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Title: Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 09
(of 10)

Author: Giorgio Vasari

Translator: Gaston du C. De Vere

Release date: May 13, 2010 [eBook #32362]
Most recently updated: July 16, 2010

Language: English

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LIVES OF THE MOST EMINENT
PAINTERS SCULPTORS &
ARCHITECTS

BY

GIORGIO VASARI:

VOLUME IX.
MICHELAGNOLO TO THE FLEMINGS 1915
NEWLY TRANSLATED BY GASTON Du C. DE VERE. WITH FIVE
HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS: IN TEN VOLUMES

PHILIP LEE WARNER,
PUBLISHER TO THE MEDICI SOCIETY, LIMITED
7 GRAFTON ST. LONDON, W. 1912-14

CONTENTS OF VOLUME IX
PAGE
Michelagnolo Buonarroti 1
Francesco Primaticcio 143
Tiziano da Cadore 157
Jacopo Sansovino 185
Leone Lioni of Arezzo 227
Don Giulio Clovio 243
Divers Italian Craftsmen still Living 255
Divers Flemings 263
Index of Names 273

ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME IX
PLATES IN COLOUR

Michelagnolo
The Holy Family Florence: Uffizi, 1,239 4
Buonarroti
The Madonna of the Vienna: Imperial
Tiziano da Cadore 158
Cherries Gallery, 180
Sacred and Profane Rome: Borghese
Tiziano Da Cadore 164
Love Gallery, 147
Tiziano da Cadore The Duke of Norfolk Florence: Pitti, 92 168
The Education of Rome: Borghese
Tiziano da Cadore 176
Cupid Gallery, 170
Paris Bordone The Venetian Lovers Milan: Brera, 105 178

PLATES IN MONOCHROME

Michelagnolo The Battle of the Florence: Museo
8
Buonarroti Centaurs Buonarroti
Michelagnolo The Angel with the
Bologna: S. Domenico 10
Buonarroti Candlestick
Michelagnolo Florence: Museo
Bacchus 12
Buonarroti Nazionale
Michelagnolo
Pietà Rome: S. Peter's 14
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo Wax Models for the Florence: Museo
16
Buonarroti David Buonarroti
Michelagnolo Madonna, Child, and S. Florence: Museo
18
Buonarroti John Nazionale
Michelagnolo
Young Captive Paris: Louvre 20
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo Florence: Museo
Victory 22
Buonarroti Nazionale

Michelagnolo Rome: S. Pietro in
Moses 24
Buonarroti Vincoli
Michelagnolo Rome: S. Pietro in
Tomb of Pope Julius II 24
Buonarroti Vincoli
Michelagnolo God Dividing the
Rome: Sistine Chapel 28
Buonarroti Waters from the Earth
Michelagnolo
The Creation of Eve Rome: Sistine Chapel 28
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo
The Creation of Adam Rome: Sistine Chapel 32
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo The Fall and the
Rome: Sistine Chapel 32
Buonarroti Expulsion
Michelagnolo
The Lybian Sibyl Rome: Sistine Chapel 36
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo
Decorative Figure Rome: Sistine Chapel 38
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo
The New Sacristy Florence: S. Lorenzo 40
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo
Madonna and Child Florence: S. Lorenzo 42
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo
Giuliano de' Medici Florence: S. Lorenzo 44
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo Tomb of Giuliano de'
Florence: S. Lorenzo 44
Buonarroti Medici
Michelagnolo Florence: Museo
Apollo 50
Buonarroti Nazionale
Michelagnolo
The Last Judgment Rome: Sistine Chapel 56
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo
Charon's Boat Rome: Sistine Chapel 58
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo
S. Sebastian Rome: Sistine Chapel 60
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo
Pietà Florence: Duomo 62
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo Stairs of the Palace of
Rome: The Capitol 64
Buonarroti the Senators

Michelagnolo Court of the Palazzo
Rome 66
Buonarroti Farnese
Michelagnolo
Biblioteca Laurenziana Florence 78
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo Rome: Palazzo
Pietà 84
Buonarroti Rondanini
Michelagnolo
S. Peter's Rome 86
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo
S. Peter's Rome 88
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo
Porta Pia Rome 96
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo
S. Maria degli Angeli Rome 98
Buonarroti
Michelagnolo Florence: Museo
Brutus 100
Buonarroti Nazionale
Michelagnolo Florence: Museo
Unfinished Figure 106
Buonarroti Nazionale
Francesco
Galerie Henry IV Fontainebleau 146
Primaticcio
Francesco
Escalier du Roi Fontainebleau 148
Primaticcio
The Adoration of the Vienna: Collection of
Pellegrino Tibaldi 152
Shepherds Prince Liechtenstein
London: National
Tiziano da Cadore Ariosto 160
Gallery, 1,944
Tiziano da Cadore Bacchanal Madrid: The Prado, 450 162
Madonna With Saints
Tiziano da Cadore Ancona: S. Domenico 162
and Donor
Tiziano da Cadore Charles V with Dog Madrid: The Prado, 453 166
Tiziano da Cadore Pope Paul III Naples: Museo Nazionale 168
Tiziano da Cadore Danaë Naples: Museo Nazionale 170
Perseus and London: Wallace
Tiziano da Cadore 172
Andromeda Collection, 11
Tiziano da Cadore Philip II Naples: Museo Nazionale 172

Tiziano da Cadore Mary Magdalene Naples: Museo Nazionale 174
Tiziano da Cadore The Entombment Madrid: The Prado, 464 176
The Fisherman and the
Paris Bordone Venice: Accademia, 320 180
Doge Gradenigo
London: National
Paris Bordone Portrait of a Woman 180
Gallery, 674
Vision of the
Zuccati Venice: S. Marco 182
Apocalypse
Jacopo Sansovino S. James Florence: Duomo 190
Florence: Museo
Jacopo Sansovino Bacchus 192
Nazionale
Jacopo Sansovino Mars and Neptune Venice: Ducal Palace 196
Jacopo Sansovino Library of S. Marco Venice 198
Jacopo Sansovino Loggetta Venice 200
Jacopo Sansovino Miracle of S. Anthony Padua: S. Antonio 202
Andrea Palladio Palazzo della Comunità Vicenza 210
Tomb of Gian Jacopo
Leone Leoni Milan: Duomo 230
Medici
Cristofano Solari
Eve Milan: Duomo 234
(Il Gobbo)
Guglielmo della
Tomb of Pope Paul III Rome: S. Peter's 236
Porta
Galeazzo Alessi Palazzo Grimaldi Genoa 240
Giulio Clovio Pietà Florence: Pitti, 241 246
Girolamo Martyrdom of S. Rome: S. Maria
258
Sermoneta Catherine Maggiore
Johannes Calcar Portrait of a Man Paris: Louvre, 1,185 266

MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI

LIFE OF MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
PAINTER, SCULPTOR, AND ARCHITECT OF
FLORENCE
While the most noble and industrious spirits were striving, by the light of
the famous Giotto and of his followers, to give to the world a proof of the
ability that the benign influence of the stars and the proportionate admixture
of humours had given to their intellects, and while, desirous to imitate with
the excellence of their art the grandeur of Nature in order to approach as
near as possible to that supreme knowledge that many call understanding,
they were universally toiling, although in vain, the most benign Ruler of
Heaven in His clemency turned His eyes to the earth, and, having perceived
the infinite vanity of all those labours, the ardent studies without any fruit,
and the presumptuous self-sufficiency of men, which is even further
removed from truth than is darkness from light, and desiring to deliver us
from such great errors, became minded to send down to earth a spirit with
universal ability in every art and every profession, who might be able,
working by himself alone, to show what manner of thing is the perfection of
the art of design in executing the lines, contours, shadows, and high lights,
so as to give relief to works of painting, and what it is to work with correct
judgment in sculpture, and how in architecture it is possible to render
habitations secure and commodious, healthy and cheerful, well-
proportioned, and rich with varied ornaments. He was pleased, in addition,
to endow him with the true moral philosophy and with the ornament of
sweet poesy, to the end that the world might choose him and admire him as
its highest exemplar in the life, works, saintliness of character, and every
action of human creatures, and that he might be acclaimed by us as a being
rather divine than human. And since He saw that in the practice of these
rare exercises and arts—namely, in painting, in sculpture, and in
architecture—the Tuscan intellects have always been exalted and raised
high above all others, from their being diligent in the labours and studies of
every faculty beyond no matter what other people of Italy, He chose to give
him Florence, as worthy beyond all other cities, for his country, in order to

bring all the talents to their highest perfection in her, as was her due, in the
person of one of her citizens.

MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI: THE HOLY FAMILY
(Florence: Uffizi, 1239. Panel)
View larger image

There was born a son, then, in the Casentino, in the year 1474, under a
fateful and happy star, from an excellent and noble mother, to Lodovico di
Leonardo Buonarroti Simoni, a descendant, so it is said, of the most noble
and most ancient family of the Counts of Canossa. To that Lodovico, I say,
who was in that year Podestà of the township of Chiusi and Caprese, near
the Sasso della Vernia, where S. Francis received the Stigmata, in the
Diocese of Arezzo, a son was born on the 6th of March, a Sunday, about the
eighth hour of the night, to which son he gave the name Michelagnolo,
because, inspired by some influence from above, and giving it no more
thought, he wished to suggest that he was something celestial and divine
beyond the use of mortals, as was afterwards seen from the figures of his

horoscope, he having had Mercury and Venus in the second house of
Jupiter, with happy augury, which showed that from the art of his brain and
of his hand there would be seen to issue forth works marvellous and
stupendous. Having finished his office as Podestà, Lodovico returned to
Florence and settled in the village of Settignano, at a distance of three miles
from the city, where he had a farm that had belonged to his forefathers;
which place abounds with stone and is all full of quarries of grey-stone,
which is constantly being worked by stone-cutters and sculptors, who for
the most part are born in the place. Michelagnolo was put out to nurse by
Lodovico in that village with the wife of a stone-cutter: wherefore the same
Michelagnolo, discoursing once with Vasari, said to him jestingly, "Giorgio,
if I have anything of the good in my brain, it has come from my being born
in the pure air of your country of Arezzo, even as I also sucked in with my
nurse's milk the chisels and hammer with which I make my figures." In time
Lodovico's family increased, and, being in poor circumstances, with slender
revenues, he set about apprenticing his sons to the Guilds of Silk and Wool.
Michelagnolo, who by that time was well grown, was placed to be schooled
in grammar with Maestro Francesco da Urbino; but, since his genius drew
him to delight in design, all the time that he could snatch he would spend in
drawing in secret, being scolded for this by his father and his other elders,
and at times beaten, they perchance considering that to give attention to that
art, which was not known by them, was a mean thing and not worthy of
their ancient house.
At this time Michelagnolo had formed a friendship with Francesco
Granacci, who, likewise a lad, had placed himself with Domenico
Ghirlandajo in order to learn the art of painting; wherefore Granacci, loving
Michelagnolo, and perceiving that he was much inclined to design, supplied
him daily with drawings by Ghirlandajo, who at that time was reputed to be
one of the best masters that there were not only in Florence, but throughout
all Italy. Whereupon, the desire to work at art growing greater every day in
Michelagnolo, Lodovico, perceiving that he could not divert the boy from
giving his attention to design, and that there was no help for it, and wishing
to derive some advantage from it and to enable him to learn that art,
resolved on the advice of friends to apprentice him with Domenico
Ghirlandajo. Michelagnolo, when he was placed with Domenico
Ghirlandajo, was fourteen years of age. Now he who wrote his life after the

year 1550, when I wrote these Lives the first time, has said that some
persons, through not having associated with him, have related things that
never happened, and have left out many that are worthy to be recorded, and
has touched on this circumstance in particular, taxing Domenico with
jealousy and saying that he never offered any assistance to Michelagnolo;
which is clearly false, as may be seen from an entry by the hand of
Lodovico, the father of Michelagnolo, written in one of Domenico's books,
which book is now in the possession of his heirs. That entry runs thus:
"1488, I record, this first day of April, that I, Lodovico di Leonardo di
Buonarrota, placed Michelagnolo my son with Domenico and David di
Tommaso di Currado for the three years next to come, on these terms and
conditions, that the said Michelagnolo shall remain with the above-named
persons for the said period of time, in order to learn to paint and to exercise
that vocation; that the said persons shall have command over him; and that
the same Domenico and David shall be bound to give him in those three
years twenty-four florins of full weight, the first year six florins, the second
year eight florins, and the third ten florins; in all, the sum of ninety-six lire."
And next, below this, is another record, or rather, entry, also written in the
hand of Lodovico: "The aforesaid Michelagnolo has received of that sum,
this sixteenth day of April, two gold florins in gold. I, Lodovico di
Leonardo, his father, have received twelve lire and twelve soldi as cash due
to him." These entries I have copied from the book itself, in order to prove
that all that was written at that time, as well as all that is about to be written,
is the truth; nor do I know that anyone has been more associated with him
than I have been, or has been a more faithful friend and servant to him, as
can be proved even to one who knows not the facts, neither do I believe that
there is anyone who can show a greater number of letters written by his
own hand, or any written with greater affection than he has expressed to
me. I have made this digression for the sake of truth, and it must suffice for
all the rest of his Life. Let us now return to our story.
When the ability as well as the person of Michelagnolo had grown in such a
manner, that Domenico, seeing him execute some works beyond the scope
of a boy, was astonished, since it seemed to him that he not only surpassed
the other disciples, of whom he had a great number, but very often equalled
the things done by himself as master, it happened that one of the young men
who were learning under Domenico copied with the pen some draped

figures of women from works by Ghirlandajo; whereupon Michelagnolo
took that drawing and with a thicker pen outlined one of those women with
new lineaments, in the manner that it should have been in order to be
perfect. And it is a marvellous thing to see the difference between the two
manners, and the judgment and excellence of a mere lad who was so
spirited and bold, that he had the courage to correct the work of his master.
That sheet is now in my possession, treasured as a relic; and I received it
from Granacci to put in my book of drawings together with others by the
same hand, which I received from Michelagnolo. In the year 1550, when
Giorgio was in Rome, he showed it to Michelagnolo, who recognized it and
was pleased to see it again, saying modestly that he knew more of the art
when he was a boy than he did at that time, when he was an old man.
Now it happened that when Domenico was at work on the great chapel of S.
Maria Novella, one day that he was out Michelagnolo set himself to draw
the staging from the reality, with some desks and all the appliances of art,
and some of the young men who were working there. Whereupon, when
Domenico had returned and seen Michelagnolo's drawing, he said, "This
boy knows more about it than I do;" and he was struck with amazement at
the novel manner and the novel method of imitation that a mere boy of such
tender age displayed by reason of the judgment bestowed upon him by
Heaven, for these, in truth, were as marvellous as could have been looked
for in the workmanship of a craftsman who had laboured for many years.
And this was because all the power and knowledge of the gracious gifts of
his nature were exercised by study and by the practice of art, wherefore
these gifts produced every day fruits more divine in Michelagnolo, as began
to be made clearly manifest in the copy that he executed of a printed sheet
by the German Martino, which gave him a very great name. For there had
come to Florence at that time a scene by the above-named Martino, of the
Devils beating S. Anthony, engraved on copper, and Michelagnolo copied it
with the pen in such a manner that it could not be detected, and then painted
that same sheet in colours, going at times, in order to counterfeit certain
strange forms of devils, to buy fishes that had scales bizarre in colouring;
and in that work he showed so much ability, that he acquired thereby credit
and fame. He also counterfeited sheets by the hands of various old masters,
making them so similar that they could not be detected, for, tinting them
and giving them the appearance of age with smoke and various other

materials, he made them so dark that they looked old, and, when compared
with the originals, one could not be distinguished from the other. Nor did he
do this with any other purpose but to obtain the originals from the hands of
their owners by giving them the copies, for he admired them for the
excellence of their art and sought to surpass them in his own practice; on
which account he acquired a very great name.

THE BATTLE OF THE CENTAURS
(After the relief by Michelangelo. Florence: Museo Buonarroti)
Alinari
View larger image

At that time the Magnificent Lorenzo de' Medici kept the sculptor Bertoldo
in his garden on the Piazza di S. Marco, not so much as custodian or
guardian of the many beautiful antiques that he had collected and gathered
together at great expense in that place, as because, desiring very earnestly to
create a school of excellent painters and sculptors, he wished that these
should have as their chief and guide the above-named Bertoldo, who was a
disciple of Donato. Bertoldo, although he was so old that he was not able to
work, was nevertheless a well-practised master and in much repute, not

only because he had polished with great diligence the pulpits cast by his
master Donato, but also on account of many castings in bronze that he had
executed himself, of battles and certain other small works, in the execution
of which there was no one to be found in Florence at that time who
surpassed him. Now Lorenzo, who bore a very great love to painting and to
sculpture, was grieved that there were not to be found in his time sculptors
noble and famous enough to equal the many painters of the highest merit
and reputation, and he determined, as I have said, to found a school. To this
end he besought Domenico Ghirlandajo that, if he had among the young
men in his workshop any that were inclined to sculpture, he might send
them to his garden, where he wished to train and form them in such a
manner as might do honour to himself, to Domenico, and to the whole city.
Whereupon there were given to him by Domenico as the best of his young
men, among others, Michelagnolo and Francesco Granacci; and they, going
to the garden, found there that Torrigiano, a young man of the Torrigiani
family, was executing in clay some figures in the round that had been given
to him by Bertoldo. Michelagnolo, seeing this, made some out of
emulation; wherefore Lorenzo, seeing his fine spirit, always regarded him
with much expectation. And he, thus encouraged, after some days set
himself to counterfeit from a piece of marble an antique head of a Faun that
was there, old and wrinkled, which had the nose injured and the mouth
laughing. Michelagnolo, who had never yet touched marble or chisels,
succeeded so well in counterfeiting it, that the Magnificent Lorenzo was
astonished; and then, perceiving that, departing from the form of the antique
head, he had opened out the mouth after his own fancy and had made a
tongue, with all the teeth showing, that lord, jesting pleasantly, as was his
wont, said to him, "Surely you should have known that old folks never have
all their teeth, and that some are always wanting." It appeared to
Michelagnolo, in his simplicity, both fearing and loving that lord, that he
had spoken the truth; and no sooner had Lorenzo departed than he
straightway broke one of the teeth and hollowed out the gum, in such a
manner, that it seemed as if the tooth had dropped out. And then he awaited
with eagerness the return of the Magnificent Lorenzo, who, when he had
come and had seen the simplicity and excellence of Michelagnolo, laughed
at it more than once, relating it as a miracle to his friends. Moreover, having
made a resolve to assist and favour Michelagnolo, he sent for his father
Lodovico and asked for the boy from him, saying that he wished to

maintain him as one of his own children; and Lodovico gave him up
willingly. Thereupon the Magnificent Lorenzo granted him a chamber in his
own house and had him attended, and he ate always at his table with his
own children and with other persons of quality and of noble blood who
lived with that lord, by whom he was much honoured. This was in the year
after he had been placed with Domenico, when Michelagnolo was about
fifteen or sixteen years of age; and he lived in that house four years, which
was until the death of the Magnificent Lorenzo in 1492. During that time,
then, Michelagnolo had five ducats a month from that lord as an allowance
and also to help his father; and for his particular gratification Lorenzo gave
him a violet cloak, and to his father an office in the Customs. Truth to tell,
all the young men in the garden were salaried, some little and some much,
by the liberality of that magnificent and most noble citizen, and rewarded
by him as long as he lived.
At this time, at the advice of Poliziano, a man eminent in letters,
Michelagnolo executed from a piece of marble given to him by that lord the
Battle of Hercules with the Centaurs, which was so beautiful that now, to
those who study it from time to time, it appears as if by the hand not of a
youth but of a master of repute, perfected by study and well practised in that
art. It is now in his house, treasured in memory of him by his nephew
Leonardo as a rare thing, which indeed it is. That Leonardo, not many years
since, had in his house in memory of his uncle a Madonna of marble in low-
relief by the hand of Michelagnolo, little more than one braccio in height, in
which when a lad, at this same time, wishing to counterfeit the manner of
Donatello, he acquitted himself so well that it seems as if by Donatello's
hand, save that there may be seen in it more grace and more design. That
work Leonardo afterwards gave to Duke Cosimo de' Medici, who treasures
it as a unique thing, for we have no other low-relief in sculpture by his hand
save that one.
Now, returning to the garden of the Magnificent Lorenzo; that garden was
full of antiques and richly adorned with excellent pictures, all gathered
together in that place for their beauty, for study, and for pleasure.
Michelagnolo always had the keys, and he was much more earnest than the
others in his every action, and showed himself always alert, bold, and
resolute. He drew for many months from the pictures of Masaccio in the
Carmine, where he copied those works with so much judgment, that the

craftsmen and all other men were astonished, in such sort that envy grew
against him together with his fame. It is said that Torrigiano, after
contracting a friendship with him, mocked him, being moved by envy at
seeing him more honoured than himself and more able in art, and struck
him a blow of the fist on the nose with such force, that he broke and
crushed it very grievously and marked him for life; on which account
Torrigiano was banished from Florence, as has been related in another
place.

THE ANGEL WITH THE CANDLESTICK
(After Michelagnolo. Bologna: S. Domenico)
Alinari
View larger image

When the Magnificent Lorenzo died, Michelagnolo returned to his father's
house in infinite sorrow at the death of so great a man, the friend of every
talent. There he bought a great piece of marble, and from it carved a
Hercules of four braccia, which stood for many years in the Palace of the
Strozzi; this was esteemed an admirable work, and afterwards, in the year
of the siege, it was sent into France to King Francis by Giovan Battista della
Palla. It is said that Piero de' Medici, who had been left heir to his father
Lorenzo, having long been intimate with Michelagnolo, used often to send
for him when he wished to buy antiques, such as cameos and other carved
stones. One winter, when much snow fell in Florence, he caused him to
make in his courtyard a statue of snow, which was very beautiful; and he
honoured Michelagnolo on account of his talents in such a manner, that his
father, beginning to see that he was esteemed among the great, clothed him
much more honourably than he had been wont to do.
For the Church of S. Spirito in the city of Florence Michelagnolo made a
Crucifix of wood, which was placed, as it still is, above the lunette of the
high-altar; doing this to please the Prior, who placed rooms at his disposal,
in which he was constantly flaying dead bodies, in order to study the secrets
of anatomy, thus beginning to give perfection to the great knowledge of
design that he afterwards acquired. It came about that the Medici were
driven out of Florence, and a few weeks before that Michelagnolo had gone
to Bologna, and then to Venice, fearing, as he saw the insolence and bad
government of Piero de' Medici, lest some evil thing might befall him from
his being the servant of that family; but, not having found any means of
living in Venice, he returned to Bologna. There he had the misfortune to
neglect, through lack of thought, when entering by the gate, to learn the
countersign for going out again, a command having been issued at that
time, as a precaution, at the desire of Messer Giovanni Bentivogli, that all
strangers who had not the countersign should be fined fifty Bolognese lire;
and having fallen into such a predicament, nor having the means to pay,
Michelagnolo by chance was seen by Messer Giovan Francesco
Aldovrandi, one of the Sixteen of the Government, who had compassion on
him, and, having made him tell his story, liberated him, and then kept him
in his house for more than a year. One day Aldovrandi took him to see the
tomb of S. Dominic, made, as has been related, by Giovanni Pisano and
then by Maestro Niccolò dell'Arca, sculptors of olden days. In that work

there were wanting a S. Petronio and an Angel holding a candelabrum,
figures of about one braccio, and Aldovrandi asked him if he felt himself
able to make them; and he answered Yes. Whereupon he had the marble
given to him, and Michelagnolo executed them in such a manner, that they
are the best figures that are there; and Messer Francesco Aldovrandi caused
thirty ducats to be given to him for the two. Michelagnolo stayed a little
more than a year in Bologna, and he would have stayed there even longer,
in order to repay the courtesy of Aldovrandi, who loved him both for his
design and because, liking Michelagnolo's Tuscan pronunciation in reading,
he was pleased to hear from his lips the works of Dante, Petrarca,
Boccaccio, and other Tuscan poets. But, since he knew that he was wasting
his time, he was glad to return to Florence.

BACCHUS
(After Michelagnolo. Florence: Museo Nazionale)
Alinari
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There he made for Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de' Medici a S. Giovannino of
marble, and then set himself to make from another piece of marble a Cupid
that was sleeping, of the size of life. This, when finished, was shown by
means of Baldassarre del Milanese to Lorenzo di Pier Francesco as a
beautiful thing, and he, having pronounced the same judgment, said to
Michelagnolo: "If you were to bury it under ground and then sent it to
Rome treated in such a manner as to make it look old, I am certain that it
would pass for an antique, and you would thus obtain much more for it than
by selling it here." It is said that Michelagnolo handled it in such a manner

as to make it appear an antique; nor is there any reason to marvel at that,
seeing that he had genius enough to do it, and even more. Others maintain
that Milanese took it to Rome and buried it in a vineyard that he had there,
and then sold it as an antique to Cardinal San Giorgio for two hundred
ducats. Others, again, say that Milanese sold to the Cardinal one that
Michelagnolo had made for him, and that he wrote to Lorenzo di Pier
Francesco that he should cause thirty crowns to be given to Michelagnolo,
saying that he had not received more for the Cupid, and thus deceiving the
Cardinal, Lorenzo di Pier Francesco, and Michelagnolo; but afterwards,
having received information from one who had seen that the boy was
fashioned in Florence, the Cardinal contrived to learn the truth by means of
a messenger, and so went to work that Milanese's agent had to restore the
money and take back the Cupid. That work, having come into the
possession of Duke Valentino, was presented by him to the Marchioness of
Mantua, who took it to her own country, where it is still to be seen at the
present day. This affair did not happen without some censure attaching to
Cardinal San Giorgio, in that he did not recognize the value of the work,
which consisted in its perfection; for modern works, if only they be
excellent, are as good as the ancient. What greater vanity is there than that
of those who concern themselves more with the name than the fact? But of
that kind of men, who pay more attention to the appearance than to the
reality, there are some to be found at any time.
Now this event brought so much reputation to Michelagnolo, that he was
straightway summoned to Rome and engaged by Cardinal San Giorgio,
with whom he stayed nearly a year, although, as one little conversant with
our arts, he did not commission Michelagnolo to do anything. At that time a
barber of the Cardinal, who had been a painter, and could paint with great
diligence in distemper-colours, but knew nothing of design, formed a
friendship with Michelagnolo, who made for him a cartoon of S. Francis
receiving the Stigmata. That cartoon was painted very carefully in colours
by the barber on a little panel; and the picture is now to be seen in S. Pietro
a Montorio in the first chapel on the left hand as one enters the church. The
talent of Michelagnolo was then clearly recognized by a Roman gentleman
named Messer Jacopo Galli, an ingenious person, who caused him to make
a Cupid of marble as large as life, and then a figure of a Bacchus ten palms
high, who has a cup in the right hand, and in the left hand the skin of a tiger,

with a bunch of grapes at which a little satyr is trying to nibble. In that
figure it may be seen that he sought to achieve a certain fusion in the
members that is marvellous, and in particular that he gave it both the
youthful slenderness of the male and the fullness and roundness of the
female—a thing so admirable, that he proved himself excellent in statuary
beyond any other modern that had worked up to that time. On which
account, during his stay in Rome, he made so much proficience in the
studies of art, that it was a thing incredible to see his exalted thoughts and
the difficulties of the manner exercised by him with such supreme facility;
to the amazement not only of those who were not accustomed to see such
things, but also of those familiar with good work, for the reason that all the
works executed up to that time appeared as nothing in comparison with his.
These things awakened in Cardinal di San Dionigi, called Cardinal de
Rohan, a Frenchman, a desire to leave in a city so famous some worthy
memorial of himself by the hand of so rare a craftsman; and he caused him
to make a Pietà of marble in the round, which, when finished, was placed in
the Chapel of the Vergine Maria della Febbre in S. Pietro, where the Temple
of Mars used to be. To this work let no sculptor, however rare a craftsman,
ever think to be able to approach in design or in grace, or ever to be able
with all the pains in the world to attain to such delicacy and smoothness or
to perforate the marble with such art as Michelagnolo did therein, for in it
may be seen all the power and worth of art. Among the lovely things to be
seen in the work, to say nothing of the divinely beautiful draperies, is the
body of Christ; nor let anyone think to see greater beauty of members or
more mastery of art in any body, or a nude with more detail in the muscles,
veins, and nerves over the framework of the bones, nor yet a corpse more
similar than this to a real corpse. Here is perfect sweetness in the expression
of the head, harmony in the joints and attachments of the arms, legs, and
trunk, and the pulses and veins so wrought, that in truth Wonder herself
must marvel that the hand of a craftsman should have been able to execute
so divinely and so perfectly, in so short a time, a work so admirable; and it
is certainly a miracle that a stone without any shape at the beginning should
ever have been reduced to such perfection as Nature is scarcely able to
create in the flesh. Such were Michelagnolo's love and zeal together in this
work, that he left his name—a thing that he never did again in any other
work—written across a girdle that encircles the bosom of Our Lady. And
the reason was that one day Michelagnolo, entering the place where it was

set up, found there a great number of strangers from Lombardy, who were
praising it highly, and one of them asked one of the others who had done it,
and he answered, "Our Gobbo from Milan." Michelagnolo stood silent, but
thought it something strange that his labours should be attributed to another;
and one night he shut himself in there, and, having brought a little light and
his chisels, carved his name upon it. And truly the work is such, that an
exalted spirit has said, as to a real and living figure—
Bellezza ed Onestate
E Doglia e Pietà in vivo marmo morte,
Deh, come voi pur fate,
Non piangete si forte,
Che anzi tempo risveglisi da morte;
E pur mal grado suo
Nostro Signore, e tuo
Sposo, Figliuolo, e Padre,
Unica Sposa sua, Figliuola, e Madre.
From this work he acquired very great fame, and although certain persons,
rather fools than otherwise, say that he has made Our Lady too young, are
these so ignorant as not to know that unspotted virgins maintain and
preserve their freshness of countenance a long time without any mark, and
that persons afflicted as Christ was do the contrary? That circumstance,
therefore, won an even greater increase of glory and fame for his genius
than all his previous works.

PIETÀ
(After Michelagnolo. Rome: S. Peter's)
Anderson
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Letters were written to him from Florence by some of his friends, saying
that he should return, because it was not unlikely that he might obtain the
spoiled block of marble lying in the Office of Works, which Piero Soderini,
who at that time had been made Gonfalonier of the city for life, had very
often talked of having executed by Leonardo da Vinci, and was then
arranging to give to Maestro Andrea Contucci of Monte Sansovino, an
excellent sculptor, who was seeking to obtain it. Now, however difficult it
might be to carve a complete figure out of it without adding pieces (for
which work of finishing it without adding pieces none of the others, save
Buonarroti alone, had courage enough), Michelagnolo had felt a desire for it
for many years back; and, having come to Florence, he sought to obtain it.
This block of marble was nine braccia high, and from it, unluckily, one

Maestro Simone da Fiesole had begun a giant, and he had managed to work
so ill, that he had hacked a hole between the legs, and it was altogether
misshapen and reduced to ruin, insomuch that the Wardens of Works of S.
Maria del Fiore, who had the charge of the undertaking, had placed it on
one side without troubling to have it finished; and so it had remained for
many years past, and was likely to remain. Michelagnolo measured it all
anew, considering whether he might be able to carve a reasonable figure
from that block by accommodating himself as to the attitude to the marble
as it had been left all misshapen by Maestro Simone; and he resolved to ask
for it from Soderini and the Wardens, by whom it was granted to him as a
thing of no value, they thinking that whatever he might make of it would be
better than the state in which it was at that time, seeing that neither in pieces
nor in that condition could it be of any use to their building. Whereupon
Michelagnolo made a model of wax, fashioning in it, as a device for the
Palace, a young David with a sling in his hand, to the end that, even as he
had defended his people and governed them with justice, so those
governing that city might defend her valiantly and govern her justly. And he
began it in the Office of Works of S. Maria del Fiore, in which he made an
enclosure of planks and masonry, thus surrounding the marble; and,
working at it continuously without anyone seeing it, he carried it to perfect
completion. The marble had already been spoilt and distorted by Maestro
Simone, and in some places it was not enough to satisfy the wishes of
Michelagnolo for what he would have liked to do with it; and he therefore
suffered certain of the first marks of Maestro Simone's chisel to remain on
the extremity of the marble, some of which are still to be seen. And truly it
was a miracle on the part of Michelagnolo to restore to life a thing that was
dead.
This statue, when finished, was of such a kind that many disputes took
place as to how to transport it to the Piazza della Signoria. Whereupon
Giuliano da San Gallo and his brother Antonio made a very strong
framework of wood and suspended the figure from it with ropes, to the end
that it might not hit against the wood and break to pieces, but might rather
keep rocking gently; and they drew it with windlasses over flat beams laid
upon the ground, and then set it in place. On the rope which held the figure
suspended he made a slip-knot which was very easy to undo but tightened
as the weight increased, which is a most beautiful and ingenious thing; and

I have in my book a drawing of it by his own hand—an admirable, secure,
and strong contrivance for suspending weights.

WAX MODELS FOR THE DAVID
(After Michelagnolo. Florence: Museo Buonarroti)
Alinari
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It happened at this time that Piero Soderini, having seen it in place, was
well pleased with it, but said to Michelagnolo, at a moment when he was
retouching it in certain parts, that it seemed to him that the nose of the
figure was too thick. Michelagnolo noticed that the Gonfalonier was
beneath the Giant, and that his point of view prevented him from seeing it
properly; but in order to satisfy him he climbed upon the staging, which
was against the shoulders, and quickly took up a chisel in his left hand, with
a little of the marble-dust that lay upon the planks of the staging, and then,

beginning to strike lightly with the chisel, let fall the dust little by little, nor
changed the nose a whit from what it was before. Then, looking down at the
Gonfalonier, who stood watching him, he said, "Look at it now." "I like it
better," said the Gonfalonier, "you have given it life." And so Michelagnolo
came down, laughing to himself at having satisfied that lord, for he had
compassion on those who, in order to appear full of knowledge, talk about
things of which they know nothing.
When it was built up, and all was finished, he uncovered it, and it cannot be
denied that this work has carried off the palm from all other statues, modern
or ancient, Greek or Latin; and it may be said that neither the Marforio at
Rome, nor the Tiber and the Nile of the Belvedere, nor the Giants of Monte
Cavallo, are equal to it in any respect, with such just proportion, beauty and
excellence did Michelagnolo finish it. For in it may be seen most beautiful
contours of legs, with attachments of limbs and slender outlines of flanks
that are divine; nor has there ever been seen a pose so easy, or any grace to
equal that in this work, or feet, hands and head so well in accord, one
member with another, in harmony, design, and excellence of artistry. And,
of a truth, whoever has seen this work need not trouble to see any other
work executed in sculpture, either in our own or in other times, by no
matter what craftsman. Michelagnolo received from Piero Soderini in
payment for it four hundred crowns; and it was set in place in the year
1504. In consequence of the fame that he thereby won as a sculptor, he
made for the above-named Gonfalonier a most beautiful David of bronze,
which Soderini sent to France; and at this time, also, he began, but did not
finish, two medallions of marble—one for Taddeo Taddei, which is now in
his house, and another that he began for Bartolommeo Pitti, which was
presented by Fra Miniato Pitti of Monte Oliveto, a man with a rare
knowledge in cosmography and many other sciences, and particularly in
painting, to Luigi Guicciardini, who was much his friend. These works were
held to be admirable in their excellence; and at this same time, also, he
blocked out a statue of S. Matthew in marble in the Office of Works of S.
Maria del Fiore, which statue, rough as it is, reveals its full perfection and
teaches sculptors in what manner figures can be carved out of marble
without their coming out misshapen, so that it may be possible to go on ever
improving them by removing more of the marble with judgment, and also to
draw back and change some part, according as the necessity may arise. He

also made a medallion in bronze of a Madonna, which he cast in bronze at
the request of certain Flemish merchants of the Moscheroni family, persons
of high nobility in their own country, who paid him a hundred crowns for it,
and intended to send it to Flanders.

MADONNA, CHILD, AND S. JOHN
(After the relief by Michelagnolo. Florence: Museo Nazionale)
Anderson
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There came to Agnolo Doni, a Florentine citizen and a friend of
Michelagnolo, who much delighted to have beautiful things both by ancient
and by modern craftsmen, a desire to possess some work by Michelagnolo;
wherefore that master began for him a round picture containing a Madonna,
who, kneeling on both knees, has an Infant in her arms and presents Him to
Joseph, who receives Him. Here Michelagnolo expresses in the turn of the

head of the Mother of Christ and in the gaze of her eyes, which she keeps
fixed on the supreme beauty of her Son, her marvellous contentment and
her lovingness in sharing it with that saintly old man, who receives Him
with equal affection, tenderness, and reverence, as may be seen very readily
in his countenance, without considering it long. Nor was this enough for
Michelagnolo, who, the better to show how great was his art, made in the
background of his work a number of nudes, some leaning, some standing,
and some seated; and with such diligence and finish he executed this work,
that without a doubt, of his pictures on panel, which indeed are but few, it is
held to be the most finished and the most beautiful work that there is to be
found. When it was completed, he sent it covered up to Agnolo's house by a
messenger, with a note demanding seventy ducats in payment. It seemed
strange to Agnolo, who was a careful person, to spend so much on a picture,
although he knew that it was worth more, and he said to the messenger that
forty was enough, which he gave to him. Thereupon Michelagnolo sent
them back to him, with a message to say that he should send back either one
hundred ducats or the picture. Then Agnolo, who liked the work, said, "I
will give him these seventy," but he was not content; indeed, angered by
Agnolo's breach of faith, he demanded the double of what he had asked the
first time, so that, if Agnolo wanted the picture, he was forced to send him a
hundred and forty.
It happened that while Leonardo da Vinci, that rare painter, was painting in
the Great Council Hall, as has been related in his Life, Piero Soderini, who
was then Gonfalonier, moved by the great ability that he saw in
Michelagnolo, caused a part of that Hall to be allotted to him; which was
the reason that he executed the other façade in competition with Leonardo,
taking as his subject the War of Pisa. To this end Michelagnolo was given a
room in the Hospital of the Dyers at S. Onofrio, and there he began a vast
cartoon, but would never consent that anyone should see it. And this he
filled with naked men that were bathing in the River Arno on account of the
heat, when suddenly the alarm sounded in the camp, announcing that the
enemy were attacking; and, as the soldiers were springing out of the water
to dress themselves, there could be seen, depicted by the divine hands of
Michelagnolo, some hastening to arm themselves in order to give assistance
to their companions, others buckling on their cuirasses, many fastening
other armour on their bodies, and a vast number beginning the fray and

fighting on horseback. There was, among other figures, an old man who had
a garland of ivy on his head to shade it, and he, having sat down in order to
put on his hose, into which his legs would not go because they were wet
with water, and hearing the cries and tumult of the soldiers and the uproar
of the drummers, was struggling to draw on one stocking by force; and,
besides that all the muscles and nerves of his figure could be perceived, his
mouth was so distorted as to show clearly how he was straining and
struggling even to the very tips of his toes. There were also drummers, and
figures with their clothes in their arms running to the combat; and there
were to be seen the most extravagant attitudes, some standing, some
kneeling or bent double, others stretched horizontally and struggling in mid-
air, and all with masterly foreshortenings. There were also many figures in
groups, all sketched in various manners, some outlined with charcoal, some
drawn with strokes, others stumped in and heightened with lead-white,
Michelagnolo desiring to show how much he knew in his profession.
Wherefore the craftsmen were seized with admiration and astonishment,
seeing the perfection of art revealed to them in that drawing by
Michelagnolo; and some who saw them, after beholding figures so divine,
declare that there has never been seen any work, either by his hand or by
the hands of others, no matter how great their genius, that can equal it in
divine beauty of art. And, in truth, it is likely enough, for the reason that
since the time when it was finished and carried to the Sala del Papa with
great acclamation from the world of art and extraordinary glory for
Michelagnolo, all those who studied from that cartoon and drew those
figures—as was afterwards the custom in Florence for many years both for
strangers and for natives—became persons eminent in art, as we have since
seen. For among those who studied the cartoon were Aristotile da San
Gallo, the friend of Michelagnolo, Ridolfo Ghirlandajo, Raffaello Sanzio of
Urbino, Francesco Granacci, Baccio Bandinelli, and the Spaniard Alonzo
Berughetta, and then there followed Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio, Jacopo
Sansovino, Rosso, Maturino, Lorenzetto, Tribolo, who was then a boy,
Jacopo da Pontormo, and Perino del Vaga; and all these became excellent
Florentine masters. The cartoon having thus become a school for craftsmen,
it was taken into the Great Upper Hall in the house of the Medici; and this
was the reason that it was left with too little caution in the hands of the
craftsmen, insomuch that during the illness of Duke Giuliano, while no one
was expecting such a thing, it was torn up and divided into many pieces, as

has been related elsewhere, and scattered over various places, to which
some pieces bear witness that are still to be seen in Mantua, in the house of
M. Uberto Strozzi, a gentleman of that city, where they are treasured with
great reverence; and, indeed, they seem to the eye things rather divine than
human.

YOUNG CAPTIVE
(After Michelagnolo. Paris: Louvre)
Alinari
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The name of Michelagnolo, by reason of the Pietà that he had made, the
Giant in Florence, and the cartoon, had become so famous, that in the year

1503, Pope Alexander VI having died and Julius II having been elected, at
which time Michelagnolo was about twenty-nine years of age, he was
summoned with much graciousness by Julius II, who wished to set him to
make his tomb; and for the expenses of the journey a hundred crowns were
paid to him by the Pope's representatives. Having made his way to Rome,
he spent many months there before he was made to set his hand to any
work. But finally the Pope's choice fell on a design that he had made for
that tomb, an excellent testimony to the genius of Michelagnolo, which in
beauty and magnificence, abundance of ornamentation and richness of
statuary, surpassed every ancient or imperial tomb. Whereupon Pope Julius
took courage, and thus resolved to set his hand to make anew the Church of
S. Pietro in Rome, in order to erect the tomb in it, as has been related in
another place. And so Michelagnolo set to work with high hopes; and, in
order to make a beginning, he went to Carrara to excavate all the marble,
with two assistants, receiving a thousand crowns on that account from
Alamanno Salviati in Florence. There, in those mountains, he spent eight
months without other moneys or supplies; and he had many fantastic ideas
of carving great statues in those quarries, in order to leave memorials of
himself, as the ancients had done before him, being invited by those masses
of stone. Then, having picked out the due quantity of marbles, he caused
them to be loaded on board ship at the coast and then conveyed to Rome,
where they filled half the Piazza di S. Pietro, round about S. Caterina, and
between the church and the corridor that goes to the Castello. In that place
Michelagnolo had prepared his room for executing the figures and the rest
of the tomb; and, to the end that the Pope might be able to come at his
convenience to see him at work, he had caused a drawbridge to be
constructed between the corridor and that room, which led to a great
intimacy between them. But in time these favours brought much annoyance
and even persecution upon him, and stirred up much envy against him
among his fellow-craftsmen.

VICTORY
(After Michelagnolo. Florence: Museo Nazionale)
Anderson
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Of this work Michelagnolo executed during the lifetime and after the death
of Julius four statues completely finished and eight only blocked out, as will
be related in the proper place; and since the work was designed with
extraordinary invention, we will describe here below the plan that he
adopted. In order to produce an effect of supreme grandeur, he decided that
it should be wholly isolated, so as to be seen from all four sides, each side
in one direction being twelve braccia and each in the other eighteen, so that
the proportions were a square and a half. It had a range of niches running
right round the outer side, which were divided one from another by terminal

figures clothed from the middle upwards, which with their heads supported
the first cornice, and each terminal figure had bound to it, in a strange and
bizarre attitude, a naked captive, whose feet rested on a projection of the
base. These captives were all provinces subjugated by that Pontiff and
rendered obedient to the Apostolic Church; and there were various other
statues, likewise bound, of all the noble arts and sciences, which were thus
shown to be subject to death no less than was that Pontiff, who made such
honourable use of them. On the corners of the first cornice were to go four
large figures, the Active and the Contemplative Life, S. Paul, and Moses.
The structure rose above the cornice in steps gradually diminishing, with a
frieze of scenes in bronze, and with other figures, children and ornaments
all around, and at the summit, as a crown to the work, were two figures, one
of which was Heaven, who, smiling, was supporting a bier on her shoulder,
together with Cybele, the Goddess of Earth, who appeared to be grieving
that she was left in a world robbed of all virtue by the death of such a man;
and Heaven appeared to be smiling with gladness that his soul had passed to
celestial glory. The work was so arranged that one might enter and come out
again by the ends of the quadrangular structure, between the niches, and the
interior curved in the form of an oval after the manner of a temple, in the
centre of which was the sarcophagus wherein was to be laid the dead body
of that Pope. And, finally, there were to be in this whole work forty statues
of marble, without counting the other scenes, children, and ornaments, the
carvings covering the cornices, and the other architectural members of the
work. Michelagnolo ordained, to expedite the labour, that a part of the
marbles should be conveyed to Florence, where he intended at times to
spend the summer months in order to avoid the malaria of Rome; and there
he executed one side of the work in many pieces, complete in every detail.
In Rome he finished entirely with his own hand two of the captives, figures
divinely beautiful, and other statues, than which none better have ever been
seen; but in the end they were never placed in position, and those captives
were presented by him to S. Ruberto Strozzi, when Michelagnolo happened
to be lying ill in his house; which captives were afterwards sent as presents
to King Francis, and they are now at Ecouen in France. Eight statues,
likewise, he blocked out in Rome, and in Florence he blocked out five and
finished a Victory with a captive beneath, which are now in the possession
of Duke Cosimo, having been presented by Michelagnolo's nephew,

Leonardo, to his Excellency, who has placed the Victory in the Great Hall
of his Palace, which was painted by Vasari.
He finished the Moses, a statue in marble of five braccia, which no modern
work will ever equal in beauty; and of the ancient statues, also, the same
may be said. For, seated in an attitude of great dignity, he rests one arm on
the Tables, which he holds with one hand, and with the other he holds his
beard, which is long and waving, and carved in the marble in such sort, that
the hairs—in which the sculptor finds such difficulty—are wrought with the
greatest delicacy, soft, feathery, and detailed in such a manner, that one
cannot but believe that his chisel was changed into a pencil. To say nothing
of the beauty of the face, which has all the air of a true Saint and most dread
Prince, you seem, while you gaze upon it, to wish to demand from him the
veil wherewith to cover that face, so resplendent and so dazzling it appears
to you, and so well has Michelagnolo expressed the divinity that God
infused in that most holy countenance. In addition, there are draperies
carved out and finished with most beautiful curves of the borders; while the
arms with their muscles, and the hands with their bones and nerves, are
carried to such a pitch of beauty and perfection, and the legs, knees, and
feet are covered with buskins so beautifully fashioned, and every part of the
work is so finished, that Moses may be called now more than ever the
friend of God, seeing that He has deigned to assemble together and prepare
his body for the Resurrection before that of any other, by the hands of
Michelagnolo. Well may the Hebrews continue to go there, as they do every
Sabbath, both men and women, like flocks of starlings, to visit and adore
that statue; for they will be adoring a thing not human but divine.

MOSES
(After Michelagnolo. Rome: S. Pietro in Vincoli)
Anderson
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Finally all the agreements for this work were made, and the end came into
view; and of the four sides one of the smaller ones was afterwards erected
in S. Pietro in Vincola. It is said that while Michelagnolo was executing the
work, there came to the Ripa all the rest of the marbles for the tomb that
had remained at Carrara, which were conveyed to the Piazza di S. Pietro,
where the others were; and, since it was necessary to pay those who had
conveyed them, Michelagnolo went, as was his custom, to the Pope. But,
his Holiness having on his hands that day some important business
concerning Bologna, he returned to his house and paid for those marbles out

of his own purse, thinking to have the order for them straightway from his
Holiness. He returned another day to speak of them to the Pope, but found
difficulty in entering, for one of the grooms told him that he had orders not
to admit him, and that he must have patience. A Bishop then said to the
groom, "Perhaps you do not know this man?" "Only too well do I know
him," answered the groom; "but I am here to do as I am commanded by my
superiors and by the Pope." This action displeased Michelagnolo, and,
considering that it was contrary to what he had experienced before, he said
to the Pope's groom that he should tell his Holiness that from that time
forward, when he should want him, it would be found that he had gone
elsewhere; and then, having returned to his house, at the second hour of the
night he set out on post-horses, leaving two servants to sell all the furniture
of his house to the Jews and to follow him to Florence, whither he was
bound. Having arrived at Poggibonzi, a place in the Florentine territory, and
therefore safe, he stopped; and almost immediately five couriers arrived
with letters from the Pope to bring him back. Despite their entreaties and
also the letters, which ordered him to return to Rome under threat of
punishment, he would not listen to a word; but finally the prayers of the
couriers induced him to write a few words in reply to his Holiness, asking
for pardon, but saying that he would never again return to his presence,
since he had caused him to be driven away like a criminal, that his faithful
service had not deserved such treatment, and that his Holiness should look
elsewhere for someone to serve him.

