[Image #33]

ONE OF THE ANCESTORS OF CHRIST, OVER THE WINDOW INSCRIBED "IORAM"

(Reproduced by permission from a photograph by Sig. D. Anderson, Rome)

The early years of the Pontificate of Leo X. were wasted over the project for the facade of San Lorenzo. Michael Angelo was continually at Carrara. In a letter, dated May 8, 1517, to Domenico Buoninsegna, Michael Angelo writes with enthusiasm about his new scheme, and undertakes to carry it out for 35,000 golden ducats in six years. Buoninsegna replied that the Cardinal expressed the highest satisfaction at "the great heart he had for conducting the work of the facade." The friendly relations of Michael Angelo with the natives of Carrara continued until the Pope obliged him to leave their quarries and open up those of Pietra Santa, in Tuscan territory, by which act Michael Angelo lost much time. He had positively to make roads down the mountains and over the marshes before he could get a single block to the river. The Marquis of Carrara became his enemy, and the contracts with the people of Carrara caused him much annoyance and great loss. The orders from Rome were peremptory and had to be obeyed.(122) Ten years of the best of Michael Angelo's working life were wasted; the numberless delays of this period, and the delays over the Tomb of Julius, positively seem to have changed the character of the artist from a man of action to a man of thought. Possibly advancing age had something to do with it; but the fact remains that the man who executed the bronze statue of Julius in two years, and painted the vault of the Sistine in less than three years, took seven years to finish the Last Judgment, which covers a surface about one-third the extent of the vault, and also is in a much more favourable position for painting.



There is a document shown in the rooms of the State Archives at the Uffizi that belongs to this period; it is a memorial addressed by the Florentine Academy to Pope Leo X., asking him to authorise the translation of the bones of Dante from Ravenna, where they still rest under "the little cupola, more neat than solemn," to Florence. It is dated October 20, 1518. All but one of the signatures appended are written in Latin; that one is as follows:—"I, Michael Angelo, the sculptor, pray the like of your Holiness, offering my services to the divine poet for the erection of a befitting sepulchre to him in some honour-place in this city." Michael Angelo's devotion to Dante was well known to his contemporaries; he is known to have filled a book with drawings to illustrate the "Divina Com media"; this volume perished at sea, whilst in the possession of the sculptor Antonio Montanti, who was shipwrecked on a journey from Leghorn to Rome.

On April 17, 1517, Michael Angelo bought some ground in the Via Mozza, now Via San Zanobi, Florence, from the Chapter of Santa Maria del Fiore, to build a workshop for finishing his marbles; the purchase was completed on November 24, 1518. This studio remained in his possession until his death. He describes it to Lionardo di Compago, the saddle-maker, as an excellent workshop, where twenty statues can be set up together.

Meanwhile he went on working at Pietra Santa for the facade. In August 1518, he writes:——

[Image #34]

ONE OF THE ANCESTORS OF CHRIST, OVER THE WINDOW INSCRIBED "ASA"

(By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence)

"The place of quarrying is very rugged, and the workmen are very ignorant of this sort of work. So for some months I must be very patient until the mountains are tamed and the men are mastered. Then we shall get on more quickly. Enough, what I have promised that will I do by some means, and I will make the most beautiful thing that has ever been done in Italy if God helps me."

The melancholy end of this scheme is told in a Ricordo in the Archivio Buonarroti, March 10, 1520.

"Now Pope Leo, perhaps, to carry out more quickly the above-mentioned facade of San Lorenzo than according to the agreement he made with me, and I consenting, sets me free, and for all the above-said money that I have received, are counted the road that I have made to Pietra Santa, and the marbles that were quarried there and rough-hewn as may be seen to-day; and he declares himself content and satisfied with me, as is said, about all the money received for the said facade of San Lorenzo, and every other work that I have had to do for him until this tenth day of March, 1519; and so he leaves me my freedom, and not obliged to render account to any one for anything that I have had to do for him or with others for him."(123)

We have a series of most interesting letters from Sebastiano del Piombo, Michael Angelo's favourite gossip in Rome; most of them are dated from 1520 to 1533, and give Michael Angelo at Carrara news of Sebastiano and the art world of Rome, They often relate to designs that Sebastiano wished to get from Michael Angelo in order that he might be entrusted with commissions from the Pope that would otherwise be given to the scholars of Raphael. In one, dated October 27, 1520, he says:—

"For I know how much the Pope values you, and when he speaks of you it is as if he were speaking of his own brother, almost with tears in his eyes; for he has told me that you were brought up together, and shows that he knows and loves you. But you frighten everybody, even Popes!"(124)

Michael Angelo seems to have taken exception to the remark, for Sebastiano in his next letter but one says:—

"As to what you reply to me about your terribleness, I for my part do not find you terrible; and if I have not written to you about this, do not wonder, for you do not appear to me terrible except only in art—that is to say, the greatest master that has ever been; so it seems to me if I am in error I am to blame. I have no more to say. Christ keep you safe. 9th day of November, 1520. Remember me to friend Leonardo and to Master Pier Francesco.

"Your most faithful gossip,

"BASTIANO, Painter, in Rome.

"The Lord Michael Angelo de Bonarotis, the most worthy sculptor, Florence."(125)

After Michael Angelo had been dismissed from the work of the facade of San Lorenzo he appears to have remained quietly at Florence, possibly engaged upon the marbles for the Tomb of Julius II. About the same time, at the instigation of the Cardinal de' Medici, he began to design the new sacristy and the tombs at San Lorenzo.

[Image #50]

THE PROPHET JONAH

SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME (By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence)

In the Ricordi, which run from April 9 to August 19, 1521, he says that on April 9 he received two hundred ducats from the Cardinal de' Medici to go to Carrara and lodge there, to quarry marbles for the tombs which are to be placed in the new sacristy at San Lorenzo. "And there I stayed about twenty days and made out drawings to scale, and measured models in clay for the said tombs." On August 16 the contractors for the blocks, all of which were excavated from the old Roman quarry of Polvaccio, came to Florence, and were paid on account.

The statue of the "Risen Christ" was forwarded to Rome during the summer. The smaller detached, or more easily broken portions, were left in the rough to prevent accidents during the journey, and Pietro Urbino went to Rome with orders to complete the work there. Sebastiano del Piombo, like the good friend he was, kept Michael Angelo informed of the progress of the young scamp of a pupil, from whom his master had extracted a promise that he would avoid the company of dissolute Florentines in Rome more than he had previously done. On November 9, 1520, Sebastiano writes that his gossip, Giovanni da Reggio, "goes about saying that you have not done the figure yourself, but that it is the work of Pietro Urbino. Be sure that it may be seen to be from your hand, so that poltroons and babblers may burst." This was written whilst the work was still at Florence. On September 6, 1531, after it had arrived at Rome, Sebastiano says of Pietro: "Firstly, you sent him to Rome with the statue, to finish and erect it. What he did and did not do you know; but I must let you understand that wherever he has worked he has maimed it. Chiefly, he has shortened the right foot, and it is plainly seen that he has cut off the toes. He has shortened the fingers of the hands, too, more especially those of the one which holds the cross, the right; Frizzi says, it seems to have been worked by a cake-maker, not carved in marble. It looks as if it had been made by one who worked in dough, it is so stunted. I do not understand these things, not knowing the manner of working in marble; but I can very well tell you that those fingers look to me very stumpy. I can tell you, too, that it is easy to see he has been working on the beard. I believe a baby would have had more discretion; it looks as though he had done the hair with a knife without a point; but this can easily be remedied. He has also cut one of the nostrils, so that with a little more the whole nose would have been spoiled, so that no one but God could have mended it, and I believe God inspired you to write your last letter to Master Zovane da Reggio, my comrade, for if the figure had remained in the hands of Pietro he would undoubtedly have ruined it." Michael Angelo transferred the work of finishing from Pietro to Federigo Frizzi. Sebastiano goes on to say: "Pietro is most malignant now that he is cast off by you. He does not seem to value you or any one else alive, but thinks he is a great master; he will find out what he is fast enough, for I believe the poor young man will never know how to make statues. He has forgotten the art. The knees of your statue are worth more than all Rome."

Frizzi mended up the mistakes and finished the work on the hair, face, hands, feet, cross, and the parts undercut. Michael Angelo was evidently anxious as to the result of this touching up, and as he was much attached to Vari, he offered to make a new statue, but the courtly Roman replied that he was entirely satisfied with the one he had received. He regarded it and esteemed it as a thing of gold, and said that Michael Angelo's offer proved his noble soul and generosity, inasmuch as when he had already made what could not be surpassed and was incomparable, he still wanted to serve his friend better.(126)

This Christ of the Minerva is like a late Greek embodiment of the Christian ideal; it is a work that has been a good deal criticised, particularly as to the details, which the letters just quoted prove to have been finished by assistants away from the supervision of the master. The arms and torso, and, as Sebastiano justly says, the knees, are very splendid, and if the spoiled head and extremities were broken away the fragment, that is to say, the part really executed by the master, would be as famous as many a fine work of Greece or of Old Rome. As it stands near a column in the centre of the church in a subdued light it has a presence of great beauty and sweetness, never allied with so much power before, notwithstanding that brazen draperies and a sandal hide much of the reverent workmanship.



