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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
[Illustration: 1511-1574]
Philip Lee Warner, Publisher to the Medici Society, Limited
7 Grafton St. London, W. 1912-15
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
FACING PAGE
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
The Holy Family
Florence: Uffizi, 1,239 4
TIZIANO DA CADORE
The Madonna of the Cherries
Vienna: Imperial Gallery, 180 158
TIZIANO DA CADORE
Sacred and Profane Love
Rome: Borghese Gallery, 147 164
TIZIANO DA CADORE
The Duke of Norfolk
Florence: Pitti, 92 168
TIZIANO DA CADORE
The Education of Cupid
Rome: Borghese Gallery, 170 176
PARIS BORDONE
The Venetian Lovers
Milan: Brera, 105 178
PLATES IN MONOCHROME
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
The Battle of the Centaurs
Florence: Museo Buonarroti 8
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
The Angel with the Candlestick
Bologna: S. Domenico 10
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Bacchus
Florence: Museo Nazionale 12
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Pietà
Rome: S. Peter's 14
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Wax Models for the David
Florence: Museo Buonarroti 16
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Madonna, Child, and S. John
Florence: Museo Nazionale 18
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Young Captive
Paris: Louvre 20
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Victory
Florence: Museo Nazionale 22
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Moses
Rome: S. Pietro in Vincoli 24
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Tomb of Pope Julius II
Rome: S. Pietro in Vincoli 24
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
God Dividing the Waters from the Earth
Rome: Sistine Chapel 28
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
The Creation of Eve
Rome: Sistine Chapel 28
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
The Creation of Adam
Rome: Sistine Chapel 32
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
The Fall and the Expulsion
Rome: Sistine Chapel 32
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
The Lybian Sibyl
Rome: Sistine Chapel 36
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Decorative Figure
Rome: Sistine Chapel 38
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
The New Sacristy
Florence: S. Lorenzo 40
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Madonna and Child
Florence: S. Lorenzo 42
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Giuliano de' Medici
Florence: S. Lorenzo 44
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Tomb of Giuliano de' Medici
Florence: S. Lorenzo 44
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Apollo
Florence: Museo Nazionale 50
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
The Last Judgment
Rome: Sistine Chapel 56
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Charon's Boat
Rome: Sistine Chapel 58
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
S. Sebastian
Rome: Sistine Chapel 60
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Pietà
Florence: Duomo 62
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Stairs of the Palace of the Senators
Rome: The Capitol 64
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Court of the Palazzo Farnese
Rome 66
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Biblioteca Laurenziana
Florence 78
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Pietà
Rome: Palazzo Rondanini 84
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
S. Peter's
Rome 86
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
S. Peter's
Rome 88
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Porta Pia
Rome 96
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
S. Maria degli Angeli
Rome 98
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Brutus
Florence: Museo Nazionale 100
MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI
Unfinished Figure
Florence: Museo Nazionale 106
FRANCESCO PRIMATICCIO
Galerie Henry IV
Fontainebleau 146
FRANCESCO PRIMATICCIO
Escalier du Roi
Fontainebleau 148
PELLEGRINO TIBALDI
The Adoration of the Shepherds
Vienna: Collection of Prince Liechtenstein 152
TIZIANO DA CADORE
Ariosto
London: National Gallery, 1,944 160
TIZIANO DA CADORE
Bacchanal
Madrid: The Prado, 450 162
TIZIANO DA CADORE
Madonna With Saints and Donor
Ancona: S. Domenico 162
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
TIZIANO DA CADORE
Perseus and Andromeda
London: Wallace Collection, 11 172
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
PARIS BORDONE
The Fisherman and the Doge Gradenigo
Venice: Accademia, 320 180
PARIS BORDONE
Portrait of a Woman
London: National Gallery, 674 180
ZUCCATI
Vision of the Apocalypse
Venice: S. Marco 182
JACOPO SANSOVINO
S. James
Florence: Duomo 190
JACOPO SANSOVINO
Bacchus
Florence: Museo Nazionale 192
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
LEONE LEONI
Tomb of Gian Jacopo Medici
Milan: Duomo 230
CRISTOFANO SOLARI (IL GOBBO)
Eve
Milan: Duomo 234
GUGLIELMO DELLA PORTA
Tomb of Pope Paul III
Rome: S. Peter's 236
GALEAZZO ALESSI
Palazzo Grimaldi
Genoa 240
GIULIO CLOVIO
Pietà
Florence: Pitti, 241 246
GIROLAMO SERMONETA
Martyrdom of S. Catherine
Rome: S. Maria Maggiore 258
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.
[Illustration: MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI: THE HOLY FAMILY
(_Florence: Uffizi, 1239. Panel_)]
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.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF THE CENTAURS
(_After the relief by =Michelangelo=. Florence: Museo Buonarroti_)
_Alinari_]
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.
[Illustration: THE ANGEL WITH THE CANDLESTICK
(_After =Michelagnolo=. Bologna: S. Domenico_)
_Alinari_]
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.
[Illustration: BACCHUS
(_After =Michelagnolo=. Florence: Museo Nazionale_)
_Alinari_]
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.
[Illustration: PIETÀ
(_After =Michelagnolo=. Rome: S. Peter's_)
_Anderson_]
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.
[Illustration: WAX MODELS FOR THE DAVID
(_After =Michelagnolo=. Florence: Museo Buonarroti_)
_Alinari_]
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.
[Illustration: MADONNA, CHILD, AND S. JOHN
(_After the relief by =Michelagnolo=. Florence: Museo Nazionale_)
_Anderson_]
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.
[Illustration: YOUNG CAPTIVE
(_After =Michelagnolo=. Paris: Louvre_)
_Alinari_]