Giorgio Vasari

“ Passing once through Modena, he saw many beautiful figures which the Modanese sculptor. Maestro Antonio Bigarino, had made of terra-cotta, coloured to look like marble, which appeared to him to be most excellent productions; and as that sculptor did not know how to work in marble, he said, “If this earth were to become marble, woe to the antiques.”
Michelagnolo was told that he ought to resent the perpetual competition of Nanni di Baccio Bigio, to which he replied: “He who strives with those who have nothing gains but little.” ”

“ Who, in any period of the world’s history, has ever seen statues, ancient or modern, exhibiting equal art? Not only is there here the repose of one who sleeps, hut the grief and regret of one who has lost a great and valued possession. This is the Night that obscures all those who for a certain time expected, I will not say to surpass, but to equal Michelagnolo. ”

“ Another privilege, and one of which he often reminded me, is, that I have been in the service of Duke Cosimo. “Thank God for this, Giorgio,” has Michelagnolo said to me; “for to enable thee to build and paint, in execution of his thoughts and designs, he spares no expense, and this, as thou seest well, by the Lives thou hast written, is a thing which few artists have experienced.” ”

“ Every beholder who can judge of such things, now stands amazed at the excellence of the figures, the perfection of the foreshortenings, the astonishing roundness of the outlines, and the grace and flexibility, with the beautiful truth of proportion, which are seen in the exquisite nude forms here exhibited; and the better to display the resources of his art, Michelagnolo has given them of every age, with varieties of expression and form as well as of countenance and feature; some are more slender, others fuller ”

“ To this letter Michelagnolo replied by the following:—
“My dear Friend Giorgio,—I have felt much pleasure in reading your last, seeing that you still remember the poor old man, and also because you were present at the triumph of which you write, and have seen the birth of another Buonarroto. For this intelligence I thank you as much as I can or may, although I am displeased by so much pomp, seeing that no man should laugh when the whole world is in tears. I think, too, that Leonardo should not rejoice so much over the birth of one who is but beginning to live ”

“ This offender having departed, the Pope, his rage thus cooled upon the prelate, bestowed his benediction on Michelagnolo, who was detained in Bologna by numerous gifts and promises. His Holiness ultimately giving him the commission for a Statue in bronze, being a Portrait of that Pontiff himself five braccia high. In this work, our artist displayed high powers of art, the attitude is majestic and graceful, the draperies are rich and magnificent, while the countenance exhibits animation, force, resolution, and an imposing dignity. ”

“ Boldness and grace are equally conspicuous in the work as a whole, and in every part; in the cornices, corbels, the niches for statues, the commodious staircase, and its fanciful divisions—in all the building, at a word, which is so unlike the common fashion of treatment, that every one stands amazed at the sight thereof.
About this time Michelagnolo sent his disciple, Pietro Urbano of Pistoja, to Rome, there to execute a figure of Christ on the Cross, which is indeed a most admirable work: it was afterwards erected beside the principal Chapel in the Minerva [62] by M. Antonio Metelli. ”

“ The Almighty Creator was also pleased to accompany the above with the comprehension of the true Philosophy and the adornment of graceful Poesy, to the end that the world might select and admire in him an extraordinary example of blamelessness in life and every action, as well as of perfection in all his works: insomuch that he might be considered by us to be of a nature rather divine than human. And as the Supreme Ruler perceived that in the execution of all these sublime arts. ”

“ Those who had before believed themselves acquainted with Art, are led bound and captive by the work before us, and, gazing on the evidence of power in these contours, they tremble and fear as if some great Spirit had possessed himself of the art of design; examining these labours, their senses are bewildered at the mere thought of what other paintings executed, or to be executed, must needs appear, when brought into comparison with this paragon. ”

“ It represented Paine, or Honour, under the semblance of a youth in a fine attitude, and bearing a trumpet in the right hand, while his feet are planted on the figures of Time and Death, to show that Fame and Honour, in despite of Death and Time, maintain those who have powerfully acted in this life, in the perpetual memory of their fellow men. ”

“ Michelagnolo found his chief pleasure in the labours of art; all that he attempted, however difficult, proving successful, because nature had imparted to him the most admirable genius, and his application to those excellent studies of design was unremitting. For the greater exactitude, he made numerous dissections of the human frame, examining the anatomy of each part, the articulations of the joints, the various muscles, the nerves, the veins, and all the different minutiae of the human form. ”

“ Knowing therefore that your Excellency was honoured by Michelagnolo as much as he was favoured by your Excellency, they pray you of your infinite goodness and liberality to be pleased to permit, first, that the solemnities shall be held in the Church of San Lorenzo, which was built by your ancestors, wherein are so many fine works, both in architecture and sculpture, by his hand, and near which it is your purpose to erect an abode which, for the Academy and Company of Design, shall be as it were an abiding seat of study, whether in architecture, painting, or sculpture. ”

