THE SACRISTY OF SAN LORENZO
After the death of Leo X., on December 1, 1521, Adrian IV. was elected to
fill the seat of St. Peter. He was not an Italian and loved not the arts.
He is recorded to have called statues "idols of the Pagans," and he spent
no money on pictures or frescoes. No wonder the artists who were
accustomed to the patronage of the Popes rejoiced when he died,
notwithstanding his goodness, and hailed his physician as saviour of the
Fatherland. The Cardinal Giuliano de' Medici was elected in his stead,
under the name of Clement VII., and Michael Angelo expressed the feelings
of most of his countrymen and all the artists when he wrote to his friend,
Topolino, at Carrara "You will have heard how the Medici is made Pope; it
seems to me that all the world is glad of it, so I imagine that here
(Florence) many things will soon be set going in art. Therefore, serve
well and with faithfulness, so that we may have honour."(127)
[Image #35]
THE TOMB OF LORENZO DE' MEDICI, DUKE OF URBINO
THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE
(_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_)
In the year 1523 the Senate of Genoa banked 300 ducats towards the
expenses of a colossal statue of Andrea Doria, the great sea-captain, to
be carved by Michael Angelo. Unfortunately Michael Angelo was unable to
execute this congenial task. There is a magnificent portrait of this
prince, as Neptune, by Sebastiano del Piombo in the private rooms of the
Doria Palace at Rome. The admiral points down with Michael Angelesque
forefinger as though he were condemning his enemies to descend to the
lowest depths of the sea. It looks as if it had been inspired by a drawing
of Michael Angelo's, possibly for this statue, which may have been
designed as a nude figure of Neptune; the parapet in front of the picture
is decorated with a painted bas-relief of a Roman galley.
Michael Angelo's last known letter to his father is supposed to have been
written in June 1523.(128) It is a bitter complaint of the testy manner in
which his father always treated him, and the continual interruptions of
his work. It must have been a great grief to Michael Angelo when the old
man came to die if he had not made up this quarrel with him, for he loved
him in a way that is marvellous to us when we consider the character of
the old man as evidenced in the correspondence.
Clement VII. lost no time, after he was elected Pope, in setting Michael
Angelo to work, but again it was against the inclination of the artist,
who passionately desired to complete the Tomb of Julius, partly for the
love of his memory and partly to free himself from the importunity of the
executors, who threatened him with a lawsuit. Michael Angelo replied to
the agent of Clement, Francesco Fattucci, who requested plans for the
Laurentian Library: "I understand from your last that his Holiness our
Lord wishes that the design for the Library should be by my hand. I have
heard nothing and do not know where he wishes it to be built. True,
Stefano talked to me about it, but I did not give my mind to it. When he
returns from Carrara I will inform myself about it from him, and will do
all I can, although it is not my profession."
Clement, who really seems to have had a regard for the artist, and wished
to bind him to his interests, desired to provide for him for life. If
Michael Angelo would have consented to make the vows of celibacy he would
have given him an ecclesiastical appointment, failing that he offered him
a pension. Michael Angelo only asked for fifteen ducats a month. Fattucci,
on January 13, 1524, rebuked him for this modesty, and wrote that "Jacopo
Salviati has given orders that Spina should be instructed to pay you a
monthly provision of fifty ducats." A house also was assigned to him at
San Lorenzo, rent free, that he might be near his work. Stefano di Tomaso,
miniatore, was Michael Angelo's right-hand man at this time, and his name
continually recurs in the Ricordi. He was not altogether a satisfactory
servant, and in April 1524, Antonio Mini seems to have taken his place.
This helps us to date the roofing of the sacristy of San Lorenzo, as in an
undated letter to Pope Clement Michael Angelo says that Stefano finished
the lantern and it was universally admired. This is the work of which it
is recorded that when folk told Michael Angelo it would be better than the
lantern of Brunelleschi, he replied: "Different, perhaps; but better, no!"
In the British Museum there is a drawing with a bit of advice to young
artists, personified in his new pupil, Antonio Mini. It is in Michael
Angelo's own hand:--
_Disegna Antonio, disegna Antonio, disegna e non perder tempo._
Draw Antonio, draw Antonio, draw and do not lose time.
