Michael Angelo Buonarroti Part 7

CHAPTER VI

THE VAULT OF THE SISTINE CHAPEL

Michael Angelo's work in Bologna well over, he returned to Florence upon March 18, 1508, and hired his house at Borgo Pinti from the Operai del Duomo, probably intending to proceed with the Twelve Apostles for that church. Michael Angelo's father now emanc.i.p.ated his son from parental control. The date of the doc.u.ment is March 13; it was entered in the State Archives upon March 28. According to the law of Florence a son was not of age until his father had executed this doc.u.ment. Michael Angelo appears to have had the idea of settling in Florence at this time, but "his Medusa,"

as he called the Pope, commanded the presence of his artist in Rome as soon as he heard that the work at Bologna was finished. Michael Angelo obeyed at once this time. We have a good account by his own hand of what happened when he arrived in Rome, his famous letter to Fattucci, written sixteen years later.

"_To_ SER GIOVAN FRANCESCO FATTUCCI, _in Rome_.

"_From_ FLORENCE (_January_ 1524).

"MESSER GIOVAN FRANCESCO,-You ask of me in your letter how my affairs stood with Pope Julius. I tell you that I estimate that I could demand payment and interest on it, to receive money rather than give it. For when he sent for me to Florence, I believe it was in the second year of his Pontificate, I had begun to decorate the half of the Sala del Consiglio of Florence, that is to paint it. I was to have had three thousand ducats for it, and the cartoon was already completed, as was well known to all Florence, so that they seemed to me half earned. And of the Twelve Apostles, which I had still to do for Santa Maria del Fiore, one was sketched out, as may still be seen; and I had carried thither the greater part of the marbles. Pope Julius calling me away, I received nothing for either undertaking. Afterwards, I being in Rome with the said Pope Julius, he commissioned me to make his tomb, into which was to go a thousand ducats' worth of marbles. He paid me the money, and sent me to Carrara for them; there I stayed eight months having them blocked out, and brought them almost all to the piazza of St. Peter's; a part remained at the Ripa. After I had paid the freightage of these said marbles the money received for this work came to an end. I furnished the house I had on the piazza of St. Peter's with beds and furniture with my own money, on my hopes of the tomb, and sent for workmen from Florence (some of whom are still living), and paid them with my own in advance.

By this time Pope Julius had changed his mind, and no longer wished to have it done. I, not knowing this and going to him for money, was chased from the room; and for this insult I immediately left Rome, and everything I had in my house went to the bad; and these marbles which I had bought lay on the piazza of St. Peter's until the creation of Pope Leo; and on every side things went wrong. Among other things that I can prove, two pieces, of four braccia and a half each, on the Ripa were stolen from me by Agostino Chigi, which had cost me more than fifty gold ducats; and these could be claimed for, because there are witnesses. But to return to the marbles. From the time that I went for them, and that I remained at Carrara, until I was driven from the Palace, was more than a year, for which period I never received anything, and I paid out many tens of ducats.

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CREATION OF MAN

SISTINE CHAPEL (_By permission of Messrs. Braun, Clement & Co., in Dornach, Alsace_)

"Afterwards, the first time Pope Julius went to Bologna, I was obliged to take my courage in both hands and go there to beg his pardon; then he ordered me to make his portrait in bronze, which was seated, about seven braccia high. He asking me what it would cost, I said I believed I could cast it for a thousand ducats, but that it was not my art and that I could not promise. He replied to me: 'Go to work and cast it until it come well, and we will give you what will content you.' To be brief, it was cast twice. At the end of the two years that I stayed there I found myself four ducats and a half in pocket; and during that time I never received anything for all the expenses that I had, except the thousand ducats which I had said that I could cast it for; these were paid me in several installments by Messer Antonio Maria da Legnia (_me_), the Bolognese.

"Having hoisted the figure on to the facade of San Petronio, and returned to Rome, Pope Julius did not yet wish me to go on with the tomb, but set me to paint the vault of Sisto, and we made an agreement for three thousand ducats. The first design was for twelve apostles in the lunettes, and for the rest certain compartments filled with ornaments of the usual sort.

"After beginning the said work it seemed to me it would be but a poor thing. He asked me why? I told him, because they also were poor. Then he gave me a new order to do what I would, and that he would satisfy me, and that I was to paint down to the stories below. When the vault was almost finished the Pope returned to Bologna, where I went twice for money I needed, uselessly, and lost all my time, until he returned to Rome. I returned to Rome and set myself to work on the cartoons for the said vault, that is, for the ends and sides of the said Chapel of Sisto, hoping to have money to finish the work. I never could obtain anything; and complaining one day to Messer Bernardo da Bibbiena and Attalante how that I was unable to stay any longer in Rome, but that I must go away, with the help of G.o.d, Messer Bernardo said to Attalante that he must remember that he was to give me money in any case, and he had two thousand ducats of the Chamber given to me, which are the moneys, with that first thousand for marbles, that they put to the account of the tomb; and I estimate that I should have more for the time lost and the work done. And of the said moneys, Messer Bernardo and Attalante having obtained it for me, I gave to the one a hundred ducats, to the other fifty.