TOMB OF POPE JULIUS II
(After Michelagnolo. Rome: S. Pietro in Vincoli)
Alinari
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After arriving at Florence, Michelagnolo devoted himself during the three
months that he stayed there to finishing the cartoon for the Great Hall,
which Piero Soderini, the Gonfalonier, desired that he should carry into
execution. During that time there came to the Signoria three Briefs
commanding them to send Michelagnolo back to Rome: wherefore he,
perceiving this vehemence on the part of the Pope, and not trusting him,
conceived the idea, so it is said, of going to Constantinople to serve the
Grand Turk, who desired to secure him, by means of certain Friars of S.
Francis, to build a bridge crossing from Constantinople to Pera. However,
he was persuaded by Piero Soderini, although very unwilling, to go to meet
the Pope as a person of public importance with the title of Ambassador of
the city, to reassure him; and finally the Gonfalonier recommended him to

his brother Cardinal Soderini for presentation to the Pope, and sent him off
to Bologna, where his Holiness had already arrived from Rome. His
departure from Rome is also explained in another way—namely, that the
Pope became angered against Michelagnolo, who would not allow any of
his works to be seen; that Michelagnolo suspected his own men, doubting
(as happened more than once) that the Pope disguised himself and saw what
he was doing on certain occasions when he himself was not at home or at
work; and that on one occasion, when the Pope had bribed his assistants to
admit him to see the chapel of his uncle Sixtus, which, as was related a little
time back, he caused Buonarroti to paint, Michelagnolo, having waited in
hiding because he suspected the treachery of his assistants, threw planks
down at the Pope when he entered the chapel, not considering who it might
be, and drove him forth in a fury. It is enough for us to know that in the one
way or the other he fell out with the Pope and then became afraid, so that he
had to fly from his presence.
Now, having arrived in Bologna, he had scarcely drawn off his riding-boots
when he was conducted by the Pope's servants to his Holiness, who was in
the Palazzo de' Sedici; and he was accompanied by a Bishop sent by
Cardinal Soderini, because the Cardinal, being ill, was not able to go
himself. Having come into the presence of the Pope, Michelagnolo knelt
down, but his Holiness looked askance at him, as if in anger, and said to
him, "Instead of coming yourself to meet us, you have waited for us to
come to meet you!" meaning to infer that Bologna is nearer to Florence
than Rome. Michelagnolo, with a courtly gesture of the hands, but in a firm
voice, humbly begged for pardon, saying in excuse that he had acted as he
had done in anger, not being able to endure to be driven away so abruptly,
but that, if he had erred, his Holiness should once more forgive him. The
Bishop who had presented Michelagnolo to his Holiness, making excuse for
him, said to the Pope that such men were ignorant creatures, that they were
worth nothing save in their own art, and that he should freely pardon him.
The Pope, seized with anger, belaboured the Bishop with a staff that he had
in his hand, saying to him, "It is you that are ignorant, who level insults at
him that we ourselves do not think of uttering;" and then the Bishop was
driven out by the groom with fisticuffs. When he had gone, the Pope,
having discharged his anger upon him, gave Michelagnolo his benediction;
and the master was detained in Bologna with gifts and promises, until

finally his Holiness commanded him that he should make a statue of bronze
in the likeness of Pope Julius, five braccia in height. In this work he showed
most beautiful art in the attitude, which had an effect of much majesty and
grandeur, and displayed richness and magnificence in the draperies, and in
the countenance, spirit, force, resolution, and stern dignity; and it was
placed in a niche over the door of S. Petronio. It is said that while
Michelagnolo was working at it, he received a visit from Francia, a most
excellent goldsmith and painter, who wished to see it, having heard so much
praise and fame of him and of his works, and not having seen any of them,
so that agents had been set to work to enable him to see it, and he had
obtained permission. Whereupon, seeing the artistry of Michelagnolo, he
was amazed: and then, being asked by Michelagnolo what he thought of
that figure, Francia answered that it was a most beautiful casting and a fine
material. Wherefore Michelagnolo, considering that he had praised the
bronze rather than the workmanship, said to him, "I owe the same
obligation to Pope Julius, who has given it to me, that you owe to the
apothecaries who give you your colours for painting;" and in his anger, in
the presence of all the gentlemen there, he declared that Francia was a fool.
In the same connection, when a son of Francia's came before him and was
announced as a very beautiful youth, Michelagnolo said to him, "Your
father's living figures are finer than those that he paints." Among the same
gentlemen was one, whose name I know not, who asked Michelagnolo
which he thought was the larger, the statue of the Pope or a pair of oxen;
and he answered, "That depends on the oxen. If they are these Bolognese
oxen, then without a doubt our Florentine oxen are not so big."
Michelagnolo had the statue finished in clay before the Pope departed from
Bologna for Rome, and his Holiness, having gone to see it, but not knowing
what was to be placed in the left hand, and seeing the right hand raised in a
proud gesture, asked whether it was pronouncing a benediction or a curse.
Michelagnolo answered that it was admonishing the people of Bologna to
mind their behaviour, and asked his Holiness to decide whether he should
place a book in the left hand; and he said, "Put a sword there, for I know
nothing of letters." The Pope left a thousand crowns in the bank of M.
Anton Maria da Lignano for the completion of the statue, and at the end of
the sixteen months that Michelagnolo toiled over the work it was placed on
the frontispiece in the façade of the Church of S. Petronio, as has been

related; and we have also spoken of its size. This statue was destroyed by
the Bentivogli, and the bronze was sold to Duke Alfonso of Ferrara, who
made with it a piece of artillery called La Giulia; saving only the head,
which is to be found in his guardaroba.

GOD DIVIDING THE WATERS FROM THE EARTH
(After the fresco by Michelagnolo. Rome: The Vatican, Sistine Chapel)
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When the Pope had returned to Rome and Michelagnolo was at work on the
statue, Bramante, the friend and relative of Raffaello da Urbino, and for that
reason little the friend of Michelagnolo, perceiving that the Pope held in
great favour and estimation the works that he executed in sculpture, was
constantly planning with Raffaello in Michelagnolo's absence to remove
from the mind of his Holiness the idea of causing Michelagnolo, after his
return, to devote himself to finishing his tomb; saying that for a man to
prepare himself a tomb during his own lifetime was an evil augury and a
hurrying on of his death. And they persuaded his Holiness that on the return
of Michelagnolo, he should cause him to paint in memory of his uncle
Sixtus the vaulting of the chapel that he had built in the Palace. In this

manner it seemed possible to Bramante and other rivals of Michelagnolo to
draw him away from sculpture, in which they saw him to be perfect, and to
plunge him into despair, they thinking that if they compelled him to paint,
he would do work less worthy of praise, since he had no experience of
colours in fresco, and that he would prove inferior to Raffaello, and, even if
he did succeed in the work, in any case it would make him angry against the
Pope; so that in either event they would achieve their object of getting rid of
him. And so, when Michelagnolo returned to Rome, the Pope was not
disposed at that time to finish his tomb, and requested him to paint the
vaulting of the chapel. Michelagnolo, who desired to finish the tomb,
believing the vaulting of that chapel to be a great and difficult labour, and
considering his own want of practice in colours, sought by every means to
shake such a burden from his shoulders, and proposed Raffaello for the
work. But the more he refused, the greater grew the desire of the Pope, who
was headstrong in his undertakings, and, in addition, was being spurred on
anew by the rivals of Michelagnolo, and especially by Bramante; so that his
Holiness, who was quick-tempered, was on the point of becoming enraged
with Michelagnolo. Whereupon Michelagnolo, perceiving that his Holiness
was determined in the matter, resolved to do it; and the Pope commanded
Bramante to erect the scaffolding from which the vaulting might be painted.
Bramante made it all supported by ropes, piercing the vaulting; which
having perceived, Michelagnolo inquired of Bramante how he was to
proceed to fill up the holes when he had finished painting it, and he replied
that he would think of that afterwards, and that it could not be done
otherwise. Michelagnolo recognized that Bramante was either not very
competent for such a work or else little his friend, and he went to the Pope
and said to him that the scaffolding was not satisfactory, and that Bramante
had not known how to make it; and the Pope answered, in the presence of
Bramante, that he should make it after his own fashion. And so he
commanded that it should be erected upon props so as not to touch the
walls, a method of making scaffoldings for vaults that he taught afterwards
to Bramante and others, whereby many fine works have been executed.
Thus he enabled a poor creature of a carpenter, who rebuilt the scaffolding,
to dispense with so many of the ropes, that, after selling them (for
Michelagnolo gave them to him), he made up a dowry for his daughter.

THE CREATION OF EVE
(After the fresco by Michelagnolo. Rome: The Vatican, Sistine Chapel)
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He then set his hand to making the cartoons for that vaulting; and the Pope
decided, also, that the walls which the masters before him in the time of
Sixtus had painted should be scraped clean, and decreed that he should have
fifteen thousand ducats for the whole cost of the work; which price was
fixed through Giuliano da San Gallo. Thereupon, forced by the magnitude
of the undertaking to resign himself to obtaining assistance, Michelagnolo
sent for men to Florence; and he determined to demonstrate in such a work
that those who had painted there before him were destined to be vanquished
by his labours, and also resolved to show to the modern craftsmen how to
draw and paint. Having begun the cartoons, he finished them; and the
circumstances of the work spurred him to soar to great heights, both for his
own fame and for the welfare of art. And then, desiring to paint it in fresco-
colours, and not having any experience of them, there came from Florence
to Rome certain of his friends who were painters, to the end that they might
give him assistance in such a work, and also that he might learn from them
the method of working in fresco, in which some of them were well-

practised; and among these were Granaccio, Giuliano Bugiardini, Jacopo di
Sandro, the elder Indaco, Agnolo di Donnino, and Aristotile. Having made a
commencement with the work, he caused them to begin some things as
specimens; but, perceiving that their efforts were very far from what he
desired, and not being satisfied with them, he resolved one morning to
throw to the ground everything that they had done. Then, shutting himself
up in the chapel, he would never open to them, nor even allowed himself to
be seen by them when he was at home. And so, when the jest appeared to
them to be going too far, they resigned themselves to it and returned in
shame to Florence. Thereupon Michelagnolo, having made arrangements to
paint the whole work by himself, carried it well on the way to completion
with the utmost solicitude, labour, and study; nor would he ever let himself
be seen, lest he should give any occasion to compel him to show it, so that
the desire in the minds of everyone to see it grew greater every day.
Pope Julius was always very desirous to see any undertakings that he was
having carried out, and therefore became more eager than ever to see this
one, which was hidden from him. And so one day he resolved to go to see
it, but was not admitted, for Michelagnolo would never have consented to
show it to him; out of which affair arose the quarrel that has been described,
when he had to depart from Rome because he would not show his work to
the Pope. Now, when a third of the work was finished (as I ascertained from
him in order to clear up all doubts), it began to throw out certain spots of
mould, one winter that the north wind was blowing. The reason of this was
that the Roman lime, which is made of travertine and white in colour, does
not dry very readily, and, when mixed with pozzolana, which is of a tawny
colour, makes a dark mixture which, when soft, is very watery; and when
the wall has been well soaked, it often breaks out into an efflorescence in
the drying; and thus this salt efflorescence of moisture came out in many
places, but in time the air consumed it. Michelagnolo was in despair over
this, and was unwilling to continue the work, asking the Pope to excuse
him, since he was not succeeding; but his Holiness sent Giuliano da San
Gallo to see him, and he, having told him whence the defect arose and
taught him how to remove the spots of mould, encouraged him to persevere.
Now, when he had finished half of it, the Pope, who had subsequently gone
to see it several times (mounting certain ladders with the assistance of
Michelagnolo), insisted that it should be thrown open, for he was hasty and

impatient by nature, and could not wait for it to be completely finished and
to receive, as the saying is, the final touch. No sooner was it thrown open
than all Rome was drawn to see it, and the Pope was the first, not having
the patience to wait until the dust caused by the dismantling of the
scaffolding had settled. Thereupon Raffaello da Urbino, who was very
excellent in imitation, after seeing it straightway changed his manner, and
without losing any time, in order to display his ability, painted the Prophets
and Sibyls in the work of the Pace; and at the same time Bramante sought to
have the other half of the chapel entrusted by the Pope to Raffaello. Which
hearing, Michelagnolo complained of Bramante, and revealed to the Pope
without any reserve many faults both in his life and in his architectural
works; of which last, in the building of S. Pietro, as was seen afterwards,
Michelagnolo became the corrector. But the Pope, recognizing more clearly
every day the ability of Michelagnolo, desired that he should continue the
work, judging, after he had seen it uncovered, that he could make the
second half considerably better; and so in twenty months he carried that
work to perfect completion by himself alone, without the assistance even of
anyone to grind his colours. Michelagnolo complained at times that on
account of the haste that the Pope imposed on him he was not able to finish
it in his own fashion, as he would have liked; for his Holiness was always
asking him importunately when he would finish it. On one occasion, among
others, he replied, "It will be finished when I shall have satisfied myself in
the matter of art." "But it is our pleasure," answered the Pope, "that you
should satisfy us in our desire to have it done quickly;" and he added,
finally, that if Michelagnolo did not finish the work quickly he would have
him thrown down from the scaffolding. Whereupon Michelagnolo, who
feared and had good reason to fear the anger of the Pope, straightway
finished all that was wanting, without losing any time, and, after taking
down the rest of the scaffolding, threw it open to view on the morning of
All Saints' Day, when the Pope went into the chapel to sing Mass, to the
great satisfaction of the whole city. Michelagnolo desired to retouch some
parts "a secco," as the old masters had done on the scenes below, painting
backgrounds, draperies, and skies in ultramarine, and ornaments in gold in
certain places, to the end that this might produce greater richness and a
more striking effect; and the Pope, having learned that this ornamentation
was wanting, and hearing the work praised so much by all who had seen it,
wished him to finish it; but, since it would have been too long a labour for

Michelagnolo to rebuild the scaffolding, it was left as it was. His Holiness,
often seeing Michelagnolo, would say to him that the chapel should be
enriched with colours and gold, since it looked poor. And Michelagnolo
would answer familiarly, "Holy Father, in those times men did not bedeck
themselves with gold, and those that are painted there were never very rich,
but rather holy men, on which account they despised riches."
For this work Michelagnolo was paid by the Pope three thousand crowns on
several occasions, of which he had to spend twenty-five on colours. The
work was executed with very great discomfort to himself, from his having
to labour with his face upwards, which so impaired his sight that for a time,
which was not less than several months, he was not able to read letters or
look at drawings save with his head backwards. And to this I can bear
witness, having painted five vaulted chambers in the great apartments in the
Palace of Duke Cosimo, when, if I had not made a chair on which I could
rest my head and lie down at my work, I would never have finished it; even
so, it has so ruined my sight and injured my head, that I still feel the effects,
and I am astonished that Michelagnolo endured all that discomfort so well.
But in truth, becoming more and more kindled every day by his fervour in
the work, and encouraged by the proficience and improvement that he
made, he felt no fatigue and cared nothing for discomfort.

THE CREATION OF ADAM
(After the fresco by Michelagnolo. Rome: The Vatican, Sistine Chapel)

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The distribution of this work is contrived with six pendentives on either
side, with one in the centre of the walls at the foot and at the head, and on
these he painted Sibyls and Prophets, six braccia in height; in the centre of
the vault the history of the world from the Creation down to the Deluge and
the Drunkenness of Noah, and in the lunettes all the Genealogy of Christ. In
these compartments he used no rule of perspectives in foreshortening, nor is
there any fixed point of view, but he accommodated the compartments to
the figures rather than the figures to the compartments, being satisfied to
execute those figures, both the nude and the draped, with the perfection of
design, so that another such work has never been and never can be done,
and it is scarcely possible even to imitate his achievement. This work, in
truth, has been and still is the lamp of our art, and has bestowed such
benefits and shed so much light on the art of painting, that it has served to
illuminate a world that had lain in darkness for so many hundreds of years.
And it is certain that no man who is a painter need think any more to see
new inventions, attitudes, and draperies for the clothing of figures, novel
manners of expression, and things painted with greater variety and force,
because he gave to this work all the perfection that can be given to any
work executed in such a field of art. And at the present day everyone is
amazed who is able to perceive in it the excellence of the figures, the
perfection of the foreshortenings, and the extraordinary roundness of the
contours, which have in them slenderness and grace, being drawn with the
beauty of proportion that is seen in beautiful nudes; and these, in order to
display the supreme perfection of art, he made of all ages, different in
expression and in form, in countenance and in outline, some more slender
and some fuller in the members; as may also be seen in the beautiful
attitudes, which are all different, some seated, some moving, and others
upholding certain festoons of oak-leaves and acorns, placed there as the
arms and device of Pope Julius, and signifying that at that time and under
his government was the age of gold; for Italy was not then in the travail and
misery that she has since suffered. Between them, also, they hold some
medallions containing stories in relief in imitation of bronze and gold, taken
from the Book of Kings.

THE FALL AND THE EXPULSION
(After the fresco by Michelagnolo. Rome: The Vatican, Sistine Chapel)
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Besides this, in order to display the perfection of art and also the greatness
of God, he painted in a scene God dividing Light from Darkness, wherein
may be seen His Majesty as He rests self-sustained with the arms
outstretched, and reveals both love and power. In the second scene he
depicted with most beautiful judgment and genius God creating the Sun and
Moon, in which He is supported by many little Angels, in an attitude
sublime and terrible by reason of the foreshortenings in the arms and legs.
In the same scene Michelagnolo depicted Him after the Blessing of the
Earth and the Creation of the Animals, when He is seen on that vaulting as a
figure flying in foreshortening; and wherever you go throughout the chapel,
it turns constantly and faces in every direction. So, also, in the next scene,
where He is dividing the Water from the Earth; and both these are very
beautiful figures and refinements of genius such as could be produced only
by the divine hands of Michelagnolo. He then went on, beyond that scene,
to the Creation of Adam, wherein he figured God as borne by a group of
nude Angels of tender age, which appear to be supporting not one figure
only, but the whole weight of the world; this effect being produced by the
venerable majesty of His form and by the manner of the movement with
which He embraces some of the little Angels with one arm, as if to support
Himself, and with the other extends the right hand towards Adam, a figure
of such a kind in its beauty, in the attitude, and in the outlines, that it
appears as if newly fashioned by the first and supreme Creator rather than

by the brush and design of a mortal man. Beyond this, in another scene, he
made God taking our mother Eve from Adam's side, in which may be seen
those two nude figures, one as it were dead from his being the thrall of
sleep, and the other become alive and filled with animation by the blessing
of God. Very clearly do we see from the brush of this most gifted craftsman
the difference that there is between sleep and wakefulness, and how firm
and stable, speaking humanly, the Divine Majesty may appear.
Next to this there follows the scene when Adam, at the persuasion of a
figure half woman and half serpent, brings death upon himself and upon us
by the Forbidden Fruit; and there, also, are seen Adam and Eve driven from
Paradise. In the figure of the Angel is shown with nobility and grandeur the
execution of the mandate of a wrathful Lord, and in the attitude of Adam
the sorrow for his sin together with the fear of death, as likewise in the
woman may be seen shame, abasement, and the desire to implore pardon, as
she presses the arms to the breast, clasps the hands palm to palm, and sinks
the neck into the bosom, and also turns the head towards the Angel, having
more fear of the justice of God than hope in His mercy. Nor is there less
beauty in the story of the sacrifice of Cain and Abel; wherein are some who
are bringing up the wood, some who are bent down and blowing at the fire,
and others who are cutting the throat of the victim; which certainly is all
executed with not less consideration and attention than the others. He
showed the same art and the same judgment in the story of the Deluge,
wherein are seen various deaths of men, who, terrified by the horror of
those days, are striving their utmost in different ways to save their lives. For
in the faces of those figures may be seen life a prey to death, not less than
fear, terror, and disregard of everything; and compassion is visible in many
that are assisting one another to climb to the summit of a rock in search of
safety, among them one who, having embraced one half dead, is striving his
utmost to save him, than which Nature herself could show nothing better.
Nor can I tell how well expressed is the story of Noah, who, drunk with
wine, is sleeping naked, and has before him one son who is laughing at him
and two who are covering him up—a scene incomparable in the beauty of
the artistry, and not to be surpassed save by himself alone.

THE LYBIAN SIBYL
(After the fresco by Michelagnolo. Rome: The Vatican, Sistine Chapel)
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Then, as if his genius had taken courage from what it had achieved up to
that time, it soared upwards and proved itself even greater in the five Sibyls
and seven Prophets that are painted there, each five braccia or more in
height. In all these are well-varied attitudes, beautiful draperies, and
different vestments; and all, in a word, are wrought with marvellous
invention and judgment, and to him who can distinguish their expressions
they appear divine. Jeremiah is seen with the legs crossed, holding one hand
to the beard, and resting that elbow on the knee; the other hand rests in his
lap, and he has the head bowed in a manner that clearly demonstrates the
melancholy, cogitation, anxious thought and bitterness of soul that his
people cause him. Equally fine, also, are two little children that are behind
him, and likewise the first Sibyl, beyond him in the direction of the door, in

which figure, wishing to depict old age, in addition to enveloping her in
draperies, he sought to show that her blood is already frozen by time;
besides which, since her sight has become feeble, he has made her as she
reads bring the book very close to her eyes. Beyond this figure follows the
Prophet Ezekiel, an old man, who has a grace and a movement that are most
beautiful, and is much enveloped in draperies, while with one hand he holds
a roll of prophecies, and with the other uplifted, turning his head, he
appears to be about to utter great and lofty words; and behind him he has
two boys who hold his books. Next to him follows a Sibyl, who is doing the
contrary to the Erythræan Sibyl that we described above, for, holding her
book away from her, she seeks to turn a page, while with one knee over the
other she sits sunk within herself, pondering gravely over what she is to
write; and then a boy who is behind her, blowing on a burning brand, lights
her lamp. This figure is of extraordinary beauty in the expression of the
face, in the head-dress, and in the arrangement of the draperies; besides
which she has the arms nude, which are equal to the other parts. Beyond
this Sibyl he painted the Prophet Joel, who, sunk within himself, has taken a
scroll and reads it with great attention and appreciation: and from his aspect
it is so clearly evident that he is satisfied with that which he finds written
there, that he looks like a living person who has applied his thoughts
intently to some matter. Over the door of the chapel, likewise, he placed the
aged Zaccharias, who, seeking through his written book for something that
he cannot find, stands with one leg on high and the other low; and, while
the ardour of the search after something that he cannot find causes him to
stand thus, he takes no notice of the discomfort that he suffers in such a
posture. This figure is very beautiful in its aspect of old age, and somewhat
full in form, and has draperies with few folds, which are most beautiful. In
addition, there is another Sibyl, who is next in the direction of the altar on
the other side, displaying certain writings, and, with her boys in attendance,
is no less worthy of praise than are the others. Beyond her is the Prophet
Isaiah, who, wholly absorbed in his own thoughts, has the legs crossed over
one another, and, holding one hand in his book to mark the place where he
was reading, has placed the elbow of the other arm upon the book, with the
cheek pressed against the hand; and, being called by one of the boys that he
has behind him, he turns only the head, without disturbing himself
otherwise. Whoever shall consider his countenance, shall see touches truly
taken from Nature herself, the true mother of art, and a figure which, when

well studied in every part, can teach in liberal measure all the precepts of
the good painter. Beyond this Prophet is an aged Sibyl of great beauty, who,
as she sits, studies from a book in an attitude of extraordinary grace, not to
speak of the beautiful attitudes of the two boys that are about her. Nor may
any man think with all his imaginings to be able to attain to the excellence
of the figure of a youth representing Daniel, who, writing in a great book, is
taking certain things from other writings and copying them with
extraordinary attention; and as a support for the weight of the book
Michelagnolo painted a boy between his legs, who is upholding it while he
writes, all which no brush held by a human hand, however skilful, will ever
be able to equal. And so, also, with the beautiful figure of the Libyan Sibyl,
who, having written a great volume drawn from many books, is in an
attitude of womanly grace, as if about to rise to her feet; and in one and the
same movement she makes as if to rise and to close the book—a thing most
difficult, not to say impossible, for any other but the master of the work.
And what can be said of the four scenes at the corners, on the spandrels of
that vaulting; in one of which David, with all the boyish strength that he can
exert in the conquest of a giant, is cutting off his head, bringing marvel to
the faces of some soldiers who are about the camp. And so, also, do men
marvel at the beautiful attitudes that Michelagnolo depicted in the story of
Judith, at the opposite corner, in which may be seen the trunk of
Holofernes, robbed of life but still quivering, while Judith is placing the
lifeless head in a basket on the head of her old serving-woman, who, being
tall in stature, is stooping to the end that Judith may be able to reach up to
her and adjust the weight well; and the servant, while upholding the burden
with her hands, seeks to conceal it, and, turning her head towards the trunk,
which, although dead, draws up an arm and a leg and makes a noise in the
tent, she shows in her expression fear of the camp and terror of the dead
body—a picture truly full of thought. But more beautiful and more divine
than this or any of the others is the story of the Serpents of Moses, which is
above the left-hand corner of the altar; for the reason that in it is seen the
havoc wrought by death, the rain of serpents, their stings and their bites,
and there may also be perceived the serpent of brass that Moses placed
upon a pole. In this scene are shown vividly the various deaths that those
die who are robbed of all hope by the bite of the serpents, and one sees the
deadly venom causing vast numbers to die in terror and convulsions, to say

nothing of the rigid legs and twisted arms of those who remain in the
attitudes in which they were struck down, unable to move, and the
marvellous heads that are shrieking and thrown backwards in despair. Not
less beautiful than all these are those who, having looked upon the serpent,
and feeling their pains alleviated by the sight of it, are gazing on it with
profound emotion; and among them is a woman who is supported by
another figure in such a manner that the assistance rendered to her by him
who upholds her is no less manifest than her pressing need in such sudden
alarm and hurt. In the next scene, likewise, in which Ahasuerus, reclining in
a bed, is reading his chronicles, are figures of great beauty, and among them
three figures eating at a table, which represent the council that was held for
the deliverance of the Jewish people and the hanging of Haman. The figure
of Haman was executed by Michelagnolo in an extraordinary manner of
foreshortening, for he counterfeited the trunk that supports his person, and
that arm which comes forward, not as painted things but as real and natural,
standing out in relief, and so also that leg which he stretches outwards and
other parts that bend inwards: which figure, among all that are beautiful and
difficult, is certainly the most beautiful and the most difficult.

DECORATIVE FIGURE
(After the fresco by Michelagnolo Buonarroti. Rome: The Vatican,
Sistine Chapel)
Anderson
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It would take too long to describe all the beautiful fantasies in the different
actions in the part where there is all the Genealogy of the Fathers,
beginning with the sons of Noah, to demonstrate the Genealogy of Jesus
Christ, in which figures is a variety of things that it is not possible to
enumerate, such as draperies, expressions of heads, and an infinite number
of novel and extraordinary fancies, all most beautifully considered. Nothing
there but is carried into execution with genius: all the figures there are
masterly and most beautifully foreshortened, and everything that you look
at is divine and beyond praise. And who will not be struck dumb with
admiration at the sight of the sublime force of Jonas, the last figure in the
chapel, wherein by the power of art the vaulting, which in fact springs

forward in accord with the curve of the masonry, yet, being in appearance
pushed back by that figure, which bends inwards, seems as if straight, and,
vanquished by the art of design with its lights and shades, even appears in
truth to recede inwards? Oh, truly happy age of ours, and truly blessed
craftsmen! Well may you be called so, seeing that in our time you have been
able to illumine anew in such a fount of light the darkened sight of your
eyes, and to see all that was difficult made smooth by a master so
marvellous and so unrivalled! Certainly the glory of his labours makes you
known and honoured, in that he has stripped from you that veil which you
had over the eyes of your minds, which were so full of darkness, and has
delivered the truth from the falsehood that overshadowed your intellects.
Thank Heaven, therefore, for this, and strive to imitate Michelagnolo in
everything.
When the work was thrown open, the whole world could be heard running
up to see it, and, indeed, it was such as to make everyone astonished and
dumb. Wherefore the Pope, having been magnified by such a result and
encouraged in his heart to undertake even greater enterprises, rewarded
Michelagnolo liberally with money and rich gifts: and Michelagnolo would
say at times of the extraordinary favours that the Pope conferred upon him,
that they showed that he fully recognized his worth, and that, if by way of
proving his friendliness he sometimes played him strange tricks, he would
heal the wound with signal gifts and favours. As when, Michelagnolo once
demanding from him leave to go to Florence for the festival of S. John, and
asking money for that purpose, the Pope said, "Well, but when will you
have this chapel finished?" "As soon as I can, Holy Father." The Pope, who
had a staff in his hand, struck Michelagnolo, saying, "As soon as I can! As
soon as I can! I will soon make you finish it!" Whereupon Michelagnolo
went back to his house to get ready to go to Florence; but the Pope
straightway sent Cursio, his Chamberlain, to Michelagnolo with five
hundred crowns to pacify him, fearing lest he might commit one of his
caprices, and Cursio made excuse for the Pope, saying that such things were
favours and marks of affection. And Michelagnolo, who knew the Pope's
nature and, after all, loved him, laughed over it all, for he saw that in the
end everything turned to his profit and advantage, and that the Pontiff
would do anything to keep a man such as himself as his friend.

When the chapel was finished, before the Pope was overtaken by death, his
Holiness commanded Cardinal Santiquattro and Cardinal Aginense, his
nephew, in the event of his death, that they should cause his tomb to be
finished, but on a smaller scale than before. To this work Michelagnolo set
himself once again, and so made a beginning gladly with the tomb, hoping
to carry it once and for all to completion without so many impediments; but
he had from it ever afterwards vexations, annoyances, and travails, more
than from any other work that he did in all his life, and it brought upon him
for a long time, in a certain sense, the accusation of being ungrateful to that
Pope, who had so loved and favoured him. Thus, when he had returned to
the tomb, and was working at it continually, and also at times preparing
designs from which he might be able to execute the façades of the chapel,
envious Fortune decreed that that memorial, which had been begun with
such perfection, should be left unfinished. For at that time there took place
the death of Pope Julius, and the work was abandoned on account of the
election of Pope Leo X, who, being no less splendid than Julius in mind and
spirit, had a desire to leave in his native city (of which he was the first
Pope), in memory of himself and of a divine craftsman who was his fellow-
citizen, such marvels as only a mighty Prince like himself could undertake.
Wherefore he gave orders that the façade of S. Lorenzo, a church built by
the Medici family in Florence, should be erected for him, which was the
reason that the work of the tomb of Julius was left unfinished; and he
demanded advice and designs from Michelagnolo, and desired that he
should be the head of that work. Michelagnolo made all the resistance that
he could, pleading that he was pledged in the matter of the tomb to
Santiquattro and Aginense, but the Pope answered him that he was not to
think of that, and that he himself had already seen to it and contrived that
Michelagnolo should be released by them; promising, also, that he should
be able to work in Florence, as he had already begun to do, at the figures for
that tomb. All this was displeasing to the Cardinals, and also to
Michelagnolo, who went off in tears.

THE NEW SACRISTY
(After Michelagnolo. Florence: S. Lorenzo)
Alinari
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Many and various were the discussions that arose on this subject, on the
ground that such a work as that façade should have been distributed among
several persons, and in the matter of the architecture many craftsmen
flocked to Rome to see the Pope, and made designs; Baccio d'Agnolo,
Antonio da San Gallo, Andrea Sansovino and Jacopo Sansovino, and the
gracious Raffaello da Urbino, who was afterwards summoned to Florence
for that purpose at the time of the Pope's visit. Thereupon Michelagnolo
resolved to make a model and not to accept anyone beyond himself as his
guide or superior in the architecture of such a work; but this refusal of
assistance was the reason that neither he nor any other executed the work,
and that those masters returned in despair to their customary pursuits.
Michelagnolo, going to Carrara, had an order authorizing that a thousand
crowns should be paid to him by Jacopo Salviati; but on his arrival Jacopo
was shut up in his room on business with some citizens, and Michelagnolo,
refusing to wait for an audience, departed without saying a word and went
straightway to Carrara. Jacopo heard of Michelagnolo's arrival, and, not
finding him in Florence, sent him a thousand crowns to Carrara. The
messenger demanded that Michelagnolo should write him a receipt, to
which he answered that the money was for the expenses of the Pope and not

for his own interest, and that the messenger might take it back, but that he
was not accustomed to write out quittances or receipts for others;
whereupon the other returned in alarm to Jacopo without a receipt.
While Michelagnolo was at Carrara and was having marble quarried for the
tomb of Julius, thinking at length to finish it, no less than for the façade, a
letter was written to him saying that Pope Leo had heard that in the
mountains of Pietrasanta near Seravezza, in the Florentine dominion, at the
summit of the highest mountain, which is called Monte Altissimo, there
were marbles of the same excellence and beauty as those of Carrara. This
Michelagnolo already knew, but it seems that he would not take advantage
of it because of his friendship with the Marchese Alberigo, Lord of Carrara,
and, in order to do him a good service, chose to quarry those of Carrara
rather than those of Seravezza; or it may have been that he judged it to be a
long undertaking and likely to waste much time, as indeed it did. However,
he was forced to go to Seravezza, although he pleaded in protest that it
would be more difficult and costly, as in truth it was, especially at the
beginning, and, moreover, that the report about the marble was perhaps not
true; but for all that the Pope would not hear a word of objection.
Thereupon it was decided to make a road for several miles through the
mountains, breaking down rocks with hammers and pickaxes to obtain a
level, and sinking piles in the marshy places; and there Michelagnolo spent
many years in executing the wishes of the Pope. Finally five columns of the
proper size were excavated, one of which is on the Piazza di S. Lorenzo in
Florence, and the others are on the sea-shore. And for this reason the
Marchese Alberigo, who saw his business ruined, became the bitter enemy
of Michelagnolo, who was not to blame. Michelagnolo, in addition to these
columns, excavated many other marbles there, which are still in the
quarries, abandoned there for more than thirty years. But at the present day
Duke Cosimo has given orders for the road to be finished, of which there
are still two miles to make over very difficult ground, for the transportation
of these marbles, and also a road from another quarry of excellent marble
that was discovered at that time by Michelagnolo, in order to be able to
finish many beautiful undertakings. In the same district of Seravezza he
discovered a mountain of variegated marble that is very hard and very
beautiful, below Stazema, a village in those mountains; where the same

Duke Cosimo has caused a paved road of more than four miles to be made,
for conveying the marble to the sea.
But to return to Michelagnolo: having gone back to Florence, he lost much
time now in one thing and now in another. And he made at that time for the
Palace of the Medici a model for the knee-shaped windows of those rooms
that are at the corner, where Giovanni da Udine adorned the chamber in
stucco and painting, which is a much extolled work; and he caused to be
made for them by the goldsmith Piloto, but under his own direction, those
jalousies of perforated copper, which are certainly admirable things.
Michelagnolo consumed many years in quarrying marbles, although it is
true that while they were being excavated he made models of wax and other
things for the work. But this undertaking was delayed so long, that the
money assigned by the Pope for the purpose was spent on the war in
Lombardy; and at the death of Leo the work was left unfinished, nothing
being accomplished save the laying of a foundation in front to support it,
and the transportation of a large column of marble from Carrara to the
Piazza di S. Lorenzo.

MADONNA AND CHILD
(After Michelagnolo. Florence: New Sacristy of S. Lorenzo)
Anderson
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The death of Leo completely dismayed the craftsmen and the arts both in
Rome and in Florence; and while Adrian VI was alive Michelagnolo gave
his attention in Florence to the tomb of Julius. But after the death of Adrian
Clement VII was elected, who was no less desirous than Leo and his other
predecessors to leave his fame established by the arts of architecture,
sculpture, and painting. At this time, which was the year 1525, Giorgio
Vasari was taken as a little boy to Florence by the Cardinal of Cortona, and
placed with Michelagnolo to learn art. But Michelagnolo was then
summoned to Rome by Pope Clement VII, who had made a beginning with
the library of S. Lorenzo and also the new sacristy, in which he proposed to
place the marble tombs that he was having made for his forefathers; and he

resolved that Vasari should go to work with Andrea del Sarto until he
should himself be free again, and went in person to Andrea's workshop to
present him.
Michelagnolo departed for Rome in haste, harassed once again by
Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, the nephew of Pope Julius, who
complained of him, saying that he had received sixteen thousand crowns for
the above-named tomb, yet was living a life of pleasure in Florence; and he
threatened in his anger that, if Michelagnolo did not give his attention to the
work, he would make him rue it. Having arrived in Rome, Pope Clement,
who wished to make use of him, advised him to draw up his accounts with
the agents of the Duke, believing that after all that he had done he must be
their creditor rather than their debtor; and so the matter rested. After
discussing many things together, they resolved to finish completely the
library and new sacristy of S. Lorenzo in Florence. Michelagnolo therefore
departed from Rome, and raised the cupola that is now to be seen, causing it
to be wrought in various orders of composition; and he had a ball with
seventy-two faces made by the goldsmith Piloto, which is very beautiful. It
happened, while Michelagnolo was raising the cupola, that he was asked by
some friends, "Should you not make your lantern very different from that of
Filippo Brunelleschi?" And he answered them, "Different it can be made
with ease, but better, no." He made four tombs in that sacristy, to adorn the
walls and to contain the bodies of the fathers of the two Popes, the elder
Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano, and those of Giuliano, the brother of Leo,
and of Duke Lorenzo, his nephew. And since he wished to execute the work
in imitation of the old sacristy that Filippo Brunelleschi had built, but with
another manner of ornamentation, he made in it an ornamentation in a
composite order, in a more varied and more original manner than any other
master at any time, whether ancient or modern, had been able to achieve,
for in the novelty of the beautiful cornices, capitals, bases, doors,
tabernacles, and tombs, he departed not a little from the work regulated by
measure, order, and rule, which other men did according to a common use
and after Vitruvius and the antiquities, to which he would not conform. That
licence has done much to give courage to those who have seen his methods
to set themselves to imitate him, and new fantasies have since been seen
which have more of the grotesque than of reason or rule in their
ornamentation. Wherefore the craftsmen owe him an infinite and

everlasting obligation, he having broken the bonds and chains by reason of
which they had always followed a beaten path in the execution of their
works. And even more did he demonstrate and seek to make known such a
method afterwards in the library of S. Lorenzo, at the same place; in the
beautiful distribution of the windows, in the pattern of the ceiling, and in
the marvellous entrance of the vestibule. Nor was there ever seen a more
resolute grace, both in the whole and in the parts, as in the consoles,
tabernacles, and cornices, nor any staircase more commodious; in which
last he made such bizarre breaks in the outlines of the steps, and departed so
much from the common use of others, that everyone was amazed.

GIULIANO DE' MEDICI
(After Michelagnolo. Florence: New Sacristy of S. Lorenzo)
Anderson
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At this time he sent his disciple Pietro Urbano of Pistoia to Rome to carry to
completion a nude Christ holding the Cross, a most admirable figure, which
was placed beside the principal chapel of the Minerva, at the commission of
Messer Antonio Metelli. About the same time there took place the sack of
Rome and the expulsion of the Medici from Florence; by reason of which
upheaval those who governed the city of Florence resolved to rebuild the
fortifications, and therefore made Michelagnolo Commissary General over
all that work. Whereupon he made designs and caused fortifications to be
built for several parts of the city, and finally encircled the hill of San
Miniato with bastions, which he made not with sods of earth, wood, and
bundles of brushwood, as is generally done, but with a stout base of
chestnut, oak, and other good materials interwoven, and in place of sods he
took unbaked bricks made with tow and the dung of cattle, squared with
very great diligence. And for this reason he was sent by the Signoria of
Florence to Ferrara, to inspect the fortifications of Duke Alfonso I, and so
also his artillery and munitions; where he received many courtesies from
that lord, who besought him that he should do something for him with his
own hand at his leisure, and Michelagnolo promised that he would. After
his return, he was continually engaged in fortifying the city, but, although
he was thus occupied, nevertheless he kept working at a picture of a Leda
for that Duke, painted with his own hand in distemper-colours, which was a
divine thing, as will be related in the proper place; also continuing the
statues for the tombs of S. Lorenzo, but in secret. At this time Michelagnolo
spent some six months on the hill of San Miniato in order to press on the
fortification of that hill, because if the enemy became master of it, the city
was lost; and so he pursued these undertakings with the utmost diligence.

TOMB OF GIULIANO DE' MEDICI
(After Michelagnolo. Florence: New Sacristy of S. Lorenzo)
Anderson
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At this same time he continued the work in the above-mentioned sacristy, in
which were seven statues that were left partly finished and partly not. With
these, and with the architectural inventions of the tombs, it must be
confessed that he surpassed every man in these three professions; to which
testimony is borne by the statues of marble, blocked out and finished by
him, which are to be seen in that place. One is Our Lady, who is in a sitting
attitude, with the right leg crossed over the left and one knee placed upon
the other, and the Child, with the thighs astride the leg that is uppermost,
turns in a most beautiful attitude towards His Mother, hungry for her milk,
and she, while holding Him with one hand and supporting herself with the
other, bends forward to give it to Him; and although the figure is not equal
in every part, and it was left rough and showing the marks of the gradine,

yet with all its imperfections there may be recognized in it the full
perfection of the work. Even more did he cause everyone to marvel by the
circumstance that in making the tombs of Duke Giuliano and Duke Lorenzo
de' Medici he considered that earth alone was not enough to give them
honourable burial in their greatness, and desired that all the phases of the
world should be there, and that their sepulchres should be surrounded and
covered by four statues; wherefore he gave to one Night and Day, and to the
other Dawn and Twilight; which statues, most beautifully wrought in form,
in attitude, and in the masterly treatment of the muscles, would suffice, if
that art were lost, to restore her to her pristine lustre. There, among the
other statues, are the two Captains, armed; one the pensive Duke Lorenzo,
the very presentment of wisdom, with legs so beautiful and so well
wrought, that there is nothing better to be seen by mortal eye; and the other
is Duke Giuliano, so proud a figure, with the head, the throat, the setting of
the eyes, the profile of the nose, the opening of the mouth, and the hair all
so divine, to say nothing of the hands, arms, knees, feet, and, in short, every
other thing that he carved therein, that the eye can never be weary or have
its fill of gazing at them; and, of a truth, whoever studies the beauty of the
buskins and the cuirass, believes it to be celestial rather than mortal. But
what shall I say of the Dawn, a nude woman, who is such as to awaken
melancholy in the soul and to render impotent the style of sculpture? In her
attitude may be seen her effort, as she rises, heavy with sleep, and raises
herself from her downy bed; and it seems that in awakening she has found
the eyes of that great Duke closed in death, so that she is agonized with
bitter grief, weeping in her own unchangeable beauty in token of her great
sorrow. And what can I say of the Night, a statue not rare only, but unique?
Who is there who has ever seen in that art in any age, ancient or modern,
statues of such a kind? For in her may be seen not only the stillness of one
sleeping, but the grief and melancholy of one who has lost a great and
honoured possession; and we must believe that this is that night of darkness
that obscures all those who thought for some time, I will not say to surpass,
but to equal Michelagnolo in sculpture and design. In that statue is infused
all the somnolence that is seen in sleeping forms; wherefore many verses in
Latin and rhymes in the vulgar tongue were written in her praise by persons
of great learning, such as these, of which the author is not known—

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.
To which Michelagnolo, speaking in the person of Night, answered thus—
Grato mi è il sonno, e più l'esser di sasso;
Mentre che il danno e la vergogna dura,
Non veder' non sentir' m'è gran ventura.
Però non mi destar'; deh parla basso.
Truly, if the enmity that there is between Fortune and Genius, between the
envy of the one and the excellence of the other, had not prevented such a
work from being carried to completion, Art was like to prove to Nature that
she surpassed her by a great measure in every conception.
While Michelagnolo was labouring with the greatest solicitude and love at
these works, there came in 1529 the siege of Florence, which hindered their
completion only too effectually, and was the reason that he did little or no
more work upon them, the citizens having laid upon him the charge of
fortifying not only the hill of S. Miniato, but also the city, as we have
related. And thus, having lent a thousand crowns to that Republic, and being
elected one of the Nine, a military Council appointed for the war, he turned
all his mind and soul to perfecting those fortifications. But in the end, when
the enemy had closed round the city, and all hope of assistance was failing
little by little, and the difficulties of maintaining the defence were
increasing, and it appeared to Michelagnolo that he was in a sorry pass with
regard to his personal safety, he determined to leave Florence and make his
way to Venice, without making himself known to anyone on the road. He
set out secretly, therefore, by way of the hill of S. Miniato, without anyone
knowing of it, taking with him Antonio Mini, his disciple, and the
goldsmith Piloto, his faithful friend; and each of them carried a number of
crowns on his person, sewn into his quilted doublet. Having arrived in
Ferrara, they rested there; and it happened that on account of the alarm
caused by the war and the league of the Emperor and the Pope, who were
besieging Florence, Duke Alfonso d'Este was keeping strict watch in
Ferrara, and required to be secretly informed by the hosts who gave lodging

to travellers of the names of all those who lodged with them from one day
to another; and he caused a list of all foreigners, with their nationality, to be
brought to him every day. It came to pass, then, that when Michelagnolo
had dismounted with his companions, intending to stay there without
revealing himself, this became known in that way to the Duke, who was
very glad, because he had already become his friend. That Prince was a man
of lofty mind, delighting constantly in persons of ability all his life long,
and he straightway sent some of the first men of his Court with orders to
conduct him in the name of his Excellency to the Palace, where the Duke
was, to remove thither his horses and all his baggage, and to give him a
handsome lodging in that Palace. Michelagnolo, finding himself in the
power of another, was constrained to obey and to make the best of a bad
business, and he went with those courtiers to the Duke, but without
removing his baggage from the inn. Thereupon the Duke, after first
complaining of his reserve, gave him a great reception; and then, making
him rich and honourable presents, he sought to detain him in Ferrara with
the promise of a fine salary. He, having his mind set on something else,
would not consent to remain; but the Duke again made him a free offer of
all that was in his power, praying him that he should at least not depart as
long as the war continued. Whereupon Michelagnolo, not wishing to be
outdone in courtesy, thanked him warmly, and, turning towards his two
companions, said that he had brought twelve thousand crowns to Ferrara,
and that, if the Duke had need of them, they were at his disposal, together
with himself. The Duke then took him through the Palace to divert him, as
he had done on another occasion, and showed him all the beautiful things
that he had there, including a portrait of himself by Tiziano, which was
much commended by Michelagnolo. However, his Excellency was not able
to keep him in the Palace, for he insisted on returning to the inn; wherefore
the host who was lodging him received from the Duke a great abundance of
things wherewith to do him honour, and also orders that at his departure he
should not accept anything for his lodging. From Ferrara he made his way
to Venice, where many gentlemen sought to become known to him; but he,
who always had a very poor opinion of their knowledge of his profession,
departed from the Giudecca, where he had his lodging. There, so it is said,
he made for that city at that time, at the request of the Doge Gritti, a design
for the bridge of the Rialto, which was very rare in invention and in
ornamentation.

Michelagnolo was invited with great insistence to go back to his native
country, being urgently requested not to abandon his undertaking there, and
receiving a safe-conduct; and finally, vanquished by love of her, he
returned, but not without danger to his life. At this time he finished the Leda
that he was painting, as has been related, at the request of Duke Alfonso;
and it was afterwards taken to France by Antonio Mini, his disciple. And at
this same time he saved the campanile of S. Miniato, a tower which sorely
harassed the enemy's forces with its two pieces of artillery, so that their
artillerists, having set to work to batter it with heavy cannon, had half
ruined it, and were like to destroy it completely, when Michelagnolo
protected it so well with bales of wool and stout mattresses suspended by
cords, that it is still standing. It is said, also, that at the time of the siege
there came to him an opportunity to acquire, according to a desire that he
had long had, a block of marble of nine braccia which had come from
Carrara, and which Pope Clement, after much rivalry and contention
between him and Baccio Bandinelli, had given to Baccio. But
Michelagnolo, now that such a matter was in the hands of the
Commonwealth, asked for it from the Gonfalonier, who gave it to him that
he might likewise try his hand upon it, although Baccio had already made a
model and hacked away much of the stone in blocking it out. Thereupon
Michelagnolo made a model, which was held to be a marvellous and very
beautiful thing; but on the return of the Medici the marble was restored to
Baccio.
When peace had been made, Baccio Valori, the Pope's Commissioner,
received orders to have some of the most partisan citizens arrested and
imprisoned in the Bargello, and the same tribunal sought out Michelagnolo
at his house; but he, fearing that, had fled secretly to the house of one who
was much his friend, where he remained hidden many days. Finally, when
the first fury had abated, Pope Clement, remembering the ability of
Michelagnolo, caused a diligent search to be made for him, with orders that
nothing should be said to him, but rather that his former appointments
should be restored to him, and that he should attend to the work of S.
Lorenzo, over which he placed as proveditor M. Giovan Battista
Figiovanni, the old servant of the Medici family and Prior of S. Lorenzo.
Thus reassured, Michelagnolo, in order to make Baccio Valori his friend,
began a figure of three braccia in marble, which was an Apollo drawing an

arrow from his quiver, and carried it almost to completion. It is now in the
apartment of the Prince of Florence, and is a very rare work, although it is
not completely finished.
At this time a certain gentleman was sent to Michelagnolo by Duke Alfonso
of Ferrara, who, having heard that the master had made some rare work for
him with his own hand, did not wish to lose such a jewel. Having arrived in
Florence and found Michelagnolo, the envoy presented to him letters of
recommendation from that lord; whereupon Michelagnolo, receiving him
courteously, showed him the Leda embracing the Swan that he had painted,
with Castor and Pollux issuing from the Egg, in a large picture executed in
distemper, as it were with the breath. The Duke's envoy, thinking from the
praise that he heard everywhere of Michelagnolo that he should have done
something great, and not recognizing the excellence and artistry of that
figure, said to Michelagnolo: "Oh, this is but a trifle." Michelagnolo,
knowing that no one is better able to pronounce judgment on works than
those who have had long practise in them, asked him what was his vocation.
And he answered, with a sneer, "I am a merchant"; believing that he had not
been recognized by Michelagnolo as a gentleman, and as it were making
fun of such a question, and at the same time affecting to despise the
industry of the Florentines. Michelagnolo, who had understood perfectly the
meaning of his words, at once replied: "You will find you have made a bad
bargain this time for your master. Get you gone out of my sight."

APOLLO
(After Michelagnolo. Florence: Museo Nazionale)
Alinari
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Now in those days Antonio Mini, his disciple, who had two sisters waiting
to be married, asked him for the Leda, and he gave it to him willingly, with
the greater part of the designs and cartoons that he had made, which were
divine things, and also two chests full of models, with a great number of
finished cartoons for making pictures, and some of works that had been
painted. When Antonio took it into his head to go to France, he carried all
these with him; the Leda he sold to King Francis by means of some

merchants, and it is now at Fontainebleau, but the cartoons and designs
were lost, for he died there in a short time, and some were stolen; and so
our country was deprived of all these valuable labours, which was an
incalculable loss. The cartoon of the Leda has since come back to Florence,
and Bernardo Vecchietti has it; and so also four pieces of the cartoons for
the chapel, with nudes and Prophets, brought back by the sculptor
Benvenuto Cellini, and now in the possession of the heirs of Girolamo degli
Albizzi.
It became necessary for Michelagnolo to go to Rome to see Pope Clement,
who, although angry with him, yet, as the friend of every talent, forgave
him everything, and gave him orders that he should return to Florence and
have the library and sacristy of S. Lorenzo completely finished; and, in
order to shorten that work, a vast number of statues that were to be included
in it were distributed among other masters. Two he allotted to Tribolo, one
to Raffaello da Montelupo, and one to Fra Giovanni Agnolo, the Servite
friar, all sculptors; and he gave them assistance in these, making rough
models in clay for each of them. Whereupon they all worked valiantly, and
he, also, caused work to be pursued on the library, and thus the ceiling was
finished in carved woodwork, which was executed after his models by the
hands of the Florentines Carota and Tasso, excellent carvers and also
masters of carpentry; and likewise the shelves for the books, which were
executed at that time by Battista del Cinque and his friend Ciappino, good
masters in that profession. And in order to give the work its final perfection
there was summoned to Florence the divine Giovanni da Udine, who,
together with others his assistants and also some Florentine masters,
decorated the tribune with stucco; and they all sought with great solicitude
to give completion to that vast undertaking.
Now, just as Michelagnolo was about to have the statues carried into
execution, at that very time the Pope took it into his head to have him near
his person, being desirous to have the walls of the Chapel of Sixtus painted,
where Michelagnolo had painted the vaulting for Julius II, his nephew. On
the principal wall, where the altar is, Clement wished him to paint the
Universal Judgment, to the end that he might display in that scene all that
the art of design could achieve, and opposite to it, on the other wall, over
the principal door, he had commanded that he should depict the scene when
Lucifer was expelled for his pride from Heaven, and all those Angels who

sinned with him were hurled after him into the centre of Hell: of which
inventions it was found that Michelagnolo many years before had made
various sketches and designs, one of which was afterwards carried into
execution in the Church of the Trinità at Rome by a Sicilian painter, who
stayed many months with Michelagnolo, to serve him and to grind his
colours. This work, painted in fresco, is in the Chapel of S. Gregorio, in the
cross of the church, and, although it is executed badly, there is a certain
variety and terrible force in the attitudes and groups of those nudes that are
raining down from Heaven, and of the others who, having fallen into the
centre of the earth, are changed into various forms of Devils, very horrible
and bizarre; and it is certainly an extraordinary fantasy. While
Michelagnolo was directing the preparation of the designs and cartoons of
the Last Judgment on the first wall, he never ceased for a single day to be at
strife with the agents of the Duke of Urbino, by whom he was accused of
having received sixteen thousand crowns from Julius II for the tomb. This
accusation was more than he could bear, and he desired to finish the work
some day, although he was already an old man, and he would have willingly
stayed in Rome to finish it, now that he had found, without seeking it, such
a pretext for not returning any more to Florence, since he had a great fear of
Duke Alessandro de' Medici, whom he regarded as little his friend; for,
when the Duke had given him to understand through Signor Alessandro
Vitelli that he should select the best site for the building of the castle and
citadel of Florence, he answered that he would not go save at the command
of Pope Clement.
Finally an agreement was formed in the matter of the tomb, that it should be
finished in the following manner: there was no longer to be an isolated
tomb in a rectangular shape, but only one of the original façades, in the
manner that best pleased Michelagnolo, and he was to be obliged to place in
it six statues by his own hand. In this contract that was made with the Duke
of Urbino, his Excellency consented that Michelagnolo should be at the
disposal of Pope Clement for four months in the year, either in Florence or
wherever he might think fit to employ him. But, although it seemed to
Michelagnolo that at last he had obtained some peace, he was not to be quit
of it so easily, for Pope Clement, desiring to see the final proof of the force
of his art, kept him occupied with the cartoon of the Judgment. However,
contriving to convince the Pope that he was thus engaged, at the same time

he kept working in secret, never relaxing his efforts, at the statues that were
going into the above-named tomb.

