm1 but in his  
terrible jaw with close-shut teeth and  
projecting lower lip is wrath which     
shatters and crushes like the first     
chords of the overture to ,coriolanus4  
,an implacable and murderous force1 a   
tumult of rage and contempt wars in the 
silence of that arrogant being1 with his
 huge bulk1 his knotted arms--less      
brutal than those of most of            
,michelangelo's heroes1 and with strong 
and beautiful hands--and left leg bent  
ready to rise4 ,the dress is a barbarous
 one4 ,no other work of ,michelangelo is
 as completely finished4 ,we feel that  
he had lived with it more than thirty   
years without being willing to let it   
go4 ,he could see himself in it as in a 
superb mirror which gave him back the   
image that he had divined of his own    
soul4 ,for the ,moses is not only the   
most perfect artistic expression of his 
genius1 but also its highest moral      

expression4 ,nowhere else has he so     
completely realised the majestic balance
 of a violent and passionate soul       
controlled by an iron will4 ,everywhere 
else passion is let loose and the human 
being is given into its hands4 ,here the
 savage elements are in suspense1 ready 
to fuse4 ,it is a thunder-cloud charged 
with lightning4  ,beside that superhuman
 creation rich with the whole life of   
,michelangelo1 the two gracious figures 
of ,leah and ,rachel1 the work of his   
old age1 seem a little cold and         
affected4  ,i seemed in a dream to see a
 lady1 young and beautiful1 going       
through a meadow1 gathering flowers1 and
 singing she was saying1 ',let him know1
 whoso asks my name1 that ,i am ,leah1  
and ,i go moving my fair hands around to
 make myself a garland4 ,to please me at
 the glass here ,i adorn me1 but my     
sister ,rachel never withdraws from her 
mirror1 and sits all day4 ,she is as    
fain to look with her fair eyes as ,i to
 adorn me with my hands4 ,her seeing1   

and me doing1 satisfies4'#hc  ,the      
perfume of these lovely verses of ,dante
 penetrates ,michelangelo's two statues1
 which are rather apart from the rest of
 his work4 ,if it were not for the      
largeness of their conception they would
 recall by their morbidezza and their   
cold grace the style of ,civitale and   
,rossellino4 ,michelangelo seems here to
 be softened and a little tamed4  ,the  
symbolical meaning of these figures is  
obscure1 as usual with him4 ,his        
intellectual quality was rarely strong  
enough or rather clear enough to impose 
itself on his artistic conceptions4 ,it 
is placed in juxtaposition to them in a 
puerile and accessory way as in the     
allegorical attributes of the ,medici   
tombs1 and we can take it away without  
hurting the strength of the work4  ,as  
for the rest of the monument of ,julius 
,,ii1 it is not worth mentioning4#hd ,it
 is a caricature of the great project1  
but at least it was finished4           
,michelangelo was delivered from the    

nightmare of his whole life4            
,,chapter ,v  ,,old ,,age ,,and ,,death 
7#aedg-aefd7   ,michelangelo cared no   
longer for his own glory4 ,he thought   
only of the glory of ,god1 and art had  
become to him merely a means of service4
 ,he wrote1 ,i understand now how great 
is the mistake1 the passionate delusion 
in which ,i made of art an idol and a   
king4      ,l'affectuosa fantasia1      
,che l'arte mi fece idol'e monarca1     
,conosco or ben1 com'era d'error        
carca4444#he  ,his soul had turned to   
that divine love which welcomes us with 
arms outspread upon the cross4          
,l'anima1 volta a quell'amor divino     
,c'aperse a prender noi 'n croce le     
braccia4  ,he wished to consecrate all  
that remained of his life to the task of
 building for his ,god the temple of    
temples1 ,st4 ,peter's4  ,by a          
pontifical letter of ,paul ,,iii1 dated 
,january #a1 #aedg1 and renewed by      
,julius ,,iii in #aeeb he had been      
appointed governor and architect of ,st4

 ,peter's with full power to carry on   
the construction4 ,he accepted this     
heavy task as a sacred duty1 and refused
 to take any pay for it4 ,in #aeeg he   
wrote to his nephew ,lionardo1 many     
people believe1 as ,i do myself1 that ,i
 have been placed at this post by ,god4 
,i will not leave it because ,i am      
serving for the love of ,god and put all
 my hope in ,him4#hf  ,he at once found 
himself in trouble with the party of    
,san ,gallo4 ,they had always been his  
enemies and it must be acknowledged that
 he had done his best to deserve their  
hostility4  ,when ,raphael was directing
 the work on ,st4 ,peter's1 ,antonio da 
,san ,gallo had been his assistant1 and 
he therefore belonged to the party      
opposed to ,michelangelo4 ,in #aecg ,san
 ,gallo became architect-in-chief1      
succeeding ,baldassare ,peruzzi1 and he 
abandoned1 as ,raphael had done1        
,bramante's great design for the main   
construction4 ,michelangelo1 on the     
contrary1 went back to that plan1 for   

whatever rancour he might feel against  
,bramante personally1 his genius bowed  
before that of the great architect4 ,he 
wrote in #aeee to ,bartolommeo          
,ammanati1 ,it can not be denied that in
 architecture ,bramante was greater than
 any other man since classic times4 ,he 
conceived the first design for ,st4     
,peter's1 simple1 clear and free from   
all confusion1 and whoever like ,san    
,gallo has turned aside from this plan  
has turned aside from the truth4        
,before the disagreement over ,st4      
,peter's1 ,michelangelo had twice come  
into sharp conflict with ,san ,gallo    
over the fortifications of the ,borgo   
and the completion of the ,farnese      
palace4  ,paul ,,iii wished to          
reconstruct and complete the            
fortifications of ,rome which had been  
destroyed in #aebg4 ,san ,gallo had been
 engaged on them since #aecd1 but the   
work had only been actively pushed since
 #aedb4 ,in ,february1 #aede1 meetings  
were held under the presidency of ,pier 

,luigi ,farnese in the ,castle of ,st4  
,angelo to discuss the subject of the   
fortifications of the ,borgo1 and to    
these ,michelangelo was summoned4 ,he   
expressed opinions absolutely opposed to
 those of ,san ,gallo and enumerated the
 faults already committed in the works4 
,hot words were exchanged1 and the pope 
was obliged to command both men to be   
silent4 ,soon after this affair         
,michelangelo made a new design for the 
fortifications involving the destruction
 of ,san ,gallo's work1 and this was    
accepted4#hg  ,michelangelo added to    
this defeat another more bitter still4  
,san ,gallo had built the ,farnese      
palace up to the second story1 but his  
plans for the third story and the       
cornice did not please the pope1 who    
turned them over to ,michelangelo to be 
mercilessly criticised4 ,a competition  
was opened in #aedf for the cornice in  
which ,perino del ,vaga1 ,sebastiano del
 ,piombo1 ,vasari and ,michelangelo took
 part4 ,michelangelo's design was       

accepted1 and when ,san ,gallo died from
 this humiliation in ,october1 #aedf1   
the direction of the work on the palace 
passed at once into his hands4          
,michelangelo set aside the original    
plan entirely and built the third story 
on the court on the ,corinthian order4  
,he also built the beautiful cornice1 so
 broad and fine in conception1 in which 
he had possibly the assistance of       
,vignole or ,guglielmo della ,porta4    
,even ,san ,gallo's death did not disarm
 ,michelangelo1 who searched            
relentlessly for the malpractices       
committed under his predecessor in the  
work on ,st4 ,peter's and who raged     
against the guilty with a violence which
 ,vasari still echoes when he says1     
,michelangelo delivered ,st4 ,peter's   
from thieves and bandits4  ,it is easy  
to imagine what hatred these proceedings
 awakened in ,san ,gallo's party1       
supported by all the contractors and    
foremen whose faults ,michelangelo had  
denounced and prosecuted4 ,the members  

of the committee of administration      
themselves were accomplices4#hh  ,a     
coalition was formed against him which  
had for its chief ,nanni di ,baccio     
,bigio1 the rascally architect whom     
,vasari accuses of having stolen        
,michelangelo's plans even before this  
trouble4 ,from the very beginning of    
,michelangelo's direction at ,st4       
,peter's ,nanni spread the rumour that  
he knew nothing of architecture1 that   
his model was childish1 that he         
squandered the money and hid himself to 
work at night for fear that his blunders
 would be seen4 ,it was also rumoured   
that the cornice of the ,farnese palace 
was in danger of falling4 ,michelangelo 
was exasperated4 ,who are these rogues1 
these triple scoundrels1 he wrote to the
 committee of administration1 who1 after
 they had spread lies about my work on  
the ,farnese palace1 lied still more in 
the report that they sent to the        
committee of ,st4 ,peter's8  ,the       
committee1 instead of defending him1    

joined in the chorus of his             
calumniators4 ,they sent a protest to   
the pope because1 they said1 he kept    
them entirely ignorant of his plans1    
which he showed to no one1 while he     
destroyed the work of his predecessor4  
,they wished to be freed from any       
responsibility for such proceedings1    
especially for the destruction which had
 been and continued to be so great that 
all who witnessed it were greatly       
disturbed4  ,they succeeded in bringing 
about in #aeea a meeting at ,st4        
,peter's under the presidency of the    
pope1 where all the builders and        
foremen1 supported by the ,cardinals    
,salviati and ,marcello ,cervini 7the   
future pope1 ,marcellus ,,ii71 testified
 against ,michelangelo4 ,vasari         
describes the scene for us4 ,at this    
time ,michelangelo had already finished 
the main apse with the three chapels and
 the three windows above them1 but no   
one knew yet how he would vault the     
church1 and all agreed in prophesying   

that the lighting would be insufficient4
 ,michelangelo1 when he was questioned  
by ,cardinal ,cervini1 explained that   
besides the three windows already built 
there would be three more in the vault1 
which was to be built of travertine4    
,you never told us anything about that1 
said the cardinal4 ,i am not obliged to 
tell your lordships or anyone else what 
,i intend to do1 replied ,michelangelo2 
your business is to take charge of the  
expenses and to see that no one steals4 
,the building is my affair4 ,he then    
turned to the pope and said1 ,holy      
,father1 you see what my pay is4 ,if the
 miseries ,i endure do not help my soul 
it is all time and trouble lost4  ,the  
pope1 who loved him1 placed his hands on
 his shoulders and said3 ,you gain for  
both your soul and your body4 ,have no  
fear4#hi  ,illustration3 ,,tomb ,,of    
,,giuliano ,,de' ,,medici  ,chapel of   
the ,medici in ,san ,lorenzo1 ,florence 
7#aebd-aebf and #aecj-aecd74  ,without  
the favour of the pope he could not have

 held out for a moment against the      
enmity which his haughty and            
contemptuous ways roused against him4   
,therefore when ,paul ,,iii died and    
,marcellus ,,ii succeeded him 7,april   
#i1 #aeee7 ,michelangelo was on the     
point of leaving ,rome1 but by the      
twenty-third of ,may ,marcellus had died
 and ,paul ,,iv took his place4         
,michelangelo1 again sure of the highest
 protection1 went on with his fight4 ,he
 would have thought himself dishonoured 
and would have feared for his salvation 
if he had given up the work4 ,against my
 will1 he wrote in #aeee1 ,i was        
entrusted with this task1 and for eight 
years ,i have exhausted myself in vain  
in the midst of all kinds of trouble and
 weariness4 ,now that the construction  
is so far advanced that ,i can begin to 
vault the dome1 to leave ,rome would be 
to ruin the whole work1 a great shame to
 me and for my soul a great sin4#ij  ,in
 #aeeg ,cosmo de' ,medici begged him to 
come back to ,florence where honour and 

rest awaited him1 but he answered       
firmly1 ,i can not leave here until ,i  
have carried the construction of ,st4   
,peter's so far that my plan can not be 
changed or destroyed and there will no  
longer be any possibility for thieves to
 begin their work again1 as these       
scoundrels are only waiting for a chance
 to do4 ,this is my resolve4  ,that same
 year his friends1 who were afraid that 
he would carry his great designs with   
him into the grave1 for none of them    
were written down1 urged and besought   
until they succeeded in persuading him  
to execute a model in wood of the dome  
of ,st4 ,peter's4#ia ,he was still      
working on this in #aefj4  ,the building
 went on1 but not without many          
difficulties4 ,it was necessary in #aeeg
 to rebuild almost the entire vault of  
the ,chapel of the ,king of ,france     
because ,michelangelo had been ill and  
unable to watch the work closely enough4
  ,the attacks on him began again with  
fresh vigour at each mistake1 and some  

of his best friends1 like ,cardinal     
,carpi1 joined in them4 ,michelangelo   
heard from ,francesco ,bandini that the 
cardinal said everywhere that the work  
on ,st4 ,peter's could not be worse     
managed4 ,much hurt1 he wrote to him at 
once that1 although he felt sure that   
the work was going on well1 he feared   
that possibly his own enthusiasm and his
 age had blinded him and were1 without  
his knowing it1 a source of harm and    
danger to the building4 ,in consequence 
he begged that they would be so kind as 
to relieve him of the load which he had 
carried without pay for seventeen years 
under the orders of the popes4 ,he      
offered his resignation4 ,a greater     
favour than its acceptance1 he said1    
could not be accorded him4#ib  ,his     
resignation was not accepted1 and ,pius 
,,iv in a pontifical letter gave him    
full powers and forbade that his plans  
should be set aside4  ,but ,nanni di    
,baccio ,bigio1 indefatigable in his    
hate1 moved heaven and earth to drive   

him away4 ,in #aefb ,nanni appealed to  
,cosmo de' ,medici for his aid in       
securing the appointment of architect of
 ,st4 ,peter's4 ,cosmo answered that he 
would do nothing about it while         
,michelangelo lived4  ,in #aefc the     
struggle became a tragic one4 ,the head 
of the work at ,st4 ,peter's1 ,cesare de
 ,casteldurante1 was stabbed1 and ,pier 
,luigi ,gaeta1 ,michelangelo's friend   
and one of his best aids1 was thrown    
into prison on a false accusation of    
theft4 ,michelangelo responded to this  
by appointing ,gaeta in ,cesare's place4
 ,the committee of administration       
dismissed ,gaeta and put ,nanni in his  
place1 and ,michelangelo1 beside himself
 with rage1 no longer went to ,st4      
,peter's4 ,his enemies did not lose this
 chance to spread the report that he was
 no longer willing to take charge of the
 building1 and ,michelangelo denied this
 in vain4 ,the committee nominated a    
successor1 and this successor was of    
course ,nanni4 ,nanni cut loose at once 

from his master and began to give       
orders1 for he thought that the old man 
of eighty-eight1 weary at last of the   
struggle1 would be forced either to     
submit or to resign4 ,he did not know   
his antagonist4 ,michelangelo went at   
once to the pope and told him that if   
justice was not done he would leave     
,rome and go to ,florence4 ,the pope    
called the committee together and the   
members accused ,michelangelo of having 
committed errors which endangered the   
whole building4 ,michelangelo asked for 
an investigation and summoned ,nanni to 
show the mistakes of which he accused   
him4 ,nanni could show nothing but his  
own bad faith1 and was dismissed in     
disgrace4#ic  ,this did not prevent     
,nanni from sending1 five months later1 
just after the death of ,michelangelo1 a
 letter by the ,florentine ambassador to
 ,cosmo de' ,medici1 asking again to be 
appointed his successor4  ,until his    
last hour ,michelangelo met with this   
fierce opposition over the work on ,st4 

,peter's1 but his faith and his fighting
 spirit found in this only another      
reason for persevering4  ,while         
,michelangelo had taken ,bramante's     
design for the church and rested on his 
authority1 he had in the course of      
construction introduced many important  
modifications into the plan1 and stamped
 the whole monument with the imprint of 
his own grandiose and heavy genius4  ,he
 kept the ,greek cross with equal arms  
and four apses1 at the same time hiding 
the apse of the faade in a rectangular  
mass against which he wished to put a   
portico with four gigantic columns4 ,he 
suppressed the salient angles and the   
towers which should have risen at the   
extremities of the four arms of the     
cross4 ,the beautiful clean-cut lines of
 the curved ends of these arms1 which in
 ,bramante's plan stretched out in the  
form of a semicircular tribune1 were    
smothered in a massive1 vigorous        
envelope which gave the construction the
 effect of a fortified bastion4  ,the   

most beautiful part of the work was the 
famous dome1 where the influence of     
,brunelleschi combined with the         
conception of ,bramante4 ,michelangelo  
said once while he was working on ,s4   
,lorenzo in ,florence that it was       
possible to do differently from         
,brunelleschi1 but not to do better4    
,he did not fail to remember the        
masterly dome of ,s4 ,maria de ,fiore1  
for as soon as he was appointed to ,st4 
,peter's he had the exact measures of   
this dome from the lantern to the       
ground1 and also the height sent to him4
 ,the dimensions that he chose for ,st4 
,peter's seem to have been inspired by  
them4#id  ,bramante in his design as    
shown by ,burckhardt and de             
,geymueller#ie gave the principal       
importance to a circular colonnade      
crowned by statues on which the dome    
seemed to rest4 ,michelangelo           
concentrated his attention on the dome  
itself1 subordinating1 as ever1 grace   
and harmony to majesty and force4 ,he   

accentuated the buttresses of the drum  
with pairs of columns and raised the    
outer dome of the cupola1 whose         
beautiful curve possesses an impetuous  
quality which recalls1 with less passion
 and more freedom1 the huge octagonal   
dome of ,brunelleschi1 crouching on its 
base like a beast ready to spring4#if   
,the lofty serenity of the dome of ,st4 
,peter's is almost unique in the work of
 ,michelangelo4 ,he had lived so long   
with the thoughts of ,raphael and       
,bramante that at last their smile was  
reflected in his work4#ig  ,besides this
 great masterpiece other architectural  
works filled the end of his life--the   
rebuilding of the ,capitol1 the ,porta  
,pia1 ,s4 ,maria degli ,angeli and ,s4  
,giovanni dei ,fiorentini4  ,it was in  
#aedh that ,michelangelo presided over  
the erection of the statue of ,marcus   
,aurelius in the square before the      
,capitol1 but his first sketch for the  
palaces were no earlier than #aedf1 and 
when he died the buildings were far from

 finished4  ,he never saw the stairway  
or the colonnades4 ,an engraving of     
,prac's executed in #aeei after         
,michelangelo's own drawings1 ex ipso   
exemplari ,michaelis ,bonaroti1 and     
reproduced in the ,speculum ,romanie    
,magnificenti of ,lafreri1 show exactly 
what his plan was and take from him all 
blame for the incoherencies and         
vulgarities put into the execution after
 his death4 ,the beautiful double       
staircase of the ,senatorial ,palace and
 the fountain with the river gods is all
 his own2 but he had meant to put a     
colonnade crowned by pilasters at the   
top of the stairway1 the windows of the 
upper story should have been higher and 
the campanile crenellated4#ih ,the      
,porta ,pia was at the end of a long    
street which ran from the ,monte        
,cavallo4#ii ,michelangelo made three   
designs for it in #aefa1 of which ,pius 
,,iv chose the most reasonable1         
according to ,vasari4 ,this was more to 
the credit of the pope than the artist1 