"Then came the death of Pope Julius, and in the first years of Leo, Aginensis, wishing to enlarge the tomb, that is, to make a greater work than the design I had at first prepared, we made a contract, and I not wishing the said three thousand ducats I had received to be put to the account of the tomb, and showing that I ought to have much more, Aginensis said to me that I was a swindler."(103)

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CREATION OF MAN

DETAIL, SISTINE CHAPEL

The preliminary works for the vault of the Sistine Chapel were carried on without delay, and there is a note in Michael Angelo's hand, saying: "I record how on this day, the tenth of May, in the year one thousand five hundred and eight, I, Michael Angelo, Sculptor, have received from the Holiness of our Lord Pope Julius II. five hundred ducats of the Camera, the which were paid me by Messer Carlino, chamberlain, and Messer Carlo degli Albizzi, on account of the painting of the vault of the Chapel of Pope Sisto, on which I begin to work this day, under the conditions and contracts set forth in a doc.u.ment written by his Most Reverend Lordship of Pavia, and signed by my hand. For the painter a.s.sistants who are to come from Florence, who will be five in number, twenty gold ducats of the Camera a-piece, on this condition, that is to say, that when they are here and are working in accord with me, the said twenty ducats shall be reckoned to each man's salary; the said salary to begin upon the day they leave Florence to come here. And if they do not agree with me, half the said money shall be paid them for their travelling expenses and for their time."(104)

From this important record we learn that Michael Angelo, who still calls himself "sculptor," intends to engage five painter a.s.sistants, and very wisely arranges terms by which he can send them away if he does not get on with them, and also that he began to work upon May 10, 1508. This must not be taken to mean that he began to paint, but only to prepare the vault by carefully pointing the bricks and covering it with rough cast plaster ready for the fine coat called intonaca, in this case made of marble dust and Roman lime, prepared each day and plastered on the wall in patches sufficient for one day's work only. In true fresco painting the colour is put on the plaster only whilst it is still wet. Michael Angelo must also have prepared a general scheme to scale from his small design, approved by the Pope, and set it off with very careful measurements on the surface of the rough cast, at least as to the architectural framework. The cartoons for the figure-subjects and details he may have left until they were needed. He considerably altered the scale of the figures in his stories as he proceeded with the work; this alteration in scale is not only observable in the central subjects or pictures of the vault, but also in the decorative figures on the framework, called Athletes; those at the end, near the stories of Noah and the Flood, and where Michael Angelo began to work, are at least a head smaller than those at the other end of the chapel over the altar, where the stories relate to the Creation. This can be seen even in a photographic reproduction. Although the development of the great scheme was so much upon the traditional lines of Italian art, yet the details of arrangement and placing must have fully occupied the artist for some months. He cannot have begun actually to paint on the vault until late autumn, at least, not any of the work we see now, for his a.s.sistants did not arrive from Florence until August, and he had to experiment with their work, and find it wanting, before he dismissed them, destroyed their work, and began alone. All the work of the part of the vault executed first is by Michael Angelo's own hand, as far as can be judged from the floor of the chapel, or from the cornice level with the windows. The following receipts for the plaster, or for rough-coating the vault, show that painting cannot have begun so early as has been a.s.sumed:(105)

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THE CREATION OF EVE

SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME

"In the name of G.o.d, the 11th day of May, 1508.

"I, Piero di Jacopo Roselli, Master Mason, have this day received, the 11th of May as above said, from Michael Angelo Bonaroti, Sculptor, ten ducats in gold, full weight, on account of 'Scialbatura' on the vault of Pope Sixtus, and for rough plastering in his chapel, and doing that which was needful by order of Pope Julius; and in faith of the truth I have done this with my own hand, this day above said. Ducats 10 of gold, full weight."

This payment was made by Michael Angelo. The second receipt of Rosselli for fifteen ducats was made out on May 24, to Francesco Granacci, so he was already in Rome, helping his friend. The next payment of ten ducats was also made by Granacci on June 3, and another on June 10. On July 17 Michael Angelo himself paid the mason; so Granacci had gone to Florence by then to hire the other a.s.sistants. On July 27 Michael Angelo paid Rosselli thirty golden ducats, full weight, for rough plastering and other details.

The amount paid, and the time taken, go to prove that the whole vault was plastered. Granacci(106) wrote from Florence about the a.s.sistants. Heath Wilson gives a literal translation of his rather bewildering letter.

