THE COLOSSAL BRONZE FOR THE FACADE OF SAN PETRONIO
The Pope entered Bologna in triumph on November 11, 1506, after the
marvellous campaign by which he restored two rich provinces to the Church
with only five hundred men-at-arms and his twenty-four Cardinals. Less
than ten days afterwards he inquired for his artist. The Cardinal of Pavia
wrote an autograph letter to the Signory of Florence on the 21st, urgently
requesting that they would despatch Michael Angelo immediately to that
town, inasmuch as the Pope was impatient for his arrival, and wanted to
employ him on important works. On November 27 Soderini wrote to the
Cardinal of Pavia introducing Michael Angelo and praising the cartoon the
artist had to leave unpainted, and to the Cardinal of Volterra more
formally as follows:--
"The bearer will be Michael Angelo, the sculptor, whom we send to
please and satisfy his Holiness our Lord. We certify your Lordship
that he is a worthy young man, and in his own art without a peer
in Italy; perhaps also in the universe. We cannot recommend him
too highly. He is of such a nature, that with good words and
kindness one can make him do anything. Show him love and show him
kindness, and he will do things that will make all who see them
wonder. We inform your Lordship that he has begun a story for the
Republic which will be admirable, and also XII Apostles, each
4-1/2 to 5 braccia high, which will be remarkable. We recommend
him to your lordship as much as we can.
"The XXVII of November, 1506."(87)
Michael Angelo says in his letter to Fattucci(88) that the portrait he now
modelled of Pope Julius was in bronze, sitting, about seven cubits in
height.(89) At the end of the two years that it took him to finish the
work he had to cast it twice. He says. "I found that I had four and a half
ducats left. I never received anything more for this work; and all the
moneys paid out during the said two years were the 1000 ducats with which
I promised to cast it." Michael Angelo worked in the Stanza del Pavaglione
behind the Cathedral; he employed three assistants, from Florence--Lapo
Antonio di Lapo, a sculptor; Lodovico del Buono, called Lotti, a founder;
and Pietro Urbano, a man who worked for him for a long time. His way of
life was frugal and sordid in the extreme. In his letter to his brother
Buonarroto he says(90):--
"With regard to Giovansimone coming here, I do not advise it as
yet, for I am lodged in one wretched room, and have bought one
single bed, in which we all four of us sleep. And I shall not be
able to receive him suitably. But if he will come all the same,
let him wait till I have cast the figure I am doing, and I will
send away Lapo and Lodovico who are helping me, and I will send
him a horse so that he may come decently and not like a beggar. No
more. Pray to God for me that things may go well.
"MICHAEL ANGELO, Sculptor, in Bologna."
Another letter tells of a visit from the Pope, troubles with his workmen,
and his usual generosity to his brothers and father.
"_To_ BUONARROTO DI LODOVICO SIMONE, _in Firenze_(91)
"To be delivered at the shop of Strozzi, wool merchant, in the
street of the Porta Rossa.
"BUONARROTO,--I hear by one of yours how things went about the
little farm; it is a great comfort to me and pleases me well, if
it is a sure thing. Of the affairs of Baronciello I am well
informed, and from what I understand it is a much more serious
thing than you make out; and for my part, it not being to my
taste, I do not ask it. We are all obliged to do all we can for
Baronciello, and so we will, especially everything that is in our
power. You must know that on Friday evening at twenty-one o'clock
Pope Julius came to my house where I work, and stayed about half
an hour while I was at work; then he gave me the benediction, and
went away, and showed himself well pleased with what I am doing.
For all this we must thank God heartily; and so I beg you to do,
and pray for me. I inform you further, how that on Friday morning
I sent away Lapo and Lodovico, who were with me. Lapo I dismissed
because he is good for nothing and a rogue, and would not serve
me. Lodovico is better, and I would have kept him another two
months; but Lapo, so as not to be the only one blamed, so
corrupted him that they both had to go. I write this not because I
care for them, for they are not worth three halfpence between
them, but because, if they come to talk to Lodovico, he must not
be surprised. Tell him by no means to lend them his ears; and if
you want to know about them go to Messer Agnolo, the Herald of the
Signoria, for I have written all the story to him, and he, out of
his kindness, will relate it to you. Of Giovansimone I have heard.
I shall be pleased if he goes to the shop of your master and is
careful to do his best; and so comfort him, because, if all goes
well, I have hopes of placing you both in a good position, if you
will be discreet. About that land which is beside that of Mona
(92) Zanobia, if Lodovico likes it, tell him to see about it and
let me know. I think, according to what is rumoured here, the Pope
will leave about the time of Carnival.