And now in August 1524,(129) the Tombs of the Medici in the new sacristy
were fairly under way. There are several preliminary designs in the Print
Room of the British Museum, the Albertina at Vienna, and the Uffizi,
Florence.(130) The first idea was for the tombs to be isolated in the
centre of the chapel, but we gather from a letter, written in May
1524,(131) that it had already been decided to have mural monuments. The
sarcophagi were to support portrait statues of the Dukes and Popes, of
Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano. At the foot were to be six rivers, two
under each tomb--the Arno, Tiber, Metauro, Po, Taro, and Ticino. The
drawings go to prove that the architectural background, as we see it now,
is as incomplete as it looks. Some of the drawings have elaborate
candlesticks at the top; others a circular panel supported by putti. In
several the first ideas for some of the final forms may be seen, but one
point is very important: in almost every case the sarcophagi are large
enough to support the figure or figures to be placed upon them, and never
do we see that uncomfortable arrangement by which the figures appear to be
sliding off their supports. Letters to Fattucci in October 1525, and April
1526,(132) give us an idea of the progress of the works. "I am working as
hard as I can, and in fifteen days I intend to begin the other captain.
Afterwards the only important things left will be the four rivers. The
four figures on the top of the sarcophagi, the four figures on the ground
which are the rivers, the two captains and Our Lady, who is to be placed
upon the tomb at the head of the chapel; these are the figures I mean to
carve with my own hand, and of them I have begun six; and I have
sufficient spirit to finish them in a convenient time, and bring partially
forward the others which are not of so much importance." The six he had
begun are those that are now in the chapel. The Giuliano and Lorenzo, Day
and Night, Dawn and Evening. The Madonna, perhaps Michael Angelo's finest
work in sculpture, was also carved by his own hand; the two other works,
now in the chapel representing the patron saints of the Medici family,
Cosmo and Damiano, were carved by Montelupo and Montorsoli; they do not
seem to have anything of Michael Angelo about them, not even in design.
Meanwhile Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, the executor of Julius, was
pressing the affair of the Tomb; he threatened a lawsuit to recover money
advanced for the work. Michael Angelo appeals to the Pope in a letter
addressed to Giovanni Spina, of April 19, 1525:--
[Image #36]
THE TOMB OF GIULIANO DE' MEDICI, DUKE OF NEMOURS
THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE
(_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_)
"It seems to me it is no good sending a power of attorney about
the Tomb of Pope Julius, because I do not want to plead. They
cannot bring a suit against me if I acknowledge that I am in the
wrong; so I assume that I have sued and lost, and have to pay; and
this I am disposed to do if I am able. Therefore, if the Pope will
help me in this, as intermediary, and it would be the greatest
blessing to me, seeing that I am not able to finish the said Tomb
of Julius, both on account of my age and infirmity, he might
express his will that I should repay what I have received for
doing it, so as to release me of this burden, and so that the
relatives of Pope Julius, with this repayment, may have the work
done to their satisfaction by any one they like. Thus his Holiness
our Lord could please me very greatly. Still, I wish to pay back
as little as possible in reason. Making them listen to some of my
arguments, such as the time spent for the Pope at Bologna, and
other time lost without any payment, as Ser Giovanni Francesco,
whom I have informed of everything, knows. As soon as I know
clearly what I have to restore, I will make a division of what I
have, sell, and arrange my affairs so as to repay all. Then I
shall be able to think of the Pope's business, and work. If this
is not done I cannot work. There is no way more safe for myself,
nor more agreeable, nor more likely to clear my spirit. It can be
done amicably without a lawsuit. I pray to God that the Pope may
become willing to arrange it in this fashion, for it does not seem
to me that any one else can do it."(133)
Michael Angelo had a wholesome fear of the law, not because he was guilty
but because of the power of his antagonist. There can be no doubt that he
was perfectly honest in these transactions, and, as Pope Clement said, he
was rather creditor than debtor. Clement appears to have arranged matters
to some extent with the executors, and we have a hint of the new
arrangement in a letter by Michael Angelo to Fattucci,(134) dated
Florence, October 24, 1525:--
"MESSER GIOVAN FRANCESCO,--In reply to your last, the four statues
I have in hand are not yet finished, and much has still to be done
upon them. The four others, for rivers, are not begun, because the
marble was wanting, but now it has come. I do not tell you how
because there is no need. With regard to the affair of Julius, I
wish to make the Tomb like that of Pius in St. Peter's, as you
have written, and will do so little by little, now one piece and
now another, and will pay for it out of my own pocket, if I hold
my pension and my house, as you have written; that is to say, the
house where I lived yonder in Rome, with the marbles and movables
therein. So that I should not have to give to them, I mean to the
heirs of Julius, in order to be quit of the Tomb contract,
anything of what I have received hitherto, except the said Tomb,
completed, like that of Pius in Saint Peter's. Moreover, I
undertake to perform the work within a reasonable time, and to
finish the statues with my own hand." He now turns to his
annoyances at San Lorenzo: "And given my pension as was said, I
will never stop working for Pope Clement with what strength I
have, though that be little, for I am old. At the same time I must
not be slighted and affronted as I am now, for it weighs greatly
on my spirits, and has prevented me from doing what I wished to do
these many months; one cannot work at one thing with the hands,
and at another with the brain, and especially in marble. 'Tis said
here that these annoyances are meant to spur me on; but I maintain
that those are scurvy spurs that make a good steed jib. I have not
touched my pension during the last year, and struggle with
poverty. I am alone in my troubles, and have many of them, which
keep me more busy than my art, for I cannot keep a servant for
lack of means."