"VERY DEAR FRIEND,-I recommend myself and wish you infinite health. This is to your Excellency, as to-day I met Raffaelino, the painter, and gathered from him in fine that if you have need of him he will come at your bidding, should you be pleased to pay him the salary which he has received from the Master Pietro Matteo d'Amelia, who, he says, gave him ten ducats a month. Ever faithful to your Excellency, I give the advice as from myself. If you have need to employ him, offer him your amount of salary; he is ready to do what you may command as to work. He is a good master and honest. And if for me there is anything, advise me, for I am always here to do for you those things which are useful and honourable. If I can do one thing more than another let me know; I will do it with love and solicitude. Nothing more. Christ have you in his keeping. _Bene Valeti_.

"This day, 22nd of July, 1508.

"YOURS, "FRANCESCO GRANACCI.

"If you can employ me as above is said, I shall be willing to be with you. Nothing more.

"GIOVANNI MICHI, "San Lorenzo, Florence "(Faithful service and honest man).

"Directed to the Excellent Master Michael Angelo, Florence, at St. Peter's, Sculptor, Rome.

"Given from the Bank of Balda.s.sare in Campo di Fiore."

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THE EXPULSION

SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME (_By permission of Messrs. Braun, Clement & Co., in. Dornach, Alsace_)

Neither Raffaellino del Garbo nor Giovanni Michi were employed, but the next letter of Granacci, dated July 24, 1508, mentions Giuliano Buggiardini and Jacopo L'Indaco, who were both tried. Vasari informs us that Granacci, Jacopo di Sandro, and the elder Indaco, Agnolo di Donnino, and Aristotile da Sangallo also accepted work. We have another proof that the actual fresco painting did not begin at this period, in a doc.u.ment preserved in the National Archives at Florence. Heath Wilson obtained legal opinion that Michael Angelo must have been in Florence in person when this deed was executed. It runs: "In the year of our Lord, 1508, on the 11th day of August, Michael Angelo, the son of Ludovico Lionardo di Buonarroto, cancelled his lawful claim upon the estate of his uncle Francis by a deed drawn up by Ser Giovanni di Guasparre da Montevarchi, Florentine notary, on the 27th of the month of July, 1508." Another instance of Michael Angelo's generosity to his family. If Michael Angelo at once proceeded to Rome, he and his a.s.sistants may have begun work towards the end of August. During all this period we must notice how troubled he was by the affairs of his family and his household arrangements. Michael Angelo, while living like a poor man in Rome, sent money to, and purchased land for, his family in Florence, and helped to establish Buonarroto in business, but they were never satisfied, and his letters to his father and Giovan Simone show how his mind was troubled.

There is a letter in the British Museum that belongs to this summer of 1508.

"MOST REVEREND FATHER,-I have learnt by your last how things go with you, and how Giovan Simone behaves himself. I have not had worse news for ten years than on the evening when I read your letter, for I thought that I had arranged their affairs so that they had reason to hope they would make a good shop with my aid.

Now, I see, they do the contrary, especially Giovan Simone. From this I know that it is profitless to try and do him good. Had it been possible on the day when I received your letter I should have mounted on horseback and by this time should have settled everything; but not being able to do so, I write him such a letter as appears to me to be necessary, and if from now he does not change his nature, or if ever he takes from the home so much as a stick, or does anything to displease you, I pray you to let me know, because I will obtain leave from the Pope to come to you, when I shall show him his error. I wish you to be certain that all the labours which I have continually endured have been more for your sake than for my own, and the property which I have bought I have bought that it may be yours whilst you live. Had it not been for you I should not have bought it. Therefore, if it please you to let this house or the farm, do so; and with that income and with what I shall give you you will live like a gentleman. Were it not that the summer were coming on I would say come and live with me here, but it is not the season, for here in summer you would not live long. It has occurred to me to take from him (Giovan Simone) the money which he has in the shop, and to give it to Gismondo, so that he and Buonarroto may get on together as well as they can ... and if you let these said houses and the farm of the Pazolatica, and with that income and with the help that I will give you besides, you will take refuge in some place where you will be comfortable, and you will be able to keep some one to serve you either in Florence or outside Florence, and leave that good-for-nothing ... I pray you to consider yourself, and in all things whatever you wish to do-that is, for yourself in all you desire-I will aid you all I know and can. Let me hear about Ca.s.sandra's affairs. I am advised not to go to law about it here.

I am told that I shall spend here three times as much as there; and this is certain, for a grosso goes further there than two carlini here. Besides, I have no friend here to trust to, and I could not attend to such things. It seems to me, when you desire to attend to it, that you should go by the usual way, as reason demands, and you must defend yourself as well as you are able and know how; and for the money that is necessary to spend I will not fail as long as I have any. Have as little fear as you can, for it is not a case of life and death. No more. Let me know, as I told you above.

"From MICHAEL ANGELO, in Rome."(107)

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THE DELUGE