Part 11 (1/2)

These pupils of the Urbinate claiood reason, the right to carry on his great work in the Borgian apartments of the Vatican The Sala de' Pontefici, or the Hall of Constantine, as it is sometins bequeathed by Raffaello for its decoration, and Leo, very rightly, decided to leave it in their hands Sebastiano del Pioorous effort to obtain the work for hi of Lazarus, executed in avowed coht him into the first rank of Roelo to back him up, could do We cannot properly appreciate this picture in its present state The glory of the colouring has passed away; and it was precisely here that Sebastiano may have surpassed Raffaello, as he was certainly superior to the school Sebastiano wrote letter after letter to Michelangelo in Florence He first ive;” then says that the _”garzoni”_ of the Urbinate are beginning to paint in oil upon the walls of the Sala de'

Pontefici ”I pray you to remember me, and to recommend me to the Cardinal, and if I am the man to undertake the job, I should like you to set race you, as indeed I think I have not done already I took my picture (the Lazarus) once more to the Vatican, and placed it beside Raffaello's (the Transfiguration), and I came without shame out of the comparison” In answer, apparently, to this first letter on the subject, Michelangelo wrote a huossip to the Cardinal Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena It runs thus: ”I beg your most reverend Lordshi+p, not as a friend or servant, for I am not worthy to be either, but as a low fellow, poor and brainless, that you will cause Sebastian, the Venetian painter, now that Rafael is dead, to have some share in the works, at the Palace If it should seem to your Lordshi+p that kind offices are throay upon a est that on so kind even to fools, as onions taste well, for a change of food, to one who is tired of capons You obligeyour Lordshi+p to try what obliging reat one, and Sebastian is a worthy man If, then, your kind offers are throay on me, they will not be so on Sebastian, for I am certain he will prove a credit to your Lordshi+p”

In his following elo upon the excellent effect produced by the letter ”The Cardinal inforiven the Hall of the Pontiffs to Raffaello's 'prentices, and they have begun with a figure in oils upon the wall, a marvellous production which eclipses all the rooms painted by their master, and proves that when it is finished, this hall will beat the record, and be the finest thing done in painting since the ancients

Then he asked if I had read your letter I said, No He laughed loudly, as though at a good joke, and I quitted hi the Laocoon, tells me that the Cardinal showed him your letter, and also showed it to the Pope; in fact, nothing is talked about at the Vatican except your letter, and it h” He adds that he does not think the hall ought to be cos they meant to paint there, battle-pieces and vast coelo alone is equal to the task Meanwhile, Leo, wishi+ng to coreat hall in the lower apartias, where Alexander VI used to live, and where Pinturicchio painted--rooms shut up in pious horror by Julius when he came to occupy the palace of his hated and abominable predecessor

Sebastiano's reliance upon Michelangelo, and his calculation that the way to get possession of the coveted co to supply hie: ”The Cardinal told me that he was ordered by the Pope to offerwithout your permission, or until your answer ca I added that, unless I were engaged to Michelangelo, even if the Pope commanded me to paint that hall, I would not do so, because I do not think myself inferior to Raffaello's 'prentices, especially after the Pope, with his own mouth, had offered ard it as creditable to ilded cha He answered that the Pope had only done this to avoid rivalries The ht to remember that the lower one was also a hall of the Pontiffs My reply was that I would have nothing to do with it; so that now they are laughing at h h you and your authority, to execute vengeance for nant fellows know that there are other demiGods alive beside Raffael da Urbino and his 'prentices” The vacillation of Leo in this business, and his desire to s pleasant, are characteristic of thewith princes

IX

When Michelangelo complained that he was ”rovinato per detta opera di San Lorenzo,” he probably did not y For soave him his liberty, he see this period the sacristy at S Lorenzo and the Medicean tombs were probably in conteun at the end of March 1520 But we first hear so definite about theust 19, 1521 Michelangelo says that on the former of these dates he received money from the Cardinal de' Medici for a journey to Carrara, whither he went and stayed about three weeks, ordering marbles for ”the tombs which are to be placed in the new sacristy at S Lorenzo And there I s to scale, and measured models in clay for the said tonano at Carrara as overseer of the work and returned to Florence On the 20th of July following he went again to Carrara, and stayed nine days On the 16th of August the contractors for the blocks, all of which were excavated from the old Roman quarry of Polvaccio, came to Florence, and were paid for on account Scipione returned on the 19th of August It may be added that the naelo's factotuh several years, isrecord

That the commission for the sacristy came from the Cardinal Giulio, and not from the Pope, appears in the document I have just cited The fact is confirmed by a letter written to Fattucci in 1523: ”About two years have elapsed since I returned froone to purchase marbles for the tombs of the Cardinal” The letter is curious in several respects, because it sho changeable through manyMichelangelo prepare plans andto listen to any proposals; then warh, he meant to erect the facade as well The final issue of the affair was, that after Giulio becaelo had to put the sepulchre of Julius aside During the pontificate of Adrian, we must believe that he worked upon his statues for that h to command his services; but when the Cardinal becaainst him for moneys received, the case was altered The letter to Fattucci, when carefully studied, leads to these conclusions

Very little is known to us regarding his private life in the year 1521 We only possess one letter, relating to the purchase of a house

In October he stood Godfather to the infant son of Niccol Soderini, nephew of his old patron, the Gonfalonier

This barren period is marked by only one considerable event--that is, the termination of the Cristo Risorto, or Christ Triumphant, which had been ordered by Metello Varj de' Porcari in 1514 The statue seeh-hewn at the quarries, packed up, and sent to Pisa on its way to Florence as early as Deceelo began to occupy himself about it seriously He then despatched Pietro Urbano to Roe with the purchaser for placing it upon a pedestal Sebastiano's letters contain some references to this work, which enable us to understand horong it would be to accept it as a representative piece of Buonarroti's own handicraft On the 9th of Noveoes about saying that you did not execute the figure, but that it is the work of Pietro Urbano Take good care that it should be seen to be from your hand, so that poltroons and babblers may burst” On the 6th of September 1521 he returns to the subject Urbano was at this ti himself so badly, in Sebastiano's opinion, that he feels bound to make a severe report ”In the first place, you sent him to Rome with the statue to finish and erect it

What he did and left undone you know already But I must inform you that he has spoiled the marble wherever he touched it In particular, he shortened the right foot and cut the toes off; the hands too, especially the right hand, which holds the cross, have been ers Frizzi says they seeht in e, not being fa; but I can tell you that the fingers look to me very stiff and du at the beard; and I believe my little boy would have done so with h he had used a knife without a point to chisel the hair This can easily be remedied, however He has also spoiled one of the nostrils A little more, and the whole nose would have been ruined, and only God could have restored it” Michelangelo apparently had already taken measures to transfer the Christ froo Frizzi This irritated his fornant spirit after finding himself cast off by you He does not seereatotten all he knew of art, and the knees of your Christ are worth ether” It was Sebastiano's wont to run babbling on this way Once again he returns to Pietro Urbano ”I am informed that he has left Rome; he has not been seen for several days, has shunned the Court, and I certainly believe that he will coambles, wants all the woh Ros his cash about Poor fellow! I a”

Such was the end of Pietro Urbano Michelangelo was certainly unfortunate with his apprentices One cannot help fancying hePietro, calls him ”a person of talent, but one who never took the pains to work”

Frizzi brought the Christ Triu up what ”the lither lad” froled Buonarroti, as sincerely attached to Varj, and felt his artistic reputation now at stake, offered to entleman replied that he was entirely satisfied with the one he had received He regarded and esteeelo's offer, added that ”this proved his noble soul and generosity, inasmuch as, when he had already made what could not be surpassed and was incomparable, he still wanted to serve his friend better” The price originally stipulated was paid, and Varj added an autograph testi his contentment with the whole transaction