for the plan which was carried out      
shows1 with a few remnants of massive   
and imperious power1 a complete lack of 
good taste4  ,he also worked in         
#aefj-aefa at the transformation of the 
great hall in the baths of ,diocletian  
into the church of ,s4 ,maria degli     
,angeli1 but it is almost impossible to 
judge this now1 for his work was        
entirely changed and disfigured in #agdf
 by ,vanvitelli4  ,he was no more       
fortunate with the ,church of ,s4       
,giovanni dei ,fiorentini at ,rome1     
which was another of his great projects1
 undertaken with enthusiasm and ending  
in nothing4 ,s4 ,giovanni had been begun
 under ,leo ,x by ,jacopo ,sansovino4   
,antonio da ,san ,gallo had worked on it
 later and had made a model of the      
church1 and then the construction had   
been abandoned4 ,in #aeej1 at the       
suggestion of ,bindo ,altoviti1         
,michelangelo determined to consecrate  
himself to this work and had almost     
persuaded ,julius ,,iii1 but the money  

was lacking4#ajj ,in #aeei the          
,florentines took up the idea again and 
decided to put a church of a new plan on
 the old foundations1 and their         
procurators1 ,francesco ,bandini1       
,uberto ,ubaldini and ,tommaso de'      
,bardi1 asked ,michelangelo to take     
charge of it in spite of his duties at  
,st4 ,peter's4 ,cosmo de' ,medici       
himself wrote a most flattering letter  
begging him to accept1 and ,michelangelo
 answered the duke that he considered   
his wish an order and had already shown 
the ,florentine deputies several        
drawings1 of which they had chosen the  
one which he considered the best4#aja ,i
 am sorry1 he added1 to be now so old   
and so little alive that ,i can not do  
all ,i would or all that is my duty to  
your lordship and the people4           
,nevertheless ,i will make the effort by
 directing everything from my house to  
accomplish what your lordship           
desires4#ajb  ,in spite of his age he   
began with the same enthusiasm with     

which he had undertaken the unlucky     
faade of ,s4 ,lorenzo4 ,he told the     
commission that if they carried out his 
plans neither the ,greeks nor the       
,romans would have done anything like   
it4 ,words1 says ,vasari1 of a kind that
 never came from the mouth of           
,michelangelo before or after1 for he   
was extremely modest4  ,illustration3   
,,dawn  ,figure from the ,tomb of       
,lorenzo de' ,medici4  ,chapel of the   
,medici in ,san ,lorenzo1 ,florence     
7#aebd-aebf and #aecj-aecd7  ,the       
,florentines accepted his plans without 
change and gave the execution of them to
 ,tiberio ,calcagni4  ,michelangelo1    
says ,vasari1 explained his project to  
,tiberio so that he could make a clear  
and accurate drawing of it4 ,he gave him
 the profiles of the interior and       
exterior and made him a model in wax4   
,tiberio in ten days finished a model   
two feet high1 and as it pleased all the
 people another model was made in wood  
which is now in the ,consulate4 ,it is a

 work of such rare art that there never 
was seen a church so beautiful1 so rich 
and with such variety of fancy4 ,the    
building was commenced and five thousand
 crowns spent2 then the money gave out  
and the work stopped1 to ,michelangelo's
 most profound disappointment4 ,not only
 was the church not built1 but the model
 disappeared with all the plans4 ,this  
was the last artistic disappointment of 
his life4#ajc  ,he could no longer      
paint1 but he still continued to work at
 his sculpture from a sort of physical  
need4 ,vasari says that his genius and  
strength could not live without         
creation4 ,he attacked a block of marble
 to cut from it four figures larger than
 life1 of which one was a dead          
,christ4#ajd ,he did this to amuse      
himself and to pass the time1 and       
because he said that work with a chisel 
kept him in health4 ,he worked at       
night#aje and slept very little1 and had
 made himself a helmet of cardboard to  
hold a lighted candle on his head so    

that with both hands free he could light
 what he was doing4 ,even at that age he
 cut the marble with such impetuosity   
and vigour that it seemed to fly in     
pieces4 ,he broke off in one blow great 
fragments four or five inches thick and 
left a line so pure that if he had gone 
a hair's breadth further he would have  
risked ruining the whole4 ,this did     
happen to many of his works1 which      
remained merely blocked out like the    
figures in the ,boboli grotto1 or half  
finished like the ,madonna of the       
,medici chapel1 or destroyed1 as all but
 happened to the admirable ,descent from
 the ,cross in the cathedral at         
,florence4  ,he would break a work in   
pieces1 says ,vasari1 either because the
 block was hard and full of flaws and   
sparks shot out from under the chisel1  
or because the uncompromising judgment  
of this man was never contented with    
anything that he did1 which is easily   
proved by the fact that so few of the   
works of his maturity are complete2 the 

only finished ones dated from his youth4
  ,the ,florentine sculptor ,tiberio    
,calcagni1 who was a friend as well as  
his assistant at ,s4 ,giovanni dei      
,fiorentini1 found the debris of a ,piet
 one day1 and asked why he had destroyed
 so admirable a work4 ,michelangelo told
 him that it was partly the fault of his
 servant ,urbino1 who urged him every   
day to finish it1 when he was already   
annoyed by a flaw in the marble so that 
he had lost patience and had broken it4 
,he would have destroyed it entirely but
 that his servant ,antonio had begged   
for what remained4 ,tiberio bought the  
marble from ,antonio for two hundred    
gold crowns and asked ,michelangelo's   
permission to finish it for their mutual
 friend ,francesco ,bandini4            
,michelangelo was entirely willing1 and 
the group was restored by ,tiberio1 who 
completed several parts of it1 but      
,bandini1 ,michelangelo and ,tiberio all
 died and it was never finished4#ajf    
,it is all the more moving for that     

reason4 ,in the half-shadow behind the  
high altar in ,florence it stirs one    
with indescribable emotion4 ,perhaps no 
other work of ,michelangelo is so human 
or speaks so directly to the soul4 ,from
 heart to heart1 as ,beethoven wrote at 
the end of his mass in ,d4 ,it is the   
expression of those long nights when he 
was alone face to face with his sorrow  
and spoke only to himself4 ,he          
represents himself in the form of an old
 man1 in a monk's cowl1 bending with    
infinite sadness and tenderness to      
support the sinking body of the dead    
,christ4  ,in this piece of stone hardly
 blocked out smoulders deep sorrow and  
an agony of pain4 ,but what great love  
is in that suffering1 in the scarcely   
modelled face of the mother with closed 
eyes and parted lips1 and in the tender 
movement of the hand which rests on the 
naked breast of her son1 whose head has 
sunk against her shoulder4 ,how much    
,michelangelo has softened since his    
early work1 how far this feeling is from

 the implacable heroism of his youth1   
how far it is indeed from the lovely    
,piet of ,st4 ,peter's1 where serene    
beauty rises above the sorrow4 ,here he 
suffers and abandons himself to the     
suffering4 ,what matters a lack of      
proportion and an uncertain             
composition8#ajg ,the work is unique in 
its intimacy4 ,it is his whole soul laid
 bare4  ,michelangelo never lacked      
illustrious friends4 ,from the time of  
his early youth1 when he talked in the  
gardens of ,san ,marco with ,lorenzo de'
 ,medici and ,poliziano1 he was always  
in close touch with the best among the  
nobles and princes1 prelates and poets  
and artists of ,italy4#ajh ,he had a    
peculiarly close friendship with        
,francesco ,berni and ,sebastiano del   
,piombo#aji under ,clement ,,vii and    
with ,luigi del ,riccio1 ,donato        
,giannotti and ,benedetto ,varchi#aaj   
under ,paul ,,iii1 and at the close of  
his life he was surrounded by the pious 
worship of pupils and admirers like     

,benvenuto ,cellini1 ,bronzino1 ,daniele
 da ,volterra1 ,leone ,leoni1 ,vasari   
and his biographer1 almost his          
hagiographer1 ,condivi1 whose book      
begins with these words3  ,since the    
hour when our ,lord ,god by special     
mercy judged me worthy to not only see  
,michelangelo1 which ,i could hardly    
have dared to hope for1 but to enjoy his
 affection1 his conversation and his    
confidence--grateful for such a great   
blessing1 ,i have made all possible     
effort not only to collect and write    
down the instructions which he gave me  
on art1 but all his words1 actions and  
habits and all things in his life which 
seemed to me worthy of praise1          
admiration or emulation4 ,this ,i do to 
pay back a little of the infinite       
obligation which ,i owe to him no less  
than to be useful to others by giving   
them the example of such a man4#aaa     
,the artists were not the only ones who 
looked upon ,michelangelo as a          
supernatural being1 for princes bowed   

before his fame and his great virtue as 
,vasari calls it4 ,cosmo de' ,medici1   
who tried in vain to recall him to      
,florence1 even offering to make him a  
senator1#aab treated ,michelangelo as an
 equal1 ,cosmo's son ,don ,francesco    
received him with even greater respect  
7in ,october1 #aefa71 his cap in his    
hand1 showing a reverence without limit 
for so extraordinary a man4  ,in spite  
of all this adulation1 or perhaps       
because of it1 he had as little         
intercourse as possible with the world4 
,popes and princes1 men of letters and  
artists1 held but small place in his    
life1 except a few favourite pupils like
 ,vasari1 for whom he showed a fatherly 
affection1 especially in his last years1
 when1 growing more feeble day by day1  
he grew more demonstrative4  ,i have    
been to see my great ,michelangelo1     
,vasari wrote to ,cosmo in #aefj4 ,he   
did not expect me and showed as much    
feeling as a father who has recovered a 
lost son4 ,he threw his arms around my  

neck and kissed me a thousand times1    
crying with pleasure 7lacrymando per    
dolcezza74#aac  ,illustration3          
,,twilight  ,figure from the ,tomb of   
,lorenzo de' ,medici4  ,chapel of the   
,medici in ,san ,lorenzo1 ,florence     
7#aebd-aebf and #aecj-aecd74  ,but the  
best of his heart was kept for his kin  
and for a few humble friends4 ,of his   
two remaining brothers1 ,giovan ,simone 
died in #aedh1 and ,gismondo1 with whom 
he had never had much intercourse1 in   
#aeee4 ,he turned to ,lionardo and      
,francesca1 the children of his         
favourite brother ,buonarroto1 for the  
family affection which he could not do  
without4 ,he charged himself with the   
education of ,lionardo1 who was nine    
years old at his father's death1 and the
 long correspondence between them which 
has been preserved shows how seriously  
he took his responsibility as guardian4 
,the children grew up and after they had
 married he found himself even more     
lonely than before4#aad  ,in his own    

house he had assistants who were devoted
 to him1 but of no great ability4 ,he   
had trouble with those in his service1  
says ,vasari1 for he never chanced to   
find men who could imitate him well4    
,pietro ,urbano de ,pistoia was         
intelligent1 but would take no trouble2 
,antonio ,mini was willing1 but not     
intelligent2 and ,ascanio della ,ripa   
,transone tried hard1 but never         
succeeded in doing anything4 ,it is     
possible that he deliberately chose     
mediocre assistants in order to have    
docile tools instead of collaborators1  
which indeed would have been quite      
legitimate2 but ,condivi says that it is
 not true that he refused to teach them1
 but1 on the contrary1 he did so        
willingly4 ,i myself am the proof of    
that1 for he opened the secrets of his  
heart to me4 ,the trouble was that he   
met with pupils that had no ability1 or 
with able ones who were not persevering 
and who after a few months of his       
teaching thought themselves already     

masters4 ,and though he took a great    
deal of trouble to help them he did not 
want to have this known1 for he loved   
rather to do good than to seem to do it4
  ,his letters show what fatherly       
patience he had with these poor         
creatures4 ,he forgave them any folly if
 they only showed a little good will and
 affection4  ,the one that he cared for 
the most was ,francesco d',amadore1     
called ,urbino1 the son of ,guido di    
,colonello de ,castel ,durante1 who was 
in his service from #aecj and had worked
 on the tomb of ,julius ,,ii4           
,michelangelo was worried about what    
would become of ,urbino after his own   
death1 and one day1 says ,vasari1 he    
asked him1 ,what will you do when ,i    
die8 ,when ,urbino answered1 ,i will    
have to serve some other master1        
,michelangelo said1 ,poor fellow1 ,i am 
going to cure your poverty1 and gave him
 two thousand crowns on the spot1 a gift
 such as only emperors and popes bestow4
  ,it was ,urbino who died first in     

#aeee1 and the day after ,michelangelo  
wrote to his nephew ,lionardo3 ,i must  
tell you that ,urbino died yesterday at 
ten o'clock4 ,he has left me so sad and 
troubled because of the love ,i had for 
him that it would have been easier to   
have died with him4 ,he was a worthy    
man1 loyal and faithful4 ,since he has  
gone ,i do not seem to be alive and ,i  
can not recover my peace of mind4#aae   
,lionardo and his wife ,cassandra1      
anxious on account of his great grief1  
went to ,rome and found him much        
weakened4 ,but he drew new energy from  
the charge which ,urbino had left him in
 the guardianship of his sons1 one of   
whom was his godson and bore his name4  
,he wrote to ,cornelia1 ,urbino's wife1 
that he would like to take the little   
,michelangelo to live with him4 ,he     
showed him more affection than even the 
children of his nephew1 and had him     
taught all that ,urbino had wished him  
to learn4#aaf  ,he showed the most      
touching affection for his old servants1

 and also for those of his family whom  
he had taken in after his father's      
death1 and for the workmen who had      
helped him at ,carrara and in the       
,sistine ,chapel4  ,his enemies accused 
him of avarice1#aag but ,vasari answers 
the charge with indignation and a list  
of his royal gifts to all his friends3  
,to ,messer ,tommaso dei ,cavalieri1 to 
,messer ,bindo ,altoviti1 and ,fra      
,bastiano 7del ,piombo7 drawings of     
great value4 ,to ,antonio ,mini all the 
drawings1 cartoons and models in wax and
 clay and the painting of ,leda2 to     
,gherardo ,perini some divinely         
beautiful heads drawn in pencil which   
passed later into the hands of ,don     
,francesco1 ,prince of ,florence1 who   
rightly esteemed them among his         
treasures2 to ,bartolommeo ,bettini a   
cartoon of ,venus with ,cupid kissing   
her1 a divine work now in possession of 
his heirs in ,florence2 to the ,marchese
 del ,vasto a cartoon of the noli me    
tangere1 a beautiful work from which    

,pontormo made a painting as he did from
 the ,venus and ,cupid2 to ,roberto     
,strozzi the two ,slaves in marble2 to  
his servant ,antonio and to ,francesco  
,bandini the ,piet in marble which he   
broke4 ,i do not understand how a man   
can be called avaricious who gives away 
such works of art worth many thousands  
of crowns4  ,his generosity was not     
limited to his friends1 for he gave much
 to the poor1 especially the            
disreputable poor4 ,he particularly     
remembered poor young girls and dowered 
them secretly1 taking care that they    
should never know the name of their     
benefactor4  ,he was always ailing in   
health1 and several times very near     
death1 particularly in #aedd1 when he   
was nursed by his friend ,riccio in the 
house of the ,strozzi1 and in his later 
years he suffered cruelly from gout and 
stone4 ,his indomitable nervous energy  
supported him1 and at eighty-five he    
inspected the works of ,st4 ,peter's on 
horseback4 ,in spite of a severe attack 

of gout in ,august1 #aefa1 he would let 
no one take care of him and he still    
lived alone4 ,his nephew ,lionardo was  
least of all allowed to interfere with  
these arrangements1 for ,michelangelo   
attributed his anxiety to an interest in
 his inheritance and did not hesitate to
 tell him so4  ,both the ,duke of       
,tuscany and the pope were anxious about
 the plans and drawings of his public   
works1 which ,michelangelo kept in his  
own house1 for fear that they might be  
stolen after his death4 ,so in ,june1   
#aefc1 at the instigation of ,vasari1   
who saw that ,michelangelo was failing  
rapidly1 ,cosmo de' ,medici secretly    
directed his ambassador1 ,averado       
,serristori1 to keep a strict watch on  
the domestic life of ,michelangelo and  
on everyone who came to his house4 ,in  
case of his sudden death an inventory   
was to be taken of all his possessions1 
drawings1 cartoons1 models1 silver1     
etc41 and a watch to be kept that       
nothing was taken in the first          

confusion4 ,all that had to do with the 
construction of ,st4 ,peter's or the    
sacristy or the ,laurentian library was 
to be put carefully aside4  ,weakened as
 he was1 ,michelangelo still worked4    
,since #aefb he had hardly written at   
all himself1 and ,daniele da ,volterra  
did most of his correspondence1 but he  
never relinquished his chisel4 ,on      
,february #ab1 #aefd1 he spent the whole
 day standing at work on his ,piet1 and 
on the fourteenth1 although he was      
seized with fever1 he rode out on       
horseback into the country in the rain1 
and would not consent to stay in his bed
 until the sixteenth4  ,on the          
eighteenth of ,february he died in full 
consciousness1 with ,daniele da         
,volterra and his faithful friend       
,tommaso dei ,cavalieri beside him4     
,giunto  gi 'l corso della vita mia     
,con tempestoso mar per fragil barca    
,al comus porto4444#aah  ,cosmo de'     
,medici was at once notified by his     
ambassador1 and the next day the        

governor of ,rome made an inventory of  
,michelangelo's property in the presence
 of ,pier ,luigi ,gaeta and ,cavalieri4 
,there was much less than had been      
expected1 for he had burned almost all  
his drawings4 ,they found a chest       
containing seven or eight thousand      
crowns and a trunk closed and sealed and
 full of papers1 and also three statues1
 the unfinished ,piet1#aai a figure of  
,saint ,peter just begun1 and a little  
unfinished figure of ,christ bearing the
 cross in the style of that in the      
,minerva1 and yet different4 ,there were
 besides ten cartoons as follows3  #a4  
,the plan of ,st4 ,peter's4  #b4 ,the   
faade of a palace7a small cartoon74  #c4
 ,a window of ,st4 ,peter's4  #d4 ,the  
old plan for ,st4 ,peter's1 after a     
drawing of ,san ,gallo's4  #e4 ,three   
sketches of little figures4  #f4        
,windows4  #g4 ,a ,piet1 merely         
sketched4 ,a composition of nine        
figures4  #h4 ,three large figures and  
two putti4  #i4 ,large figure 7a study  