In the year 1533[1] came the death of Pope Clement, whereupon the work of
the library and sacristy in Florence, which had remained unfinished in spite
of all the efforts made to finish it, was stopped. Then, at length,
Michelagnolo thought to be truly free and able to give his attention to
finishing the tomb of Julius II. But Paul III, not long after his election, had
him summoned to his presence, and, besides paying him compliments and
making him offers, requested him to enter his service and remain near his
person. Michelagnolo refused, saying that he was not able to do it, being
bound by contract to the Duke of Urbino until the tomb of Julius should be
finished. The Pope flew into a rage and said: "I have had this desire for
thirty years, and now that I am Pope do you think I shall not satisfy it? I
shall tear up the contract, for I am determined to have you serve me, come
what may." Michelagnolo, hearing this resolution, was tempted to leave
Rome and in some way find means to give completion to the tomb;
however, fearing, like a wise man, the power of the Pope, he resolved to try
to keep him pacified with words, seeing that he was so old, until something
should happen. The Pope, who wished to have some extraordinary work
executed by Michelagnolo, went one day with ten Cardinals to visit him at
his house, where he demanded to see all the statues for the tomb of Julius,
which appeared to him marvellous, and particularly the Moses, which
figure alone was said by the Cardinal of Mantua to be enough to do honour
to Pope Julius. And after seeing the designs and cartoons that he was
preparing for the wall of the chapel, which appeared to the Pope to be
stupendous, he again besought Michelagnolo with great insistence that he
should enter his service, promising that he would persuade the Duke of
Urbino to content himself with three statues, and that the others should be
given to other excellent masters to execute after his models. Whereupon, his
Holiness having arranged this with the agents of the Duke, a new contract
was made, which was confirmed by the Duke; and Michelagnolo of his own
free will bound himself to pay for the other three statues and to have the
tomb erected, depositing for this purpose in the bank of the Strozzi one
thousand five hundred and eighty ducats. This he might have avoided, and it
seemed to him that he had truly done enough to be free of such a long and
troublesome undertaking; and afterwards he caused the tomb to be erected

in S. Pietro in Vincola in the following manner. He erected the lower base,
which was all carved, with four pedestals which projected outwards as
much as was necessary to give space for the captive that was originally
intended to stand on each of them, instead of which there was left a terminal
figure; and since the lower part had thus a poor effect, he placed at the feet
of each terminal figure a reversed console resting on the pedestal. Those
four terminal figures had between them three niches, two of which (those at
the sides) were round, and were to have contained the Victories. Instead of
the Victories, he placed in one Leah, the daughter of Laban, to represent the
Active Life, with a mirror in her hand to signify the consideration that we
should give to our actions, and in the other hand a garland of flowers, to
denote the virtues that adorn our life during its duration, and make it
glorious after death; and the other figure was her sister Rachel, representing
the Contemplative Life, with the hands clasped and one knee bent, and on
the countenance a look as of ecstasy of spirit. These statues Michelagnolo
executed with his own hand in less than a year. In the centre is the other
niche, rectangular in shape, which in the original design was to have been
one of the doors that were to lead into the little oval temple of the
rectangular tomb; this having become a niche, there is placed in it, upon a
dado of marble, the gigantic and most beautiful statue of Moses, of which
we have already said enough. Above the heads of the terminal figures,
which form capitals, are architrave, frieze, and cornice, which project
beyond those figures and are carved with rich ornaments, foliage, ovoli,
dentils, and other rich members, distributed over the whole work. Over that
cornice rises another course, smooth and without carvings, but with
different terminal figures standing directly above those below, after the
manner of pilasters, with a variety of cornice-members; and since this
course accompanies that below and resembles it in every part, there is in it a
space similar to the other, forming a niche like that in which there is now
the Moses, and in the niche, resting on projections of the cornice, is a
sarcophagus of marble with the recumbent statue of Pope Julius, executed
by the sculptor Maso dal Bosco, while in that niche, also, there stands a
Madonna who is holding her Son in her arms, wrought by the sculptor
Scherano da Settignano from a model by Michelagnolo; which statues are
passing good. In two other rectangular niches, above the Active and the
Contemplative Life, are two larger statues, a Prophet and a Sibyl seated,
which were both executed by Raffaello da Montelupo, as has been related

in the Life of his father Baccio, but little to the satisfaction of
Michelagnolo. For its crowning completion this work had a different
cornice, which, like those below, projected over the whole work; and above
the terminal figures, as a finish, were candelabra of marble, with the arms
of Pope Julius in the centre. Above the Prophet and the Sibyl, in the recess
of each niche, he made a window for the convenience of the friars who
officiate in that church, the choir having been made behind; which windows
serve to send their voices into the church when they say the divine office,
and permit the celebration to be seen. Truly this whole work has turned out
very well, but not by a great measure as it had been planned in the original
design.

THE LAST JUDGMENT
(After the fresco by Michelagnolo. Rome: The Vatican, Sistine Chapel)

Anderson
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Michelagnolo resolved, since he could not do otherwise, to serve Pope Paul,
who allowed him to continue the work as ordered by Clement, without
changing anything in the inventions and the general conception that had
been laid before him, thus showing respect for the genius of that great man,
for whom he felt such reverence and love that he sought to do nothing but
what pleased him; of which a proof was soon seen. His Holiness desired to
place his own arms beneath the Jonas in the chapel, where those of Pope
Julius II had previously been put; but Michelagnolo, being asked to do this,
and not wishing to do a wrong to Julius and Clement, would not place them
there, saying that they would not look well; and the Pope, in order not to
displease him, was content to have it so, having recognized very well the
excellence of such a man, and how he always followed what was just and
honourable without any adulation or respect of persons—a thing that the
great are wont to experience very seldom. Michelagnolo, then, caused a
projection of well baked and chosen bricks to be carefully built on the wall
of the above-named chapel (a thing which was not there before), and
contrived that it should overhang half a braccio from above, so that neither
dust nor any other dirt might be able to settle upon it. But I will not go into
the particulars of the invention and composition of this scene, because so
many copies of it, both large and small, have been printed, that it does not
seem necessary to lose time in describing it. It is enough for us to perceive
that the intention of this extraordinary man has been to refuse to paint
anything but the human body in its best proportioned and most perfect
forms and in the greatest variety of attitudes, and not this only, but likewise
the play of the passions and contentments of the soul, being satisfied with
justifying himself in that field in which he was superior to all his fellow-
craftsmen, and to lay open the way of the grand manner in the painting of
nudes, and his great knowledge in the difficulties of design; and, finally, he
opened out the way to facility in this art in its principal province, which is
the human body, and, attending to this single object, he left on one side the
charms of colouring and the caprices and new fantasies of certain minute
and delicate refinements which many other painters, perhaps not without
some show of reason, have not entirely neglected. For some, not so well
grounded in design, have sought with variety of tints and shades of

colouring, with various new and bizarre inventions, and, in short, with the
other method, to win themselves a place among the first masters; but
Michelagnolo, standing always firmly rooted in his profound knowledge of
art, has shown to those who know enough how they should attain to
perfection.
But to return to the story: Michelagnolo had already carried to completion
more than three-fourths of the work, when Pope Paul went to see it. And
Messer Biagio da Cesena, the master of ceremonies, a person of great
propriety, who was in the chapel with the Pope, being asked what he
thought of it, said that it was a very disgraceful thing to have made in so
honourable a place all those nude figures showing their nakedness so
shamelessly, and that it was a work not for the chapel of a Pope, but for a
bagnio or tavern. Michelagnolo was displeased at this, and, wishing to
revenge himself, as soon as Biagio had departed he portrayed him from life,
without having him before his eyes at all, in the figure of Minos with a
great serpent twisted round the legs, among a heap of Devils in Hell; nor
was Messer Biagio's pleading with the Pope and with Michelagnolo to have
it removed of any avail, for it was left there in memory of the occasion, and
it is still to be seen at the present day.
It happened at this time that Michelagnolo fell no small distance from the
staging of this work, and hurt his leg; and in his pain and anger he would
not be treated by anyone. Now there was living at this same time the
Florentine Maestro Baccio Rontini, his friend, an ingenious physician, who
had a great affection for his genius; and he, taking compassion on him, went
one day to knock at his door. Receiving no answer either from the
neighbours or from him, he so contrived to climb by certain secret ways
from one room to another, that he came to Michelagnolo, who was in a
desperate state. And then Maestro Biagio would never abandon him or take
himself off until he was cured.
Having recovered from this injury, he returned to his labour, and, working
at it continually, he carried it to perfect completion in a few months, giving
such force to the paintings in the work, that he justified the words of Dante
—
Morti li morti, i vivi parean vivi.

And here, also, may be seen the misery of the damned and the joy of the
blessed. Wherefore, when this Judgment was thrown open to view, it proved
that he had not only vanquished all the earlier masters who had worked
there, but had sought to surpass the vaulting that he himself had made so
famous, excelling it by a great measure and outstripping his own self. For
he imagined to himself the terror of those days, and depicted, for the greater
pain of all who have not lived well, the whole Passion of Christ, causing
various naked figures in the air to carry the Cross, the Column, the Lance,
the Sponge, the Nails, and the Crown of Thorns, all in different attitudes,
executed to perfection in a triumph of facility over their difficulties. In that
scene is Christ seated, with a countenance proud and terrible, turning
towards the damned and cursing them; not without great fear in Our Lady,
who, hearing and beholding that vast havoc, draws her mantle close around
her. There are innumerable figures, Prophets and Apostles, that form a circle
about Him, and in particular Adam and S. Peter, who are believed to have
been placed there, one as the first parent of those thus brought to judgment,
and the other as having been the first foundation of the Christian Church;
and at His feet is a most beautiful S. Bartholomew, who is displaying his
flayed skin. There is likewise a nude figure of S. Laurence; besides which,
there are multitudes of Saints without number, both male and female, and
other figures, men and women, around Him, near or distant, who embrace
one another and make rejoicing, having received eternal blessedness by the
grace of God and as the reward of their works. Beneath the feet of Christ
are the Seven Angels with the Seven Trumpets described by S. John the
Evangelist, who, as they sound the call to judgment, cause the hair of all
who behold them to stand on end at the terrible wrath that their
countenances reveal. Among others are two Angels that have each the Book
of Life in the hands: and near them, on one side, not without beautiful
consideration, are seen the Seven Mortal Sins in the forms of Devils,
assailing and striving to drag down to Hell the souls that are flying towards
Heaven, all with very beautiful attitudes and most admirable
foreshortenings. Nor did he hesitate to show to the world, in the
resurrection of the dead, how they take to themselves flesh and bones once
more from the same earth, and how, assisted by others already alive, they
go soaring towards Heaven, whence succour is brought to them by certain
souls already blessed; not without evidence of all those marks of
consideration that could be thought to be required in so great a work. For

studies and labours of every kind were executed by him, which may be
recognized throughout the whole work without exception; and this is
manifested with particular clearness in the barque of Charon, who, in an
attitude of fury, strikes with his oars at the souls dragged down by the
Devils into the barque, after the likeness of the picture that the master's
best-beloved poet, Dante, described when he said—
Caron demonio con occhi di bragia,
Loro accennando, tutte le raccoglie,
Batte col remo qualunque si adagia.

CHARON'S BOAT: DETAIL FROM THE LAST JUDGMENT
(After the fresco by Michelagnolo. Rome: The Vatican, Sistine Chapel)
Anderson
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Nor would it be possible to imagine how much variety there is in the heads
of those Devils, which are truly monsters from Hell. In the sinners may be
seen sin and the fear of eternal damnation; and, to say nothing of the beauty

of every detail, it is extraordinary to see so great a work executed with such
harmony of painting, that it appears as if done in one day, and with such
finish as was never achieved in any miniature. And, of a truth, the terrible
force and grandeur of the work, with the multitude of figures, are such that
it is not possible to describe it, for it is filled with all the passions known to
human creatures, and all expressed in the most marvellous manner. For the
proud, the envious, the avaricious, the wanton, and all the other suchlike
sinners can be distinguished with ease by any man of fine perception,
because in figuring them Michelagnolo observed every rule of Nature in the
expressions, in the attitudes, and in every other natural circumstance; a
thing which, although great and marvellous, was not impossible to such a
man, for the reason that he was always observant and shrewd and had seen
men in plenty, and had acquired by commerce with the world that
knowledge that philosophers gain from cogitation and from writings.
Wherefore he who has judgment and understanding in painting perceives
there the most terrible force of art, and sees in those figures such thoughts
and passions as were never painted by any other but Michelagnolo. So, also,
he may see there how the variety of innumerable attitudes is accomplished,
in the strange and diverse gestures of young and old, male and female; and
who is there who does not recognize in these the terrible power of his art,
together with the grace that he had from Nature, since they move the hearts
not only of those who have knowledge in that profession, but even of those
who have none? There are foreshortenings that appear as if in relief, a
harmony of painting that gives great softness, and fineness in the parts
painted by him with delicacy, all showing in truth how pictures executed by
good and true painters should be; and in the outlines of the forms turned by
him in such a way as could not have been achieved by any other but
Michelagnolo, may be seen the true Judgment and the true Damnation and
Resurrection. This is for our art the exemplar and the grand manner of
painting sent down to men on earth by God, to the end that they may see
how Destiny works when intellects descend from the heights of Heaven to
earth, and have infused in them divine grace and knowledge. This work
leads after it bound in chains those who persuade themselves that they have
mastered art; and at the sight of the strokes drawn by him in the outlines of
no matter what figure, every sublime spirit, however mighty in design,
trembles and is afraid. And while the eyes gaze at his labours in this work,
the senses are numbed at the mere thought of what manner of things all

other pictures, those painted and those still unpainted, would appear if
placed in comparison with such perfection. Truly blessed may he be called,
and blessed his memories, who has seen this truly stupendous marvel of our
age! Most happy and most fortunate Paul III, in that God granted that under
thy protection should be acquired the renown that the pens of writers shall
give to his memory and thine! How highly are thy merits enhanced by his
genius! And what good fortune have the craftsmen had in this age from his
birth, in that they have seen the veil of every difficulty torn away, and have
beheld in the pictures, sculptures, and architectural works executed by him
all that can be imagined and achieved!

S. SEBASTIAN
(After the fresco by Michelagnolo. Rome: The Vatican, Sistine Chapel)
Anderson
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He toiled eight years over executing this work, and threw it open to view in
the year 1541, I believe, on Christmas day, to the marvel and amazement of
all Rome, nay, of the whole world; and I, who was that year in Venice, and
went to Rome to see it, was struck dumb by its beauty.
Pope Paul, as has been related, had caused a chapel called the Pauline to be
erected on the same floor by Antonio da San Gallo, in imitation of that of
Nicholas V; and in this he resolved that Michelagnolo should paint two
great pictures with two large scenes. In one he painted the Conversion of S.
Paul, with Jesus Christ in the air and a multitude of nude Angels making
most beautiful movements, and below, all dazed and terrified, Paul fallen
from his horse to the level of the ground, with his soldiers about him, some
striving to raise him up, and others, struck with awe by the voice and
splendour of Christ, are flying in beautiful attitudes and marvellous
movements of panic, while the horse, taking to flight, appears to be carrying
away in its headlong course him who seeks to hold it back; and this whole
scene is executed with extraordinary design and art. In the other picture is
the Crucifixion of S. Peter, who is fixed, a nude figure of rare beauty, upon
the cross; showing the ministers of the crucifixion, after they have made a
hole in the ground, seeking to raise the cross on high, to the end that he may
remain crucified with his feet in the air; and there are many remarkable and
beautiful considerations. Michelagnolo, as has been said elsewhere, gave
his attention only to the perfection of art, and therefore there are no
landscapes to be seen there, nor trees, nor buildings, nor any other
distracting graces of art, for to these he never applied himself, as one,
perchance, who would not abase his great genius to such things. These,
executed by him at the age of seventy-five, were his last pictures, and, as he
used himself to tell me, they cost him much fatigue, for the reason that
painting, and particularly working in fresco, is no art for men who have
passed a certain age. Michelagnolo arranged that Perino del Vaga, a very
excellent painter, should decorate the vaulting with stucco and with many
things in painting, after his designs, and such, also, was the wish of Pope
Paul III; but the work was afterwards delayed, and nothing more was done,
even as many undertakings are left unfinished, partly by the fault of want of
resolution in the craftsmen, and partly by that of Princes little zealous in
urging them on.

Pope Paul had made a beginning with the fortifying of the Borgo, and had
summoned many gentlemen, together with Antonio da San Gallo, to a
conference; but he wished that Michelagnolo also should have a part in this,
knowing that the fortifications about the hill of S. Miniato in Florence had
been constructed under his direction. After much discussion, Michelagnolo
was asked what he thought; and he, having opinions contrary to San Gallo
and many others, declared them freely. Whereupon San Gallo said to him
that his arts were sculpture and painting, and not fortification. Michelagnolo
replied that of sculpture and painting he knew little, but of fortification,
what with the thought that he had devoted to it for a long time, and his
experience in what he had done, it appeared to him that he knew more than
either Antonio or any of his family; showing him in the presence of the
company that he had made many errors in that art. Words rising high on
either side, the Pope had to command silence; but no long time passed
before Michelagnolo brought a design for all the fortifications of the Borgo,
which laid open the way for all that has since been ordained and executed;
and this was the reason that the great gate of S. Spirito, which was
approaching completion under the direction of San Gallo, was left
unfinished.

PIETÀ
(After Michelagnolo. Florence: Duomo)
Alinari
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The spirit and genius of Michelagnolo could not rest without doing
something; and, since he was not able to paint, he set to work on a piece of
marble, intending to carve from it four figures in the round and larger than
life, including a Dead Christ, for his own delight and to pass the time, and
because, as he used to say, the exercise of the hammer kept him healthy in
body. This Christ, taken down from the Cross, is supported by Our Lady, by
Nicodemus, who bends down and assists her, planted firmly on his feet in a
forceful attitude, and by one of the Maries, who also gives her aid,
perceiving that the Mother, overcome by grief, is failing in strength and not
able to uphold Him. Nor is there anywhere to be seen a dead form equal to
that of Christ, who, sinking with the limbs hanging limp, lies in an attitude

wholly different, not only from that of any other work by Michelagnolo, but
from that of any other figure that was ever made. A laborious work is this, a
rare achievement in a single stone, and truly divine; but, as will be related
hereafter, it remained unfinished, and suffered many misfortunes, although
Michelagnolo had intended that it should serve to adorn his own tomb, at
the foot of that altar where he thought to place it.
It happened in the year 1546 that Antonio da San Gallo died; whereupon,
there being now no one to direct the building of S. Pietro, many suggestions
were made by the superintendents to the Pope as to who should have it.
Finally his Holiness, inspired, I believe, by God, resolved to send for
Michelagnolo. But he, when asked to take Antonio's place, refused it,
saying, in order to avoid such a burden, that architecture was not his proper
art; and in the end, entreaties not availing, the Pope commanded that he
should accept it, whereupon, to his great displeasure and against his wish,
he was forced to undertake that enterprise. And one day among others that
he went to S. Pietro to see the wooden model that San Gallo had made, and
to examine the building, he found there the whole San Gallo faction, who,
crowding before Michelagnolo, said to him in the best terms at their
command that they rejoiced that the charge of the building was to be his,
and that the model was a field where there would never be any want of
pasture. "You speak the truth," answered Michelagnolo, meaning to infer, as
he declared to a friend, that it was good for sheep and oxen, who knew
nothing of art. And afterwards he used to say publicly that San Gallo had
made it wanting in lights, that it had on the exterior too many ranges of
columns one above another, and that, with its innumerable projections,
pinnacles, and subdivisions of members, it was more akin to the German
manner than to the good method of the ancients or to the gladsome and
beautiful modern manner; and, in addition to this, that it was possible to
save fifty years of time and more than three hundred thousand crowns of
money in finishing the building, and to execute it with more majesty,
grandeur, and facility, greater beauty and convenience, and better ordered
design. This he afterwards proved by a model that he made, in order to
bring it to the form in which the work is now seen constructed; and thus he
demonstrated that what he said was nothing but the truth. This model cost
him twenty-five crowns, and was made in a fortnight; that of San Gallo, as
has been related, cost four thousand, and took many years to finish. From

this and other circumstances it became evident that that fabric was but a
shop and a business for making money, and that it would be continually
delayed, with the intention of never finishing it, by those who had
undertaken it as a means of profit.

STAIRS OF THE PALACE OF THE SENATORS
(After Michelagnolo. Rome: The Capitol)
Anderson
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Such methods did not please our upright Michelagnolo, and in order to get
rid of all these people, while the Pope was forcing him to accept the office
of architect to the work, he said to them openly one day that they should use
all the assistance of their friends and do all that they could to prevent him
from entering on that office, because, if he were to undertake such a charge,
he would not have one of them about the building. Which words, spoken in
public, were taken very ill, as may be believed, and were the reason that
they conceived a great hatred against him, which increased every day as
they saw the whole design being changed, both within and without, so that

they would scarcely let him live, seeking out daily new and various devices
to harass him, as will be related in the proper place. Finally the Pope issued
a Motu-proprio creating him head of that fabric, with full authority, and
giving him power to do or undo whatever he chose, and to add, take away,
or vary anything at his pleasure; and he decreed that all the officials
employed in the work should be subservient to his will. Whereupon
Michelagnolo, seeing the great confidence and trust that the Pope placed in
him, desired, in order to prove his generosity, that it should be declared in
the Motu-proprio that he was serving in the fabric for the love of God and
without any reward. It is true that the Pope had formerly granted to him the
ferry over the river at Parma,[2] which yielded him about six hundred
crowns; but he lost it at the death of Duke Pier Luigi Farnese, and in
exchange for it he was given a Chancellery at Rimini, a post of less value.
About that he showed no concern; and, although the Pope sent him money
several times by way of salary, he would never accept it, to which witness is
borne by Messer Alessandro Ruffini, Chamberlain to the Pope at that time,
and by M. Pier Giovanni Aliotti, Bishop of Forlì. Finally the model that had
been made by Michelagnolo was approved by the Pope; which model
diminished S. Pietro in size, but gave it greater grandeur, to the satisfaction
of all those who have judgment, although some who profess to be good
judges, which in fact they are not, do not approve of it. He found that the
four principal piers built by Bramante, and left by Antonio da San Gallo,
which had to support the weight of the tribune, were weak; and these he
partly filled up, and beside them he made two winding or spiral staircases,
in which is an ascent so easy that the beasts of burden can climb them,
carrying all the materials to the very top, and men on horseback, likewise,
can go up to the uppermost level of the arches. The first cornice above the
arches he constructed of travertine, curving in a round, which is an
admirable and graceful thing, and very different from any other; nor could
anything better of that kind be done. He also made a beginning with the two
great recesses of the transepts; and whereas formerly, under the direction of
Bramante, Baldassarre, and Raffaello, as has been related, eight tabernacles
were being made on the side towards the Camposanto, and that plan was
afterwards followed by San Gallo, Michelagnolo reduced these to three,
with three chapels in the interior, and above them a vaulting of travertine,
and a range of windows giving a brilliant light, which are varied in form
and of a sublime grandeur. But, since these things are in existence, and are

also to be seen in engraving, not only those of Michelagnolo, but those of
San Gallo as well, I will not set myself to describe them, for it is in no way
necessary. Let it suffice to say that he set himself, with all possible
diligence, to cause the work to be carried on in those parts where the fabric
was to be changed in design, to the end that it might remain so solid and
stable that it might never be changed by another; which was the wise
provision of a shrewd and prudent intellect, because it is not enough to do
good work, if further precautions be not taken, seeing that the boldness and
presumption of those who might be supposed to have knowledge if credit
were placed rather in their words than in their deeds, and at times the favour
of such as know nothing, may give rise to many misfortunes.
The Roman people, with the sanction of that Pope, had a desire to give
some useful, commodious, and beautiful form to the Campidoglio, and to
furnish it with colonnades, ascents, and inclined approaches with and
without steps, and also with the further adornment of the ancient statues that
were already there, in order to embellish that place. For this purpose they
sought the advice of Michelagnolo, who made them a most beautiful and
very rich design, in which, on the side where the Senatore stands, towards
the east, he arranged a façade of travertine, and a flight of steps that ascends
from two sides to meet on a level space, from which one enters into the
centre of the hall of that Palace, with rich curving wings adorned with
balusters that serve as supports and parapets. And there, to enrich that part,
he caused to be placed on certain bases the two ancient figures in marble of
recumbent River Gods, each of nine braccia, and of rare workmanship, one
of which is the Tiber and the other the Nile; and between them, in a niche,
is to go a Jove. On the southern side, where there is the Palace of the
Conservatori, in order that it might be made rectangular, there followed a
rich and well varied façade, with a loggia at the foot full of columns and
niches, where many ancient statues are to go; and all around are various
ornaments, doors, windows, and the like, of which some are already in
place. On the other side from this, towards the north, below the Araceli,
there is to follow another similar façade; and before it, towards the west, is
to be an ascent of baston-like steps, which will be almost level, with a
border and parapet of balusters; here will be the principal entrance, with a
colonnade, and bases on which will be placed all that wealth of noble
statues in which the Campidoglio is now so rich. In the middle of the

Piazza, on a base in the form of an oval, is placed the famous bronze horse
on which is the statue of Marcus Aurelius, which the same Pope Paul
caused to be removed from the Piazza di Laterano, where Sixtus IV had
placed it. This edifice is now being made so beautiful that it is worthy to be
numbered among the finest works that Michelagnolo has executed, and it is
being carried to completion at the present day under the direction of M.
Tommaso de' Cavalieri, a Roman gentleman who was, and still is, one of
the greatest friends that Michelagnolo ever had, as will be related hereafter.

COURT OF THE PALAZZO FARNESE
(After Michelagnolo. Rome)
Anderson
View larger image

Pope Paul III had caused San Gallo, while he was alive, to carry forward
the Palace of the Farnese family, but the great upper cornice, to finish the
roof on the outer side, had still to be constructed, and his Holiness desired
that Michelagnolo should execute it from his own designs and directions.
Michelagnolo, not being able to refuse the Pope, who so esteemed and

favoured him, caused a model of wood to be made, six braccia in length,
and of the size that it was to be; and this he placed on one of the corners of
the Palace, so that it might show what effect the finished work would have.
It pleased his Holiness and all Rome, and that part of it has since been
carried to completion which is now to be seen, proving to be the most
varied and the most beautiful of all that have ever been known, whether
ancient or modern. On this account, after San Gallo was dead, the Pope
desired that Michelagnolo should have charge of the whole fabric as well;
and there he made the great marble window with the beautiful columns of
variegated marble, which is over the principal door of the Palace, with a
large escutcheon of great beauty and variety, in marble, of Pope Paul III, the
founder of that Palace. Within the Palace he continued, above the first range
of the court, the two other ranges, with the most varied, graceful, and
beautiful windows, ornaments and upper cornice that have ever been seen,
so that, through the labours and the genius of that man that court has now
become the most handsome in Europe. He widened and enlarged the Great
Hall, and set in order the front vestibule, and caused the vaulting of that
vestibule to be constructed in a new variety of curve, in the form of a half
oval.
Now in that year there was found at the Baths of Antoninus a mass of
marble seven braccia in every direction, in which there had been carved by
the ancients a Hercules standing upon a mound, who was holding the Bull
by the horns, with another figure assisting him, and around that mound
various figures of Shepherds, Nymphs, and different animals—a work of
truly extraordinary beauty, showing figures so perfect in one single block
without any added pieces, which was judged to have been intended for a
fountain. Michelagnolo advised that it should be conveyed into the second
court, and there restored so as to make it spout water in the original manner;
all which advice was approved, and the work is still being restored at the
present day with great diligence, by order of the Farnese family, for that
purpose. At that time, also, Michelagnolo made a design for the building of
a bridge across the River Tiber in a straight line with the Farnese Palace, to
the end that it might be possible to go from that palace to another palace
and gardens that they possessed in the Trastevere, and also to see at one
glance in a straight line from the principal door which faces the Campo di
Fiore, the court, the fountain, the Strada Giulia, the bridge, and the beauties

of the other garden, even to the other door which opened on the Strada di
Trastevere—a rare work, worthy of that Pontiff and of the judgment,
design, and art of Michelagnolo.
In the year 1547 died Sebastiano Viniziano, the Friar of the Piombo; and,
Pope Paul proposing that the ancient statues of his Palace should be
restored, Michelagnolo willingly favoured the Milanese sculptor Guglielmo
della Porta, a young man of promise, who had been recommended by the
above-named Fra Sebastiano to Michelagnolo, who, liking his work,
presented him to Pope Paul for the restoration of those statues. And the
matter went so far forward that Michelagnolo obtained for him the office of
the Piombo, and he then set to work on restoring the statues, some of which
are to be seen in that Palace at the present day. But Guglielmo, forgetting
the benefits that he had received from Michelagnolo, afterwards became
one of his opponents.
In the year 1549 there took place the death of Pope Paul III; whereupon,
after the election of Pope Julius III, Cardinal Farnese gave orders for a
grand tomb to be made for his kinsman Pope Paul by the hand of Fra
Guglielmo, who arranged to erect it in S. Pietro, below the first arch of the
new church, beneath the tribune, which obstructed the floor of the church,
and was, in truth, not the proper place. Michelagnolo advised, most
judiciously, that it could not and should not stand there, and the Frate,
believing that he was doing this out of envy, became filled with hatred
against him; but afterwards he recognized that Michelagnolo had spoken
the truth, and that the fault was his, in that he had had the opportunity and
had not finished the work, as will be related in another place. And to this I
can bear witness, for the reason that in the year 1550 I had gone by order of
Pope Julius III to Rome to serve him (and very willingly, for love of
Michelagnolo), and I took part in that discussion. Michelagnolo desired that
the tomb should be erected in one of the niches, where there is now the
Column of the Possessed, which was the proper place, and I had so gone to
work that Julius III was resolving to have his own tomb made in the other
niche with the same design as that of Pope Paul, in order to balance that
work; but the Frate, who set himself against this, brought it about that his
own was never finished after all, and that the tomb of the other Pontiff was
also not made; which had all been predicted by Michelagnolo.

In the same year Pope Julius turned his attention to having a chapel of
marble with two tombs constructed in the Church of S. Pietro a Montorio
for Cardinal Antonio di Monte, his uncle, and Messer Fabiano, his
grandfather, the first founder of the greatness of that illustrious house. For
this work Vasari having made designs and models, Pope Julius, who always
esteemed the genius of Michelagnolo and loved Vasari, desired that
Michelagnolo should fix the price between them; and Vasari besought the
Pope that he should prevail upon him to take it under his protection. Now
Vasari had proposed Simone Mosca for the carvings of this work, and
Raffaello da Montelupo for the statues; but Michelagnolo advised that no
carvings of foliage should be made in it, not even in the architectural parts
of the work, saying that where there are to be figures of marble there must
not be any other thing. On which account Vasari feared that the work should
be abandoned, because it would look poor; but in fact, when he saw it
finished, he confessed that Michelagnolo had shown great judgment.
Michelagnolo would not have Montelupo make the statues, remembering
how badly he had acquitted himself in those of his own tomb of Julius II,
and he was content, rather, that they should be entrusted to Bartolommeo
Ammanati, whom Vasari had proposed, although Buonarroti had something
of a private grievance against him, as also against Nanni di Baccio Bigio,
caused by a reason which, if one considers it well, seems slight enough; for
when they were very young, moved rather by love of art than by a desire to
do wrong, they had entered with great pains into his house, and had taken
from Antonio Mini, the disciple of Michelagnolo, many sheets with
drawings; but these were afterwards all restored to him by order of the
Tribunal of Eight, and, at the intercession of his friend Messer Giovanni
Norchiati, Canon of S. Lorenzo, he would not have any other punishment
inflicted on them. Vasari, when Michelagnolo spoke to him of this matter,
said to him, laughing, that it did not seem to him that they deserved any
blame, and that he himself, if he had ever been able, would have not taken a
few drawings only, but robbed him of everything by his hand that he might
have been able to seize, merely for the sake of learning art. One must look
kindly, he said, on those who seek after excellence, and also reward them,
and therefore such men must not be treated like those who go about stealing
money, household property, and other things of value; and so the matter was
turned into a jest. This was the reason that a beginning was made with the
work of the Montorio, and that in the same year Vasari and Ammanati went

to have the marble conveyed from Carrara to Rome for the execution of that
work.
At that time Vasari was with Michelagnolo every day; and one morning the
Pope in his kindness gave them both leave that they might visit the Seven
Churches on horseback (for it was Holy Year), and receive the Pardon in
company. Whereupon, while going from one church to another, they had
many useful and beautiful conversations on art and every industry, and out
of these Vasari composed a dialogue, which will be published at some more
favourable opportunity, together with other things concerning art. In that
year Pope Julius III confirmed the Motu-proprio of Pope Paul III with
regard to the building of S. Pietro; and although much evil was spoken to
him of Michelagnolo by the friends of the San Gallo faction, in the matter
of that fabric of S. Pietro, at that time the Pope would not listen to a word,
for Vasari had demonstrated to him (as was the truth) that Michelagnolo had
given life to the building, and also persuaded his Holiness that he should do
nothing concerned with design without the advice of Michelagnolo. This
promise the Pope kept ever afterwards, for neither at the Vigna Julia did he
do anything without his counsel, nor at the Belvedere, where there was built
the staircase that is there now, in place of the semicircular staircase that
came forward, ascending in eight steps, and turned inwards in eight more
steps, erected in former times by Bramante in the great recess in the centre
of the Belvedere. And Michelagnolo designed and caused to be built the
very beautiful quadrangular staircase, with balusters of peperino-stone,
which is there at the present day.
Vasari had finished in that year the printing of his work, the Lives of the
Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, in Florence. Now he had not written the
Life of any living master, although some who were old were still alive, save
only of Michelagnolo; and in the book were many records of circumstances
that Vasari had received from his lips, his age and his judgment being the
greatest among all the craftsmen. Giorgio therefore presented the work to
him, and he received it very gladly; and not long afterwards, having read it,
Michelagnolo sent to him the following sonnet, written by himself, which I
am pleased to include in this place in memory of his loving-kindness:
Se con lo stile o co' colori havete
Alla Natura pareggiato l'Arte,

Anzi a quella scemato il pregio in parte,
Che 'l bel di lei più bello a noi rendete,
Poichè con dotta man posto vi siete
A più degno lavoro, a vergar carte,
Quel che vi manca a lei di pregio in parte,
Nel dar vita ad altrui tutto togliete.
Che se secolo alcuno omai contese
In far bell'opre, almen cedale, poi
Che convien', ch'al prescritto fine arrive.
Or le memorie altrui già spente accese
Tornando fate, or che sien quelle, e voi,
Mal grado d'esse, eternalmente vive.
Vasari departed for Florence, and left to Michelagnolo the charge of having
the work founded in the Montorio. Now Messer Bindo Altoviti, the Consul
of the Florentine colony at that time, was much the friend of Vasari, and on
this occasion Giorgio said to him that it would be well to have this work
erected in the Church of S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini, and that he had already
spoken of it with Michelagnolo, who would favour the enterprise; and that
this would be a means of giving completion to that church. This proposal
pleased Messer Bindo, and, being very intimate with the Pope, he urged it
warmly upon him, demonstrating that it would be well that the chapel and
the tombs which his Holiness was having executed for the Montorio should
be placed in the Church of S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini; adding that the result
would be that with this occasion and this spur the Florentine colony would
undertake such expenditure that the church would receive its completion,
and, if his Holiness were to build the principal chapel, the other merchants
would build six chapels, and then little by little all the rest. Whereupon the
Pope changed his mind, and, although the model for the work was already
made and the price arranged, went to the Montorio and sent for
Michelagnolo, to whom Vasari was writing every day, receiving answers
from him according to the opportunities presented in the course of affairs.
Michelagnolo then wrote to Vasari, on the first day of August in 1550, of
the change that the Pope had made; and these are his words, written in his
own hand:
Rome.

"My dear Messer Giorgio,
"With regard to the founding of the work at S. Pietro a Montorio, and how
the Pope would not listen to a word, I wrote you nothing, knowing that you
are kept informed by your man here. Now I must tell you what has
happened, which is as follows. Yesterday morning the Pope, having gone to
the said Montorio, sent for me. I met him on the bridge, on his way back,
and had a long conversation with him about the tombs allotted to you; and
in the end he told me that he was resolved that he would not place those
tombs on that mount, but in the Church of the Florentines. He sought from
me my opinion and also designs, and I encouraged him not a little,
considering that by this means the said church would be finished.
Respecting your three letters received, I have no pen wherewith to answer
to such exalted matters, but if I should rejoice to be in some sort what you
make me, I should rejoice for no other reason save that you might have a
servant who might be worth something. But I do not marvel that you, who
restore dead men to life, should lengthen the life of the living, or rather, that
you should steal from death for an unlimited period those barely alive. To
cut this short, such as I am, I am wholly yours,
"Michelagnolo Buonarroti."

While these matters were being discussed, and the Florentine colony was
seeking to raise money, certain difficulties arose, on account of which they
came to no decision, and the affair grew cold. Meanwhile, Vasari and
Ammanati having by this time had all the marbles quarried at Carrara, a
great part of them were sent to Rome, and with them Ammanati, through
whom Vasari wrote to Buonarroti that he should ascertain from the Pope
where he wanted the tomb, and, after receiving his orders, should have the
work begun. The moment that Michelagnolo received the letter, he spoke to
his Holiness; and with his own hand he wrote the following resolution to
Vasari:
"13th of October, 1550.
"My dear Messer Giorgio,

"The instant that Bartolommeo arrived here, I went to speak to the Pope,
and, having perceived that he wished to begin the work once more at the
Montorio, in the matter of the tombs, I looked for a mason from S. Pietro.
'Tantecose'[3] heard this and insisted on sending one of his choosing, and I,
to avoid contending with a man who commands the winds, have retired
from the matter, because, he being a light-minded person, I would not care
to be drawn into any entanglement. Enough that in my opinion there is no
more thought to be given to the Church of the Florentines. Fare you well,
and come back soon. Nothing else occurs to me."

Michelagnolo used to call Monsignor di Forlì "Tantecose," because he
insisted on doing everything himself. Being Chamberlain to the Pope, he
had charge of the medals, jewels, cameos, little figures in bronze, pictures,
and drawings, and desired that everything should depend on him.
Michelagnolo was always anxious to avoid the man, because he had been
constantly working against the master's interests, and therefore Buonarroti
feared lest he might be drawn into some entanglement by the intrigues of
such a man. In short, the Florentine colony lost a very fine opportunity for
that church, and God knows when they will have such another; and to me it
was an indescribable grief. I have desired not to omit to make this brief
record, to the end that it may be seen that our Michelagnolo always sought
to help his fellow-countrymen and his friends, and also art.
Vasari had scarcely returned to Rome, when, before the beginning of the
year 1551, the San Gallo faction arranged a conspiracy against
Michelagnolo, whereby the Pope was to hold an assembly in S. Pietro, and
to summon together the superintendents and all those who had the charge of
the work, in order to show to the Pope, by means of false calumnies, that
Michelagnolo had ruined that fabric, because, he having already built the
apse of the King, where there are the three chapels, and having executed
these with the three windows above, they, not knowing what was to be done
with the vaulting, with feeble judgment had given the elder Cardinal
Salviati and Marcello Cervini, who afterwards became Pope, to understand
that S. Pietro was being left with little light. Whereupon, all being
assembled, the Pope said to Michelagnolo that the deputies declared that the
apse would give little light, and he answered: "I would like to hear these
deputies speak in person." Cardinal Marcello replied: "We are here." Then

Michelagnolo said to him: "Monsignore, above these windows, in the
vaulting, which is to be made of travertine, there are to be three others."
"You have never told us that," said the Cardinal. And Michelagnolo
answered: "I am not obliged, nor do I intend to be obliged, to say either to
your Highness or to any other person what I am bound or desirous to do.
Your office is to obtain the money and to guard it from thieves, and the
charge of the design for the building you must leave to me." And then,
turning to the Pope, he said: "Holy Father, you see what my gains are, and
that if these fatigues that I endure do not profit me in my mind, I am
wasting my time and my work." The Pope, who loved him, laid his hands
on his shoulders, and said: "You shall profit both in mind and in body; do
not doubt it." Michelagnolo having thus been able to get rid of those
persons, the Pope came to love him even more; and he commanded him and
Vasari that on the day following they should both present themselves at the
Vigna Julia, in which place his Holiness had many discussions with him,
and they carried that work almost to the condition of perfect beauty in
which it now is; nor did the Pope discuss or do anything in the matter of
design without Michelagnolo's advice and judgment. And, among other
things, since Michelagnolo went often with Vasari to visit him, the Pope
insisted, once when he was at the fountain of the Acqua Vergine with twelve
Cardinals, after Buonarroti had come up; the Pope, I say, insisted very
strongly that he should sit beside him, although he sought most humbly to
excuse himself; thus always honouring his genius as much as lay in his
power.
The Pope caused him to make the model of a façade for a palace that his
Holiness desired to build beside S. Rocco, intending to avail himself of the
Mausoleum of Augustus for the rest of the masonry; and, as a design for a
façade, there is nothing to be seen that is more varied, more ornate, or more
novel in manner and arrangement, for the reason that, as has been seen in
all his works, he never consented to be bound by any law, whether ancient
or modern, in matters of architecture, as one who had a brain always able to
discover things new and well-varied, and in no way less beautiful. That
model is now in the possession of Duke Cosimo de' Medici, who had it as a
present from Pope Pius IV when he went to Rome; and he holds it among
his dearest treasures. That Pope had such respect for Michelagnolo, that he
was constantly taking up his defence against Cardinals and others who

sought to calumniate him, and he desired that other craftsmen, however able
and renowned they might be, should always go to seek him at his house;
such, indeed, were the regard and reverence that he felt for him, that his
Holiness did not venture, lest he might annoy him, to call upon
Michelagnolo for many works which, although he was old, he could have
executed.
As far back as the time of Paul III Michelagnolo had made a beginning with
the work of refounding, under his own direction, the Ponte S. Maria at
Rome, which had been weakened by the constant flow of water and by age,
and was falling into ruin. The refounding was contrived by Michelagnolo
by means of caissons, and by making stout reinforcements against the piers;
and already he had carried a great part of it to completion, and had spent
large sums on wood and travertine on behalf of the work, when, in the time
of Julius III, an assembly was held by the Clerks of the Chamber with a
view to making an end of it, and a proposal was made among them by the
architect Nanni di Baccio Bigio, saying that if it were allotted by contract to
him it would be finished in a short time and without much expense; and this
they suggested on the pretext, as it were, of doing a favour to Michelagnolo
and relieving him of a burden, because he was old, alleging that he gave no
thought to it, and that if matters remained as they were the end would never
be seen. The Pope, who little liked being troubled, not thinking what the
result might be, gave authority to the Clerks of the Chamber that they
should have charge of the work, as a thing pertaining to them; and then,
without Michelagnolo hearing another word about it, they gave it with all
those materials, without any conditions, to Nanni, who gave no attention to
the reinforcements, which were necessary for the refounding, but relieved
the bridge of some weight, in consequence of having seen a great quantity
of travertine wherewith it had been flanked and faced in ancient times, the
result of which was to give weight to the bridge and to make it stouter,
stronger, and more secure. In place of that he used gravel and other
materials cast with cement, in such a manner that no defect could be seen in
the inner part of the work, and on the outer side he made parapets and other
things, insomuch that to the eye it appeared as if made altogether new; but it
was made lighter all over and weakened throughout. Five years afterwards,
when the flood of the year 1557 came down, it happened that the bridge
collapsed in such a manner as to make known the little judgment of the

Clerks of the Chamber and the loss that Rome suffered by departing from
the counsel of Michelagnolo, who predicted the ruin of the bridge many
times to me and to his other friends. Thus I remember that he said to me,
when we were passing there together on horseback, "Giorgio, this bridge is
shaking under us; let us spur our horses, or it may fall while we are upon
it."
But to return to the narrative interrupted above; when the work of the
Montorio was finished, and that much to my satisfaction, I returned to
Florence to re-enter the service of Duke Cosimo, which was in the year
1554. The departure of Vasari grieved Michelagnolo, and likewise Giorgio,
for the reason that Michelagnolo's adversaries kept harassing him every day,
now in one way and now in another; wherefore they did not fail to write to
one another daily. And in April of the same year, Vasari giving him the
news that Leonardo, the nephew of Michelagnolo, had had a male child,
that they had accompanied him to baptism with an honourable company of
most noble ladies, and that they had revived the name of Buonarroto,
Michelagnolo answered in a letter to Vasari in these words:
"Dear Friend Giorgio,
"I have had the greatest pleasure from your letter, seeing that you still
remember the poor old man, and even more because you were present at the
triumph which, as you write, you witnessed in the birth of another
Buonarroto; for which intelligence I thank you with all my heart and soul.
But so much pomp does not please me, for man should not be laughing
when all the world is weeping. It seems to me that Leonardo should not
make so much rejoicing over a new birth, with all that gladness which
should be reserved for the death of one who has lived well. Do not marvel if
I delay to answer; I do it so as not to appear a merchant. As for the many
praises that you send me in your letter, I tell you that if I deserved a single
one of them, it would appear to me that in giving myself to you body and
soul, I had truly given you something, and had discharged some
infinitesimal part of the debt that I owe you; whereas I recognize you every
hour as my creditor for more than I can repay, and, since I am an old man, I
can now never hope to be able to square the account in this life, but perhaps
in the next. Wherefore I pray you have patience, and remain wholly yours.
Things here are much as usual."

Already, in the time of Paul III, Duke Cosimo had sent Tribolo to Rome to
see if he might be able to persuade Michelagnolo to return to Florence, in
order to give completion to the Sacristy of S. Lorenzo. But Michelagnolo
excused himself because, having grown old, he could not support the
burden of such fatigues, and demonstrated to him with many reasons that he
could not leave Rome. Whereupon Tribolo finally asked him about the
staircase of the library of S. Lorenzo, for which Michelagnolo had caused
many stones to be prepared, but there was no model of it nor any certainty
as to the exact form, and, although there were some marks on a pavement
and some other sketches in clay, the true and final design could not be
found. However, no matter how much Tribolo might beseech him and
invoke the name of the Duke, Michelagnolo would never answer a word
save that he remembered nothing of it. Orders were given to Vasari by Duke
Cosimo that he should write to Michelagnolo, requesting him to write
saying what final form that staircase was to have; in the hope that through
the friendship and love that he bore to Vasari, he would say something that
might lead to some solution and to the completion of the work. Vasari wrote
to Michelagnolo the mind of the Duke, saying that the execution of all that
was to be done would fall to him; which he would do with that fidelity and
care with which, as Michelagnolo knew, he was wont to treat such of his
works as he had in charge. Wherefore Michelagnolo sent the directions for
making the above-named staircase in a letter by his own hand on the 28th of
September, 1555.

BIBLIOTECA LAURENZIANA
(After Michelagnolo. Florence)
Alinari
View larger image

"Messer Giorgio, Dear Friend,
"Concerning the staircase for the library, of which so much has been said to
me, you may believe that if I could remember how I had designed it, I
would not need to be entreated. There does, indeed, come back to my mind,
like a dream, a certain staircase; but I do not believe that it is exactly the
one which I conceived at that time, because it comes out so stupid.
However, I will describe it here. Take a quantity of oval boxes, each one
palm in depth, but not of equal length and breadth. The first and largest
place on the pavement at such a distance from the wall of the door as may
make the staircase easy or steep, according to your pleasure. Upon this
place another, which must be so much smaller in every direction as to leave
on the first one below as much space as the foot requires in ascending;

diminishing and drawing back the steps one after another towards the door,
in accord with the ascent. And the diminution of the last step must reduce it
to the proportion of the space of the door. The said part of the staircase with
the oval steps must have two wings, one on one side and one on the other,
with corresponding steps but not oval. Of these the central flight shall serve
as the principal staircase, and from the centre of the staircase to the top the
curves of the said wings shall meet the wall; but from the centre down to
the pavement they shall stand, together with the whole staircase, at a
distance of about three palms from the wall, in such a manner that the
basement of the vestibule shall not be obstructed in any part, and every face
shall be left free. I am writing nonsense; but I know well that you will find
something to your purpose."
Michelagnolo also wrote to Vasari in those days that Julius III being dead,
and Marcellus elected, the faction that was against him, in consequence of
the election of the new Pontiff, had again begun to harass him. Which
hearing, and not liking these ways, the Duke caused Giorgio to write and
tell him that he should leave Rome and come to live in Florence, where the
Duke did not desire more than his advice and designs at times for his
buildings, and that he would receive from that lord all that he might desire,
without doing anything with his own hand. Again, there were carried to him
by M. Leonardo Marinozzi, the private Chamberlain of Duke Cosimo,
letters written by his Excellency; and so also by Vasari. But then, Marcellus
being dead, and Paul IV having been elected, by whom once again
numerous offers had been made to him from the very beginning, when he
went to kiss his feet, the desire to finish the fabric of S. Pietro, and the
obligation by which he thought himself bound to that task, kept him back;
and, employing certain excuses, he wrote to the Duke that for the time
being he was not able to serve him, and to Vasari a letter in these very
words:
"Messer Giorgio, my dear Friend,
"I call God to witness how it was against my will and under the strongest
compulsion that I was set to the building of S. Pietro in Rome by Pope Paul
III, ten years ago. Had they continued to work at that fabric up to the
present day, as they were doing then, I would now have reached such a
point in the undertaking that I might be thinking of returning home; but for

want of money it has been much retarded, and is still being retarded at the
time when it has reached the most laborious and difficult stage, insomuch
that to abandon it now would be nothing short of the greatest possible
disgrace and sin, losing the reward of the labours that I have endured in
those ten years for the love of God. I have made you this discourse in
answer to your letter, and also because I have a letter from the Duke that
has made me marvel much that his Excellency should have deigned to write
so graciously; for which I thank God and his Excellency to the best of my
power and knowledge. I wander from the subject, because I have lost my
memory and my wits, and writing is a great affliction to me, for it is not my
art. The conclusion is this: to make you understand what would be the result
if I were to abandon the fabric and depart from Rome; firstly, I would
please a number of thieves, and secondly, I would be the cause of its ruin,
and perhaps, also, of its being suspended for ever."