There is a kind letter from Michael Angelo to Sebastiano del Piombo that
belongs to this period, May 1525.(135) It refers to a picture by
Sebastiano, probably the portrait of Anton Francesco degli Albizzi,
referred to in letter cccxcvi.:--
"MY MOST DEAR SEBASTIANO,--Last evening our friend the Capitano
Cuio(136) and certain other gentlemen were so good as to invite me
to sup with them, which gave me very great pleasure, since it took
me a little out of my melancholy, or rather folly. Not only did I
enjoy the supper, which was very good, but I had far more pleasure
in the conversation, and more than all it increased my pleasure to
hear your name mentioned by the said Capitano Cuio; nor was this
all, for it further rejoiced me exceedingly to hear from the
Capitano that, in art, you are peerless in the world, and that so
you were esteemed in Rome. If I could have rejoiced more I would
have done so. So you see my judgment is not false, therefore do
not any more deny that you are peerless, when I tell it you, for I
have too many witnesses. And behold there is a picture of yours
here, God be thanked, which wins credence for me with every one
who can see daylight."
From the Ricordi we learn that Michael Angelo was busy with the Library of
San Lorenzo. He had in his employ stone hewers and masters in various
crafts: Tasio and Carota for wood carving, Battista del Cinque and Ciapino
for carpentry, and Giovanni da Udine, a pupil of Raphael, for the
grotesque decoration for the dome of the chapel. Clement added a
postscript in his own hand to one of his secretary's letters: "Thou
knowest that Popes have no long lives; and we cannot yearn more than we do
to behold the chapel with the tombs of our kinsmen, or, at any rate, to
hear that it is finished. And so also the library. Wherefore we recommend
both to thy diligence. Meanwhile we will betake us (as thou said'st
erstwhile) to a wholesome patience, praying God that He may put it into
thy heart to push the whole forward together. Fear not that either work to
do or rewards shall fail thee while we live. Farewell; with the blessing
of God and ours.--JULIUS." (Clement signs with his baptismal name.)(137)
The Pope set Michael Angelo to make a Sacrarium for the relics belonging
to San Lorenzo. It was placed above the entrance door of the church, and
the details of that portion of the interior were altered for it. A design
by Michael Angelo at Oxford is for part of these alterations. Another
commission Clement desired Michael Angelo to undertake was of a curiously
absurd character. Fattucci wrote to say that the Pope wished a colossal
statue to be erected on the piazza of San Lorenzo, opposite the Stufa
Palace. The giant was to top the roof of the Medician Palace, with its
face turned in that direction and its back to the house of Luigi della
Stufa. Being so huge it would have to be constructed of separate pieces
fitted together. This project, evidently intended as a truly Florentine
insult to the house of Stufa, did not please Michael Angelo, and his
letter, of October 1525, in reply is an instance of his heavy, elephantine
humour:--
[Image #37]
LORENZO DE MEDICI, DUKE OF URBINO
THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE
(_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_)
"_To my dear friend_ MESSERE GIOVAN FRANCESCO, _priest of Saint
Mary of the Flower of Florence, in Rome._
"MESSER GIOVAN FRANCESCO,--If I had as much strength as I have had
pleasure from your last letter, I should expect to carry out, and
that quickly, all the things you write to me about, but as I have
not I will do what I can.
