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pope's couriers with this letter, he pro- rant of every thing but their art. "Thou," ceeded to Florence. To the government answered the pontiff, “hast vilified him; of this city Julius wrote: " We know I have not: thou art no man of genius but the humour of men of his stamp; if he an ignorant fellow; get out of my sight." will return, we promise he shall be nei- The prelate was pushed from the room. ther meddled with nor offended, and he The pope gave Michael his benediction, shall be reinstated in the apostolic grace." restored him to full favour, and desired him Michael was unmoved. A second and a not to quit Bologna till he had given him third arrived, each more impressive, and a commission for some work. In a few Michael remained unchanged; but the days, Michael received an order from Gonfaloniere of Florence, to whom these Julius for a colossal statue of himself epistles were addressed, became alarmed in bronze. While it was modelling, the and expostulated: "You have done by pope's visits to Michael were as frequent the pope what the king of France would as formerly. This statue was grand, ausnot have presumed to do; he must tere, and majestic: the pope familiarly be no longer trifled with; we cannot asked if the extended arm was bestowing make war against his holiness to risk the a blessing or a curse upon the people. safety of the state; and therefore you Michael answered that the action only must obey his will." Thus remonstrated implied hostility to disobedience, and inwith, Michael entertained a proposal for quired whether he would not have a book entering into the service of the sultan put into the other hand. "No," said the Bajazet II., and building a bridge from pope, a sword would be more adapted Constantinople to Pera. The sultan had to my character, I am no book-man." even sent him letters of credit on Flo- Julius quitted Bologna, and left Michael rence and all the cities on his way; and Angelo there to complete the statue; he appointed escorts of Janizaries to await effected it in sixteen months, and having his arrival on the Turkish frontiers, and placed it in the façade of the church of St. conduct him, by whatever road he pleased, Petronio, returned to Rome. This product to the Mahometan capital. To divert of Michael's genius was of short existence. Michael Angelo from this course, the The prosperity of Venice under united Gonfaloniere urged that it was better to councils, and a prudent administration of die under the pope's displeasure than to its affairs, excited the hatred of the Eurolive in the Turkish service; and that if he pean powers. An infamous league was were apprehensive for his security at Rome, entered into at Cambray for the ruin of the government of Florence would send the Venetian government, and the partihim thither as its ambassador, in which tion of its terrritory; Julius became character his person would be inviolable. a party to this alliance, with the hope of Michael, urged by these and other reasons, adding Romagna to the dominions of the relented, and met the pope at Bologna, a church, and retaining possession of Bocity which had been betrayed to the papal logna. Effecting his object, he withdrew arms, and taken possession of by Julius in from the league; and by a change of great pomp just before Michael's arrival. policy, and a miscalculation of his strength, The cardinal Soderini, brother to the quarrelled with Louis XII. who had asGonfaloniere, was to have introduced sisted him in subjecting Bologna. That Michael to the pope, but indisposition monarch retook the city, restored the constrained him to depute that office to Bentivoglio family, which had been disa prelate of his household. The pope placed by the papal arms, and the popuaskanced his eye at Michael with dis- lace throwing down Michael's statue of the pleasure, and after a short pause saluted pope, dragged it through the streets, and him, "Instead of your coming to us, you broke it to pieces. With the mutilated seem to have expected that we should fragments the duke of Ferrara cast a attend upon you." Michael answered, cannon, which he named Julio, but prethat his error proceeded from too hastily served the head entire, as an invaluable feeling a disgrace he was unconscious of specimen of art, although it bore the having merited, and hoped his holiness countenance of his implacable enemy. would pardon what had passed. The officious prelate who had introduced him, not thinking this apology sufficient, observed to the pope, that great allowance was to to be made for such men, who were igno

Michael Angelo resumed Julius's mausoleum, but the pontiff had changed his mind, and sorely against Michael's inclination, engaged him to decorate the ceilings and walls of the Sixtine chapel, with

paintings in fresco, to the memory of Sixtus VI., the pope's uncle. For the purpose of commencing these paintings, ropes were let through the ceiling to suspend the scaffolding. Michael asked Bramante the architect, who had arranged this machinery, how the ceiling was to be completed if the ropes were suffered to remain? The answer did not obviate the objection. Michael represented to the pope that the defect would have been avoided if Bramante had better understood the application of mechanical principles, and obtained the pope's permission to take down the inefficient contrivance and erect another. This he effected; and his machinery was so ample and complete, that Bramante himself adopted it in the building of St. Peter's. Michael gave this invention to the poor man who was his carpenter in constructing it, and who realized a fortune from the commissions he received for others on the same plan. To indulge his curiosity, and watch the progress of the work, the pope ascended the ladder to the top of Michael's platform almost daily. He was of an impetuous temper, and impatient to see the general effect from below before the ceiling was half completed: Michael, yielding to his impatience, struck the scaffold; and so eager were men of taste to obtain a view, that before the dust from displacing the machinery had settled, they rushed into the chapel to gratify their curiosity. Julius was satisfied: but Michael's rivals, and Bramante among the rest, secretly solicited the pope to intrust the completion of the cartoons to Raphael. Michael had intimation of these wiles, and in the presence of Bramante himself, claimed and obtained of the pope the entire execution of his own designs. He persevered with incessant assiduity. In twenty months from the commencement of "this stupendous monument of human genius" it was completed, and on All Saints' day, 1512, the pontiff himself opened the chapel in person with a splendid high mass, to crowds of devotees and artists. Whatever Julius conceived he hastened with the ardour of youth; he was old, and knowing that he had no time to spare, he had so harassed the progress of these cartoons by his eagerness, that the scaffolding was struck before they were thoroughly completed; yet, as there was not any thing of importance to be added, Michael deter mined not to undergo the labour of reerecting the machinery. The pope loved