CHAPTER VIII

THE SACRISTY OF SAN LORENZO

After the death of Leo X., on December 1, 1521, Adrian IV. was elected to fill the seat of St. Peter. He was not an Italian and loved not the arts. He is recorded to have called statues "idols of the Pagans," and he spent no money on pictures or frescoes. No wonder the artists who were accustomed to the patronage of the Popes rejoiced when he died, notwithstanding his goodness, and hailed his physician as saviour of the Fatherland. The Cardinal Giuliano de' Medici was elected in his stead, under the name of Clement VII., and Michael Angelo expressed the feelings of most of his countrymen and all the artists when he wrote to his friend, Topolino, at Carrara "You will have heard how the Medici is made Pope; it seems to me that all the world is glad of it, so I imagine that here (Florence) many things will soon be set going in art. Therefore, serve well and with faithfulness, so that we may have honour."(127)

[Image #35]

THE TOMB OF LORENZO DE' MEDICI, DUKE OF URBINO

THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE (By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence)

In the year 1523 the Senate of Genoa banked 300 ducats towards the expenses of a colossal statue of Andrea Doria, the great sea-captain, to be carved by Michael Angelo. Unfortunately Michael Angelo was unable to execute this congenial task. There is a magnificent portrait of this prince, as Neptune, by Sebastiano del Piombo in the private rooms of the Doria Palace at Rome. The admiral points down with Michael Angelesque forefinger as though he were condemning his enemies to descend to the lowest depths of the sea. It looks as if it had been inspired by a drawing of Michael Angelo's, possibly for this statue, which may have been designed as a nude figure of Neptune; the parapet in front of the picture is decorated with a painted bas-relief of a Roman galley.

Michael Angelo's last known letter to his father is supposed to have been written in June 1523.(128) It is a bitter complaint of the testy manner in which his father always treated him, and the continual interruptions of his work. It must have been a great grief to Michael Angelo when the old man came to die if he had not made up this quarrel with him, for he loved him in a way that is marvellous to us when we consider the character of the old man as evidenced in the correspondence.

Clement VII. lost no time, after he was elected Pope, in setting Michael Angelo to work, but again it was against the inclination of the artist, who passionately desired to complete the Tomb of Julius, partly for the love of his memory and partly to free himself from the importunity of the executors, who threatened him with a lawsuit. Michael Angelo replied to the agent of Clement, Francesco Fattucci, who requested plans for the Laurentian Library: "I understand from your last that his Holiness our Lord wishes that the design for the Library should be by my hand. I have heard nothing and do not know where he wishes it to be built. True, Stefano talked to me about it, but I did not give my mind to it. When he returns from Carrara I will inform myself about it from him, and will do all I can, although it is not my profession."

Clement, who really seems to have had a regard for the artist, and wished to bind him to his interests, desired to provide for him for life. If Michael Angelo would have consented to make the vows of celibacy he would have given him an ecclesiastical appointment, failing that he offered him a pension. Michael Angelo only asked for fifteen ducats a month. Fattucci, on January 13, 1524, rebuked him for this modesty, and wrote that "Jacopo Salviati has given orders that Spina should be instructed to pay you a monthly provision of fifty ducats." A house also was assigned to him at San Lorenzo, rent free, that he might be near his work. Stefano di Tomaso, miniatore, was Michael Angelo's right-hand man at this time, and his name continually recurs in the Ricordi. He was not altogether a satisfactory servant, and in April 1524, Antonio Mini seems to have taken his place. This helps us to date the roofing of the sacristy of San Lorenzo, as in an undated letter to Pope Clement Michael Angelo says that Stefano finished the lantern and it was universally admired. This is the work of which it is recorded that when folk told Michael Angelo it would be better than the lantern of Brunelleschi, he replied: "Different, perhaps; but better, no!" In the British Museum there is a drawing with a bit of advice to young artists, personified in his new pupil, Antonio Mini. It is in Michael Angelo's own hand:—

Disegna Antonio, disegna Antonio, disegna e non perder tempo.

Draw Antonio, draw Antonio, draw and do not lose time.

And now in August 1524,(129) the Tombs of the Medici in the new sacristy were fairly under way. There are several preliminary designs in the Print Room of the British Museum, the Albertina at Vienna, and the Uffizi, Florence.(130) The first idea was for the tombs to be isolated in the centre of the chapel, but we gather from a letter, written in May 1524,(131) that it had already been decided to have mural monuments. The sarcophagi were to support portrait statues of the Dukes and Popes, of Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano. At the foot were to be six rivers, two under each tomb—the Arno, Tiber, Metauro, Po, Taro, and Ticino. The drawings go to prove that the architectural background, as we see it now, is as incomplete as it looks. Some of the drawings have elaborate candlesticks at the top; others a circular panel supported by putti. In several the first ideas for some of the final forms may be seen, but one point is very important: in almost every case the sarcophagi are large enough to support the figure or figures to be placed upon them, and never do we see that uncomfortable arrangement by which the figures appear to be sliding off their supports. Letters to Fattucci in October 1525, and April 1526,(132) give us an idea of the progress of the works. "I am working as hard as I can, and in fifteen days I intend to begin the other captain. Afterwards the only important things left will be the four rivers. The four figures on the top of the sarcophagi, the four figures on the ground which are the rivers, the two captains and Our Lady, who is to be placed upon the tomb at the head of the chapel; these are the figures I mean to carve with my own hand, and of them I have begun six; and I have sufficient spirit to finish them in a convenient time, and bring partially forward the others which are not of so much importance." The six he had begun are those that are now in the chapel. The Giuliano and Lorenzo, Day and Night, Dawn and Evening. The Madonna, perhaps Michael Angelo's finest work in sculpture, was also carved by his own hand; the two other works, now in the chapel representing the patron saints of the Medici family, Cosmo and Damiano, were carved by Montelupo and Montorsoli; they do not seem to have anything of Michael Angelo about them, not even in design.

Meanwhile Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, the executor of Julius, was pressing the affair of the Tomb; he threatened a lawsuit to recover money advanced for the work. Michael Angelo appeals to the Pope in a letter addressed to Giovanni Spina, of April 19, 1525:—

[Image #36]

THE TOMB OF GIULIANO DE' MEDICI, DUKE OF NEMOURS

THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE (By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence)

"It seems to me it is no good sending a power of attorney about the Tomb of Pope Julius, because I do not want to plead. They cannot bring a suit against me if I acknowledge that I am in the wrong; so I assume that I have sued and lost, and have to pay; and this I am disposed to do if I am able. Therefore, if the Pope will help me in this, as intermediary, and it would be the greatest blessing to me, seeing that I am not able to finish the said Tomb of Julius, both on account of my age and infirmity, he might express his will that I should repay what I have received for doing it, so as to release me of this burden, and so that the relatives of Pope Julius, with this repayment, may have the work done to their satisfaction by any one they like. Thus his Holiness our Lord could please me very greatly. Still, I wish to pay back as little as possible in reason. Making them listen to some of my arguments, such as the time spent for the Pope at Bologna, and other time lost without any payment, as Ser Giovanni Francesco, whom I have informed of everything, knows. As soon as I know clearly what I have to restore, I will make a division of what I have, sell, and arrange my affairs so as to repay all. Then I shall be able to think of the Pope's business, and work. If this is not done I cannot work. There is no way more safe for myself, nor more agreeable, nor more likely to clear my spirit. It can be done amicably without a lawsuit. I pray to God that the Pope may become willing to arrange it in this fashion, for it does not seem to me that any one else can do it."(133)

Michael Angelo had a wholesome fear of the law, not because he was guilty but because of the power of his antagonist. There can be no doubt that he was perfectly honest in these transactions, and, as Pope Clement said, he was rather creditor than debtor. Clement appears to have arranged matters to some extent with the executors, and we have a hint of the new arrangement in a letter by Michael Angelo to Fattucci,(134) dated Florence, October 24, 1525:—

"MESSER GIOVAN FRANCESCO,—In reply to your last, the four statues I have in hand are not yet finished, and much has still to be done upon them. The four others, for rivers, are not begun, because the marble was wanting, but now it has come. I do not tell you how because there is no need. With regard to the affair of Julius, I wish to make the Tomb like that of Pius in St. Peter's, as you have written, and will do so little by little, now one piece and now another, and will pay for it out of my own pocket, if I hold my pension and my house, as you have written; that is to say, the house where I lived yonder in Rome, with the marbles and movables therein. So that I should not have to give to them, I mean to the heirs of Julius, in order to be quit of the Tomb contract, anything of what I have received hitherto, except the said Tomb, completed, like that of Pius in Saint Peter's. Moreover, I undertake to perform the work within a reasonable time, and to finish the statues with my own hand." He now turns to his annoyances at San Lorenzo: "And given my pension as was said, I will never stop working for Pope Clement with what strength I have, though that be little, for I am old. At the same time I must not be slighted and affronted as I am now, for it weighs greatly on my spirits, and has prevented me from doing what I wished to do these many months; one cannot work at one thing with the hands, and at another with the brain, and especially in marble. 'Tis said here that these annoyances are meant to spur me on; but I maintain that those are scurvy spurs that make a good steed jib. I have not touched my pension during the last year, and struggle with poverty. I am alone in my troubles, and have many of them, which keep me more busy than my art, for I cannot keep a servant for lack of means."