“ Many, indeed, who have not possessed Michelagnolo’s distinction in design, have sought by the variety of their tints and shades of colouring, by many fanciful and varied inventions, or, in short, by some other method of proceeding, to make their way to a place beside the first masters; but Michelagnolo, taking firm ground on the most recondite principles of art, has made manifest to all who know enough to profit by his teaching, the means by which they may attain perfection. ”

“ In addition to all this, and furthermore to display the perfection of his art as well as the greatness of God, Michelagnolo likewise depicted a story exhibiting the division of the Light from the Darkness. The majesty of the Supreme Creator is displayed in the awful dignity of his attitude; Self-sustained, He stands with extended arms, and a countenance at once expressive of power and love. The second picture, evincing admirable judgment and ability, portrays the Almighty when He creates the Sun and Moon. ”

“ Here his memory came to his aid, he remembered precisely the sort of absurdity required, and which he had seen on a wall; this he reproduced as exactly as if he had had it before his eyes, surpassing all the painters around him: a very difficult thing for a man so accomplished in design, and so exclusively accustomed to the most elevated and finished works of mastery as was Michelagnolo. ”

“ He was an ardent admirer of beauty for the purposes of art; and from the beautiful he knew how to select the most beautiful, a quality without which no master can produce perfection; but he was not liable to the undue influence of beauty, as his whole life has proved. In all things Michelagnolo was exceedingly moderate; ever intent upon his work during the period of youth, he contented himself with a little bread and wine, and at a later period, until he had finished the Chapel namely, it was his habit to take but a frugal refreshment at the close of his day’s work ”

“ Truly fortunate may that man be esteemed, and happy are his recollections, who has been privileged to behold this wonder of our age. Thrice blessed and fortunate art thou, O Paul III., since Grod has permitted that under thy protection was sheltered that renown which the pens of writers shall give to his memory and thine own! ”

“ None will marvel that Michelagnolo should be a lover of solitude, devoted as he was to Art, which demands the whole man, with all his thoughts, for herself. He who resigns his life to her may well disregard society, seeing that he is never alone nor without food for contemplation ”

“ The ability of Michelagnolo was, however, clearly perceived by Messer Jacopo Galli, a Roman gentleman of much judgment, who commissioned him to make a Cupid, the size of life, with a Bacchus of ten palms high; the latter holds a Tazza in the right hand, and in the left he has the skin of a Tiger, with a bunch of grapes which a little Satyr is trying to nibble away from him. In this figure the artist has evidently brought to mingle beauties of a varied kind, labouring to exhibit the bold bearing of the youth united to the fulness and roundness of the female form ”

“ But indeed all the young men who studied in the garden received stipends of greater or less amount from the liberality of that magnificent and most noble citizen, being constantly encouraged and rewarded by him while he lived.
At this time and by the advice of Politiano, Michelagnolo executed a Battle of Hercules with the Centaurs in a piece of marble given to him by Lorenzo, and which proved to be so beautiful, that whosoever regards this work can scarcely believe it to have been that of a youth, but would rather suppose it the production of an experienced master. ”

“ In these, as well as in the architecture of the Tombs, all are compelled to admit that he has surpassed every artist in all the three vocations. Among the Statues, either rough-hewn, or finished in marble by Michelagnolo for that Sacristy, is one of Our Lady. This is a seated figure with the limbs crossed, the Infant Christ being placed astride on the uppermost, and turning with an expression of ineffable sweetness towards the mother, as if entreating for the breast; while the Virgin, holding him with one hand and supporting herself with the other, is bending forward to give it him. ”

“ Our artist did nevertheless greatly prize the friendship of distinguished and learned men, he enjoyed the society of such at all convenient seasons, maintaining close intercourse with them, more especially with the illustrious Cardinal Ippolito de’ Medici, who loved him greatly. Having heard that an Arab horse which he possessed was much admired for its beauty by Michelagnolo, the Cardinal sent it to him as a present, with ten mules, all laden with corn, and a servant to take care of those animals, which the master accepted very willingly. ”

“ In this work the painter above-named showed much knowledge and judgment, the whole composition and every part of it doing him much honour, seeing that the propriety and grace of the attitudes, the animation of the faces, and the life-like movement imparted to each figure, gave proof of rich inventive power, great knowledge of design, and infinite grace. ”

“ He would make his figures of nine, ten, and even twelve heads long, for no other purpose than the research of a certain grace in putting the parts together which is not to be found in the natural form, and would say that the artist must have his measuring tools, not in the hand but in the eye, because the hands do but operate, it is the eye that judges; he pursued the same idea in architecture also. ”