of an apostle for the figure of ,saint  
,peter74  #aj4 ,farewell of ,christ to  
his mother1 drawn for ,cardinal         
,morone4#abj  ,this last drawing was    
given to ,cavalieri as ,michelangelo had
 wished4 ,the rest went to ,lionardo1   
who reached ,rome three days after his  
uncle's death1 and who acquired also    
some little sketches which ,michelangelo
 had given to ,michele ,alberti and     
,jacopo del ,duca--an annunciation and a
 prayer at ,gethsemane4 ,these show how 
much the thought of the gospel filled   
,michelangelo's mind4#aba  ,on ,february
 #aith ,michelangelo's body was carried 
by the brotherhood to which he belonged1
 the ,confratelli di ,s4 ,giovanni      
,pecolla1 to the church of the ,,ss4    
,apostoli for the funeral mass4 ,the    
pope had meant to have the body placed  
in ,st4 ,peter's1 but ,michelangelo had 
expressed a desire to return to         
,florence dead1 as he could not do so   
living1#abb and ,lionardo was determined
 to carry out his last wishes in        

accordance with the orders of ,cosmo de'
 ,medici1 who promised to erect a statue
 to him in the ,florentine cathedral4   
,the ,romans would not allow the body to
 be taken away1 so it was necessary to  
wrap it secretly in a roll of cloth and 
to send it to ,florence on the          
twenty-ninth as merchandise4            
,illustration3 ,,christ ,,and ,,the     
,,saints  ,detail from ,the ,last       
,judgment 7#aecf-aeda74 ,sistine        
,chapel4  ,thus did ,michelangelo return
 to his country on ,march #aj1 #aefd4   
,the next day the artists of ,florence  
carried his body by torchlight to the   
church of ,santa ,croce4 ,the crowd was 
so great that they could hardly force   
their way through the church4 ,in the   
sacristy ,vincenzo ,borghini1 ,director 
of the ,florentine ,academy of          
,painters1 had the coffin opened4 ,the  
body was intact and ,michelangelo seemed
 asleep4 ,he was dressed in black       
velvet1 a felt hat on his head1 and on  
his feet boots and spurs1 just as while 

living he had had the habit of sleeping1
 dressed and ready to rise and take up  
his work4#abc  ,the ,academy of         
,florence had been preparing since      
,march #b;d for the solemn obsequies4   
,varchi was given the funeral oration1  
,bronzino1 ,vasari1 ,cellini and        
,ammanati the artistic arrangements4 ,on
 the #adth of ,july1 #aefd1 in the      
church of ,s4 ,lorenzo1 a triumphant    
memorial service was held in the        
presence of a hundred artists and an    
innumerable crowd of people4#abd        
,between the two side doors arose a huge
 catafalque4 ,daniele da ,volterra had  
wanted to use for the tomb the fine     
,victory and other sculptures of the    
,via ,mozza1 but this most reverent and 
appropriate idea for the glorification  
of the master was not accepted4#abe     
,instead1 a huge arrangement1           
disproportionate and swollen1 was       
erected1 a real tower of ,babel to which
 each sculptor of ,florence brought his 
stone4 ,it was undoubtedly1 however1 a  

fine thought to associate all the world 
of artists in a supreme homage to the   
man whom ,italy considered the          
incarnation of her genius and the ,god  
himself of art4#abf ,the result of these
 combined efforts was only to prove more
 strikingly the contrast between the man
 who was dead and the men who claimed   
the right to succeed him4 ,this         
agglomeration of sculpture recalls also 
that bitter saying of ,michelangelo     
shortly before his end that art and     
death do not go well together4  ,l'arte 
e la morte non va bene insieme4  ,from  
#aefd to #aegb ,vasari raised in ,santa 
,croce1 at the expense of ,lionardo     
,buonarroti1 and with the collaboration 
of ,borghini1 ,valerio ,cioli and       
,battista ,lorenzi1 the monument to     
,michelangelo4 ,thode has proved that   
the so-called tomb of ,michelangelo in  
the ,,ss4 ,apostoli in ,rome has nothing
 whatever to do with him4 ,it is really 
the monument of a professor of medicine1
 ,ferdinando ,eustacio1 and the false   

attribution dates only from #ahbc4      
,,chapter ,,vi  ,,the ,,genius ,,of     
,,michelangelo ,,and ,,his ,,influence  
,,on ,,italian ,,art   ,i have no friend
 of any kind1 said ,michelangelo in     
#aeji1 and ,i do not want any4#abg      
,forty years later1 in #aedh1           
,michelangelo wrote again1 ,i am always 
alone and ,i speak to no one4#abh  ,from
 his youth1 says ,condivi1 ,michelangelo
 had consecrated himself not only to    
sculpture and painting1 but to all the  
other arts with such devouring energy   
that he had to separate himself almost  
entirely from the society of men4 ,for  
that reason many people considered him  
proud1 and others eccentric or mad4 ,in 
reality it was his love of work alone1  
his labour without respite1 which made  
him solitary1 for he was so filled by   
the joy and rapture which his work gave 
him that the society of men did not     
offer him any pleasure1 but rather bored
 him by distracting him from his own    
thoughts4 ,like the great ,scipio1 he   

was never less lonely than when he was  
alone4  ,that passionate solitude was   
the very soul of the genius and of the  
work of ,michelangelo4 ,he lived shut up
 in himself without any real connection 
with the art of his time4 ,he despised  
,raphael because he said1 ,all his      
talent came from study and not from     
nature4#abi ,he himself declared that he
 derived all his inspiration from       
within1 and if in his pride he          
underestimated what he was always       
studying with feverish and persistent   
ardour1 yet it is true that he never    
sought in the study of the works of     
others a means of changing or of        
renewing his own personality1 but only  
of still further emphasising it4 ,in a  
way he sought from others not examples  
or lessons1 but reasons for being still 
more himself4 ,it is true that from the 
beginning to the end he fed on his own  
soul4 ,who knows the man1 knows his     
work4  ,the most striking thing about   
this extraordinarily unified nature is  

that it was composed of hostile worlds2 
a brutal materialism and serene         
idealism1 an infatuation with pagan     
strength and beauty and a ,christian    
mysticism2 a mixture of physical        
violence and intellectual abstraction2 a
 platonic soul in an athlete's body4    
,that indissoluble union of opposing    
forces which undoubtedly caused part of 
his suffering was also the cause of his 
unique greatness4 ,we feel that the     
supreme balance of his art is the result
 of a fierce struggle1 and it is the    
sense of that struggle which gives to   
the work its heroic character4 ,all is  
passion even to the abstract idea1 so   
that idealism1 which with many artists  
is a cause of coldness and death1 is    
here a hearth burning with love and     
hate4#acj  ,there is undoubtedly a      
danger in that mystic faith which loses 
itself in inward visions of such charm  
that they often leave a feeling of only 
disgust and contempt for reality4       
,non vider gli occhi mei cosa mortale   

99 99 99      ,e se creata a ,dio non   
fusse eguale     ,altro che 'l bel di   
fuor1 ch' gl'occhi piace1     ,pi non   
vorria2 ma perch' si fallace1           
,tracende nella forma universale4#aca   
,varchi was quite right in recognising  
in ,michelangelo the ,socratic          
spirit4#acb ,whether he gained these    
ideas from the teaching of the great    
,platonists with whom he had talked as a
 youth in the gardens of ,san ,marco or 
whether that teaching had merely        
revealed to him his true nature there is
 certainly a close relationship between 
the theories on art of the school of    
,socrates and those of ,michelangelo4   
,parrhasius believed in representing    
only the perspective1 the light and the 
shadow1 the softness1 hardness and      
surface of bodies4 ,socrates taught him 
that the object of painting is to       
represent the soul and the innermost    
being4#acc ,the fields and trees can    
teach me nothing1 he says in the ,phdo2 
,i only find what is useful to me among 

men in the towns4 ,these very men only  
interested him because there was        
something eternal in them4 ,the fugitive
 and changing side of their physiognomy1
 which for us makes the delicate charm  
of life and the object of painting1     
seemed to him an empty and wearisome    
illusion4 ,art creates illusions4 ,the  
objects which it represents are the     
dreams of the human imagination offered 
to people who can see4 ,it is an image  
which one shows in the distance to      
little children who can not reason1 in  
order to create illusions for them4     
,these illusions of the senses distract 
the soul from the only realities1       
eternal ideas4  ,michelangelo reasoned  
thus in his disdain of all exact        
reproduction of nature4 ,he had studied 
it with passion but1 in order to        
discover its laws1 he regarded it as an 
enemy which held the human spirit       
prisoner4 ,he wanted to free himself    
from it1 he wanted to make of it an     
instrument for his thought4 ,that is why

 he sought for and discovered its       
machinery1 and when he could guide it at
 will he outraged it2 he made it produce
 unprecedented results4 ,he constructed 
for himself out of his profound         
knowledge of anatomy a general idea of  
man1 and thereafter1 without having     
recourse to any observation of          
individuals1 he recreated the whole of  
nature in the image of his ideas and in 
the likeness of ,god1 source and        
originator of ideas4      ,come dal foco
 'l cald' 'esser' diviso     ,nom puo 'l
 bel dall' eterno2 e la mia stima       
,esalta che ne scende1 e chi 'l         
somiglia4  ,as heat can not be separated
 from fire1 so beauty can not be from   
eternity2 and my thought extols what    
comes from it and what resembles it4    
,illustration3 ,,charon',s ,,boat       
,detail from ,the ,last ,judgment       
7#aecf-aeda74 ,sistine ,chapel4  ,he    
wanted to express in his work only what 
was eternal1 and he did not believe he  
could do this with external objects4 ,he

 tried1 therefore1 to give to everything
 he did a character of compelling force4
 ,his ,platonic idealism was lined with 
,christian pessimism4 ,like ,vittoria   
,colonna1 he was filled with the sense  
of the beauty of all human things1 and  
he was obsessed with the idea of death4 
,he lived in an exhausted epoch which no
 longer had any happy sense of reality4 
,in ,god was the only help1 in the      
eternal and immutable perfection4       
,michelangelo was filled with dislike   
for all realism4 ,like ,plato1 he       
despised painting in comparison with    
sculpture4  ,painting seems to me the   
better the more it resembles sculpture1 
and the sculpture worse the more it     
resembles painting4 ,sculpture is the   
torch of painting1 and between the two  
there is the same difference as between 
the sun and the moon4#acd  ,if he was   
above all things a sculptor it was      
because he found in sculpture the most  
appropriate expression of his abstract  
and concentrated genius4      ,non ha   

l'ottimo artista alcun concetto1        
,ch'un marmo solo in se non circonscriva
     ,col suo soverchio1 et solo  quello
 arriva     ,la man1 che ubbidisce      
all'intelleto4#ace  ,moreover he reduced
 sculpture to its most simple form1 the 
isolated statue4 ,michelangelo had      
little liking for bas-reliefs and       
groups1 which he hardly ever made1 and  
where he always shows some awkwardness4 
,what we know1 through ,cellini and     
,vasari1 of his manner of working would 
incline us to feel to-day that the basis
 of his sculpture and of all his art was
 drawing1#acf because that was most     
immaterial and closest to the form of   
his thought4  ,no one has ever drawn as 
,michelangelo did1 and ,charles ,blanc  
is right in saying that if he is unequal
 in his sculptures and his frescoes1    
never does his drawing1 even when       
apparently most careless and most       
summary1 betray any feebleness of hand  
or distraction or hesitancy of spirit4  
,not only do we penetrate1 then1 into   

the mystery of his creativeness1 into   
the dreams and soliloquies of his lonely
 soul1 but we discover there also his   
most intimate and perfect expression4   
,there he is altogether himself1 as     
,beethoven is in his quartets and in his
 short pieces for the piano4#acg  ,i    
compare these two purposely2 for the    
genius of each of them was solitary1    
intellectual and passionate1 only       
realising itself completely in the most 
simple and abstract forms in which the  
senses had the least part and the spirit
 the greatest4 ,all the voluptuous charm
 of art was not only foreign to         
,michelangelo1 but antagonistic to him4 
,the more art was aimed at the senses   
the more he despised it4      ,voglia   
sfrenata el senso 1 non amore1     ,che 
l'alma uccide4444#ach  ,painting1       
therefore1 seemed to him1 as it did to  
,plato1 less virile and less pure than  
sculpture1 because of its seductive     
quality1 its illusive magic which       
imitates the appearance of things and   

merely creates illusions4 ,he disdained 
it inasmuch as it appealed through the  
attraction of colours at the expense of 
the idea4 ,he could not endure painting 
in oils1 which he said was only good for
 women4#aci ,he rejected landscape1 and 
like ,plato only saw in it a vague and  
deceiving illusion--a sport for children
 and ignorant people4 ,he had a horror  
of portraits4 ,they seemed to him a form
 of flattery for the gratification of   
vain curiosity and the imperfect        
illusion of the senses4#adj ,it is      
curious to contrast with these          
principles which were adopted by a part 
of the ,italian school in the sixteenth 
century1 the nave confession of faith of
 ,drer at almost the same period4 ,the  
art of painting is used in the service  
of the ,church to show the sufferings of
 ,christ and of many other models of    
virtue1 and it also preserves the faces 
of men after their death4 7#aeac7  ,that
 pious and bourgeois realism of ,germany
 and ,flanders filled ,michelangelo with

 the same sort of contempt that many    
artists of to-day feel for              
subject-painting4 ,it is1 he says1 an   
anecdotal and sentimental art1 which    
aims only at success and obtains it     
easily1 not by its own value1 but by the
 choice of its subjects4 ,these are     
pious figures for which tears are always
 ready1 or else rags1 ruins1 very green 
fields shaded by trees1 rivers and      
bridges--what they call landscapes--with
 many figures here and there4 ,that sort
 of thing is always popular2 the least  
artistic spirit can find something there
 that appeals to it2 it is enough to be 
inquisitive and to have good eyes4      
,again--,flemish painting seems         
beautiful to women1 especially to those 
who are either old or very young1 and to
 monks and nuns and to a few people of  
quality who are deaf to true harmony4   
,although it makes a good effect in the 
eyes of some people1 in truth there is  
neither reason nor art in it1 no        
proportion1 no symmetry1 no selection1  

and no grandeur4 ,in fact1 such painting
 is without body or vigour4 ,the only   
real paintings are those done in ,italy4
 ,these are not1 like the ,flemish      
pictures1 made for the pious4#ada ,they 
will never cause anyone to shed a       
tear4#adb  ,we can well understand that 
disdainful confession of faith4 ,what   
artist is there who has not felt this   
same irritation at the success of       
mediocre work exploited by the          
sentimentality of an uncritical public  
and who will not understand             
,michelangelo's haughty refusal to share
 this too easy success8 ,this pride1    
ennobling as it is to the character1 is 
unfortunately perilous for art2 it cuts 
it off from all simple souls1 it        
isolates it in the arrogant feeling of  
inner perfection and of a secret ideal  
which very few can know or understand4  
,as ,michelangelo says3  ,good painting 
is noble and devout in itself1 for among
 the wise nothing tends more to elevate 
the soul or to raise it toward devotion 

than the difficulty of that perfection  
which approaches ,god and becomes one   
with him4 ,good painting is but a copy  
of this perfection1 a shadow of his     
pencil1 a music1 a melody1 and only a   
very keen intelligence can feel the     
difficulty of it4 ,that is why it is so 
rare and why so few people can attain to
 it or know how to produce it4 ,painting
 is the music of ,god1 the inner        
reflection of his luminous              
perfection4#adc  ,illustration3 ,,the   
,,resurrection  ,drawing 7about #aedj74 
,louvre4  ,if instead of ,michelangelo  
with his ardent faith and that warmth of
 enthusiasm which sweeps along his      
idealism and makes of the ,divine ,idea 
as he conceives it a living being to    
whom he passionately desires to unite   
himself we should take1 ,i do not say a 
sceptic or an atheist1 but a sincere    
believer after the manner of the        
,council of ,trent1 a ,vasari or a      
,zucchero1 then ,god will be to them not
 a source of love and ecstasy1 but the  

principle of reason4 ,the reason of the 
wise--behold the beginning and the end  
of art4 ,a hundred years after          
,michelangelo1 ,poussin was to bind all 
art in obedience to this principle4 ,he 
applied all its natural resources to the
 rendering of one idea4 ,with him the   
attention is confined to the idea of the
 work--that is the principal thing4 ,the
 abstract idea is more important than   
the form2 thought alone is spontaneous2 
all the rest--life1 expression1         
colour--is determined by the logic of   
reason4 ,the subject regulates the      
composition and determines the centre of
 interest and the groupings of the      
picture2 it indicates the character of  
the people1 their moral aspect and1     
consequently1 their exterior1 for the   
two are bound together4 ,it determines  
the character of the landscape1 which   
must bear a logical relationship to the 
scene2 it presides even over the        
execution of the work4 ,the manner of   
painting is imposed by the subject to be

 treated2 it will be ,phrygian or       
,dorian or ,lydian1 according to whether
 the idea is gentle or serious or sad4  
,in this way everything is logical and  
calculated4 ,michelangelo's mystical    
ardour toward divine perfection at least
 left him his impetuous liberty of      
feeling4 ,poussin no longer left        
anything to chance4 ,his reason         
commanded and his hand obeyed4 ,if ,i   
name him here it is because he was both 
the end and the climax of artistic      
intellectualism4 ,at least ,poussin left
 on his work the impress of his great   
intelligence4 ,his system rests on this 
idea1 and with him the idea was clear   
and powerful4 ,but what would it be in  
the hands of men of mediocre talent8    
,the number of artists who either think 
for themselves1 or express with new     
force the ideas of others1 is           
infinitesimal4 ,moreover1 the ideal is  
ordinarily to them merely an emphatic   
rendering of a vague conception of      
perfection which they have been taught4 