There is a kind letter from Michael Angelo to Sebastiano del Piombo that belongs to this period, May 1525.(135) It refers to a picture by Sebastiano, probably the portrait of Anton Francesco degli Albizzi, referred to in letter cccxcvi.:—

"MY MOST DEAR SEBASTIANO,—Last evening our friend the Capitano Cuio(136) and certain other gentlemen were so good as to invite me to sup with them, which gave me very great pleasure, since it took me a little out of my melancholy, or rather folly. Not only did I enjoy the supper, which was very good, but I had far more pleasure in the conversation, and more than all it increased my pleasure to hear your name mentioned by the said Capitano Cuio; nor was this all, for it further rejoiced me exceedingly to hear from the Capitano that, in art, you are peerless in the world, and that so you were esteemed in Rome. If I could have rejoiced more I would have done so. So you see my judgment is not false, therefore do not any more deny that you are peerless, when I tell it you, for I have too many witnesses. And behold there is a picture of yours here, God be thanked, which wins credence for me with every one who can see daylight."

From the Ricordi we learn that Michael Angelo was busy with the Library of San Lorenzo. He had in his employ stone hewers and masters in various crafts: Tasio and Carota for wood carving, Battista del Cinque and Ciapino for carpentry, and Giovanni da Udine, a pupil of Raphael, for the grotesque decoration for the dome of the chapel. Clement added a postscript in his own hand to one of his secretary's letters: "Thou knowest that Popes have no long lives; and we cannot yearn more than we do to behold the chapel with the tombs of our kinsmen, or, at any rate, to hear that it is finished. And so also the library. Wherefore we recommend both to thy diligence. Meanwhile we will betake us (as thou said'st erstwhile) to a wholesome patience, praying God that He may put it into thy heart to push the whole forward together. Fear not that either work to do or rewards shall fail thee while we live. Farewell; with the blessing of God and ours.—JULIUS." (Clement signs with his baptismal name.)(137)

The Pope set Michael Angelo to make a Sacrarium for the relics belonging to San Lorenzo. It was placed above the entrance door of the church, and the details of that portion of the interior were altered for it. A design by Michael Angelo at Oxford is for part of these alterations. Another commission Clement desired Michael Angelo to undertake was of a curiously absurd character. Fattucci wrote to say that the Pope wished a colossal statue to be erected on the piazza of San Lorenzo, opposite the Stufa Palace. The giant was to top the roof of the Medician Palace, with its face turned in that direction and its back to the house of Luigi della Stufa. Being so huge it would have to be constructed of separate pieces fitted together. This project, evidently intended as a truly Florentine insult to the house of Stufa, did not please Michael Angelo, and his letter, of October 1525, in reply is an instance of his heavy, elephantine humour:—

[Image #37]

LORENZO DE MEDICI, DUKE OF URBINO

THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE (By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence)

"To my dear friend MESSERE GIOVAN FRANCESCO, priest of Saint Mary of the Flower of Florence, in Rome.

"MESSER GIOVAN FRANCESCO,—If I had as much strength as I have had pleasure from your last letter, I should expect to carry out, and that quickly, all the things you write to me about, but as I have not I will do what I can.

"About the colossus of forty braccia, of which you tell me, that is to go, or rather to be erected, at the corner of the loggia of the Medician garden, opposite the corner of Messer Luigi della Stufa, I have thought of it not a little, as you told me, and it seems to me that it would not do in that corner, for it would take up too much of the roadway; but in the other corner, where the barber's shop is, it would turn out much better according to my way of thinking, because it has the piazza in front of it and would not be so much in the way; and perhaps as they would not allow the shop to be removed, for love of the income from it, I have been thinking that the said figure might be in a sitting position, and the seat high, the said work to be hollow within, as is right when working in pieces, so that the barber's shop would come underneath, and the rent would not be lost. And again, so that the said shop may have wherewithal to dispose of its smoke as it has now, it occurred to me to give the said statue a horn of plenty in its hand, hollow within, which would serve for the chimney. Then having the head of the said figure empty, like the other members, of that also I believe we could make some use, for there is here in the piazza a huckster, very much my friend, who tells me in secret that it would make a very fine dovecot. Another fancy strikes me that would be much better, but we should have to make the figure ever so much larger. And it might be done, for a tower is built up of pieces; and that is, that the head should serve as campanile for San Lorenzo, which needs one badly. And the bells hanging within, the sound clanging from the mouth, it would seem that the said colossus were howling for mercy, and especially on feast days, when they ring oftenest and with the largest bells.

"About the transport for the marbles for the above-mentioned statue, so that no one shall know of it, meseems they should come by night and well covered up, so that they may not be seen. There will be danger at the gates, and we must provide for it somehow; at the worst, we shall have San Gallo.(138)

"As to doing, or not doing, the things that are to do, and which you say may stand over, it is better to let them be done by those who will do them, for I have so much to do that I do not care to undertake more. To me it will suffice if it be something worthy.

"I do not reply to all you say, for lo Spina comes shortly to Rome, and will answer your letter by word of mouth, and more in detail than I can with the pen.

"Your MICHAEL ANGELO, Sculptor, in Florence."

This letter had its desired effect, nothing more was heard of the colossus.



The Sack of Rome in 1527 by the rabble of Germany and Spain, called the Imperial army, naturally stopped all artistic work, for war is the worst enemy of art. Clement was besieged in the Castle Saint Angelo for nine months, and the Medici lost their power in Florence. The Cardinal of Cortona, with the young princes Ippolito and Alessandro de' Medici, fled, and Niccolo Capponi was elected President of the Popular Government. Michael Angelo was in Florence all this time. A Ricordo given in Lettere, p. 598, says: "I record how, some days ago, Piero di Filippo Gondi asked to enter the new sacristy at San Lorenzo to hide there certain goods of his because of the peril in which we now find ourselves. This evening of the 29th of April, 1527, he has begun to bring in certain bundles. He says they are linen of his sisters, and I, not to witness what he does, or where he hides the stuff, have given him the key of the said sacristy this said evening."



Upon July 2, 1528, Michael Angelo's favourite brother, Buonarroto, died of the plague. Gotti tells how Michael Angelo held his brother in his arms(139) while he was dying, notwithstanding the great risk to his own life, and took care of his family after his death. There are minutes of the expenses he incurred; the clothes were burnt to avoid infection; he repaid the widow Bartolommea her dowry, placed his niece Francesca in a convent until she was of an age to marry, and provided for his nephew Lionardo, as if for a son of his own.



The citizens of Florence, fearing the anger of the Pope and his new allies, now that their power was in the ascendant, prepared to endure a siege. Michael Angelo was appointed general over the construction of the walls and defences of the city in 1529. He had many difficulties with the council; often they objected to his plan of fortifying the heights of San Miniato. Michael Angelo went to Pisa and Arezzo to superintend the strengthening of the works there. He was sent also to Ferrara with letters from the Signori and the Ten to the Duke, the greatest Italian authority upon fortification, and to their envoy, Galeotto Giugni, who wrote to inform the Florentines that Michael Angelo refused to abandon the inn and receive the hospitality of the Duke, who with great honour personally conducted him over the fortresses and walls of Ferrara; no doubt at the same time showing him his art collections. It would be interesting to know if Michael Angelo looked upon the portrait-head of Julius II., broken from his Bologna statue, when the bronze was turned into a cannon. Perhaps he also saw La Giulia, the cannon herself. It may be that amongst the engraved gems in the Duke's collection was one representing "Leda and the Swan," and that Michael Angelo talked with the Duke as to the possibilities of this composition for pictorial treatment. Soon after Michael Angelo returned to Florence he received warning from a mysterious person that there was treachery in the garrison, so he fled to Venice. He had no idea of wasting his life uselessly when he thought certain destruction was before the city, and so he determined to leave Italy and accept the overtures that had been made to him from the Court of France. The courage that fears not to undertake the greatest and most difficult works is of a different temper from that of a soldier, a bravo, or a Benvenuto Cellini; all the noble and virtuous qualities cannot belong to one hero. Unfortunately, the judgment of Michael Angelo turned out to be right after all. Nevertheless, hearing better news, and hoping against hope, he courageously returned to Florence in her extremity and went on with the fortifications. Some of the works at San Miniato still remain. Vauban is said to have found them of such interest that he surveyed and measured them. During this sad time Michael Angelo laboured in secret at the tombs of the Medici. The sad and despairing thoughts of the artist are evident in the work he produced. No one can enter that solemn sacristy without feeling the spirit of deepest sadness brooding over all—Il Penseroso, and the figures of Day and of Night, of Morning and of Evening.



The city fell in August 1530. Marco Dandolo, of Venice, when he heard of it, exclaimed aloud, "Baglioni has put upon his head the cap of the biggest traitor upon record." The prominent citizens who escaped, including Michael Angelo, were outlawed and their property confiscated. Many who remained in the city were imprisoned, tortured, and beheaded. Michael Angelo hid himself, the Senator Filippo Buonarroti says, in the bell-tower of San Nicolo beyond Arno.(140) After the fury was over and Clement's anger abated, Michael Angelo, hearing a message of peace from the Pope, came forth from his hiding-place and resumed work on the statues at San Lorenzo, moved thereto more by fear of the Pope than by love of the Medici. During November or December his pension of fifty crowns a month was renewed, the Pope's agent in Florence being Battista Figiovanni, Prior of San Lorenzo.

In 1528 a block of marble had been assigned to Michael Angelo, from which he determined to extract a heroic group of Hercules and Cacus. There is a small wax model of this composition at South Kensington, attributed to Michael Angelo, which may be for this design. The Medici Government handed over the blocks to the craven Baccio Bandinelli, who produced the horrible work, representing the same subject, now in front of the Palazzo Vecchio.

