Part 28 (1/2)
VI
Continuing these scattered observations upon Michelangelo's character and habits, we may collect what Vasari records about his social intercourse with brother-artists Being hiht in the society of persons little better than buffoons Writing the Life of Jacopo surnamed L'Indaco, a Florentine painter of some merit, Vasari observes: ”He lived on very fareat artist, great above all who ever were, when he wished to refresh his ued by studies and incessant labours of the body and the intellect, found no one enial to his hu their friendshi+p, except that Buonarroti frequently invited Indaco totired of the s, and then locked the house-door, so that he could not enter when he had discharged his errand A boon-cohella, whom Vasari describes as ”a ” He used to frequent Michelangelo's house, ”and he, who could with difficulty be induced to work for kings, would lay aside all other occupations in order to hella wanted was son or other of S Rocco, S Antonio, or S Francesco, to be coloured for one of his peasant patrons Vasari says that Michelangelo modelled a very beautiful Christ for this huhellathese crucifixes through the country-side What would not the world give for one of theelo is said to have burst his sides with laughing at the man's stupidity! Another familiar of the same sort was a certain stone-cutter called Domenico Fancelli, and nicknamed Topolino From a letter addressed to hiarded as a ”very dear friend” According to Vasari, Topolino thought himself an able sculptor, but was in reality extrereat master to pronounce a candid opinion on its elo, ”to attempt this art of statuary Do you not see that your Mercury is too short by more than a third of a cubit from the knees to the feet? You have ure” ”Oh, that is nothing! If there is no other fault, I can easily put that to rights Leave the hed at the man's simplicity, and went upon his way Then Topolino took a piece of s of his Mercury below the knees Next he fashi+oned a pair of buskins of the right height, and joined these on to the truncated limbs in such wise that the tops of the boots concealed the lines of juncture When Buonarroti saw the finished statue, he re errors by expedients which a wise elo's buffoon friends was a Florentine celebrity, Piloto, the goldsmith We know that he took this man with him when he went to Venice in 1530; but Vasari tells no characteristic stories concerning their friendshi+p It may be re and facetious fellow,”
assigning him the principal part in one of his indecent novels The painter Giuliano Bugiardini ought to be added to the saed hi without hesitation, being extremely partial to the man's coelo, if you want to see yourself, stand up; I have caught the likeness” Michelangelo did as he was bidden, and when he had exahed and said: ”What the devil have you been about? You have painted me with one of my eyes up in the te with his model's face, and then reain, and I shall be able to judge better when I have you in the proper pose”
Michelangelo, who knehere the fault lay, and how little judgrinning After some time of careful contemplation, Giuliano rose to his feet and cried: ”It seeht, and that the life compels me to do so” ”So then,” replied Buonarroti, ”the defect is nature's, and see you spare neither the brush nor art”
Both Sebastiano del Pioelo for their lively parts and genial humour The latter has told an anecdote which illustrates the old ht, into which he stuck a candle, and then worked by its light upon his statue of the Pieta Vasari observing this habit, wished to do hioat's fat, knowing that they gutter less than ordinary dips of tallow His servant carried thehtfall, and presented theelo
He refused, and said he did not want them Thethee, nor will I take theain There is a heap of h to hold theht theave way: ”Lay them down; I do not mean you to play pranks at my house-door” Varsari tells another anecdote about the Pieta Pope Julius III sent hi The oldanted, told Urbino to look for the cartoon Meanwhile, Vasari turned his attention to one of the legs of Christ, which Michelangelo had been trying to alter In order to prevent his seeing, Michelangelo let the lamp fall, and they reht, and stepped forth from the enclosure of planks behind which he worked As he did so, he remarked, ”I ao with him, and one day this body of ht of life will be put out” Of death he used to say, that ”if life gives us pleasure, we ought not to expect displeasure fro as it isstories relating to crafts
While he orking on the terave directions to a certain stone-cutter: ”Remove such and such parts here to-day, smooth out in this place, and polish up in that” In the course of ti aware of it, the man found that he had produced a statue, and stared astonished at his own perforelo asked, ”What do you think of it?” ”I think it very good,”
he answered, ”and I owe you a deep debt of gratitude” ”Why do you say that?” ”Because you have caused me to discover in myself a talent which I did not know that I possessed”--A certain citizen, anted a mortar, went to a sculptor and asked hi some practical joke, pointed out Buonarroti's house, and said that if he wanted mortars, a man lived there whose trade it was to ly addressed hi a trick, asked who had sent him When he knew the sculptor's name, he promised to carve the mortar, on the condition that it should be paid for at the sculptor's valuation This was settled, and the rotesque inventions, wonderfully wrought and polished In due course of time the mortar was taken to the envious and suspicious sculptor, who stood dumbfounded before it, and told the custo left but to carry thisback to him who fashi+oned it, and order a plain article for hiroups by Antonio Begarelli, enthusiastically crying out, ”If this clay could become marble, woe to antique statuary”--A Florentine citizen once saw hi at Donatello's statue of S Mark upon the outer wall of Orsanelo replied, ”I never saw a figure which so thoroughly represents a man of probity; if S Mark was really like that, we have every reason to believe everything which he has said” To the S George in the saiven the word of command, ”March!”--Some one showed him a set of medals by Alessandro Cesari, upon which he exclai more perfect can be seen than these”--Before titian's portrait of Duke Alfonso di Ferrara he observed that he had not thought art could perfor that titian alone deserved the name of painter--He ont to call Cronaca's church of S Francesco al Monte ”his lovely peasant girl,” and Ghiberti's doors in the Florentine Baptistery ”the Gates of Paradise”--Sos, and excused their iun to study: ”That is obvious,” he answered A similar reply is said to have been made to Vasari, when he excused his own frescoes in the Cancelleria at Ro they had been painted in a few days--An artist showed him a Pieta which he had finished: ”Yes, it is indeed a _pieta_ (pitiful object) to see”--Ugo da Carpi signed one of his pictures with a legend declaring he had not used a brush on it: ”It would have been better had he done so”--Sebastiano del Piombo was ordered to paint a friar in a chapel at S Pietro a Montorio Michelangelo observed, ”He will spoil the chapel” Asked why, he answered, ”When the friars have spoiled the world, which is so large, it surely is an easy thing for theether a nuht he had surpassed his elo reoes in front of him; and one who is not able to do well by his oill not be able to profit by the works of others”--A painter produced soorously drawn: ”Every artist draws his own portrait best,” said Michelangelo--He went to see a statue which was in the sculptor's studio, waiting to be exposed before the public The hts, in order to show his work off to the best advantage: ”Do not take this trouble; what reallythat the people in the long-run decide what is good or bad in art--Accused of want of spirit in his rivalry with Nanni di Baccio Bigio, he retorted, ”Men who fight with folk of little worth win nothing”--A priest as a friend of his said, ”It is a pity that you never ht have had many children, and would have left theelo answered, ”I have only too much of a wife in this art ofon My children will be the works I leave behind ht, yet I shall live awhile in theates of S Giovanni! His children and grandchildren have sold and squandered the substance that he left The gates are still in their places”
VII
This would be an appropriate place to estiains in detail, to describe the properties he acquired in lands and houses, and to give an account of his total fortune We are, however, not in the position to do this accurately We only know the prices paid for a few of his minor works He received, for instance, thirty ducats for the Sleeping Cupid, and 450 ducats for the Pieta of S Peter's He contracted with Cardinal Piccolomini to furnish fifteen statues for 500 ducats In all of these cases the costs of marble, workmen, workshop, fell on him He contracted with Florence to execute the David in two years, at a salary of six golden florins per ether with a further sum when the as finished It appears that 400 florins in all (including salary) were finally adjudged to him In these cases all incidental expenses had been paid by his employers He contracted with the Operai del Duo two florins a ht fit to pay him when the whole was done Here too he was relieved from incidental expenses For the statue of Christ at S Maria sopra Minerva he was paid 200 crowns
These are a few of the most trustworthy items we possess, and they are rendered very worthless by the i ducats, florins, and crowns to current values With regard to the bronze statue of Julius II at Bologna, Michelangelo tells us that he received in advance 1000 ducats, and when he ended his work there reood In this case, as in reat operations, he entered at the co in an estiht it would be worth his while to do the work for The Italian is ”pigliare a cottis with successive Popes Michelangelo evidently preferred this e profits; but the nature of the contract prevents his biographer fro to Condivi, he received 3000 ducats for the Sistine vault, working at his own costs According to his own state at the end of the affair
It seeelo's debt, and that the various contracts for his toe undertakings as the sacristy and library of S Lorenzo were probably agreed for on the contract syste Michelangelo's disbursements at various times for various portions of these works, we can strike no balance showing an approximate calculation of his profits What renders the elo's contracts were fulfilled according to the original intention of the parties For one reason or another they had to be altered and accommodated to circumstances
It is clear that, later on in life, he received s, for architectural work, and for models, the execution of which he bound hi he would pay the artist's own price for a design he had requested Vasari observes that the sketches he gave aorth thousands of crowns We know that he was offered a handsonanimously and piously declined to touch But e cannot arrive at is even a rough valuation of the suain, we know that he was promised a yearly salary from Clement VII, and one ularly, and half of the latter depended on the profits of a ferry, which eventually failed hiether In each of these cases, then, the saueness and uncertainty throw doubt on all investigation, and render a conjectural estimate impossible
Moreover, there reained, directly or indirectly, fro Pontiffs That he felt the loss of Paul III, as a generous patron, is proved by a letter written on the occasion of his death; and Vasari hints that the Pope had been esses bestowed upon him But of these occasional presents and emoluments we have no accurate information; and we are unable to state what he derived froreatest ad to so under 9000 crowns But, since he died intestate, we have no will to guide us as to the extent and nature of his whole estate Nor, so far as I am aware, has the return of his property, which Lionardo Buonarroti may possibly have furnished to the state of Florence, been yet brought to light
That he inherited sonano froround to the paternal acres He also is said to have bought a farm in Valdichiana (doubtful), and other pieces of land in Tuscany He owned a house at Rome, a house and workshop in the Via Mozza at Florence, and he purchased the Casa Buonarroti in Via Ghibellina But we have nothe total value of these real assets
In these circu the as, or the exact way in which they were acquired That he died possessed of a considerable fortune, and that he was able during his lifetie donations, cannot be disputed But how he caality, bordering upon penuriousness, ith of his life, may account for not contemptible accuelo's contemporaries found fault with several supposed frailties of his nature Theseheads: A passionate violence of te itself in hasty acts and words; extre to misanthropy or churlishness; eccentricity andon enerosity in ie, and an undue partiality for handsoraphers, Condivi and Vasari, thought these charges worthy of serious refutation, which proves that they were current They had no difficulty in showing that his alleged ns of a studious nature absorbed in profound es of avarice and want of generosity in helping on young artists