,under pretext of an intellectual ideal 
they deform nature2 they leave it little
 by little1 turning their backs1 their  
eyes proudly closed1 looking only within
 themselves4 ,la bellezza1 says         
,tomazzo1 e lontana dala materia        
7,beauty is far from matter74#add ,the  
symbol of the period which was to follow
 is that very ,lomazzo1#ade painter1    
sthetician--blind4  ,blind1 more or     
less1 were all who lived around         
,michelangelo4 ,their too feeble eyes   
were dazzled by this sun which shone    
alone in that twilight of art1 the night
 which was falling on ,italy of the     
,renaissance4 ,a long time after that   
sun had disappeared below the horizon   
the radiant glow still remained in the  
sky4 ,michelangelo enthralled ,italian  
art4  ,there is no comparison between   
the influence which he exerted and that 
of the other masters of the sixteenth   
century1 ,corregio and ,raphael4        
,however superior they may have been to 
their century1 ,corregio and ,raphael   

only reflected its thoughts with more   
charm and grandeur4 ,michelangelo is    
outside of his time1 alone1 apart and   
colossal4 ,he is like a great mountain  
which inspires in those who dwell at the
 foot an invincible desire to reach the 
top2 and what men have ever existed who 
were less capable of climbing those     
austere and sublime heights8 ,all those 
effeminate artists of the decadence1    
intoxicated by his inspiration1         
attempted to express heroic ideas in    
their insipid works4 ,they lost the     
sense of proportion which alone could   
have saved them4 ,instead of confining  
themselves to the little world of their 
own fancy which1 though cold1 could have
 been redeemed by sincerity1 they       
attempted great subjects4 ,a mass of    
forms1 heroic figures and furious       
gestures that they had learned1 were    
whirled about in their mind1            
uncontrolled either by greatness of     
intelligence or of heart4  ,we must     
remember that ,michelangelo lived       

through more than fifty years of the    
,golden ,age of ,italian art and1 as    
happened in our own day to ,victor      
,hugo1 admiration for his works         
increased in proportion as they deserved
 it less4 ,even the factions that had   
been longest hostile to him--the school 
of ,raphael1 for instance--recognised   
his triumph4 ,perino del ,vaga admits   
that all the painters worshipped him as 
their master1 their leader and the god  
of drawing4#adf  ,the independents1 or  
those who boasted that they were1 said  
as ,cellini did in his sonnets3  ,just a
 leaf from thy crown1 ,o divine         
,michelangelo1 who alone art rich1 who  
alone art immortal4 ,that will suffice  
me and ,i shall have no desire for      
anything else1 since for me that only is
 good and beautiful4  ,florence1 his own
 country1 more even than the rest of    
,italy gave him blind admiration4 ,the  
,academy of ,drawing1 founded by        
,vasari1 was a college of disciples and 
apostles4 ,since ,michelangelo's great  

paintings were at ,rome the ,florentines
 copied chiefly his statues1 devoting   
themselves principally1 as ,lanzi says1 
to ostentatiously showing magna ossa    
lacertosque4#adg  ,this was in          
accordance with the doctrine of the     
master1 who declared that sculpture     
should be the school of the painter and 
the ideal of painting4 ,cellini1        
thinking to define the thought of       
,michelangelo1 absurdly declares and    
demonstrates that sculpture is seven    
times greater than painting4  ,the      
painter formed himself from this time on
 by the study of statues1 and especially
 of those of ,michelangelo4 ,colour was 
therefore regarded as a secondary       
consideration1#adh and the only aim     
pursued was drawing over-accentuated1   
full of unreasonable action1 and of     
excessive virtuosity4 ,if he seemed to  
,cellini the greatest painter of all    
time1 it was only because all painting  
from ,cellini's point of view was an    
imitation of sculpture1 and the artist  

who came nearest to him in perfection is
 ,bronzino4#adi  ,the danger of         
following a model is less if the model  
can be understood1 but the ideas of     
,michelangelo absolutely escaped his    
admirers4 ,how could it be otherwise    
when all his work is an act of revolt   
against his century4 ,we can but smile  
with pity when we see his contemporaries
 expressing their enthusiasm for the    
formidable ,night in precious and       
carefully chosen phrases4#aej           
,illustration3 ,,the ,,dome ,,of ,,st4  
,,peter',s  ,from the ,original ,model  
in ,wood4 ,preserved in the ,vatican    
7#aeeh74  ,what supreme irony6 ,the     
world only sees and admires the outer   
form of those tremendous incarnations of
 contempt and weariness which are called
 ,moses or the ,day1 ,victory subduing  
the ,prisoner1 the ,dawn or the ,slaves4
 ,the world applauds the style of the   
imprecations launched against it6 ,it   
even repeats them without knowing the   
meaning4  ,two drawings by ,federigo    

,zucchero1 which are in the ,louvre1    
show a number of artists installed in   
the chapel of ,s4 ,lorenzo zealously    
copying ,michelangelo's statues4 ,how   
many artists of the sixteenth century   
built their entire work on these notes  
without ever thinking that such forms   
are only justified by the passions which
 animate them1 and that it is ridiculous
 to use them as aids to the learned     
virtuosity of a cold and forced talent6 
,battista ,franco of ,venice1 il        
,semolei distinguished himself above all
 others by his zeal in copying          
,michelangelo4 ,vasari says that there  
was not a sketch1 not the roughest note1
 or any sort of fragment of his which he
 had not devoutly drawn4 ,he knew the   
whole ,sistine by heart4 ,in #aecf he   
came to ,florence and drew once more all
 the statues of ,s4 ,lorenzo4 ,in #aeda 
he hurried to ,rome for the premire of  
the ,last ,judgment1 and he made a      
drawing of the whole thing con infinita 
maraviglia il designo tutto4 ,we can    

understand that he had no time to do any
 thinking for himself4 ,for a long time 
he refrained from painting anything of  
his own4 ,when he decided to begin it   
was to reproduce in his ,battle of      
,montemurlo some fragments of the war   
against ,pisa or of the ,rape of        
,ganymede4#aea  ,the independent        
,cellini writes in his memoirs3 ,i      
devoted myself continually to trying to 
absorb thoroughly the beautiful style of
 ,michelangelo1 and since then ,i have  
never departed from it4  ,a hundred     
years later still ,bernini copied the   
,last ,judgment for two successive years
 before he began to draw from nature4   
,scivoli watched him doing it and said3 
,sei un furbo2 no fai quel che vedi3    
questa  di ,michelangelo4 7,you are a   
fool4 ,you are not drawing what you see2
 this is nothing but ,michelangelo74#aeb
  ,bernini1 who tells of this1 does not 
see that it is a criticism1 for he      
recommends this same system of education
 to young artists4  ,it is necessary    

first for a young man to form an idea of
 the beautiful1 for this is of use to   
him all his life2 it ruins young men to 
begin by drawing from nature1 which is  
almost always weak and mean1 and which  
then fills their imagination1 so that   
they can never produce anything         
beautiful or great1 qualities which are 
never found in natural things4 ,those   
who make use of nature should be already
 skilful enough to recognise its faults 
and to correct them4 ,a young man is not
 capable of this until he has gained    
full knowledge of beauty4#aec  ,the     
essential idea of this teaching was that
 nature is evil2 just what ,michelangelo
 thought4 ,but we now see to what       
unexpected results his pessimistic      
idealism led4 ,it produced not only     
separation from nature1 but renunciation
 of personal feeling for formulas1 since
 it is not possible for one individual  
to have light on all subjects nor to    
grasp without assistance the difficulty 
of arts so profound and so little       

understood4  ,what would ,michelangelo  
have thought of these servile disciples1
 he who said proudly that whoever       
follows others will never go forward1   
and whoever does not know how to create 
by his own abilities can gain no profit 
from the works of other men4  ,but they 
had lost even the consciousness of their
 servility and took more pride in living
 on ,michelangelo's crumbs than he had  
in creating the work which was to be the
 nourishment of two centuries4 ,some    
drew tranquilly on their memory and     
their notes1 others mimicked the        
master's grandiose manner1 and they were
 all entirely satisfied with themselves1
 not one of them realising what their   
master and model had suffered in giving 
birth to these works which were so easy 
for them to imitate4  ,michelangelo's   
idealism had a powerful corrective in   
the sense of the beauty of struggle1 and
 the holiness of suffering4 ,nothing    
approaches nearer to ,god1 he wrote1    
than the effort to produce a perfect    

work1 because ,god is perfection4  ,no  
one ever struggled more fiercely than   
this man1 who ceaselessly tormented     
himself and wept at losing his time     
uselessly while he was working at the   
ceiling of the ,sistine ,chapel1 who    
wrought with his blood the beings whom  
he created and was dissatisfied with his
 sublime creations at the moment of     
finishing them and left them incomplete1
 who to his last day in agony and tears 
,piangendo1 amando1 ardendo1 e          
sospirando1--     ,ch'affetto alcun     
mortal non mi  pi nuovo1--#aed          
,weeping1 loving1 burning and           
sighing--for there was no human emotion 
which he had not felt4  ,he was vainly  
seeking the visioned ideal1 and in dying
 he regretted not the joy of living1 but
 his interrupted labours4#aee  ,beside  
that virile modesty what can we think of
 the absurd vanity of all those little  
masters who declared that they derived  
from the great master and believed      
themselves to be ,michelangelos8        

,vasari dares to write3  ,to-day art has
 been brought to such perfection that   
while our predecessors produced a       
picture in six years we produce six in  
one year4 ,i can bear witness since ,i  
have seen this done and have done it    
myself1 and nevertheless our works are  
much more finished and more perfect than
 those of the renowned painters who     
preceded us4#aef  ,even the weakest ones
 had the same feeling4 ,perino del ,vaga
 considered himself very much superior  
to ,masaccio1 and in ,cellini vanity    
ended by touching madness4 ,he felt that
 antiquity was only valuable as a       
background to his works1 and for his    
,jupiter he used the bronze castings    
which ,primataccio brought from         
,rome4#aeg  ,when an artist is so sure  
of success he no longer takes any       
trouble to deserve it4 ,che cartoni o   
non cartoni1 cries ,giorlamo da         
,treviso1 io1 io1 ho l'arte su la punta 
dell pennello 7,have ,i need of studies1
 ,i who have art on the point of my     

brush674  ,the scruples that            
,michelangelo had felt no longer checked
 the artists4 ,they were not afraid to  
finish what they had begun4 ,pomeranci1 
,semino1 ,calvi1 painted four square    
yards a day4 ,cambiaso painted1 at the  
age of seventeen1 the story of ,niobe   
without studies or sketches4 ,he        
produced as many works as a dozen       
painters together1 and his wife lighted 
the fire with bundles of drawings which 
he tossed off every moment4 ,his        
contemporaries compare him to           
,michelangelo1 and add that the latter  
does not gain by the comparison4 ,santi 
di ,tito made a portrait in less than   
half an hour4 ,he set up a factory in   
his house and turned them out in        
enormous quantities4 ,his pupil1        
,tempesti1 did not succeed in finding   
sufficient occupation for his talents in
 the great frescoes at ,rome and1 as a  
relaxation from painting1 made fifteen  
hundred engravings4 ,in a month ,vasari1
 ,tribolo and ,andrea del ,cosimo built 

and decorated a palace4 ,in a day       
,perino del ,vaga painted the ,passage  
of the ,red ,sea4  ,illustration3 ,,the 
,,descent ,,from ,,the ,,cross  ,duomo1 
,florence 7#aeec-aeee74  ,the           
,venetians1 thanks to their distance    
from ,rome and ,florence and to their   
ardent communion with nature1 which to  
the horror of ,vasari they dared to copy
 honestly1#aeh were saved for a time1   
but in the end caught the infection4    
,the ,florentine spirit won this last   
refuge of art1 and ,tintoretto infused  
the spirit of ,michelangelo into        
,venetian realism4#aei  ,the brain of   
,italy was a prey to fever4#afj         
,michelangelo had destroyed the balance 
of mind of a period dried out by        
intellectualism and weakened by the     
taste for pleasure4 ,the shock of his   
dazzling light on their eyes1 too feeble
 to bear it1 blinded them and inspired a
 delirium of imagination without poetry1
 without thought and without life4  ,the
 ,carracci were needed at the end of the

 century1 if not to snatch ,italian art 
from inevitable death1 at least to lend 
it1 emerging from its follies and       
delusions1 an air of dignity and a cold 
distinction in which it could veil      
itself to die4  ,the greatness of       
,michelangelo was thus fatal to ,italian
 art4 ,so it is with everything that    
rises too far above its own time4       
,decadence can only be averted or       
retarded by intelligent and moderate    
talents like the ,carracci1 who1 hardly 
separated from the average of their     
times1 are easily understood by it4     
,they are the geniuses of common sense1 
and they are1 therefore1 useful to the  
common man4 ,the heroes of art are also 
its tyrants2 their glory kills1 and the 
greater they are the more they are to be
 feared1 for they impose on all men the 
laws of a personality which can exist   
but once4 ,they are a devouring force2  
they illumine1 but they burn2 they have 
the right to be unique in their being   
and in their work4 ,they seem to realise

 in themselves the whole aim of nature1 
and there is nothing left for those who 
follow but to be absorbed and disappear4
  ,it would be absurd to offer          
,michelangelo as a model to young       
artists4 ,should great men ever be taken
 as models in art8 ,is not that one of  
the errors of classical training8 ,they 
are examples of energy1 sources of force
 and beauty4 ,it is well to look for a  
moment on their radiance1 then tear     
ourselves from their contemplation and  
work4     ,,chronological ,,table       
,,date              ,,important ,,events
             ,,principal ,,works        
#adge    ,march #f4   ,birth of         
,michelangelo               at ,caprese4
      #adhh    ,april #a4   ,he enters  
the school of               ,domenico   
and ,david ,ghirlandajo4      #adhi     
,he enters the school of ,bertoldo      
and becomes the protg of ,lorenzo       
de' ,medici4      #adij-adib            
,mask of a ,faun4                       
,madonna of the ,stairs4                

,combat of the ,centaurs4      #adib    
,april #h4   ,death of ,lorenzo de'     
,medici4      #adib-adid ,in the service
 of ,piero de'         ,wooden crucifix4
               ,medici4                 
,statue of ,hercules4      #adid        
,october4 ,flight to ,venice            
,angel for the ,arca of                 
and ,bologna4 ,he worked at             
,s4 ,domenico in ,bologna4              
,s4 ,petronio in ,bologna4      #adie   
,return to ,florence4                   
,giovannino4                            
,sleeping ,love4      #adif    ,june    
#be4   ,arrival in ,rome4               
,bacchus4                               
,cupid4      #adih    ,may #bc4         
,savonarola is burned               in  
,florence4      #adih-aejj              
,piet of ,st4 ,peter's4      #aeja      
,return to ,florence4                   
,statues for the ,piccolomini           
altar in the cathedral                  
of ,sienna4      #aeja-aeje             
,david4                                 

,cartoon for the battle                 
of ,cascina4                            
,holy ,family of ,agnolo                
,doni4                                  
,virgin of ,bruges4                     
,bas-reliefs of the ,madonna            
for ,taddeo                             
,taddei and ,bartolommeo                
,pitti4      #aeje    ,march4 ,he is    
summoned to ,rome        ,first plan for
 the tomb               by ,julius ,,ii4
                        of ,julius ,,ii 
#aejf    ,the ,laocon was discovered at 
,rome4      #aejf    ,april #ag4        
,flight to ,florence4      #aejf    ,end
 of ,november4 ,reconciliation          
with ,julius at ,bologna4               
#aejf-aejh                              
,bronze statue of ,julius               
,,ii at ,bologna4      #aejh    ,return 
to ,rome4      #aejh    ,may #aj to     
#aeab1 ,october4             ,paintings 
on the ceiling                          
of the ,sistine4      #aeac    ,february
 #ba4   ,death of ,julius ,,ii4         

#aeac    ,march #aa4   ,election of ,leo
 ,x4      #aeac    ,may #f4   ,second   
contract for the               tomb of  
,julius ,,ii4      #aeac-aeaf           
,michelangelo at ,florence4        ,the 
,slaves4                                
,moses4      #aeaf    ,july4 ,third     
contract for the               tomb of  
,julius ,,ii4      #aeag    ,september4 
,serious illness of                     
,michelangelo4      #aeah    ,january   
#ai4   ,contract in regard              
to the faade of ,s4 ,lorenzo in         
,florence4      #aeah-aebj              
,michelangelo at the quarries           
of ,carrara1 ,seravezza4      #aebj     
,march #aj4 ,michelangelo is released   
,the ,christ of the ,minerva4           
from the contract for the               
faade of ,s4 ,lorenzo by an             
order from ,leo ,x4      #aebj    ,april
 #f4 ,death of ,raphael4      #aeba     
,beginning of the work on the chapel    
,the ,madonna   of   the                
of the ,medici at ,s4 ,lorenzo4         

chapel of the ,medici4      #aeba    ,at
 the end of the year serious illness    
of ,michelangelo4                       
,the ,victory4      #aebb ,november #ai4
   ,election of ,clement ,,vii4         
#aebd-aebf                              
,work on the tomb of                    
the ,medici   and the                   
,laurentian library4      #aebg    ,may 
#f4 ,capture of ,rome by the            
,imperialists4      #aebi    ,april #f4 
,michelangelo is named         ,leda4   
,governatore ,generale and ,procuratore 
of the fortifications of                
,florence4   ,mission to inspect        
the fortifications at ,pisa1 ,livorno   
and ,ferrara4      #aebi    ,september  
#ba4   ,flight to ,venice4              
,siege of ,florence4      #aebi         
,november #bj4   ,return to ,florence4  
,defense of ,san ,miniato4      #aecj   
,august #ab4 ,capitulation of ,florence4
   ,apollo4                             
,proscriptions4      #aeca    ,june4    
,serious illness of ,michelangelo4      

,work   on   the   ,medici              
tombs4      #aecb    ,april #bi4        
,fourth contract for the                
monument of ,julius ,,ii4      #aecc    
,beginning of the friendship with       
,first plan for the ,last               
,tommaso dei ,cavalieri in              
,judgment4               ,rome4         
#aecd    ,death in ,florence of         
,lodovico1 the               father of  
,michelangelo4      #aecd  ,september   
#bc4 ,michelangelo returns           to 
,rome1 where he remains until his       
death4      #aecd  ,september #be4      
,death of ,clement ,,vii4      #aecd    
,october #ac4 ,election of ,paul ,,iii4 
#aece  ,september #a4 ,michelangelo is  
named           by order of ,paul ,,iii 
architect-in-chief1 sculptor and        
painter of the ,apostolic ,palace4      
#aecf  ,beginning of the friendship with
           ,vittoria ,colonna at ,rome4 
#aecf  ,april to ,november1 #aeda       
,last ,judgment in the                  
,sistine4      #aech  ,the statue of    