splendour, and wished them ornamented with gold. Michael answered, "In those days gold was not worn, and the characters I have painted were neither rich, nor desirous of riches; they were holy men with whom gold was an object of contempt."

Julius soon afterwards died; and the execution of his mausoleum was frustrated by Leo X., to whose patronage Michael was little indebted. He finished his celebrated cartoon of the Last Judgment, for the east end of the Sistine chapel, in 1541. On Christmas-day in that year the chapel was opened, and residents in the most distant parts of Italy thronged to see it. In the following year, he painted the Conversion of St. Paul, and the Crucifixion of St. Peter, on the walls of the chapel Paolina. In 1546, when he was 72 years old, the reigning pope nominated him architect of St. Peter's. Michael would only accept the appointment on the condition that he received no salary; that he should have uncontrolled power over the subordinate officers; and be allowed to alter the original design conformably to his own judgment. It was necessary to adapt and contract that design to the impoverished state of the papal exchequer. Though numerous impediments were purposely opposed to his progress with this splendid edifice, he advanced it rapidly; and before he was 74, he had completed the Farnese palace, built a palace on the hill of the Capitol for the senator of Rome, erected two galleries for sculpture and painting on the same site, and threw up a flight of steps to the church of the convent of Araceli-an edifice remarkable for its occupying the highest part of the hill whereon the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus formerly stood, and, more especially, for Gibbon having mused there, while listening to the vespers of the barefooted friars, and conceived the first thought of writing his "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."

In 1550, Julius III. succeeded to the pontificate, and Michael to new vexations. His rivals endeavoured to displace him him for unfitness in the conduct of St. Peter's. A committee of architects was appointed to investigate the charge, in the presence of the pope. The committee alleged that the church wanted light; and they furnished the cardinals Salviati and Marcello Cervino with plans, to show that Michael had walled up a recess for three chapels, and made only three

insufficient windows. "Over those windows are to be placed three others," answered Michael. "You never said that before," answered one of the cardinals. To this Michael indignantly replied, "I am not, neither will I ever be, obliged to tell your eminence, or any one else, what I ought or am disposed to do; it is your office to see that money be provided, to keep off the thieves, and to leave the building of St. Peter's to me." The pope decided in Michael's favour. From that time Julius prosecuted no work in painting or sculpture without Michael's advice; and his estimation of him was so high, that he told him at a public audience, that if he died before himself, he should be embalmed, and kept in his own palace, that his body might be as permanent as his works. Soon after the death of Julius III. in 1555, Paul IV., the new pontiff, expressed his displeasure of the academical figures in the Last Judgment, and intimated an intention to " reform" the picture. Michael sent this message to him: "What the pope wishes, is very little, and may be easily effected; for if his holiness will only reform' the opinions of mankind, the picture will be reformed of itself." This holy father plunged Italy in blood by his vindictive passions; and while war ravaged its plains, Michael, at the age of 82, retreated for a while to a monastery. On coming from his seclusion, he wrote to Vasari, "I have had a great deal of pleasure in visiting the monks in the mountains of Spoleto: indeed, though I am now returned to Rome, I have left the better half of myself with them; for in these troublesome times, to say the truth, there is no happiness but in such retirement." The death of this pope filled Rome with "tumultuous joy," and the papal chair was ascended by Pius IV., in whose pontificate, wearied and reduced by the incessant attacks and artifices of his enemies, Michael, at the age of 87, resigned his office of architect to St. Peter's; but the pope, informed of the frauds which had occasioned it, reinstated him, and to induce him to retain the appointment, ensured strict adherence to his designs until the building should be completed.

At the age of eighty-nine a slow fever indicated Michael Angelo's approaching decease. His nephew, Leonardo Buonarrotti, was sent for; but not arriving, and the fever increasing, he ordered the persons who were in the house into his

chamber, and in the presence of them and
his physicians uttered this verbal will:-
"My soul I resign to God, my body to
the earth, and my worldly possessions to
my nearest of kin :" then admonishing
his attendants, he said, "In your passage
through this life, remember the sufferings
of Jesus Christ."