"The first day of February, 1506.
"MICHAEL ANGELO DI LODOVICO
"DI BUONARROTA SIMONI,
"Sculptor, in Bologna."
Notwithstanding this warning, the silly old man, his father, wrote a
scolding letter to his son about the workmen. Michael Angelo's humble
reply was dated February 8, 1507.(93)
"MOST REVERED FATHER,--I have received a letter from you to-day,
from which I learn that you have been talked to by Lapo and
Lodovico. I am glad that you should rebuke me, because I deserve
to be rebuked as a miserable sinner, as much as any one, perhaps
more. But you must know that I have not been guilty in this affair
for which you blame me now."
He goes on to explain his dealings with the rogue Lapo. There is also
trouble about a sword-hilt(94) Michael Angelo had designed for Pietro
Aldobrandini. However, Aldobrandini objected that the blade was too short.
Michael Angelo affirmed that it was ordered exactly to the measure sent,
and bade his brother present it to Filippo Strozzi as a compliment from
the Buonarroti family; but the stupid fellow bungled it in some way, for
Michael Angelo writes to say that he is sorry "he behaved so scurvily
towards Filippo in so trifling an affair."
Michael Angelo must have spent his spare time in studying the bas-reliefs
by Jacopo della Quercia upon the facade of San Petronio, for he used many
of the motives in his next great work, the Sistine vault. When the wax
model of the statue of Pope Julius was ready, Michael Angelo sent to
Florence for the ordnance founder to the Republic, Maestro dal Ponte, of
Milan, to cast it for him. This master's leave of absence was signed on
May 15, 1507. Just before the casting Michael Angelo wrote to Buonarroto:--
"_To_ BUONARROTO DI LODOVICO SIMONI, _in Florence, at the Shop of_
LORENZO STROZZI, _Wool Merchant, in Porta Rossa, Florence_.
"BUONARROTO,--I have received yours by the hand of Master Bernardo,
who has arrived; by it I hear all are well except Giovansimone,
who has not yet recovered. I am very sorry, and it grieves me not
to be able to help him. But soon I hope to be with you, and I will
do something that will please him, and you others, too. Therefore
comfort him and tell him to be of good cheer. Tell Lodovico also
that about the middle of next month I hope to cast my figure
without fail; therefore, if he will offer prayers, or anything
else for its good success, let him do so betimes, and say I beg
this of him. I have no time to write more. Things go well.
"The twenty-sixth day of May (1507).
"MICHAEL ANGELO, in Bologna."(95)
At last, on July 1, it is done, but done badly; and he writes:--
To the same.
"BUONARROTO,--We have cast my figure, and it has come out so badly
that I truly believe I shall have to do it all again. I cannot
write all the particulars, because I have other things to think
of. Enough that it has come badly. Thanks be to God all the same,
because I believe everything is for the best. Before long I shall
know what I have to do and will write to you. Tell Lodovico about
it, and be of good cheer. And if it should be that I have to do it
all again, and that I am not able to return to you, I will find
means somehow to do what I have promised in the best way I can.
"The first day of July.
"MICHAEL ANGELO, in Bologna."(96)
He gives further details in his next letter:--
"BUONARROTO,--Understand how that we have cast my figure. I have
not had much luck in it; for Master Bernardino, either by
ignorance or misfortune, did not sufficiently melt the bronze. How
it happened would be long to tell; it is enough that my figure has
come out up to the girdle; the rest of the stuff, that is to say
the metal, remained in the furnace; it was not melted; so that to
get it out I shall have the furnace taken to pieces, and that I am
doing now, and I will have it remade again this week. Next week I
will recast the upper part and finish filling the mould, and I
believe that this bad business will go very well, but not without
the greatest devotion, labour, and expense. I would have believed
that Master Bernardino could have cast it without fire, so much
faith had I in him; all the same, it is not that he is not a good
master and that he did not work with a will. But he who fails,
fails. And he has failed enough to my loss and his own, for he
blames himself so much that he cannot lift his eyes in Bologna. If
you see Baccio d'Agnolo read him this letter and ask him to tell
San Gallo, at Rome, and remember me to him and to Giovanni da
Ricasoli, and to Granaccio give my respects. I hope, if the thing
goes well, in from fifteen to twenty days to be through with it
and to return to you. If it should not go well, I should perhaps
have to do it again. I will tell you all. Let me know how
Giovansimone is.
"The sixth day of July. (_No signature_.)
"With this will be a letter to go to Rome for Giuliano da San
Gallo. Send it safely and as quickly as you can; but if he should
happen to be in Florence, give it to him."(97)
Again, to the same:--
"BUONORROTO,--I hear by one of yours that you are well and happy.