,marcus ,aurelius is        ,brutus4    
,drawings of           raised on the    
,capitoline                 ,christ for 
,vittoria                               
,colonna4      #aedb-aedd               
,frescoes of the ,pauline               
,chapel4      #aedb  ,august #bj4 ,last 
agreement for the           monument of 
,julius ,,ii4      #aedd  ,june4        
,serious illness of                     
,michelangelo1 who was cared for in     
the palace of the ,strozzi4      #aede  
,february                               
,completion of the monument             
of ,julius ,,ii in ,s4 ,pietro          
in ,vinculi4      #aede-aedf  ,titian in
 ,rome4      #aedf  ,january4 ,serious  
illness of              ,work on the    
cornice of the           ,michelangelo4 
,he gives the ,slaves         ,farnese  
palace4           to the ,strozzi4      
#aedg  ,january #a4 ,michelangelo named 
by           ,paul ,,iii architect of   
,st4 ,peter's4      #aedg  ,february    
#be4 ,death of ,vittoria           ,work

 on the ,capitol4           ,colonna4   
#aedi  ,november #aj4 ,death of ,paul   
,,iii4      #aeej  ,february #h4        
,election of ,julius ,,iii4      ,work  
on the ,vigna del ,papa                 
,giulio and the                         
reconstruction of the                   
,belvedere stairway4      #aeea  ,first 
edition of the ,vite of                 
,vasari4      #aeec  ,first edition of  
the life of             ,work on ,st4   
,peter's4           ,michelangelo by    
,ascanio ,condivi4      #aeee  ,march   
#bc4 ,death of ,julius ,,iii4      #aeee
  ,may #bc4 ,election of ,paul ,,iv4    
#aeee  ,december #c4 ,death of ,urbino1 
,the group of the ,piet1                
,michelangelo's servant4                
broken by ,michelangelo1 is             
continued and completed by              
,tiberio ,calcagni4      #aeeh          
,he works at the model of               
the dome of ,st4 ,peter's4              
#aeei-aefj  ,daniele da ,volterra1 at   
the           command of ,paul ,,iv1    

paints drapery           on the figures 
of the ,last           ,judgment4       
#aefj  ,catherine de' ,medici requested 
,work on the transformation             
,michelangelo to make the statue of     
of the ,baths of ,diocletian            
,henri ,,ii4                            
into the church of ,s4                  
,maria degli ,angeli4      #aefa        
,august #bi4 ,michelangelo was taken    
,work on the ,porta ,pia4           ill4
      #aefc  ,january #ca4 ,michelangelo
 made           ,president of the       
,academy of           ,florence4        
#aefd  ,february4                       
,the ,rondanini ,piet4      #aefd       
,february #ah4 ,death of ,michelangelo4 
#aefd  ,july #ad4 ,funeral at ,s4       
,lorenzo in           ,florence4        
,,catalogue ,,of ,,the ,,principal      
,,works ,,of ,,michelangelo ,,in        
,,public ,,collections                  
,i4--,,paintings      ,,italy           
,,florence4 ,,uffizi4      ,holy        
,family1 painted for ,agnolo ,doni      

7between #aeja and #aeje74      ,,rome4 
,,vatican4      ,paintings on the       
ceiling of the ,sistine 7#aejh-aeab74   
,the ,last ,judgment 7#aecf-aeda74      
,the frescoes of the ,pauline chapel    
7#aedb-aedi74      ,,england            
,,london4 ,,national ,,gallery4         
,the ,entombment 7about #adie74     ,the
 ,virgin of ,manchester 7about #adie74  
,,ii4--,,sculpture      ,,italy         
,,florence4 ,,museo ,,nazionale4        
,mask of a ,faun 7between #adij and     
#adib74     ,bacchus 7#adig74     ,the  
,dying ,adonis 7#adig74     ,virgin and 
,child1 a circular bas-relief made for  
,taddeo ,taddei 7between #aeja and      
#aeje74     ,victory 7#aebb-aebc74      
,apollino 7#aecj74     ,brutus 7#aech74 
,,galleria ,,antica ,e ,,moderna ,e     
,,tribuna ,,del ,,david4      ,david    
7between #aeja and #aejd74      ,,casa  
,,buonarroti4      ,the ,centaurs and   
,lapiths1 bas-relief in marble 7between 
#adij and #adib74     ,virgin and       
,child1 bas-relief in bronze 7between   

#adij and #adib74      ,,san ,,lorenzo4 
,the ,medici tombs 7#aebd-aebg and      
#aecj-aecd74      ,,santa ,,maria ,,dei 
,,fiore4      ,the descent from the     
cross 7#aeec-aeee74      ,,rome4        
,,saint ,,peter',s4      ,piet          
7#adih-aejj74      ,,san ,,pietro ,,in  
,,vinculi4      ,tomb of ,julius ,,ii3  
7,moses1 #aeac-aeaf74     ,rachel and   
,leah 7#aedb-aede74       ,,france      
,,paris4   ,,the ,,louvre4      ,the    
,slaves 7#aeac-aeaf74       ,,england   
,,london4 ,,south ,,kensington ,,museum4
      ,kneeling ,cupid 7#adig74         
,,royal ,,academy4      ,holy ,family1  
circular bas-relief made for ,bart4     
,pitti        7between #aeja and #aeje74
       ,,belgium      ,,bruges4 ,,the   
,,cathedral4      ,madonna 7between     
#aeja and #aeje74       ,,germany       
,,berlin4 ,,koenigliche ,,museum4       
,giovannino 7#adie74     ,,note ,,on    
,,the ,,drawings   ,the great ,european 
,museums--especially the ,louvre1 the   
,uffizi1 the ,albertina in ,vienna1 the 

,british ,museum1 ,oxford ,university   
and ,windsor--contain very rich         
collections of ,michelangelo's drawings4
 ,the most beautiful of those in the    
,louvre came from the ,jabach and       
,mariette collections4  ,you could not  
ask for anything more finished or       
showing a greater knowledge of drawing1 
says ,mariette2 444 they are almost too 
much finished4444 ,i do not know any    
other master who finished his studies   
more completely4 ,when he is looking for
 a certain pose he dashes off           
impetuously on the paper what comes from
 his imagination4 ,he draws with large  
strokes4444 ,but if he wants to study   
nature so that he may reproduce it later
 on in sculpture or in painting he      
follows an entirely different method4444
 ,his drawing is no longer a sketch1 but
 a finished fragment in which no detail 
is left out1 it is the flesh itself2 and
 ,michelangelo needed nothing more than 
this for his modelling4 ,i have a number
 of drawings where you can see the marks

 which ,michelangelo made on them1 and  
which indicate that these designs were  
used by him as guides in his            
modelling4444  ,some of the drawings in 
the ,louvre were for the tombs of the   
,medici and for the bronze ,david for   
,florimond ,robertet4  ,another curious 
thing about these drawings is that we   
often find upon them verses by          
,michelangelo1 fragments of poems4 ,both
 verses and drawings are often the      
repetitions or variations of certain    
ideas which were in his mind for years  
and occupied his attention with the     
tenacity of fixed ideas4  ,michelangelo 
used indifferently red chalk1 pen and   
ink1 and charcoal or pencil4            
,,bibliography   ,i4--,,writings ,,of   
,,michelangelo  ,le ,lettere di         
,michel-,angelo ,buonarroti1 publicate1 
coi ,ricordi ed i ,contratti artistici1 
per cura di ,gaetano ,,milanesi4        
,florence1 #ahge1 in-fol41 ,,ix1 #gba   
pages4 ,lemonnier 7#die letters1 from   
#adig to #aefc74  ,rime di              

,michel-,angelo ,buonarroti1 raccolte da
 ,michelagnolo suo nipote4 ,florence1   
#afbc1 ,giunti 7first complete edition1 
but full of errors74  ,rime di          
,michel-,angelo ,buonarroti1 cavate     
dagli autografi e publicate da ,cesare  
,,guasti4 ,florence1 #ahfc 7first really
 accurate edition74  ,die ,dichtungen   
des ,michel-,angelo ,buonarroti1        
herausgegeben und mit kritischem        
,apparat versehen von ,carl ,,frey4     
,berlin1 #ahig 7the finest and most     
complete edition of the poems of        
,michelangelo which has been made up to 
the present time74   ,,ii4--,,works ,,on
 ,,michelangelo   ,i4 ,,writings ,,of   
,,his ,,contemporaries4  ,giorgio       
,,vasari4--,vite degli architetti1      
pittori e scultori 7first edition74     
,florence1 #aeej1 in #dto2--7second     
edition74 ,florence1 #aefh1 in          
#dto4--edition of ,,milanesi4 ,florence1
 #ahef1 ,lemonnier4  ,ascanio           
,,condivi4--,vita di ,michel-,angelo    
,buonarroti4 ,rome1 #aeec1 ,antonio     

,,blado2--7second edition74 ,florence1  
#agdf1 with notes by ,mariette4  ,paolo 
,,giovio4--,michaelis ,angeli ,vita1    
published by ,,tiraboschi in his ,storia
 della letteratura italiana1 ,vol4 ,,ix1
 ,modena1 #agha4  ,sammlung             
ausgewaehlter ,biographien ,vasaris1    
herausg4 von ,carl ,,frey 7in the second
 volume are gathered le ,vite de        
,michel-,angelo ,buonnaroti1 critical   
edition of all the biographies written  
by his contemporaries74  ,vittoria      
,,colonna4--,rime 7first edition74      
,parma1 #aech2--7second edition71       
#aeci2--7third edition71                
#aedd2--;edition ,,saltini4 ,florence1  
#ahfj1 ,barbera4--,carteggio1 published 
by ,ermanno ,,ferrero and ,giuseppe     
,m,,ller4 ,turin1 #ahib1                
,loescher7,letters and                  
documents74--,lettere inedite1 published
 by ,,salza4 ,florence1 #ahih4--;,codice
 delle ,rime di ,vittoria ,colonna1     
appartenente a ,margherita1 regina di   
,navarra scoperto ed illustrato4        

,pistoia1 #aijj1 ed4 ,tordi4  ,franois  
,,de ,,hollande4--,quatre ,entretiens   
sur la ,peinture1 held in ,rome #aech to
 #aeci1 written in #aedh1 published by  
,joachim ,,de ,,vasconcellos2--,french  
translation in ,les ,arts en ,portugal1 
by ,count ,,raczynski4 ,paris1 #ahdf1   
,renouard4  ,donato ,,giannotti4--,de'  
giorni che ,dante consumo nel cercare   
l',inferno e'l ,purgatorio4 ,dialoghi4  
,florence1 #ahei4  ,benvenuto           
,,cellini4--,vita 7#aeei to #aefb71     
first edition4 ,naples1 #agbh4--;,i     
,trattati dell'oreficeria e della       
scultura4 ,florence1 #ahic1 edition ,c4 
,milanesi4  ,benedetto ,,varchi4--,due  
lezioni di ,benedetto ,varchi4          
,florence1 #aedi4--,orazione funerale   
recitata nelle esequie di               
,michel-,angela ,buonarroti4 ,florence1 
#aefd1 ,giunti4  ,francesco             
,,berni4--,opere burlesche4 ,florence1  
#aedh4 ,giunti4  ,michelangelo's        
correspondents3 ,i4 ,sebastiano del     
,piombo1 ,ed4 ,milanesi1 ,french        

translation by ,a4 ,,le ,,prieur4       
,paris1 #ahij1 ,librairie de l',art4    
,blaise ,,de ,,vigen,,re4--,les ,images 
de ,philostrate4 ,paris1 #afbi4         
,,ii4--,,modern ,,works  ,richard       
,,duppa4--,the ,life and ,literary      
,works of ,michel-,angelo ,buonarroti4  
,london1 #ahjf1 #ahaf 7translations in  
verse of the poetry of ,michel-,angelo  
by ,southey and ,wordsworth74           
,quatremere ,,de ,,quincy4--,histoire de
 la vie et des ouvrages de ,michel-,ange
 ,buonarroti4 ,paris1 #ahce4  ,giovanni 
,,gaye4--,carteggio inedito d'artisti   
dei secoli ,,xiv1 ,,xv1 ,,xvi4          
,florence1 #ahci1 three volumes4  ,fr4  
,,al ,,rio4--,michel-,ange et ,raphael  
7first edition74 ,hanover1 #ahfj 7since 
then there have been seven editions2 the
 last appeared in #aijj with            
illustrations74  ,aurelio               
,,gotti4--,vita di ,michel-,angelo4     
,florence1 #ahge1 two volumes4  ,c4     
,heath ,,wilson4--,life and ,works of   
,michel-,angelo4 ,london1 #ahgf4        

,l',o,euvre et la ,vie de ,michel-,ange1
 by ,charles ,,blanc1 ,eug4 ,,guillaume1
 ,paul ,,mantz1 ,charles ,,garnier1 ,a4 
,,mezi,,res4 ,anatole de ,,montaiglon1  
,georges ,,duplessis and ,louis ,,gonse4
 ,paris1 ,gazette des ,beaux-,arts1     
#ahgf4  ,anton ,,springer4--,raffael und
 ,michelangelo1 #ahgh4  ,john ,addington
 ,,symonds4--,the ,life of              
,michel-,angelo ,buonarroti4 ,london1   
#ahic4  ,corrado                        
,,ricci4--,michelangelo4 ,florence1     
#aija4  ,henry ,,thode4--,michel-,angelo
 und das ,ende der ,renaissance1 #a;e   
vol4 ,berlin1 #aijb4--b;e vol4 ,berlin1 
#aijc4  ,alfred ,,von                   
,,reumont4--,vittoria ,colonna4         
,fribourg1 #ahha4  ,albert              
,,hauck4--,vittoria ,colonna4           
,heidelberg1 #ahhb4                     
,,giotti4--,catalogo delle opere d'arti 
e dei disegni di ,michel-,angelo        
,buonarroti1 #ahge4  ,f4                
,,reiset4--,notice des dessins du muse  
du ,louvre4 ,paris1 #ahff4  ,baron ,h4  

,,geymuller4--,michelangelo als         
,architekt4  ,dr ,ernst                 
,,steinmann4--,die ,sixtinische         
,kapelle4  ,carl ,,frey4--,studien zu   
,michelagnolo 7,jahrb4 der ,k4 preuss4  
,kunstssamml47 #ahie-ahif4  ,luigi      
,,passerini4--,la bibliografia di       
,michel-,angelo ,buonarroti e gli       
incisori delle sue opere4 ,florence1    
#ahge4     ,,index   ,a  ,academy of    
painters1 ,florence1 #aci4  ,aldovrandi1
 #aj4  ,altoviti 7,bindo71 #abb1 #acd4  
,amadio d',alberto1 #ff4  ,ammanati     
7,bart471 #aaj1 #aci4  ,annunciation1   
#acf4  ,apollo1 #gd4  ,apollo and       
,marsyas1 #aa4  ,arca of ,s4 ,domenico  
of ,bologna1 #aj4  ,archadelt1 #hf4     
,aretino1 #ie-ih4  ,ariosto1 #hb4   ,b  
,bacchus1 #aj4  ,baccio d',agnolo1 #ej1 
#eb4  ,baglioni 7,malatesta71 #fh1 #ga4 
,baf 7,lazare de71 #fi4  ,bandinelli1   
#bb1 #ff4  ,bandini1 #aaf1 #abc1 #acd4  
,bartolommeo 7,fra71 #bd4  ,beethoven1  
#ac1 #abg1 #adi4  ,bembo1 #hb4  ,berni  
7,francesco71 #hg1 #abh4  ,bernin1 #afj4

  ,bertoldo1 #f1 #g4  ,bettini 7,bart471
 #acd4  ,biagio da ,cesena1 #ie4        
,boboli 7,figures in the grotto71 #ei4  
,boccaccio1 #aj4  ,borghini 7,vincenzo71
 #aci1 #ada4  ,borgo 7,fortifications   
of71 #aaj4  ,botticelli1 #ab1 #af4      
,bramante1 #bh-ca1 #ce-cg1 #aji1 #aai4  
,bronzino1 #bb1 #abh1 #aci4             
,brunelleschi1 #gg1 #aai4  ,bugiardini  
7,giuliano71 #g1 #cg1 #abh4  ,buonarroti
 7,lodovico71 #a1 #gf4  ,buonarroti     
7,lionardo1 son of ,lodovico71 #a1 #ab4 
,buonarroti 7,buonarroto71 #a1 #di1 #gf4
  ,buonarroti 7,giovan ,simone71 #a1    
#acj4  ,buonarroti 7,sigismondo71 #a1   
#acj4  ,buonarroti 7,lionardo1 son of   
,buonarroto71 #aae1 #acj1 #acb1 #ace1   
#ach1 #adj4  ,buonarroti 7,francesca71  
#acj4  ,buoninsegni 7,domenico71 #eb1   
#fa4   ,c  ,calcagni 7,tiberio71 #abd1  
#abf4  ,capitol1 #abj-aba4  ,capponi    
7,niccolo71 #ff1 #fg4  ,carducci        
7,francesco71 #fg1 #fh4  ,carnesecchi   
7,pietro71 #hc4  ,carpi 7,cardinal71    
#aaf4  ,carracci1 #aff4  ,carrara1 #bf1 

#bg1 #cj1 #ea1 #ed1 #ee4  ,caryatid in  
the ,hermitage1 #dh4  ,castiglione      
7,bald471 #hb4  ,cavalcanti1 #hg4       
,cavalieri 7,tommaso dei71 #hj1 #ha1    
#ig1 #acd1 #acg1 #ach4  ,cecchino dei   
,bracci1 #abh4  ,cellini 7,benvenuto71  
#bb1 #abh1 #aci1 #adh1 #aeh1 #afj1 #afc4
  ,christ of the ,minerva1 #di1 #eh4    
,christ1 incompleted4  ,cino da         
,pistoia1 #hg4  ,civitale1 #ajg4        
,clement ,,vii1 #ed1 #ef1 #ei4 #fj1 #fa1
 #gd-gf1 #abh4  ,clement ,,viii1 #ajj4  
,colonna 7,vittoria71 #hb-hf1 #hi1 #ic1 
#adg4  ,colossus of ,florence1 #fb-fd4  
,combat of ,centaurs and ,lapiths1 #h4  
,condivi1 #abi4  ,consilium1 #hf4       
,contarini 7,cardinal71 #hc4  ,corregio1
 #aee4  ,credi 7,lorenzo di71 #g4       
,cronaca1 #af4  ,crucifix in wood of the
 convent of ,s4 ,spirito1 #aj4          
,crucifixion1 #he4  ,cupid sleeping1    
#aa4   ,d  ,dante1 #aj1 #eg1 #hg1       
#ajf-ajg4  ,david1 colossal1 #af-ah1    
#ig4  ,david in bronze1 #ag4  ,descent  
from the cross 7,duomo1 ,florence71     

#abf1 #abg4  ,descent from the cross1   
drawing1 #he4  ,dolce 7,lodovico71 #hb4 
,donatello1 #f1 #g1 #aj4  ,doni         
7,agnolo71 #bd4  ,duccio 7,agostino di71
 #af4  ,drer 7,albrecht71 #be1 #aej4    
,dying ,adonis1 #aa4   ,e  ,entombment1 
#aa4   ,f  ,farnese 7,palace71 #aaa4    
,fattucci1 #fb1 #fc4  ,febo di ,poggio1 
#hj4  ,ferrara 7,rene de71 #hc4  ,festa 
7,constanzo71 #hf4  ,francesca 7,piero  
della71 #bc4  ,franco 7,battista71 #aei4
  ,francis ,i1 #fi4  ,frizzi            
7,federigo71 #eh4   ,g  ,gaeta 7,pier   
,luigi71 #aag1 #acg4  ,ghiberti1 #d4    
,ghirlandajo 7,domenico71 #b-f4         
,ghirlandajo 7,ridolfo71 #bc4           
,giannotti 7,donato71 #fe1 #hg1 #aae1   
#abh4  ,giberti1 #hc4  ,giotto1 #d4     
,granacci 7,francesco71 #b1 #g1 #bb1    
#cg4   ,h  ,hercules and ,cacus1 #ff4   
,hercules1 colossal1 #aa4  ,holland1    
,francis of1 #ac1 #hc4  ,holy ,family   
7,agnolo ,doni71 #bd4  ,holy ,family    
7,bart4 ,pitti71 #bd4  ,holy ,family    
7,taddeo ,taddei71 #bd4   ,i  ,indaco1  