Continuing to write to Giorgio, Michelagnolo said to him, to excuse himself
with the Duke, that he had a house and many convenient things at his
disposal in Rome, which were worth thousands of crowns, in addition to
being in danger of his life from disease of the kidneys, colic, and the stone,
as happens to every old person, and as could be proved by Maestro Realdo,
his physician, from whom he congratulated himself on having his life, after
God; that for these reasons he was not able to leave Rome, and, finally, that
he had no heart for anything but death. He besought Vasari, as he did in
several other letters that Giorgio has by his hand, that he should recommend
him to the Duke for pardon, in addition to what he wrote to the Duke, as I
have said, to excuse himself. If Michelagnolo had been able to ride, he
would have gone straightway to Florence, whence, I believe, he would
never have consented to depart in order to return to Rome, so much was he
influenced by the tenderness and love that he felt for the Duke; but
meanwhile he gave his attention to working at many parts of the above-
named fabric, in order so to fix the form that it might never again be
changed. During this time certain persons had informed him that Pope Paul
IV was minded to make him alter the façade of the chapel where the Last
Judgment is, because, he said, those figures showed their nakedness too
shamelessly. When, therefore, the mind of the Pope was made known to
Michelagnolo, he answered: "Tell the Pope that it is no great affair, and that

it can be altered with ease. Let him put the world right, and every picture
will be put right in a moment." The office of the Chancellery of Rimini was
taken away from Michelagnolo, but he would never speak of this to the
Pope, who did not know it; and it was taken away from him by the Pope's
Cup-bearer, who sought to have a hundred crowns a month given to him in
respect of the fabric of S. Pietro, and caused a month's payment to be taken
to his house, but Michelagnolo would not accept it. In the same year took
place the death of Urbino, his servant, or rather, as he may be called, and as
he had been, his companion. This man came to live with Michelagnolo in
Florence in the year 1530, after the siege was finished, when his disciple
Antonio Mini went to France; and he rendered very faithful service to
Michelagnolo, insomuch that in twenty-six years that faithful and intimate
service brought it about that Michelagnolo made him rich and so loved him,
that in this, Urbino's last illness, old as he was, he nursed him and slept in
his clothes at night to watch over him. Wherefore, after he was dead, Vasari
wrote to Michelagnolo to console him, and he answered in these words:
"My dear Messer Giorgio,
"I am scarce able to write, but, in reply to your letter, I shall say something.
You know how Urbino died, wherein God has shown me very great grace,
although it is also a grave loss and an infinite grief to me. This grace is that
whereas when living he kept me alive, dying he has taught me to die not
with regret, but with a desire for death. I have had him twenty-six years,
and have found him a very rare and faithful servant; and now, when I had
made him rich and was looking to him as the staff and repose of my old
age, he has flown from me, nor is any hope left to me but to see him again
in Paradise. And of this God has granted a sign in the happy death that he
died, in that dying grieved him much less than leaving me in this traitorous
world with so many afflictions; although the greater part of me is gone with
him, and nothing is left me but infinite misery. I commend myself to you."
Michelagnolo was employed in the time of Pope Paul IV on many parts of
the fortifications of Rome, and also by Salustio Peruzzi, to whom that Pope,
as has been related elsewhere, had given the charge of executing the great
portal of the Castello di S. Angelo, which is now half ruined; and he
occupied himself in distributing the statues of that work, examining the
models of the sculptors, and correcting them. At that time the French army

approached near to Rome, and Michelagnolo thought that he was like to
come to an evil end together with that city; whereupon he resolved to fly
from Rome with Antonio Franzese of Castel Durante, whom Urbino at his
death had left in his house as his servant, and went secretly to the mountains
of Spoleto, where he visited certain seats of hermits. Meanwhile Vasari
wrote to him, sending him a little work that Carlo Lenzoni, a citizen of
Florence, had left at his death to Messer Cosimo Bartoli, who was to have it
printed and dedicated to Michelagnolo; which, when it was finished, Vasari
sent in those days to Michelagnolo, and he, having received it, answered
thus:
September 18, 1556.
"Messer Giorgio, dear Friend,
"I have received Messer Cosimo's little book, which you send to me, and
this shall be a letter of thanks. I pray you to give them to him, and send him
my compliments.
"I have had in these days great discomfort and expense, but also great
pleasure, in visiting the hermits in the mountains of Spoleto, insomuch that
less than half of me has returned to Rome, seeing that in truth there is no
peace to be found save in the woods. I have nothing more to tell you. I am
glad that you are well and happy, and I commend myself to you."

Michelagnolo used to work almost every day, as a pastime, at that block
with the four figures of which we have already spoken; which block he
broke into pieces at this time for these reasons, either because it was hard
and full of emery, and the chisel often struck sparks from it, or it may have
been that the judgment of the man was so great that he was never content
with anything that he did. A proof that this is true is that there are few
finished statues to be seen out of all that he executed in the prime of his
manhood, and that those completely finished were executed by him in his
youth, such as the Bacchus, the Pietà in S. Maria della Febbre, the Giant of
Florence, and the Christ of the Minerva, which it would not be possible to
increase or diminish by as little as a grain of millet without spoiling them;
and the others, with the exception of the Dukes Giuliano and Lorenzo,
Night, Dawn, and Moses, with the other two, the whole number of these

statues not amounting in all to eleven, the others, I say, were all left
unfinished, and, moreover, they are many, Michelagnolo having been wont
to say that if he had had to satisfy himself in what he did, he would have
sent out few, nay, not one. For he had gone so far with his art and judgment,
that, when he had laid bare a figure and had perceived in it the slightest
degree of error, he would set it aside and run to lay his hand on another
block of marble, trusting that the same would not happen to the new block;
and he often said that this was the reason that he gave for having executed
so few statues and pictures. This Pietà, when it was broken, he presented to
Francesco Bandini. Now at this time Tiberio Calcagni, a Florentine
sculptor, had become much the friend of Michelagnolo by means of
Francesco Bandini and Messer Donato Giannotti; and being one day in
Michelagnolo's house, where there was the Pietà, all broken, after a long
conversation he asked him for what reason he had broken it up and
destroyed labours so marvellous, and he answered that the reason was the
importunity of his servant Urbino, who kept urging him every day to finish
it, besides which, among other things, a piece of one of the elbows of the
Madonna had been broken off, and even before that he had taken an
aversion to it, and had had many misfortunes with it by reason of a flaw that
was in the marble, so that he lost his patience and began to break it up; and
he would have broken it altogether into pieces if his servant Antonio had
not besought him that he should present it to him as it was. Whereupon
Tiberio, having heard this, spoke to Bandini, who desired to have something
by the hand of Michelagnolo, and Bandini contrived that Tiberio should
promise to Antonio two hundred crowns of gold, and prayed Michelagnolo
to consent that Tiberio should finish it for Bandini with the assistance of
models by his hand, urging that thus his labour would not be thrown away.
Michelagnolo was satisfied, and then made them a present of it. The work
was carried away immediately, and then put together again and
reconstructed with I know not what new pieces by Tiberio; but it was left
unfinished by reason of the death of Bandini, Michelagnolo, and Tiberio. At
the present day it is in the possession of Pier Antonio Bandini, the son of
Francesco, at his villa on Monte Cavallo. But to return to Michelagnolo; it
became necessary to find some work in marble on which he might be able
to pass some time every day with the chisel, and another piece of marble
was put before him, from which another Pietà had been already blocked
out, different from the first and much smaller.

PIETÀ
(After Michelagnolo. Rome: Palazzo Rondanini)
Alinari
View larger image

There had entered into the service of Paul IV, and also into the charge of the
fabric of S. Pietro, the architect Pirro Ligorio, and he was now once more
harassing Michelagnolo, going about saying that he had sunk into his
second childhood. Wherefore, angered by such treatment, he would
willingly have returned to Florence, and, having delayed to return, he was
again urged in letters by Giorgio, but he knew that he was too old, having
now reached the age of eighty-one. Writing at that time to Vasari by his
courier, and sending him various spiritual sonnets, he said that he was come
to the end of his life, that he must be careful where he directed his thoughts,

that by reading he would see that he was at his last hour, and that there
arose in his mind no thought upon which was not graved the image of
death; and in one letter he said:
"It is God's will, Vasari, that I should continue to live in misery for some
years. I know that you will tell me that I am an old fool to wish to write
sonnets, but since many say that I am in my second childhood, I have
sought to act accordingly. By your letter I see the love that you bear me, and
you may take it as certain that I would be glad to lay these feeble bones of
mine beside those of my father, as you beg me to do; but by departing from
here I would be the cause of the utter ruin of the fabric of S. Pietro, which
would be a great disgrace and a very grievous sin. However, when it is so
firmly established that it can never be changed, I hope to do all that you ask
me, if it be not a sin to keep in anxious expectation certain gluttons that
await my immediate departure."
With this letter was the following sonnet, also written in his own hand:
Giunto è già 'l corso della vita mia
Con tempestoso mar' per fragil barca
Al comun porto, ov'a render' si varca
Conto e ragion' d'ogni opra trista e pia.
Onde l'affetuosa fantasia,
Che l'arte mi fece idolo e monarca,
Conosco or' ben' quant'era d'error' carca,
E quel ch'a mal suo grado ognun' desia.
Gli amorosi pensier' già vani e lieti
Che sien'or', s'a due morti mi avvicino?
D'una so certo, e l'altra mi minaccia.
Nè pinger' nè scolpir' sia più che quieti
L'anima volta a quello Amor Divino
Ch'aperse a prender' noi in Croce le braccia.
Whereby it was evident that he was drawing towards God, abandoning the
cares of art on account of the persecution of his malignant fellow-
craftsmen, and also through the fault of certain overseers of the fabric, who
would have liked, as he used to say, to dip their hands in the chest. By order
of Duke Cosimo, a reply was written to Michelagnolo by Vasari in a letter

of few words, exhorting him to repatriate himself, with a sonnet
corresponding in the rhymes. Michelagnolo would willingly have left
Rome, but he was so weary and aged, that although, as will be told below,
he was determined to go back, while the spirit was willing the flesh was
weak, and that kept him in Rome. It happened in June of the year 1557, he
having made a model for the vault that was to cover the apse, which was
being built of travertine in the Chapel of the King, that, from his not being
able to go there as he had been wont, an error arose, in that the capomaestro
took the measurements over the whole body of the vault with one single
centre, whereas there should have been a great number; and Michelagnolo,
as the friend and confidant of Vasari, sent him designs by his own hand,
with these words written at the foot of two of them:
"The centre marked with red was used by the capomaestro over the body of
the whole vault; then, when he began to pass to the half-circle, which is at
the summit of the vault, he became aware of the error which that centre was
producing, as may be seen here in the design, marked in black. With this
error the vault has gone so far forward, that we have to displace a great
number of stones, for in that vault there is being placed no brick-work, but
all travertine, and the diameter of the circle, without the cornice that borders
it, is twenty-two palms. This error, after I had made an exact model, as I do
of everything, has been caused by my not being able, on account of my old
age, to go there often; so that, whereas I believed that the vault was now
finished, it will not be finished all this winter, and, if it were possible to die
of shame and grief, I should not be alive now. I pray you account to the
Duke for my not being at this moment in Florence."

S. PETER'S
(After Michelagnolo. Rome)
Alinari
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And continuing in the other design, where he had drawn the plan, he said
this:
"Messer Giorgio,
"To the end that it may be easier to understand the difficulty of the vault by
observing its rise from the level of the ground, let me explain that I have
been forced to divide it into three vaults, corresponding to the windows
below divided by pilasters; and you see that they go pyramidally into the
centre of the summit of the vault, as also do the base and sides of the same.
It was necessary to regulate them with an infinite number of centres, and
there are in them so many changes in various directions, from point to

point, that no fixed rule can be maintained. And the circles and squares that
come in the middle of their deepest parts have to diminish and increase in
so many directions, and to go to so many points, that it is a difficult thing to
find the true method. Nevertheless, having the model, such as I make for
everything, they should never have committed so great an error as to seek to
regulate with one single centre all those three shells; whence it has come
about that we have been obliged with shame and loss to pull down, as we
are still doing, a great number of stones. The vault, with its sections and
hewn stone-work, is all of travertine, like all the rest below; a thing not
customary in Rome."
Michelagnolo was excused by Duke Cosimo, hearing of these misfortunes,
from coming to Florence; the Duke saying to him that his contentment and
the continuation of S. Pietro were more dear to him than anything in the
world, and that he should rest in peace. Whereupon Michelagnolo wrote to
Vasari, on the same sheet in which he thanked the Duke to the best of his
power and knowledge for such kindness, saying, "God give me grace that I
may be able to serve him with this my poor person, for my memory and my
brain are gone to await him elsewhere." The date of this letter was August
in the year 1557. Thus, then, Michelagnolo learned that the Duke esteemed
his life and his honour more than he did himself, who so revered him. All
these things, and many more that it is not necessary to mention, we have in
our possession, written in his hand.
Michelagnolo by this time was reduced to a feeble condition, and it was
evident that little was being done in S. Pietro, now that he had carried on a
great part of the frieze of the windows within, and of the double columns
without, which curve above the great round cornice[4] where the cupola is to
be placed, as will be related; and he was exhorted and urged by his greatest
friends, such as the Cardinal of Carpi, Messer Donato Giannotti, Francesco
Bandini, Tommaso de' Cavalieri, and Lottino that, since he saw the delay in
the raising of the cupola, he should at least make a model of it. He stayed
many months without making up his mind to this, but in the end he made a
beginning, and then little by little constructed a small model in clay, from
which, as an exemplar, and from the plans and profiles that he had drawn, it
might be possible afterwards to make a larger one of wood. This, having
made a beginning with it, he caused to be constructed in little more than a
year by Maestro Giovanni Franzese, with much study and pains; and he

made it on such a scale that the smaller proportions of the model, measured
by the old Roman palm, corresponded with complete exactness to those of
the large work, he having fashioned with diligence in that model all the
members of columns, bases, capitals, doors, windows, cornices, projections,
and likewise every least thing, knowing that in such a work no less should
be done, for in all Christendom, nay, in all the world, there is not to be
found or seen any fabric more ornate or more grand. And I cannot but think
that, if we have given up time to noting smaller things, it is even more
useful, and also our duty, to describe this manner of design for building the
structure of this tribune with the form, order, and method that Michelagnolo
thought to give it; wherefore with such brevity as we may we will give a
simple description of it, to the end that, if it should ever be the fate of this
work, which God forbid, to be disturbed by the envy and malice of
presumptuous persons after the death of Michelagnolo, even as we have
seen it disturbed up to the present during his lifetime, these my writings,
such as they may be, may be able to assist the faithful who are to be the
executors of the mind of that rare man, and also to restrain the malignant
desires of those who may seek to alter it, and so at one and the same time
assist, delight, and open the minds of those beautiful intellects that are the
friends of this profession and regard it as their joy.

S. PETER'S
(After Michelagnolo. Rome)
Anderson
View larger image

I must begin by saying that according to this model, made under the
direction of Michelagnolo, I find that in the great work the whole space
within the tribune will be one hundred and eighty-six palms, speaking of its
width from wall to wall above the great cornice of travertine that curves in a
round in the interior, resting on the four great double piers that rise from the
ground with their capitals carved in the Corinthian Order, accompanied by
their architrave, frieze, and cornice, likewise of travertine; which great
cornice, curving right round over the great niches, rests supported upon the
four great arches of the three niches and of the entrance, which form the
cross of the building. Then there begins to spring the first part of the
tribune, the rise of which commences in a basement of travertine with a
platform six palms broad, where one can walk; and this basement curves in
a round in the manner of a well, and its thickness is thirty-three palms and
eleven inches, the height to the cornice eleven palms and ten inches, the
cornice over it about eight palms, and its projection six and a half palms.
Into this basement you enter, in order to ascend the tribune, by four

entrances that are over the arches of the niches, and the thickness of the
basement is divided into three parts; that on the inner side is fifteen palms,
that on the outer side is eleven palms, and that in the centre is seven palms
and eleven inches, which make up the thickness of thirty-three palms and
eleven inches. The space in the centre is hollow and serves as a passage,
which is two squares in height and curves in a continuous round, with a
barrel-shaped vault; and in line with the four entrances are eight doors, each
of which rises in four steps, one of them leading to the level platform of the
cornice of the first basement, six palms and a half in breadth, and another
leading to the inner cornice that curves round the tribune, eight palms and
three-quarters broad, on which platforms, by each door, you can walk
conveniently both within and without the edifice, and from one entrance to
another in a curve of two hundred and one palms, so that, the sections being
four, the whole circuit comes to be eight hundred and four palms. We now
have to ascend from the level of this basement, upon which rest the
columns and pilasters, and which forms the frieze of the windows within all
the way round, being fourteen palms and one inch in height, and around it,
on the outer side, there is at the foot a short order of cornice-work, and so
also at the top, which does not project more than ten inches, and all of
travertine; and so in the thickness of the third part, above that on the inner
side, which we have described as fifteen palms thick, there is made in every
quarter-section a staircase, one half of which ascends in one direction and
the second half in another, the width being four palms and a quarter; and
this staircase leads to the level of the columns. Above this level there begin
to rise, in line with the solid parts of the basement, eighteen large piers all
of travertine, each adorned with two columns on the outer side and pilasters
on the inner, as will be described below, and between the piers are left the
spaces where there are to be all the windows that are to give light to the
tribune. These piers, on the sides pointing towards the central point of the
tribune, are thirty-six palms in extent, and on the front sides nineteen and a
half. Each of them, on the outer side, has two columns, the lowest dado of
which is eight palms and three-quarters broad and one palm and a half high,
the base five palms and eight inches broad and ... palms and eleven inches
high, the shaft of the column forty-three and a half palms high, five palms
and six inches thick at the foot and four palms and nine inches at the top,
the Corinthian capital six palms and a half high, with the crown of
mouldings nine palms. Of these columns three quarters are to be seen, and

the other quarter is merged into the corner, with the accompaniment of the
half of a pilaster that makes a salient angle on the inner side, and this is
accompanied in the central inner space by the opening of an arched door,
five palms wide and thirteen palms and five inches high, from the summit
of which to the capitals of the pilasters and columns there is a filling of
solid masonry, serving as a connection with two other pilasters that are
similar to those that form a salient angle beside the columns. These two
pilasters correspond to the others, and adorn the sides of sixteen windows
that go right round the tribune, each with a light twelve palms and a half
wide and about twenty-two palms high. These windows are to be adorned
on the outer side with varied architraves two palms and three-quarters high,
and on the inner side they are to be adorned with orders likewise varied,
with pediments and quarter-rounds; and they are wide without and more
narrow within, and so, also, they are sloped away at the foot of the inner
side, so that they may give light over the frieze and cornice. Each of them is
bordered by two flat pilasters that correspond in height to the columns
without, so that there come to be thirty-six columns without and thirty-six
pilasters within; over which pilasters is the architrave, which is four palms
and three-quarters in height, the frieze four and a half, and the cornice four
and two-thirds, with a projection of five palms; and above this is to go a
range of balusters, so that one may be able to walk all the way round there
with safety. And in order that it may be possible to climb conveniently from
the level where the columns begin, another staircase ascends in the same
line within the thickness of the part that is fifteen palms wide, in the same
manner and of the same width, with two branches or ascents, all the way up
to the summit of the columns, with their capitals, architraves, friezes, and
cornices; insomuch that, without obstructing the light of the windows, these
stairs pass at the top into a spiral staircase of the same breadth, which
finally reaches the level where the turning of the tribune is to begin.
All this order, distribution, and ornamentation is so well varied,
commodious, rich, durable, and strong, and serves so well to support the
two vaults of the cupola that is to be turned upon it, that it is a very
ingenious thing, and it is all so well considered and then executed in
masonry, that there is nothing to be seen by the eyes of one who has
knowledge and understanding that is more pleasing, more beautiful, or
wrought with greater mastery, both on account of the binding together and

mortising of the stones and because it has in it in every part strength and
eternal life, and also because of the great judgment wherewith he contrived
to carry away the rain-water by many hidden channels, and, finally, because
he brought it to such perfection, that all other fabrics that have been built
and seen up to the present day appear as nothing in comparison with the
grandeur of this one. And it has been a very great loss that those whose duty
it was did not put all their power into the undertaking, for the reason that,
before death took away from us that rare man, we should have seen that
beautiful and terrible structure already raised.
Up to this point has Michelagnolo carried the masonry of the work; and it
only remains to make a beginning with the vaulting of the tribune, of which,
since the model has come down to us, we shall proceed to describe the
design that he has left to the end that it may be carried out. He turned the
curve of this vault on three points that make a triangle, in this manner:
A B
C
The point C, which is the lowest, is the principal one, wherewith he turned
the first half-circle of the tribune, with which he gave the form, height and
breadth of this vault, which he ordered to be built entirely of bricks well
baked and fired, laid herring-bone fashion. This shell he makes four palms
and a half thick, and as thick at the top as at the foot, and leaving beside it,
in the centre, a space four palms and a half wide at the foot, which is to
serve for the ascent of the stairs that are to lead to the lantern, rising from
the platform of the cornice where there are balusters. The arch of the
interior of the other shell, which is to be wider at the foot and narrower at
the top, is turned on the point marked B, and the thickness of the shell at the
foot is four palms and a half. And the last arch, which is to be turned in
order to make the exterior of the cupola, wider at the foot and narrowing
towards the top, is to be raised on the point marked A, which arch turned,
there remains at the top all the hollow space of the interior for the ascent of
the stairs, which are eight palms high, so that one may climb them upright;
and the thickness of that shell comes to diminish little by little, insomuch
that, being as before four palms and a half at the foot, it decreases at the top
to three palms and a half. And the outer shell comes to be so well bound to
the inner shell with bonds and with the stairs, that the one supports the

other; while of the eight parts into which the fabric is divided at the base,
the four over the arches are left hollow, in order to put less weight upon the
arches, and the other four are bound and chained together with bonds upon
the piers, so that the structure may have everlasting life.
The stairs in the centre between one shell and the other are constructed in
this form; from the level where the springing of the vault begins they rise in
each of the four sections, and each ascends from two entrances, the stairs
intersecting one another in the form of an X, until they have covered the
half of the arch marked C, on the upper side of the shell, when, having
ascended straight up the half of that arch, the remaining space is then easily
climbed circle after circle and step after step in a direct line, until finally
one arrives at the eye of the cupola, where the rise of the lantern begins,
around which, in accord with the diminution of the compartments that
spring above the piers, there is a smaller range of double pilasters and
windows similar to those that are constructed in the interior, as will be
described below.
Over the first great cornice within the tribune there begin at the foot the
compartments for the recesses that are in the vault of the tribune, which are
formed by sixteen projecting ribs. These at the foot are as broad as the
breadth of the two pilasters which at the lower end border each window
below the vault of the tribune, and they rise, diminishing pyramidally, as far
as the eye of the lantern; at the foot they rest on pedestals of the same
breadth and twelve palms high, and these pedestals rest on the level
platform of the cornice which goes in a circle right round the tribune.
Above this, in the recessed spaces between the ribs, there are eight large
ovals, each twenty-nine palms high, and over them a number of straight-
sided compartments that are wider at the foot and narrower at the top, and
twenty-four palms high, and then, the ribs drawing together, there comes
above each straight-sided compartment a round fourteen palms high; so that
there come to be eight ovals, eight straight-sided compartments, and eight
rounds, each range forming recesses that grow more shallow in succession.
The ground of all these displays extraordinary richness, for Michelagnolo
intended to make the ribs and the ornaments of the said ovals, straight-sided
compartments, and rounds, all corniced in travertine.

It remains for us to make mention of the surface and adornment of the arch
on that side of the vault where the roofing is to go, which begins to rise
from a base twenty-five palms and a half high, which has at the foot a
basement that has a projection of two palms, as have the crowning
mouldings at the top. The covering or roofing with which he proposed to
cover it is of lead, such as covers the roof of the old S. Pietro at the present
day, and is divided into sixteen sections from one solid base to another, each
base beginning where the two columns end, which are one on either side of
it. In each of these sections, in the centre, he made two windows to give
light to the inner space where the ascent of the stairs is, between the two
shells, so that in all they are thirty-two. These, by means of brackets that
support a quarter-round, he made projecting from the roof in such a manner
as to protect the lofty and novel view-point from the rain. In a line with the
centre of the solid base between each two columns, above which was the
crowning cornice, sprang a rib, one to each, wider at the foot and narrowing
at the top; in all sixteen ribs, five palms broad, in the centre of each of
which was a quadrangular channel one palm and a half wide, within which
is formed an ascent of steps about one palm high, by which to ascend or
descend between the platform at the foot and the summit where the lantern
begins. These are to be built of travertine and constructed with mortisings,
to the end that the joins may be protected against water and ice during times
of rain.
The design for the lantern is reduced in the same proportion as all the rest of
the work, so that, taking lines round the circumference, everything comes to
diminish in exact accord, and with proportionate measurements it rises as a
simple temple with round columns two by two, like those on the solid bases
below. These have pilasters to correspond to them, and one can walk all the
way round and see from the central spaces between the pilasters, where the
windows are, the interior of the tribune and the church. Above this,
architrave, frieze, and cornice curve in a round, projecting over each pair of
columns; and over these columns, in a line with them, spring some
caulicoles, which, together with some niches that divide them, rise to find
the end of the lantern, which, beginning to draw together, grows gradually
narrower for a third of its height, in the manner of a round pyramid, until it
reaches the ball, upon which, as the final crown of the structure, goes the
cross. Many particulars and minute details I might have mentioned, such as

air-holes for protection against earthquakes, water-conduits, the various
lights, and other conveniences, but I omit them because the work is not yet
come to completion, being content to have touched on the principal parts as
well as I have been able. For, since every part is in existence and can be
seen, it is enough to have made this brief sketch, which is a great light to
him who has no knowledge of the structure.
The completion of this model caused the greatest satisfaction not only to all
his friends, but to all Rome, the form of the fabric having been thus settled
and established. It then came to pass that Paul IV died, and after him was
elected Pius IV, who, while causing the building of the little palace in the
wood of the Belvedere to be continued by Pirro Ligorio, who remained
architect to the Palace, made many gracious offers and advances to
Michelagnolo. The Motu-proprio originally received by Michelagnolo from
Paul III, and then from Julius III and Paul IV, in respect of the fabric of S.
Pietro, he confirmed in his favour, and he restored to him a part of the
revenues and allowances taken away by Paul IV, employing him in many of
his works of building; and in his time he caused the fabric of S. Pietro to be
carried on vigorously. He made use of Michelagnolo, in particular, in
preparing a design for the tomb of the Marchese Marignano, his brother,
which, destined to be erected in the Duomo of Milan, was allotted by his
Holiness to the Chevalier Leone Lioni of Arezzo, a most excellent sculptor
and much the friend of Michelagnolo; the form of which tomb will be
described in the proper place.
At this time the Chevalier Leone made a very lively portrait of
Michelagnolo in a medal, and to please him he fashioned on the reverse a
blind man led by a dog, with these letters around:
DOCEBO INIQUOS VIAS TUAS, ET IMPII AD TE
CONVERTENTUR.
And Michelagnolo, since it pleased him much, presented him a model in
wax of Hercules crushing Antæus, by his own hand, with certain of his
designs. Of Michelagnolo we have no other portraits but two in painting,
one by the hand of Bugiardini and the other by Jacopo del Conte, one in
bronze executed in full-relief by Daniello Ricciarelli, and this one by the

Chevalier Leone; from which portraits so many copies have been made, that
I have seen a good number in many places in Italy and in foreign parts.
The same year Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, the son of Duke Cosimo,
went to Rome to receive the hat from Pius IV, and it fell to Vasari, as his
servant and familiar friend, to go with him; which Vasari went there
willingly and stayed about a month, in order to enjoy Michelagnolo, who
received him with great affection and was always with him. Vasari had
taken with him, by order of his Excellency, a model in wood of the whole
Ducal Palace of Florence, together with designs of the new apartments that
had been built and painted by him; which Michelagnolo desired to see both
in the model and in the designs, since, being old, he was not able to see the
works themselves. These works, which were abundant and well varied, with
different inventions and fancies, began with the Castration of Uranus and
continued in stories of Saturn, Ops, Ceres, Jove, Juno, and Hercules, each
room having one of these names, with the stories in various compartments;
even as the other chambers and halls, which were beneath these, had the
names of the heroes of the House of Medici, beginning with the elder
Cosimo, and continuing with Lorenzo, Leo X, Clement VII, Signor
Giovanni, Duke Alessandro, and Duke Cosimo, in each of which were not
only the stories of their actions, but also portraits of them, of their children,
and of all the ancients renowned in statesmanship, in arms, and in letters,
taken from the life. Of these Vasari had written a Dialogue in which he
explained all the stories, the end of the whole invention, and how the fables
above harmonized with the stories below; which was read to Michelagnolo
by Annibale Caro, and he took the greatest pleasure in it. This Dialogue,
when Vasari shall have more time, will be published.
The result of all this was as follows. Vasari was desirous of setting his hand
to the Great Hall, and since, as has been said elsewhere, the ceiling was
low, making it stunted and wanting in lights, he had a desire to raise that
ceiling. Now the Duke would not make up his mind to give him leave that it
should be raised; not that the Duke feared the cost, as was seen afterwards,
but rather the danger of raising the beams of the roof thirteen braccia.
However, like a man of judgment, his Excellency consented that the advice
of Michelagnolo should be taken, and Michelagnolo, having seen in that
model the Hall as it then was, and afterwards, all the beams having been
removed and replaced by other beams with a new invention in the ceiling

and walls, the same Hall as it has since been made, with the invention of the
stories likewise designed therein, liked it and straightway became not a
judge but a supporter, and the rather as he saw the facile method of raising
the beams and the roof, and the plan for executing the whole work in a short
time. Wherefore, on Vasari's return, he wrote to the Duke that he should
carry out that undertaking, since it was worthy of his greatness.

PORTA PIA
(After Michelagnolo. Rome)
Alinari
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The same year Duke Cosimo went to Rome with the Lady Duchess
Leonora, his consort, and Michelagnolo, after the Duke's arrival, went
straightway to see him. The Duke, after receiving him with many
endearments, caused him, out of respect for his great genius, to sit by his
side, and with much familiarity talked to him of all that he had caused to be
done in painting and sculpture at Florence, and also of all that he was

minded to have done, and in particular of the Hall; and Michelagnolo again
encouraged and reassured him in that matter, lamenting, since he loved that
Lord, that he was not young enough to be able to serve him. His Excellency
said that he had discovered the way to work porphyry, a thing which
Michelagnolo could not believe, and the Duke therefore sent him, as has
been related in the first chapter of the Treatise on Theory, the head of Christ
wrought by the sculptor Francesco del Tadda, at which he was astonished;
and he visited the Duke several times the while that he stayed in Rome, to
his vast satisfaction. He did the same a short time afterwards when the most
Illustrious Don Francesco de' Medici, the Duke's son, went there, in whom
Michelagnolo took much delight from the marks of regard and affection
shown to him by his most Illustrious Excellency, who spoke with him
always cap in hand, having infinite reverence for so rare a man; and
Michelagnolo wrote to Vasari that it vexed him to be old and infirm, for he
would have liked to do something for that Lord, but he was going about
trying to buy some beautiful antique to send to him in Florence.
Being requested at this time by the Pope for a design for the Porta Pia,
Michelagnolo made three, all fantastic and most beautiful, of which the
Pope chose the least costly for putting into execution; and it is now to be
seen erected there, with much credit to him. Perceiving the inclination of
the Pope, and hoping that he would restore the other gates of Rome, he
made many other designs for him; and he did the like, at the request of the
same Pontiff, in the matter of the new Church of S. Maria degli Angeli in
the Baths of Diocletian, in order to convert them into a temple for the use of
Christians. A design by his hand prevailed over many others made by
excellent architects, being executed with such beautiful considerations for
the convenience of the Carthusian Friars, who have now carried it almost to
completion, that it caused his Holiness and all the prelates and lords of the
Court to marvel at the judgment of the lovely conceptions that he had
drawn, availing himself of all the skeleton of those baths, out of which was
seen formed a most beautiful temple, with an entrance surpassing the
expectations of all the architects; from which he acquired infinite praise and
honour. For that place, also, he designed for his Holiness a Ciborium of the
Sacrament in bronze, cast for the most part by Maestro Jacopo Ciciliano, an
excellent bronze-caster, who makes his works come out very delicate and
fine, without any roughness, so that they can be polished with little labour;

in which field he is a rare master, and gave much satisfaction to
Michelagnolo.

S. MARIA DEGLI ANGELI
(After Michelagnolo. Rome)
Alinari
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The Florentine colony had often talked among themselves of giving a good
beginning to the Church of S. Giovanni in the Strada Giulia. Finally, all the
heads of the richest houses having assembled together, they each promised
to contribute in due proportion according to their means towards that fabric,
insomuch that they contrived to collect a good sum of money; and then it
was discussed among them whether it were better to follow the old lines or
to have something new and finer. It was determined that something new

should be erected upon the old foundations, and finally they elected three
men to have the charge of the fabric, who were Francesco Bandini, Uberto
Ubaldini, and Tommaso de' Bardi; and these requested Michelagnolo for a
design, recommending themselves to him on the ground that it was a
disgrace to their colony to have thrown away so much money without any
kind of profit, and that, if his genius did not avail to finish the work, they
had no other resource. He promised them to do it, with as much lovingness
as he had ever shown in any work in the past, because in this his old age he
readily gave his attention to sacred things, such as might redound to the
honour of God, and also from affection for his fellow-Florentines, whom he
loved always. Michelagnolo had with him at this conference the Florentine
sculptor Tiberio Calcagni, a young man very ardent to learn art, who, after
going to Rome, had turned his mind to the study of architecture. Loving
him, Michelagnolo had given him to finish, as has been related, the Pietà in
marble that he had broken, and, in addition, a head of Brutus in marble with
the breast, considerably larger than life, to the end that he might finish it. Of
this the head alone was carved, with certain most minute gradines, and he
had taken it from a portrait of Brutus cut in a very ancient cornelian that
was in the possession of Signor Giuliano Cesarino; which Michelagnolo
was doing for Cardinal Ridolfi at the entreaty of Messer Donato Giannotti,
his very dear friend, and it is a rare work. Michelagnolo, then, in matters of
architecture, not being able by reason of old age to draw any more or to
make accurate lines, was making use of Tiberio, because he was very gentle
and discreet; and thus, desiring to avail himself of him in such an
undertaking, he laid on him the charge of tracing the plan of the site of the
above-named church. That plan having been traced and carried straightway
to Michelagnolo, at a time when it was not thought that he was doing
anything, he gave them to understand through Tiberio that he had carried
out their wishes, and finally showed them five most beautiful ground-plans
of temples; which having seen, they marvelled. He said to them that they
should choose one that pleased them, and they, not wishing to do it, left the
matter to his judgment, but he insisted that they should decide of their own
free will; wherefore they all with one accord chose the richest. This having
been adopted, Michelagnolo said to them that if they carried such a design
to completion, neither the Greeks nor the Romans ever in their times
executed such a work; words that neither before nor afterwards ever issued
from the mouth of Michelagnolo, for he was very modest. Finally it was

agreed that the direction should be left entirely to Michelagnolo, and that
the labour of executing that work should fall to Tiberio; with all which they
were content, Buonarroti promising them that Tiberio would serve them
excellently well. And so, having given the ground-plan to Tiberio to be
drawn accurately and with correct measurements, he drew for him the
profiles both within and without, and bade him make a model of clay,
teaching him the way to execute it so that it might stand firm. In ten days
Tiberio executed a model of eight palms, which much pleased the whole
Florentine colony, so that afterwards they caused to be made from it a
model of wood, which is now in the residence of the Consuls of that colony;
a thing as rare in its beauty, richness, and great variety, as any temple that
has ever been seen. A beginning was made with the building, and five
thousand crowns were spent; but the funds for the fabric failed, and so it
was abandoned, at which Michelagnolo felt very great displeasure. He
obtained for Tiberio the commission to finish under his direction, at S.
Maria Maggiore, a chapel begun for Cardinal Santa Fiore; but it was left
unfinished, on account of the death of the Cardinal, of Michelagnolo, and of
Tiberio himself, the death of which young man was a very great loss.

BRUTUS
(After Michelagnolo. Florence: Museo Nazionale)

Brogi
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Michelagnolo had been seventeen years in the fabric of S. Pietro, and
several times the deputies had tried to remove him from that position, but
they had not succeeded, and they were seeking to oppose him in every
matter now with one vexatious pretext and now with another, hoping that
out of weariness, being now so old that he could do no more, he would
retire before them. It happened in those days that Cesare da Castel Durante,
who had been the overseer, died, and Michelagnolo, to the end that the
fabric might not suffer, sent there Luigi Gaeta, who was too young but very
competent, until he should find a man after his desire. The deputies (some
of whom had many times made efforts to place there Nanni di Baccio Bigio,
who was always urging them and promising great things), in order to be
able to disturb the affairs of the fabric at their pleasure, sent Luigi Gaeta

away, which having heard, Michelagnolo, as in anger, would no longer
show himself at the fabric; whereupon they began to give out that he could
do no more, that it was necessary to give him a substitute, and that he
himself had said that he did not wish to be embroiled any longer with S.
Pietro. All this came to the ears of Michelagnolo, who sent Daniello
Ricciarelli of Volterra to Bishop Ferratino, one of the superintendents, who
had said to the Cardinal of Carpi that Michelagnolo had told one of his
servants that he did not wish to be mixed up with the fabric any longer; and
Daniello said that this was by no means Michelagnolo's desire. Ferratino
complained that Michelagnolo would not make his conception known,
adding that it would be well for him to provide a substitute, and that he
would have gladly accepted Daniello; and with this Michelagnolo appeared
to be content. Thereupon Ferratino, having had the deputies informed in the
name of Michelagnolo that they now had a substitute, presented not
Daniello, but in his place Nanni di Baccio Bigio, who came in and was
accepted by the superintendents. Before very long he gave orders to make a
scaffolding of wood from the side of the Pope's stables, where the hill is, to
rise above the great recess that is turned towards that side, and caused some
stout beams of fir to be cut, saying that too many ropes were consumed in
drawing up the materials, and that it was better to raise them by his method.
Which having heard, Michelagnolo went straight to the Pope, who was on
the Piazza di Campidoglio, and made so much noise that his Holiness made
him go at once into a room, where he said: "Holy Father, there has been
appointed as my substitute by the deputies a man of whom I know nothing;
but if they are convinced, and also your Holiness, that I am no longer the
proper man, I will return to rest in Florence, where I will enjoy the favours
of that great Duke who has so long desired me, and will finish my life in my
own house; I therefore beg your gracious leave." The Pope was vexed at
this, and, consoling him with kind words, ordained that he should come to
speak with him on the following day at the Araceli. There, having caused
the deputies of the fabric to be assembled together, he desired to be
informed of the reasons of what had happened: whereupon their answer was
that the fabric was going to ruin, and that errors were being made in it.
Which having heard not to be the truth, the Pope commanded Signor Gabrio
Scerbellone that he should go to see the fabric for himself, and that Nanni,
who was making these assertions, should show it to him. This was carried
out, and Signor Gabrio found that the whole story was a malicious slander,

and not the truth; wherefore Nanni was dismissed from that fabric with no
very flattering words in the presence of many lords, being also reproached
that by his fault the bridge of Santa Maria fell into ruin, and that at Ancona,
seeking to do great things at little cost in the matter of cleaning out the
harbour, he filled it up more in one day than the sea had done in ten years.
Such was the end of Nanni in the fabric of S. Pietro. For that work
Michelagnolo for seventeen years attended constantly to nothing but to
establishing it securely with directions, doubting on account of those
envious persecutions lest it might come to be changed after his death; so
that at the present day it is strong enough to allow the vaulting to be raised
with perfect security. Thus it has been seen that God, who is the protector of
the good, defended him as long as he lived, and worked for the benefit of
the fabric and for the defence of the master until his death. Moreover, Pius
IV, living after him, commanded the superintendents of the fabric that
nothing of what Michelagnolo had directed should be changed; and with
even greater authority his successor, Pius V, caused it to be carried out,
who, lest disorder should arise, insisted that the designs made by
Michelagnolo should be carried into execution with the utmost fidelity, so
that, when the architects Pirro Ligorio and Jacopo Vignuola were in charge
of it, and Pirro wished presumptuously to disturb and alter those directions,
he was removed with little honour from that fabric, and only Vignuola
remained. Finally, that Pontiff being full of zeal no less for the honour of
the fabric of S. Pietro than for the Christian religion, in the year 1565, when
Vasari went to kiss the feet of his Holiness, and in the year 1566, when he
was again summoned, nothing was discussed save the means to ensure the
observing of the designs left by Michelagnolo; and his Holiness, in order to
obviate all chance of disorder, commanded Vasari that he should go with
Messer Guglielmo Sangalletti, the private treasurer of his Holiness, to seek
out Bishop Ferratino, the head of the superintendents of S. Pietro, with
orders from the Pontiff that he should listen to all the suggestions and
records of importance that Vasari might impart to him, to the end that no
words of any malignant and presumptuous person might ever cause to be
disturbed any line or order left by the excellent genius of Michelagnolo of
happy memory; and at that interview was present Messer Giovan Battista
Altoviti, who was much the friend of Vasari and of these arts. And
Ferratino, having heard a discourse that Vasari made to him, readily
accepted every record, and promised to observe and to cause to be observed

with the utmost fidelity in that fabric every order and design that
Michelagnolo had left for that purpose, and, in addition, to be the protector,
defender, and preserver of the labours of that great man.
But to return to Michelagnolo: I must relate that about a year before his
death, Vasari secretly prevailed upon Duke Cosimo de' Medici to persuade
the Pope by means of Messer Averardo Serristori, his Ambassador, that,
since Michelagnolo was much reduced, a diligent watch should be kept on
those who were about him to take care of him, or who visited him at his
house, and that, in the event of some sudden accident happening to him,
such as might well happen to an old man, he should make arrangements for
his property, designs, cartoons, models, money, and all his other possessions
at the time of his death, to be set down in an inventory and placed in
security, for the sake of the fabric of S. Pietro, so that, if there were things
pertaining to that fabric, and also to the sacristy, library, and façade of S.
Lorenzo, they might not be taken away, as is often wont to happen; and in
the end, all this being duly carried out, such diligence had its reward.
Leonardo, the nephew of Michelagnolo, was desirous to go during the
coming Lent to Rome, as one who guessed that he was now come to the end
of his life; and at this Michelagnolo was content. When, therefore, he fell
sick of a slow fever, he straightway caused Daniello to write to Leonardo
that he should come; but the illness grew worse, although Messer Federigo
Donati, his physician, and his other attendants were about him, and with
perfect consciousness he made his will in three sentences, leaving his soul
in the hands of God, his body to the earth, and his substance to his nearest
relatives, and enjoining on his friends that, at his passing from this life, they
should recall to him the agony of Jesus Christ. And so at the twenty-third
hour of the seventeenth day of February, in the year 1563 (after the
Florentine reckoning, which according to the Roman would be 1564), he
breathed his last, to go to a better life.
Michelagnolo was much inclined to the labours of art, seeing that
everything, however difficult, succeeded with him, he having had from
nature a genius very apt and ardent in these most noble arts of design.
Moreover, in order to be entirely perfect, innumerable times he made
anatomical studies, dissecting men's bodies in order to see the principles of
their construction and the concatenation of the bones, muscles, veins, and
nerves, the various movements and all the postures of the human body; and

not of men only, but also of animals, and particularly of horses, which last
he much delighted to keep. Of all these he desired to learn the principles
and laws in so far as touched his art, and this knowledge he so demonstrated
in the works that fell to him to handle, that those who attend to no other
study than this do not know more. He so executed his works, whether with
the brush or with the chisel, that they are almost inimitable, and he gave to
his labours, as has been said, such art and grace, and a loveliness of such a
kind, that (be it said without offence to any) he surpassed and vanquished
the ancients; having been able to wrest things out of the greatest difficulties
with such facility, that they do not appear wrought with effort, although
whoever draws his works after him finds enough in imitating them.
The genius of Michelagnolo was recognized in his lifetime, and not, as
happens to many, after death, for it has been seen that Julius II, Leo X,
Clement VII, Paul III, Julius III, Paul IV, and Pius IV, all supreme Pontiffs,
always wished to have him near them, and also, as is known, Suleiman,
Emperor of the Turks, Francis of Valois, King of France, the Emperor
Charles V, the Signoria of Venice, and finally, as has been related, Duke
Cosimo de' Medici; all offering him honourable salaries, for no other reason
but to avail themselves of his great genius. This does not happen save to
men of great worth, such as he was; and it is evident and well known that
all these three arts were so perfected in him, that it is not found that among
persons ancient or modern, in all the many years that the sun has been
whirling round, God has granted this to any other but Michelagnolo. He had
imagination of such a kind, and so perfect, and the things conceived by him
in idea were such, that often, through not being able to express with the
hands conceptions so terrible and grand, he abandoned his works—nay,
destroyed many of them; and I know that a little before he died he burned a
great number of designs, sketches, and cartoons made with his own hand, to
the end that no one might see the labours endured by him and his methods
of trying his genius, and that he might not appear less than perfect. Of such
I have some by his hand, found in Florence, and placed in my book of
drawings; from which, although the greatness of that brain is seen in them,
it is evident that when he wished to bring forth Minerva from the head of
Jove, he had to use Vulcan's hammer. Thus he used to make his figures in
the proportion of nine, ten, and even twelve heads, seeking nought else but
that in putting them all together there should be a certain harmony of grace

in the whole, which nature does not present; saying that it was necessary to
have the compasses in the eyes and not in the hand, because the hands work
and the eye judges; which method he used also in architecture.
No one should think it strange that Michelagnolo delighted in solitude, he
having been one who was enamoured of his art, which claims a man, with
all his thoughts, for herself alone; moreover, it is necessary that he who
wishes to attend to her studies should shun society, and, while attending to
the considerations of art, he is never alone or without thoughts. And those
who attributed it to caprice and eccentricity are wrong, because he who
wishes to work well must withdraw himself from all cares and vexations,
since art demands contemplation, solitude, and ease of life, and will not
suffer the mind to wander. For all this, he prized the friendship of many
great persons and of learned and ingenious men, at convenient times; and
these he maintained. Thus the great Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici loved him
greatly, and, having heard that a Turkish horse that he possessed pleased
Michelagnolo because of its beauty, it was sent as a present to him by the
liberality of that lord, with ten mules laden with fodder, and a serving-man
to attend to it; and Michelagnolo accepted it willingly. The illustrious
Cardinal Pole was much his friend, Michelagnolo being enamoured of his
goodness and his talents; also Cardinal Farnese, and Santa Croce, which
latter afterwards became Pope Marcellus, Cardinal Ridolfi, Cardinal
Maffeo, Monsignor Bembo, Carpi, and many other Cardinals, Bishops, and
Prelates, whom it is not necessary to name. Others were Monsignor Claudio
Tolomei, the Magnificent Messer Ottaviano de' Medici, his gossip, whose
son he held at baptism, and Messer Bindo Altoviti, to whom he presented
that cartoon of the Chapel in which Noah, drunk with wine, is derided by
one of his sons, and his nakedness is covered by the two others; M. Lorenzo
Ridolfi, M. Annibale Caro, and M. Giovan Francesco Lottini of Volterra.
But infinitely more than any of the others he loved M. Tommaso de'
Cavalieri, a Roman gentleman, for whom, being a young man and much
inclined to these arts, he made, to the end that he might learn to draw, many
most superb drawings of divinely beautiful heads, designed in black and red
chalk; and then he drew for him a Ganymede rapt to Heaven by Jove's
Eagle, a Tityus with the Vulture devouring his heart, the Chariot of the Sun
falling with Phaëthon into the Po, and a Bacchanal of children, which are all
in themselves most rare things, and drawings the like of which have never

been seen. Michelagnolo made a life-size portrait of Messer Tommaso in a
cartoon, and neither before nor afterwards did he take the portrait of
anyone, because he abhorred executing a resemblance to the living subject,
unless it were of extraordinary beauty. These drawings, on account of the
great delight that M. Tommaso took in them, were the reason that he
afterwards obtained a good number, miraculous things, which Michelagnolo
once drew for Fra Sebastiano Viniziano, who carried them into execution;
and in truth he rightly treasures them as reliques, and he has courteously
given craftsmen access to them. Of a truth Michelagnolo always placed his
affections with persons noble, deserving, and worthy of them, for he had
true judgment and taste in all things.