The Leda for the Duke of Ferrara,(141) but presented by Michael Angelo to his pupil Mini, was painted during the siege. It was probably a design from some antique gem in the Duke's cabinet. The original, and a copy by Benedetto Bene, were taken to Paris by Antonio Mini, where they passed into the possession of the King. Michael Angelo's Leda hung at Fontainebleau until the time of Louis XIII., when a Minister of State, M. Desnoyers, ordered its destruction, as it seemed to him to be an improper picture. Pierre Mariette informs us that the picture was only hidden away, and that it reappeared and was seen by him. It was restored and sent to England. In the offices of the National Gallery is the best edition of this picture. The head and arm are repainted, but the thigh and hip are modelled in a magnificent style that reminds us of the figure of Night in the Medician tombs that he was at this very time carving. From the power of this portion of the work we may assume that it is the damaged and much restored original by Michael Angelo.

[Image #38]

THE HEAD OF THE DAWN

THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE (By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence)

Vasari informs us that about this time "he began a statue, of three cubits, in marble. It was an Apollo drawing a shaft from his quiver. This he nearly finished. It stands now in the chamber of the Prince of Florence, a thing of rare beauty, though not quite completed." This work was presented by the artist to Baccio Valori, the powerful agent of the Medici. It is now in one of the upper rooms of the Bargello, in Florence. The rough hatchings of the chisel lines are everywhere visible; the figure is palpitating with life under a veil of hewn marble; the pose of the young god as he glides along and turns his head over his shoulder is one of the most beautiful and graceful Michael Angelo ever imagined. Until 1533 Michael Angelo worked at the Medici monuments. The ever recurring trouble about the Tomb of Julius distracted him in 1532; a new contract was made out in the May of that year, and Michael Angelo evidently expected that he would have to go to Rome about it. This may be gathered from the important letter written on February 24, 1531, by Sebastiano del Piombo, in Rome, to Michael Angelo, in Florence; it marks the renewal of the intercourse of the two old friends after the dangers and troubles they had passed through during the siege of Florence and the sack of Rome. Sebastiano's previous letter, as far as we know, is dated April 25, 1525:—

1531, 24th February.

"MY DEAREST COMRADE,—By Master Domenico, called Menichella, who has been to see me on your behalf. God knows how dear it was to me. After so many sorrows, hardships, and dangers, Almighty God has left us alive and well in His mercy and pity. A fact truly miraculous when I think over it; everlasting thanks to His Divine Majesty, and if I could express to you with my pen the anxiety and worry I have had on your account you would marvel at it. The Signor Fernando di Gonzaga will bear me witness, and God knows what sorrow I had when I heard you had been to Venice. If you had found me at Venice things would have been very different; but enough. Now gossip mine, now that we have been through fire and water, and experienced things one could never have imagined, let us thank God for all things, and for the little life that is left to us; at least, let us spend it in what quiet we may. Verily, we must put no faith in fortune, she is so perverse and sad. I am come to this; for aught I care the universe may be ruined. I should laugh at everything. Menichella will tell you by word of mouth of my life and how I am. I do not as yet seem to myself to be the same Bastiano that I was before the sack. I cannot collect my thoughts. I say no more. Christ keep you well.

"The 24th day of February, 1531, in Rome.

"About your coming here, according to what Master Menichella tells me, it does not seem to be necessary, unless you come for a jaunt or to put your house in order; which, in truth, is going to the bad in more ways than one, as in the roofs and other things. I suppose you know that the workshop, with the carved marbles in, has tumbled to pieces; it is a great pity. You will be able to remedy this and make some arrangements. As for me I should dearly love to enjoy your company for a while; truly I am dying to see you. I am all impatience; but do as you think best.

"Your very faithful gossip,

"SEBASTIANO LUCIANIS.

"LORD MICHAEL ANGELO DE BONAROTIS,

"Most rare Sculptor, in Florence."

[Image #39]

APOLLO

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, THE BARGELLO, FLORENCE (By permission from the photograph by Sig. G. Brugi, Florence)

Sebastiano continued his good services to his friend with regard to the Tomb of Julius all through 1531. The course of events may be followed in his letters. The Pope was interested, and always consulted, in the affair, and most favourably disposed to Michael Angelo. All this anxiety preyed upon the master and injured his health. Paolo Mini, the father of Antonio, Michael Angelo's assistant, wrote to Baccio Valori on September 29(142): "Michael Angelo will not live long unless some measures are taken for his benefit. He works very hard, eats little and poorly, and sleeps less. In fact, he is afflicted with two kinds of disorder: the one in his head, the other in his heart. Neither is incurable, since he has a robust constitution; but, for the good of his head, he ought to be restrained by our Lord the Pope from working through the winter in the sacristy, the air of which is bad for him;(143) and for his heart, the best remedy would be if his Holiness could accommodate matters with the Duke of Urbino." On November 21 Clement addressed a brief to his sculptor, whereby Buonarroti was ordered, under pain of excommunication, to lay aside all work, except what was strictly necessary for the Medician monuments, and to take better care of his health. On the 26th Benvenuto Valpaio added that his Holiness desired Michael Angelo to select some workshop more convenient than the cold and cheerless sacristy.



Sebastiano's letters during 1533 often refer to an edition of some madrigals written by Michael Angelo and set to music by Bartolomeo Tromboncino, Giacomo Arcadelt, and Constanzo Festa.(144) Gottif(145) publishes an essay by Leto Puliti on this music with the score of three of the madrigals. Many of Michael Angelo's poetical compositions may be referred to this period of comparative inaction as to painting and sculpture. All through his life he wrote sonnets and poems when his other work did not proceed quickly.



In 1535 Michael Angelo finally left Florence. His father and his favourite brother were dead, and so he left the shadow of the great Duomo, all Florentines love, for ever. At Rome he dreamed a dream of another Dome, that has given to that city the feature by which we know it best, and to Romans a possession not less beloved than Bruneleschi's gift to the Florentines.

[Image #40]

THE HEAD OF THE NIGHT

THE NEW SACRISTY OF SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE (By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence)

When Michael Angelo left, the works at San Lorenzo were all unfinished; the facade was not begun, the Sagrestia Nuova, the ground plan of which is similar to Bruneleschi's Sagrestia Vecchia, was left in the rough, and the Library he designed to hold the priceless Medician manuscripts, collected by Cosimo Pater Patriae and Lorenzo the Magnificent, now known as the "Biblioteca Laurenziana," was only begun. As Michael Angelo's designs and working drawings were of the roughest description, and he usually left a great deal to be settled after he had seen the effect of the earlier part of his works, we cannot blame him only for certain faults, such as, for instance, the awkward approach to the Library. If he had completed the work he very likely would have made an entrance from the piazza, as roomy and convenient, as the curious staircase in the corner of the cloister is awkward and cramped. It was completed by Giorgio Vasari, whose letters to Michael Angelo about this difficult work, and Michael Angelo's chaotic replies, belong to a much later period. The curious manner of cutting up the wall by pilasters and framed spaces cannot properly be judged without the bronze bas-reliefs that they were intended to contain. Considered as a method of hanging or displaying a collection of works of art they are admirable, and might well serve for the interior decoration of a great museum. The vestibule, with its curious stairway, large consoles, and green and white colour, leaves an impression of power and eccentricity in architecture like the effect of the serious caricatures of Leonardo da Vinci in drawing. The buildings at San Lorenzo should be regarded as the prentice work of the architect of the Dome of St. Peter's. The decorations of the Sagrestia Nuova, too, were left unfinished; the statues of Day, Night, Morning, and Evening were left where he had worked upon them, on the floor of the chapel. From Vasari's letter to him of 1562, instigated by the Duke Cosimo, who desired to complete the work according to Michael Angelo's designs, asking for help and advice,(146) we gather that Michael Angelo intended to have placed statues in all the niches above the sepulchres, and in the frames above the doors works of painting, stucco for the arches, and painting to adorn the flat walls and semicircular spaces of the chapel. Michael Angelo, on account of his great age, was unable or unwilling to assist in the work. The present sarcophagi cannot have been intended to hold the allegorical figures in the way they do, for the under surfaces of the statues do not fit the top of the mouldings, and certainly the rough stones that project over them, forming a base for the feet, must have been intended to be supported by solid marble, and not to rest uneasily on air. The sarcophagi are of a greyer marble than the figures or than the panelling behind them. The architectural ornament appears to be of three dates: First, the niches and panels of the walls; second, the sarcophagi and their supports; third, the doors of the chapel and niches over them. In the first, the grotesque heads in the mouldings are like the dull grotesques Michael Angelo appears to have designed in the architecture of the Tomb of Julius and on the armour of the captains in this chapel. In the second, the four-horned skulls of rams on the sides of the supports of the sarcophagi are very feeble and poor in design. If we compare them with the powerful and true drawing of the rams' heads used in the frame-work of the vault of the Sistine Chapel, we shall see that it is impossible for Michael Angelo to have designed them, or even let them pass whilst he was superintending the works. The shell and rope patterns are even worse and more feeble; they are easily seen to be executed by different hands. The simple bosses of the base under "Dawn and Evening" are still unfinished: that would go to prove that Michael Angelo had designed them and seen them cut as far as they go—not necessarily that he had seen them in position—and that the academicians, when they did their best to complete the chapel, rightly decided to leave them as they were. The base under Day and Night has no bosses; they had not been begun as in the former case; we may presume the academicians thought it best to have them flat. These simple bases are the most effective portions of the architectural scheme of the monument, in character with the allegorical figures, reminding us of the plinths or seats provided for the Athletes and the Prophets of the Sistine. Perhaps they were the only portions, except the figures and the panelling of the walls, seen by Michael Angelo himself. The supports and lid of the sarcophagi, and the sarcophagus of Giuliano, are of different marble to the actual receptacle of the body of Lorenzo, that is under Dawn and Evening. The quiet mouldings of the latter are much finer and more in character with the walls. The lids are of a white sugary marble, the mouldings coarse and semicircular in section, and the volutes and circular endings of the lids are of a perfectly stupid design. These lids cannot have been seen by Michael Angelo; and, therefore, he cannot have seen the figures in their places upon them. The sarcophagus under the Day and Night has been copied from the one seen by Michael Angelo: its mouldings are still beautiful, but heavier, more deeply cut, and of less subtle line in the section. The difference is perceptible to the eye and evident with the aid of a good foot-rule. This sarcophagus is of a different marble, as has been said. As to the third period, the garlands and little pretty vases over the doors of the chapel, and the consoles and niches above, are like nothing else in the world but those carved frames that in Florence to this day are called "Vasari frames."