#cg4   ,j  ,jacopo di ,sandro1 #cg4     
,jove 7,paul71 #hb4  ,julius ,,ii1      
#bf-cf1 #dc-dd4  ,julius ,,ii 7,tomb    
of71 #bf-cf1 #de-dg1 #dh-ej1 #gb1       
#hi-if1 #ajb1 #ajc4  ,julius ,,ii       
7,bronze statue of71 #cc-cd4  ,julius   
,,iii1 #aji4   ,l  ,last ,judgment1     
#ia-ajb4  ,leah1 #aje-ajg4  ,leda1 #fg1 
#gd4  ,le ,noyer 7,robert71 #ajj4  ,leo 
,x1 #ej-ed1 #eg1 #ei4  ,leone ,leoni1   
#abh4  ,lippi 7,filipino71 #bc4         
,lomazzo1 #aec1 #aee4   ,m  ,madonna of 
,bruges1 #be4  ,madonna and child       
7bas-relief in bronze71 #i4  ,majano    
7,benedetto da71 #d4  ,mantegna1 #ad4   
,marcellus ,,ii1 #aad4  ,masaccio1 #d4  
,medici 7,lorenzo de'71 #f1 #g1 #ac4    
,medici 7,alessandro de'71 #fe1 #gf4    
,medici 7,duke ,cosmo de'71 #gh1        
#aae-aag1 #abi1 #acj1 #ach4  ,medici    
7,don ,francesco de'71 #abi1 #acd4      
,medici 7,tombs of the71 #ei-fb1 #ga-gd4
  ,michi 7,giovanni71 #ch4  ,minni      
7,antonio71 #fi1 #ge1 #aca1 #acd4  ,mino
 da ,fiesole1 #d4  ,mirandole 7,pico    

della71 #g1 #aj4  ,montelupo 7,raffaello
 da71 #gg1 #ajc1 #ajg4  ,montmorency    
7,constable de71 #dg1 #fi4  ,montorsoli 
7,giovanni da71 #gg4  ,moses1 #dg1      
#ajd-ajf4  ,moses 7small71 #ach4   ,n   
,nanni di ,baccio ,bigio1 #aab-aah4     
,navarre 7,marguerite de71 #hc4  ,noli  
me tangere1 #acd4   ,o  ,ochino         
7,bernadino71 #hc4   ,p  ,palla         
7,battista de la71 #fh4  ,paul ,,iii1   
#hi-aab1 #aji1 #aad4  ,paul ,,iv1 #ii1  
#aad1 #aah4  ,pauline ,chapel1 ,frescoes
 of1 #ajb4  ,perini 7,gherado71 #hj1    
#ig1 #acd4  ,perino del ,vaga1 #bb1     
#aaa1 #aef1 #afc4  ,perugino1 #bb1 #ia4 
,peruzzi 7,baldi71 #aji4  ,petrarch1    
#aj1 #hg4  ,petreo 7,antonio71 #fe4     
,pierfrancesco d',urbino1 #ff4  ,piero  
di ,cosimo1 #bc4  ,piet of ,st4         
,peter's1 #ad1 #ae4  ,piet ,rondanini1  
#acg4  ,piet1 drawing1 #acg4  ,piet1    
#ac4  ,pinturicchio1 #bc4  ,pius ,,iv1  
#abb4  ,poems of ,michelangelo1 #hf-hi4 
,pole 7,cardinal71 #hc4  ,poliziano     
7,angelo71 #g1 #h1 #aj1 #abh4           

,pollajuolo1 #c4  ,pontormo1 #bb1 #acd4 
,porta 7,guglielmo della71 #aaa4  ,porta
 ,pia1 #abj-abb4  ,poussin1 #aec1 #aed4 
,pulci1 #g4   ,q  ,quercia 7,jacopo     
della71 #d1 #aj4   ,r  ,rachel1         
#aje-ajg4  ,raffaellino del ,garbo1 #bc4
  ,raphael1 #c1 #bb1 #bh1 #cf1 #ej1     
#aji1 #adc1 #aee1 #aef4  ,resurrection  
of ,christ1 #he4  ,riccio 7,luigi del71 
#fe1 #hf1 #abh1 #ace4  ,rossellino      
7,antonio71 #d1 #ajg4  ,rosso1 #bb4     
,rustici1 #g4   ,s  ,sadolet1 #hc4  ,st4
 ,peter's 7construction of71 #bg4  ,st4 
,peter 7statue71 #acg4  ,st4 ,matthew1  
#ah4  ,salviati1 #bb4  ,samaritan woman 
at the well1 #he4  ,san ,gallo 7,antonio
 da71 #af1 #ej1 #aji-aaa1 #abb4  ,san   
,gallo 7,aristotele da71 #bb4  ,san     
,gallo 7,francesco da71 #ff1 #aci4  ,san
 ,gallo 7,giuliano da71 #ca1 #dc1 #ej4  
,san ,lorenzo 7faade of71 #ej-eg4  ,san 
,lorenzo 7sacristy of71 #ei4  ,san      
,lorenzo 7library of71 #fj1 #gh4  ,san  
,lorenzo 7chapel of the ,medici71       
#gf-gh4  ,santa ,maria degli ,angeli1   

#abj1 #abb4  ,san ,miniato 7defense of71
 #ff-fg1 #gj4  ,sansovino 7,jacopo71    
#bb1 #ej1 #aab4  ,sansovino 7,andrea del
 ,monte71 #g1 #ej4  ,sarto 7,andrea     
del71 #bb4  ,satyr 7laughing71 #h4      
,savonarola1 #h-ad4  ,schongauer        
7,martin71 #d1 #e4  ,sebastiano del     
,piombo1 #eh1 #gj1 #hg1 #aaa1 #abh1     
#acd1 #aej4  ,serlio 7,sebastiano71 #ff4
  ,signorelli1 #ad1 #bc4  ,sistine      
chapel 7ceiling of71 #cf-db4  ,slaves1  
#dg1 #di4  ,soderini1 #af1 #ai4         
,sodoma1 #bc4  ,strozzi 7,roberto71 #dg1
 #acd4   ,t  ,tasso 7,bernardo71 #hb4   
,temptation of ,st4 ,anthony1 #d4       
,tintoretto1 #aea1 #afe4  ,torrigiani1  
#g4  ,tribolo1 #gh1 #afe4  ,tromboncino1
 #hf4   ,u  ,urbano 7,pietro71 #eh1     
#aca4  ,urbino1 #ajc1 #acb1 #acc4   ,v  
,valori 7,baccio71 #ga1 #ge4  ,varchi1  
#fh1 #hf1 #abh4  ,varj 7,metello71 #di1 
#eh4  ,vasari1 #bj1 #gh1 #aja1 #aaa1    
#abh1 #aci1 #adj1 #aec4  ,venusti       
7,marcello71 #ajj4  ,veronese1 #ii4     
,verrocchio1 #c4  ,victory1 #ach1 #adj4 

,vignole1 #abh4  ,vinci 7,lionardo da71 
#ah-bb1 #bd4  ,virgin of ,manchester1   
#aa4  ,vitruvius1 #gg4  ,volterra       
7,daniele da71 #ajj1 #abh1 #acf1 #adj1  
#aeh4   ,w  ,war with ,pisa 7,cartoon71 
#ah-bc4   ,z  ,zucchero1 #aec1 #aei4    
,,the ,,end   ,,footnotes3  #a ,condivi 
#b ,drawings in the ,louvre from the    
frescoes of ,santa ,croce4  #c ,munich4 
,drawings from the frescoes of the      
,carmine4  #d ,in the collection of the 
,medici a ,st4 ,jerome by ,van ,eyck was
 valued at forty ducats1 the ,giottos   
and ,fra ,angelicos at only ten ducats4 
,the ,flemings were no less appreciated 
at ,urbino where ,justus of ,ghent had  
painted1 whose frescoes were copied by  
,raphael when he was a child1 and at    
,rome where ,jan ,ruysch1 twenty years  
later1 was to work on the ,stanze1 and  
throughout the kingdom of ,naples--not  
to mention the great collection of      
,flemish pictures in the north of       
,italy1 like those of ,cardinal ,grimani
 at ,venice1 and of ,cardinal ,bembo at 

,padua4  #e ,michelangelo was to receive
 six florins the first year1 eight the  
second and ten the third4  #f ,on the   
#ajth of ,may1 #aejh1 as he wrote at a  
later time1 ,i ,michelangelo1 sculptor1 
began to work on the paintings of the   
,sistine ,chapel4  #g ,he had for his   
companions at ,bertoldo's1 ,granacci1   
the sculptors ,rustici1 ,baccio di      
,monte ,lupo and ,andrea del            
,monte-,sansovino1 the painters ,niccolo
 ,soggi1 ,lorenzo di ,credi1 ,giuliano  
,bugiardini and the brutal ,torrigiano  
dei ,torrigiani1 whose blow left its    
mark on ,michelangelo's face for life4  
#h ,at first in the ,strozzi ,palace1   
then bought in #aebi by ,francis ,i and 
placed at ,fontainebleau1 it disappeared
 in the seventeenth century4  #i ,i find
 it impossible to recognise1 as ,thode  
does1 an allusion to the death of       
,savonarola in a letter of #aejh1 when  
,michelangelo1 hearing that his father  
had been slandered by his brother1      
writes1 ,i have not received worse news 

in ten years4 ,nothing justifies us in  
believing that ,michelangelo is not     
merely alluding to other family         
difficulties4  #aj ,sermons on ,amos and
 ,zachariah4  #aa ,see the ,dialogues de
 la ,peinture of ,francis of ,holland1  
who relates the conversations between   
,michelangelo and ,vittoria ,colonna in 
,rome in #aech-ci4  #ab ,beethoven wrote
 in the same way to ,bettina ,brentano  
in #ahaj3 most men are moved by beauty1 
but that is not the nature of artists4  
,artists are fashioned of fire--they do 
not weep4  #ac ,francis of ,holland     
ibid4  #ad ,ibid4 ,the passage applies  
to ,flemish painting in general4  #ae   
,do you know1 said ,michelangelo to     
,condivi1 that chaste women remain much 
more fresh than those who are not       
chaste4 ,how much more1 therefore1 must 
this be true of the ,virgin who never   
entertained the least immodest thought  
which might have troubled her body4 ,i  
would put this even more strongly4 ,i   
believe that this freshness and flower  

of youth which she received in a natural
 manner was preserved for her in a      
supernatural one1 so that the virginity 
and the eternal purity of the ,mother of
 ,god could be demonstrated to the      
world4 ,such a miracle was not necessary
 for the ,son4 ,quite the contrary1 for 
if it had to be shown that the ,son of  
,god was made incarnate in man and that 
he had suffered all that men suffer     
except sin1 it was not necessary to make
 the human disappear behind the divine1 
but it was better rather to let the     
human follow its nature in such a way   
that he should appear to have the age   
that he really had4 ,do not be          
surprised1 therefore1 if for these      
reasons ,i have represented the ,very   
,holy ,virgin1 the ,mother of ,god1 much
 younger than her years would require   
and if ,i have given the ,son his real  
age4  #af ,contract of ,august #bf1     
#adih1 with the ,french ,cardinal1 ,jean
 de ,groslaye de ,villiers1 ,abbot of   
,s4 ,denis1 ,ambassador of ,charles     

,,viii1 who had ordered it for the      
chapel of the kings of ,france 7,chapel 
of ,s4 ,petronille7 at ,st4 ,peter's4   
#ag ,this ,david was placed in the      
centre of the court of the ,chteau de   
,bury and moved in the sixteenth century
 to the ,chteau de ,villeroy near       
,mennecy from where it afterward        
disappeared4 ,the figure was life-size1 
with the head of ,goliath at its feet2 a
 pen-and-ink sketch in the ,louvre is   
all that is left of it4  #ah ,carducho  
saw some fragments in #afcc in the      
possession of the ,viceroy of ,naples4  
,marc-,antonio engraved in #aeaj the    
celebrated episode of the bathers1 using
 for a background a landscape of ,lucas 
van ,leyden4 ,agostino ,veneziano made  
another engraving of it in #aebc-bd4    
,aristotele da ,san ,gallo made a       
drawing of the whole composition and in 
#aedb made from the drawing an          
oil-painting 7,holkham ,castle1         
,england74 ,there exist many fragmentary
 studies of the work in the ,albertina  

,collection at ,vienna1 the ,accademia  
at ,venice1 the ,louvre and ,oxford     
,university4 ,they can be put together  
by following a drawing of ,daniele da   
,volterra in the ,uffizi4 ,the battle   
included1 besides the episode of the    
bathers1 a cavalry combat4 ,si vedono   
infiniti combattendo di cavallo         
cominciare la zuffa1 says ,vasari4 ,the 
moment chosen was the one when a trumpet
 call gave the alarm to the             
,florentines1 surprised while bathing by
 the ,pisans4  #ai ,especially from the 
notes where ,lionardo described a battle
 in his ,thatteto della ,pittura1 ,,ii1 
#ade1 a combination of photographic     
exactness and academic rationalism4  #bj
 ,never had so many nudes been seen in  
one composition except in the ,last     
,judgment at ,orvieto4 ,michelangelo    
pushed so far his contempt not only for 
any psychological analysis1 but for all 
dramatic probability1 that he introduced
 into the midst of the composition a    
naked man lying down and turning over   

lazily without seeming to take any      
notice of the tumult around him4 ,it was
 a classic bas-relief radiant with      
heroic beauty and regardless alike of   
subject and feeling4  #ba ,frescoes of  
,pinturicchio in the library of the     
,cathedral at ,sienna1 finished in      
#aejg4  #bb ,frescoes of ,signorelli in 
the chapel of the ,cathedral of         
,orvieto1 finished in ,december1 #aejd4 
,it is well known with what brutality   
,michelangelo showed on many occasions  
his contempt for ,signorelli and for    
,perugino4  #bc ,at the end of a        
memorial in which he went over the whole
 history of the monument of ,julius ,,ii
 in order to clear himself from blame4  
7,lettere di ,m4 ,a4,b41 ,ed4 ,g4       
,milanesi1 ,florence1 #ahge1 cdxxxv1 p4 
#did47  #bd ,thode confirms this        
opinion1 which was also held by ,serlio 
in the sixteenth century1 in regard to  
the construction of ,st4 ,peter's4  #be 
,in #aeai we find traces of new         
correspondence between ,michelangelo and

 ,turkey4 ,a certain ,tommaso di ,tolfo 
of ,adrianople begs him to come to      
,turkey and to paint some pictures for  
the ,seigneur of ,adrianople1 who is a  
connoisseur in art and has bought an    
antique4  #bf ,the statue was seven     
brasses 7#aa4cd metres7 high and the    
,pope was represented as seated4  #bg   
,the ceiling of the ,sistine ,chapel is 
rectangular in form1 measuring forty    
metres in length by thirteen in width4  
,i4 ,on the level part of the vault are 
nine scenes from ,genesis2 the ,eternal 
dividing light from darkness1 the       
,eternal creating the sun and moon1 the 
,eternal dividing the waters1 the       
,creation of man1 the ,creation of      
woman1 the ,temptation1 ,cain and ,abel1
 the ,deluge1 and the ,drunkenness of   
,noah4  ,,ii4 ,in every angle of the    
imaginary frame surrounding these nine  
scenes is a naked figure seated on a    
pedestal1 twenty in all4 ,vasari calls  
these the ,ignudi4 ,between them1 and   
below each one of the five scenes from  

,genesis1 is a small medallion the      
colour of bronze4  ,,iii4 ,at the       
springing of the arches of the vault1 in
 the twelve pendentives1 twelve prophets
 and sibyls are seated between pilasters
 crowned by naked children who act as   
caryatids and are each accompanied by   
two little geniuses4 ,the figures are   
,jeremiah1 ,ezekiel1 ,joel1 ,zachariah1 
,isaiah1 ,daniel1 ,jonah1 the ,persian1 
,erythran1 ,cuman1 ,delphian1 and       
,libyan ,sibyls4  ,,iv4 ,between the    
prophets and sibyls1 in the space above 
the twelve arched windows1 are the      
precursors and ancestors of ,christ1    
groups of two or three persons divided  
into two sections by an archivolt in the
 midst of which are written on tablets  
the names of the precursors4 ,above     
these triangles1 on the ribs1 are naked 
youths4 ,between the triangles and under
 the thrones of the prophets and sibyls1
 whose names they carry on tablets1 are 
children's figures4  ,v4 ,in the four   
pendentives formed by the angles of the 

ceiling are ,david1 ,conqueror of       
,goliath2 ,judith and ,holofernes2 the  
,brazen ,serpent1 and the ,hanging of   
,haman4  #bh ,letter to his father1     
,january #bg1 #aeji4  #bi ,michelangelo 
abandoned painting for almost twenty    
years and did not take it up again until
 #aebi4  #cj ,i did not want them to    
charge me with the #c1jjj crowns which  
,i had already received1 for ,i showed  
that they owed me much more than that4  
,but ,aginensis said to me that ,i was a
 cheat4 7,letter of ,michelangelo1      
#aebd47  #ca ,twenty-six feet three     
inches4  #cb ,contratti1 #fce ff4  #cc  
,the two ,slaves were given in #aedd by 
,michelangelo to ,robert ,strozzi1 who  
was at that time banished from ,florence
 and had taken refuge in ,france4 ,they 
finally reached the ,constable de       
,montmorency's ,chteau of ,ecouen1 and  
,henri de ,montmorency when he died in  
#afcb gave them to ,cardinal de         
,richelieu4 ,from the ,chteau de        
,richelieu they were moved in the       

seventeenth century to the gardens of   
the ,marchal de ,richelieu in ,paris4   
,it is thanks to ,lenoir that they were 
preserved to ,france in #agic4  #cd     
,condivi wrote that according to        
,michelangelo the statues of the bound  
men which were to be placed against the 
pilasters of the lower part of the tomb 
represented the liberal arts1 painting1 
sculpture and architecture each with its
 characteristic attributes1 in such a   
way that they could be easily           
recognised4 ,at the same time they      
expressed the idea that all the virtues 
were prisoners of death with ,pope      
,julius and that they would never find  
anyone to encourage them and to support 
them as he had done4  ,some sketches at 
,oxford show a number of these prisoners
 struggling against their chains4 ,the  
large statues of the upper story were to
 personify ,st4 ,paul1 ,moses1 ,adam1   
,life and ,contemplation2 ,julius ,,ii  
was represented asleep on an open       
sarcophagus which was supported by two  