UNFINISHED FIGURE
(After Michelagnolo. Florence: Museo Nazionale)

Brogi
View larger image

M. Tommaso afterwards caused Michelagnolo to make many designs for
friends, such as that of the picture for Cardinal di Cesis, wherein is Our
Lady receiving the Annunciation from the Angel, a novel thing, which was
afterwards executed in colours by Marcello Mantovano and placed in the
marble chapel which that Cardinal caused to be built in the Church of the
Pace at Rome. So, also, with another Annunciation coloured likewise by the
hand of Marcello in a picture in the Church of S. Giovanni Laterano, the
design of which belongs to Duke Cosimo de' Medici, having been presented
after Michelagnolo's death by his nephew Leonardo Buonarroti to his
Excellency, who cherishes it as a jewel, together with a Christ praying in
the Garden and many other designs, sketches, and cartoons by the hand of
Michelagnolo, and likewise the statue of Victory with a captive beneath,
five braccia in height, and four captives in the rough which serve to teach us
how to carve figures from the marble by a method secure from any chance
of spoiling the stone; which method is as follows. You take a figure in wax
or some other solid material, and lay it horizontally in a vessel of water,
which water being by its nature flat and level at the surface, as you raise the
said figure little by little from the level, so it comes about that the more
salient parts are revealed, while the lower parts—those, namely, on the
under side of the figure—remain hidden, until in the end it all comes into
view. In the same manner must figures be carved out of marble with the
chisel, first laying bare the more salient parts, and then little by little the
lower parts; and this method may be seen to have been followed by
Michelagnolo in the above-mentioned captives, which his Excellency
wishes to be used as exemplars for his Academicians.
Michelagnolo loved his fellow-craftsmen, and held intercourse with them,
as with Jacopo Sansovino, Rosso, Pontormo, Daniello da Volterra, and
Giorgio Vasari of Arezzo, to which last he showed innumerable kindnesses;
and he was the reason that Giorgio gave his attention to architecture,
intending to make use of him some day, and he readily conferred and
discussed matters of art with him. Those who say that he was not willing to
teach are wrong, because he was always willing with his intimates and with
anyone who asked him for counsel; and I have been present on many such
occasions, but of these, out of consideration, I say nothing, not wishing to

reveal the deficiencies of others. It may be urged that he had bad fortune
with those who lived with him in his house, which was because he hit upon
natures little able to imitate him. Thus, Pietro Urbano of Pistoia, his pupil,
was a man of parts, but would never exert himself. Antonio Mini was
willing, but had no aptitude of brain; and when the wax is hard it does not
readily take an impression. Ascanio dalla Ripa Transone took great pains,
but of this no fruits were ever seen either in designs or in finished works,
and he toiled several years over a picture for which Michelagnolo had given
him a cartoon. In the end, all the good expectation in which he was held
vanished in smoke; and I remember that Michelagnolo would be seized
with compassion for his toil, and would assist him with his own hand, but
this profited him little. If he had found a nature after his heart, as he told me
several times, in spite of his age he would often have made anatomical
studies, and would have written upon them, for the benefit of his fellow-
craftsmen; for he was disappointed by several. But he did not trust himself,
through not being able to express himself in writing as he would have liked,
because he was not practised in diction, although in the prose of his letters
he explained his conceptions very well in a few words. He much delighted
in readings of the poets in the vulgar tongue, and particularly of Dante,
whom he much admired, imitating him in his conceptions and inventions;
and so with Petrarca, having delighted to make madrigals and sonnets of
great weight, upon which commentaries have been written. M. Benedetto
Varchi gave a lecture in the Florentine Academy upon that sonnet which
begins—
Non ha l'ottimo artista alcun concetto
Ch'un marmo solo in se non circonscriva.
Michelagnolo sent a vast number by his own hand—receiving answers in
rhyme and in prose—to the most illustrious Marchioness of Pescara, of
whose virtues he was enamoured, and she likewise of his; and she went
many times to Rome from Viterbo to visit him, and Michelagnolo designed
for her a Dead Christ in the lap of Our Lady, with two little Angels, all most
admirable, and a Christ fixed on the Cross, who, with the head uplifted, is
recommending His Spirit to the Father, a divine work; and also a Christ
with the Woman of Samaria at the well. He much delighted in the sacred
Scriptures, like the excellent Christian that he was; and he held in great
veneration the works written by Fra Girolamo Savonarola, because he had

heard the voice of that friar in the pulpit. He greatly loved human beauty for
the sake of imitation in art, being able to select from the beautiful the most
beautiful, for without this imitation no perfect work can be done; but not
with lascivious and disgraceful thoughts, as he proved by his way of life,
which was very frugal. Thus, when he was young, all intent on his work, he
contented himself with a little bread and wine, and this he continued when
old until the time when he was painting the Judgment in the Chapel, taking
his refreshment in the evening when he had finished the day's work, but
always very frugally. And, although he was rich, he lived like a poor man,
nor did any friend ever eat at his table, or rarely; and he would not accept
presents from anyone, because it appeared to him that if anyone gave him
something, he would be bound to him for ever. This sober life kept him very
active and in want of very little sleep, and often during the night, not being
able to sleep, he would rise to labour with the chisel; having made a cap of
thick paper, and over the centre of his head he kept a lighted candle, which
in this way threw light over where he was working without encumbering his
hands. Vasari, who had seen the cap several times, reflecting that he did not
use wax, but candles of pure goat's tallow, which are excellent, sent him
four bundles of these, which weighed forty libbre. And his servant with all
courtesy carried them to him at the second hour of the evening, and
presented them to him; but Michelagnolo refused them, declaring that he
did not want them; and then the servant said: "They have broken my arms
on the way between the bridge and here, and I shall not carry them back to
the house. Now here in front of your door there is a solid heap of mud; they
will stand in it beautifully, and I will set them all alight." Michelagnolo said
to him: "Put them down here, for I will not have you playing pranks at my
door."
He told me that often in his youth he slept in his clothes, being weary with
labour and not caring to take them off only to have to put them on again
later. There are some who have taxed him with being avaricious, but they
are mistaken, for both with works of art and with his substance he proved
the contrary. Of works of art, as has been seen and related, he presented to
M. Tommaso de' Cavalieri, to Messer Bindo, and to Fra Sebastiano, designs
of considerable value; and to Antonio Mini, his pupil, all his designs, all his
cartoons, and the picture of the Leda, and all the models in clay and wax
that he ever made, which, as has been related, were all left in France. To

Gherardo Perini, a Florentine gentleman who was very much his friend, he
gave three sheets with some divine heads in black chalk, which since
Perini's death have come into the hands of the most illustrious Don
Francesco, Prince of Florence, who treasures them as jewels, as indeed they
are; for Bartolommeo Bettini he made a cartoon, which he presented to him,
of a Venus with a Cupid that is kissing her, a divine thing, which is now in
the possession of Bettini's heirs in Florence, and for the Marchese del Vasto
he made a cartoon of a "Noli me Tangere," a rare thing; and these two last
were painted excellently well by Pontormo, as has been related. He
presented the two Captives to Signor Ruberto Strozzi, and the Pietà in
marble, which he broke, to Antonio, his servant, and to Francesco Bandini. I
know not, therefore, how this man can be taxed with avarice, he having
given away so many things for which he could have obtained thousands of
crowns. What better proof can I give than this, that I know from personal
experience that he made many designs and went to see many pictures and
buildings, without demanding any payment? But let us come to the money
earned by him by the sweat of his brow, not from revenues, not from
traffickings, but from his own study and labour. Can he be called avaricious
who succoured many poor persons, as he did, and secretly married off a
good number of girls, and enriched those who served him and assisted him
in his works, as with his servant Urbino, whom he made a very rich man?
This Urbino was his man of all work, and had served him a long time; and
Michelagnolo said to him: "If I die, what will you do?" And he answered: "I
will serve another master." "You poor creature," said Michelagnolo, "I will
save you from such misery"; and presented two thousand crowns to him in
one sum, an act such as is generally left to Cæsars and Pontiffs. To his
nephew, moreover, he gave three and four thousand crowns at a time, and at
the end he left him ten thousand crowns, besides the property in Rome.
Michelagnolo was a man of tenacious and profound memory, so that, on
seeing the works of others only once, he remembered them perfectly, and
could avail himself of them in such a manner, that scarcely anyone has ever
noticed it; nor did he ever do anything that resembled another thing by his
hand, because he remembered everything that he had done. In his youth,
being once with his painter-friends, they played for a supper for him who
should make a figure most completely wanting in design and clumsy, after
the likeness of the puppet-figures which those make who know nothing,

scrawling upon walls; and in this he availed himself of his memory, for he
remembered having seen one of those absurdities on a wall, and drew it
exactly as if he had had it before him, and thus surpassed all those painters
—a thing difficult for a man so steeped in design, and accustomed to choice
works, to come out of with credit. He was full of disdain, and rightly,
against anyone who did him an injury, but he was never seen to run to take
revenge; nay, rather, he was most patient, modest in all his ways, very
prudent and wise in his speech, with answers full of weight, and at times
sayings most ingenious, amusing, and acute. He said many things that have
been written down by me, of which I shall include only a few, because it
would take too long to give them all. A friend having spoken to him of
death, saying that it must grieve him much, because he had lived in
continual labour in matters of art, and had never had any repose, he
answered that all that was nothing, because, if life is a pleasure to us, death,
being likewise by the hand of one and the same master, should not displease
us. To a citizen who found him by Orsanmichele in Florence, where he had
stopped to gaze at Donato's statue of S. Mark, and who asked him what he
thought of that figure, Michelagnolo answered that he had never seen a
figure that had more of the air of a good man than that one, and that, if S.
Mark was like that, one could give credence to what he had written. Being
shown the drawing of a boy then beginning to learn to draw, who was
recommended to him, some persons excusing him because it was not long
since he had applied himself to art, he replied: "That is evident." He said a
similar thing to a painter who had painted a Pietà, and had not acquitted
himself well: "It is indeed a pitiful thing to see." Having heard that
Sebastiano Viniziano had to paint a friar in the chapel of S. Pietro a
Montorio, he said that this would spoil the work for him; and being asked
why he said that, he answered: "Since they have spoiled the world, which is
so large, it would not be surprising if they were to spoil such a small thing
as that chapel." A painter had executed a work with very great pains, toiling
over it a long time; but when it was given to view he had made a
considerable profit. Michelagnolo was asked what he thought of the
craftsman, and he answered: "As long as this man strives to be rich, he will
always remain a poor creature." One of his friends who was a churchman,
and used formerly to say Mass, having arrived in Rome all covered with
points and silk, saluted Michelagnolo; but he pretended not to see him, so
that the friend was forced to declare his name to him. Michelagnolo

expressed marvel that he should be in that habit, and then added, as it were
to congratulate him: "Oh, but you are magnificent! If you were as fine
within as I see you to be without, it would be well with your soul." The
same man had recommended a friend to Michelagnolo (who had given him
a statue to execute), praying him that he should have something more given
to him, which Michelagnolo graciously did; but the envy of the friend, who
had made the request to Michelagnolo only in the belief that he would not
grant it, brought it about that, perceiving that the master had granted it after
all, he complained of it. This matter was reported to Michelagnolo, and he
answered that he did not like men made like sewers, using a metaphor from
architecture, and meaning that it is difficult to have dealings with men who
have two mouths. Being asked by a friend what he thought of one who had
counterfeited in marble some of the most celebrated antique figures, and
boasted that in his imitations he had surpassed the antiques by a great
measure, Michelagnolo replied: "He who goes behind others can never go
in front of them, and he who is not able to work well for himself cannot
make good use of the works of others." A certain painter, I know not who,
had executed a work wherein was an ox, which looked better than any other
part; and Michelagnolo, being asked why the painter had made the ox more
lifelike than the rest, said: "Any painter can make a good portrait of
himself." Passing by S. Giovanni in Florence, he was asked his opinion of
those doors, and he answered: "They are so beautiful that they would do
well at the gates of Paradise." While serving a Prince who kept changing
plans every day, and would never stand firm, Michelagnolo said to a friend:
"This lord has a brain like a weather-cock, which turns round with every
wind that blows on it." He went to see a work of sculpture which was about
to be sent out because it was finished, and the sculptor was taking much
trouble to arrange the lights from the windows, to the end that it might show
up well; whereupon Michelagnolo said to him: "Do not trouble yourself; the
important thing will be the light of the Piazza"; meaning to infer that when
works are in public places, the people must judge whether they are good or
bad. There was a great Prince in Rome who had a notion to play the
architect, and he had caused certain niches to be built in which to place
figures, each three squares high, with a ring at the top; and having tried to
place various statues within these niches, which did not turn out well, he
asked Michelagnolo what he should place in them, and he answered: "Hang
bunches of eels from those rings." There was appointed to the government

of the fabric of S. Pietro a gentleman who professed to understand
Vitruvius, and to be a critic of the work done. Michelagnolo was told, "You
have obtained for the fabric one who has a great intelligence"; and he
answered, "That is true, but he has a bad judgment." A painter had executed
a scene, and had copied many things from various other works, both
drawings and pictures, nor was there anything in that work that was not
copied. It was shown to Michelagnolo, who, having seen it, was asked by a
very dear friend what he thought of it, and he replied: "He has done well,
but I know not what this scene will do on the day of Judgment, when all
bodies shall recover their members, for there will be nothing left of it"—a
warning to those who practise art, that they should make a habit of working
by themselves. Passing through Modena, he saw many beautiful figures by
the hand of Maestro Antonio Bigarino,[5] a sculptor of Modena, made of
terra-cotta and coloured in imitation of marble, which appeared to him to be
excellent works; and, since that sculptor did not know how to work marble,
Michelagnolo said: "If this clay were to become marble, woe to the ancient
statues." Michelagnolo was told that he should show resentment against
Nanni di Baccio Bigio, who was seeking every day to compete with him;
but he answered: "He who contends with men of no account never gains a
victory." A priest, his friend, said to him: "It is a pity that you have not
taken a wife, so that you might have had many children and left them all
your honourable labours." And Michelagnolo replied: "I have only too
much of a wife in this art of mine, who has always kept me in tribulation,
and my children shall be the works that I may leave, which, even if they are
naught, will live a while. Woe to Lorenzo di Bartoluccio Ghiberti, if he had
not made the gates of S. Giovanni, for his children and grandchildren sold
or squandered all that he left, but the gates are still standing." Vasari, sent
by Julius III to Michelagnolo's house for a design at the first hour of the
night, found him working at the Pietà in marble that he broke.
Michelagnolo, recognizing him by the knock at the door, left his work and
took a lamp with his hand by the handle; Vasari explained what he wanted,
whereupon Michelagnolo sent Urbino upstairs for the design, and then they
entered into another conversation. Meanwhile Vasari turned his eyes to
examine a leg of the Christ at which he was working, seeking to change it;
and, in order to prevent Vasari from seeing it, he let the lamp fall from his
hand, and they were left in darkness. He called to Urbino to bring a light,
and meanwhile came forth from the enclosure where the work was, and

said: "I am so old that death often pulls me by the cloak, that I may go with
him, and one day this body of mine will fall like the lamp, and the light of
my life will be spent."
For all this, he took pleasure in certain kinds of men after his taste, such as
Menighella, a commonplace and clownish painter of Valdarno, who was a
most diverting person. He would come at times to Michelagnolo, that he
might make for him a design of S. Rocco or S. Anthony, to be painted for
peasants; and Michelagnolo, who was with difficulty persuaded to work for
Kings, would deign to set aside all his other work and make him simple
designs suited to his manner and his wishes, as Menighella himself used to
say. Among other things, Menighella persuaded him to make a model of a
Crucifix, which was very beautiful; of this he made a mould, from which he
formed copies in pasteboard and other materials, and these he went about
selling throughout the countryside. Michelagnolo would burst out laughing
at him, particularly because he used to meet with fine adventures, as with a
countryman who commissioned him to paint a S. Francis, and was
displeased because Menighella had made the vestment grey, whereas he
would have liked it of a finer colour; whereupon Menighella painted over
the Saint's shoulders a pluvial of brocade, and so contented him.
He loved, likewise, the stone-cutter Topolino, who had a notion of being an
able sculptor, but was in truth very feeble. This man spent many years in the
mountains of Carrara, sending marble to Michelagnolo; nor would he ever
send a boatload without adding to it three or four little figures blocked out
with his own hand, at which Michelagnolo would die of laughing. Finally
Topolino returned, and, having blocked out a Mercury from a piece of
marble, he set himself to finish it; and one day, when there was little left to
do, he desired that Michelagnolo should see it, and straitly besought him
that he should tell him his opinion. "You are a madman to try to make
figures, Topolino," said Michelagnolo. "Do you not see that your Mercury
is more than a third of a braccio too short between the knees and the feet,
and that you have made him a dwarf and all misshapen?" "Oh, that is
nothing! If there is nothing else wrong, I will put it right; leave it to me."
Michelagnolo laughed once more at his simplicity; and when he was gone,
Topolino took a piece of marble, and, having cut the Mercury a quarter of a
braccio below the knees, he let it into the new piece of marble and joined it
neatly together, making a pair of buskins for the Mercury, the tops of which

were above the joins; and so he added the length required. Then he invited
Michelagnolo to come, and showed him his work once again; and the
master laughed, marvelling that such simpletons, when driven by necessity,
form resolutions of which able men are not capable.
While Michelagnolo was having the tomb of Julius II finished, he caused a
marble-hewer to execute a terminal figure for placing in the tomb in S.
Pietro in Vincola, saying to him, "Cut away this to-day," "Level that,"
"Polish here"; insomuch that, without the other noticing it, he enabled him
to make a figure. Wherefore, when it was finished, the man gazed at it
marvelling; and Michelagnolo said: "What do you think of it?" "I think it
fine," he answered, "and I am much obliged to you." "Why so?" asked
Michelagnolo. "Because by your means I have discovered a talent that I did
not know I possessed."
Now, to be brief, I must record that the master's constitution was very
sound, for he was lean and well knit together with nerves, and although as a
boy he was delicate, and as a man he had two serious illnesses, he could
always endure any fatigue and had no infirmity, save that in his old age he
suffered from dysuria and from gravel, which in the end developed into the
stone; wherefore for many years he was syringed by the hand of Maestro
Realdo Colombo, his very dear friend, who treated him with great
diligence. He was of middle stature, broad in the shoulders, but well
proportioned in all the rest of the body. In his latter years he wore buskins
of dogskin on the legs, next to the skin, constantly for whole months
together, so that afterwards, when he sought to take them off, on drawing
them off the skin often came away with them. Over the stockings he wore
boots of cordwain fastened on the inside, as a protection against damp. His
face was round, the brow square and spacious, with seven straight lines, and
the temples projected considerably beyond the ears; which ears were
somewhat on the large side, and stood out from the cheeks. The body was in
proportion to the face, or rather on the large side; the nose somewhat
flattened, as was said in the Life of Torrigiano, who broke it for him with
his fist; the eyes rather on the small side, of the colour of horn, spotted with
blueish and yellowish gleams; the eyebrows with few hairs, the lips thin,
with the lower lip rather thicker and projecting a little, the chin well shaped
and in proportion with the rest, the hair black, but mingled with white hairs,
like the beard, which was not very long, forked, and not very thick.

Truly his coming was to the world, as I said at the beginning, an exemplar
sent by God to the men of our arts, to the end that they might learn from his
life the nature of noble character, and from his works what true and
excellent craftsmen ought to be. And I, who have to praise God for infinite
blessings, as is seldom wont to happen with men of our profession, count it
among the greatest blessings that I was born at the time when Michelagnolo
was alive, that I was thought worthy to have him as my master, and that he
was so much my friend and intimate, as everyone knows, and as the letters
written by him to me, now in my possession, bear witness; and out of love
for truth, and also from the obligation that I feel to his loving kindness, I
have contrived to write many things of him, and all true, which many others
have not been able to do. Another blessing he used to point out to me
himself: "You should thank God, Giorgio, who has caused you to serve
Duke Cosimo, who, in his contentment that you should build and paint and
carry into execution his conceptions and designs, has grudged no expense;
and you will remember, if you consider it, that the others whose Lives you
have written did not have such advantages."
With most honourable obsequies, and with a concourse of all the craftsmen,
all his friends, and all the Florentine colony, Michelagnolo was given burial
in a sepulchre at S. Apostolo, in the sight of all Rome; his Holiness having
intended to make him some particular memorial and tomb in S. Pietro at
Rome. Leonardo, his nephew, arrived when all was over, although he
travelled post. When Duke Cosimo was informed of the event, he
confirmed his resolve that since he had not been able to have him and
honour him alive, he would have him brought to Florence and not hesitate
to honour him with all manner of pomp after death; and the body was sent
secretly in a bale, under the title of merchandise, which method was
adopted lest there might be a tumult in Rome, and lest perchance the body
of Michelagnolo might be detained and prevented from leaving Rome for
Florence. But before the body arrived, the news of the death having been
heard, the principal painters, sculptors, and architects were assembled
together at the summons of the Lieutenant of their Academy, and they were
reminded by that Lieutenant, who at that time was the Reverend Don
Vincenzio Borghini, that they were obliged by virtue of their statutes to pay
due honour to the death of any of their brethren, and that, they having done
this so lovingly and with such universal satisfaction in the obsequies of Fra

Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli, who had been the first to die after the creation
of the Academy, they should look well to what it might be proper for them
to do in honour of Buonarroti, who had been elected by an unanimous vote
of the whole body of the Company as the first Academician and the head of
them all. To which proposal they all replied, as men most deeply indebted
and affected to the genius of so great a man, that at all costs pains should be
taken to do him honour in the best and finest ways available to them. This
done, in order not to have to assemble so many persons together every day,
to their great inconvenience, and to the end that matters might proceed more
quietly, four men were elected as heads of the obsequies and the funeral
pomp that were to be held; the painters Agnolo Bronzino and Giorgio
Vasari, and the sculptors Benvenuto Cellini and Bartolommeo Ammanati,
all men of illustrious name and eminent ability in their arts; to the end, I
say, that they might consult and determine between themselves and the
Lieutenant what was to be done in each particular, and in what way, with
authority and power to dispose of the whole body of the Company and
Academy. This charge they accepted all the more willingly because all the
members, young and old, each in his own profession, offered their services
for the execution of such pictures and statues as had to be done for that
funeral pomp. They then ordained that the Lieutenant, in pursuance of his
office, and the Consuls, in the name of the Company and Academy, should
lay the whole matter before the Lord Duke, and beseech him for all the aids
and favours that might be necessary, and especially for permission to have
those obsequies held in S. Lorenzo, the church of the most illustrious House
of Medici; wherein are the greater part of the works by the hand of
Michelagnolo that there are to be seen in Florence; and, in addition, that his
Excellency should allow Messer Benedetto Varchi to compose and deliver
the funeral oration, to the end that the excellent genius of Michelagnolo
might be extolled by the rare eloquence of a man so great as was Varchi,
who, being in the particular service of his Excellency, would not have
undertaken such a charge without a word from him, although they were
very certain that, as one most loving by nature and deeply affected to the
memory of Michelagnolo, of himself he would never have refused. This
done, and the Academicians dismissed, the above-named Lieutenant wrote
to the Lord Duke a letter of this precise tenor:

"The Academy and Company of Painters and Sculptors having resolved
among themselves, if it should please your most illustrious Excellency, to
do honour in some sort to the memory of Michelagnolo Buonarroti, both
from the general obligation due from their profession to the extraordinary
genius of one who was perhaps the greatest craftsman who has ever lived,
and from their particular obligation through their belonging to a common
country, and also because of the great advantage that these professions have
received from the perfection of his works and inventions, insomuch that
they hold themselves obliged to prove their affection to his genius in
whatever way they are able, they have laid this their desire before your
illustrious Excellency in a letter, and have besought you, as their peculiar
refuge, for a certain measure of assistance. I, entreated by them, and being,
as I think, obliged because your most illustrious Excellency has been
content that I should be again this year in their Company with the title of
your Lieutenant, with the added reason that the proposal is a generous one
and worthy of virtuous and grateful minds, and, above all, knowing how
your most illustrious Excellency is the patron of talent, and as it were a
haven and unique protector for ingenious persons in this age, even
surpassing in this respect your forefathers, who bestowed extraordinary
favours on those excellent in these professions, as, by order of the
Magnificent Lorenzo, Giotto, already so long dead, received a statue in the
principal church, and Fra Filippo a most beautiful tomb of marble at his
expense, while many others obtained the greatest benefits and honours on
various occasions; moved, I say, by all these reasons, I have taken it upon
myself to recommend to your most illustrious Excellency the petition of this
Academy, that they may be able to do honour to the genius of
Michelagnolo, the particular nursling and pupil of the school of the
Magnificent Lorenzo, which will be an extraordinary pleasure to them, a
vast satisfaction to men in general, no small incitement to the professors of
these arts, and to all Italy a proof of the lofty mind and overflowing
goodness of your most illustrious Excellency, whom may God long
preserve in happiness for the benefit of your people and the support of
every talent."
To which letter the above-named Lord Duke answered thus:
"Reverend and Well-Beloved Friend,

"The zeal that this Academy has displayed, and continues to display, to
honour the memory of Michelagnolo Buonarroti, who has passed from this
to a better life, has given us much consolation for the loss of a man so
extraordinary; and we wish not only to satisfy them in all that they have
demanded in their memorial, but also to have his remains brought to
Florence, which, according as we are informed, was his own desire. All this
we are writing to the aforesaid Academy, to encourage them to celebrate by
every possible means the genius of that great man. May God content you in
your desire."

Of the letter, or rather, memorial, of which mention has been made above,
addressed by the Academy to the Lord Duke, the tenor was as follows:
"Most Illustrious, etc.
"The Academy and the Men of the Company of Design, created by the
grace and favour of your most illustrious Excellency, knowing with what
solicitude and affection you caused the body of Michelagnolo Buonarroti to
be brought to Florence by means of your representative in Rome, have
assembled together and have unanimously determined that they shall
celebrate his obsequies in the best manner in their power and knowledge.
Wherefore they, knowing that your most illustrious Excellency was revered
by him as much as you yourself loved him, beseech you that you should
deign in your infinite goodness and liberality to grant to them, first, that
they may be allowed to celebrate the said obsequies in the Church of S.
Lorenzo, a church built by your ancestors, in which are so many beautiful
works wrought by his hand, both in architecture and in sculpture, and near
which you are minded to have erected a place that shall be as it were a nest
and an abiding school of architecture, sculpture, and painting, for the
above-named Academy and Company of Design. Secondly, they pray you
that you should consent to grant a commission to Messer Benedetto Varchi
that he shall not only compose the funeral oration, but also deliver it with
his own mouth, as he has promised most freely that he would do, when
besought by us, in the event of your most illustrious Excellency consenting.
In the third place, they entreat and pray you that you should deign, in the
same goodness and liberality of your heart, to supply them with all that may
be necessary for them in celebrating the above-mentioned obsequies, over

and above their own resources, which are very small. All these matters, and
each singly, have been discussed and determined in the presence and with
the consent of the most Magnificent and Reverend Monsignor, Messer
Vincenzio Borghini, Prior of the Innocenti and Lieutenant of your most
illustrious Excellency in the aforesaid Academy and Company of Design,
which, etc."

To which letter of the Academy the Duke made this reply:
"Well-Beloved Academicians,
"We are well content to give full satisfaction to your petitions, so great is
the affection that we have always borne to the rare genius of Michelagnolo
Buonarroti, and that we still bear to all your profession; do not hesitate,
therefore, to carry out all that you have proposed to do in his obsequies, for
we will not fail to supply whatever you need. Meanwhile, we have written
to Messer Benedetto Varchi in the matter of the oration, and to the Director
of the Hospital with regard to anything more that may be necessary in this
undertaking. Fare you well.
"Pisa."

The letter to Varchi was as follows:
"Messer Benedetto, our Well-Beloved,
"The affection that we bear to the rare genius of Michelagnolo Buonarroti
makes us desire that his memory should be honoured and celebrated in
every possible way. It will be pleasing to us, therefore, that you for love of
us shall undertake the charge of composing the oration that is to be
delivered at his obsequies, according to the arrangements made by the
deputies of the Academy; and still more pleasing that it should be delivered
by your own lips. Fare you well."

Messer Bernardino Grazzini, also, wrote to the above-named deputies that
they could not have expected in the Duke any desire in that matter more

ardent than that which he had shown, and that they might be assured of
every aid and favour from his most illustrious Excellency.
While these matters were being discussed in Florence, Leonardo
Buonarroti, Michelagnolo's nephew (who, when informed of his uncle's
illness, had made his way to Rome by post, but had not found him alive),
having heard from Daniello da Volterra, who had been the very familiar
friend of Michelagnolo, and also from others who had been about the
person of that saintly old man, that he had requested and prayed that his
body should be carried to Florence, that most noble city of his birth, of
which he was always a most tender lover; Leonardo, I say, with prompt and
therefore good resolution, removed the body cautiously from Rome and
sent it off to Florence in a bale, as if it had been a piece of merchandise.
And here I must not omit to say that this final resolution of Michelagnolo's
proved a thing against the opinion of certain persons, but nevertheless very
true, namely, that his absence for so many years from Florence had been
caused by no other thing but the nature of the air, for the reason that
experience had taught him that the air of Florence, being sharp and subtle,
was very injurious to his constitution, while that of Rome, softer and more
temperate, had kept him in perfect health up to his ninetieth year, with all
the senses as lively and sound as they had ever been, and with such
strength, for his age, that up to the last day he had never ceased to work at
something.
Since, then, the coming of the bale was so sudden and so unexpected that
for the time being it was not possible to do what was done afterwards, the
body of Michelagnolo, on arriving in Florence, was placed with the coffin,
at the desire of the deputies, on the same day that it arrived in the city
(namely, on the 11th of March, which was a Saturday), in the Company of
the Assumption, which is under the high-altar of S. Pietro Maggiore,
beneath the steps at the back; but it was not touched in any way whatever.
The next day, which was Sunday of the second week in Lent, all the
painters, sculptors, and architects assembled as quietly as possible round S.
Pietro, whither they had brought nothing but a pall of velvet, all bordered
and embroidered in gold, which covered the coffin and the whole bier; upon
which coffin was an image of Christ Crucified. Then, about the middle hour
of the night, all having gathered around the body, all at once the oldest and
most eminent craftsmen laid their hands on a great quantity of torches that

had been carried there, and the younger men took up the bier with such
eagerness, that blessed was he who could approach it and place his
shoulders under it, believing as it were that in the time to come they would
be able to claim the glory of having borne the remains of the greatest man
that there had ever been in their arts. The sight of a certain number of
persons assembled about S. Pietro had caused, as always happens in such
cases, many others to stop there, and the rather as it had been trumpeted
abroad that the body of Michelagnolo had arrived, and was to be carried to
S. Croce. And although, as I have said, every precaution had been taken that
the matter should not become known, lest the report might spread through
the city, and there might flock thither such a multitude that it would not be
possible to avoid a certain degree of tumult and confusion, and also because
they desired that the little which they wished to do at that time should be
done with more quiet than pomp, reserving the rest for a more convenient
time with greater leisure; nevertheless, both the one thing and the other took
a contrary course, for with regard to the multitude, the news, as has been
related, passing from lip to lip, in the twinkling of an eye the church was so
filled, that in the end it was with the greatest difficulty that the body was
carried from the church to the sacristy, in order to take it out of the bale and
then place it in the sepulchre. With regard to the question of honour,
although it cannot be denied that to see in funeral pomps a great show of
priests, a large quantity of wax tapers, and a great number of mourners
dressed in black, is a thing of grand and magnificent appearance, it does not
follow that it was not also a great thing to see thus assembled in a small
company, without preparation, all those eminent men who are now in such
repute, and who will be even more in the future, honouring that body with
such loving and affectionate offices. And, in truth, the number of such
craftsmen in Florence—and they were all there—has always been very
great, for the reason that these arts have always flourished in Florence in
such a manner, that I believe that it may be said without prejudice to other
cities that their principal and true nest and domicile is Florence, not
otherwise than Athens once was of the sciences. In addition to that number
of craftsmen, there were so many citizens following them, and so many at
the sides of the streets where the procession passed, that there was no place
for any more; and, what is an even greater thing, there was nothing heard
but praises in every man's mouth of the merits of Michelagnolo, all saying
that true genius has such force that, after all expectation of such honour and

profit as can be obtained from a gifted man has failed, nevertheless, by its
own nature and peculiar merits, it remains honoured and beloved. For these
reasons that demonstration was more vivid in effect and more precious than
any pomp of gold and trappings that could have been contrived.
The body having been carried with so beautiful a train into S. Croce, after
the friars had finished the ceremonies that were customary for the dead, it
was borne—not without very great difficulty, as has been related, by reason
of the concourse of people—into the sacristy, where the above-named
Lieutenant, who had been present in virtue of his office, thinking to do a
thing pleasing to many, and also (as he afterwards confessed) desiring to see
in death one whom he had not seen in life, or had seen at such an early age
that he had lost all memory of him, then resolved to have the coffin opened.
This done, when he and all the rest of us present thought to find the body
already marred and putrefied, because Michelagnolo had been dead twenty-
five days and twenty-two in the coffin, we found it so perfect in every part,
and so free from any noisome odour, that we were ready to believe that it
was rather at rest in a sweet and most peaceful sleep; and, besides that the
features of the face were exactly as in life (except that there was something
of the colour of death), it had no member that was marred or revealed any
corruption, and the head and cheeks were not otherwise to the touch than as
if he had passed away but a few hours before.
When the tumult of the people had abated, arrangements were made to
place the body in a sepulchre in the church, beside the altar of the
Cavalcanti, by the door that leads into the cloister of the chapter-house.
Meanwhile the news had spread through the city, and such a multitude of
young people flocked thither to see the corpse, that there was great
difficulty in contriving to close the tomb; and if it had been day, instead of
night, we would have been forced to leave it open many hours in order to
satisfy the public. The following morning, while the painters and sculptors
were commencing to make arrangements for the memorial of honour, many
choice spirits, such as have always abounded in Florence, began to attach
above the aforesaid sepulchre verses both Latin and in the vulgar tongue,
and so it was continued for some time; but those compositions that were
printed at that time were but a small part with respect to the many that were
written.

Now to come to the obsequies, which were not held the day after the day of
S. John, as had been intended, but were postponed until the 14th of July.
The three deputies (for Benvenuto Cellini, having felt somewhat indisposed
from the beginning, had never taken any part in the matter), having
appointed the sculptor Zanobi Lastricati as their proveditor, resolved that
they would do something ingenious and worthy of their arts rather than
costly and full of pomp. And, in truth, since honour was to be paid (said
those deputies and their proveditor) to such a man as Michelagnolo, and by
men of the profession that he had practised, men rich rather in talents than
in excess of means, that must be done not with regal pomp or superfluous
vanities, but with inventions and works abounding in spirit and loveliness,
such as issue from the knowledge and readiness of hand of our craftsmen;
thus honouring art with art. For although, they said, we may expect from his
Excellency the Lord Duke any sum of money that may be necessary, and
we have already received such amounts as we have demanded, nevertheless
we must hold it as certain that from us there is expected something
ingenious and pleasing in invention and art, rather than rich through vast
expense or grand by reason of superb appurtenances. But, notwithstanding
this, it was seen in the end that the work was equal in magnificence to any
that ever issued from the hands of those Academicians, and that this
memorial of honour was no less truly magnificent than it was ingenious and
full of fanciful and praiseworthy inventions.
Finally, then, it was arranged that in the central nave of S. Lorenzo, between
the two lateral doors, of which one leads out of the church and the other
into the cloister, there should be erected, as was done, a catafalque of a
rectangular form, twenty-eight braccia high, eleven braccia long, and nine
broad, with a figure of Fame on the summit. On the base of the catafalque,
which rose two braccia from the ground, on the part looking towards the
principal door of the church, there were placed two most beautiful
recumbent figures of Rivers, one representing the Arno and the other the
Tiber. Arno had a horn of plenty, full of flowers and fruits, signifying
thereby the fruits that have come to these professions from the city of
Florence, which have been of such a kind and so many that they have filled
the world, and particularly Rome, with extraordinary beauty. This was
demonstrated excellently well by the other River, representing, as has been
said, the Tiber, in that, extending one arm, it had the hands full of flowers

and fruits received from the horn of plenty of the Arno, which lay beside it,
face to face; and it served also to demonstrate, by enjoying the fruits of
Arno, that Michelagnolo had lived a great part of his life in Rome, and had
executed there those marvels that cause amazement to the world. Arno had
for a sign the Lion, and Tiber the She-Wolf, with the infants Romulus and
Remus; and they were both colossal figures of extraordinary grandeur and
beauty, in the likeness of marble. One, the Tiber, was by the hand of
Giovanni di Benedetto of Castello, a pupil of Bandinelli, and the other by
Battista di Benedetto, a pupil of Ammanati; both excellent young men of
the highest promise.
From this level rose façades of five braccia and a half, with the proper
cornices above and below, and also at the corners, leaving space for four
pictures, one in the centre of each. In the first of these, which was on the
façade where the two Rivers were, there was painted in chiaroscuro (as
were also all the other pictures of this structure) the Magnificent Lorenzo
de' Medici, the Elder, receiving Michelagnolo as a boy in his garden, of
which there has been an account in another place, after he had seen certain
specimens of his handiwork, which foreshadowed, as early flowers, the
fruits that afterwards issued in abundance from the living force and
grandeur of his genius. Such, then, was the story contained in that picture,
which was painted by Mirabello and Girolamo del Crocifissaio, so called,
who, as very dear friends and companions, undertook to do the work
together. In it were animated and lively attitudes, and there could be seen
the above-named Magnificent Lorenzo, portrayed from nature, graciously
receiving Michelagnolo, a boy all full of reverence, into his garden, and,
after an examination, handing him over to some masters who should teach
him.
In the second scene, which came, continuing the same order, to face
towards the lateral door that leads out of the church, was figured Pope
Clement, who, contrary to the expectation of the public, which thought that
his Holiness felt disdain against Michelagnolo on account of his actions in
the siege of Florence, not only assures his safety and shows himself
lovingly disposed towards him, but sets him to work on the new sacristy
and the library of S. Lorenzo, in which places how divinely well he worked
has been already told. In this picture, then, there was painted by the hand of
Federigo Fiammingo, called Del Padovano, with much dexterity and great

sweetness of manner, Michelagnolo showing to the Pope the ground-plan of
that sacristy, and behind him were borne, partly by little Angels and partly
by other figures, the models of the library and sacristy and of the statues
that are there, finished, at the present day; which was all very well
composed and executed with diligence.
In the third picture, which stood on the first level, like the others described
above, and looked towards the high-altar, was a great Latin epitaph
composed by the most learned M. Pier Vettori, the sense of which was in
the Florentine speech as follows:
"The Academy of Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, with the favour and
assistance of Duke Cosimo de' Medici, their head and the supreme protector
of these arts, admiring the extraordinary genius of Michelagnolo
Buonarroti, and seeking to acknowledge in part the benefits received from
his divine works, has dedicated this memorial, born from their own hands
and from all the affection of their hearts, to the excellence and genius of the
greatest painter, sculptor, and architect that there has ever been."
The Latin words were these:
COLLEGIUM PICTORUM, STATUARIORUM,
ARCHITECTORUM, AUSPICIO OPEQUE SIBI
PROMPTA COSIMI DUCIS AUCTORIS SUORUM
COMMODORUM, SUSPICIENS SINGULAREM
VIRTUTEM MICHAELIS ANGELI BONARROTÆ,
INTELLIGENSQUE QUANTO SIBI AUXILIO SEMPER
FUERINT PRÆCLARA IPSIUS OPERA, STUDUIT SE
GRATUM ERGA ILLUM OSTENDERE, SUMMUM
OMNIUM QUI UNQUAM FUERINT P.S.A., IDEOQUE
MONUMENTUM HOC SUIS MANIBUS EXTRUCTUM
MAGNO ANIMI ARDORE IPSIUS MEMORIÆ
DEDICAVIT.
This epitaph was supported by two little Angels, who, with weeping faces,
and extinguishing each a torch, appeared to be lamenting that a genius so
great and so rare was now spent.

Next, in the picture which came to face towards the door that leads into the
cloister, was Michelagnolo making, on account of the siege of Florence, the
fortifications of the hill of San Miniato, which were held to be impregnable
and a marvellous work. This was by the hand of Lorenzo Sciorini, a pupil of
Bronzino and a young man of excellent promise.
This lowest part, or, so to speak, the base of the whole structure, had at
every corner a pedestal that projected, and upon every pedestal was a statue
larger than life, which had beneath it another, as it were subjugated and
vanquished, of similar size, but each constrained in a different and
extravagant attitude. The first, on the right hand going towards the high-
altar, was a young man, slender and the very presentment of pure spirit, and
of a most lively beauty, representing Genius, with two little wings over the
temples, in the guise wherein at times Mercury is painted; and beneath this
young man, wrought with incredible diligence, was a marvellous figure
with asses' ears, representing Ignorance, the mortal enemy of Genius. These
two statues were by the hand of Vincenzio Danti of Perugia, of whom and
of his works, which are renowned among the young modern sculptors, we
shall speak at greater length in another place.
Upon the next pedestal, which, being on the right hand of the approach
towards the high-altar, looked towards the new sacristy, was a woman
representing Christian Piety, which, being composed of religion and every
other excellence, is nothing less than an aggregate of all those virtues that
we have called the Theological, and of those that were named by the
Gentiles the Moral; wherefore it was right that, since the genius of a
Christian, adorned by most saintly character, was being celebrated by
Christians, a seemly and honourable place should be given to this Piety,
which is concerned with the law of God and the salvation of souls, seeing
that all other ornaments of body and mind, where she is lacking, are to be
held in little estimation, or rather, none. This figure, who had beneath her,
prostrate and trampled under foot by her, Vice, or rather, Impiety, was by
the hand of Valerio Cioli, who is a young man of ability and fine spirit, and
deserves the name of a very judicious and diligent sculptor. Opposite to
this, on the side towards the old sacristy, was another similar figure made
with much judgment to represent Minerva, or rather, Art; for the reason that
it may be said with truth that after excellence of character and life, which
must always hold the first place among the good, it was Art that gave to this

man not only honour and profit, but also so much glory, that he may be said
to have enjoyed in his lifetime such fruits as able and illustrious men have
great difficulty in wresting even after death from the grasp of Fame, by
means of their finest works; and, what is more, that he so vanquished envy,
that by common consent, without any contradiction, he has obtained the
rank and fame of the best and highest excellence. And for this reason this
figure had beneath her feet Envy, who was an old woman lean and
withered, with the eyes of a viper; in short, with features that all breathed
out venom and poison, besides which she was girt with serpents, and had a
viper in her hand. These two statues were by the hand of a boy of very
tender years, called Lazzaro Calamech of Carrara, who at the present day,
although still a mere lad, has given in some works of painting and sculpture
convincing proofs of a beautiful and most lively genius. By the hand of
Andrea Calamech, the uncle of the above-mentioned Lazzaro, and pupil of
Ammanati, were the two statues placed upon the fourth pedestal, which was
opposite to the organ and looked towards the principal doors of the church.
The first of these was made to represent Study, for the reason that those
who exert themselves little and sluggishly can never acquire repute, as
Michelagnolo did, who from his early boyhood, from fifteen to ninety years
of age, as has been seen above, never ceased to labour. This statue of Study,
which was well in keeping with that great man, was a bold and vigorous
youth, who had at the end of the arms, just above the joint of the hands, two
little wings signifying rapidity and frequency of working; and he had
prostrate beneath him, as a prisoner, Idleness or Indolence, who was a
sluggish and weary woman, heavy and somnolent in her whole attitude.
These four figures, disposed in the manner that has been described, made a
very handsome and magnificent composition, and had all the appearance of
marble, because a coat of white had been laid over the clay, which resulted
in a very beautiful effect. From this level, upon which the above-named
figures rested, there rose another base, likewise rectangular and about four
braccia high, but smaller in length and breadth than that below by the extent
of the projection and cornice-work upon which those figures rested; and on
every side this had a painted compartment six braccia and a half in length
and three in height. Above this rose a platform in the same manner as that
below, but smaller; and upon every corner, on the projection of a socle, sat a
figure of the size of life, or rather more. These were four women, who, from

the instruments that they had, were easily recognized as Painting, Sculpture,
Architecture, and Poetry; placed there for reasons that have been perceived
in the narration of Michelagnolo's Life.
Now, going from the principal door of the church towards the high-altar, in
the first picture of the second range of the catafalque—namely, above the
scene in which, as has been related, Lorenzo de' Medici is receiving
Michelagnolo into his garden—there was painted in a most beautiful
manner, to suggest Architecture, Michelagnolo in the presence of Pope Pius
IV, with a model in his hand of the stupendous pile of the Cupola of S.
Pietro in Rome. This scene, which was much extolled, was painted by Piero
Francia, a Florentine painter, with beautiful manner and invention; and the
statue, or rather, image of Architecture, which was on the left hand of this
scene, was by the hand of Giovanni di Benedetto of Castello, who with so
much credit to himself, as has been related, executed also the Tiber, one of
the two Rivers that were on the front part of the catafalque. In the second
picture, continuing to go forward on the right hand towards the lateral door
that leads out of the church, was seen (to suggest Painting) Michelagnolo
painting that so much but never sufficiently extolled Judgment: that
Judgment, I mean, which is an exemplar in foreshortenings and all the other
difficulties of art. This picture, which was executed by Michele di Ridolfo's
young men with much diligence and grace, had likewise, on the left hand
(namely, at the corner looking towards the new sacristy), its appropriate
image, a statue of Painting, wrought by Battista del Cavaliere, a young man
no less excellent in sculpture than remarkable for his goodness, modesty,
and character. In the third picture, facing towards the high-altar (in that,
namely, which was above the epitaph already mentioned), there was to be
seen, to suggest Sculpture, Michelagnolo speaking with a woman, who by
many signs could be recognized as Sculpture; and it appeared that he was
taking counsel with her. Michelagnolo had about him some of the most
excellent works that he executed in sculpture; and the woman held a little
tablet with these words of Boethius:
SIMILI SUB IMAGINE FORMANS.
Beside that picture, which was the work of Andrea del Minga, and executed
by him with beautiful invention and manner, there was on the left hand the
statue of Sculpture, wrought very well by the sculptor Antonio di Gino

Lorenzi. In the fourth of those four scenes, which faced towards the organ,
there could be seen, to suggest Poetry, Michelagnolo all intent on writing
some composition, and about him the Nine Muses, marvellous in their grace
and beauty and with their distinctive garments, according as they are
described by the poets, and before them Apollo with the lyre in his hand, his
crown of laurel on his head, and another crown in the hand, which he made
as if to place on the head of Michelagnolo. Near the gladsome and beautiful
composition of this scene, painted in a very lovely manner, with most
vivacious and spirited attitudes, by Giovan Maria Butteri, there was on the
left hand the statue of Poetry, the work of Domenico Poggini, a man much
practised not only in sculpture and in striking impressions of coins and
medals with great beauty, but also in working in bronze and likewise in
poetry.
Of such a kind, then, was the ornamentation of the catafalque, which so
diminished from course to course that it was possible to walk round each,
and it was much after the likeness of the Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome;
although perchance, from being rectangular, it rather resembled the
Septizonium of Severus, not that near the Campidoglio, which is commonly
so called in error, but the true one, which is to be seen in stamp in the
"Nuove Rome," near the Baths of Antoninus. Up to this point the catafalque
had three levels; where the Rivers lay was the first, the second where the
pairs of figures rested, and the third where the single figures had their feet.
From this last level rose a base, or rather, socle, one braccio high, and much
less in length and breadth than that last level; upon the projections of that
base sat the above-named single figures, and around it could be read these
words:
SIC ARS EXTOLLITUR ARTE.
Upon this base stood a pyramid nine braccia high, on two sides of which
(namely, that which looked towards the principal door, and that which faced
towards the high-altar), at the foot, were two ovals with the head of
Michelagnolo portrayed from nature in relief and executed very well by
Santi Buglioni. At the summit of the pyramid was a ball in due proportion
with the pyramid, such as might have contained the ashes of him who was
being honoured, and upon the ball was a figure of Fame, larger than life and
in the likeness of marble, and in the act, as it were, of taking flight, and at

the same time of causing the praises and glory of that great craftsman to
resound throughout the world through a trumpet which branched into three
mouths. That Fame was by the hand of Zanobi Lastricati, who, besides the
labours that he had as proveditor for the whole work, desired also not to fail
to show, with much honour to himself, the virtue of his hand and brain. In
all, from the level of the ground to the head of the Fame, the height, as has
been related, was twenty-eight braccia.
Besides the catafalque described above, the whole church was draped with
black baize and serge, hung not on the columns in the centre, as is usual, but
on the chapels that are all around; and there was no space between the
pilasters that enclose those chapels and correspond to the columns, that had
not some adornment in painting, which, making an ingenious, pleasing, and
beautiful display, caused marvel and at the same time the greatest delight.
Now, to begin with one end: in the space of the first chapel that is beside the
high-altar, as you go towards the old sacristy, was a picture six braccia in
height and eight in length, in which, with novel and as it were poetical
invention, was Michelagnolo in the centre, already come to the Elysian
fields, where, on his right hand, were figures considerably larger than life of
the most famous and most highly celebrated sculptors and painters of
antiquity. Each of these could be recognized by some notable sign;
Praxiteles by the Satyr that is in the Vigna of Pope Julius III, Apelles by the
portrait of Alexander the Great, Zeuxis by a little panel on which were
figured the grapes that deceived the birds, and Parrhasius with the covering
counterfeited in painting over his picture; and, even as these, so the others
were known by other signs. On the left hand were those who have been
illustrious in these arts in our own centuries, from Cimabue to the present
day. Thus Giotto could be recognized there by a little panel on which was
seen the portrait of Dante as a young man, in the manner in which he may
be seen in S. Croce, painted by Giotto himself; Masaccio by his portrait
from life, Donatello likewise by his portrait, and also by his Zuccone from
the Campanile, which was by his side, and Filippo Brunelleschi by the
representation of his Cupola of S. Maria del Fiore; and there were portrayed
from life, without other signs, Fra Filippo, Taddeo Gaddi, Paolo Uccello,
Fra Giovanni Agnolo, Jacopo da Pontormo, Francesco Salviati, and others.
All these were about him with the same expressions of welcome as the
ancients, full of love and admiration, in the same manner as Virgil was

received by the other poets on his return, according to the fable of the
divine poet Dante, from whom, in addition to the invention, there was taken
also the verse that could be read in a scroll both above and in the hand of
the River Arno, which lay at the feet of Michelagnolo, most beautiful in
features and in attitude:
TUTTI L'AMMIRAN, TUTTI ONOR GLI FANNO.
This picture, by the hand of Alessandro Allori, the pupil of Bronzino, an
excellent painter and a not unworthy disciple and pupil of so great a master,
was consummately extolled by all those who saw it. In the space of the
Chapel of the most holy Sacrament, at the head of the transept, there was in
a picture, five braccia in length and four in breadth, Michelagnolo with all
the school of the arts about him, little children, boys, and young men of
every age up to twenty-four, who were offering to him, as to a being sacred
and divine, the firstfruits of their labours, such as pictures, sculptures, and
models; and he was receiving them courteously, and was instructing them in
the matters of art, while they were listening most intently and gazing upon
him with expressions and attitudes truly full of beauty and grace. And, to
tell the truth, the whole composition of this picture could not have been, in
a certain sense, better done, nor could anything more beautiful have been
desired in any of the figures, wherefore Battista, the pupil of Pontormo,
who had done the work, received infinite praise for it; and the verses that
were to be read at the foot of the scene, ran thus:
TU PATER, TU RERUM INVENTOR, TU PATRIA NOBIS
SUPPEDITAS PRÆCEPTA TUIS EX, INCLYTE, CHARTIS.
Going, then, from the place where was the picture described above, towards
the principal doors of the church, almost at the corner and just before
arriving at the organ, in a picture six braccia long and four high that was in
the space of a chapel, there was depicted the extraordinary and unexampled
favour that was paid to the rare genius of Michelagnolo by Pope Julius III,
who, wishing to avail himself in certain buildings of the judgment of that
great man, had him summoned to his presence at his villa, where, having
invited him to sit by his side, they talked a good time together, while
Cardinals, Bishops, and other personages of the Court, whom they had
about them, remained constantly standing. This event, I say, was seen to

have been depicted with such fine composition and so much relief, and with
such liveliness and spirit in the figures, that perchance it might not have
turned out better from the hands of an eminent, aged, and well-practised
master; wherefore Jacopo Zucchi, a young man, the pupil of Giorgio Vasari,
who executed the work in a beautiful manner, proved that a most
honourable result could be expected from him. Not far from this, on the
same side (namely, a little below the organ), Giovanni Strada, an able
Flemish painter, had depicted in a picture six braccia long and four high the
story of Michelagnolo's going to Venice at the time of the siege of Florence;
where, living in that quarter of that most noble city which is called the
Giudecca, the Doge Andrea Gritti and the Signoria sent some gentlemen
and others to visit him and make him very great offers. In representing that
event the above-named painter showed great judgment and much
knowledge, which did him great honour, both in the whole composition and
in every part of it, for in the attitudes, the lively expressions of the faces,
and the movements of every figure, were seen invention, design, and
excellent grace.
Now, returning to the high-altar, and facing towards the new sacristy: in the
first picture found there, which came in the space of the first chapel, there
was depicted by the hand of Santi Titi, a young man of most beautiful
judgment and much practised in painting both in Florence and in Rome,
another signal favour paid to the genius of Michelagnolo, as I believe I
mentioned above, by the most illustrious Lord, Don Francesco de' Medici,
Prince of Florence, who, happening to be in Rome about three years before
Michelagnolo died, and receiving a visit from him, the moment that
Buonarroti entered the Prince rose to his feet, and then, in order to do
honour to that great man and to his truly venerable age, with the greatest
courtesy that ever young Prince showed, insisted—although Michelagnolo,
who was very modest, protested against it—that he should sit in his own
chair, from which he had risen, standing afterwards on his feet to hear him
with the attention and reverence that children are wont to pay to a well-
beloved father. At the feet of the Prince was a boy, executed with great
diligence, who had in his hands a mazzocchio,[6] or Ducal cap, and around
them were some soldiers dressed in ancient fashion, and painted with much
spirit and a beautiful manner; but beyond all the rest, most beautifully
wrought, most lifelike and most natural were the Prince and Michelagnolo,

insomuch that it appeared as if the old man were in truth speaking, and the
young man most intently listening to his words.
In another picture, nine braccia in height and twelve in length, which was
opposite to the Chapel of the Sacrament, Bernardo Timante Buontalenti, a
painter much beloved and favoured by the most illustrious Prince, had
figured with most beautiful invention the Rivers of the three principal parts
of the world, come, as it were, all grieving and sorrowful, to lament with
Arno on their common loss and to console him; and these Rivers were the
Nile, the Ganges, and the Po. The Nile had as a symbol a crocodile, and, to
signify the fertility of his country, a garland of ears of corn; the Ganges, a
gryphon-bird and a chaplet of gems; the Po, a swan and a crown of black
amber. These Rivers, having been conducted into Tuscany by the Fame,
who was to be seen on high, as it were in flight, were standing round Arno,
who was crowned with cypress and held his vase, drained empty, uplifted
with one hand, and in the other a branch of cypress, and beneath him was a
lion. And, to signify that the soul of Michelagnolo had flown to the highest
felicity in Heaven, the judicious painter had depicted in the air a Splendour
representing the celestial light, towards which the blessed soul, in the form
of a little Angel, was winging its way; with this lyric verse:
VIVENS ORBE PETO LAUDIBUS ÆTHERA.
At the sides, upon two bases, were two figures in the act of holding open a
curtain within which, so it appeared, were the above-named Rivers, the soul
of Michelagnolo, and the Fame; and each of those two figures had another
beneath it. That which was on the right hand of the Rivers, representing
Vulcan, had a torch in the hand; and the figure representing Hatred, which
had the neck under Vulcan's feet in an attitude of great constraint, and as it
were struggling to writhe free, had as symbol a vulture, with this verse:
SURGERE QUID PROPERAS ODIUM CRUDELE? JACETO.
And that because things superhuman, and almost divine, should in no way
be regarded with envy or hatred. The other, representing Aglaia, one of the
Three Graces and wife of Vulcan, to signify Proportion, had in her hand a
lily, both because flowers are dedicated to the Graces, and also because the
lily is held to be not inappropriate to the rites of death. The figure which
was lying beneath Aglaia, and which was painted to represent