"About the colossus of forty braccia, of which you tell me, that
is to go, or rather to be erected, at the corner of the loggia of
the Medician garden, opposite the corner of Messer Luigi della
Stufa, I have thought of it not a little, as you told me, and it
seems to me that it would not do in that corner, for it would take
up too much of the roadway; but in the other corner, where the
barber's shop is, it would turn out much better according to my
way of thinking, because it has the piazza in front of it and
would not be so much in the way; and perhaps as they would not
allow the shop to be removed, for love of the income from it, I
have been thinking that the said figure might be in a sitting
position, and the seat high, the said work to be hollow within, as
is right when working in pieces, so that the barber's shop would
come underneath, and the rent would not be lost. And again, so
that the said shop may have wherewithal to dispose of its smoke as
it has now, it occurred to me to give the said statue a horn of
plenty in its hand, hollow within, which would serve for the
chimney. Then having the head of the said figure empty, like the
other members, of that also I believe we could make some use, for
there is here in the piazza a huckster, very much my friend, who
tells me in secret that it would make a very fine dovecot. Another
fancy strikes me that would be much better, but we should have to
make the figure ever so much larger. And it might be done, for a
tower is built up of pieces; and that is, that the head should
serve as campanile for San Lorenzo, which needs one badly. And the
bells hanging within, the sound clanging from the mouth, it would
seem that the said colossus were howling for mercy, and especially
on feast days, when they ring oftenest and with the largest bells.
"About the transport for the marbles for the above-mentioned
statue, so that no one shall know of it, meseems they should come
by night and well covered up, so that they may not be seen. There
will be danger at the gates, and we must provide for it somehow;
at the worst, we shall have San Gallo.(138)
"As to doing, or not doing, the things that are to do, and which
you say may stand over, it is better to let them be done by those
who will do them, for I have so much to do that I do not care to
undertake more. To me it will suffice if it be something worthy.
"I do not reply to all you say, for lo Spina comes shortly to
Rome, and will answer your letter by word of mouth, and more in
detail than I can with the pen.
"Your MICHAEL ANGELO, Sculptor, in Florence."
This letter had its desired effect, nothing more was heard of the
colossus.
The Sack of Rome in 1527 by the rabble of Germany and Spain, called the
Imperial army, naturally stopped all artistic work, for war is the worst
enemy of art. Clement was besieged in the Castle Saint Angelo for nine
months, and the Medici lost their power in Florence. The Cardinal of
Cortona, with the young princes Ippolito and Alessandro de' Medici, fled,
and Niccolo Capponi was elected President of the Popular Government.
Michael Angelo was in Florence all this time. A Ricordo given in Lettere,
p. 598, says: "I record how, some days ago, Piero di Filippo Gondi asked
to enter the new sacristy at San Lorenzo to hide there certain goods of
his because of the peril in which we now find ourselves. This evening of
the 29th of April, 1527, he has begun to bring in certain bundles. He says
they are linen of his sisters, and I, not to witness what he does, or
where he hides the stuff, have given him the key of the said sacristy this
said evening."
Upon July 2, 1528, Michael Angelo's favourite brother, Buonarroto, died of
the plague. Gotti tells how Michael Angelo held his brother in his
arms(139) while he was dying, notwithstanding the great risk to his own
life, and took care of his family after his death. There are minutes of
the expenses he incurred; the clothes were burnt to avoid infection; he
repaid the widow Bartolommea her dowry, placed his niece Francesca in a
convent until she was of an age to marry, and provided for his nephew
Lionardo, as if for a son of his own.
The citizens of Florence, fearing the anger of the Pope and his new
allies, now that their power was in the ascendant, prepared to endure a
siege. Michael Angelo was appointed general over the construction of the
walls and defences of the city in 1529. He had many difficulties with the
council; often they objected to his plan of fortifying the heights of San
Miniato. Michael Angelo went to Pisa and Arezzo to superintend the
strengthening of the works there. He was sent also to Ferrara with letters
from the Signori and the Ten to the Duke, the greatest Italian authority
upon fortification, and to their envoy, Galeotto Giugni, who wrote to
inform the Florentines that Michael Angelo refused to abandon the inn and
receive the hospitality of the Duke, who with great honour personally
conducted him over the fortresses and walls of Ferrara; no doubt at the
same time showing him his art collections. It would be interesting to know
if Michael Angelo looked upon the portrait-head of Julius II., broken from
his Bologna statue, when the bronze was turned into a cannon. Perhaps he
also saw La Giulia, the cannon herself. It may be that amongst the
engraved gems in the Duke's collection was one representing "Leda and the
Swan," and that Michael Angelo talked with the Duke as to the
possibilities of this composition for pictorial treatment. Soon after
Michael Angelo returned to Florence he received warning from a mysterious
person that there was treachery in the garrison, so he fled to Venice. He
had no idea of wasting his life uselessly when he thought certain
destruction was before the city, and so he determined to leave Italy and
accept the overtures that had been made to him from the Court of France.
The courage that fears not to undertake the greatest and most difficult
works is of a different temper from that of a soldier, a bravo, or a
Benvenuto Cellini; all the noble and virtuous qualities cannot belong to
one hero. Unfortunately, the judgment of Michael Angelo turned out to be
right after all. Nevertheless, hearing better news, and hoping against
hope, he courageously returned to Florence in her extremity and went on
with the fortifications. Some of the works at San Miniato still remain.
