Part 26 (1/2)
_If e with Nature vied In beauteous workmanshi+p, they had to yield When to the fated end years brought their na memories that died, In spite of Time and Nature have revealed For them and for yourself eternal fame_
Vasari's official position at the ducal court of Florence brought him into frequent and personal relations with Cosi been anxious to lure the elo, though he remained a loyal servant to the Medicean family, could not approve of Cosied by every tie of honour, interest, and artistic areat tact, through delicate negotiations carried on forthe Duke's overtures without sacrificing his friendshi+p
Wishi+ng to found his fas of his life there, he naturally assumed a courteous attitude A letter written by the Bishop Tornabuoni to Giovanni Francesco Lottini in Roan as early as 1546 The prelate says the Duke is so anxious to regain ”Michelangelo, the divine sculptor,”
that he proht senators, and to give him any office he may ask for” The affair was dropped for soan to employ Vasari and Cellini as a his Perseus, Benvenuto begged for leave to go to Roelo's friendly letter on the bust of Bindo Altoviti ”He read it with much kindly interest, and said to me: 'Benvenuto, if you write to him, and can persuade him to return to Florence, I will ly I wrote a letter full of warmth, and offered in the Duke's name a hundred ti to make anyto his most illustrious Excellency: 'Prince, perhaps I have nolo deserves reater favours' To this letter he sent no answer, and I could see that the Duke was much offended with hielo, and renewed his offers in the Duke's naraphically told, introducing the rustic personality of Urbino on the stage, and giving a hint of Michelangelo's reasons for not returning in person to Florence, that the whole passagea littleon the details of our hero's donolo Buonarroti, and repeated what I had written from Florence to hied upon the fabric of S Peter's, and that this would prevent hi Rome I rejoined that, as he had decided on the , he could leave its execution to his man Urbino, ould carry out his orders to the letter I added e from the Duke Upon this he looked me hard in the face, and said with a sarcastic smile: 'And you! to what extent are you satisfied with hih I replied that I was extremely contented and was very well treated by his Excellency, he showed that he was acquainted with the greater part of ave as his final answer that it would be difficult for him to leave Rome To this I added that he could not do better than to return to his own land, which was governed by a prince renowned for justice, and the greatest lover of the arts and sciences who ever saw the light of this world As I have remarked above, he had with him a servant of his who came from Urbino, and had lived many years in his e else; this indeed was obvious, because he had acquired no skill in the arts Consequently, while I was pressing Michel Agnolo with arguments he could not answer, he turned round sharply to Urbino, as though to ask hian to bawl out in his rustic way: 'I will never leave nolo's side till I shall have flayed him or he shall have flayedfarewell, I lowered my shoulders and retired”
This was in 1552 The Duke was loth to take a refusal, and for the next eight years he continued to ply Michelangelo with invitations, writing letters by his own hand, eh Vasari The letters to Vasari during this period are full of the subject Michelangelo remains firm in his intention to remain at Rome and not abandon S Peter's As years went on, infirmities increased, and the solicitations of the Duke became more and more irksome to the old man His discomfort at last elicited what may be called a real cry of pain in a letter to his nephew:--
”As regards my condition, I am ill with all the troubles which are wont to afflict oldwater My loins and back are so stiff that I often cannot climb upstairs What makes matters worse is that my mind is much worried with anxieties If I leave the conveniences I have here for my health, I can hardly live three days Yet I do not want to lose the favour of the Duke, nor should I like to fail in my work at S Peter's, nor in my duty to myself I pray God to help and counsel erous fever, I would send for you at once”