It pleases me very much. My business here, I hope, will turn out
well after all, but as yet I know nothing. We have recast the
upper part which was wanting, as I informed you, but have not been
able to see how it has come, for the sand is so hot that we cannot
as yet uncover it. By next week I shall know and will tell you.
Master Bernardino left here yesterday. When he salutes you receive
him kindly enough.
"The tenth day of July.
"MICHAEL ANGELO, in Bologna."(98)
To the same, later (July 18, 1501):--
"BUONARROTO,--My affairs might have turned out much better and also
much worse; at any rate, all of it is there as far as I can make
out, for it is not yet all uncovered. I estimate that it will take
some months to chase, for it has come out with a bad surface; all
the same, we must thank God! for, as I say, it might have been
worse. If anything is said to you by Salvestro del Pollaiolo(99)
or others, tell them that I do not need any one, so that no one
will be sent here to be on my shoulders, because I have spent so
much that there hardly remains enough for me to live on, let alone
keeping others. About next week I will let you know more when I
have uncovered the whole figure.
"MICHAEL ANGELO, in Bologna."(100)
After several letters describing his labours, he writes, ultimately, to
the same:--
"BUONARROTO,--I marvel you write to me so seldom. I am sure you
have much more time to write to me than I to write to you, so let
me hear often how things go. I understand by your last how, with
good reason, you wish me to return soon. It made me anxious for
several days; therefore, when you write to me, write strongly and
clearly what the matter is so that I may understand it--and enough.
Know that I desire to return soon even more than you desire it,
for I pass my life here in the greatest discomfort and with the
hardest labour, doing nothing but work day and night, and I have
endured so much fatigue and hardship that if I should have to go
through it again, I do not believe my life would hold out, for it
has been an enormous undertaking, and if it had been in any one
else's hands it would have come out very badly. But I believe the
prayers of some one have sustained me and kept me in health, for
all Bologna was of opinion that I should never finish it after it
was cast, and before also, when no one would believe that I should
ever cast it. Enough that I have brought it to a good end, but I
shall not quite have finished it by the end of this month, as I
hoped; but next month, at any rate, it will be done, and I will
return. So be all of good cheer, for I will do as I promised
whatever happens. Comfort Lodovico and Giovansimone for me and
write to me how Giovansimone does. Mind and learn to keep shop, so
that you will know how to do it when you need, which will be soon.
"The tenth day of November.
"MICHAEL ANGELO, in Bologna."(101)
He worked on until February, and wrote to the same:--
"BUONARROTO,--It is now a fortnight since I expected to be with
you, for I thought that directly my figure was finished they would
place it. And now these people are dawdling and doing nothing; and
I have orders from the Pope not to leave until it is placed, so
that it seems to me I shall be prevented. I shall stay and look
after it all this week too; if there are no further orders I will
come away at all costs, without observing the command. With this
will be a letter to go to the Cardinal of Pavia, in which I reply
to him about it all, so that he cannot complain. So put it in a
cover and direct it to Giuliano da San Gallo on my part, and
desire him to deliver it with his own hand.
"Di Bologna (the 18th day of February, 1508)."(102)
On February 21, 1508, the statue of Pope Julius II. was hoisted on to its
pedestal above the great central door of San Petronio. Alas! this work
which cost Michael Angelo a year and three months of hard, unremitting
labour only existed for about twice that period. It was destroyed by the
worst enemy of art--war. The Papal Legate fled from Bologna in 1511 and the
Bentivogli again entered the city. The people of their party dragged the
heavy bronze to the ground and broke it into pieces on December 30. The
broken fragments were sent to Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, who cast a
huge cannon with the metal, which the Italians, with their usual mocking
spirit, immediately called La Giulia. The Duke kept the head only, and
said he would not take its weight in gold for it; it weighed six hundred
pounds. This head has disappeared too; there is no drawing, engraving, or
any fragment to help us to reconstruct in our minds this mighty bronze;
only, perhaps, we may imagine that we have an echo of this Pope by Michael
Angelo when we turn our eyes from the bare front of San Petronio to the
niche on the Palazzo Comunale to the right of the square, where a bronze
Pope, Gregory XIII., stretches his hand to curse the iconoclastic people.
In the Piazza Dante, at Perugia, is the bronze statue of Pope Julius III.,
by Vincenzio Dante, that makes us think of the master, and in Rimini a
mighty bronze form stretches out his right hand with a threatening
gesture. He, too, is a Pope--Paul V.
[Image #13]
THE CREATION OF THE SUN AND MOON, AND OF THE TREES AND HERBS
SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME
(By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence)