Part 10 (1/2)
V
The whole of 1516 and 1517 elapsed before Leo's plans regarding S
Lorenzo took a definite shape Yet we cannot help ielo cancelled his first contract with the executors of Julius, and adopted a reduced plan for theunder Papal pressure This was done at Roainst the will of both parties Still it does not appear that any one contemplated the abandonment of the scheme; for Buonarroti bound himself to perform his new contract within the space of nine years, and to engage ”in no work of great importance which should interfere with its fulfile part of the year 1516 at Carrara, quarrying marbles, and even hired the house of a certain Francesco Pelliccia in that town On the 1st of Nove the purchase of a vast a down four statues of 4-1/2 cubits each and fifteen of 4-1/4 cubits froh-hewn It was the custom to block out columns, statues, &c, on the spot where the stone had been excavated, in order, probably, to save weight when hauling Thus the blocks arrived at the sea-shore with rudely adumbrated outlines of the shape they were destined to assuenerally been assuures in question were intended for the tomb What makes this not quite certain, however, is that the contract of July specifies a greatly reduced quantity and scale of statues Therefore they may have been intended for the facade Anyhow, the contract above-mentioned with Francesco Pelliccia was cancelled on the 7th of April following, for reasons which will presently appear
During the elo received notice from the Pope that he anted in Rome About the same time news reached him from Florence of his father's severe illness On the 23rd he wrote as follows to Buonarroto: ”I gathered fro, and how the doctor finally pronounced that if nothing new occurred he er Since it is so, I shall not prepare to come to Florence, for it would be very inconvenient Still, if there is danger, I should desire to see hiether with hiet well, and so I do not come And if he should have a relapse--from whichfor his spiritual welfare and the sacraments of the Church, and find out fro for his soul Also, for the necessaries of the body, take care that he lacks nothing; for I have laboured only and solely for him, to help him in his needs before he dies So bid your wife look with loving-kindness to his household affairs I will ood to her and all of you, if it be necessary Do not have the least hesitation, even if you have to expend all that we possess”
WeLodovico's health were satisfactory; for on the 5th of Deceelo set out for Roned him free quarters in a house situated in the Trevi district, opposite the public road which leads to S Maria del Loreto Here, then, he probably took up his abode We have seen that he had bound himself to finish the monue ”in no work of great moment which should interfere with its performance” How this clause came to be inserted in a deed inspired by Leo is one of the difficulties hich the whole tragedy of the sepulchre bristles
Perhaps we ought to conjecture that the Pope's intentions with regard to the facade of S Lorenzo only became settled in the late autumn At any rate, he had now to transact with the executors of Julius, ere obliged to forego the rights over Michelangelo's undivided energies which they had acquired by the clause I have just cited They did so with extreme reluctance, and to the bitter disappointreat sche in proportions, becoe less capable of satisfactory perfor at last definitely entered the service of Pope Leo, Michelangelo travelled to Florence, and intrusted Baccio d'Agnolo with the construction of the model of his facade It may have been upon the occasion of this visit that one of his father's whimsical fits of temper called out a passionate and sorry letter froelo's trusty henchered Lodovico, and nano:--
”Dearest Father,--I marvelled much at what had happened to you the other day, when I did not find you at ho that you complain of me, and say that I have turned you out of doors, I marvel much the more, inasmuch as I know for certain that never once froht of doing anything or sainst you; and all this tione have been for the love of you alone Since I returned from Rome to Florence, you know that I have always cared for you, and you know that all that belongs to o, then, when you were ill, I pro within the scope of ain affir so soon And yet you have learned to know me by experience these thirty years, you and your sons, and are well aware that I have always thought and acted, so far as I was able, for your good How can you go about saying I have turned you out of doors? Do you not see what a reputation you have givento complete my tale of troubles, all of which I suffer for your love You repayto acknowledge that I have always brought sha your pardon Reckon that you are pardoning a son who has lived a bad life and done you all the harain i onturned you out of doors; for that ine to elo proceeded again to Carrara for the quarrying of marble This was on the last day of December From his domestic correspondence we find that he stayed there until at least the 13th of March 1517; but he seeone to Florence just about that date, in order to arrange mentary letter to Buonarroto, dated March 13, shows that he had begun a er needed Baccio's assistance On his arrival at Florence he wrote to Messer Buoninsegni, who acted as inters that concerned the facade: ”Messer Domenico, I have come to Florence to see the model which Baccio has finished, and find it aIf you think it best to have it sent, write to un to nano]” Then he adds that, in the long run, he believes that he shall have to make the model himself, which distresses him on account of the Pope and the Cardinal Giulio Lastly, he informs his correspondent that he has contracted with two separate companies for two hundred cartloads of Carrara marble