Meanwhile, in spite of his resistance to the Duke's wishes, Michelangelo did not lose the favour of the Medicean family The delicacy of behaviour by then it, is indeed one of the strongest evidences of his sincerity, sagacity, and prudence The Cardinal Giovanni, son of Cosimo, travelled to Rome in March 1560, in order to be invested with the purple by the Pope's hands On this occasion Vasari, who rode in the young prince's train, wrote despatches to Florence which contain soes about Buonarroti In one of theelo is so old that I do not hope to obtaina return to Florence, the Church of the Florentines was now in progress, and Cosimo also required Buonarroti's advice upon the decoration of the Great Hall in the Palazzo della Signoria In a second letter (April 8) Vasari tells the Duke: ”I reached Rome, and immediately after the most reverend and illustrious Medici had made his entrance and received the hat from our lord's hands, a ceremony which I wished to see with a view to the frescoes in the Palace, I went to visit elo He had not expected me, and the tenderness of his reception was such as old men shohen lost sons unexpectedly return to the for joy He was so glad to see reater pleasure since I entered the service of your Excellency, albeit I enjoy so reatness and the wonders which our God in heaven has wrought for you, and he lamented that he could not serve you with his body, as he is ready to do with his talents at the least sign of your will He also expressed his sorrow at being unable to wait upon the Cardinal, because he now can ets small rest, and is so low in health I fear he will not last long, unless the goodness of God preserves hi of S Peter's” After some further particulars, Vasari adds that he hopes ”to spend Monday and Tuesday discussing the elo, as well as the composition of the several frescoes I have all that is necessary within his coestions” We know fro the Palace were settled to his own and the Duke's satisfaction during these colloquies at Rome
Later on in the year, Cosimo came in person to Roelo ihnesses, and was received with special marks of courtesy by the Duke, who bade hith about his own designs for Florence and certain discoveries he hadporphyry These interviews, says Vasari, were repeated several ti Cosimo's sojourn in Rome; and when the Crown-Prince of Florence, Don Francesco, arrived, this young noble with hi Buonarroti back to Florence was finally abandoned; but he had the satisfaction of feeling that, after the lapse ofconnection with the House of Medici remained as firm and cordial as it had ever been It was also consolatory to know that the relations established between hi dynasty in Florence would prove of service to Lionardo, upon who faelo as ular point which strikes us is this persistent preoccupation with the ancient house he desired so earnestly to rehabilitate He treated Lionardo with the greatest brutality Nothing that this nephew did, or did not do, was right Yet Lionardo was the sole hope of the Buonarroti-Siot children, the old man purred with satisfaction over him, but only as a breeder of the race; and he did all in his power to establish Lionardo in a secure position
VII
Returning to the history of Michelangelo's domestic life, we have to relate two sad events which happened to him at the end of 1555 On the 28th of September he wrote to Lionardo: ”The bad news about Gismondo afflicts me deeply I am not without my own troubles of health, and have many annoyances besides In addition to all this, Urbino has been ill in bed with me three months, and is so still, which causesall the summer, died upon the 13th of November His brother in Rome was too much taken up with the mortal sickness of his old friend and servant Urbino to express great sorrow ”Your letter informs me of my brother Gisrief We must have patience; and inasmuch as he died sound of mind and with all the sacrareat affliction here Urbino is still in bed, and very seriously ill I do not knoill coh he were my own son, because he has lived in my service twenty-five years, and has been very faithful Being old, I have no time to forly If then, you know of so you to have prayers offered up to God for his recovery”
The next letter gives a short account of his death:--
”I inform you that yesterday, the 3rd of December, at four o'clock, Francesco called Urbino passed froreat sorrow He has left me sorely stricken and afflicted; nay, it would have been sweeter to have died with him, such is the love I bore hirown to be a worthy h his death had left lad to see you, therefore; only I cannot think how you can leave Florence because of your wife”
To Vasari he wrote still more passionately upon this occasion:--
”I cannot write well; yet, in answer to your letter, I will say a feords You know that Urbino is dead I owe the greatest thanks to God, at the same tirace He gave ht me to die without displeasure, rather with a deep and real desire I had him with me twenty-six years, and found him above measure faithful and sincere Now that I had ht to keep hie, he has vanished froain in Paradise God has given us good foundation for this hope in the exceedingly happy ending of his life Even rieved him to leave me alive in this treacherous world, with so one with hiht but infinite distress I reco you, if it be not irksome, toto answer his letter The trouble of soul I suffer in thought about these things prevents
Remember me to him, and take elo's thought dwelt upon Urbino appears fronor Lodovico Beccadelli:--
_God's grace, the cross, our troubles multiplied, Will make us meet in heaven, full well I know: Yet ere we yield, our breath on earth below, Why need a little solace be denied?