These details prove that the Christ of the Minerva elo is certainly responsible for the general conception, the pose, and a large portion of the finished surface, details of which, especially in the knees, so nificent He designed the figure wholly nude, so that the heavy bronze drapery which now surrounds the loins, and bulges drooping from the left hip, breaks the intended harested any distinctly religious idea? Christ, victor over Death and hell, did not triumph by ponderosity and sinews The spiritual nature of his conquest, the ideality of a divine soul disencumbered from the flesh, to which it once had stooped in love for sinful ht certainly to have been eh art, in the statue of a Risen Christ Substitute a scaling-ladder for the cross, and here we have a fine life-guards for soelo about the face and head Those vulgarly handsome features, that beard, pons of his inspiration Only in the arrange to the shoulders, do we recognise the touch of the divine sculptor

The Christ became very famous Francis I had it cast and sent to Paris, to be repeated in bronze What is ious cult The right foot, so led by poor Pietro, wears a fine brass shoe, in order to prevent its being kissed away This ale Bilder sind meist nur schlechte Gemalde” Still it must be remembered that excellent critics have found the whole work admirable Gsell-Fels says: ”It is his second Moses; in reatest masterpieces; as a Christ-ideal, the heroic conception of a humanist” That last observation is just Wehis _Christiad_ while Frizzi was curling the beard of the Cristo Risorto Vida always speaks of Jesus as _Heros_ and of God the Father as _Superunator Olympi_

CHAPTER VIII

I

Leo X expired upon the 1st day of Deceame he played in European politics had just been croith momentary success So that his Iht that he succumbed to poison We do not knohat caused his death But the unsoundness of his constitution, over-taxed by dissipation and generous living, in the h, may suffice to account for a decease certainly sudden and preelo, born in the saht lustres of the life of man

Leo was a personality whom it is impossible to praise without reserve

The Pope at that time in Italy had to perform three separate functions His first duty was to the Church Leo left the See of Rome worse off than he found it: financially bankrupt, corandisement of his fa money upon spiritual securities

His second duty was to Italy Leo left the peninsula so involved in a lements, diplomatic and aimless wars, that anarchy and violence proved to be the only exit froher culture which Italy dispensed to Europe, and of which the Papacy had ator Here Leo failed almost as conspicuously as in all else he attempted He debased the standard of art and literature by his ill-placed liberalities, seeking quick returns for careless expenditure, not selecting the finest spirits of his age for ti round hiht upon the low tone of Roman society created by Leo than the outburst of frenzy and execration which exploded when a Fle to a faed from the scrutiny of the Conclave into the pontifical chair He had been the tutor of Charles V, and this may suffice to account for his nomination Cynical wits ascribed that circumstance to the direct and unexpected action of the Holy Ghost He was the one foreigner who occupied the seat of S Peter after the period when the metropolis of Western Christendom became an Italian principality Adrian, by his virtues and his failings, proved that ious indifference, dele-minded and simple, raised unexpectedly by circumstances into his supreme position, he shut his eyes absolutely to art and culture, abandoned diplomacy, and determined to act only as the chief of the Catholic Church In ecclesiastical matters Adrian was undoubtedly a worthy inal conception of his duty as the Priht have happened had he lived to impress his spirit upon Rome, remains beyond the reach of calculation

Dare we conjecture that the sack of 1527 would have been averted?

Adrian reigned only a year and eightof perh to do it, even if tiathering over Ro which men hold their breath and murmur All the place-seekers, parasites, flatterers, second-rate artificers, folk of facile talents, whoainst a Pope who lived sparsely, shut up the Belvedere, called statues ”idols of the Pagans,” and spent no farthing upon twangling lutes and frescoed chanificant figures upon the page of modern history His personal worth, his inadequacy to the needs of the age, and his incoias, and Medici around hiic irony