angels1 one smiling to express the joy  
of heaven1 and the other weeping to     
represent the sorrow of earth4  ,a large
 pen-and-ink drawing in the ,ufizzi     
partly shows the architecture of the    
monument--that ,charles ,garnier called 
the architecture of a goldsmith--and    
which is indeed a frame to group the    
sculptured figures together as well as  
possible4 ,i would like to believe that 
this drawing refers not to the plan of  
#aeac1 but to the simplified plan of    
#aeaf4  #ce ,cardinal ,giulio ,medici1  
future ,clement ,,vii4  #cf ,a brasse is
 #a4fb metres4  #cg ,appeal of the      
,academicians of ,florence to ,leo ,x1  
signed by ,michelangelo4 7,gotti1 ,vol4 
,,ii1 p4 #hd47  #ch ,michelangelo ended 
his work in ,april1 #aebj4 ,the ,christ 
was sent to ,rome in ,march1 #aeba4     
,pietro ,urbano worked at it from ,june 
until the middle of ,august when he     
suddenly left ,rome4  ,sebastiano del   
,piombo writes to ,michelangelo in      
,september1 #aeba3 ,pietro ,urbano has  

mutilated everything4 ,in particular he 
has shortened the right foot and you can
 see clearly that he has cut off the    
toes3 he has even shortened the fingers1
 especially those of the right hand     
which held the cross4 ,frizzi says that 
they look as if they had been made by a 
'baker4' ,that hand does not even look  
like marble2 you would think it had been
 made by a pastry cook1 so stiff are the
 fingers4 ,you can see1 too1 that he has
 worked at the beard and you would think
 he had modelled it with a blunt knife4 
,he has also mutilated one of the       
nostrils1 and almost spoilt the nose4   
,michelangelo had to commission the     
sculptor1 ,federigo ,frizzi1 to finish  
the work4 ,with his customary honesty he
 offered to make an entirely new statue 
for ,metello ,varj1 who had ordered the 
work from him1 but ,varj declined4      
,michelangelo was so ashamed of the     
,christ of the ,minerva that when the   
statue was unveiled in ,december1 #aeba1
 ,lionardo ,sellajo1 one of his friends 

in ,rome1 took great care that everyone 
should know that it was not by          
,michelangelo1 but that he had simply   
retouched it4  #ci ,after the death of  
,leo ,x on ,december #a1 #aeba1 and     
during all the pontificate of ,adrian   
,,vi1 who died on ,september #bc1 #aebc1
 ,cardinal ,giulio de' ,medici had put a
 mute on all his undertakings4 ,it is   
probable that during that year's respite
 7#aebb-bc7 ,michelangelo was able to   
take up again the tomb of ,julius ,,ii1 
and that he worked at the admirable     
,victory of the ,bargello and at the    
scarcely blocked-in figures of the      
,boboli ,grotto4  #dj ,fifty crowns4    
,michelangelo only asked for fifteen4   
#da ,he was fifty years old4 ,in #aeag1 
when he was forty-two1 in a letter to   
,domenico ,buoninsegni he called himself
 old4 ,in #aebc in a letter to ,cardinal
 ,domenico ,grimani1 he emphasised the  
lessening of his strength through age4  
,if ,i work a day1 he says1 ,i must rest
 for four4  #db ,thode pretends that    

,michelangelo did not take this         
seriously and that the letter which     
follows is ironisch und humorvolle4     
,full of humor1 yes1 but ,i do not think
 it ironical4 ,if there is any trace of 
irony it is rather on the side of the   
pope1 who might have been making fun of 
,michelangelo's naivet and of his       
well-known tendency to grow enthusiastic
 over any new undertaking1 particularly 
the most fantastic ones4 ,in fact after 
frequent exchanges of letters in        
,october and ,november1 #aebe1          
,fattucci1 a friend of ,michelangelo1   
warned him secretly in ,december that   
the ,colossus was only a joke4          
,michelangelo had not suspected any     
malice in this scheme and had already   
pictured in his mind the bizarre        
,colossus to which he gave a frankly    
popular character1 monstrous and comic1 
like one of ,aristo's giants4  #dc ,the 
block of marble abandoned by            
,michelangelo was taken a little while  
afterward by his jealous rival1         

,bandinelli1 who made from it a         
,hercules and ,cacus which to-day still 
stands on the ,piazza della ,signoria4  
#dd ,until then ,michelangelo had given 
his services gratuitously to his        
country4  #de ,it was for him that      
,michelangelo some time after this made 
his painting of ,leda1 but he never sent
 it to him because of some discourtesy  
on the part of the ,ferrarese           
ambassador4  #df ,michelangelo does not 
name him1 undoubtedly so as not to      
compromise him4  #dg ,in entering the   
chapel of ,s4 ,lorenzo the tomb of      
,giuliano1 ,duke of ,nemours1 7,action7 
is on the right2 and on the left that of
 ,lorenzo1 ,duke of ,urbino 7the        
,thinker72 and opposite the altar1 the  
,virgin nursing the ,child4 ,each of the
 two captains is placed in a rectangular
 niche flanked by two other niches which
 are empty4 ,below each of them on the  
fluted cover of a sarcophagus arc two   
allegorical figures half reclining 7,day
 and ,night--,dawn and ,twilight7 with  

their backs turned4 ,the sarcophagi are 
designedly much too small2 there is     
hardly room for the figures on them4 ,no
 doubt ,michelangelo wished to emphasise
 the impression of heroic and agonising 
effort produced by the sight of these   
athletic forms turned back upon         
themselves in involved and constrained  
portions4 ,the two tombs were finished  
in #aeca4 ,we know the admirable verses 
which ,michelangelo wrote on his figure 
of ,night and which undoubtedly date    
from a dozen years later1 ,march1 #aedd4
 ,see ,frey ,,cix4 pp1 #af-ag4  #dh ,at 
this same time by a savage and          
instinctive reaction of his nature      
against the ,christian pessimism by     
which it was stifled1 ,michelangelo     
executed some works of daring paganism  
like the painting of ,leda caressed by  
the ,swan 7#aebi-aecj7 which1 originally
 made for the ,duke of ,ferrara1 was    
given by ,michelangelo to his pupil     
,antonio ,mini1 who carried it to       
,france1 where it is said to have been  

destroyed about #afdc by ,sublet des    
,noyers because of its licentiousness4  
,a little later ,michelangelo painted   
for ,bart4 ,bettini a cartoon of ,venus 
caressed by ,love from which ,pontormo  
made a picture now in the ,uffizi4      
,other drawings full of a grandiose and 
severe shamelessness are probably of the
 same period4 ,to the first months of   
the siege belongs also the admirable    
unfinished statue of the ,apollo of the 
,museo ,nazionale which he made for     
,baccio ,valori in the autumn of #aecj4 
#di ,in the plan of construction 7a     
square crowned by a dome with fluted    
pilasters and niches with pediments7    
,michelangelo was influenced by         
,brunelleschi and ,vitruvius1 whom he   
was studying at that time4 ,there was   
very little ornamentation and the idea  
of the plan was clear1 simple and       
abstract4 ,with ,michelangelo1          
architecture is always a frame for his  
statues4 ,he even went so far as to     
write1 in #aefj1 to ,cardinal ,carpi    

that the divisions of architecture were 
the same as those of the human frame1   
and no one who was not un buon maestro  
di figure and did not understand anatomy
 could be an architect4  #ej ,he sent a 
model in #aeei4 ,it is from this model  
that ,vasari executed the               
much-criticised staircase of the        
,laurentian4 ,in spite of faults it     
shows the rugged genius of              
,michelangelo1 who seemed to enjoy      
making difficulties for himself4 ,that  
breakneck staircase1 conceived in such a
 dry1 hard and complicated way1 but     
strong and violent1 and which ever seeks
 to accentuate the ascending lines1 is  
certainly a product of the same spirit  
which created the ,medici tombs4        
,besides it is well to note that the    
faults were emphasised by the manner in 
which ,vasari carried it out4           
,michelangelo had recommended that the  
staircase be made of wood1 but ,cosmo   
held to the idea of building it in      
stone4  #ea ,see in the edition of      

,michelangelo's poems by ,carl ,frey1   
,die ,dichtungen des ,michelangelo      
,buonarroti1 ,berlin1 #ahig1 the        
sonnets1 ,,cix1 ,,lxxvi1 ,,xlv1 etc4    
,vasari tells us that ,michelangelo made
 a life-size drawing of ,cavalieri1 the 
only portrait which he ever made1 for he
 had a horror of copying a living person
 unless they were of incomparable       
beauty4  ,he adds that he made him      
beautiful presents1 many astonishing    
drawings1 a ,ganymede carried to ,heaven
 by the eagle of ,zeus1 a ,tityos with  
the vulture feeding on his heart1 the   
fall of ,phaeton and the chariot of the 
,sun into the ,po1 and a ,bacchanale of 
children--all works of the rarest beauty
 and of such perfection that their like 
has never been seen4  #eb ,from the     
monastery at ,viterbo1 ,july #bj1 #aedb 
or #aedc4 ,the letter bears this        
address3 ,al mio pi che magnifico et pi 
che carissimo ,m4 ,michel ,agnolo       
,buonarroti4 7,carteggio de ,vittoria   
,colonna4 ,published by ,ermanno        

,ferrero and ,giuseppe ,mller1 ,turin1  
#ahib1 pp4 #bfh1 #bfi47  #ec ,donate    
,giannotti1 ,de' giorni che ,dante      
consumo nel cercare l',inferno e 'l     
,purgatorio4 ,dialoghi4  #ed      ,were 
,i but he1 born for like lingering pains
     ,against his exile coupled with his
 good1     ,i'd gladly change the       
world's best heritage4     7,translation
 of ,j4 ,a4 ,symonds47   #ee ,capitolo  
di ,francesco ,berni a fra ,sebastiano  
del ,piombo4 7,rime4 ,ed4 ,frey1 p4     
#bfc47  #ef ,canzone in lode di         
,michelagnolo ,bonarroto4 7,see ,frey1  
p4 #g47  #eg ,a ,frenchman who saw him  
at that time4  #eh ,letters of          
,michelangelo to ,fattucci1 ,march #g1  
#aeea4  #ei ,rime4 ,ed4 ,frey1          
,,lxxxviii1 p4 #ic4  #fj ,ibid41 ,c and 
,,cl1 pp4 #aje1 #ajf4  #fa ,the work on 
the fortifications of ,rome directed by 
,antonio da ,san ,gallo dates from his  
reign and also the construction of the  
,capitol1 the raising of the statue of  
,marcus ,aurelius1 the completion of the

 ,farnese ,palace1 the construction of  
the ,via ,paola1 of the ,sala ,regia and
 the ,pauline ,chapel at the ,vatican1  
the ,caffarelli and ,spada palaces1 the 
,villa ,medici1 etc4  #fb ,as a matter  
of fact ,michelangelo did not actually  
receive any income from this source     
until #aech1 and after many difficulties
 he lost it in #aedg4  #fc ,later on the
 subject was treated after the sketches 
of ,michelangelo in the ,chapel of ,s4  
,gregorio at ,santa ,trinit4 7,see      
,vasari47  #fd ,perugino had painted the
 ,assumption with a portrait of ,sextius
 ,,iv kneeling1 ,moses saved from the   
waters1 and the ,birth of ,christ4  #fe 
,lon ,dorez has found recently in the   
records of the private accounts of ,paul
 ,,iii the exact dates of the work1     
,april-,may1 #aecf1 to ,november #ah1   
#aeda4  #ff ,thus ,vittoria ,colonna had
 herself described the ,last ,judgment  
to ,michelangelo3 ,christ comes twice1  
the first time he is all gentleness2 he 
only shows his great kindness1 his      

clemency and his pity2 he comes for the 
sinners and the sick1 to give peace1    
light and forgiveness1 all glowing with 
charity1 clothed in humanity4444 ,the   
second time he comes armed and shows his
 justice1 his majesty1 his grandeur and 
his almighty power1 and there is no     
longer any time for pity or room for    
pardon4 7,letter of ,vittoria between   
#aece-aedf1 probably to ,bernadino      
,ochino1--,carteggio de ,vittoria       
,colonna1 p4 #bdb47  #fg ,we know that  
,michelangelo1 to revenge himself1      
portrayed ,biagio from memory in the    
,hell of his ,last ,judgment under the  
form of ,minos with a huge serpent wound
 about his legs in the midst of a       
mountain of devils4 7,vasari47  #fh ,we 
must not1 however1 imagine that         
,michelangelo any more than his         
contemporaries had the courage to show  
openly to ,aretino the contempt which he
 must have felt for him4 ,if he declined
 the offer of collaboration in the ,last
 ,judgment which ,aretino had baldly    

made him and for which he had outlined a
 detailed program1 it was only with many
 compliments and much flattery4 7,letter
 of ,september1 #aecg47 ,even though    
,aretino did not obtain from him the    
gift for which he asked1 we find1       
nevertheless1 that he had received in   
,september1 #aece1 through ,vasari1 a   
head in wax and a sketch for a ,st4     
,catherine4 ,but he did not consider    
himself satisfied4  #fi ,the ,hypocrite1
 dedicated to ,guidobaldo ,,ii1 ,duke of
 ,urbino4 7,see ,pierre ,gaultier1      
,l',aretin1 #ahie47  #gj ,gherardo      
,perini and ,tommaso dei                
,cavalieri--thus ,aretino in passing    
adds to the accusation of impiety an    
allusion to the evil reports about the  
habits of ,michelangelo4 ,two lines     
lower down he will accuse him of theft4 
#ga ,in postscript3 ,now that ,i have a 
little discharged my anger against the  
cruelty with which you have repaid my   
devotion1 and have made you see1 ,i     
believe1 that if you are divino ,i am   

not d'acqua1 tear up this letter as ,i  
do1 and reflect4 ,for ,i am a man to    
whom even ,kings and ,emperors answer4  
#gb ,gaye ,carteggio1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4    
#ejj4  #gc ,a4 ,baschet ,p4 ,veronese   
devant le ,saint ,office1 #ahhj4  #gd   
,missirini3 ,memorie per servire alla   
storia della romana ,accademia di ,s4   
,luca4 7,cited by ,e4 ,mntz1 ,histoire  
de l',art pendant la ,renaissance1 ,vol4
 ,,iii1 p4 #abf47  #ge ,in #agfb        
,stefano ,pozzi was polishing it under  
,clement ,,viii4 ,abb ,richard1 in his  
,voyage d',italie1 says that he saw some
 very mediocre artists occupied in      
covering with draperies the most        
beautiful nude figures of the painting  
and of the ceiling4  #gf ,the only      
document which makes it possible for us 
to give an account of the original work 
is a copy by ,marcello ,venusti in the  
,museum of ,naples1 from which a painter
 of ,orlans1 ,robert ,le ,noyer1 seems  
to have made in #agej a reduced copy    
which is now in the ,museum of          

,montpellier4 7,see ,g4 ,lafenestre et  
,e4 ,richtenberger1 ,la ,peinture en    
,europe4 ,rome47  #gg ,the ,british     
,museum and the ,university of ,oxford  
have drawings which are related to these
 frescoes4 ,the ,cartoon is in the      
,museum at ,naples4  #gh ,march #f1     
#aedb4 7,gaye1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #bhi47    
#gi ,july #bj1 #aedb 7,petition of      
,michelangelo to ,paul ,,iii71          
,michelangelo added that the two figures
 were already so far advanced that they 
could be easily completed by other      
artists4 7,gaye1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #big47  
#hj ,the fourteen hundred crowns had    
been deposited at the bank of ,silvestro
 da ,montanto  ,co4 ,they were to be    
divided as follows3 eight hundred for   
the work of ,urbino2 five hundred and   
thirty for the statues of ,raffaello da 
,montelupo1 whose ,madonna was already  
finished2 and fifty for the             
transportation and placing of the       
statues by ,urbino4  #ha ,october1      
#aedb4 ,letter to an unknown person whom

 he calls ,monsignore4  #hb #ah         
,november1 #aedb4 ,letter of            
,michelangelo to ,luigi del ,riccio4    
#hc      ,giovane e bella in sogno mi   
parea     ,donna vedere andar per una   
landa     ,cogliendo fiori2 e cantando  
dicea3      ,sappia1 qualunque il mio   
nome domanda     ,ch'io mi son ,lia1 e  
vo movendo intorno     ,le belle mani a 
farmi una ghirlanda4      ,per piacermi 
allo specchio qui m'adorno2     ,ma mia 
suora ,rachel mai non si smaga     ,dal 
suo miraglio1 e siede tutto giorno4     
,ell'  de' suoi begli occhi veder vaga1 
,com'io dell'adornami con la mani2      
,lei lo vedere1 e mi l'oprare appaga4   
--7,purgatorio1 ,,xxvii47               
7,translation of ,c4 ,e4 ,norton47   #hd
 ,a ,prophet and a ,sibyl are by        
,raffaello da ,montelupo1 and the absurd
 statue of the ,pope by ,maso ,boscoli  
da ,fiesole4  #he      ,now know ,i well
 how that fond phantasy     ,which made 
my soul the worshipper and thrall       
,of ,earthly ,art1 is vain4             

7,translation of ,j4 ,a4 ,symonds47     
#hf ,july1 #aeeg4 ,letter of            
,michelangelo to ,lionardo ,buonarroti4 
#hg ,see ,vasari4 ,in ,october1 #aedf1  
,michelangelo with ,jacopo ,meleghino   
was commissioned to direct the          
fortification of the ,borgo4 ,he was    
undoubtedly subordinate to the orders of
 ,pier ,luigi ,farnese1 who was replaced
 after his death in #aedg by ,jacopo    
,pusto ,castriotto d',urbino4 ,toward   
the end of #aedg they were at work on   
the bastion of the ,belvedere4 7,see    
,gotti47  #hh ,michelangelo wrote to the
 committee3 ,you know that ,i told      
,balduccio not to send his lime unless  
it was good4 ,he has sent bad lime and  
won't admit that he can be forced to    
take it back1 which proves that he has  
an understanding with the person who    
accepted it4 ,such things encourage the 
effrontery of those whom ,i have        
dismissed for similar frauds4 ,whoever  
accepts bad materials or bribes corrupts
 justice4 ,i beg of you1 in the name of 

the authority which ,i have received    
from the pope1 never more to accept     
anything which can not be used1 even if 
it came from ,heaven4 ,i do not want    
anyone to believe that ,i shut my eyes  
to these irregularities4  #hi ,vasari4  
#ij ,letter of ,michelangelo to his     
nephew ,lionardo1 ,may #aa1 #aeee4  #ia 
,particularly ,cardinal ,carpi1 ,tommaso
 dei ,cavalieri1 ,donato ,giannotti1    
,francesco ,bandini and ,gio4 ,francesco
 ,lottini4  #ib ,letter of ,september   
#ac1 #aefj4  #ic ,vasari4 ,see in the   
excellent work of ,henry ,thode1        
,michelangelo und das ,ende der         
,renaissance1 ,vol4 ,i1 the detailed    
account of these struggles of           
,michelangelo with the faction of ,san  
,gallo and ,nanni di ,baccio ,bigio4    
#id ,see ,anatole de ,montaiglon1 ,la   
,vie de ,michel-,ange4 7,l',o,euvre et  
la ,vie de ,michel-,ange1 p4 #bhh47  #ie
 ,h4 de ,geymueller1 ,ursprngliche      
,entwrfe zu ,s4 ,peter4  #if ,the cupola
 of ,st4 ,peter's1 like that of         