Disproportion, had as symbol a monkey, or rather, ape, and above her this
verse:
VIVUS ET EXTINCTUS DOCUIT SIC STERNERE TURPE.
And under the Rivers were these two other verses:
VENIMUS, ARNE, TUO CONFIXA IN VULNERE MŒSTA
FLUMINA, UT EREPTUM MUNDO PLOREMUS
HONOREM.
This picture was held to be very beautiful in the invention, in the
composition of the whole scene and the loveliness of the figures, and in the
beauty of the verses, and because the painter honoured Michelagnolo with
this his labour, not by commission, but spontaneously and with such
assistance as his own merit enabled him to obtain from his courteous and
honourable friends; and for this reason he deserved to be even more highly
commended.
In another picture, six braccia in length and four in height, near the lateral
door that leads out of the church, Tommaso da San Friano, a young painter
of much ability, had painted Michelagnolo as Ambassador of his country at
the Court of Pope Julius II; as we have related that he went, and for what
reasons, sent by Soderini. Not far distant from the above-named picture
(namely, a little below that lateral door which leads out of the church), in
another picture of the same size, Stefano Pieri, a pupil of Bronzino and a
young man of great diligence and industry, had painted a scene that had in
truth happened several times in Rome not long before—namely,
Michelagnolo seated in a room by the side of the most illustrious Lord
Duke Cosimo, who stood conversing with him; of all which enough has
been said above.
Over the said black draperies with which, as has been told, the whole
church was hung all round, wherever there were no painted scenes or
pictures, there were in each of the spaces of the chapels images of death,
devices, and other suchlike things, all different from those that are generally
made, and very fanciful and beautiful. Some of these, as it were lamenting
that they had been forced to deprive the world of such a man, had these
words in a scroll:

COEGIT DURA NECESSITAS.
And near them was a globe of the world, from which had sprung a lily,
which had three flowers and was broken in the middle, executed with most
beautiful fantasy and invention by the above-named Alessandro Allori.
There were other Deaths, also, depicted with other inventions, but that one
was most extolled upon whose neck, as she lay prostrate on the ground,
Eternity, with a palm in the hand, had planted one of her feet, and,
regarding her with a look of disdain, appeared to be saying to her: "Be it
necessity or thy will, thou hast done nothing, for in spite of thee, come what
may, Michelagnolo shall live." The motto ran thus:
VICIT INCLYTA VIRTUS.
And all this was the invention of Vasari.
I will not omit to say that each of these Deaths had on either side the device
of Michelagnolo, which was three crowns, or rather, three circlets,
intertwined together in such a manner, that the circumference of one passed
through the centre of the two others, and so with each; which sign
Michelagnolo used either to suggest that the three professions of sculpture,
painting, and architecture are interwoven one with another and so bound
together, that each of them receives benefit and adornment from the others,
and they neither can nor should be separated; or, indeed, being a man of
lofty genius, he may have had a more subtle meaning. But the
Academicians, considering him to have been perfect in all these three
professions, and that each of these had assisted and embellished the other,
changed his three circlets into three crowns intertwined together, with the
motto:
TERGEMINIS TOLLIT HONORIBUS.
Which was intended to signify that in those three professions the crown of
human perfection was justly due to him.
On the pulpit from which Varchi delivered the funeral oration, which was
afterwards printed, there was no ornamentation, because, that work having
been executed in bronze, with scenes in half-relief and low-relief, by the
excellent Donatello, any adornment that might have been added to it would
have been by a great measure less beautiful. But on the other, which is

opposite to the first, although it had not yet been raised on the columns,
there was a picture, four braccia in height and little more than two in width,
wherein there was painted with beautiful invention and excellent design, to
represent Fame, or rather, Honour, a young man in a most beautiful attitude,
with a trumpet in the right hand, and with the feet planted on Time and
Death, in order to show that fame and honour, in spite of death and time,
preserve alive to all eternity those who have laboured valiantly in this life.
This picture was by the hand of Vincenzio Danti, the sculptor of Perugia, of
whom we have spoken, and will speak again elsewhere.
The church having been embellished in such a manner, adorned with lights,
and filled with a countless multitude, for everyone had left every other care
and flocked together to such an honourable spectacle, there entered behind
the above-named Lieutenant of the Academy, accompanied by the Captain
and Halberdiers of the Duke's Guard, the Consuls and the Academicians,
and, in short, all the painters, sculptors, and architects of Florence. After all
these had sat down between the catafalque and the high-altar, where they
had been awaited for a good while by an infinite number of lords and
gentlemen, who had been accommodated with seats according to the rank
of each, there was begun a most solemn Mass for the dead, with music and
ceremonies of every kind. Which finished, Varchi mounted the above-
mentioned pulpit, who had never performed such an office since he did it
for the most illustrious Lady Duchess of Ferrara, the daughter of Duke
Cosimo; and there, with that elegance, those modes of utterance, and that
voice which were the peculiar attributes of that great man in oratory, he
recounted the praises and merits, life and works of the divine Michelagnolo
Buonarroti.
Of a truth, what great good fortune it was for Michelagnolo that he did not
die before our Academy was created, whereby his funeral rites were
celebrated with so much honour and such magnificent and honourable
pomp! So, also, it must be considered most fortunate for him that it
happened that he passed from this to an eternal and most blessed life before
Varchi, seeing that he could not have been extolled by any more eloquent
and learned man. That funeral oration by M. Benedetto Varchi was printed a
short time afterwards, as was also, not long after that, another equally
beautiful oration, likewise in praise of Michelagnolo and of painting,
composed by the most noble and most learned M. Leonardo Salviati, at that

time a young man of about twenty-two years of age, and of a rare and
happy genius in all manner of compositions, both Latin and Tuscan, as is
known even now, and will be better known in the future, to all the world.
And what shall I say, what can I say, that would not be too little, of the
capacity, goodness, and wisdom of the very reverend Lord Lieutenant, the
above-named Don Vincenzio Borghini? Save that it was with him as their
chief, their guide, and their counsellor, that the eminent men of the
Academy and Company of Design celebrated those obsequies; for the
reason that, although each of them was competent to do much more in his
art than he did, nevertheless no enterprise is ever carried to a perfect and
praiseworthy end save when one single man, in the manner of an
experienced pilot and captain, has authority and power over all others. And
since it was not possible that the whole city should see that funeral pomp in
one day, by order of the Duke it was all left standing many weeks, for the
satisfaction of his people and of the strangers who came from neighbouring
places to see it.
We shall not give in this place the great multitude of epitaphs and verses,
both Latin and Tuscan, composed by many able men in honour of
Michelagnolo; both because they would require a work to themselves, and
because they have been written down and published by other writers
elsewhere. But I will not omit to say in this last part, that after all the
honours described above the Duke ordained that an honourable place
should be given to Michelagnolo for his tomb in S. Croce, in which church
he had purposed in his lifetime to be buried, because the sepulchre of his
ancestors was there. And to Leonardo, the nephew of Michelagnolo, his
Excellency gave all the marbles, both white and variegated, for that tomb,
which was allotted to Battista Lorenzi, an able sculptor, to execute after the
design of Giorgio Vasari, together with the head of Michelagnolo. And
since there are to be three statues there, Painting, Sculpture, and
Architecture, one of these was allotted to the above-named Battista, one to
Giovanni dell'Opera, and the last to Valerio Cioli, Florentine sculptors;
which statues are in process of being fashioned together with the tomb, and
soon they will be seen finished and set in their places. The cost, over and
above the marbles received from the Duke, has been borne by the same
Leonardo Buonarroti. But his Excellency, in order not to fail in any respect
in doing honour to that great man, will cause to be placed in the Duomo, as

he has previously thought to do, a memorial with his name, besides the
head, even as there are to be seen there the names and images of the other
eminent Florentines.

FRANCESCO PRIMATICCIO

DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKS OF
FRANCESCO PRIMATICCIO
PAINTER AND ARCHITECT OF BOLOGNA,
AND ABBOT OF S. MARTIN
Having treated hitherto of such of our craftsmen as are no longer alive
among us—of those, namely, who have lived from 1200 until this year of
1567—and having set Michelagnolo Buonarroti in the last place for many
reasons, although two or three have died later than he, I have thought that it
cannot be otherwise than a praiseworthy labour to make mention likewise in
this our work of many noble craftsmen who are alive, and, for their merits,
most worthy to be highly extolled and to be numbered among these last
masters. This I do all the more willingly because they are all very much my
friends and brothers, and the three most eminent are already so far advanced
in years, that, having come to the furthest limit of old age, little more can be
expected from them, although they still continue by a sort of habit to
occupy themselves with some work. After these I will also make brief
mention of those who under their discipline have become such, that they
hold the first places among the craftsmen of our own day; and of others
who in like manner are advancing towards perfection in our arts.
Beginning, then, with Francesco Primaticcio, to go on afterwards to Tiziano
Vecelli and Jacopo Sansovino: I have to record that the said Francesco, born
in Bologna of the noble family of the Primaticci, much celebrated by Fra
Leandro Alberti and by Pontano, was apprenticed in his early boyhood to
commerce. But, that calling pleasing him little, not long afterwards, being
exalted in mind and spirit, he set himself to practise design, to which he felt
himself inclined by nature; and so, giving his attention to drawing, and at
times to painting, no long time passed before he gave proof that he was
likely to achieve an excellent result. Going afterwards to Mantua, where at
that time Giulio Romano was working at the Palace of the Te for Duke
Federigo, he employed such interest that he was set, in company with many
other young men who were with Giulio, to labour at that work. There,

attending to the studies of art with much industry and diligence for a period
of six years, he learned very well to handle colours and to work in stucco;
wherefore, among all the other young men who were labouring in the work
of that Palace, Francesco came to be held one of the most excellent, and the
best of all at drawing and colouring. This may be seen in a great chamber,
round which he made two friezes of stucco, one above the other, with a
great abundance of figures that represent the ancient Roman soldiery; and in
the same Palace, likewise, he executed many works in painting that are to
be seen there, after the designs of the above-named Giulio. Through these
works Primaticcio came into such favour with that Duke, that, when King
Francis of France heard with what quantity of ornaments he had caused the
work of the Palace to be executed, and wrote to him that at all costs he
should send him a young man able to work in painting and stucco, the Duke
sent him Francesco Primaticcio, in the year 1531. And although the year
before that the Florentine painter Rosso had gone into the service of the
same King, as has been related, and had executed many works there, and in
particular the pictures of Bacchus and Venus, Psyche and Cupid,
nevertheless the first works in stucco that were done in France, and the first
labours in fresco of any account, had their origin, it is said, from
Primaticcio, who decorated in this manner many chambers, halls, and
loggie for that King.

DECORATIVE PANELS
(After Primaticcio. Fontainebleau: Galerie Henry II)
X. Photo
View larger image

Liking the manner of this painter, and his procedure in every matter, the
King sent him in the year 1540 to Rome, to contrive to obtain certain
antique marbles; in which Primaticcio served him with such diligence, that
in a short time, what with heads, torsi, and figures, he bought one hundred
and twenty-five pieces. And at that same time he caused to be moulded by
Jacopo Barozzi of Vignuola, and by others, the bronze horse that is on the
Campidoglio, a great part of the scenes on the Column, the statue of
Commodus, the Venus, the Laocoon, the Tiber, the Nile, and the statue of
Cleopatra, which are in the Belvedere; to the end that they might all be cast
in bronze. Rosso having meanwhile died in France, and a long gallery
therefore remaining unfinished which had been begun after his designs and
in great part adorned with stucco-work and pictures, Primaticcio was
recalled from Rome; whereupon he took ship with the above-mentioned
marbles and moulds of antique figures, and returned to France. There,
before any other thing, he cast according to those moulds and forms a great

part of those antique figures, which came out so well, that they might be the
originals; as may be seen in the Queen's garden at Fontainebleau, where
they were placed, to the vast satisfaction of that King, who made in that
place, one might say, another Rome. I will not omit to say that Primaticcio,
in executing those statues, employed masters so excellent in the art of
casting, that those works came out not only light, but with a surface so
smooth, that it was hardly necessary to polish them.
This work done, Primaticcio was commissioned to give completion to the
gallery that Rosso had left unfinished; whereupon he set his hand to it, and
in a short time delivered it finished with as many works in stucco and
painting as have ever been executed in any place. Wherefore the King,
finding that he had been well served in the period of eight years that this
master had worked for him, had him placed among the number of his
chamberlains; and a short time afterwards, which was in the year 1544, he
made him Abbot of S. Martin, considering that Francesco deserved no less.
But for all this Francesco has never ceased to have many works in stucco
and in painting executed in the service of his King and of the others who
have governed that kingdom after Francis I. Among others who have
assisted him in this, he has been served, to say nothing of many of his
fellow-Bolognese, by Giovan Battista, the son of Bartolommeo
Bagnacavallo, who has proved not less able than his father in many scenes
and other works of Primaticcio's that he has carried into execution. Another
who has served him for a considerable time is one Ruggieri da Bologna,
who is still with him. In like manner, Prospero Fontana, a painter of
Bologna, was summoned to France not long since by Primaticcio, who
intended to make use of him; but, having fallen ill to the danger of his life
immediately after his arrival, he returned to Bologna. To tell the truth, these
two, Bagnacavallo and Fontana, are able men, and I, who have made
considerable use both of the one and of the other, of the first at Rome, and
of the second at Rimini and Florence, can declare this with certainty. But of
all those who have assisted the Abbot Primaticcio, none has done him more
honour than Niccolò da Modena, of whom mention has been made on
another occasion, for by the excellence of his art this master has surpassed
all the others. Thus he executed with his own hand, after the designs of the
Abbot, a hall called the Ball-room, with such a vast number of figures, that
it appears scarcely possible that they could be counted, and all as large as

life and coloured in so bright a manner, that in the harmony of the fresco-
colours they appear like work in oils. After this work he painted in the Great
Gallery, likewise from the designs of the Abbot, sixty stories of the life and
actions of Ulysses, but with a colouring much darker than the pictures in the
Ball-room. This came about because he used no other colours but the earths
in the pure state in which they are produced by Nature, without mixing with
them, it may be said, any white, and so heavily loaded with darks in the
deep parts, that these have extraordinary relief and force; besides which, he
executed the whole work with such harmony, that it appears almost as if
painted in one and the same day. Wherefore he merits extraordinary praise,
particularly because he executed it in fresco, without ever retouching it "a
secco," as many at the present day are accustomed to do. The vaulting of
this gallery, likewise, is all wrought in stucco and painting, executed with
much diligence by the men mentioned above and other young painters, but
still after the designs of the Abbot; as is also the old Hall, and likewise a
lower gallery that is over the pond, which is most beautiful and better
adorned with lovely works than any other part of that place; but to attempt
to speak of it at any length would make too long a story.

DECORATIVE PANELS
(After the painting by Primaticcio. Fontainebleau: Escalier du Roi)
Mansell
View larger image

At Meudon the same Abbot Primaticcio has made innumerable decorations
for the Cardinal of Lorraine in a vast palace belonging to him, called the
Grotto, a place so extraordinary in size, that, after the likeness of similar
edifices of the ancients, it might be called the Thermæ, by reason of the vast
number and grandeur of the loggie, staircases, and apartments, both public
and private, that are there; and, to say nothing of other particulars, most
beautiful is a room called the Pavilion, for it is all adorned with
compartments and mouldings of stucco that are wrought with a view to
being seen from below, and filled with a number of figures foreshortened in
the same manner, which are very beautiful. Beneath this, then, is a large
room with some fountains wrought in stucco, and full of figures in the
round and compartments formed of shells and other products of the sea and

natural objects, which are marvellous things and beautiful beyond measure;
and the vaulting, likewise, is all most excellently wrought in stucco by the
hand of Domenico del Barbiere, a Florentine painter, who is excellent not
only in this kind of relief, but also in design, so that in some works that he
has coloured he has given proofs of the rarest ability. In the same place,
also, many figures of stucco in the round have been executed by a sculptor
likewise of our country, called Ponzio, who has acquitted himself very well.
But, since the works that have been executed in those places in the service
of those lords are innumerable in their variety, I must touch only on the
principal works of the Abbot, in order to show how rare he is in painting, in
design, and in matters of architecture; although, in truth, it would not appear
to me an excessive labour to enlarge on the particular works, if I had some
true and clear information about them, as I have about works here. With
regard to design, Primaticcio has been and still is most excellent, as may be
seen from a drawing by his hand painted with the signs of the heavens,
which is in our book, sent to me by Francesco himself; and I, both for love
of him and because it is a thing of absolute perfection, hold it very dear.
King Francis being dead, the Abbot remained in the same place and rank
with King Henry, and served him as long as he lived; and afterwards he was
created by King Francis II Commissary-General over all the buildings of
the whole kingdom, in which office, one of great honour and much repute,
there had previously acted the father of Cardinal della Bordagiera and
Monseigneur de Villeroy. Since the death of Francis II, he has continued in
the same office, serving the present King, by whose order and that of the
Queen-Mother Primaticcio has made a beginning with the tomb of the
above-named King Henry, making in the centre of a six-sided chapel the
sepulchre of the King himself, and at four sides the sepulchres of his four
children; while at one of the other two sides of the chapel is the altar, and at
the other the door. And since there are going into this work innumerable
statues in marble and bronzes and a number of scenes in low-relief, it will
prove worthy of all these great Kings and of the excellence and genius of so
rare a craftsman as is this Abbot of S. Martin, who in his best years has
been most excellent and versatile in all things that pertain to our arts, seeing
that he has occupied himself in the service of his lords not only in buildings,
paintings, and stucco-work, but also in the preparations for many festivals
and masquerades, with most beautiful and fantastic inventions.

He has been very liberal and most loving towards his friends and relatives,
and likewise towards the craftsmen who have served him. In Bologna he
has conferred many benefits on his relatives, and has bought honourable
dwellings for them and made them commodious and very ornate, as is that
wherein there now lives M. Antonio Anselmi, who has for wife one of the
nieces of our Abbot Primaticcio, who has also given in marriage another
niece, the sister of the first-named, with honour and a good dowry.
Primaticcio has always lived not like a painter and craftsman, but like a
nobleman, and, as I have said, he has been very loving towards our
craftsmen. When, as has been related, he sent for Prospero Fontana, he
despatched to him a good sum of money, to the end that he might be able to
make his way to France. This sum, having fallen ill, Prospero was not able
to pay back or return by means of his works and labours; wherefore I,
passing in the year 1563 through Bologna, recommended Prospero to him
in this matter, and such was the courtesy of Primaticcio, that before I
departed from Bologna I saw a writing by the hand of the Abbot in which
he made a free gift to Prospero of all that sum of money which he had in
hand for that purpose. For which reasons the affection that he has won
among craftsmen is such, that they address and honour him as a father.
Now, to say something more of Prospero, I must record that he was once
employed with much credit to himself in Rome, by Pope Julius III, at his
Palace, at the Vigna Giulia, and at the Palace of the Campo Marzio, which
at that time belonged to Signor Balduino Monti, and now belongs to the
Lord Cardinal Ernando de' Medici, the son of Duke Cosimo. In Bologna the
same master has executed many works in oils and in fresco, and in
particular an altar-piece in oils in the Madonna del Baracane, of a S.
Catherine who is disputing with philosophers and doctors in the presence of
the Tyrant, which is held to be a very beautiful work. And the same
Prospero has painted many pictures in fresco in the principal chapel of the
Palace where the Governor lives.
Much the friend of Primaticcio, likewise, is Lorenzo Sabatini, an excellent
painter; and if he had not been burdened with a wife and many children, the
Abbot would have taken him to France, knowing that he has a very good
manner and great mastery in all kinds of work, as may be seen from many
things that he has done in Bologna. And in the year 1566 Vasari made use of
him in the festive preparations that were carried out in Florence for the

above-mentioned nuptials of the Prince and her serene Highness Queen
Joanna of Austria, causing him to execute, in the vestibule that is between
the Sala dei Dugento and the Great Hall, six figures in fresco that are very
beautiful and truly worthy to be praised. But since this able painter is
constantly making progress, I shall say nothing more about him, save that,
attending as he does to the studies of art, a most honourable result is
expected from him.
Now, in connection with the Abbot and the other Bolognese of whom
mention has been made hitherto, I shall say something of Pellegrino
Bolognese, a painter of the highest promise and most beautiful genius. This
Pellegrino, after having attended in his early years to drawing the works by
Vasari that are in the refectory of S. Michele in Bosco at Bologna, and those
by other painters of good name, went in the year 1547 to Rome, where he
occupied himself until the year 1550 in drawing the most noteworthy
works; executing during that time and also afterwards, in the Castello di S.
Angelo, some things in connection with the works that Perino del Vaga
carried out. In the centre of the vaulting of the Chapel of S. Dionigi, in the
Church of S. Luigi de' Franzesi, he painted a battle-scene in fresco, in
which he acquitted himself in such a manner, that, although Jacopo del
Conte, a Florentine painter, and Girolamo Siciolante of Sermoneta had
executed many works in the same chapel, Pellegrino proved to be in no way
inferior to them; nay, it appears to many that he acquitted himself better
than they did in the boldness, grace, colouring, and design of those his
pictures. By reason of this Monsignor Poggio afterwards availed himself
much of Pellegrino, for he had erected a palace on the Esquiline Hill, where
he had a vineyard, without the Porta del Popolo, and he desired that
Pellegrino should execute some figures for him on the façade, and then that
he should paint the interior of a loggia that faces towards the Tiber, which
he executed with such diligence, that it is held to be a work of much beauty
and grace. In the house of Francesco Formento, between the Strada del
Pellegrino and the Parione, he painted in a courtyard a façade and two
figures besides. By order of the ministers of Pope Julius III, he executed a
large escutcheon, with two figures, in the Belvedere; and without the Porta
del Popolo, in the Church of S. Andrea, which that Pontiff had caused to be
built, he painted a S. Peter and a S. Andrew, which two figures were much

extolled, and the design of the S. Peter is in our book, together with other
sheets drawn with much diligence by the same hand.

THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS
(After the painting by Pellegrino Tibaldi. Vienna: Prince Liechtenstein)
Hanfstaengl
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Being then sent to Bologna by Monsignor Poggio, he painted for him in his
palace there many scenes in fresco, among which is one that is most
beautiful, wherein from the many figures, both nude and clothed, and the
lovely composition of the scene, it is evident that he surpassed himself,

insomuch that he has never done any work since better than this. In S.
Jacopo, in the same city, he began to paint a chapel likewise for Cardinal
Poggio, which was afterwards finished by the above-mentioned Prospero
Fontana. Being then taken by the Cardinal of Augsburg to the Madonna of
Loreto, Pellegrino decorated for him a chapel most beautifully with stucco-
work and pictures. On the vaulting, within a rich pattern of compartments in
stucco, are the Nativity of Christ and His Presentation in the arms of
Simeon at the Temple; and in the centre, in particular, is the Transfiguration
of the Saviour on Mount Tabor, and with Him Moses, Elias, and the
Disciples. In the altar-piece that is above the altar, he painted S. John the
Baptist baptizing Christ; and in this he made a portrait of the above-named
Cardinal, kneeling. On one of the façades at the sides he painted S. John
preaching to the multitude, and on the other the Beheading of the same
Saint. In the forecourt below the church he painted stories of the Judgment,
and some figures in chiaroscuro in the place where the Theatines now have
their Confessional.
Being summoned not long afterwards to Ancona by Giorgio Morato, he
painted for the Church of S. Agostino a large altar-piece in oils of Christ
baptized by S. John, with S. Paul and other Saints on one side, and in the
predella a good number of little figures, which are full of grace. For the
same man he made in the Church of S. Ciriaco sul Monte a very beautiful
ornament in stucco for the altar-piece of the high-altar, and within it a
Christ of five braccia in full-relief, which was much extolled. In like
manner, he has made in the same city a very large and very beautiful
ornament of stucco for the high-altar of S. Domenico, and he would also
have painted the altar-picture, but he had a difference with the patron of that
work, and it was given to Tiziano Vecelli to execute, as will be related in the
proper place. Finally, having undertaken to decorate in the same city of
Ancona the Loggia de' Mercanti, which faces on one side over the sea-shore
and on the other towards the principal street of the city, Pellegrino has
adorned the vaulting, which is a new structure, with pictures and many large
figures in stucco; in which work since he has exerted all the effort and study
possible to him, it has turned out in truth full of beauty and grace, for the
reason that, besides that all the figures are beautiful and well executed,
there are some most lovely foreshortenings of nudes, in which it is evident

that he has imitated with much diligence the works of Buonarroti that are in
the Chapel in Rome.
Now, since there are not in those parts any architects or engineers of
account, or any who know more than he does, Pellegrino has taken it upon
himself to give his attention to architecture and to the fortifying of places in
that province; and, as one who has recognized that painting is more difficult
and perhaps less advantageous than architecture, setting his painting
somewhat on one side, he has executed many works for the fortification of
Ancona and for many other places in the States of the Church, and
particularly at Ravenna. Finally, he has made a beginning with a palace for
the Sapienza, at Pavia, for Cardinal Borromeo. And at the present day, since
he has not wholly abandoned painting, he is executing a scene in fresco,
which will be very beautiful, in the refectory of S. Giorgio at Ferrara, for
the Monks of Monte Oliveto; and of this Pellegrino himself not long ago
showed me the design, which is very fine. But, seeing that he is a young
man of thirty-five, and is constantly making more and more progress and
advancing towards perfection, this much about him must suffice for the
present. In like manner, I shall be brief in speaking of Orazio Fumaccini,[7]
a painter likewise from Bologna, who has executed in Rome, as has been
related, above one of the doors of the Hall of Kings, a scene that is very
fine, and in Bologna many much-extolled pictures; for he also is young, and
he is acquitting himself in such a manner, that he will not be inferior to his
elders, of whom we have made mention in these our Lives.
The men of Romagna, also, spurred by the example of the Bolognese, their
neighbours, have executed many noble works in our arts; for, besides
Jacopone da Faenza, who, as has been related, painted the tribune of S.
Vitale in Ravenna, there have been and still are many others after him who
are excellent. Maestro Luca de' Longhi of Ravenna, a man of good, quiet,
and studious nature, has painted in his native city of Ravenna and in the
surrounding country many very beautiful panel-pictures in oils and portraits
from nature; and of much charm, among others, are two little altar-pieces
that he was commissioned not long since to paint for the Church of the
Monks of Classi by the Reverend Don Antonio da Pisa, then Abbot of that
Monastery; to say nothing of an infinite number of other works that this
painter has executed. And, to tell the truth, if Maestro Luca had gone forth
from Ravenna, where he has always lived and still lives with his family,

being assiduous and very diligent, and of fine judgment, he would have
become a very rare painter, because he has executed his works, as he still
does, with patience and study; and to this I can bear witness, who know
how much proficience he made during my sojourn of two months in
Ravenna, both practising and discussing the matters of art; nor must I omit
to say that a daughter of his, still but a little girl, called Barbara, draws very
well, and has begun to do some work in colour with no little grace and
excellence of manner.
A rival of Luca, for a time, was Livio Agresti of Forlì, who, after he had
executed for Abbot de' Grassi in the Church of the Spirito Santo some
scenes in fresco and certain other works, departed from Ravenna and made
his way to Rome. There, attending with much study to design, he became a
well-practised master, as may be seen from some façades and other works
in fresco that he executed at that time; and his first works, which are in
Narni, have in them not a little of the good. In a chapel of the Church of the
Santo Spirito, in Rome, he has painted a number of figures and scenes in
fresco, which are executed with much industry and study, so that they are
rightly extolled by everyone. That work was the reason, as has been related,
that there was allotted to him one of the smaller scenes that are over the
doors in the Hall of Kings in the Palace of the Vatican, in which he
acquitted himself so well, that it can bear comparison with the others. The
same master has executed for the Cardinal of Augsburg seven pieces with
scenes painted on cloth of silver, which have been held to be very beautiful
in Spain, where they have been sent by that same Cardinal as presents to
King Philip, to be used as hangings in a chamber. Another picture on cloth
of silver he has painted in the same manner, which is now to be seen in the
Church of the Theatines at Forlì. Finally, having become a good and bold
draughtsman, a well-practised colourist, fertile in the composition of
scenes, and universal in his manner, he has been invited by the above-
named Cardinal with a good salary to Augsburg, where he is constantly
executing works worthy of much praise.
But most rare among the other men of Romagna, in certain respects, is
Marco da Faenza (for only so, and not otherwise, is he called), for the
reason that he has no ordinary mastery in the work of fresco, being bold,
resolute, and of a terrible force, and particularly in the manner and practice
of making grotesques, in which he has no equal at the present day, nor one

who even approaches his perfection. His works may be found throughout
all Rome; and in Florence there is by his hand the greater part of the
ornaments of twenty different rooms that are in the Ducal Palace, and the
friezes of the ceiling in the Great Hall of that Palace, which was painted by
Giorgio Vasari, as will be fully described in the proper place; not to mention
that the decorations of the principal court of the same Palace, made in a
short time for the coming of Queen Joanna, were executed in great part by
the same man. And this must be enough of Marco, he being still alive and in
the flower of his growth and activity.
In Parma there is at the present day in the service of the Lord Duke Ottavio
Farnese, a painter called Miruolo, a native, I believe, of Romagna, who,
besides some works executed in Rome, has painted many scenes in fresco
in a little palace that the same Lord Duke has caused to be built in the
Castle of Parma. There, also, are some fountains constructed with fine grace
by Giovanni Boscoli, a sculptor of Montepulciano, who, having worked in
stucco for many years under Vasari in the Palace of the above-named Lord
Duke Cosimo of Florence, has finally entered the service of the above-
mentioned Lord Duke of Parma, with a good salary, and has executed, as he
continues constantly to do, works worthy of his rare and most beautiful
genius. In the same cities and provinces, also, are many other excellent and
noble craftsmen; but, since they are still young, we shall defer to a more
convenient time the making of that honourable mention of them that their
talents and their works may have merited.
And this is the end of the works of Abbot Primaticcio. I will add that, he
having had himself portrayed in a pen-drawing by the Bolognese painter
Bartolommeo Passerotto, who was very much his friend, that portrait has
come into our hands, and we have it in our book of drawings by the hands
of various excellent painters.

TIZIANO DA CADORE

TIZIANO: THE MADONNA OF THE CHERRIES
(Vienna: Imperial Gallery, 180. Panel)
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DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKS OF TIZIANO
DA CADORE
PAINTER
Tiziano was born at Cadore, a little township situated on the Piave and five
miles distant from the pass of the Alps, in the year 1480, from the family of
the Vecelli, one of the most noble in that place. At the age of ten, having a
fine spirit and a lively intelligence, he was sent to Venice to the house of an
uncle, an honoured citizen, who, perceiving the boy to be much inclined to
painting, placed him with Gian Bellini, an excellent painter very famous at
that time, as has been related. Under his discipline, attending to design, he
soon showed that he was endowed by nature with all the gifts of intellect
and judgment that are necessary for the art of painting; and since at that
time Gian Bellini and the other painters of that country, from not being able
to study ancient works, were much—nay, altogether—given to copying
from the life whatever work they did, and that with a dry, crude, and
laboured manner, Tiziano also for a time learned that method. But having
come to about the year 1507, Giorgione da Castelfranco, not altogether
liking that mode of working, began to give to his pictures more softness and
greater relief, with a beautiful manner; nevertheless he used to set himself
before living and natural objects and counterfeit them as well as he was able
with colours, and paint them broadly with tints crude or soft according as
the life demanded, without doing any drawing, holding it as certain that to
paint with colours only, without the study of drawing on paper, was the true
and best method of working, and the true design. For he did not perceive
that for him who wishes to distribute his compositions and accommodate
his inventions well, it is necessary that he should first put them down on
paper in several different ways, in order to see how the whole goes together,
for the reason that the idea is not able to see or imagine the inventions
perfectly within herself, if she does not reveal and demonstrate her
conception to the eyes of the body, that these may assist her to form a good
judgment. Besides which, it is necessary to give much study to the nude, if
you wish to comprehend it well, which you will never do, nor is it possible,

without having recourse to paper; and to keep always before you, while you
paint, persons naked or draped, is no small restraint, whereas, when you
have formed your hand by drawing on paper, you then come little by little
with greater ease to carry your conceptions into execution, designing and
painting together. And so, gaining practice in art, you make both manner
and judgment perfect, doing away with the labour and effort wherewith
those pictures were executed of which we have spoken above, not to
mention that by drawing on paper, you come to fill the mind with beautiful
conceptions, and learn to counterfeit all the objects of nature by memory,
without having to keep them always before you or being obliged to conceal
beneath the glamour of colouring the painful fruits of your ignorance of
design, in the manner that was followed for many years by the Venetian
painters, Giorgione, Palma, Pordenone, and others, who never saw Rome or
any other works of absolute perfection.

ARIOSTO
(After the painting by Tiziano. London: National Gallery, No. 1944)
Mansell
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Tiziano, then, having seen the method and manner of Giorgione, abandoned
the manner of Gian Bellini, although he had been accustomed to it for a
long time, and attached himself to that of Giorgione; coming in a short time
to imitate his works so well, that his pictures at times were mistaken for
works by Giorgione, as will be related below. Then, having grown in age,
practice, and judgment, Tiziano executed many works in fresco, which
cannot be enumerated in order, being dispersed over various places; let it
suffice that they were such, that the opinion was formed by many
experienced judges that he would become, as he afterwards did, a most
excellent painter. At the time when he first began to follow the manner of
Giorgione, not being more than eighteen years of age, he made the portrait
of a gentleman of the Barberigo family, his friend, which was held to be
very beautiful, the likeness of the flesh-colouring being true and natural,
and all the hairs so well distinguished one from another, that they might
have been counted, as also might have been the stitches in a doublet of
silvered satin that he painted in that work. In short, it was held to be so well
done, and with such diligence, that if Tiziano had not written his name on a
dark ground, it would have been taken for the work of Giorgione.
Meanwhile Giorgione himself had executed the principal façade of the
Fondaco de' Tedeschi, and by means of Barberigo there were allotted to
Tiziano certain scenes on the same building, above the Merceria. After
which work he painted a large picture with figures of the size of life, which
is now in the hall of M. Andrea Loredano, who dwells near S. Marcuola. In
that picture is painted Our Lady going into Egypt, in the midst of a great
forest and certain landscapes that are very well done, because Tiziano had
given his attention for many months to such things, and had kept in his
house for that purpose some Germans who were excellent painters of
landscapes and verdure. In the wood in that picture, likewise, he painted
many animals, which he portrayed from the life; and they are truly natural,
and almost alive. Next, in the house of M. Giovanni D'Anna, a Flemish
gentleman and merchant, his gossip, he made his portrait, which has all the
appearance of life, and also an "Ecce Homo" with many figures, which is

held by Tiziano himself and by others to be a very beautiful work. The same
master painted a picture of Our Lady with other figures the size of life, of
men and children, all portrayed from the life and from persons of that
house. Then in the year 1507, while the Emperor Maximilian was making
war on the Venetians, Tiziano, according to his own account, painted an
Angel Raphael with Tobias and a dog in the Church of S. Marziliano, with a
distant landscape, where, in a little wood, S. John the Baptist is praying on
his knees to Heaven, whence comes a radiance that illumines him; and this
work it is thought that he executed before he made a beginning with the
façade of the Fondaco de' Tedeschi. Concerning which façade, many
gentlemen, not knowing that Giorgione was not working there any more
and that Tiziano was doing it, who had uncovered one part, meeting with
Giorgione, congratulated him in friendly fashion, saying that he was
acquitting himself better in the façade towards the Merceria than he had
done in that which is over the Grand Canal. At which circumstance
Giorgione felt such disdain, that until Tiziano had completely finished the
work and it had become well known that the same had done that part, he
would scarcely let himself be seen; and from that time onward he would
never allow Tiziano to associate with him or be his friend.

BACCHANAL
(After the painting by Tiziano. Madrid: The Prado)
Anderson
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In the year after, 1508, Tiziano published in wood-engraving the Triumph
of Faith, with an infinity of figures; our first Parents, the Patriarchs, the
Prophets, the Sibyls, the Innocents, the Martyrs, the Apostles, and Jesus
Christ borne in Triumph by the four Evangelists and the Four Doctors, with
the Holy Confessors behind. In that work Tiziano displayed boldness, a
beautiful manner, and the power to work with facility of hand; and I
remember that Fra Sebastiano del Piombo, conversing of this, said to me
that if Tiziano had been in Rome at that time, and had seen the works of
Michelagnolo, those of Raffaello, and the ancient statues, and had studied
design, he would have done things absolutely stupendous, considering the
beautiful mastery that he had in colouring, and that he deserved to be
celebrated as the finest and greatest imitator of Nature in the matter of
colour in our times, and with the foundation of the grand method of design

he might have equalled the Urbinate and Buonarroti. Afterwards, having
gone to Vicenza, Tiziano painted the Judgment of Solomon in fresco, which
was a beautiful work, under the little loggia where justice is administered in
public audience. He then returned to Venice, and painted the façade of the
Grimani. At Padua, in the Church of S. Antonio, he executed likewise in
fresco some stories of the actions of that Saint, and for that of S. Spirito he
painted a little altar-piece with a S. Mark seated in the midst of certain
Saints, in whose faces are some portraits from life done in oils with the
greatest diligence; which picture many have believed to be by the hand of
Giorgione. Then, a scene having been left unfinished in the Hall of the
Great Council through the death of Giovanni Bellini, wherein Frederick
Barbarossa is kneeling at the door of the Church of S. Marco before Pope
Alexander IV, who places his foot on Barbarossa's neck, Tiziano finished it,
changing many things, and making there many portraits from life of his
friends and others; for which he was rewarded by receiving from the Senate
an office in the Fondaco de' Tedeschi, called the Senseria, which yields
three hundred crowns a year. That office those Signori are accustomed to
give to the most excellent painter of their city, on the condition that he shall
be obliged from time to time to paint the portrait of their Prince or Doge, at
his election, for the price of only eight crowns, which the Prince himself
pays to him; which portrait is afterwards kept, in memory of him, in a
public place in the Palace of S. Marco.

MADONNA WITH SAINTS AND DONOR
(After the panel by Tiziano da Cadore. Ancona: S. Domenico)
Anderson
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In the year 1514 Duke Alfonso of Ferrara had caused a little chamber to be
decorated, and had commissioned Dosso, the painter of Ferrara, to execute
in certain compartments stories of Æneas, Mars, and Venus, and in a grotto
Vulcan with two smiths at the forge; and he desired that there should also be
there pictures by the hand of Gian Bellini. Bellini painted on another wall a
vat of red wine with some Bacchanals around it, and Satyrs, musicians, and
other men and women, all drunk with wine, and near them a nude and very
beautiful Silenus, riding on his ass, with figures about him that have the

hands full of fruits and grapes; which work was in truth executed and
coloured with great diligence, insomuch that it is one of the most beautiful
pictures that Gian Bellini ever painted, although in the manner of the
draperies there is a certain sharpness after the German manner (nothing,
indeed, of any account), because he imitated a picture by the Fleming
Albrecht Dürer, which had been brought in those days to Venice and placed
in the Church of S. Bartolommeo, a rare work and full of most beautiful
figures painted in oils. On that vat Gian Bellini wrote these words:
Joannes Bellinus Venetus, P. 1514.
That work he was not able to finish completely, because he was old, and
Tiziano, as the most excellent of all the others, was sent for to the end that
he might finish it; wherefore, being desirous to acquire excellence and to
make himself known, he executed with much diligence two scenes that
were wanting in that little chamber. In the first is a river of red wine, about
which are singers and musicians, both men and women, as it were drunk,
and a naked woman who is sleeping, so beautiful that she might be alive,
together with other figures; and on this picture Tiziano wrote his name. In
the other, which is next to it and seen first on entering, he painted many
little boys and Loves in various attitudes, which much pleased that lord, as
also did the other picture; but most beautiful of all is one of those boys who
is making water into a river and is reflected in the water, while the others
are around a pedestal that has the form of an altar, upon which is a statue of
Venus with a sea-conch in the right hand, and Grace and Beauty about her,
which are very lovely figures and executed with incredible diligence. On
the door of a press, likewise, Tiziano painted an image of Christ from the
waist upwards, marvellous, nay, stupendous, to whom a base Hebrew is
showing the coin of Cæsar; which image, and also other pictures in that
little chamber, our best craftsmen declare to be the finest and best executed
that Tiziano has ever done, and indeed they are most rare. Wherefore he
well deserved to be most liberally recompensed and rewarded by that lord,
whom he portrayed excellently well with one arm resting on a great piece of
artillery; and he also made a portrait of Signora Laura, who afterwards
became the wife of the Duke, which is a stupendous work. And, in truth,
gifts have great potency with those who labour for the love of art, when
they are uplifted by the liberality of Princes. At that time Tiziano formed a

friendship with the divine Messer Lodovico Ariosto, and was recognized by
him as a most excellent painter and celebrated in his Orlando Furioso:
... E Tizian che onora
Non men Cador, che quei Vinezia e Urbino.

TIZIANO: SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE
(Rome: Borghese Gallery, 147. Canvas)
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Having then returned to Venice, Tiziano painted on a canvas in oils, for the
father-in-law of Giovanni da Castel Bolognese, a naked shepherd and a
country-girl who is offering him some pipes, that he may play them, with a
most beautiful landscape; which picture is now at Faenza, in the house of
the said Giovanni. He then executed for the high-altar in the Church of the
Friars Minors, called the Cà Grande, a picture of Our Lady ascending into
Heaven, and below her the twelve Apostles, who are gazing upon her as she
ascends; but of this work, from its having been painted on cloth, and
perhaps not well kept, there is little to be seen. For the Chapel of the Pesari
family, in the same church, he painted in an altar-piece the Madonna with
the Child in her arms, a S. Peter and a S. George, and about them the
patrons of the work, kneeling and portrayed from life; among whom are the
Bishop of Paphos and his brother, then newly returned from the victory
which that Bishop won against the Turks. For the little Church of S.
Niccolò, in the same convent, he painted in an altar-piece S. Nicholas, S.
Francis, S. Catharine, and also a nude S. Sebastian, portrayed from life and
without any artifice that can be seen to have been used to enhance the

beauty of the limbs and trunk, there being nothing there but what he saw in
the work of nature, insomuch that it all appears as if stamped from the life,
so fleshlike it is and natural; but for all that it is held to be beautiful, as is
also very lovely the Madonna with the Child in her arms at whom all those
figures are gazing. The subject of that picture was drawn on wood by
Tiziano himself, and then engraved by others and printed. For the Church of
S. Rocco, after the works described above, he painted a picture of Christ
with the Cross on His shoulder, and about His neck a cord that is drawn by
a Hebrew; and that figure, which many have believed to be by the hand of
Giorgione, is now the object of the greatest devotion in Venice, and has
received in alms more crowns than Tiziano and Giorgione ever gained in all
their lives. Then he was invited to Rome by Bembo, whom he had already
portrayed, and who was at that time Secretary to Pope Leo X, to the end
that he might see Rome, Raffaello da Urbino, and others; but Tiziano
delayed that visit so long from one day to another, that Leo died, and
Raffaello in 1520, and after all he never went. For the Church of S. Maria
Maggiore he painted a picture with S. John the Baptist in the Desert among
some rocks, an Angel that appears as if alive, and a little piece of distant
landscape with some trees upon the bank of a river, all full of grace.
He made portraits from life of the Prince Grimani and Loredano, which
were held to be admirable; and not long afterwards of King Francis, when
he departed from Italy in order to return to France. And in the year when
Andrea Gritti was elected Doge, Tiziano painted his portrait, which was a
very rare thing, in a picture wherein are Our Lady, S. Mark, and S. Andrew
with the countenance of that Doge; which picture, a most marvellous work,
is in the Sala del Collegio. He has also painted portraits, in addition to those
of the Doges named above (being obliged, as has been related, to do it), of
others who have been Doges in their time; Pietro Lando, Francesco Donato,
Marcantonio Trevisano, and Veniero. But by the two Doges and brothers
Paoli[8] he has been excused recently, because of his great age, from that
obligation. Before the sack of Rome there had gone to live in Venice Pietro
Aretino, a most famous poet of our times, and he became very much the
friend of Tiziano and Sansovino; which brought great honour and advantage
to Tiziano, for the reason that the poet made him known wherever his pen
reached, and especially to Princes of importance, as will be told in the
proper place.

CHARLES V
(After the painting by Tiziano. Madrid: The Prado)
Anderson
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Meanwhile, to return to Tiziano's works, he painted the altar-piece for the
altar of S. Piero Martire in the Church of SS. Giovanni e Polo, depicting
therein that holy martyr larger than life, in a forest of very great trees, fallen
to the ground and assailed by the fury of a soldier, who has wounded him so
grievously in the head, that as he lies but half alive there is seen in his face
the horror of death, while in another friar who runs forward in flight may be
perceived the fear and terror of death. In the air are two nude Angels
coming down from a flash of Heaven's lightning, which gives light to the
landscape, which is most beautiful, and to the whole work besides, which is

the most finished, the most celebrated, the greatest, and the best conceived
and executed that Tiziano has as yet ever done in all his life. This work
being seen by Gritti, who was always very much the friend of Tiziano, as
also of Sansovino, he caused to be allotted to him a great scene of the rout
of Chiaradadda, in the Hall of the Great Council. In it he painted a battle
with soldiers in furious combat, while a terrible rain falls from Heaven;
which work, wholly taken from life, is held to be the best of all the scenes
that are in that Hall, and the most beautiful. And in the same Palace, at the
foot of a staircase, he painted a Madonna in fresco. Having made not long
afterwards for a gentleman of the Contarini family a picture of a very
beautiful Christ, who is seated at table with Cleophas and Luke, it appeared
to that gentleman that the work was worthy to be in a public place, as in
truth it is. Wherefore having made a present of it, like a true lover of his
country and of the commonwealth, to the Signoria, it was kept a long time
in the apartments of the Doge; but at the present day it is in a public place,
where it may be seen by everyone, in the Salotta d'Oro in front of the Hall
of the Council of Ten, over the door. About the same time, also, he painted
for the Scuola of S. Maria della Carità Our Lady ascending the steps of the
Temple, with heads of every kind portrayed from nature; and for the Scuola
of S. Fantino, likewise, a little altar-piece of S. Jerome in Penitence, which
was much extolled by the craftsmen, but was consumed by fire two years
ago together with the whole church.
It is said that in the year 1530, the Emperor Charles V being in Bologna,
Tiziano was invited to that city by Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, through the
agency of Pietro Aretino. There he made a most beautiful portrait of his
Majesty in full armour, which so pleased him, that he caused a thousand
crowns to be given to Tiziano; but of these he was obliged afterwards to
give the half to the sculptor Alfonso Lombardi, who had made a model to
be reproduced in marble, as was related in his Life.
Having returned to Venice, Tiziano found that a number of gentlemen, who
had taken Pordenone into their favour, praising much the works executed by
him on the ceiling of the Sala de' Pregai and elsewhere, had caused a little
altar-piece to be allotted to him in the Church of S. Giovanni Elemosinario,
to the end that he might paint it in competition with Tiziano, who for the
same place had painted a short time before the said S. Giovanni
Elemosinario in the habit of a Bishop. But, for all the diligence that

Pordenone devoted to that altar-piece, he was not able to equal or even by a
great measure to approach to the work of Tiziano. Next, Tiziano executed a
most beautiful altar-picture of an Annunciation for the Church of S. Maria
degli Angeli at Murano, but he who had caused it to be painted not being
willing to spend five hundred crowns upon it, which Tiziano was asking, by
the advice of Messer Pietro Aretino he sent it as a gift to the above-named
Emperor Charles V, who, liking that work vastly, made him a present of two
thousand crowns; and where that picture was to have been placed, there was
set in its stead one by the hand of Pordenone. Nor had any long time passed
when Charles V, returning to Bologna for a conference with Pope Clement,
at the time when he came with his army from Hungary, desired to be
portrayed again by Tiziano. Before departing from Bologna, Tiziano also
painted a portrait of the above-named Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici in
Hungarian dress, and in a smaller picture the same man in full armour; both
which portraits are now in the guardaroba of Duke Cosimo. At that same
time he executed a portrait of Alfonso Davalos, Marchese del Vasto, and
one of the above-named Pietro Aretino, who then contrived that he should
become the friend and servant of Federigo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, with
whom Tiziano went to his States and there painted a portrait of him, which
is a living likeness, and then one of the Cardinal, his brother. These
finished, he painted, for the adornment of a room among those of Giulio
Romano, twelve figures from the waist upwards of the twelve Cæsars, very
beautiful, beneath each of which the said Giulio afterwards painted a story
from their lives.