Thus died one of the greatest artists, and one of the noblest men of modern times. The ceremony of his funeral was conducted at Rome with great pomp, but his remains were removed within a month to Florence, and finally deposited in the church of Santa Croce at Florence. In 1720, the vault was opened; the body retained its original form, habited in the costume of the ancient citizens of Florence, in a gown of green velvet, and slippers of the same.

According to his English biographer, Mr. Duppa, Michael Angelo was of the middle stature, bony in make, rather spare, and broad shouldered; his complexion good, his forehead square and "somewhat" projecting; his eyes hazel and rather small; his brows with little hair; his nose flat from a blow given him in his youth by Torrigiano; his lips thin; his cranium large in proportion to his face. Within these pages a detail of his works will not be sought. The few particulars mentioned are from Mr. Duppa's quarto life, where many of them are enumerated, and outline sketches of some of them are engraved.

The portrait of Michael Angelo selected by Mr. Duppa, to precede his life, is engraved by Bartolozzi, from a profile in Gori's edition of "Condivi's Memoir." He says its original was a drawing supposed to have been made by Julio Bonasoni, from which Mr. Duppa presumes that artist to have etched a print bearing his name, and dated in the year 1546. There is an engraved portrait dated 1545, without any artist's name attached. Mr. Duppa says, "of these two prints Bonasoni's is much the best; and although the second has a prior date, it appears to have been engraved from the same original." That "original," whatever it was, is no longer in existence. Certainly Bonasoni's print is better as a print, for it has the grace of that master's point, yet as a likeness the print of 1545 seems to the editor of the Every-day Book to have a stronger claim to regard; not because it is of prior date, but because it has more decisive marks of character. He conjectures, that the

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Michael Angelo was remarkable for nothing but his genius. He slept little, and was abstemious; he was accustomed to say, "However rich I may have been, I have always lived as a poor man." He obtained the reputation of being proud and odd; for he found little pleasure in the society of men from whom he could not learn, or whom he could not teach. He was pleased by originality of character in whatever rank he met with it; and cultivated in mature life the society of persons respected for their talents and learning. When young he endeavoured to acquaint himself with every branch of knowledge that could contribute to his improvement. In common with all who have obtained a deserved eminence, he was never satisfied with his performances; if he perceived an imperfection that might have been avoided, he either threw aside the work in disgust, or commenced it

anew.

He continued to study to the end of his life. In his old age the cardinal Farnese found him walking in solitude amidst the ruins of the Coliseum and expressed his surprise. Michael answered, "I go yet to school that I may continue to learn." He lived much alone. His great excess seems to have been indulgence in reflection, and the labours of his profession. The power of generalizing facts, and realizing what he conceived, he drew from this habit: without it some men have become popular for a time, but no man ever became great.

Grandeur was Michael Angelo's prevailing sentiment. In his architecture of St. Peter's, he seems to have been limited by the impossibility of arriving to excellence without adopting the ancient styles, and the necessity of attempting something great without them; and to speak with the severity of uncompromising truth he failed. Of what else he did in that science, and he did much, for which he obtained deserved renown, there is neither room nor occasion to speak. In painting and sculpture, if he did not always succeed in embodying his feelings, yet he succeeded more frequently than any other artist since the revival of arts; and, as his power was greater than theirs, so he accomplished greater works. His aim was elevated as that of the giants who warred against the fabled gods; in one respect he was unlike themhe conquered. Majestic and wild as na

ture in her undescribable sublimity, he achieved with corresponding greatness and beauty. His forms and their intellectual expression are of the highest order. He never did any thing little. All was in harmony with a mind which he created of himself by adding fact to fact, by severe reading, by close observation, by study, by seclusion. He was the quarrier, and architect, and builder-up of his own greatness.

Sir Joshua Reynolds speaks with becoming deference of Michael Angelo's powers.-"It will not be thought presumptuous in me to appear in the train, I cannot say of his imitators, but of his admirers. I have taken another course, one more suited to my abilities, and to the taste of the times in which I live. Yet however unequal I feel myself to that attempt, were I now to begin the world again, I would tread in the steps of that great master: to kiss the hem of his garment, to catch the slightest of his perfections, would be glory and distinction enough for an ambitious man. He was the bright luminary from whom painting has borrowed a new lustre, under whose hands it assumed a new appearance, and became another and superior art, and from whom all his contemporaries and successors have derived whatever they have possessed of the dignified and majestic."

There are excellent casts from three of Michael Angelo's statues exhibited by Mr. West at Mr. Bullock's museum, in Piccadilly; they are, Christ, from the church of Sta. Maria at Florence, Lorenzo de Medici from his monument, and the celebrated Moses, from the church of St. Pietro, in Vincoli, at Rome. The editor of the Every-day Book has conversed with persons who think themselves pupils and students in sculpture and painting without having seen these!

Michael Angelo had studied anatomy profoundly. Condivi, who was his pupi and one of his biographers, says that his knowledge of human anatomy and or other animals was so correct, that those who had studied it as a profession all their lives, scarcely understood it so well. When he began to dissect he conceived disgust from the offensiveness of the operation and desisted; but reflecting that it was disgraceful to abandon what others

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