The marble candlesticks upon the altar of the chapel are of different marble from the altar on which they stand, and appear to be of an earlier date. The grotesques on the bases are of good design, and the drill holes of the marble cutting are simply left to tell their story of how the work was done, instead of being cut away and hidden as in later work. May they not have been designed in Michael Angelo's time, possibly for the brackets on the cornice of the panelling behind the tombs? On the altar is the inscription:

PAULUS V. PONT. MAX.

MDCX.

The figures of Giuliano and Lorenzo are perfectly finished; they cannot be regarded as portraits, but as symbols. The armour of the warrior Giuliano is magnificently designed, and must have been founded upon some antique example. The grotesque upon the breastplate is not unlike a grotesque in a similar place upon an antique marble bust in the Naples Museum. The helmeted Lorenzo, Il Penseroso, broods over what might have been, had he acted his part in Florence. Under his elbow rests a box of peculiar design, possibly the representation of a political instrument used in the offices of his family's unwise government. The unfinished head of Day is an example of how the master appears to complete his work from the first stroke of his chisel. The vigorous giant, just rising to his work, looks over his shoulder at the bright sun. The rough chiselling of the face suggests already the dazzle of the light in his eyes; how he tears his right hand as yet half stone from out his stony breast! With his left hand behind his back he appears to count the quattrini of his wage; this action of the thumb placed on the second finger is Michael Angelo's favourite one for the hand; it may be seen many times in this chapel alone. The shortness of the feet in the figure of Day appears to be due to a miscalculation as to the size of the block; but, perhaps, had the head and torso been thinned down in the finishing they would have been correct in proportion. At the same time, the feet are finished most carefully and beautifully, and are so true that photographs of them look almost like photographs from the finest of living models.

[Image #41]

NIGHT

THE NEW SACRISTY OF SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE (By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence)

How much has been written about the Night and her meanings! We have good proof that her maker intended her to have some of these many meanings in the reply of Michael Angelo to Giovan Battista Strozzi's complimentary verses:—

La Notte, che tu vedi in si dolci atti Dormire, fu da un Angelo scolpita In questo sasso, e perche dorme ha vita; Destala, se no'l credi, e parleratti.

The Night, that thou seest, so sweetly sleeping, Was by an angel carved in the rude stone, Sleeping, she lives, if thou believ'st it not, Wake her, and surely she will answer thee.

The reply of Michael Angelo is in a much higher vein, and teaches us to look to a far different aim in his work than the mere form represented:—

Grato m'e 'l sonno e piu l'esser di sasso; Mentre che 'l danno e la vergogna dura Non veder, non sentir m'e gran ventura; Pero non mi destar; deh! parla basso!

Dear is my sleep, more dear to be but stone; Whilst deep despair and dark dishonour reign Not to hear, not to feel is greatest gain; Then wake me not; speak in an undertone.

No one ever before gave such tragic beauty to the worn and tired figure of a woman who has lived through her many days of toil and suffered many labours. It is believed by a medical authority that the master meant the statue to represent rest after a labour, but it is rather the nightmare-troubled sleep of a tired woman, whose beautiful firm hips and worn breasts prove her to have bravely met and passed through many cares, and suckled many children. A horrid mask, symbolising these memories, in bad dreams, grimaces beside her left hand. The eyes of the mask are cut double so that the thing alters its glance as you move about the chapel, fascinates and is intolerable. The noble and splendid thighs of the woman again realise a favourite problem of Michael Angelo's. He represented these powerful limbs in the Flood and other parts of the Sistine vault, and in the Leda. Beneath is seen an owl; never before in sculpture has a bird been represented with such power and dignity, save only by the Greeks in the eaglets head on the coin of Eiis. There are wreaths of poppy heads, symbols of sleep, and a moon and stars to crown the head that is like the head of a greater than Diana.

Evening, a brawny, hard-worked man, looks across the chapel with pity towards the Night. He appears to be in the act of straightening and stretching out his limbs, lately bent by the toils of the day, in longed-for rest.

[Image #42]

THE MADONNA AND CHILD

THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE (By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence)

The virgin Dawn lifts her weary head, as it were, in despair, that another day of shame and reproach is beginning; her long, lithe limbs and narrow hips contrast with the ample girth and muscular power of the Night. The modelling of the torso of this figure is, perhaps, the finest piece of workmanship in the chapel, and should be studied from every point of view, even from the back of the monument. The muscular forms and the disposition of the lines are so beautiful and true that it is a veritable marvel and wonder of the world. The right proportion of development necessary for a figure of that colossal size to move and live has never been so well calculated. The head is so beautiful that it cannot be spoken about; but must be seen in the position Michael Angelo designed it for, and not tilted upright on an ordinary pedestal as it is always seen in the art schools. All the four figures struggle with the trials, difficulties, and despair of their lives, as who should say, to such a pass has Medici rule reduced existence in Florence.

One other statue in the Chapel is entirely by the hand of the master, a Madonna suckling the child Jesus, a strong boy straddling across her knee and turning right round to reach the breast. Although unfinished, it is one of Michael Angelo's noblest works; it is a notable example of compactness of design, and of how he left the shape of the block of marble evident in his finished work.



CHAPTER IX

THE LAST ACT OF THE TRAGEDY OF THE TOMB, AND THE DAY OF JUDGMENT

As soon as Michael Angelo arrived in Rome, in 1535, he set to work to complete his contract for the Tomb of Julius, and marbles that had waited in silence for his liberating hand began to resound with the clink of the iron. The two Slaves in the Louvre appear to have been worked upon once again at this date, if we may judge by their likeness to the work in the Dawn and the Day. After the death of Clement the new Pope, Paul III., Farnese, sent for him and requested him to enter his service, as Condivi tells us.(147) Paul III., in a brief dated September 1, 1535,(148) appointed Michael Angelo chief architect, sculptor, and painter at the Vatican; he became a member of the Pope's household, with a pension of 1200 golden crowns, raised on the revenue from a ferry across the river Po, at Piacenza. This was so unremunerative, however, that it was exchanged for a post on the Chancery at Rimini. And now the doors of the Sistine Chapel once more close upon the master, not to be opened again until the Christmas of 1541.

[Image #43]

THE DAY OF JUDGMENT

(From a print in the British Museum)

Michael Angelo had to destroy three frescoes by Perugino and two lunettes of his own upon the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel for his new scheme. He is said to have had the wall rebuilt of well-baked bricks, so possibly the old frescoes had suffered from damp and dirt. Vasari says Fra Sebastiano del Piombo prepared the wall for Michael Angelo, and secretly had it grounded for oil painting, no doubt hoping himself to be employed in the work, as oil was his special medium. Michael Angelo was very wroth with his old friend for this, and declared that oil painting was an art only fit for women and crazy fellows. We hear of no further intercourse between Michael Angelo and the jovial frate. Vasari attributes their coolness to this incident.



Hieronimo Staccoli wrote a letter in July 1537,(149) to the Duke of Camerino, son and heir to the Duke of Urbino, about a salt-cellar designed for him by Michael Angelo. This prince was afterwards a good friend to the master, and his letter of September 7, 1539, informs us of the position of affairs with regard to the Tomb of Julius during the progress of the large painting in the Sistine:—

"DEAREST MESSER MICHAEL ANGELO,—It always has been, and now is, more than ever our infinite desire, as you will naturally imagine, to see the Tomb to the sainted memory of Pope Julius, my uncle, brought to a good conclusion by you, and we know well that it belongs to our duty to have good care of it, and see it ultimately finished, being held to it as you so well know by that sainted spirit: nevertheless, having heard by letters from our ambassador at Rome the great desire of our Lord, we must comfort ourselves with all patience whilst this said work is passed over by you. As long as His Holiness holds you busy in finishing the picture in the said chapel of Sisto; not being able or willing, but by our duty and our natural inclination in this as in all things to otherwise than comply with his wishes, we are contented to agree with a good grace, on reflection and by the reverence we bear to His Holiness. You may, therefore, fairly go on with the painting until the work is finished; but with a firm hope and belief that when it is done you will give yourself up entirely to finishing the said Tomb, redoubling your diligence and care to make up for the loss of time, as His Holiness has also promised you shall, kindly offering himself to urge you to do it; and to this end we have written you this letter. So long a time has passed since this said Tomb was begun that we cannot persuade ourselves but that you are equally desirous with us to see it finished; and esteeming you an honourable man, as we certainly believe you are—you cannot be otherwise with your singular virtue—we judge it superfluous to give you any admonition except that you keep yourself in good health, in order that you may honour those sainted bones that living honoured you and the other gifted men of that age, by all that we have so often heard. We beg you will make use of us if there is any other matter in which we can do you pleasure, for we shall do it with that good will which your most rare gifts deserve. And keep well."