TIZIANO: THE DUKE OF NORFOLK
(Florence: Pitti, 92. Canvas)
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In Cadore, his native place, Tiziano has painted an altar-picture wherein are
Our Lady, S. Tiziano the Bishop, and a portrait of himself kneeling. In the
year when Pope Paul III went to Bologna, and from there to Ferrara,
Tiziano, having gone to the Court, made a portrait of that Pope, which was
a very beautiful work, and from it another for Cardinal S. Fiore; and both
these portraits, for which he was very well paid by the Pope, are in Rome,
one in the guardaroba of Cardinal Farnese, and the other in the possession
of the heirs of the above-named Cardinal S. Fiore, and from them have been
taken many copies, which are dispersed throughout Italy. At this same time,
also, he made a portrait of Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, which was a
marvellous work; wherefore M. Pietro Aretino on this account celebrated
him in a sonnet that began:

Se il chiaro Apelle con la man dell'arte
Rassembrò d'Alessandro il volto e il petto.
There are in the guardaroba of the same Duke, by the hand of Tiziano, two
most lovely heads of women, and a young recumbent Venus with flowers
and certain light draperies about her, very beautiful and well finished; and,
in addition, a figure of S. Mary Magdalene with the hair all loose, which is
a rare work. There, likewise, are the portraits of Charles V, King Francis as
a young man, Duke Guidobaldo II, Pope Sixtus IV, Pope Julius II, Paul III,
the old Cardinal of Lorraine, and Suleiman Emperor of the Turks; which
portraits, I say, are by the hand of Tiziano, and most beautiful. In the same
guardaroba, besides many other things, is a portrait of Hannibal the
Carthaginian, cut in intaglio in an antique cornelian, and also a very
beautiful head in marble by the hand of Donato.

POPE PAUL III
(After the painting by Tiziano. Naples: Museo Nazionale)
Anderson
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In the year 1541 Tiziano painted for the Friars of S. Spirito, in Venice, the
altar-piece of their high-altar, figuring in it the Descent of the Holy Spirit
upon the Apostles, with a God depicted as of fire, and the Spirit as a Dove;
which altar-piece becoming spoiled in no long time, after having many
disputes with those friars he had to paint it again, and it is that which is over
the altar at the present day. For the Church of S. Nazzaro in Brescia he
executed the altar-piece of the high-altar in five pictures; in the central
picture is Jesus Christ returning to life, with some soldiers around, and at
the sides are S. Nazzaro, S. Sebastian, the Angel Gabriel, and the Virgin
receiving the Annunciation. In a picture for the wall at the entrance of the
Duomo of Verona, he painted an Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven,
with the Apostles on the ground, which is held to be the best of the modern
works in that city. In the year 1541 he made the portrait of Don Diego di
Mendoza, at that time Ambassador of Charles V in Venice, a whole-length
figure and standing, which was very beautiful; and from this Tiziano began
what has since come into fashion, the making of certain portraits of full
length. In the same manner he painted that of the Cardinal of Trento, then a
young man, and for Francesco Marcolini the portrait of Messer Pietro
Aretino, but this last was by no means as beautiful as one of that poet,
likewise by the hand of Tiziano, which Aretino himself sent as a present to
Duke Cosimo de' Medici, to whom he sent also the head of Signor Giovanni
de' Medici, the father of the said Lord Duke. That head was copied from a
cast taken from the face of that lord when he died at Mantua, which was in
the possession of Aretino; and both these portraits are in the guardaroba of
the same Lord Duke, among many other most noble pictures.
The same year, Vasari having been thirteen months in Venice to execute, as
has been related, a ceiling for Messer Giovanni Cornaro, and some works
for the Company of the Calza, Sansovino, who was directing the fabric of
S. Spirito, had commissioned him to make designs for three large pictures
in oils which were to go into the ceiling, to the end that he might execute
them in painting; but, Vasari having afterwards departed, those three
pictures were allotted to Tiziano, who executed them most beautifully, from

his having contrived with great art to make the figures foreshortened from
below upwards. In one is Abraham sacrificing Isaac, in another David
severing the neck of Goliath, and in the third Abel slain by his brother Cain.
About the same time Tiziano painted a portrait of himself, in order to leave
that memory of himself to his children.

DANAË
(After the painting by Tiziano. Naples: Museo Nazionale)
Anderson
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The year 1546 having come, he went at the invitation of Cardinal Farnese to
Rome, where he found Vasari, who, having returned from Naples, was
executing the Hall of the Cancelleria for the above-named Cardinal;
whereupon, Tiziano having been recommended by that lord to Vasari,
Giorgio kept him company lovingly in taking him about to see the sights of
Rome. And then, after Tiziano had rested for some days, rooms were given
to him in the Belvedere, to the end that he might set his hand to painting
once more the portrait of Pope Paul, of full length, with one of Farnese and
one of Duke Ottavio, which he executed excellently well and much to the

satisfaction of those lords. At their persuasion he painted, for presenting to
the Pope, a picture of Christ from the waist upwards in the form of an "Ecce
Homo," which work, whether it was that the works of Michelagnolo,
Raffaello, Polidoro, and others had made him lose some force, or for some
other reason, did not appear to the painters, although it was a good picture,
to be of the same excellence as many others by his hand, and particularly
his portraits. Michelagnolo and Vasari, going one day to visit Tiziano in the
Belvedere, saw in a picture that he had executed at that time a nude woman
representing Danaë, who had in her lap Jove transformed into a rain of
gold; and they praised it much, as one does in the painter's presence. After
they had left him, discoursing of Tiziano's method, Buonarroti commended
it not a little, saying that his colouring and his manner much pleased him,
but that it was a pity that in Venice men did not learn to draw well from the
beginning, and that those painters did not pursue a better method in their
studies. "For," he said, "if this man had been in any way assisted by art and
design, as he is by nature, and above all in counterfeiting the life, no one
could do more or work better, for he has a fine spirit and a very beautiful
and lively manner." And in fact this is true, for the reason that he who has
not drawn much nor studied the choicest ancient and modern works, cannot
work well from memory by himself or improve the things that he copies
from life, giving them the grace and perfection wherein art goes beyond the
scope of nature, which generally produces some parts that are not beautiful.
Tiziano, finally departing from Rome, with many gifts received from those
lords, and in particular a benefice of good value for his son Pomponio, set
himself on the road to return to Venice, after Orazio, his other son, had
made a portrait of Messer Battista Ceciliano, an excellent player on the
bass-viol, which was a very good work, and he himself had executed some
other portraits for Duke Guidobaldo of Urbino. Arriving in Florence, and
seeing the rare works of that city, he was amazed by them no less than he
had been by those of Rome. And besides that, he visited Duke Cosimo, who
was at Poggio a Caiano, offering to paint his portrait; to which his
Excellency did not give much heed, perchance in order not to do a wrong to
the many noble craftsmen of his city and dominion.
Then, having arrived in Venice, Tiziano finished for the Marchese del Vasto
an Allocution (for so they called it) made by that lord to his soldiers; and
after that he took the portrait of Charles V, that of the Catholic King, and

many others. These works finished, he painted a little altar-piece of the
Annunciation for the Church of S. Maria Nuova in Venice; and then,
employing the assistance of his young men, he executed a Last Supper in
the refectory of SS. Giovanni e Polo, and for the high-altar of the Church of
S. Salvadore an altar-piece in which is a Christ Transfigured on Mount
Tabor, and for another altar in the same church a Madonna receiving the
Annunciation from the Angel. But these last works, although there is
something of the good to be seen in them, are not much esteemed by him,
and have not the perfection that his other pictures have. And since the
works of Tiziano are without number, and particularly the portraits, it is
almost impossible to make mention of them all; wherefore I shall speak
only of the most remarkable, but without order of time, it being of little
import to know which was first and which later. Several times, as has been
related, he painted the portrait of Charles V, and in the end he was
summoned for that purpose to the Court, where he portrayed him as he was
in those his later years; and the work of Tiziano so pleased that all-
conquering Emperor, that after he had once seen it he would not be
portrayed by other painters. Each time that he painted him, he received a
thousand crowns of gold as a present, and he was made by his Majesty a
Chevalier, with a revenue of two hundred crowns on the Chamber of
Naples. In like manner, when he portrayed Philip, King of Spain, the son of
Charles, he received from him a fixed allowance of two hundred crowns
more; insomuch that, adding those four hundred to the three hundred that he
has on the Fondaco de' Tedeschi from the Signori of Venice, he has without
exerting himself a fixed income of seven hundred crowns every year. Of the
same Charles V and King Philip Tiziano sent portraits to the Lord Duke
Cosimo, who has them in his guardaroba. He portrayed Ferdinand, King of
the Romans, who afterwards became Emperor, and both his sons,
Maximilian, now Emperor, and his brother. He also portrayed Queen Maria,
and, for the Emperor Charles V, the Duke of Saxony when he was a
prisoner. But what a waste of time is this? There has been scarce a single
lord of great name, or Prince, or great lady, who has not been portrayed by
Tiziano, a painter of truly extraordinary excellence in this field of art. He
painted portraits of King Francis I of France, as has been related, Francesco
Sforza, Duke of Milan, the Marquis of Pescara, Antonio da Leva,
Massimiano Stampa, Signor Giovan Battista Castaldo, and other lords
without number.

PERSEUS AND ANDROMEDA
(After the painting by Tiziano. London: Hertford House)
Mansell
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In like manner, besides the works mentioned above, at various times he has
executed many others. In Venice, by order of Charles V, he painted in a
great altar-piece the Triune God enthroned, Our Lady and the Infant Christ,
with the Dove over Him, and the ground all of fire, signifying Love; and the
Father is surrounded by fiery Cherubim. On one side is the same Charles V,
and on the other the Empress, both clothed in linen garments, with the
hands clasped in the attitude of prayer, among many Saints; all which was
after the command of the Emperor, who, at that time at the height of his
victories, began to show that he was minded to retire from the things of this
world, as he afterwards did, in order to die like a true Christian, fearing God
and desirous of his own salvation. Which picture the Emperor said to
Tiziano that he wished to place in the monastery wherein afterwards he
finished the course of his life; and since it is a very rare work, it is expected
that it may soon be published in engravings. The same Tiziano executed for
Queen Maria a Prometheus who is bound to Mount Caucasus and torn by
Jove's Eagle, a Sisyphus in Hell who is toiling under his stone, and Tityus

devoured by the Vulture. These her Majesty received, excepting the
Prometheus, and with them a Tantalus of the same size (namely, that of
life), on canvas and in oils. He executed, also, a Venus and Adonis that are
marvellous, she having swooned, and the boy in the act of rising to leave
her, with some dogs about him that are very natural. On a panel of the same
size he represented Andromeda bound to the rock, and Perseus delivering
her from the Sea-Monster, than which picture none could be more lovely; as
is also another of Diana, who, bathing in a fount with her Nymphs,
transforms Actæon into a stag. He also painted Europa passing over the sea
on the back of the Bull. All these pictures are in the possession of the
Catholic King, held very dear for the vivacity that Tiziano has given to the
figures with his colours, making them natural and as if alive.

PHILIP II
(After the painting by Tiziano. Naples: Museo Nazionale)
Anderson
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It is true, however, that the method of work which he employed in these last
pictures is no little different from the method of his youth, for the reason
that the early works are executed with a certain delicacy and a diligence that
are incredible, and they can be seen both from near and from a distance, and
these last works are executed with bold strokes and dashed off with a broad
and even coarse sweep of the brush, insomuch that from near little can be

seen, but from a distance they appear perfect. This method has been the
reason that many, wishing to imitate him therein and to play the practised
master, have painted clumsy pictures; and this happens because, although
many believe that they are done without effort, in truth it is not so, and they
deceive themselves, for it is known that they are painted over and over
again, and that he returned to them with his colours so many times, that the
labour may be perceived. And this method, so used, is judicious, beautiful,
and astonishing, because it makes pictures appear alive and painted with
great art, but conceals the labour.

MARY MAGDALENE
(After the painting by Tiziano. Naples: Museo Nazionale)
Anderson
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Tiziano painted recently in a picture three braccia high and four braccia
broad, Jesus Christ as an Infant in the lap of Our Lady and adored by the
Magi, with a good number of figures of one braccio each, which is a very
lovely work, as is also another picture that he himself copied from that one
and gave to the old Cardinal of Ferrara. Another picture, in which he
depicted Christ mocked by the Jews, which is most beautiful, was placed in
a chapel of the Church of S. Maria delle Grazie, in Milan. For the Queen of
Portugal he painted a picture of a Christ scourged by Jews at the Column, a
little less than the size of life, which is very beautiful. For the high-altar of
S. Domenico, at Ancona, he painted an altar-piece with Christ on the Cross,
and at the foot Our Lady, S. John, and S. Dominic, all most beautiful, and
executed in his later manner with broad strokes, as has just been described
above. And by the same hand, in the Church of the Crocicchieri at Venice,
is the picture that is on the altar of S. Lorenzo, wherein is the martyrdom of
that Saint, with a building full of figures, and S. Laurence lying half upon
the gridiron, in foreshortening, with a great fire beneath him, and about it
some who are kindling it. And since he counterfeited an effect of night,
there are two servants with torches in their hands, which throw light where
the glare of the fire below the gridiron does not reach, which is piled high
and very fierce. Besides this, he depicted a lightning-flash, which, darting
from Heaven and cleaving the clouds, overcomes the light of the fire and
that of the torches, shining over the Saint and the other principal figures,
and, in addition to those three lights, the figures that he painted in the
distance at the windows of the building have the light of lamps and candles
that are near them; and all, in short, is executed with beautiful art,
judgment, and genius. In the Church of S. Sebastiano, on the altar of S.
Niccolò, there is by the hand of the same Tiziano a little altar-piece of a S.
Nicholas who appears as if alive, seated in a chair painted in the likeness of
stone, with an Angel that is holding his mitre; which work he executed at
the commission of Messer Niccolò Crasso, the advocate. Tiziano afterwards
painted, for sending to the Catholic King, a figure of S. Mary Magdalene
from the middle of the thighs upwards, all dishevelled; that is, with the hair
falling over the shoulders, about the throat, and over the breast, the while
that, raising the head with the eyes fixed on Heaven, she reveals remorse in
the redness of the eyes, and in her tears repentance for her sins. Wherefore
the picture moves mightily all who behold it; and, what is more, although
she is very beautiful, it moves not to lust but to compassion. This picture,

when it was finished, so pleased ... Silvio, a Venetian gentleman, that in
order to have it, being one who takes supreme delight in painting, he gave
Tiziano a hundred crowns: wherefore Tiziano was forced to paint another,
which was not less beautiful, for sending to the above-named Catholic
King.
There are also to be seen portraits from life by Tiziano of a Venetian citizen
called Sinistri, who was much his friend, and of another named M. Paolo da
Ponte, for whom he likewise portrayed a daughter that he had at that time, a
most beautiful young woman called Signora Giulia da Ponte, a dear friend
of Tiziano; and in like manner Signora Irene, a very lovely maiden, skilled
in letters and music and a student of design, who, dying about seven years
ago, was celebrated by the pens of almost all the writers of Italy. He
portrayed M. Francesco Filetto, an orator of happy memory, and in the same
picture, before him, his son, who seems as if alive; which portrait is in the
house of Messer Matteo Giustiniani, a lover of these arts, who has also had
a picture painted for himself by the painter Jacopo da Bassano, which is
very beautiful, as also are many other works by that Bassano which are
dispersed throughout Venice, and held in great price, particularly his little
works and animals of every kind. Tiziano portrayed Bembo another time
(namely, after he became a Cardinal), Fracastoro, and Cardinal Accolti of
Ravenna, which last portrait Duke Cosimo has in his guardaroba; and our
Danese, the sculptor, has in his house at Venice a portrait by the hand of
Tiziano of a gentleman of the Delfini family. There may be seen portraits by
the same hand of M. Niccolò Zono, of Rossa, wife of the Grand Turk, at the
age of sixteen, and of Cameria, her daughter, with most beautiful dresses
and adornments. In the house of M. Francesco Sonica, an advocate and a
gossip of Tiziano, is a portrait by his hand of that M. Francesco, and in a
large picture Our Lady flying to Egypt, who is seen to have dismounted
from the ass and to have seated herself upon a stone on the road, with S.
Joseph beside her, and a little S. John who is offering to the Infant Christ
some flowers picked by the hand of an Angel from the branches of a tree
that is in the middle of a wood full of animals, where in the distance the ass
stands grazing. That picture, which is full of grace, the said gentleman has
placed at the present day in a palace that he has built for himself at Padua,
near S. Giustina. In the house of a gentleman of the Pisani family, near S.
Marco, there is by the hand of Tiziano the portrait of a gentlewoman, which

is a marvellous thing. And having made for Monsignor Giovanni della
Casa, the Florentine, who has been illustrious in our times both for nobility
of blood and as a man of letters, a very beautiful portrait of a gentlewoman
whom that lord loved while he was in Venice, Tiziano was rewarded by
being honoured by him with the lovely sonnet that begins—
Ben vegg'io, Tiziano, in forme nuove
L'idolo mio, che i begli occhi apre e gira (with what follows).
Finally, this excellent painter sent to the above-named Catholic King a Last
Supper of Christ with the Apostles, in a picture seven braccia long, which
was a work of extraordinary beauty.

TIZIANO: THE EDUCATION OF CUPID
(Rome: Borghese Gallery. Canvas)
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In addition to the works described and many others of less merit executed
by this man, which are omitted for the sake of brevity, he has in his house,
sketched in and begun, the following: the Martyrdom of S. Laurence,
similar to that described above, and destined by him for sending to the
Catholic King; a great canvas wherein is Christ on the Cross, with the

Thieves, and at the foot the ministers of the crucifixion, which he is
painting for Messer Giovanni d'Anna; and a picture which was begun for
the Doge Grimani, father of the Patriarch of Aquileia. And for the Hall of
the Great Palace of Brescia he has made a beginning with three large
pictures that are to go in the ornamentation of the ceiling, as has been
related in speaking of Cristofano and his brother, painters of Brescia. He
also began, many years ago, for Alfonso I, Duke of Ferrara, a picture of a
nude young woman bowing before Minerva, with another figure at the side,
and a sea in the centre of which, in the distance, is Neptune in his car; but
through the death of that lord, after whose fancy the work was being
executed, it was not finished, and remained with Tiziano. He has also
carried well forward, but not finished, a picture wherein is Christ appearing
to Mary Magdalene in the Garden in the form of a gardener, with figures the
size of life; another, also, of equal size, in which the Madonna and the other
Maries being present, the Dead Christ is laid in the Sepulchre; likewise a
picture of Our Lady, which is one of the best things that are in that house,
and, as has been told, a portrait of himself that was finished by him four
years ago, very beautiful and natural, and finally a S. Paul who is reading, a
half-length figure, which has all the appearance of the real Saint filled with
the Holy Spirit.

THE ENTOMBMENT
(After the painting by Tiziano. Madrid: The Prado)
Anderson
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All these works, I say, he has executed, with many others that I omit in
order not to be wearisome, up to his present age of about seventy-six years.
Tiziano has been very sound in health, and as fortunate as any man of his
kind has ever been; and he has not received from Heaven anything save
favours and blessings. In his house at Venice have been all the Princes, men
of letters and persons of distinction who have gone to that city or lived there
in his time, because, in addition to his excellence in art, he has shown great
gentleness, beautiful breeding, and most courteous ways and manners. He
has had in Venice some competitors, but not of much worth, so that he has
surpassed them easily with the excellence of his art and with his power of
attaching himself and making himself dear to the men of quality. He has
earned much, for he has been very well paid for his works; but it would
have been well for him in these his last years not to work save as a pastime,
so as not to diminish with works of less excellence the reputation gained in
his best years, when his natural powers were not declining and drawing
towards imperfection. When Vasari, the writer of this history, was at Venice
in the year 1566, he went to visit Tiziano, as one who was much his friend,
and found him at his painting with brushes in his hand, although he was
very old; and he had much pleasure in seeing him and discoursing with him.
He made known to Vasari Messer Gian Maria Verdezotti, a young Venetian
gentleman full of talent, a friend of Tiziano and passing able in drawing and
painting, as he showed in some landscapes of great beauty drawn by him.
This man has by the hand of Tiziano, whom he loves and cherishes as a
father, two figures painted in oils within two niches, an Apollo and a Diana.
Tiziano, then, having adorned with excellent pictures the city of Venice,
nay, all Italy and other parts of the world, deserves to be loved and revered
by the craftsmen, and in many things to be admired and imitated, as one
who has executed and is still executing works worthy of infinite praise,
which shall endure as long as the memory of illustrious men may live.

PARIS BORDONE: THE VENETIAN LOVERS
(Milan: Brera, 105. Canvas)
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Now, although many have been with Tiziano in order to learn, yet the
number of those who can truly be called his disciples is not great, for the
reason that he has not taught much, and each pupil has gained more or less
knowledge according as he has been able to acquire it from the works
executed by Tiziano. There has been with him, among others, one Giovanni,
a Fleming, who has been a much-extolled master in figures both small and
large, and in portraits marvellous, as may be seen in Naples, where he lived
some time, and finally died. By his hand—and this must do him honour for
all time—were the designs of the anatomical studies that the most excellent
Andrea Vessalio caused to be engraved and published with his work. But he
who has imitated Tiziano more than any other is Paris Bordone, who, born
in Treviso from a father of Treviso and a Venetian mother, was taken at the

age of eight to the house of some relatives in Venice. There, having learned
his grammar and become an excellent musician, he went to be with Tiziano,
but he did not spend many years with him, for he perceived that man to be
not very ready to teach his young men, although besought by them most
earnestly and invited by their patience to do his duty by them; and he
resolved to leave him. He was much grieved that Giorgione should have
died in those days, whose manner pleased him vastly, and even more his
reputation for having taught well and willingly, and with lovingness, all that
he knew; but, since there was nothing else to be done, Paris resolved in his
mind that he would follow the manner of Giorgione. And so, setting himself
to labour and to counterfeit the work of that master, he became such that he
acquired very good credit; wherefore at the age of eighteen there was
allotted to him an altar-piece that was to be painted for the Church of S.
Niccolò, of the Friars Minors. Which having heard, Tiziano so went to work
with various means and favours that he took it out of his hands, either to
prevent him from being able to display his ability so soon, or perhaps drawn
by his desire of gain.
Afterwards Paris was summoned to Vicenza, to paint a scene in fresco in
the Loggia of the Piazza where justice is administered, beside that of the
Judgment of Solomon which Tiziano had previously executed; and he went
very willingly, and painted there a story of Noah with his sons, which was
held to be a work passing good in diligence and in design, and not less
beautiful than that of Tiziano, insomuch that by those who know not the
truth they are considered to be both by the same hand. Having returned to
Venice, Paris executed some nudes in fresco at the foot of the bridge of the
Rialto; by reason of which essay he was commissioned to paint some
façades of houses in Venice. Being then summoned to Treviso, he painted
there likewise some façades and other works, and in particular many
portraits, which gave much satisfaction; that of the Magnificent M. Alberto
Unigo, that of M. Marco Seravalle, and of M. Francesco da Quer, of the
Canon Rovere, and of Monsignor Alberti. For the Duomo of that city, in an
altar-piece in the centre of the church, at the instance of the reverend Vicar,
he painted the Nativity of Jesus Christ, and then a Resurrection. For S.
Francesco he executed another altar-piece at the request of the Chevalier
Rovere, another for S. Girolamo, and one for Ognissanti, with different
heads of Saints both male and female, all beautiful and varied in the

attitudes and in the vestments. He executed another altar-piece for S.
Lorenzo, and in S. Polo he painted three chapels, in the largest of which he
depicted Christ rising from the dead, the size of life, and accompanied by a
great multitude of Angels; in the second some Saints with many Angels
about them, and in the third Jesus Christ upon a cloud, with Our Lady, who
is presenting to Him S. Dominic. All these works have made him known as
an able man and a lover of his city.
In Venice, where he has dwelt almost always, he has executed many works
at various times. But the most beautiful, the most remarkable and the most
worthy of praise that Paris ever painted, was a scene in the Scuola of S.
Marco, at SS. Giovanni e Polo, wherein is the story of the fisherman
presenting to the Signoria of Venice the ring of S. Mark, with a very
beautiful building in perspective, about which is seated the Senate with the
Doge; among which Senators are many portraits from nature, lifelike and
well painted beyond belief. The beauty of this work, executed so well and
coloured in fresco, was the reason that he began to be employed by many
gentlemen. Thus in the great house of the Foscari, near S. Barnaba, he
executed many paintings and pictures, and among them a Christ who,
having descended to the Limbo of Hell, is delivering the Holy Fathers;
which is held to be a work out of the ordinary. For the Church of S. Giobbe
in Canal Reio he painted a most beautiful altar-piece, and for S. Giovanni in
Bragola another, and the same for S. Maria della Celeste and for S. Marina.

THE FISHERMAN AND THE DOGE GRADENIGO
(After the painting by Paris Bordone. Venice: Accademia) Anderson
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But, knowing that he who wishes to be employed in Venice is obliged to
endure too much servitude in paying court to one man or another, Paris
resolved, as a man of quiet nature and far removed from certain methods of
procedure, whenever an occasion might present itself, to go abroad to
execute such works as Fortune might set before him, without having to go
about begging. Wherefore, having made his way with a good opportunity
into France in the year 1538, to serve King Francis, he executed for him
many portraits of ladies and other pictures with various paintings; and at the
same time he painted for Monseigneur de Guise a most beautiful church-
picture, and a chamber-picture of Venus and Cupid. For the Cardinal of
Lorraine he painted a Christ in an "Ecce Homo," a Jove with Io, and many
other works. He sent to the King of Poland a picture wherein was Jove with
a Nymph, which was held to be a very beautiful thing. And to Flanders he
sent two other most beautiful pictures, a S. Mary Magdalene in the Desert

accompanied by some Angels, and a Diana who is bathing with her Nymphs
in a fount; which two pictures the Milanese Candiano caused him to paint,
the physician of Queen Maria, as presents for her Highness. At Augsburg, in
the Palace of the Fugger family, he executed many works of the greatest
importance, to the value of three thousand crowns. And in the same city he
painted for the Prineri, great men in that place, a large picture wherein he
counterfeited in perspective all the five Orders of architecture, which was a
very beautiful work; and another chamber-picture, which is in the
possession of the Cardinal of Augsburg. At Crema he has executed two
altar-pieces for S. Agostino, in one of which is portrayed Signor Giulio
Manfrone, representing a S. George, in full armour. The same master has
painted many works at Civitale di Belluno, which are extolled, and in
particular an altar-piece in S. Maria and another in S. Giosef, which are
very beautiful. He sent to Signor Ottaviano Grimaldo a portrait of him the
size of life and most beautiful, and with it another picture, equal in size, of a
very lustful woman. Having then gone to Milan, Paris painted for the
Church of S. Celso an altar-piece with some figures in the air, and beneath
them a very beautiful landscape, at the instance, so it is said, of Signor
Carlo da Roma; and for the palace of the same lord two large pictures in
oils, in one Venus and Mars under Vulcan's net, and in the other King David
seeing Bathsheba being bathed by her serving-women in the fount; and also
the portrait of that lord and that of Signora Paola Visconti, his consort, and
some pieces of landscape not very large, but most beautiful. At this same
time he painted many of Ovid's Fables for the Marchese d'Astorga, who
took them with him to Spain; and for Signor Tommaso Marini, likewise, he
painted many things of which there is no need to make mention.

PORTRAIT OF A LADY
(After the painting by Paris Bordone. London: National Gallery, No. 674)
M.S.
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And this much it must suffice to have said of Paris, who, being seventy-five
years of age, lives quietly at home with his comforts, and works for
pleasure at the request of certain Princes and others his friends, avoiding
rivalries and certain vain ambitions, lest he should suffer some hurt and
have his supreme tranquillity and peace disturbed by those who walk not, as
he says, in truth, but by dubious ways, malignantly and without charity;
whereas he is accustomed to live simply and by a certain natural goodness,
and knows nothing of subtleties or astuteness in his life. He has executed
recently a most beautiful picture for the Duchess of Savoy, of a Venus and

Cupid that are sleeping, guarded by a servant; all executed so well, that it is
not possible to praise them enough.

VISION OF THE APOCALYPSE
(After the mosaic by Zuccati. Venice: S. Marco)
Anderson
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But here I must not omit to say that a kind of painting which is almost
discontinued in every other place, namely, mosaic, is kept alive by the most
Serene Senate of Venice. Of this the benign and as it were the principal
reason has been Tiziano, who, so far as it has lain in him, has always taken

pains that it should be practised in Venice, and has caused honourable
salaries to be given to those who have worked at it. Wherefore various
works have been executed in the Church of S. Marco, all the old works
have been almost renewed, and this sort of painting has been carried to such
a height of excellence as is possible, and to a different condition from that
in which it was in Florence and Rome at the time of Giotto, Alesso
Baldovinetti, the Ghirlandajo family, and the miniaturist Gherardo. And all
that has been done in Venice has come from the design of Tiziano and other
excellent painters, who have made drawings and coloured cartoons to the
end that the works might be carried to such perfection as may be seen in
those of the portico of S. Marco, where in a very beautiful niche there is a
Judgment of Solomon so lovely, that in truth it would not be possible to do
more with colours. In the same place is the genealogical tree of Our Lady
by the hand of Lodovico Rosso, all full of Sibyls and Prophets executed in a
delicate manner and put together very well, with a relief that is passing
good. But none have worked better in this art in our times than Valerio and
Vincenzio Zuccheri[9] of Treviso, by whose hands are stories many and
various that may be seen in S. Marco, and in particular that of the
Apocalypse, wherein around the Throne of God are the Four Evangelists in
the form of animals, the Seven Candlesticks, and many other things
executed so well, that, looking at them from below, they appear as if done
in oil-colours with the brush; besides that there may be seen in their hands
and about them little pictures full of figures executed with the greatest
diligence, insomuch that they have the appearance not of paintings only, but
of miniatures, and yet they are made of stones joined together. There are
also many portraits; the Emperor Charles V, Ferdinand his brother, who
succeeded him in the Empire, and Maximilian, son of Ferdinand and now
Emperor; likewise the head of the most illustrious Cardinal Bembo, the
glory of our age, and that of the Magnificent ...; all executed with such
diligence and unity, and so well harmonized in the lights, flesh-colours,
tints, shadows, and every other thing, that there is nothing better to be seen,
nor any more beautiful work in a similar material. And it is in truth a great
pity that this most excellent art of working in mosaic, with its beauty and
everlasting life, is not more in use than it is, and that, by the fault of the
Princes who have the power, no attention is given to it.

In addition to those named above, there has worked in mosaic at S. Marco,
in competition with the Zuccheri, one Bartolommeo Bozzato, who also has
acquitted himself in his works in such a manner as to deserve undying
praise. But that which has been of the greatest assistance to all in this art, is
the presence and advice of Tiziano; of whom, besides the men already
named and many more, another disciple, helping him in many works, has
been one Girolamo, whom I know by no other name than Girolamo di
Tiziano.

JACOPO SANSOVINO

DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKS OF JACOPO
SANSOVINO[10]
SCULPTOR OF FLORENCE
The while that Andrea Contucci, the sculptor of Monte Sansovino, having
already acquired in Italy and Spain the name of the most excellent sculptor
and architect that there was in art after Buonarroti, was living in Florence in
order to execute the two figures of marble that were to be placed over that
door of the Temple of S. Giovanni which faces towards the Misericordia, a
young man was entrusted to him to be taught the art of sculpture, the son of
Antonio di Jacopo Tatti, whom Nature had endowed with a great genius, so
that he gave much grace to the things that he did in relief. Whereupon
Andrea, having recognized how excellent in sculpture the young man was
destined to become, did not fail to teach him with all possible care all those
things which might make him known as his disciple. And so, loving him
very dearly, and doing his best for him with much affection, and being
loved by the young man with equal tenderness, people judged that the pupil
would not only become as excellent as his master, but would by a great
measure surpass him. And such were the reciprocal friendliness and love
between these two, as it were between father and son, that Jacopo in those
early years began to be called no longer Tatti, but Sansovino, and so he has
always been, and always will be.
Now, Jacopo beginning to exercise his hand, he was so assisted by Nature
in the things that he did, that, although at times he did not use much study
and diligence in his work, nevertheless in what he did there could be seen
facility, sweetness, grace, and a certain delicacy very pleasing to the eyes of
craftsmen, insomuch that his every sketch, rough study, and model has
always had a movement and a boldness that Nature is wont to give to but
few sculptors. Moreover, the friendship and intercourse that Andrea del
Sarto and Jacopo Sansovino had with each other in their childhood, and
then in their youth, assisted not a little both the one and the other, for they
followed the same manner in design and had the same grace in execution,

one in painting and the other in sculpture, and, conferring together on the
problems of art, and Jacopo making models of figures for Andrea, they gave
one another very great assistance. And that this is true a proof is that in the
altar-piece of S. Francesco, belonging to the Nuns of the Via Pentolini, there
is a S. John the Evangelist which was copied from a most beautiful model
in clay that Sansovino made in those days in competition with Baccio da
Montelupo; for the Guild of Por Santa Maria wished to have a bronze statue
of four braccia made for a niche at the corner of Orsanmichele, opposite to
the Wool-Shearers, for which Jacopo made a more beautiful model in clay
than Baccio, but nevertheless it was allotted to Montelupo, from his being
an older master, rather than to Sansovino, although his work, young as he
was, was the better. That model, which is a very beautiful thing, is now in
the possession of the heirs of Nanni Unghero; for which Nanni, being then
his friend, Sansovino made some models of large boys in clay, and the
model for a figure of S. Nicholas of Tolentino, which were all executed of
the size of life in wood, with the assistance of Sansovino, and placed in the
Chapel of that Saint in the Church of S. Spirito.
Becoming known for these reasons to all the craftsmen of Florence, and
being considered a young man of fine parts and excellent character, Jacopo
was invited by Giuliano da San Gallo, architect to Pope Julius II, to Rome,
vastly to his satisfaction; and then, taking extraordinary pleasure in the
ancient statues that are in the Belvedere, he set himself to draw them.
Whereupon Bramante, who was likewise architect to Pope Julius, holding
the first place at that time and dwelling in the Belvedere, having seen some
drawings by this young man, and a nude recumbent figure of clay in full-
relief, holding a vessel to contain ink, which he had made, liked them so
much that he took him under his protection and ordered him that he should
make a large copy in wax of the Laocoon, which he was having copied also
by others, in order to take a cast in bronze—namely, by Zaccheria Zacchi of
Volterra, the Spaniard Alonzo Berughetta, and Vecchio of Bologna. These,
when all were finished, Bramante caused to be seen by Raffaello Sanzio of
Urbino, in order to learn which of the four had acquitted himself best;
whereupon it was judged by Raffaello that Sansovino, young as he was, had
surpassed the others by a great measure. Then, by the advice of Cardinal
Domenico Grimani, orders were given to Bramante that he should have
Jacopo's copy cast in bronze; and so the mould was made, and the work,

being cast in metal, came out very well. And afterwards, having been
polished, it was given to the Cardinal, who held it as long as he lived not
less dear than if it had been the antique; and when he came to die, he left it
as a very rare thing to the most Serene Signoria of Venice, which, after
having kept it many years in the press of the Hall of the Council of Ten,
finally in the year 1534 presented it to the Cardinal of Lorraine, who took it
to France.

S. JAMES
(After Jacopo Sansovino. Florence: Duomo)

Alinari
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While Sansovino was acquiring greater fame every day in Rome with his
studies in art, being held in much consideration, Giuliano da San Gallo,
who had been keeping him in his house in the Borgo Vecchio, fell ill; and
when he departed from Rome in a litter, in order to go to Florence for a
change of air, a room was found for Jacopo by Bramante, likewise in the
Borgo Vecchio, in the Palace of Domenico della Rovere, Cardinal of San
Clemente, where Pietro Perugino was also dwelling, who at that time was
painting for Pope Julius the vaulting of the chamber in the Borgia Tower.
Whereupon Pietro, having seen the beautiful manner of Sansovino, caused
him to make many models in wax for himself, and among them a Christ
taken down from the Cross in the round, with many ladders and figures,
which was a very beautiful thing. This and other things of the same sort,
and models of various fantasies, were all collected afterwards by M.
Giovanni Gaddi, and they are now in his house on the Piazza di Madonna in
Florence. And these works were the reason that Sansovino became very
intimately associated with Maestro Luca Signorelli, the painter of Cortona,
with Bramantino da Milano, with Bernardino Pinturicchio, with Cesare
Cesariano, who was in repute at that time for his commentaries on
Vitruvius, and with many other famous and beautiful intellects of that age.
Bramante, then, desiring that Sansovino should become known to Pope
Julius, arranged to have some antiques restored by him; whereupon Jacopo,
setting to work, displayed such diligence and so much grace in restoring
them, that the Pope and all who saw them judged that nothing better could
be done. These praises so spurred Sansovino to surpass himself, that, having
given himself beyond measure to his studies, and being, also, somewhat
delicate in constitution and suffering from some excess such as young men
commit, he became so ill that he was forced for the sake of his life to return
to Florence, where, profiting by his native air, by the advantage of his
youth, and by the diligence and care of the physicians, in a short time he
completely recovered. Now Messer Piero Pitti was arranging at that time to
have a Madonna of marble made for that façade of the Mercato Nuovo in
Florence where the clock is, and it appeared to him, since there were in
Florence many young men of ability and also old masters, that the work
should be given to that one among them who might make the best model.

Whereupon one was given to Baccio da Montelupo to execute, one to
Zaccheria Zacchi of Volterra, who had likewise returned to Florence the
same year, another to Baccio Bandinelli, and yet another to Sansovino; and
when these were placed in comparison, the honour and the work were given
by Lorenzo di Credi, an excellent painter and a person of judgment and
probity, and likewise by the other judges, craftsmen, and connoisseurs, to
Sansovino. But, although the work was therefore allotted to him,
nevertheless so much delay was caused in procuring and conveying the
marble for him, by the envious machinations of Averardo da Filicaia, who
greatly favoured Bandinelli and hated Sansovino, that he was ordered by
certain other citizens, having perceived that delay, to make one of the large
Apostles in marble that were going into the Church of S. Maria del Fiore.
Wherefore, having made the model of a S. James (which model, when the
work was finished, came into the possession of Messer Bindo Altoviti), he
began that figure and, continuing to work at it with all diligence and study,
he carried it to completion so perfectly, that it is a miraculous figure and
shows in all its parts that it was wrought with incredible study and care, the
draperies, arms, and hands being undercut and executed with such art and
such grace, that there is nothing better in marble to be seen. Thus,
Sansovino showed in what way undercut draperies should be executed,
having made these so delicate and so natural, that in some places he
reduced the marble to the thickness that is seen in real folds and in the
edges and hems of the borders of draperies; a difficult method, and one
demanding much time and patience if you wish that it should so succeed as
to display the perfection of art. That figure remained in the Office of Works
from the time when it was finished by Sansovino until the year 1565, at
which time, in the month of December, it was placed in the Church of S.
Maria del Fiore to do honour to the coming of Queen Joanna of Austria, the
wife of Don Francesco de' Medici, Prince of Florence and Siena. And there
it is kept as a very rare work, together with the other Apostles, likewise in
marble, executed in competition by other craftsmen, as has been related in
their Lives.

BACCHUS
(After Jacopo Sansovino. Florence: Museo Nazionale)
Alinari
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At this same time he made for Messer Giovanni Gaddi a Venus of marble
on a shell, of great beauty, as was also the model, which was in the house of
Messer Francesco Montevarchi, a friend of these arts, but came to an evil
end in the inundation of the River Arno in the year 1558. He also made a
boy of tow and a swan as beautiful as could be, of marble, for the same M.
Giovanni Gaddi, together with many other things, which are all in his
house. For Messer Bindo Altoviti he had a chimney-piece of great cost
made, all in grey-stone carved by Benedetto da Rovezzano, which was
placed in his house in Florence, and Messer Bindo caused Sansovino to
make a scene with little figures for placing in the frieze of that chimney-
piece, with Vulcan and other Gods, which was a very rare work; but much

more beautiful are two boys of marble that were above the crown of the
chimney-piece, holding some arms of the Altoviti in their hands, which
have been removed by Signor Don Luigi di Toledo, who inhabits the house
of the above-named Messer Bindo, and placed about a fountain in his
garden, behind the Servite Friars, in Florence. Two other boys of
extraordinary beauty, also of marble and by the same hand, who are
likewise holding an escutcheon, are in the house of Giovan Francesco
Ridolfi. All these works caused Sansovino to be held by the men of art and
by all Florence to be a most excellent and gracious master; on which
account Giovanni Bartolini, having caused a house to be built in his garden
of Gualfonda, desired that Sansovino should make for him a young Bacchus
in marble, of the size of life. Whereupon the model for this was made by
Sansovino, and it pleased Giovanni so much, that he had him supplied with
the marble, and Jacopo began it with such eagerness, that his hands and
brain flew as he worked. This work, I say, he studied in such a manner, in
order to make it perfect, that he set himself to portray from the life,
although it was winter, an assistant of his called Pippo del Fabbro, making
him stand naked a good part of the day. Which Pippo would have become a
capable craftsman, for he was striving with every effort to imitate his
master; but, whether it was the standing naked with the head uncovered at
that season, or that he studied too much and suffered hardships, before the
Bacchus was finished he went mad, copying the attitudes of that figure. And
this he showed one day that it was raining in torrents, when, Sansovino
calling out "Pippo!" and he not answering, the master afterwards saw him
mounted on the summit of a chimney on the roof, wholly naked and striking
the attitude of his Bacchus. At other times, taking a sheet or other large
piece of cloth, and wetting it, he would wrap it round his naked body, as if
he were a model of clay or rags, and arrange the folds; and then, climbing
up to some extraordinary place, and settling himself now in one attitude and
now in another, as a Prophet, an Apostle, a soldier, or something else, he
would have himself portrayed, standing thus for a period of two hours
without speaking, not otherwise than as if he had been a motionless statue.
Many other amusing follies of that kind poor Pippo played, but above all he
was never able to forget the Bacchus that Sansovino had made, save only
when he died, a few years afterwards.

MARS AND NEPTUNE
(After Jacopo Sansovino. Venice: Ducal Palace)
Alinari
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But to return to the statue; when it was carried to completion, it was held to
be the most beautiful work that had ever been executed by a modern master,
seeing that in it Sansovino overcame a difficulty never yet attempted, in
making an arm raised in the air and detached on every side, which holds
between the fingers a cup all cut out of the same marble with such delicacy,
that the attachment is very slight, besides which the attitude is so well
conceived and balanced on every side, and the legs and arms are so
beautiful and so well proportioned and attached to the trunk, that to the eye

and to the touch the whole seems much more like living flesh; insomuch
that the fame that it has from all who see it is well deserved, and even more.
This work, I say, when finished, while Giovanni was alive, was visited in
that courtyard in the Gualfonda by everyone, native and stranger alike, and
much extolled. But afterwards, Giovanni being dead, his brother Gherardo
Bartolini presented it to Duke Cosimo, who keeps it as a rare thing in his
apartments, together with other most beautiful statues of marble that he
possesses. For the same Giovanni Sansovino made a very beautiful Crucifix
of wood, which is in their house in company with many works by the
ancients and by the hand of Michelagnolo.
In the year 1514, when festive preparations of great richness were to be
made in Florence for the coming of Pope Leo X, orders were given by the
Signoria and by Giuliano de' Medici that many triumphal arches of wood
should be made in various parts of the city. Whereupon Sansovino not only
executed the designs for many of these, but himself undertook in company
with Andrea del Sarto to construct the façade of S. Maria del Fiore all of
wood, with statues, scenes, and architectural orders, exactly in the manner
wherein it would be well for it to be in order to remove all that there is in it
of the German order of composition. Having therefore set his hand to this
(to say nothing in this place of the awning of cloth that used to cover the
Piazza of S. Maria del Fiore and that of S. Giovanni for the festival of S.
John and for others of the greatest solemnity, since we have spoken
sufficiently of this in another place), beneath that awning, I say, Sansovino
constructed the said façade in the Corinthian Order, making it in the manner
of a triumphal arch, and placing upon an immense base double columns on
each side, and between them certain great niches filled with figures in the
round that represented the Apostles. Above these were some large scenes in
half-relief, made in the likeness of bronze, with stories from the Old
Testament, some of which are still to be seen in the house of the Lanfredini
on the bank of the Arno; and over them followed architraves, friezes, and
cornices, projecting outwards, and then frontispieces of great beauty and
variety; and in the angles of the arches, both in the wide parts and below,
were stories painted in chiaroscuro by the hand of Andrea del Sarto, and
very beautiful. In short, this work of Sansovino's was such that Pope Leo,
seeing it, said that it was a pity that the real façade of that temple was not so
built, which was begun by the German Arnolfo. The same Sansovino made

among these festive preparations for the coming of Leo X, besides the said
façade, a horse in the round all of clay and shearings of woollen cloth, in
the act of rearing, and under it a figure of nine braccia, upon a pedestal of
masonry. Which work was executed with such spirit and force, that it
pleased Pope Leo and was much extolled by him; wherefore Sansovino was
taken by Jacopo Salviati to kiss the feet of the Pope, who showed him many
marks of affection.
The Pope departed from Florence, and had a conference at Bologna with
King Francis I of France; and then he resolved to return to Florence.
Whereupon orders were given to Sansovino that he should make a
triumphal arch at the Porta S. Gallo, and he, not falling back in any way
from his own standard, executed it similar to the other works that he had
done—namely, beautiful to a marvel, and full of statues and painted
pictures wrought excellently well. His Holiness having then determined that
the façade of S. Lorenzo should be executed in marble, the while that
Raffaello da Urbino and Buonarroti were expected from Rome, Sansovino,
by order of the Pope, made a design for it; which giving much satisfaction,
Baccio d'Agnolo was commissioned to make a model of it in wood, which
proved very beautiful. Meanwhile, Buonarroti had made another, and he
and Sansovino were ordered to go to Pietrasanta; where, finding much
marble, but difficult to transport, they lost so much time, that when they
returned to Florence they found the Pope departed for Rome. Whereupon,
both following after him with their models, each by himself, Jacopo arrived
at the very moment when Buonarroti's model was being shown to his
Holiness in the Torre Borgia; but he did not succeed in obtaining what he
hoped, because, whereas he believed that he would at least make under
Michelagnolo part of the statues that were going into that work, the Pope
having spoken of it to him and Michelagnolo having given him so to
understand, he perceived on arriving in Rome that Buonarroti wished to be
alone in the work. Nevertheless, having made his way to Rome and not
wishing to return to Florence without any result, he resolved to remain in
Rome and there give his attention to sculpture and architecture. And so,
having undertaken to execute for the Florentine Giovan Francesco Martelli
a Madonna in marble larger than life, he made her most beautiful, with the
Child in her arms; and this was placed upon an altar within the principal
door of S. Agostino, on the right hand as one enters. The clay model of this

statue he presented to the Priore de' Salviati, in Rome, who placed it in a
chapel in his palace on the corner of the Piazza di S. Pietro, at the beginning
of the Borgo Nuovo. After no long lapse of time he made for the altar of the
chapel that the very reverend Cardinal Alborense had caused to be built in
the Church of the Spaniards in Rome, a statue in marble of four braccia,
worthy of no ordinary measure of praise, of a S. James, which has a
movement full of grace and is executed with judgment and perfect art, so
that it won him very great fame. And the while that he was executing these
statues, he made the ground-plan and model, and then began the building,
of the Church of S. Marcello for the Servite Friars, a work of truly great
beauty. Continuing to be employed in matters of architecture, he built for
Messer Marco Coscia a very beautiful loggia on the road that leads to
Rome, at Pontemolle on the Via Appia.[11] For the Company of the
Crocifisso, attached to the Church of S. Marcello, he made a Crucifix for
carrying in procession, a thing full of grace; and for Cardinal Antonio di
Monte he began a great fabric at his villa without Rome, on the Acqua
Vergine. And by the hand of Jacopo, perhaps, is a very beautiful portrait in
marble of that elder Cardinal di Monte which is now in the Palace of Signor
Fabiano at Monte Sansovino, over the door of the principal chamber off the
hall. He directed, also, the building of the house of Messer Luigi Leoni, a
most commodious edifice, and in the Banchi a palace beside the house of
the Gaddi, which was bought afterwards by Filippo Strozzi—certainly a
commodious and most beautiful fabric, with many ornaments.
At this time, with the favour of Pope Leo, the Florentine colony had
bestirred itself out of emulation of the Germans, Spaniards, and Frenchmen,
who had either begun or finished the churches of their colonies in Rome,
and had begun to perform their solemn offices in those already built and
adorned; and the Florentines had sought leave likewise to build a church for
themselves. For which the Pope having given instructions to Lodovico
Capponi, the Consul of the Florentine colony at that time, it was determined
that behind the Banchi, at the beginning of the Strada Giulia, on the bank of
the Tiber, an immense church should be built, to be dedicated to S. John the
Baptist; which might surpass in magnificence, grandeur, cost,
ornamentation, and design, the churches of all the other colonies. There
competed, then, in making designs for this work, Raffaello da Urbino,
Antonio da San Gallo, Baldassarre da Siena, and Sansovino; and the Pope,

when he had seen all their designs, extolled as the best that of Sansovino,
because, besides other things, he had made at each of the four corners of
that church a tribune, and a larger tribune in the centre, after the likeness of
the plan that Sebastiano Serlio placed in his second book on Architecture.
Whereupon, all the heads of the Florentine colony concurring with the will
of the Pope, with much approval of Sansovino, the foundations were begun
for a part of that church, altogether twenty-two canne[12] in length. But,
there being not enough space, and yet wishing to make the façade of the
church in line with the houses of the Strada Giulia, they were obliged to
stretch out into the stream of the Tiber at least fifteen canne; which pleasing
many of them, because the grandeur as well as the cost was increased by
making the foundations in the river, work was begun on this, and they spent
upon it more than forty thousand crowns, which would have been enough to
build half the masonry of the church.
In the meantime Sansovino, who was the head of this fabric, while the
foundations were being laid little by little, had a fall and suffered a serious
injury; and after a few days he had himself carried to Florence for
treatment, leaving the charge of laying the rest of the foundations, as has
been related, to Antonio da San Gallo. But no long time passed before the
Florentine colony, having lost by the death of Leo so great a support and so
splendid a Prince, abandoned the building for the duration of the life of
Pope Adrian VI. Then, Clement having been elected, it was ordained, in
order to pursue the same order and design, that Sansovino should return and
carry on that fabric in the same manner wherein he had first arranged it; and
so a beginning was made once more with the work. Meanwhile, Sansovino
undertook to make the tomb of the Cardinal of Arragon and that of Cardinal
Aginense; and he had caused work to be begun on the marbles for the
ornaments, and had made many models for the figures, and already Rome
was in his hands, and he was executing many works of the greatest
importance for all those lords, when God, in order to chastise that city and
abate the pride of the inhabitants of Rome, permitted that Bourbon should
come with his army on the 6th of May, 1527, and that the whole city should
be sacked and put to fire and sword.
In that ruin, besides many other beautiful intellects that came to an evil end,
Sansovino was forced to his great loss to depart from Rome and to fly to
Venice, intending from there to pass into France to enter the service of the

King, whither he had been already invited. But, halting in that city in order
to make himself ready and provide himself with many things, for he was
despoiled of everything, it was announced to the Prince Andrea Gritti, who
was much the friend of every talent, that Jacopo Sansovino was there.
Whereupon there came to Gritti a desire to speak with him, because at that
very time Cardinal Domenico Grimani had given him to understand that
Sansovino would have been the man for the cupolas of S. Marco, their
principal church, which, because of age and of weak foundations, and also
from their being badly secured with chains, were all opening out and
threatening to fall; and so he had him summoned. After many courtesies and
long discussions, he said to Sansovino that he wished, or rather, prayed him,
that he should find a remedy for the ruin of those tribunes; which Sansovino
promised to do, and to put it right. And so, having agreed to do the work, he
caused it to be taken in hand; and, having contrived all the scaffoldings in
the interior and made supports of beams after the manner of stars, he
propped in the central hollow of woodwork all the timbers that sustained
the vault of each tribune, and encircled them on the inner side with curtains
of woodwork, going on then to bind them on the outer side with chains of
iron, to flank them with new walls, and to make at the foot new foundations
for the piers that supported them, insomuch that he strengthened them
vastly and made them for ever secure. By doing which he caused all Venice
to marvel, and not only satisfied Gritti, but also—which was far more—
rendered his ability so clearly manifest to that most illustrious Senate, that
when the work was finished, the Protomaster to the Lords Procurators of S.
Mark being dead, which is the highest office that those lords give to their
architects and engineers, they gave it to him with the usual house and a
passing handsome salary. Whereupon Sansovino, having accepted it most
willingly and freed his mind of all doubt, became the head of all their
fabrics, with honour and advantage for himself.