Vauban is said to have found them of such interest that he surveyed and
measured them. During this sad time Michael Angelo laboured in secret at
the tombs of the Medici. The sad and despairing thoughts of the artist are
evident in the work he produced. No one can enter that solemn sacristy
without feeling the spirit of deepest sadness brooding over all--Il
Penseroso, and the figures of Day and of Night, of Morning and of Evening.
The city fell in August 1530. Marco Dandolo, of Venice, when he heard of
it, exclaimed aloud, "Baglioni has put upon his head the cap of the
biggest traitor upon record." The prominent citizens who escaped,
including Michael Angelo, were outlawed and their property confiscated.
Many who remained in the city were imprisoned, tortured, and beheaded.
Michael Angelo hid himself, the Senator Filippo Buonarroti says, in the
bell-tower of San Nicolo beyond Arno.(140) After the fury was over and
Clement's anger abated, Michael Angelo, hearing a message of peace from
the Pope, came forth from his hiding-place and resumed work on the statues
at San Lorenzo, moved thereto more by fear of the Pope than by love of the
Medici. During November or December his pension of fifty crowns a month
was renewed, the Pope's agent in Florence being Battista Figiovanni, Prior
of San Lorenzo.
In 1528 a block of marble had been assigned to Michael Angelo, from which
he determined to extract a heroic group of Hercules and Cacus. There is a
small wax model of this composition at South Kensington, attributed to
Michael Angelo, which may be for this design. The Medici Government handed
over the blocks to the craven Baccio Bandinelli, who produced the horrible
work, representing the same subject, now in front of the Palazzo Vecchio.
The Leda for the Duke of Ferrara,(141) but presented by Michael Angelo to
his pupil Mini, was painted during the siege. It was probably a design
from some antique gem in the Duke's cabinet. The original, and a copy by
Benedetto Bene, were taken to Paris by Antonio Mini, where they passed
into the possession of the King. Michael Angelo's Leda hung at
Fontainebleau until the time of Louis XIII., when a Minister of State, M.
Desnoyers, ordered its destruction, as it seemed to him to be an improper
picture. Pierre Mariette informs us that the picture was only hidden away,
and that it reappeared and was seen by him. It was restored and sent to
England. In the offices of the National Gallery is the best edition of
this picture. The head and arm are repainted, but the thigh and hip are
modelled in a magnificent style that reminds us of the figure of Night in
the Medician tombs that he was at this very time carving. From the power
of this portion of the work we may assume that it is the damaged and much
restored original by Michael Angelo.
[Image #38]
THE HEAD OF THE DAWN
THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE
(_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_)
Vasari informs us that about this time "he began a statue, of three
cubits, in marble. It was an Apollo drawing a shaft from his quiver. This
he nearly finished. It stands now in the chamber of the Prince of
Florence, a thing of rare beauty, though not quite completed." This work
was presented by the artist to Baccio Valori, the powerful agent of the
Medici. It is now in one of the upper rooms of the Bargello, in Florence.
The rough hatchings of the chisel lines are everywhere visible; the figure
is palpitating with life under a veil of hewn marble; the pose of the
young god as he glides along and turns his head over his shoulder is one
of the most beautiful and graceful Michael Angelo ever imagined. Until
1533 Michael Angelo worked at the Medici monuments. The ever recurring
trouble about the Tomb of Julius distracted him in 1532; a new contract
was made out in the May of that year, and Michael Angelo evidently
expected that he would have to go to Rome about it. This may be gathered
from the important letter written on February 24, 1531, by Sebastiano del
Piombo, in Rome, to Michael Angelo, in Florence; it marks the renewal of
the intercourse of the two old friends after the dangers and troubles they
had passed through during the siege of Florence and the sack of Rome.
Sebastiano's previous letter, as far as we know, is dated April 25, 1525:--
_1531, 24th February._
"MY DEAREST COMRADE,--By Master Domenico, called Menichella, who
has been to see me on your behalf. God knows how dear it was to
me. After so many sorrows, hardships, and dangers, Almighty God
has left us alive and well in His mercy and pity. A fact truly
miraculous when I think over it; everlasting thanks to His Divine
Majesty, and if I could express to you with my pen the anxiety and
worry I have had on your account you would marvel at it. The
Signor Fernando di Gonzaga will bear me witness, and God knows
what sorrow I had when I heard you had been to Venice. If you had
found me at Venice things would have been very different; but
enough. Now gossip mine, now that we have been through fire and
water, and experienced things one could never have imagined, let
us thank God for all things, and for the little life that is left
to us; at least, let us spend it in what quiet we may. Verily, we
must put no faith in fortune, she is so perverse and sad. I am
come to this; for aught I care the universe may be ruined. I
should laugh at everything. Menichella will tell you by word of
mouth of my life and how I am. I do not as yet seem to myself to
be the same Bastiano that I was before the sack. I cannot collect
my thoughts. I say no more. Christ keep you well.
