Michael Angelo Buonarroti

s. 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 acc

nd 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

ENZO DE' MEDICI

STY, SAN LORE

f the Fratelli A

icent [pg 191]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

er 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

ty 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 m

at 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 Lore

egna Antonio, disegn

Antonio, draw and

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 [pg 194]sarcophagi, the four figures on the ground which are the rivers,

air of the Tomb; he threatened a lawsuit to recover money advanced for the work. Michae

IANO DE' MEDICI,

STY, SAN LORE

f the Fratelli A

l that I should repay what I have [pg 195]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

perfectly honest in these transactions, and, as Pope Clement said, he was rather creditor than debtor. Clement appears to have arranged matters to som

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 ti

belongs to this period, May 1525.135 It refers to a picture by Sebastiano, probab

ar 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 cou

Clement added a postscript in his own hand to one of his secretary's letters: "Thou knowest that Popes [pg 198]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.

ed 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 h

g

MEDICI, DUK

STY, SAN LORE

f the Fratelli A

Francesco, priest of Saint Mary

from your last letter, I should expect to carry out, and that quickly, al

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 u

t, meseems they should come by night and well covered up, so that they may not be seen. There will

r, it is better to let them be done by those who will do them, for I have so much to d

hortly to Rome, and will answer your letter by word

ngelo, Sculptor

ed effect, nothing more w

nces 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 ce

tanding 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

im 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

ained 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 fort

is a small wax model of this composition at South Kensington, attributed to Michael Angelo, which may be for this design. The Medici Government hande

t 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

AD OF

STY, SAN LORE

f the Fratelli A

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 Micha

24th F

would marvel at it. The Signor Fernando di Gonzaga will bear me witness, and God knows what sorrow I had [pg 206]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;

of February,

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

y faithfu

iano Lu

el Angelo d

Sculptor, i

OL

USEUM, THE BAR

the photograph by Si

ve 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 wo

and Constanzo Festa.144 Gottif145 publishes an essay by Leto Puliti on this music with the score of three of the madrigals. Many of Michael Angelo's poetical compositions ma

the great Duomo, all Florentines love, for ever. At Rome he dreamed a dream of another Dome, that has given to that city th

D OF TH

STY OF SAN LO

f the Fratelli A

r 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 [pg 210]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 unfinish

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 wor

V. PO

D

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

I

STY OF SAN LO

f the Fratelli A

oof that her maker intended her to have some of these many meanings in the

e tu vedi in

da un Ange

so, e perchè

no'l credi,

thou seest, so s

el carved in

ives, if thou b

surely she wil

vein, and teaches us to look to a far different

onno e più l'e

l danno e la

n sentir m'è

destar; deh!

ep, more dear

spair and dark

ot to feel is

not; speak in

y 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

ards the Night. He appears to be in the act of straightening and stretchi

ONNA AN

STY, SAN LORE

f the Fratelli A

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 [pg 215]development necessary for a figure of that colossal size to move and live has never been so well calculated. The head is so beautiful t

across her knee and turning right round to reach the breast. Although unfinished, it is one of Michael Angelo's noblest works; i

g