An ini, dated Carrara, May 2, 1517, proves that Michelangelo had becos to say to you So I beg you to take some patience when you read my words, because it is a matter of moment Well, then, I feel it in me to make this facade of S Lorenzo such that it shall be a mirror of architecture and of sculpture to all Italy But the Pope and the Cardinal must decide at once whether they want to have it done or not If they desire it, then theythe whole tosome other plan which may occur to them, and about which I can forni of various transactions regarding the purchase ofperfect blocks His estiolden ducats, and he offers to carry the work through for that sum in six years Meanwhile he peremptorily de that he is anxious to leave Carrara The vigorous tone of this document is unmistakable It seeni replies upon the 8th of May that the Cardinal expressed the highest satisfaction at ”the great heart he had for conducting the work of the facade” At the same time the Pope was anxious to inspect the model
Leo, I fancy, was always more than half-hearted about the facade He did not personally sy what his tastes were, it is impossible that he can have really appreciated the quality of his genius Giulio de' Medici, afterwards Pope Clement VII, was more in sympathy with Buonarroti both as artist and as iven at thisthe suh their Roust, to have the model completed under his own eyes by a workman in his native city It was carefully constructed of wood, showing the statuary in wax-relief Nearly four months were expended on this e of it now remains Near the end of December he despatched his servant, Pietro Urbano, with the finished work to Rome On the 29th of that month, Urbano writes that he exposed the ni's apartment, and that the Pope and Cardinal were very well pleased with it Buoninsegni wrote to the sa, however, that folk said it could never be finished in the sculptor's lifetielo should hire assistants froni, had seen excellent stonework in progress at the Duoelo travelled to Rome, conferred with Leo, and took the facade of S Lorenzo on contract In February he returned by way of Florence to Carrara, where the quarry-ainst him, and refused to carry out their contracts This forced hio to Genoa, and hire shi+ps there for the transport of his blocks Then the Carraresi corrupted the captains of these boats, and drove Michelangelo to Pisa (April 7), where he finally ement with a certain Francesco Peri to shi+p theon the sea-shore at Carrara
The reason of this revolt against him at Carrarathe old marble quarries of Pietra Santa, on the borders of the Florentine domain, and this naturally aroused the commercial jealousy of the folk at Carrara
”Information,” says Condivi, ”was sent to Pope Leo that h-lands above Pietra Santa, fully equal in quality and beauty to those of Carrara Michelangelo, having been sounded on the subject, chose to go on quarrying at Carrara rather than to take those belonging to the State of Florence This he did because he was befriended with the Marchese Alberigo, and lived on a good understanding with hi him to repair to Pietra Santa, and see whether the information he had received from Florence was correct He did so, and ascertained that the marbles were very hard to work, and ill-adapted to their purpose; even had they been of the proper kind, it would be difficult and costly to convey them to the sea A road of h thethe plain on piles, since the ground there was elo wrote all this to the Pope, who preferred, however, to believe the persons who had written to him from Florence So he ordered him to construct the road” The road, it may parenthetically be observed, was paid for by the wealthy Wool Corporation of Florence, ished to revive this branch of Florentine industry ”Michelangelo, carrying out the Pope's coe quantities ofthese were five columns of the proper dimensions, one of which may be seen upon the Piazza di S Lorenzo
The other four, forashts elsewhere, are still lying on the sea-beach Now the Marquis of Carrara, deeelo had developed the quarries at Pietra Santa out of Florentine patriotism, became his enemy, and would not suffer him to return to Carrara, for certain blocks which had been excavated there: all of which proved the source of great loss to Michelangelo”