"The 24th day of February, 1531, in Rome.
"About your coming here, according to what Master Menichella tells
me, it does not seem to be necessary, unless you come for a jaunt
or to put your house in order; which, in truth, is going to the
bad in more ways than one, as in the roofs and other things. I
suppose you know that the workshop, with the carved marbles in,
has tumbled to pieces; it is a great pity. You will be able to
remedy this and make some arrangements. As for me I should dearly
love to enjoy your company for a while; truly I am dying to see
you. I am all impatience; but do as you think best.
"Your very faithful gossip,
"SEBASTIANO LUCIANIS.
"LORD MICHAEL ANGELO DE BONAROTIS,
"Most rare Sculptor, in Florence."
[Image #39]
APOLLO
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, THE BARGELLO, FLORENCE
(_By permission from the photograph by Sig. G. Brugi, Florence_)
Sebastiano continued his good services to his friend with regard to the
Tomb of Julius all through 1531. The course of events may be followed in
his letters. The Pope was interested, and always consulted, in the affair,
and most favourably disposed to Michael Angelo. All this anxiety preyed
upon the master and injured his health. Paolo Mini, the father of Antonio,
Michael Angelo's assistant, wrote to Baccio Valori on September 29(142):
"Michael Angelo will not live long unless some measures are taken for his
benefit. He works very hard, eats little and poorly, and sleeps less. In
fact, he is afflicted with two kinds of disorder: the one in his head, the
other in his heart. Neither is incurable, since he has a robust
constitution; but, for the good of his head, he ought to be restrained by
our Lord the Pope from working through the winter in the sacristy, the air
of which is bad for him;(143) and for his heart, the best remedy would be
if his Holiness could accommodate matters with the Duke of Urbino." On
November 21 Clement addressed a brief to his sculptor, whereby Buonarroti
was ordered, under pain of excommunication, to lay aside all work, except
what was strictly necessary for the Medician monuments, and to take better
care of his health. On the 26th Benvenuto Valpaio added that his Holiness
desired Michael Angelo to select some workshop more convenient than the
cold and cheerless sacristy.
Sebastiano's letters during 1533 often refer to an edition of some
madrigals written by Michael Angelo and set to music by Bartolomeo
Tromboncino, Giacomo Arcadelt, and Constanzo Festa.(144) Gottif(145)
publishes an essay by Leto Puliti on this music with the score of three of
the madrigals. Many of Michael Angelo's poetical compositions may be
referred to this period of comparative inaction as to painting and
sculpture. All through his life he wrote sonnets and poems when his other
work did not proceed quickly.
In 1535 Michael Angelo finally left Florence. His father and his favourite
brother were dead, and so he left the shadow of the great Duomo, all
Florentines love, for ever. At Rome he dreamed a dream of another Dome,
that has given to that city the feature by which we know it best, and to
Romans a possession not less beloved than Bruneleschi's gift to the
Florentines.