Though seas and h ways divide Our feet asunder, neither frost nor snow Can o; Nor chains nor bonds the wings of thought have tied
Borne by these wings, with thee I dwell for aye, And weep, and of , now perchance would be-- For so 'twas planned--thy guest as well as I
Warned by his death, another way I walk To meet him where he waits to live with me_
By his will, dated Noveli Amadori of Castel Durante, appointed his old friend and uardian of hisand children A certain Roso de Rosis and Pietro Filippo Vandini, both of Castel Durante, are naelo was evidently the principal authority A voluminous correspondence preserved in the Buonarroti Archives proves this; for it consists of numerous letters addressed by Urbino's executors and family from Castel Durante and elsewhere to the old sculptor in Roh intelligence, named Cornelia Colonnelli Two of her letters are printed by Gotti, and deserve to be studied for the power of their style and the elevation of their sentiments He has not made use, however, of the other docu a pretty complete view of a private family and its vexations, while they illustrate the conscientious fidelity hich Michelangelo discharged his duties as trustee Urbino had a brother, also resident at Castel Durante, Raffaello's celebrated pupil in fresco-painting, Il Fattorino This ether with Cornelia and her parents and her second husband, Giulio Brunelli, all wrote letters to Rome about the welfare of the children and the financial affairs of the estate The coexecutor Roso de Rosis did not write; it appears from one of Cornelia's despatches that he took no active interest in the trust, while Brunelli even coally due to the heirs One of Michelangelo's first duties was to take care that Cornelia got a proper er to see herto leave a coalone in the world with so many children to look after
Their choice fell first upon a very undesirable person called Santagnolo, a young man of dissolute habits, ruined constitution, bad character, and no estate She refused, with spirit, to sign the ain to inforuardian that a suitable match had been found in the person of Giulio Brunelli of Gubbio, a young doctor of laws, then resident at Castel Durante in the quality of podesta Michelangelo's suspicions must have been aroused by the unworthy conduct of her parents in the nolo; for we infer that he at first refused to sanction this secondhi hiossip On the 15th of June Brunelli hie with Cornelia, introducing hielo, and assuring him that Urbino's children have found a second father He writes again upon the 29th of July, this time to announce the fact that Il Fattorino has spread about false rumours to the effect that Cornelia and himself intend to leave Castel Durante and desert the children
Their guardian ossip, for they are both sincerely attached to the children, and intend to do the best they can for thean to trouble their peace In the course of the next few months Brunelli discovers that he cannot act with the Fattorino or with Vandini; Cornelia's dowry is not paid; Roso refuses to refund ht to be done for the estate and his wards The Fattorino writes that Vandini has renounced the trust, and that all Brunelli's and his own entreaties cannot make him resume it For himself, he is resolved not to bear the burden alone He has his own shop to look after, and will not let hielo's answers have been preserved We possess only one of his letters to Cornelia, which shows that she wished to place her son and his Godson, Michelangelo, under his care at Rome He replied that he did not feel himself in a position to accept the responsibility ”It would not do to send Michelangelo, seeing that I have nobody to e the house and no feht happen which would cause me the ut the lastpressure upon e ood order So I expect to remain in Rome all the summer; and when I have settled my business, and yours with the Monte della Fede, I shall probably reood I am old now, and have not the time to return to Roivehim to Florence, with more love than the sons of s which I know that his father desired that he should learn”
VIII
The year 1556 was elo into the mountain district of Spoleto Paul IV's anti-Spanish policy had forced the Viceroy of Naples to ly the Duke of Alva, at the head of a powerful force, left Naples on the 1st of Septena