[Image #44]

THE JUDGE. FROM "THE DAY OF JUDGMENT"

SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME (By permission of the Fratelli, Alinari, Florence)

Shortly before the fresco was finished, Vasari informs us that Michael Angelo had a bad fall from the scaffolding, and injured his leg. He returned home, shut himself up in his house, and would not allow any doctor to come near him or even enter the house. A certain Florentine physician and lover of the arts, Baccio Rontini, contrived to creep in by a back door, and roamed about until he found the master. He then insisted upon remaining with him, looking after him until he had effected a complete cure.

The Last Judgment was shown to the public upon Christmas Day, 1541. In this picture of the Day of Wrath, Michael Angelo has concentrated all his energies to represent the terror of the wrath of God. It is Jehovah with His thunders that rises before the frightened mass of human souls. The Holy Mother crouches beside Him, turning her face away so as not to see the wrath to come. Even the saints look with dread towards the great Judge, fearing lest they too should be condemned. Martyrs brandish the emblems of their martyrdom before His eyes to plead for them, and, as some have said, claim vengeance for their pains. Michael Angelo would have us realise that no human soul is innocent beside the Holiness of Heaven. The gentle happiness of the redeemed, as represented by the blessed Frate Angelico is absent from the scene—it could not appear without destroying the unities of the tragedy. Peace will follow as the blessed walk in the Elysian fields after they have passed, with a fearful joy, from the judgment seat. Michael Angelo has followed the traditional composition of the subject in all its lines and details, adapting it with the least change possible to the space at his command, and to the superior knowledge of the drawing of the human form that he possessed. It is most interesting to compare this rendering with the same subject in the Campo Santo at Pisa. Every part of the composition is repeated, the action of the Judge, the Madonna beside Him on His right, Apostles on either side, the resurrection of the dead, the descent into hell, the angels blowing the trumpets in the centre of the lower part, the angels bearing the cross and other implements of the Passion in the upper corners. This crowded mass of figures is divided into nine several parts, all the figures and groups having room enough to move, and to spare. The more this work is studied in detail the more beautiful the forms appear, and the more daring and skilful the foreshortenings are found to be. Every figure is beautiful, and every one of them noble. The picture is full of symbolism in the details, and may be studied every day, and new thoughts and new meanings found in it. Souls that help each other in their upward struggle. Beads of prayers with which one good righteous man draws souls to heaven. The wife who lifts up her despairing husband; his expression of awe and doubt as he rises upward. Souls long separated by death rush together in close embrace; father and son, husband and wife. Dante is there thirsting for deepest mysteries, his face positively thrust between St. Peter and St. Paul. Souls driven down to hell, beautiful and noble as are those destined for heaven; even their despair is dignified as if they assented to their doom as just. Old Charon, in his boat, "with eyes of brass, who beats the delaying souls with uplifted oar," is taken directly from Dante:—

Caron demonio con occhi di bragia Loro accenando, tutte le raccoglie, Batte col remo qualunque si adagia.

[Image #45]

SPIRITS OF THE BLESSED, PART OF "THE DAY OF JUDGMENT"

SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME (By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence)

Those portions of the fresco in the semicircular spaces at the top, angels bearing implements of the Passion, appear to have been painted the last. They approximate in style to the works afterwards done in the Pauline Chapel, and are not so absolutely true in drawing as the rest of the work. Here, for the first time, is a sense of fatigue in the workmanship. They appear to have been treated as two separate compositions filling their lunettes. Michael Angelo has used the favourite device of Raphael to give movement, direction, and force of line, two figures pointing almost side by side in almost exactly parallel actions. Nothing gives so much sense of rush, as may be seen in many of the compositions in the Loggia. One instance here is the angel bearing the Crown of Thorns and the figure near him. Another is just below, two figures near the right arm of the Judge. One of the finest and most superb groups ever designed by Michael Angelo is the group of angels blowing the trumpets of doom in the forefront of the fresco. Their energy and power, compared with the placid angels of Pisa and Orvieto, exhibit the different aims of the artist most effectively. It must be noticed how carefully Michael Angelo has arranged his composition, so that the baldacchino used behind the High Altar upon great occasions shall not injure his composition. The group of angel trumpeters, the Charon and the devils in a cave, are all hidden and cut off exactly by the curtains, and the composition generally is positively improved by their absence. Michael Angelo, no doubt, thought the fresco would be most seen on such occasions, and designed his work accordingly. The space hidden, however, he did not neglect, but placed in it some of his finest work.

The prophet above this end of the chapel is Jonah, whose history is a symbol of the resurrection of the dead. His presence there makes us suppose that Michael Angelo always contemplated the possibility of his having to paint the Last Judgment upon this wall, although he himself painted the lunettes now covered by the larger composition. The colour of this fresco is very much darkened by dust and by smoke from the altar candles; and, as it is more within reach than the vault, it has been retouched. It should be a source of comfort to those who get tired with looking upward at pictures in high places, if they will but remember that their beloved paintings have often been protected from the restorer by their high position. There is an interesting early copy of this fresco in the Corsini Gallery in Florence, which, though rather crude, gives us a good idea of the light tone of the painting in its early state.

This work was received by artists with enthusiasm, reflected in the pages of Vasari. They came from all parts to study it; in fact, most of the drawings attributed to Michael Angelo in collections are their studies from it, and not his studies for it, as they are called. As a general rule, whenever there are two or more figures drawn in a group, all equally finished and accurately in the same position as the figures in the fresco, the drawing may be assumed to be a copy.

Two sections of the public, even then, were unable to receive Michael Angelo's message of the beauty and purity of the human figure. Not only scandalous persons, like Aretino, objected to them, but pious people, who could not and cannot yet be brought to believe in the splendour and holiness of the Creator's work. Vasari tells us that when Michael Angelo had almost finished the work Pope Paul came to see it, and Messer Biagio da Cesena, Master of the Ceremonies, a very particular person, was with him in the chapel, and was asked what he thought of it. Messer Biagio da Cesena replied that he considered it highly improper to paint so many shameless, naked figures in such an honourable building, and that it was not a fit work for the Pope's chapel, but more suitable to a bagno or an inn. Michael Angelo nettled by this resolved to revenge himself at once. As soon as they left the chapel he set to work and drew Messer Biagio's portrait, from memory, in hell as Minos, with a great serpent twisted round his legs, surrounded by a crowd of devils. Messer Biagio complained to the Pope, who asked him where he was placed? "In hell," was the reply. "Then I can do nothing to help you," said the Pope; "had the painter sent you to purgatory I would have used my best efforts to get you released, but I exercise no influence in hell, ubi nulla est redemptio." Some years afterwards Paul IV. objected to the naked figures, and employed Daniele da Volterra to patch draperies on to some of them, with Michael Angelo's consent, whereby Daniele obtained the nickname of Il Braghettone, or the breeches-maker. Daniele did his work with a good deal of discretion, hiding as little of the original fresco as possible: the additions are unfortunately offensive in colour. The early engravings show the picture in its original state, and show that the additions are not so many or so important as might be supposed, as most of the larger masses of draperies are seen to be Michael Angelo's own work. When the Pope obtained Michael Angelo's consent to this alteration, the artist replied to his messenger: "Tell his Holiness this is a small matter, and can easily be set right. Let him look to setting the world in order: to reform a picture costs no great trouble." Pius V. also employed Girolamo da Fano to make some further alterations. These retouches a secco have destroyed to a great extent the atmospheric quality and the relation of the planes in Michael Angelo's suave true-fresco method, which, as may be seen in the vault, gives the grey half-tints of the flesh-tones in a way only equalled by Andrea del Sarto in fresco and Rembrandt in oil painting.