When the contract with Francesco Pellicia was cancelled, April 7, 1517, the project for developing the Florentine stone-quarries does not seem to have taken shape We must assume, therefore, that the motive for this step was the abandonelo was still buyingCarrara down to the end of February 1518 His correspondence from Pietra Santa and Serravezza, where he lived when he was opening the Florentine quarries of Monte Altissiin, with any certainty, until March 1518 We have indeed one letter written to Girolaust, without date of year This was sent from Serravezza, and Milanesi, when he firstthat indication, asserts that Michelangelo began his operations at Monte Altissied his opinion, and assigned it to the year 1519 I believe he was right, because the first letter, bearing a certain date from Pietra Santa, ritten in March 1518 to Pietro Urbano It contains the account of Michelangelo's difficulties with the Carraresi, and his journey to Genoa and Pisa We have, therefore, every reason to believe that he finally abandoned Carrara, for Pietra Santa at the end of February 1518
Pietra Santa is a little city on the Tuscan seaboard; Serravezza is a still smaller fortress-town at the foot of the Carrara mountains
Monte Altissireat hill lie the quarries Della Finocchiaja, which Michelangelo opened at the comelo departed fro his contracts, and disappointing the folk hom he had lived on friendly terms ever since his first visit in 1505 A letter froreat pressure was put upon him
It runs thus: ”We have received yours, and shown it to our Lord the Pope Considering that all your doings are in favour of Carrara, you have caused his Holiness and us no small astonishment What we heard from Jacopo Salviati contradicts your opinion He went to examine the marble-quarries at Pietra Santa, and informed us that there are enormous quantities of stone, excellent in quality and easy to bring down This being the case, some suspicion has arisen in our minds that you, for your own interests, are too partial to the quarries of Carrara, and want to depreciate those of Pietra Santa This of a truth, would be wrong in you, considering the trust we have always reposed in your honesty Wherefore we inforardless of any other consideration, his Holiness wills that all the work to be done at S Peter's or S Reparata, or on the facade of S Lorenzo, shall be carried out with marbles supplied from Pietra Santa, and no others, for the reasons above written Moreover, we hear that they will cost less than those of Carrara; but, even should they cost more, his Holiness is fir the business of Pietra Santa for the public benefit of the city Look to it, then, that you carry out in detail all that we have ordered without fail; for if you do otherwise, it will be against the expressed wishes of his Holiness and ourselves, and we shall have good reason to be seriously wroth with you Our agent Doni) is bidden to write to the same effect Reply to hi froan to ith his usual energy at road What he learned of practical business as engineer, architect,the Carrara mountains must have been of vast ianise the fortifications of Florence and the Leonine City, and to crown S Peter's with the cupola Quarrying, as I have said, iht di or a piece of statuary The ed to have his whole plan perfect in his head before he could venture to order s made to scale, careful measureht Buonarroti was at work; in the saddle early in the , studying, projecting, calculating, settling up accounts by laelo's personal life and movements must here be interrupted in order to notice an event in which he took no common interest The members of the Florentine Acade hihieri's bones from Ravenna to his native city The docu the naelo's alone is written in Italian: ”I, Michelangelo, the sculptor, pray the like of your Holiness, offeringsepulchre to hi resulted from this petition, and the supreme poet's remains still rest beneath ”the little cupola, th portrait
Of Michelangelo's special devotion to Dante and the ”Divine Comedy” we have plenty of proof In the first place, there exist the two fine sonnets to his memory, which were celebrated in their author's lifeti the best of his performances in verse It does not appear when they were composed The first is probably earlier than the second; for below the autograph of the latter is written, ”Messer Donato, you ask of me what I do not possess” The Donato is undoubtedly Donato Giannotti, hoelo lived on very falish translation of these sonnets:--
_From heaven his spirit came, and, robed in clay, The realaze on God, That he ht make the truth as clear as day_ _For that pure star, that brightened with his ray The undeserving nest where I was born, The whole orld would be a prize to scorn; None but his Maker can due guerdon pay
I speak of Dante, whose high work remains Unknown, unhonoured by that thankless brood, Who only to just ering pains, Against his exile coupled with his good I'd gladly change the world's best heritage!
No tongue can tell of him what should be told, For on blind eyes his splendour shi+nes too strong; 'Twere easier to bla, Than sound his least praise with a old
He to explore the place of pain was bold, Then soared to God, to teach our souls by song; The gates heaven oped to bear his feet along, Against his just desire his country rolled
Thankless I call her, and to her own pain The nurse of fell n take this, That ever to the best she deals h ne'er was fortune more unjust than his, His equal or his better ne'er was born_
The influence of Dante over Buonarroti's style of composition impressed his contemporaries Benedetto Varchi, in the proeelo's poems, speaks of it as ”a most subliravity”