,florence1 has two concentric domes4 ,it
 was to have had three according to     
,michelangelo's model1 but ,guglielmo   
della ,porta1 who carried out the plans 
after his death1 left out the lower one4
  #ig ,michelangelo had also the rather 
unfortunate idea of flanking the main   
cupola by four little domes 7of which   
only two were made7 instead of the four 
towers which were to frame it in        
,bramante's plan4 ,michelangelo did not 
have the happiness of seeing his work   
completed for at his death the cupola   
was only finished as far as the drum4   
,guglielmo della ,porta finished the    
dome in a year4  #ih ,see ,michaelis1   
,zeitschrift fr bildende kunst4 #ahia1  
,vol4 ,,iii1 p4 #ahd et seq42 ,e4 ,mntz1
 ,histoire de l'art pendant la          
,renaissance1 ,vol4 ,,iii1 pp4 #cch-cdj4
 ,the palace of the ,senate was built in
 #aedf to #aefh1 the two staircases in  
#aeee4 ,the faade of the ,palazzo dei   
,conservatori dates from after the death
 of ,michelangelo2 the campanile is the 

work of ,martino ,lunghi1 and dates from
 #aegi4 ,the groups of the ,dioscuri    
were installed in #aehc4 ,from #aeib to 
#aeih the faade of the palace of the    
,senate was rebuilt and changed4 ,the   
,capitoline ,museum dates from the      
seventeenth century under the           
pontificate of ,innocent ,x4  ,we must  
be very careful not to blame            
,michelangelo for the faults of his     
successors as ,charles ,garnier has done
 in a too severe article published in   
,l',o,euvre et la ,vie de ,michel-,ange1
 in which he nevertheless acknowledges  
that he was thinking of the ,capitol    
when he built the ,loggia of the ,opera 
,house at ,paris4 ,he adds it is true   
that he had studied the proportions with
 great care and skill1 and ,i can say   
without blushing1 with more talent4  #ii
 ,michelangelo also made drawings for   
the other gates of ,rome4 7,vasari47    
#ajj ,letters of ,michelangelo to       
,vasari1 ,august #a-,october #ac1 #aeej4
  #aja ,letter of ,michelangelo to      

,cosmo1 ,november1 #aeei4  #ajb ,letter 
of ,michelangelo to ,cosmo1 ,november   
#a1 #aeei4 ,the same1 ,november #a1     
#aeei1 and ,march #e1 #aefj4  #ajc      
,michelangelo in the last period of his 
life1 when he seemed entirely devoted to
 architecture and poetry1 had many other
 ambitious plans1 like that of          
continuing the arcade of the ,loggia dei
 ,lanzi around the palace of the        
,signory at ,florence1 of connecting the
 ,farnese palace and the ,farnesina by a
 bridge1 of raising in the court of the 
,belvedere a ,moses striking water from 
the rock1 etc4 ,it was that taste for   
the colossal1 and what we might even    
dare to call the uselessly colossal1    
which was handed down through his school
 as far as ,bernini4  #ajd ,in #aeec4   
,see ,condivi4 ,this is the famous ,piet
 of the cathedral of ,florence4 ,blaise 
de ,vigenre in ,les ,images de          
,philostrate1 ,paris1 #afbi1 speaks of a
 ,piet on which ,michelangelo was       
working in #aeej for his own tomb4  #aje

 ,all his life he suffered from insomnia
 brought on by overwork1 a fever which  
continually consumed him and his ascetic
 sobriety4  #ajf ,two other unfinished  
,piets have been preserved4 ,one is in  
the court of the ,rondanini palace in   
,rome1 the other has just been found in 
,palestrina4  #ajg ,the figures are not 
on the same scale1 especially the figure
 of the ,magdalen1 which is too small4  
,she is colder than the rest of the     
group and more finished1 and we may     
suspect that it was upon her figure that
 ,calcagni worked4  #ajh ,among these   
artists he knew particularly well       
,francesco ,granacci1 ,giuliano         
,bugiardini1 ,jacopo ,sansovino1        
,aristotele da ,san ,gallo1 ,rosso1     
,pontormo1 ,guglielmo della ,porta1     
,vignole1 and the musician ,archadelt4  
#aji ,correspondence between ,sebastiano
 del ,piombo and ,michelangelo has been 
published by ,gaetano ,milanesi with a  
,french translation by ,a4 ,le,pileur   
and an introduction by ,e4 ,mntz in the 

,bibl4 ,internationale de l',art        
7,librairie de l',art1 #ahij74  #aaj    
,donato ,giannotti has1 as we have said1
 preserved the memory of these relations
 in his ,dialoghi1 #aede4 ,michelangelo 
was particularly intimate with ,luigi   
del ,riccio through their mutual        
friendship with the beautiful ,cecchino 
dei ,bracci1 whose premature death in   
#aedd inspired ,michelangelo with a     
cycle of verses4  #aaa ,la ,vita di     
,michelangelo1 by ,ascanio ,condivi1    
appeared in ,july1 #aeec1 in ,rome1     
published by ,antonio ,blado and        
dedicated to ,julius ,,iii4 ,the first  
edition of ,vasari's ,vite had already  
appeared in #aeea and ,vasari had sent  
it to ,michelangelo1 who had thanked him
 in the sonnet ,se con lo stile4  #aab  
,see ,benvenuto ,cellini4  #aac ,letter 
of ,vasari to ,cosmo de' ,medici1 ,april
 #h1 #aefj4 ,see also the affectionate  
letter of ,michelangelo to ,sebastiano  
del ,piombo in ,may1 #aeee4  #aad       
,francesca married1 in #aech1 ,michele  

de ,niccolo ,guicciardini4 ,lionardo    
married1 in #aeec1 ,cassandra1 the      
daughter of ,donato ,ridolfi4  #aae ,a  
few days before ,michelangelo had lost  
his last brother1 ,gismondo4 ,see also  
his admirable letter to ,vasari1        
,february #bc1 #aeef4  #aaf ,letter of  
,michelangelo to ,cornelia1 ,march #bh1 
#aeeg4 ,he quarrelled with ,cornelia in 
#aeei1 when she married again1 and      
wanted to take the charge of the        
children from her1 but their friendship 
was re-established in #aefa4  #aag ,he  
justified these accusations by his      
almost sordid manner of living and      
constant complaints of poverty1 although
 he was really rich4 ,a ,denunzia de'   
beni1 in #aecd1 before he had received  
anything from ,paul ,,iii1 showed that  
he owned a house and three estates in   
,settignano1 a property at ,st4         
,stephano de ,pozzolatico1 two farms and
 a house at ,stradello1 a farm at       
,rovezzano1 three houses in the ,via    
,ghibellina1 one house in the ,via      

,mozza1 etc4 ,the inventory made after  
his death in ,rome showed seven or eight
 hundred gold crowns 7worth about four  
to five thousand francs7 and ,vasari    
tells us that he had twice given his    
nephew ,lionardo seven thousand crowns1 
beside two thousand to ,urbino and sums 
invested at ,florence4  #aah      ,now  
hath my life across a stormy sea        
,like a frail bark reached that wide    
port where all     ,are bidden4444      
7,j4 ,a4 ,symonds' translation47   #aai 
,the ,piet ,rondanini4  #abj ,gotti1    
,vol4 ,,ii1 p4 #ceh4  #aba ,besides     
these there were in the atelier in      
,florence in the ,via ,mozza a number of
 blocks of marble and the beautiful     
statue of ,victory intended for the tomb
 of ,julius ,,ii1 and which in #aefe was
 taken to the ,palazzo ,vecchio4 ,also  
,antonio del ,franzese1 ,michelangelo's 
servant1 who was with him at the time of
 his death1 gave to the ,duke of ,urbino
 in #aegj a statuette of ,moses which   
his master had given to him4  #abb      

,gaye1 ,carteggio inedito d'artisti1    
#ahci1 ,vol4 ,,iii1 p4 #aca4  #abc ,the 
,florentine ,academy of ,painters had   
just been founded in #aefc1 and         
,michelangelo had been unanimously      
chosen as a president together with     
,cosmo de' ,medici1 ,january #ca1 #aefc4
  #abd ,the ,duke was not there1        
,cellini was ill and could not come and 
,francesco da ,san ,gallo did not       
appear4  #abe ,daniele da ,volterra had 
offered to make a sketch for the tomb   
with his assistant1 ,jacopo del ,duca1  
but ,vasari's jealousy prevented it4    
,daniele died ,april #d1 #aeff1 after   
having made rough models for three busts
 of ,michelangelo which ,jacopo del     
,duca or ,michele ,alberti finished     
after him4  #abf ,see the detailed      
account of the obsequies2 ,esequie del  
divino ,michelangelo1 ,florence1        
,giunti1 #aefd4 ,varchi wrote the       
,orazione funerale4  #abg ,letter of    
,october1 #aeji4  #abh ,letter of       
,march1 #aedh1 to ,lionardo ,buonarroto4

  #abi ,condivi4  #acj ,see the ,lezione
 of ,benedetto ,varchi on the sonnet of 
,michelangelo1 ,non ha l'ottimo         
,artista4444  #aca      ,i saw no mortal
 beauty with these eyes       ,when     
perfect peace in thy fair eyes ,i found2
       ,but far within1 where all is    
holy ground1     ,my soul felt love1 her
 comrade of the skies2     ,for she was 
born with ,god in ,paradise2       ,else
 should we still to transient love be   
bound2       ,but1 finding these so     
false1 we pass beyond1     ,unto the    
,love of loves that never dies4         
7,translation of ,j4 ,a4 ,symonds47     
#acb ,tutti i componimenti di lui pieni 
d'amore ,socratico1 e di concetti       
,platonici4  #acc ,xenophon1 ,memor1    
,vol4 ,,iii1 p4 #aj4  #acd ,he adds3 ,he
 who wrote that painting was nobler than
 sculpture1 if that idea is a sample of 
his intelligence1 then my servant knows 
more than he does4  ,this seems to be   
directed at ,lionardo4 ,see the first   
chapter of ,trattato della ,pittura4    

#ace      ,the best of artists hath no  
thought to show       ,which the rough  
stone in its superfluous shell          
,doth not include2 to break the marble  
spell     ,is all the hand that serves  
the brain can do4                       
7,translation of ,j4 ,a4 ,symonds47     
#acf ,if it is true that ,michelangelo  
attacked the marble with the greatest   
fury1 it was only after he had prepared 
his drawings and his models with the    
most minute care4 ,cellini in his       
,trattati dell' oreficeria 7,florence1  
#aeeg7 says that for the statues in the 
,sacristy of ,s4 ,lorenzo he saw him    
first make models of the same height as 
the statue was to be and then draw with 
charcoal on the marble the general      
appearance of his figure4 ,vasari says  
almost the same thing in regard to the  
four statues of ,captives sketched in   
the block and not yet cut from it4  #acg
 ,the science of design or drawing1 said
 ,michelangelo1 according to the        
,dialogues of ,francis of ,holland1 is  

the source and the essence of painting1 
of sculpture1 of architecture and of all
 kinds of representation as well as the 
soul of all the sciences 7,third ,part  
of the ,dialogues sur la ,peinture dans 
la ,ville de ,rome74 ,sculpture1 says   
,francis of ,holland1 is clearly bound  
to drawing2 it comes out of it and at   
bottom is nothing more than the drawing 
itself4 ,the great draughtsman1         
,michelangelo1 said to me many times    
that he regarded it as a greater thing  
to make a masterly stroke with the pen  
than with the chisel4 7,ibid41 ,second  
,part47  #ach      ,sense is not love1  
but lawlessness accursed2     ,this     
kills the soul4444                      
7,translation of ,j4 ,a4 ,symonds47     
#aci ,or for sluggards like ,sebastiano 
del ,piombo4 ,he had a quarrel because  
of this remark with ,sebastiano1 who    
tried to persuade him to paint the ,last
 ,judgment in oils4  #adj ,aborriva il  
fare somigliare al vivo                 
7,vasari74--,michelangelo never would   

paint a portrait4--7,journal de ,bernin1
 ,gazette des ,beaux ,arts1 ,vol4       
,,xvii1 p4 #ceh47 ,his rule1 says       
,vasari1 was never to make any likeness 
of a living person unless he was of     
transcendent beauty4  #ada ,flemish     
painting generally is more pleasing to  
the devout than ,italian painting4  #adb
 ,francis of ,holland1 ,quatre          
,entretiens sur la ,peinture1 held in   
,rome in #aech-aeci1 written in #aedh1  
published by ,joachim de ,vasconcellos  
7translation into ,french in ,les ,arts 
en ,portugal1 by ,comte ,raczynski1     
,paris1 ,renouard1 #ahdd74 ,to prove the
 theory of ,michelangelo1 ,vittoria     
,colonna1 who presided over this talk1  
undertook the defense of the religious  
and consolatory art of the ,north4  #adc
 ,we find the same ideas1 more exuberant
 and more confused1 in the writings of  
,lomazzo1 ,idea del ,tempio della       
,pittura 7#aeij74  #add ,idea del       
,tempio1 etc4  #ade ,lomazzo became     
blind when he was twenty-three1 but that

 did not prevent him from judging of    
painters and their works until his death
 when over sixty4  #adf ,perino del     
,vaga made this declaration when he     
refused to undertake the drawings for   
the jewel-box of ,cosmo de ,medici1 when
 he found that they had addressed       
themselves first to ,michelangelo4      
7,jay1 ,receuil de ,lettres sur la      
,peinture4 ,claude ,tolomei  ,apoll4    
,philarte47  #adg ,luigi ,lanzi2 ,storia
 ,pittorica d',italia1 ,bassano1        
#agie-if1 ,vol4 ,i1 p4 #afg4  #adh      
,tintoretto himself1 under the influence
 of ,michelangelo1 says3 ,the most      
beautiful colours are black and white   
because they give relief to figures by  
light and shade1 and at the end of his  
life1 abandoning the principles of the  
,venetian ,school1 he gives the         
preference to drawing1 ,draw1 draw now  
and always4  #adi ,daniele da ,volterra 
was also more a sculptor than a painter1
 and ended by giving himself up to      
sculpture4 ,he made casts of the statues

 of the ,medici and also some statues of
 his own4 ,some of his pictures1 like   
the ,david and ,goliath in the ,louvre1 
which is painted on both sides1 are only
 two faces of one of his statues4 ,rosso
 and ,salviati were also sculptors4     
#aej ,the verses of ,giovanni ,strozzi  
7#aede7 are well known3      ,la ,notte1
 che tu vedi in si dolci atti           
,dormir1 fu da un ,angelo scolpita      
,in questo sasso1 e perche dorme1 ha    
vita4     ,destala1 se nol credi1 e     
parleratti4  ,the night which you see   
sleeping so peacefully was carved by an 
angel in this rock4 ,since she sleeps1  
she lives4 ,if you do not believe it    
awake her and she will speak to you4    
#aea ,the same thing is true of         
,girolamo ,muziano of ,brescia4 ,even   
the ,school of ,milan was affected4     
,lomazzo makes of ,michelangelo the     
ruler of all painting4 ,the imitation of
 ,michelangelo spread especially in     
sculpture1 and there the decadence was  
dizzying4  #aeb ,journal du ,voyage du  

,cavalier ,bernin en ,france1 par ,m4 de
 ,chantelou4 7,gazette des ,beaux ,arts1
 ,vol4 ,,xxix1 p4 #dec47  #aec ,ibid41  
,vol4 ,,xxi1 p4 #chc4  #aed ,ed4 ,frey1 
,,xlix4  ,michelangelo said one day to  
,ammanati1 ,nelle mie opere caco sangue4
  ,varchi said to him one day1 ,signor  
,buonarroti1 avete il cervello di       
,giove4 ,michelangelo answered1 ,si     
vuole il martello di ,vulcano per farne 
uscire qualche cosa4 7,quoted by ,e4    
,delacroix in his ,journal1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 
p4 #dbi47  #aee ,michelangelo said to   
,cardinal ,salviati1 who was ministering
 to him on his death-bed1 that he only  
regretted two things3 not to have done  
all he should have for his salvation1   
and to be dying just as he was learning 
the alphabet of his profession4         
7,journal de ,bernin1 ,vol4 ,,xxi1 p4   
#chh47  #aef ,vasari1 ,vite1 ,preamble  
to the ,third ,part4  ,lionardo spent   
six years in painting some hair1 but    
,corregio only an hour1 and with four   
strokes of his brush gained just the    

same effect4 7,journal de ,bernin1 ,vol4
 ,,xx1 p4 #dec47  #aeg ,he went so far  
as to canonise himself while he was     
still alive1 after a vision in which he 
saw a miraculous aureole around his own 
head4  ,nothing shows more surely the   
gulf which separated ,michelangelo from 
his disciples than the comparison of his
 sombre poetry with the proudly exultant
 sonnet which serves as preamble to the 
memoirs of ,cellini4  #aeh ,see what    
,vasari writes of the revolution of     
,giorgione in #aejg when ,giorgione     
began to pose before him living and     
natural things1 to represent them as    
nearly as he could by painting directly 
with colour without making any drawing4 
,he adds that ,giorgione did not        
perceive that it is necessary1 if you   
wish to arrange and balance a           
composition1 to put it first on paper4  
,in fact the mind can not very well see 
or perfectly imagine its own creations1 
if it does not reveal and explain its   
thought to the eyes of the body which   

will aid it in judging--we must add that
 in drawing on paper one succeeds in    
filling the mind with beautiful         
conceptions and learns to make natural  
objects from memory without being       
obliged to have them always before you4 
7,vasari1 ,ed4 #ahaa1 ,vol4 ,,iii1 pp4  
#dbg-dbh47 ,the whole point of view of  
,florentine art of the sixteenth century
 is in this nave avowal4  #aei          
,tintoretto had long studied            
,michelangelo4 ,he had brought to him at
 great expense casts of his statues     
which ,ridolfo says he lighted by a lamp
 and drew in bold relief4 7,ridolfo2    
,delle maraviglie dell' arte in         
,venetia1 #afdh47  #afj ,this fever     
attacked the art of other countries     
which were filled with caricatures of   
,michelangelo1 ,maarten van ,heemskerck1
 the ,dutch ,michelangelo1 ,frans       
,floris1 the ,flemish ,michelangelo1 and
 their innumerable followers1 not to    
mention the ,french and ,spanish        
imitators1 the ,frminets and the        

,cespeds4   ,the following have been    
corrected 7note of ebook transcriber73  
insteadinginstead                       
,pollojuolo,pollajuolo  ,muller,mller   
,raffaelle1 ,raffaelli,raffaello da     
,montelupo  ,baif,baf                   
,rafaellino,raffaellino  cecrarecercare