[Image #40]
THE HEAD OF THE NIGHT
THE NEW SACRISTY OF SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE
(_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_)
When Michael Angelo left, the works at San Lorenzo were all unfinished;
the facade was not begun, the Sagrestia Nuova, the ground plan of which is
similar to Bruneleschi's Sagrestia Vecchia, was left in the rough, and the
Library he designed to hold the priceless Medician manuscripts, collected
by Cosimo Pater Patriae and Lorenzo the Magnificent, now known as the
"Biblioteca Laurenziana," was only begun. As Michael Angelo's designs and
working drawings were of the roughest description, and he usually left a
great deal to be settled after he had seen the effect of the earlier part
of his works, we cannot blame him only for certain faults, such as, for
instance, the awkward approach to the Library. If he had completed the
work he very likely would have made an entrance from the piazza, as roomy
and convenient, as the curious staircase in the corner of the cloister is
awkward and cramped. It was completed by Giorgio Vasari, whose letters to
Michael Angelo about this difficult work, and Michael Angelo's chaotic
replies, belong to a much later period. The curious manner of cutting up
the wall by pilasters and framed spaces cannot properly be judged without
the bronze bas-reliefs that they were intended to contain. Considered as a
method of hanging or displaying a collection of works of art they are
admirable, and might well serve for the interior decoration of a great
museum. The vestibule, with its curious stairway, large consoles, and
green and white colour, leaves an impression of power and eccentricity in
architecture like the effect of the serious caricatures of Leonardo da
Vinci in drawing. The buildings at San Lorenzo should be regarded as the
prentice work of the architect of the Dome of St. Peter's. The decorations
of the Sagrestia Nuova, too, were left unfinished; the statues of Day,
Night, Morning, and Evening were left where he had worked upon them, on
the floor of the chapel. From Vasari's letter to him of 1562, instigated
by the Duke Cosimo, who desired to complete the work according to Michael
Angelo's designs, asking for help and advice,(146) we gather that Michael
Angelo intended to have placed statues in all the niches above the
sepulchres, and in the frames above the doors works of painting, stucco
for the arches, and painting to adorn the flat walls and semicircular
spaces of the chapel. Michael Angelo, on account of his great age, was
unable or unwilling to assist in the work. The present sarcophagi cannot
have been intended to hold the allegorical figures in the way they do, for
the under surfaces of the statues do not fit the top of the mouldings, and
certainly the rough stones that project over them, forming a base for the
feet, must have been intended to be supported by solid marble, and not to
rest uneasily on air. The sarcophagi are of a greyer marble than the
figures or than the panelling behind them. The architectural ornament
appears to be of three dates: First, the niches and panels of the walls;
second, the sarcophagi and their supports; third, the doors of the chapel
and niches over them. In the first, the grotesque heads in the mouldings
are like the dull grotesques Michael Angelo appears to have designed in
the architecture of the Tomb of Julius and on the armour of the captains
in this chapel. In the second, the four-horned skulls of rams on the sides
of the supports of the sarcophagi are very feeble and poor in design. If
we compare them with the powerful and true drawing of the rams' heads used
in the frame-work of the vault of the Sistine Chapel, we shall see that it
is impossible for Michael Angelo to have designed them, or even let them
pass whilst he was superintending the works. The shell and rope patterns
are even worse and more feeble; they are easily seen to be executed by
different hands. The simple bosses of the base under "Dawn and Evening"
are still unfinished: that would go to prove that Michael Angelo had
designed them and seen them cut as far as they go--not necessarily that he
had seen them in position--and that the academicians, when they did their
best to complete the chapel, rightly decided to leave them as they were.
The base under Day and Night has no bosses; they had not been begun as in
the former case; we may presume the academicians thought it best to have
them flat. These simple bases are the most effective portions of the
architectural scheme of the monument, in character with the allegorical
figures, reminding us of the plinths or seats provided for the Athletes
and the Prophets of the Sistine. Perhaps they were the only portions,
except the figures and the panelling of the walls, seen by Michael Angelo
himself. The supports and lid of the sarcophagi, and the sarcophagus of
Giuliano, are of different marble to the actual receptacle of the body of
Lorenzo, that is under Dawn and Evening. The quiet mouldings of the latter
are much finer and more in character with the walls. The lids are of a
white sugary marble, the mouldings coarse and semicircular in section, and
the volutes and circular endings of the lids are of a perfectly stupid
design. These lids cannot have been seen by Michael Angelo; and,
therefore, he cannot have seen the figures in their places upon them. The
sarcophagus under the Day and Night has been copied from the one seen by
Michael Angelo: its mouldings are still beautiful, but heavier, more
deeply cut, and of less subtle line in the section. The difference is
perceptible to the eye and evident with the aid of a good foot-rule. This
sarcophagus is of a different marble, as has been said. As to the third
period, the garlands and little pretty vases over the doors of the chapel,
and the consoles and niches above, are like nothing else in the world but
those carved frames that in Florence to this day are called "Vasari
frames."
The marble candlesticks upon the altar of the chapel are of different
marble from the altar on which they stand, and appear to be of an earlier
date. The grotesques on the bases are of good design, and the drill holes
of the marble cutting are simply left to tell their story of how the work
was done, instead of being cut away and hidden as in later work. May they
not have been designed in Michael Angelo's time, possibly for the brackets
on the cornice of the panelling behind the tombs? On the altar is the
inscription:
PAULUS V. PONT. MAX.
MDCX.