As soon as Michael Angelo had finished the Last Judgment, Paul III. set him to work again to fresco the walls of the chapel of the Holy Sacrament, just completed by Antonio da San Gallo, and now known as the Cappella Paolina. Michael Angelo had hoped to complete the Tomb of Julius at once, with his own hand, but the Pope's determination necessitated further negotiations with the Duke of Urbino. The Duke wrote to Michael Angelo upon March 6, 1542, saying that he would be quite satisfied if the three statues by his hand, including the Moses, were assigned to the Tomb, the execution of the rest being left to competent workmen under him.(150)

There is also a petition from Michael Angelo to Paul III.(151) stating that his Holiness the Pope's commission for Michael Angelo to work and paint in his new chapel prevents him finishing the Tomb as agreed with the illustrious signor Duke of Urbino. "Already Raffaello da Monte Lupo, the Florentine, considered one of the best masters of the time, was well forward with the standing group of the Madonna with the Child in her arms, and a Prophet and a Sibyl seated, for four hundred scudi. The rest of the decoration, excepting the part in front, was in the hands of Master Giovanni de' Marchesi and Francesco da Urbino, chisellers and carvers in stone, for seven hundred scudi. But there still remained to be supplied the three figures to be carved by Michael Angelo's own hand, that is to say, a Moses and two captives. But as the two said captives were designed for the work when it was to have been on a much larger scale, they would not fit in the reduced design, nor could they in any way be made to look well there. Accordingly the said Messer Michael Angelo, not to lose his honour, had blocked out two new statues to go on either side of the Moses, representing the Active and Contemplative Life, which are well advanced, so that they may be easily finished by another master. Michael Angelo desires and supplicates his Holiness our Lord the Pope Paul the Third, in order that he may work in his chapel, which needs all his energies and his entire care, and he being aged, and desiring to serve the Pope with all his power, to free him from his obligation to the signor Duke of Urbino with regard to the said Tomb, cancelling and annulling every obligation. Especially, to allow him to hand over the two statues that remain to be done to the said Raffaello da Montelupo, or to some one pleasing to his Excellency, for a good price, which it is thought would be 200 scudi. The Moses will be finished entirely by Michael Angelo, and arrangements will be made by Michael Angelo to pay the money due for these workers ... and so he will be free in all things and able to serve and satisfy his Holiness." Finally, he deposits a sum of 1200 crowns, and guarantees that the work shall be efficiently executed in all its details. The final contract in agreement with this petition was signed upon August 20, 1542.(152)

The mighty design of Michael Angelo's early years of enthusiasm dwindled down to the Moses, but what a height above other men's biggest designs is this single figure! The Cardinal was right who said the statue of Moses alone was a sufficient memorial of Julius. In a letter to Salvestro da Montauto, of February 3, 1545(153), Michael Angelo says that the Duke of Urbino ratified the deed, and the five statues were given to Raffaello da Montelupo to be carved. "Of these five statues my Lord the Pope having at my earnest prayer and for my satisfaction conceded to me a little time, I finished two of them with my own hand, that is to say, the Contemplative Life and the Active Life for the same sum that the said Raffaello was to have had." From the works themselves we may be sure that there is a good deal of Raffaello da Montelupo about these figures all the same. Notwithstanding all this evidence of the desire of Michael Angelo to carry out his contract, we have a letter(154) from Annibale Caro to Antonio Gallo as late as 1553 entreating him to plead with the Duke of Urbino for Michael Angelo. "I assure you that the extreme distress caused him by being in disgrace with his Excellency is sufficient to bring his grey hair with sorrow to the grave before his time."

In the finished work there are statues not yet accounted for, that is to say, the recumbent portrait of the Pope which was executed by Maso del Bosco, the coat of arms of the Della Rovere by Battista Benti of Pietra Santa, and the terminal figures by Giacomo del Duca. The greatest drawback to the effect of the whole is the change in the architectural treatment and decorations. The lower part belongs to the period when the work was begun in 1505, and the upper, with no transition but a joint in the stone, to the heavier and coarser style of the period when it was finished, 1545. The jointing and the masonry generally are not of a satisfactory character,(155) and Michael Angelo's assistants cannot be congratulated upon the way they did their share of the work. With the exception of the figures of Active and Contemplative Life, the work of the assistants would be better away.

The two bound captives which were too big for the altered monument are now the glory of the Italian sculpture galleries of the Louvre. They were presented by Michael Angelo to Roberto degli Strozzi, because, when the sculptor was ill in 1544, Luigi del Riccio, his friend, nursed him and looked after him in the Strozzi Palace. They were taken to France and offered to the King of France, who gave them to the Connetable de Montmorenci; they were placed by him in Ecouen. They were bought for the French nation by M. Lenoir when the Republic put them up for sale in 1793.

Four unfinished colossal figures, which still appear to be wrenching themselves from their prison of stone, now lurk in the corners of a repulsive grotto in the Boboli Gardens. They are supposed to have been also for the Tomb of Julius. Heath Wilson suggests that they may have been intended for the facade of San Lorenzo. The difficulty as to scale that caused a doubt as to their being intended for the Tomb does not really disprove it; for Michael Angelo was never very particular as to the comparative size of the figures in his monuments, and the many alterations of his schemes for the Tomb make it possible for them to have been worked in somehow. It is very probable that when he was at Florence, and after some of the more threatening letters of the executors, he set savagely to work upon some blocks ready to his hand, with the idea of having them conveyed to Rome afterwards. They belong to about the time of the siege of Florence, and are more suggestive of his method of work, and of his thoughts in the presence of the stone, than any other of his statues. If they were removed from their ugly surroundings and placed, say, in the Tribuna of David in the Belle Arti at Florence instead of the plaster casts that represent the master in his own city, they, with the other fragments, such as the Saint Matthew, the Apollo, the Victory, and the other works in the Bargello, would make a gallery of his art even worthy of Michael Angelo. Failing such a possibility, they might, at least, be placed under the Loggia dei Lanzi, away from the repulsive grotesque of stucco and stalactite that grins at them in the grotto. If something must be left as a companion to the ugly thing, plaster casts would be quite good enough.

The Victory, of the Bargello, was said by Vasari to have been designed for the Tomb, but it may just as well have been intended for an angel overcoming a demon, part of the ruined scheme for the facade of San Lorenzo. The lower figure is still left in the rough, and is supposed to be like the artist. The head of the upper figure is so dull that it cannot have been carved by the sculptor who finished the torso so exquisitely. It may have been left a mere block, like the head of one of the captives of the Boboli. The man who carved the head, and also worked on other portions of the group, turned the neck round too much. If we imagine the head less turned and looking down towards the crouching figure, conquered by the young genius of beauty and victory, we shall see the grace in the pose of the torso to greater advantage. We imagine a somewhat similar story for the figure in the Bargello, called the Adonis. The boar cannot be by Michael Angelo's hand, and, indeed, very little of the figure suggests his grasp of plastic possibilities; the figure cannot have been much more than blocked out by him, and was finished after his death by some artist of the type of Vincenzio Danti.



CHAPTER X

THE CHAPEL OF POPE PAUL, AND THE PIETA OF SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE

Michael Angelo wrote a number of sonnets and made many drawings for his friends, especially for the Marchioness of Pescara and Messer Tomaso dei Cavalieri, a noble Roman gentleman. For him they were generally subjects from Greek and Roman mythology, but for the Marchioness the drawings always represented episodes from the story of the Passion of our Lord. A Pieta, drawn for this lady, was engraved by Giulio Bonasoni and Tudius Bononiensis in 1546. There are several drawings in the Print Room of the British Museum and the Windsor and Oxford Collections of this character and period. One at Oxford was probably the original sent to Vittoria, but all are of the same sacred inspiration; in fact, the religious element becomes very strong indeed in all his later work, just as in the later work of Titian. These artists had the near prospect of death in view, and thus they turned their thoughts entirely to work from which they hoped for reward in the world to come. The fear of hell was not without its influence upon both of them.

Some of the drawings made by Michael Angelo for his friend, Tomaso Cavalieri, are mentioned in one of Tomaso's letters, dated 1533.(156)

[Image #46]

THE CRUCIFIXION OF SAINT PETER

THE CHAPEL OF POPE PAUL, THE VATICAN, ROME (By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence)

"UNIQUE MY LORD,—Some days ago I received a letter from you, which was very welcome, both because I learned by it that you are well, and also because I can now be sure that you will soon return. I was very sorry not to answer at once. However, when you know the cause, you will hold me excused. On the day your letter reached me I was very sick, and in such a high fever that I was at the point of death; and verily I should have died if it had not revived me. Since then, thank God, I have been well. Messer Bartolomei has now brought me a sonnet by you, which has made it my duty to write. Some three days since I received my drawing of Phaeton, which is exceedingly well done. The Pope, the Cardinal de' Medici, and every one, have seen it. I do not know what made them want to do so. The Cardinal expressed a wish to inspect all your drawings, and they pleased him so much that he said he should like to have a Tityos and Ganymede done in crystal. I could not prevent him from using the Tityos, and it is now being executed by Master Giovanni. I struggled hard to save the Ganymede. The other day I went, as you requested, to Fra Sebastiano. He sends a thousand messages, but all to pray you to come back.

"Your affectionate,

"THOMAS CAVALIERI."

Messer Tomaso feared the drawings would be damaged in the workshop of the gem engraver. There are several of these drawings in existence in good condition, with no marks of the thumbs of workmen about them.



From the letters referring to the last contract about the Tomb of Julius, we learn that the frescoes in the Cappella Paolina were not begun in October 1542. Michael Angelo worked at them with slight interruptions for seven years; they represent the Conversion of Saint Paul and the Martyrdom of Saint Peter. They are very highly finished in execution and studied in grace of composition, but frigid, and too evidently the work of an old man. The skill of the drawing and foreshortening is masterly as ever, but he does not appear to have referred to nature for the forms; and even Michael Angelo without nature became stale. Vasari says, after describing the frescoes without his customary enthusiasm, "They were his last productions in painting. He was seventy-five years old when he carried them to completion; and, as he informed me, he did so with great effort and fatigue—painting, after a certain age, and especially fresco painting, not being in truth fit work for old men."

In the spring of 1546 Francis I. of France wrote to Michael Angelo asking for some fine monument by his hand, and copies of the Pieta della Febbre, now in St. Peter's, and of the Christ holding the Cross, in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, for his chapel. A draft of Michael Angelo's reply runs:—

[Image #47]

THE CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL

THE CHAPEL OF POPE PAUL (By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence)

To the most Christian King of France.(157)

"SACRED MAJESTY,—I do not know which is the greater, the grace or the wonder at it, that your Majesty should have deigned to write to a man like me, and still more to ask him for things of his, unworthy even of the name of your Majesty; but, whatever they are, let your Majesty understand that for a long time I have desired to serve you in them; but, not having had the opportunity, because you have not been in Italy where my work is, I have not been able to do it. Now I am old, and have been occupied these many months with the work for Pope Paul. But if a little life is still left me after all these occupations, what I have desired is, as I have said, a little time to work for your Majesty at my art—one work to be in marble, one in bronze, and one in painting. And if death hinders me from carrying out my wish, and if it be possible to carve statues or to paint in the other life, I shall not fail to do so there, where there is no more growing old. And I pray God that He grant your Majesty a long and happy life.