THE LIBRARY OF S. MARCO
(After Jacopo Sansovino. Venice)
Alinari
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First, then, he erected the public building of the Mint, which he designed
and distributed in the interior with so much order and method, for the
convenience and service of the many artificers, that in no place is there a
Treasury ordered so well or with greater strength than that one, which he
adorned altogether in the Rustic Order, very beautifully; which method, not
having been used before in Venice, caused no little marvel in the men of
that city. Wherefore, having recognized that the genius of Sansovino was
equal to their every need in the service of the city, they caused him to attend
for many years to the fortifications of their State. Nor did any long time
pass before he took in hand, by order of the Council of Ten, the very rich

and beautiful fabric of the Library of S. Marco, opposite to the Palazzo
della Signoria, with such a wealth of carvings, cornices, columns, capitals,
and half-length figures over the whole work, that it is a marvel; and it is all
done without any sparing of expense, so that up to the present day it has
cost one hundred and fifty thousand ducats. And it is held in great
estimation in that city, because it is full of the richest pavements, stucco-
work, and stories, distributed among the halls of the building, with public
stairs adorned by various pictures, as has been related in the Life of Battista
Franco; besides many other beautiful appurtenances, and the rich ornaments
that it has at the principal door of entrance, which give it majesty and
grandeur, making manifest the ability of Sansovino. This method of
building was the reason that in that city, into which up to that time there had
never entered any method save that of making their houses and palaces with
the same order, each one always continuing the same things with the same
measure and ancient use, without varying according to the sites as they
found them or according to convenience—this, I say, was the reason that
buildings both public and private began to be erected with new designs and
better order.
The first palace that he built was that of M. Giorgio Cornaro, a most
beautiful work, erected with all proper appurtenances and ornaments at a
cost of seventy thousand crowns. Moved by which, a gentleman of the
Delfino family caused Sansovino to build a smaller one, at a cost of thirty
thousand crowns, which was much extolled and very beautiful. Then he
built that of Moro, at a cost of twenty thousand crowns, which likewise was
much extolled; and afterwards many others of less cost in the city and the
neighbourhood. Wherefore it may be said that at the present day that
magnificent city, in the quantity and quality of her sumptuous and well-
conceived edifices, shines resplendent and is in that respect what she is
through the ability, industry, and art of Jacopo Sansovino, who therefore
deserves the highest praise; seeing that with those works he has been the
reason that the gentlemen of Venice have introduced modern architecture
into their city, in that not only has that been done there which has passed
through his hands, but also many—nay, innumerable—other works which
have been executed by other masters, who have gone to live there and have
achieved magnificent things. Jacopo also built the fabric of the loggia in the
Piazza di S. Marco, in the Corinthian Order, which is at the foot of the

Campanile of the said S. Marco, with a very rich ornamentation of columns,
and four niches, in which are four figures the size of life and in bronze, of
supreme beauty. And that work formed, as it were, a base of great beauty to
the said campanile, which at the foot has a breadth, on one of the sides, of
thirty-five feet, which is about the extent of Sansovino's ornamentation; and
a height from the ground to the cornice, where are the windows of the bells,
of one hundred and sixty feet. From the level of that cornice to the other
above it, where there is the corridor, is twenty-five feet, and the other dado
above is twenty-eight feet and a half high; and from that level of the
corridor to the pyramid, spire, or pinnacle, whatever it may be called, is
sixty feet. At the summit of that pinnacle the little square, upon which
stands the Angel, is six feet high, and the said Angel, which revolves, is ten
feet high; insomuch that the whole height comes to be two hundred and
ninety-two feet. He also designed and executed for the Scuola, or rather,
Confraternity and Company of the Misericordia, the fabric of that place, an
immense building which cost one hundred and fifty thousand crowns; and
he rebuilt the Church of S. Francesco della Vigna, where the Frati de'
Zoccoli have their seat, a vast work and of much importance.

LOGGETTA
(After Jacopo Sansovino. Venice: Piazza di S. Marco)
Anderson
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Nor for all this, the while that he has been giving his attention to so many
buildings, has he ever ceased from executing every day for his own delight
great and beautiful works of sculpture, in marble and in bronze; and over
the holy-water font of the Friars of the Cà Grande there is a statue executed
in marble by his hand, representing a S. John the Baptist, very beautiful and
much extolled. At Padua, in the Chapel of the Santo, there is a large scene
in marble by the same hand, with very beautiful figures in half-relief, of a
miracle of S. Anthony of Padua; which scene is much esteemed in that
place. For the entrance of the stairs of the Palace of S. Marco he is even
now executing in marble, in the form of two most beautiful giants, each of
seven braccia, a Neptune and a Mars, signifying the power that is exercised
both on land and on sea by that most illustrious Republic. He made a very
beautiful statue of a Hercules for the Duke of Ferrara; and for the Church of
S. Marco he executed four scenes of bronze in half-relief, one braccio in
height and one and a half in length, for placing around a pulpit, and
containing stories of that Evangelist, which are held in great estimation for
their variety. Over the door of the same S. Marco he has made a Madonna
of marble, the size of life, which is held to be a very beautiful thing, and at
the entrance of the sacristy in that place there is by his hand the door of
bronze, divided into two most beautiful parts, with stories of Jesus Christ all
in half-relief and wrought excellently well; and over the door of the Arsenal
he has made a very lovely Madonna of marble, who is holding her Son in
her arms. All which works not only have given lustre and adornment to that
Republic, but also have caused Sansovino to become daily more known as a
most excellent craftsman, and to be loved by those Signori and honoured by
their magnificent liberality, and likewise by the other craftsmen; for every
work of sculpture and architecture that has been executed in that city in his
time has been referred to him. And in truth the excellence of Jacopo has
well deserved to be held in the first rank in that city among the craftsmen of
design, and his genius is rightly loved and revered by all men, both nobles
and plebeians, for the reason that, besides other things, he has brought it
about, as has been said, with his knowledge and judgment, that that city has

been almost entirely made new and has learned the true and good manner of
building.
But, if she has received from him beauty and adornment, he, on the other
hand, has received many benefits from her. Thus, in addition to other things,
he has lived in her, from the time when he first went there to the age of
seventy-eight years, full of health and strength; and the air and that sky
have done so much for him, that he does not seem, one might say, more
than forty. He has had, and still has, from a most talented son—a man of
letters—two grandchildren, one male and the other female, both of them
pictures of health and beauty, to his supreme contentment; and, what is
more, he is still alive, full of happiness and with all the greatest
conveniences and comforts that any man of his profession could have. He
has always loved his brother-craftsmen, and in particular he has been very
much the friend of the excellent and famous Tiziano, as he also was of M.
Pietro Aretino during his lifetime. For all these reasons I have judged it well
to make this honourable record of him, although he is still living, and
particularly because now he is by way of doing little in sculpture.
Sansovino had many disciples in Florence: Niccolò, called Tribolo, as has
been related, and Solosmeo da Settignano, who finished with the exception
of the large figures the whole of the tomb in marble that is at Monte Casino,
wherein is the body of Piero de' Medici, who was drowned in the River
Garigliano. His disciple, likewise, was Girolamo da Ferrara, called
Lombardo, of whom there has been an account in the Life of Benvenuto
Garofalo of Ferrara; which Girolamo has learned his art both from the first
Sansovino and from this second one in such a manner, that, besides the
works at Loreto of which we have spoken, both in marble and in bronze, he
has executed many works in Venice. This master, although he came under
Sansovino at the age of thirty and knowing little of design, being rather a
man of letters and a courtier than a sculptor, although he had previously
executed some works in sculpture, nevertheless applied himself in such a
manner, that in a few years he made the proficience that may be perceived
in his works in half-relief that are in the fabrics of the Library and the
Loggia of the Campanile of S. Marco; in which he acquitted himself so
well, that he was afterwards able to make by himself alone the statues of
marble and the Prophets that he executed, as has been related, at the
Madonna of Loreto.

THE MIRACLE OF S. ANTHONY
(After the relief by Jacopo Sansovino. Padua: S. Antonio)
Alinari
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A disciple of Sansovino, also, was Jacopo Colonna, who died at Bologna
thirty years ago while executing a work of importance. This Jacopo made
for the Church of S. Salvadore in Venice a nude S. Jerome of marble, still to
be seen in a niche near the organ, which was a beautiful figure and much
extolled, and for S. Croce della Giudecca he made a Christ also nude and of
marble, who is showing His Wounds, a work of beautiful artistry; and
likewise for S. Giovanni Nuovo three figures, S. Dorothy, S. Lucia, and S.
Catharine. In S. Marina may be seen a horse with an armed captain upon it,
by his hand; and all these works can stand in comparison with any that are
in Venice. In Padua, for the Church of S. Antonio, he executed in stucco the
said Saint and S. Bernardino, clothed. Of the same material he made for
Messer Luigi Cornaro a Minerva, a Venus, and a Diana, larger than life and
in the round; in marble a Mercury, and in terra-cotta a nude Marzio as a
young man, who is drawing a thorn from his foot, or rather, showing that he
has drawn it out, he holds the foot with one hand, looking at the wound, and

with the other hand seems to be about to cleanse it with a cloth; which last
work, because it is the best that Jacopo ever did, the said Messer Luigi
intends to have cast in bronze. For the same patron he made another
Mercury of stone, which was afterwards presented to Duke Federigo of
Mantua.
Another disciple of Sansovino was Tiziano da Padova, a sculptor, who
carved some little figures of marble in the Loggia of the Campanile of S.
Marco at Venice; and in the Church of the same S. Marco there may be
seen, likewise fashioned and cast in bronze by him, a large and beautiful
cover for a basin in bronze, in the Chapel of S. Giovanni. This Tiziano had
made a statue of S. John, with which were the four Evangelists and four
stories of S. John, wrought with beautiful artistry for casting in bronze; but
he died at the age of thirty-five, and the world was robbed of an excellent
and valiant craftsman. And by the same hand is the vaulting of the Chapel
of S. Antonio da Padova, with a very rich pattern of compartments in
stucco. He had begun for the same chapel a grating of five arches in bronze,
which were full of stories of that Saint, with other figures in half-relief and
low-relief; but this, also, by reason of his death and of the disagreement of
those who had the charge of having it done, remained unfinished. Many
pieces of it had already been cast, which turned out very beautiful, and
many others were made in wax, when he died, and for the said reasons the
whole work was abandoned. The same Tiziano, when Vasari executed the
above-described decorations for the gentlemen of the Company of the Calza
in Canareio, made for that work some statues in clay and many terminal
figures. And he was employed many times on ornaments for scenic settings,
theatres, arches, and other suchlike things, whereby he won much honour;
having executed works all full of invention, fantasy, and variety, and above
all with great rapidity.
Pietro da Salò, also, was a disciple of Sansovino; and after having toiled at
carving foliage up to the age of thirty, finally, assisted by Sansovino, who
taught him, he set himself to make figures of marble. In which he so
delighted, and studied in such a manner, that in two years he was working
by himself; to which witness is borne by some passing good works by his
hand that are in the tribune of S. Marco, and the statue of a Mars larger than
life that is in the façade of the Palazzo Pubblico, which statue is in company
with three others by the hands of good craftsmen. He also made two figures

for the apartments of the Council of Ten, one male and the other female, in
company with two others executed by Danese Cattaneo, a sculptor of
highest renown, who, as will be related, was likewise a disciple of
Sansovino; which figures serve to adorn a chimney-piece. Pietro made, in
addition, three figures that are at S. Antonio, in the round and larger than
life; and these are a Justice, a Fortitude, and a statue of a Captain-General
of the Venetian forces, all executed with good mastery. He also made a
statue of Justice in a beautiful attitude and with good design, which was
placed upon a column in the Piazza of Murano, and another in the Piazza
del Rialto in Venice, as a support for that stone where public proclamations
are made, which is called the Gobbo[13] di Rialto; and these works have
made him known as a very good sculptor. For the Santo, in Padua, he made
a very beautiful Thetis; and a Bacchus who is squeezing a bunch of grapes
into a cup, which figure, the most difficult that he ever executed, and the
best, he left at his death to his children, who have it still in their house,
seeking to sell it to him who shall best recognize and reward the labour that
their father endured for it.
Likewise a disciple of Jacopo was Alessandro Vittoria of Trento, a most
excellent sculptor and much the friend of study, who with a very beautiful
manner has shown in many works that he has executed, as well in stucco as
in marble, that he has a ready brain and a lovely style, and that his labours
are worthy to be held in estimation. By the hand of this Alessandro, in
Venice, at the principal door of the Library of S. Marco, are two great
women of stone, each ten palms high, which are full of grace and beauty
and worthy to be much extolled. He has made four figures for the tomb of
the Contarini in the Santo of Padua, two slaves, or rather, captives, with a
Fame and a Thetis, all of stone; and an Angel ten feet high, a very beautiful
statue, which has been placed upon the Campanile of the Duomo in Verona.
And to Dalmatia he sent four Apostles also of stone, each five feet high, for
the Cathedral of Traù. He made, also, some figures in silver for the Scuola
of S. Giovanni Evangelista in Venice, which were all in full-relief and rich
in grace, and a S. Teodoro of two feet in silver, in the round. For the Chapel
of the Grimani, in S. Sebastiano, he wrought two figures in marble, each
three feet high; and then he made a Pietà, with two figures of stone, held to
be good, which are at S. Salvadore in Venice. He made a Mercury, held to
be a good figure, for the pulpit of the Palazzo di S. Marco, which looks out

over the Piazza; and for S. Francesco della Vigna he made three figures
large as life—S. Anthony, S. Sebastian, and S. Rocco—all of stone and full
of beauty and grace, and well wrought. For the Church of the Crocicchieri
he made in stucco two figures each six feet high, very beautiful, which are
placed on the high-altar; and of the same material he made, as has been
already told, all the ornaments that are in the vaulting of the new staircase
of the Palazzo di S. Marco, with various patterns of compartments in
stucco, where Battista Franco afterwards painted in the spaces the scenes,
figures, and grotesques that are there. In like manner, Alessandro executed
the ornaments of the staircase of the Library of S. Marco, all works of great
mastery; and a chapel for the Friars Minors, and in the altar-piece of
marble, which is very large and very beautiful, the Assumption of Our Lady
in half-relief, with five great figures at the foot which have in them
something of the grand and are made with a beautiful manner, a lovely and
dignified flow of draperies, and much diligence of execution; which figures
of marble—S. Jerome, S. John the Baptist, S. Peter, S. Andrew, and S.
Leonardo—each six feet high, are the best of all the works that he has done
up to the present. And as a crown to that chapel, on the frontispiece, are two
figures likewise of marble, each eight feet high and very graceful. The same
Vittoria has executed many portraits in marble and most beautiful heads,
which are good likenesses, such as that of Signor Giovan Battista Feredo,
placed in the Church of S. Stefano, that of Camillo Trevisano, the orator,
placed in the Church of SS. Giovanni e Polo; the most illustrious
Marc'Antonio Grimani, likewise placed in the Church of S. Sebastiano; and
in S. Gimignano, the rector of that church. He has also portrayed Messer
Andrea Loredano. M. Priano da Lagie, and two brothers of the Pellegrini
family—M. Vincenzio and M. Giovan Battista—both orators. And since
Vittoria is young and a willing worker, talented, amiable, desirous of
acquiring name and fame, and, lastly, very gentle, we may believe that if he
lives, we are destined to see most beautiful works come from him from day
to day, worthy of his name of Vittoria, and that, if his life endures, he is like
to be a most excellent sculptor and to win the palm from all the others of
that country.
There is also one Tommaso da Lugano, a sculptor, who likewise has been
many years with Sansovino, and has made with the chisel many figures in
the Library of S. Marco, very beautiful, in company with others. And then,

having left Sansovino, he has made by himself a Madonna with the Child in
her arms, and at her feet a little S. John, which are all three figures of such
beautiful form, attitude, and manner, that they can stand among all the other
beautiful modern statues that are in Venice; which work is placed in the
Church of S. Bastiano. And a portrait of the Emperor Charles V, which he
made from the breast upwards, of marble, has been held to be a marvellous
thing, and was very dear to his Majesty. And since Tommaso has delighted
to work rather in stucco than in marble or bronze, there are innumerable
most beautiful figures by his hand and works executed by him in that
material in the houses of various gentlemen of Venice. But it must suffice to
have said this much of him.
Of the Lombards, finally, it remains for us to make record of Jacopo
Bresciano, a young man of twenty-four, who has not long parted from
Sansovino. He has given proof at Venice, in the many years that he has been
there, of being talented and likely to prove excellent, as he has since shown
in the works that he has executed in his native Brescia, and particularly in
the Palazzo Pubblico, and if he lives and studies, there will be seen from his
hand, also, things greater and better, for he has a fine spirit and most
beautiful gifts.
Of our Tuscans, one of the disciples of Sansovino has been the Florentine
Bartolommeo Ammanati, of whom record has already been made in many
places in this work. This Bartolommeo, I say, worked under Sansovino in
Venice; and then in Padua for Messer Marco da Mantova, a most excellent
doctor of medicine, in whose house he made an immense giant from more
than one piece of stone for his court, and his tomb, with many statues.
Afterwards, Ammanati having gone to Rome in the year 1550, there were
allotted to him by Giorgio Vasari four statues of marble, each of four
braccia, for the tomb of the old Cardinal di Monte, which Pope Julius III
had allotted to Giorgio himself in the Church of S. Pietro a Montorio, as
will be related; which statues were held to be very beautiful. Wherefore
Vasari, having conceived an affection for him, made him known to the said
Julius III, who, having ordained what he wanted done, caused him to be set
to work; and so both of them, Vasari and Ammanati, worked together for a
time at the Vigna. But not long afterwards, when Vasari had gone to serve
Duke Cosimo in Florence, the above-named Pope being dead, Ammanati,
who found himself without work and badly recompensed by that Pontiff for

his labours in Rome, wrote to Vasari, praying him that, even as he had
assisted him in Rome, so he should assist him in Florence with the Duke.
Whereupon Vasari, occupying himself with fervour in this matter,
introduced him into the service of the Duke, for whom he has executed
many statues in marble and in bronze that are not yet in position. For the
garden of Castello he has made two figures in bronze larger than life—
namely, a Hercules who is crushing Antæus, from which Antæus, in place
of his spirit, there issues from the mouth water in great abundance. Finally,
Ammanati has executed in marble the colossal figure of Neptune that is in
the Piazza, ten braccia and a half in height; but since the work of the
fountain, in the centre of which the said Neptune is to stand, is not finished,
I shall say nothing more of it. The same Ammanati, as architect, is giving
his attention with much honour and praise to the fabric of the Pitti, in which
work he has a great opportunity to show the worth and grandeur of his
mind, and the magnificence and great spirit of Duke Cosimo. I could tell
many particulars of this sculptor, but since he is my friend, and another, so I
hear, is writing his history, I shall say no more, in order not to set my hand
to things that may be related by another better than I perhaps might be able.
It remains for us to make mention, as the last of Sansovino's disciples, of
Danese Cattaneo, the sculptor of Carrara, who was already with him in
Venice when still a little boy. Parting from his master at the age of nineteen,
he made by himself a boy of marble for S. Marco, and a S. Laurence for the
Church of the Friars Minors; for S. Salvadore another boy in marble, and
for SS. Giovanni e Polo the statue of a nude Bacchus, who is grasping a
bunch of grapes from a vine which twines round a trunk that he has behind
his legs, which statue is now in the house of the Mozzenighi at S. Barnaba.
He has executed many figures for the Library of S. Marco and for the
Loggia of the Campanile, together with others of whom there has been an
account above; and, in addition to those named, the two that have been
mentioned already as being in the apartments of the Council of Ten. He
made portraits in marble of Cardinal Bembo and Contarini, the Captain-
General of the Venetian forces, which are both in S. Antonio at Padua, with
rich and beautiful ornaments about them. And in the same city of Padua, in
S. Giovanni di Verdara, there is by the same hand the portrait of Messer
Girolamo Gigante, a most learned jurist. And for S. Antonio della Giudecca,
in Venice, he has made a very lifelike portrait of Giustiniano, the Lieutenant

of the Grand Master of Malta, and that of Tiepolo, who was three times
General; but these have not yet been set in their places. But the greatest
work and the most distinguished that Danese has ever executed is a rich
chapel of marble, with large figures, in S. Anastasia at Verona, for Signor
Ercole Fregoso, in memory of Signor Jano, once Lord of Genoa, and then
Captain-General of the Venetians, in whose service he died. This work is of
the Corinthian Order, in the manner of a triumphal arch, and divided by four
great columns, round and fluted, with capitals of olive-leaves, which rest
upon a base of proportionate height, making the space in the centre as wide
again as one of those at the sides; with an arch between the columns, above
which there rest on the capitals the architrave and cornice, and in the centre,
within the arch, a very beautiful decoration of pilasters, with cornice and
frontispiece, and with a ground formed by a tablet of most beautiful black
basanite, where there is the statue of a nude Christ, larger than life and in
the round, a very good figure; which statue stands in the act of showing the
Wounds, with a piece of drapery bound round the flanks and reaching
between the legs to the ground. Over the angles of the arch are Signs of His
Passion, and between the columns that are on the right side there stands
upon a pedestal a statue in the round representing Signor Jano Fregoso,
fully armed after the antique save that he shows the arms and legs nude, and
he has the left hand upon the pommel of the sword at his girdle, and with
the right hand he holds the general's baton; having behind him as a pendant,
within the space between the columns, a Minerva in half-relief, who, poised
in the air, holds with one hand a Ducal staff, such as that of the Doges of
Venice, and with the other a banner containing the device of S. Mark.
Between the two other columns, as the other pendant, is Military Valour in
armour, on her head the helmet-crest with the house-leek upon it, and on her
cuirass the device of an ermine that stands upon a rock surrounded by mire,
with letters that run—"Potius mori quam fœdari," and with the device of the
Fregosi; and above is a Victory, with a garland of laurel and a palm in the
hands. Above the columns, architrave, frieze and cornice, is another range
of pilasters, upon the crowns of which stand two figures of marble in the
round, and two trophies likewise in the round and of the same size as the
figures. Of these two statues, one is Fame in the act of taking flight,
pointing with the right hand to Heaven, and with a trumpet that she is
sounding; and this figure has light and most beautiful draperies about the
body, and all the rest nude. The other, representing Eternity, is clothed in

heavier vestments, and stands in majesty, holding in the left hand a round
on which she is gazing, and with the right hand she grasps a hem of her
garment wherein are globes that signify the various ages, with the celestial
sphere encircled by the serpent that seizes the tail in the mouth. In the
central space above the great cornice, which forms and separates those two
other spaces, are three steps upon which are seated two large nude boys,
who hold a great shield with the helmet above it, containing the devices of
the Fregosi; and below those steps is an epitaph of basanite with large
gilded letters. That whole work is truly worthy to be extolled, for Danese
executed it with great diligence, and gave beautiful proportion and grace to
the composition, and made each figure with great study. And Danese is not
only, as has been described, an excellent sculptor, but also a good and much
extolled poet, as his works clearly demonstrate, on which account he has
always had intercourse and strait friendship with the greatest men and
choicest spirits of our age; and of this may serve as a proof the work
described above, executed by him with much poetic feeling. By the hand of
Danese is the nude statue of the Sun above the ornament of the well in the
courtyard of the Mint, at Venice; in place of which those Signori desired a
Justice, but Danese considered that in that place the Sun is more
appropriate. This figure has a bar of gold in the left hand, and in the right
hand a sceptre, at the end of which he made an eye, and about the head the
rays of the sun, and above all the globe of the world encircled by the
serpent that holds the tail in the mouth, with some little mounds of gold
about the globe, generated by him. Danese would have liked to make two
other statues, that of the Moon for silver and another for copper, with that of
the Sun for gold; but it was enough for those Signori that there should be
that of gold, as the most perfect of all the metals. The same Danese has
begun another work in memory of Prince Loredano, Doge of Venice,
wherein it is hoped that in invention and fantasy he is to surpass by a great
measure all his other labours; which work is to be placed in the Church of
SS. Giovanni e Polo in Venice. But, since this master is alive and still
constantly at work for the benefit of the world and of art, I shall say nothing
more of him; nor of other disciples of Sansovino. I will not omit, however,
to speak briefly of some other excellent craftsmen, sculptors and painters,
from that dominion of Venice, taking my opportunity from those mentioned
above, in order to make an end of speaking of them in this Life of
Sansovino.

PALAZZO CHIERICATI
(After Andrea Palladio. Vicenza)
Alinari
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Vicenza, then, has likewise had at various times sculptors, painters, and
architects, of some of whom record was made in the Life of Vittore
Scarpaccia, and particularly of those who flourished in the time of
Mantegna and learned to draw from him; and such were Bartolommeo
Montagna, Francesco Verbo, and Giovanni Speranza, all painters, by whose
hands are many pictures that are dispersed throughout Vicenza. Now in the
same city there are many sculptures by the hand of one Giovanni, a carver
and architect, which are passing good, although his proper profession has
been to carve foliage and animals, as he still does excellently well, although

he is old. In like manner, Girolamo Pironi of Vicenza has executed
praiseworthy works of sculpture and painting in many places in his city. But
among all the masters of Vicenza he who most deserves to be extolled is the
architect Andrea Palladio, from his being a man of singular judgment and
brain, as many works demonstrate that were executed by him in his native
country and elsewhere, and in particular the Palazzo della Comunità, a
building much renowned, with two porticoes composed in the Doric Order
with very beautiful columns. The same Palladio has erected a palace,
beautiful and grand beyond all belief, with an infinity of the richest
ornaments, for Count Ottavio de' Vieri, and another like it for Count
Giuseppe di Porto, which could not be more beautiful or magnificent, nor
more worthy than it is of no matter how great a Prince; and another is being
built even now for Count Valerio Chiericati under the direction of the same
master, very similar in majesty and grandeur to the ancient buildings so
much extolled. For the Counts of Valmorana, likewise, he has now carried
almost to completion another most superb palace, which does not yield in
any particular to any of those mentioned above. In the same city, upon the
piazza commonly called the Isola, he has built another very magnificent
fabric for Signor Valerio Chiericati; and at Pugliano, a place in the
Vicentino, a most beautiful house for the Chevalier, Signor Bonifazio
Pugliana. In the same territory of Vicenza, at Finale, he has erected another
fabric for Messer Biagio Saraceni; and one at Bagnolo for Signor Vittore
Pisani, with a large and very rich court in the Doric Order with most
beautiful columns. Near Vicenza, at the township of Lisiera, he has
constructed for Signor Giovan Francesco Valmorana another very rich
edifice, with four towers at the corners, which make a very fine effect. At
Meledo, likewise, for Count Francesco Trissino and Lodovico his brother,
he has begun a magnificent palace upon a hill of some eminence, with
many ranges of loggie, staircases, and other appurtenances of a villa. At
Campiglia, likewise in the Vicentino, he is making for Signor Mario
Ropetta another similar habitation, with so many conveniences, rich
apartments of rooms, loggie, staircases, and chambers dedicated to various
virtues, that it will be, when once carried to completion, an abode rather for
a King than for a nobleman. At Lunedo he has built another, in the manner
of a villa, for Signor Girolamo de' Godi; and at Angarano another for Count
Jacopo Angarano, which is truly most beautiful, although it appears a small
thing to the great mind of that lord. At Quinto, also, near Vicenza, he

erected not long ago another palace for Count Marc'Antonio Tiene, which
has in it more of the grand and the magnificent than I could express. In
short, Palladio has constructed so many vast and lovely buildings within
and without Vicenza, that, even if there were no others there, they would
suffice to make a very handsome city with most beautiful surroundings.
In Venice the same Palladio has begun many buildings, but one that is
marvellous and most notable among them all, in imitation of the houses that
the ancients used to build, in the Monastery of the Carità. The atrium of this
is forty feet wide and fifty-four feet long, which are exactly the diameters of
the quadrangle, the wings being one-third and a half of the length. The
columns, which are Corinthian, are three feet and a half in thickness and
thirty-five feet high. From the atrium one goes into the peristyle, that is,
into a clauster (for thus do the friars call their courts), which on the side
towards the atrium is divided into five parts, and at the flanks into seven,
with three orders of columns one above the other, of which the Doric is at
the foot, and above it the Ionic and the Corinthian. Opposite to the atrium is
the refectory, two squares in length, and as high as the level of the peristyle,
with its officines around it, all most commodious. The stairs are spiral, in
the form of an oval, and they have neither wall nor column, nor any part in
the middle to support them; they are thirteen feet wide, and the steps by
their position support one another, being fixed in the wall. This edifice is all
built of baked stone, that is, of brick, save the bases of the columns, the
capitals, the imposts of the arches, the stairs, the surface of the cornices, and
the whole of the windows and doors. The same Palladio has built for the
Black Friars of S. Benedict, in their Monastery of S. Giorgio Maggiore in
Venice, a very large and most beautiful refectory with its vestibule in front,
and has begun to found a new church, with such beautiful ordering,
according as the model shows, that, if it is carried to completion, it will
prove a stupendous and most lovely work. Besides this, he has begun the
façade of the Church of S. Francesco della Vigna, which the very reverend
Grimani, Patriarch of Aquileia, is causing to be made of Istrian stone, with a
most magnificent disregard of expense; the columns are four palms thick at
the foot, forty palms high, and in the Corinthian Order, and already the
whole basement at the foot is built. At Gambaraie, a place seven miles
distant from Venice, on the River Brenta, the same Palladio has made a very
commodious habitation for M. Niccolò and M. Luigi Foscari, gentlemen of

Venice. Another he has built at Marocco, a place in the Mestrino, for the
Chevalier Mozzenigo; at Piombino one for M. Giorgio Cornaro, one at
Montagnana for the Magnificent M. Francesco Pisani, and another at
Cicogna in the territory of Padua for Count Adovardo da Tiene, a gentleman
of Vicenza. At Udine, in Friuli, he has built one for Signor Floriano
Antimini; at Motto, a township likewise in Friuli, one for the Magnificent
M. Marco Zeno, with a most beautiful court and porticoes all the way
round; and at Fratta, a township in the Polesine, a great fabric for Signor
Francesco Badoaro, with some very beautiful and fantastic loggie. In like
manner, near Asolo, a place in the territory of Treviso, he has erected a most
commodious habitation for the very reverend S. Daniello Barbaro,
Patriarch-Elect of Aquileia, who has written upon Vitruvius, and for the
most illustrious M. Marc'Antonio, his brother, with such beautiful ordering,
that nothing better or greater can ever be imagined. Among other things, he
has made there a fountain very similar to that which Pope Julius caused to
be made at his Vigna Giulia in Rome; with ornaments of stucco and
paintings everywhere, executed by excellent masters. In Genoa M. Luca
Giustiniano has erected a building with the design of Palladio, which is held
to be very beautiful, as are also all those mentioned above; but it would
have made too long a story to seek to recount the many particulars of the
strange and lovely inventions and fantasies that are in them. But, since there
is soon to come into the light of day a work of Palladio, in which will be
printed two books of ancient edifices and one book of those that he himself
has caused to be built, I shall say nothing more of him, because this will be
enough to make him known as the excellent architect that he is held to be
by all who see his beautiful works; besides which, being still young and
attending constantly to the studies of his art, every day greater things may
be expected of him. Nor will I omit to say that he has wedded to such gifts a
nature so amiable and gentle, that it renders him well-beloved with
everyone; wherefore he has won the honour of being accepted into the
number of the Academicians of Design in Florence, together with Danese,
Giuseppe Salviati, Tintoretto, and Battista Farinato of Verona, as will be
told in another place, speaking of the said Academicians.
Bonifazio, a Venetian painter, of whom I have never before received any
information, is also worthy to be numbered in the company of these many
excellent craftsmen, being a well-practised and able colourist. This master,

besides many pictures and portraits that are dispersed throughout Venice,
has executed for the altar of the Relics in the Church of the Servites, in the
same city, an altar-piece wherein is a Christ with the Apostles about Him,
and Philip who appears to be saying, "Domine, ostende nobis patrem,"
which is painted with a very good and beautiful manner. And for the altar of
the Madonna in the Church of the Nuns of the Spirito Santo, he has
executed another most beautiful altar-picture with a vast number of men,
women, and children of every age, who in company with the Virgin are
adoring a God the Father who is in the air with many Angels about Him.
Another painter of passing good name in Venice is Jacopo Fallaro, who has
painted on the doors of the organ in the Church of the Ingesuati the Blessed
Giovanni Colombini receiving his habit in the Consistory from the Pope,
with a good number of Cardinals. Another Jacopo, called Pisbolica, has
executed an altar-piece for S. Maria Maggiore in Venice, wherein is Christ
in the air with many Angels, and below Him Our Lady with the Apostles.
And one Fabrizio Viniziano has painted on the façade of a chapel in the
Church of S. Maria Sebenico the Consecration of the baptismal font, with
many portraits from life executed with beautiful grace and a good manner.

NOTES.

I., line 1, p. 187.

The family of the Tatti in Florence is recorded in the books of the
Commune from the year 1300, because, having come from Lucca, a very
noble city of Tuscany, it was always abundant in industrious and honoured
men, and they were most highly favoured by the House of Medici. Of this
family was born Jacopo, of whom we are writing in this place; and he was
born from Antonio, a most excellent person, and from his wife Francesca, in
the month of January, 1477. In the first years of his boyhood he was set, as
is usual, to learn his letters; and, after beginning to show in these vivacity of
brain and readiness of spirit, not long afterwards he applied himself of his
own accord to drawing, giving evidence in a certain sort that nature was
inclining him much more to this kind of work than to letters, for the reason
that he went very unwillingly to school and learned much against his will
the scabrous rudiments of grammar. His mother, whom he resembled
strongly, perceiving this and fostering his genius, gave him assistance,

causing him to be taught design in secret, because she loved the thought
that her son should be a sculptor, perchance in emulation of the then rising
glory of Michelagnolo Buonarroti, who at that time was still quite young;
and also moved by a certain fateful augury, in that Michelagnolo and this
Jacopo had been born in one and the same street, called Via S. Maria, near
the Via Ghibellina. Now the boy, after some time, was placed to learn the
trade of a merchant; in which delighting even less than in letters, he did and
said so much, that he obtained leave from his father to attend without
hindrance to that towards which he was urged by nature.
There had come to Florence at that time Andrea Contucci of Monte
Sansovino, a township near Arezzo, risen to great fame in our days from
having been the birthplace of Pope Julius III; which Andrea, having
acquired in Italy and in Spain the name of the best sculptor and architect
that there was in art after Buonarroti, was staying in Florence in order to
execute two figures of marble. Etc.

II., line 18, p. 197.

(And he was executing many works of the greatest importance for all those
lords), having been recognized by three Pontiffs, and especially by Pope
Leo, who presented him with a Knighthood of S. Pietro, which he sold
during his illness, doubting lest he might die; (when God, etc.).

III., line 22, p. 198.

Having then entered on that office, he began to occupy himself with every
care, both with regard to buildings and in the management of the papers and
of the books that he held by virtue of his office, acquitting himself with all
possible diligence in the affairs of the Church of S. Marco, of the
Commissions, which are a great number, and of the many other matters that
are in the charge of those Procurators; and he showed extraordinary
lovingness towards those Signori, in that, having turned his whole attention
to benefiting them and to directing their affairs to the aggrandizement,
embellishment, and ornamentation of the church, the city, and the public
square (a thing never yet done by any other in that office), he provided them
with various advantages, profits, and revenues by means of his inventions,

with his ingenuity of brain and readiness of spirit, yet always with little or
no expense to the Signori themselves. Among which benefits, one was this;
in the year 1529 there were between the two columns in the Piazza some
butchers' stalls, and also between the one column and the other many
wooden cabins to accommodate persons in their natural necessities—a thing
most filthy and disgraceful, both for the dignity of the Palace and of the
Piazza Pubblica, and for the strangers who, coming into Venice by way of
S. Giorgio, saw first of all on arrival that filthiness. Jacopo, after
demonstrating to the Prince Gritti the honourable and profitable nature of
his design, caused those stalls and cabins to be removed; and, placing the
stalls where they now are and making certain places for the sellers of herbs,
he obtained for the Procurators an additional revenue of seven hundred
ducats, embellishing at the same time the Piazza and the city. Not long
afterwards, having perceived that in the Merceria (on the way to the Rialto,
near the Clock), by removing a house that paid a rent of twenty-six ducats,
a street could be made leading into the Spadaria, whereby the rent of the
houses and shops all around would be increased, he threw down that house
and increased their revenues by one hundred and fifty ducats a year. Besides
this, by placing on that site the hostelry of the Pellegrino and another in the
Campo Rusolo, he brought them in another four hundred ducats. He
obtained for them similar benefits by the buildings in the Pescaria, and, on
divers other occasions, by many houses and shops and other places
belonging to those Signori, at various times; insomuch that the Procurators,
having gained by his care a revenue of more than two thousand ducats, have
been rightly moved to love him and to hold him dear.
Not long afterwards, by order of the Procurators, he set his hand to the very
rich and beautiful building of the Library opposite to the Palazzo Pubblico,
with such a variety of architecture (for it is both Doric and Corinthian), and
such a wealth of carvings, cornices, columns, capitals, and half-length
figures throughout the whole work, that it is a marvel; and all without any
sparing of expense, since it is full of the richest pavements, stucco-work
and scenes throughout the halls of that place, and public staircases adorned
with various pictures, as has been related in the Life of Battista Franco, not
to speak of the appurtenances and rich ornaments that it has at the principal
door of entrance, which give it majesty and grandeur, demonstrating the
ability of Sansovino. Which method of building was the reason that in that

city, into which there had not entered up to that time any other method but
that of building their houses and palaces in one and the same order, each
man always continuing the same things with the same measurements and
ancient use, without varying according to the sites as they found them, or
according to convenience; it was the reason, I say, that buildings both
public and private began to be erected with new designs and better order,
and according to the ancient teaching of Vitruvius; and that work, in the
opinion of those who are good judges and have seen many parts of the
world, is without any equal.
He then built the Palace of Messer Giovanni Delfino, situated on the Grand
Canal on the other side from the Rialto, opposite to the Riva del Ferro, at a
cost of thirty thousand ducats. He built, likewise, that of Messer Leonardo
Moro at S. Girolamo, a work of great cost, which has almost the appearance
of a castle. And he erected the Palace of Messer Luigi de' Garzoni, wider by
thirteen paces in every direction than is the Fondaco de' Tedeschi, with so
many conveniences, that water runs through the whole fabric, which is
adorned with four most beautiful figures by Sansovino; which palace is at
Ponte Casale, in the neighbourhood of Venice. But the most beautiful is the
Palace of Messer Giorgio Cornaro on the Grand Canal, which, without any
doubt surpassing the others in convenience, majesty, and grandeur, is
considered perhaps the finest that there is in Italy. He also built (to have
done with speaking of private edifices) the Scuola or Confraternity of the
Misericordia, a vast work costing one hundred and thirty thousand crowns,
which, when carried to completion, will prove to be the most superb edifice
in Italy. And his work, also, is the Church of S. Francesco della Vigna,
where the Frati de' Zoccoli have their seat, a work of great size and
importance; but the façade was by another master. The Loggia about the
Campanile of S. Marco, in the Corinthian Order, was from his design, with
a very rich ornament of columns, and with four niches, in which are four
supremely beautiful figures in bronze, little less than the size of life, which
are by his hand, together with various scenes and figures in low-relief. That
work makes a most beautiful base to the said campanile, which has a
thickness, on one of the sides, of thirty-five feet, which is about the extent
of Sansovino's ornamentation. In height, from the ground to the cornice
where are the windows of the bells, it is one hundred and sixty feet; from
the level of that cornice to the other above it, where the corridor is, twenty-

five feet; and the other dado above has a height of twenty-eight feet and a
half. From that level of the corridor up to the pyramid is sixty feet; at the
summit of which spire, the little square, upon which rests the Angel, is six
feet high, and the said Angel, which turns with every wind, is ten feet high;
insomuch that the whole height comes to be two hundred and ninety-two
feet.
But the finest, richest, and strongest of his edifices is the Mint of Venice, all
of iron and stone, for there is not in it one single piece of wood, in order to
render it absolutely safe from fire. And the interior is distributed with such
order and convenience for the sake of the many artificers, that there is not in
any part of the world a treasury better ordered, or with greater strength, than
that one, which he built entirely in the Rustic Order and very beautiful;
which method, not having been used before in that city, caused the
inhabitants to marvel not a little. By his hand, also, may be seen the Church
of S. Spirito on the lagoons, of a very delicate and pleasing workmanship;
and in Venice there is the façade of S. Gimignano, which gives splendour to
the Piazza, in the Merceria the façade of S. Giuliano, and in S. Salvadore
the very rich tomb of the Prince Francesco Veniero. He also erected in the
Rialto, on the Grand Canal, the new fabrics of the vaults, with such good
design, that almost every day there assembles there a very convenient
market of townsmen and of other persons who flock to that city. And a very
marvellous thing and new was that which he did for the Tiepoli at the
Misericordia, in that, they having on the canal a great palace with many
regal chambers, and the whole building being badly founded in the water,
so that it was likely enough that in a few years the edifice would fall to the
ground, Sansovino rebuilt all the foundations in the canal below the palace
with very large stones, maintaining the house on its feet with a marvellous
support of props, while the owners lived in their house with perfect security.
Nor for all this, while he has given his attention to so many buildings, has
he ever ceased to occupy himself every day for his own delight with vast
and beautiful works of sculpture, in marble and in bronze. Over the holy-
water font of the Friars of the Cà Grande there is by his hand a statue made
of marble, representing S. John the Baptist, which is very beautiful and
highly extolled. At Padua, in the Chapel of the Santo, there is a large scene
in marble by the same hand, with very beautiful figures in half-relief, of a
miracle of S. Anthony of Padua; which is much esteemed in that place. For

the entrance of the stairs of the Palace of S. Marco he is even now
executing in marble in the forms of two very beautiful giants, each of seven
braccia, a Neptune and a Mars, signifying the power which that most
illustrious Republic has on land and sea. He made a most beautiful statue of
Hercules for the Duke of Ferrara; and for the Church of S. Marco he made
six scenes of bronze in half-relief, one braccio high and one and a half long,
for placing on a pulpit, with stories of that Evangelist, which are held in
much estimation for their variety. Over the door of the same S. Marco he
made a Madonna of marble, the size of life, which is held to be a very
beautiful thing; and at the entrance to the sacristy of that place there is by
his hand the door of bronze divided into two most beautiful parts, with
stories of Jesus Christ all in half-relief and wrought excellently well. And
over the door of the Arsenal he made a very beautiful Madonna, who is
holding her Son in her arms, of marble. All which works not only have
given lustre and adornment to that Republic, but also have caused
Sansovino to be better known every day as a most excellent craftsman, and
loved and honoured by the magnificent liberality of those Signori, and
likewise by the other craftsmen, every work of sculpture and architecture
that has been executed in that city in his time being referred to him. And in
truth the excellence of Jacopo has well deserved that he should be held in
the first rank among the craftsmen of design in that city, and that his talents
should be loved and revered by all without exception, both nobles and
plebeians, for the reason that, besides other things, as has been told, with his
judgment and knowledge he has brought it about that the city has been
made almost entirely new and has learned the true and good method of
building.
Three most beautiful figures in stucco by his hand, also, may be seen in the
possession of his son, one a Laocoon, another a Venus standing, and the
third a Madonna with many children about her; which figures are so rare,
that in Venice there is seen nothing to equal them. The said son also has in
drawing sixty plans of temples and churches of Sansovino's invention,
which are so excellent that from the days of the ancients to our own there
have been seen none better conceived or more beautiful. These I have heard
that the son will publish for the benefit of the world, and already he has had
some pieces engraved, accompanying them with designs of the numberless

labours that have been carried into execution by Sansovino in various parts
of Italy.
For all this, although occupied, as has been related, with the management of
so many things both public and private, and both in the city and abroad (for
strangers, also, ran to him for models and designs of buildings, for figures,
or for counsel, as did the Duke of Ferrara, who obtained a Hercules in the
form of a giant, the Duke of Mantua, and the Duke of Urbino), he was
always very zealous in the private and particular service of each of his own
Lords Procurators, who, availing themselves of him both in Venice and
elsewhere, and not doing a single thing without his assistance or counsel,
kept him continually at work not only for themselves, but also for their
friends and relatives, without any reward, he consenting to endure any
inconvenience and fatigue in order to satisfy them. But above all he was
greatly loved and held in infinite price by the Prince Gritti, who delighted in
beautiful intellects, by Messer Vettorio Grimani, brother of the Cardinal,
and by Messer Giovanni da Legge the Chevalier, all Procurators, and by
Messer Marc'Antonio Justiniano, who became acquainted with him in
Rome. For these illustrious men, exalted in spirit and truly regal in mind,
being conversant with the affairs of the world and well informed in the
noble and excellent arts, soon recognized his merit and how worthy he was
to be cherished and esteemed, and availed themselves of him in due
measure; and they used to say, in accord with the whole city, that the
Procurators never had and never would have at any time another equal to
him, for they knew very well how celebrated and renowned his name was
with the men and princes of intellect in Florence and Rome and throughout
all Italy, and every one held it as certain that not he only but also his
descendants and all his posterity deserved to be endowed for ever in return
for his singular genius.
Jacopo was in body of ordinary stature, without any fat, and he walked with
the person upright. He was white in complexion, with the beard red; and in
his youth he was very graceful and handsome, and therefore much beloved
by various women of some importance. After he became old, he had a
venerable presence, with a beautiful white beard, and walked like a young
man, insomuch that, having come to the age of ninety-three, he was still
very strong and healthy and could see every least thing, however distant it
might be, without spectacles, and when writing he kept his head erect, not

bending over at all as is done by others. He delighted to dress handsomely,
and was always very neat in his person; and he always took pleasure in
women down to extreme old age, and much loved to talk of them. In his
youth, by reason of his excesses, he was not very robust; but when he had
become old he never suffered any illness, insomuch that for a period of fifty
years, although at times he felt indisposed, he would never avail himself of
any physician; nay, having had an apoplectic stroke for the fourth time at
the age of eighty-four, he recovered by staying only two months in bed in a
very dark and warm place, despising medicines. He had so good a stomach,
that he was not afraid of anything, making no distinction between food that
might be good and food that might be harmful; and in summer he lived
almost entirely on fruits, eating very often as many as three cucumbers at a
time, and half a citron, in his extreme old age. As for his qualities of mind,
he was very prudent and foresaw future events in the matters of the present,
weighing them against the past; and he was zealous in his affairs, not
considering any fatigue, and never left his business to follow pleasures. He
discoursed well and with many words upon no matter what subject that he
understood, giving many illustrations with much grace; on which account
he was very dear both to the great and to the small, and to his friends. And
in his last years he had a memory still very fresh, and remembered in detail
his childhood, the sack of Rome, and many things, fortunate or unfortunate,
that he experienced in his time. He was courageous, and from his youth
took delight in contending with those greater than himself, because, he used
to say, by contending with the great a man advances, but against the little he
lowers himself. He esteemed honour above everything in the world,
wherefore in his affairs he was most loyal and a man of his word, and so
pure in heart, that no offer, however great, could have corrupted him,
although he was put to the test several times by his Signori, who for this
and for other qualities regarded him not as their protomaster or minister, but
as a father and brother, honouring him for his goodness, which was in no
way feigned, but real. He was liberal with every man, and so loving towards
his relatives, that he deprived himself of many comforts in order to assist
them; although he lived always in repute and honour, as one who was
observed by everyone. At times he let himself be overcome by anger, which
was very great in him, but it soon passed; and very often with a few humble
words you could make the tears come to his eyes.

He had a surpassing love for the art of sculpture; such a love, indeed, that,
to the end that it might be dispersed widely in various parts, he formed
many disciples, making as it were a seminary of that art in Italy. Among
these, very famous were Niccolò Tribolo and Solosmeo, Florentines;
Danese Cattaneo of Carrara, a Tuscan, of supreme excellence in poetry as
well as in sculpture; Girolamo da Ferrara, Jacopo Colonna of Venice, Luca
Lancia of Naples, Tiziano da Padova, Pietro da Salò, Bartolommeo
Ammanati of Florence, at the present day sculptor and protomaster to the
great Duke of Tuscany, and, finally, Alessandro Vittoria of Trento, a rare
master in portraits of marble, and Jacopo de' Medici of Brescia; who,
reviving the memory of the excellence of their master, have employed their
talents on many honoured works in various cities.
Sansovino was much esteemed by Princes, among whom Alessandro de'
Medici, Duke of Florence, sought his judgment in building the Citadel of
that city. And Duke Cosimo in the year 1540, Sansovino having gone on his
affairs to his native city, not only sought his counsel in the matter of that
fortress, but also strove to engage him in his service, offering him a good
salary; and on his return from Florence Duke Ercole of Ferrara detained
him about his person and proposed various conditions to him, making every
effort to keep him in Ferrara. But he, being used to Venice, and finding
himself comfortable in that city, where he had lived a great part of his life,
and having a singular love for the Procurators, by whom he was so much
honoured, would never listen to any of them. He was also invited by Pope
Paul III, who wished to advance him to the charge of S. Pietro in the place
of Antonio da San Gallo, and with this Monsignor della Casa, who was then
Legate in Venice, occupied himself much; but all was in vain, because he
said that he was not minded to exchange the manner of life of a republic for
that of living under an absolute Prince. And King Philip of Spain, on his
way to Germany, showed him much kindness at Peschiera, whither Jacopo
had gone to see him.
He had an immoderate desire of glory, and by reason of that used to spend
his own substance on others (not without notable harm to his descendants),
in the hope that there might remain some memory of him. Good judges say
that although he had to yield to Michelagnolo, yet in certain things he was
his superior. Thus in the fashioning of draperies, in children, and in the
expressions of women, Jacopo had no equal, for the reason that his