The figures of Giuliano and Lorenzo are perfectly finished; they cannot be
regarded as portraits, but as symbols. The armour of the warrior Giuliano
is magnificently designed, and must have been founded upon some antique
example. The grotesque upon the breastplate is not unlike a grotesque in a
similar place upon an antique marble bust in the Naples Museum. The
helmeted Lorenzo, Il Penseroso, broods over what might have been, had he
acted his part in Florence. Under his elbow rests a box of peculiar
design, possibly the representation of a political instrument used in the
offices of his family's unwise government. The unfinished head of Day is
an example of how the master appears to complete his work from the first
stroke of his chisel. The vigorous giant, just rising to his work, looks
over his shoulder at the bright sun. The rough chiselling of the face
suggests already the dazzle of the light in his eyes; how he tears his
right hand as yet half stone from out his stony breast! With his left hand
behind his back he appears to count the quattrini of his wage; this action
of the thumb placed on the second finger is Michael Angelo's favourite one
for the hand; it may be seen many times in this chapel alone. The
shortness of the feet in the figure of Day appears to be due to a
miscalculation as to the size of the block; but, perhaps, had the head and
torso been thinned down in the finishing they would have been correct in
proportion. At the same time, the feet are finished most carefully and
beautifully, and are so true that photographs of them look almost like
photographs from the finest of living models.
[Image #41]
NIGHT
THE NEW SACRISTY OF SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE
(_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_)
How much has been written about the Night and her meanings! We have good
proof that her maker intended her to have some of these many meanings in
the reply of Michael Angelo to Giovan Battista Strozzi's complimentary
verses:--
La Notte, che tu vedi in si dolci atti
Dormire, fu da un Angelo scolpita
In questo sasso, e perche dorme ha vita;
Destala, se no'l credi, e parleratti.
The Night, that thou seest, so sweetly sleeping,
Was by an angel carved in the rude stone,
Sleeping, she lives, if thou believ'st it not,
Wake her, and surely she will answer thee.
The reply of Michael Angelo is in a much higher vein, and teaches us to
look to a far different aim in his work than the mere form represented:--
Grato m'e 'l sonno e piu l'esser di sasso;
Mentre che 'l danno e la vergogna dura
Non veder, non sentir m'e gran ventura;
Pero non mi destar; deh! parla basso!
Dear is my sleep, more dear to be but stone;
Whilst deep despair and dark dishonour reign
Not to hear, not to feel is greatest gain;
Then wake me not; speak in an undertone.
No one ever before gave such tragic beauty to the worn and tired figure of
a woman who has lived through her many days of toil and suffered many
labours. It is believed by a medical authority that the master meant the
statue to represent rest after a labour, but it is rather the
nightmare-troubled sleep of a tired woman, whose beautiful firm hips and
worn breasts prove her to have bravely met and passed through many cares,
and suckled many children. A horrid mask, symbolising these memories, in
bad dreams, grimaces beside her left hand. The eyes of the mask are cut
double so that the thing alters its glance as you move about the chapel,
fascinates and is intolerable. The noble and splendid thighs of the woman
again realise a favourite problem of Michael Angelo's. He represented
these powerful limbs in the Flood and other parts of the Sistine vault,
and in the Leda. Beneath is seen an owl; never before in sculpture has a
bird been represented with such power and dignity, save only by the Greeks
in the eaglets head on the coin of Eiis. There are wreaths of poppy heads,
symbols of sleep, and a moon and stars to crown the head that is like the
head of a greater than Diana.
Evening, a brawny, hard-worked man, looks across the chapel with pity
towards the Night. He appears to be in the act of straightening and
stretching out his limbs, lately bent by the toils of the day, in
longed-for rest.
[Image #42]
THE MADONNA AND CHILD
THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE
(_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_)
The virgin Dawn lifts her weary head, as it were, in despair, that another
day of shame and reproach is beginning; her long, lithe limbs and narrow
hips contrast with the ample girth and muscular power of the Night. The
modelling of the torso of this figure is, perhaps, the finest piece of
workmanship in the chapel, and should be studied from every point of view,
even from the back of the monument. The muscular forms and the disposition
of the lines are so beautiful and true that it is a veritable marvel and
wonder of the world. The right proportion of development necessary for a
figure of that colossal size to move and live has never been so well
calculated. The head is so beautiful that it cannot be spoken about; but
must be seen in the position Michael Angelo designed it for, and not
tilted upright on an ordinary pedestal as it is always seen in the art
schools. All the four figures struggle with the trials, difficulties, and
despair of their lives, as who should say, to such a pass has Medici rule
reduced existence in Florence.
One other statue in the Chapel is entirely by the hand of the master, a
Madonna suckling the child Jesus, a strong boy straddling across her knee
and turning right round to reach the breast. Although unfinished, it is
one of Michael Angelo's noblest works; it is a notable example of
compactness of design, and of how he left the shape of the block of marble
evident in his finished work.