"From Rome, the day XXVI. of April, MDXLVI."

In the letters and poems of this period we note the endeavour to attain to a style in literature full of rich conceits and elaborate compliment, which may be compared to the style, elaborate and ornamental, but somewhat cold and unattractive, of the frescoes in the Cappella Paolina. As he grew older he devoted himself more entirely to architecture and literature. The arts of sculpture and painting, as exercised by him, could not be carried on by assistants; he now perforce had to employ himself upon work in which the execution could be left to younger hands. He sought the help of scholars to overhaul and set to rights his poems, sonnets, and thoughts in words, as the masons and master-builders expressed his thoughts in architecture—the Dome of St. Peter's, and the cornice of the Farnese Palace. In the devotional drawings we have mentioned, and an unfinished group in sculpture, the Deposition from the Cross, now behind the High Altar of Santa Maria del Fiore at Florence, we have the only further manifestation of Michael Angelo's genius in his favourite arts. Many of these drawings appear to be designs for a great picture of the Crucifixion. He went on executing them long after the death of the Marchioness of Pescara, who first seems to have incited him to this work. It almost appears to have become a religious exercise with him; they have the same meaning as these last lines of a Sonnet.

Ne pinger ne scolpir fia piu che quieti L' anima volta a quell' Amor divino Ch' aperse, a prender noi, in croce le braccia.

Painting nor sculpture now can lull to rest My soul, that turns to His great love on high, Whose arms to clasp us on the Cross were spread.(158)

[Image #48]

THE PIETA OF SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE

FLORENCE (By permission of the Fratelli Alinari Florence)

The marble group of the Deposition is so religious in character that it can be compared with no work of art executed since Michael Angelo's own early work the Pieta, in St. Peter's, the Madonna della Febbre. Both for its earnestness and its noble religious sentiment it is an act of worship to look at it, and the days and nights spent in its execution must have been periods of the heartiest religious devotion and sorrowing love. The old sculptor intended this work to have been his monument. The unfinished head of Nicodemus, who sustains the body of his dear Lord, is his own portrait, and, unfinished as it is, expresses the deepest devotion and sadness. Vasari saw this work in progress, and gives us a glimpse into the home-life of the aged worker, who was never content out of his workshop, and spent his sleepless nights working at this huge marble with a paper cap on his head, in which he stuck a lighted candle to see by. The solitary figure of the old man in the vast and dimly lighted studio, groping round the inchoate marble; the stillness of the night, broken only by the sharp click of the mallet and the grating of the chisel, is a picture of many of the bravest hours of his old age. Vasari, observing all this, and wishing to do the revered artist a kindness, sent him 40 lbs. of candles made of goat's fat, knowing that they gutter less than ordinary dips of tallow. His servant carried them politely to the house two hours after night-fall, and presented them to Michael Angelo. He refused, and said he did not want them. The man answered: "Sir, they have almost broken my back carrying them all this long way from the bridge, and I will not carry them home again. There is a heap of mud opposite your door, thick and firm enough to hold them upright. Here then will I set them all up, and light them." When Michael Angelo heard this he gave way: "Lay them down; I do not mean you to play pranks at my house door." Vasari tells another anecdote about the Deposition. Pope Julius III. sent him late one evening to Michael Angelo's house for a certain drawing. The aged master came down with a lantern, and, hearing what was wanted, told Urbino to look for the design. Meanwhile, Vasari turned his attention to one of the legs of the Christ, which Michael Angelo had been altering. In order to prevent his seeing it Michael Angelo let the light fall, and they remained in darkness. He then called for another light, and stepped forth from the screen of planks behind which he worked, saying: "I am so old that oftentimes Death plucks me by the cape to go with him, and one day this body of mine will fall like the lantern, and the light of life will be put out."

"If life gives us pleasure we ought not to expect displeasure from death, seeing it is made by the hand of the same master," was a favourite reflection of Michael Angelo's upon mortality. This Deposition was never completed, flaws appeared in the marble, and perhaps whilst working in the imperfect light Michael Angelo's impatient chisel cut too deep. He began to break up the work, but luckily his servant Antonio, successor to Urbino, begged the fragments from his master. Francesco Bandini, a Florentine exile settled in Rome, wished for a work by the master, and, with Michael Angelo's consent, bought it from Antonio for two hundred crowns. It was patched up, but apparently not worked upon, and remained in the garden of Bandini's heir at Monte Cavallo. It was afterwards taken to Florence and was finally placed in the Duomo in 1722 by the Grand Duke Cosimo III., where it may now be seen behind the high altar, well-placed, so that the great cross of the altar looks like the tree from which the body has just been lowered. So well does the line of the cross behind cut the group that we cannot help imagining that the artist intended some such erection to have been placed behind his figures. Those who would see this group aright must visit the Duomo before seven o'clock on a summer morning, when the light of the sun falls, though the white robe of a bishop in one of the high eastern windows, upon the neighbouring pillars and the floor, and lights up that end of the church; at other times the darkness of the dome covers the group as the darkness covered the earth during the tragic hours at Golgotha.

The right arm of the Christ has become over polished and much worn because it is used as a balustrade by the acolytes, who carelessly run up and down the steps between the group and the back of the high altar to light the candles during service. On the other side a rough metal handle has positively been let into the left side of the Joseph of Arimathea, so that a clumsy boy may climb the more easily; wooden steps also fit so closely to the marble that they injure the lines of the group. All the characteristics of Michael Angelo's impassioned period may be studied in this group; his favourite mannerisms are there also. Examine the hand of Joseph, with the middle finger touching the thumb, and compare it with the allegorical statues of the Medici Chapel. Vasari tells us that Michael Angelo began another Pieta on a smaller scale; this may be the beautiful group that has been spoiled by an alteration, now in the courtyard of the Palazzo Rondini, No. 418, the Corso, Rome. There is a cast of it in the Belle Arti at Florence. The hanging limbs of the Christ have a most pathetic effect, and so has the whole expression of the group. The effect is obtained by the length of the principal lines.

There is a medallion of the Madonna clasping her dead son at the Albergo dei Poveri, at Genoa, attributed to Michael Angelo; it may have been begun by him during this long period of old age, but it cannot be called his work. It has been entirely recarved by an imitator.



Michael Angelo made his famous report condemning the design of Antonio da Sangallo for the rebuilding of the Farnese palace upon the shores of the Tiber; it is a mysterious document, in Michael Angelo's own hand, and does not leave Sangallo a single merit. All the theories are proved by the precepts of Vitruvius. The adherents of Sangallo resented it very naturally, and the "Setta Sangallesca" became his bitter enemies. The Pope himself was dissatisfied with Sangallo, and the design for the cornice was thrown open to competition. Perino del Vaga, Sebastiano del Piombo, Giorgio Vasari, and Michael Angelo all competed. Michael Angelo's design was eventually carried out after he had placed a wooden model of part of his cornice in position. Vasari, who is the best authority upon this period of the life of Michael Angelo, attributes to him also the exterior of the palace from the second story upwards, and the whole of the central courtyard above the first story, "making it the finest thing of its sort in Europe." Michael Angelo had also a serious disagreement with Sangallo before the military committee fortifying the Borgo for the Pope.

When Antonio da Sangallo died at Terni on October 3, 1546, Michael Angelo succeeded to his post in Rome, architect-in-general to the Pope, the principal work was, of course, the great Church of St. Peter's. Bramante, Raphael, and Peruzzi had all been architects-in-chief, and many were the alterations in the plans. Notwithstanding their differences during his early life, the design of Bramante was the one that commended itself to Michael Angelo; he abandoned Sangallo's design; the model for it still exists and we cannot wonder at Michael Angelo's decision. His criticisms are given in a letter supposed to be to Bartolomeo Amanati.(159) "It cannot be denied that Bramante was a brave architect, equal to any one from the times of the ancients until now. He laid the first plan of Saint Peter's, not confused, but clear and simple, full of light and detached from surrounding buildings, so as not to injure any part of the palace. It was considered a fine thing, and, indeed, it is still manifest that it was so; and all the architects who have departed from the plan of Bramante, as Sangallo has done, have departed from the truth. And so it is, and all who have not prejudiced eyes can see it in his model. He, with his outer circle of chapels, in the first place takes all the light from the plan of Bramante; and not only this, but he has not provided any other means of lighting, and there are so many lurking places, both above and below, all dark, which would be very convenient for innumerable knaveries, a secure hiding-place for bandits, false coiners, and all sorts of ribaldry, and when it was shut up at night twenty-five men would be needed to clear the building of those in hiding there, and it would be difficult enough to find them. There is yet another inconvenience: the circle of buildings with their adjuncts outside added to Bramante's plan would make it necessary to pull down to the ground the Capella Paolina, the offices of the Piombo and the Ruota, and more besides; nay, even the Sistine Chapel would, I believe, not escape." May it not have been that this malicious arrangement of Sangailo's to destroy Michael Angelo's masterpieces made the great artist so bitter against him.