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MICHELANGELO BUONAROTTI axTRiBUTED to Bugiakdini)
Uffizi Gallery, Florence
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MICHELANGELO
A COLLECTION OF FIFTEEN PICTURES
AND A PORTRAIT OF THE MASTER
' WITH INTRODUCTION AND
INTERPRETATION
BY 146774
ESTELLE M. HURLL
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
(Si))t Bi'atvjiitiz Ij^xe^y Cambcibge
1901
COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
• • • :
' • . * * '
• «
PREFACE
In making a collection o£ prints from the works of
Michelangelo, it is impossible to secure any wide variety,
either in subject or method of treatment. We are dealing
here with a master whose import is always serious, and
whose artistic individuality is strongly impressed on all
his works, either in sculpture or painting. Our selec-
tions represent his best work in both arts. These are
arranged, not in chronological order, but in a way which
will lead the student from the subjects most familiar and
easily understood to those which are more abstract and
difficult.
ESTELLE M. HURLL.
New Bedford, Mass.
January, 1900.
CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES
PoiiTRAiT OF Michelangelo. Attributed to Bugiardini.
Frontispiece.
PAOB
INTRODUCTION
I. On Michelangelo's Character as an Artist . . . vii
II. On Books of Reference ,. . x
III. Historical Directory of the Works of Art in this
Collection xii
rv. Collateral Readings from Literature xv
V. Outline Table of the Principal Events in Michel-
angelo's Life xviii
VI. Some of Michelangelo's Famous Italian Contem-
poraries XX
L. MADONNA AND CHILD 1
n. DAVID 7
III. CUPID 13
IV. MOSES 19
V. THE HOLY FAMILY 25
VI. THE PIETI 31
VII. CHRIST TRIUMPHANT .37
VIIL THE CREATION OF MAN 43
IX. JEREMIAH 49
X. DANIEL 55
XI. THE DELPHIC SIBYL 61
r XII. THE CUM^AN SIBYL 67
XIII. LORENZO DE' MEDICI 73
XIV. TOMB OF GIULIANO DE' MEDICI 79
XV. CENTRAL FIGURES FROM THE LAST JUDGMENT . 85
XVI. PORTRAIT OF MICHELANGELO (See Frontispiece) . . 91
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND
FOREIGN WORDS 95
Note : All the pictures -with the exception of the Cupid were made
from photo^aphs by Fratelli Alinari. The Cupid was photographed from
the statue in the South Kensington Museum^ London.
INTRODUCTION
I. ON MICHELANGELO'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST.
Michelangelo's place in the world of art is altogether
unique. His supremacy is acknowledged by all, but is
understood by a few only. In the presence of his works
none can stand unimpressed, yet few dare to claim any
intimate knowledge of his art. The quality so vividly
described in the Italian word terribilita is his predomi-
nant trait. He is onejto awe rather than to attract, to
overwhelm rather than to delight. The spectator must
needs exclaim with humility, "Such knowledge is too
wonderful for me ; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."
Yet while Michelangelo can never be a popular artist in
the ordinary sense of the word, the powerful influence
which he exercises seems constantly increasing. Year by
year there are more who, drawn by the strange fascina-
tion of his genius, seek to read the meaning of his art.
" His subjects are all profoundly serious in intention.
Life was no holiday to this strenuous spirit ; it was a
stern conflict with the powers of darkness in which such
heroes as David and Moses were needed. Like the old
Hebrew prophets, the artist poured out his soul in a
vehement protest against evil, and a stirring call to right-
V^ousness.
Considered both as a sculptor and a painter, Michel-
angelo's one vehicle of expression was the human body.
His works are "form-poems," through which he uttered
V :7
viii MICHELANGELO
his message to mankind. As he writes in one of his own
sonnets,
" Nor hath God deigned to show himself elsewhere
More clearly than in human forms sublime."
In his art, says the critic Symonds, "a well-shaped
hand, or throat, or head, a neck superbly poised on an
athletic chest, the sway of the trunk above the hips, the
starting of the muscles on the flank, the tendons of the
ankle, the outline of the shoulder when the arm is raised,
the backward bending of the loins, the curves of a woman's
breast, the contours of a body careless in repose or strained
for action, were all words pregnant with profoundest
meaning, whereby fit utterance might be given to thoughts
that raise man near to God."
! Learning his first lessons in art of the Greeks, he soon
f possessed himself of the great principles of classic sculp-
1 ture. Then he boldly struck out his own path ; his was a
! spirit to lead, not to follow. With the subtle Greek sense
' of line and form, he united an entirely new motif. In
contrast to the ideal of repose which was the leading
canon of the Greeks, his chosen ideal was one of action.
Moreover, he invariably fixed upon some decisive moment
in the action he had to represent, a moment which sug-
gests both the one preceding and the one following, and
which gives us the whole story in epitome. Thus in the
David we see preparation, aim, and action. It was a far
cry from the elegant calm of the Greek god to the restless
\ energy of this rugged youth.
Even with seated figures he followed the same principle.
Moses and the Duke Giuliano are ready to rise to their
feet if need be. In his frescoes we again find the same
motif, — Adam rising to his feet in obedience to the
Creator's summons, and Christ the Judge sweeping asun-
der the multitudes.
In his love of action and his passion for the human
INTRODUCTION ix
form lay the elements of his art most easily lending them-
selves to exaggeration. That the master did indeed per-
mit himself to be carried beyond due limits in these
matters is seen by comparing the grandeur of the Sistine
ceiling with the mannerisms of the Last Judgment. The
interval between was " the time of his best technical and
spiritual creativeness," when he produced the statues of
the Sacristy of S. Lorenzo.
It was characteristic of Michelangelo's impetuous nature
to spend his enthusiasm upon the early stages of his
work, and leave it unfinished. This unfinished effect of
many of his marbles seems to bring us in closer touch
with his methods as a sculptor. Nor is a rough surface
here and there inharmonious with the rugged character
of his conceptions. Moreover, as a critic^ has pointed
out, the polished and rough portions enhance each other,
giving a variety in the light and shadow which is pictorial
in effect.
To a man of Michelangelo's austere temperament,
intensely masculine in his predilections, the beauty of
womanhood was not fully revealed. His sibyls can scarcely
be counted as women; they belong to a world of their
own, neither human nor divine. It was only in his few
Madonnas that we can trace his feminine ideal, an ideal
noble and dignified, rather than beautiful. The Madonna
of the bas-relief is proud rather than tender, the Virgin
of the Pieta is grand rather than lovely. These were
works of his youth. Later in life, when he had known
the blessing of a good woman's friendship, he developed
a new ideal in the gentle and delicate womanhood of the
Virgin of the Last Judgment.
Michelangelo has been compared with two great mas-
ters of dissimilar arts, Milton and Beethoven. There are
^ See notes on the Life of Michelangelo Buonarotti in the Blash-
field-Hopkins edition of Vasari.
X MICHELANGELO
striking points of similarity in the men themselves, in
stern uprightness of character, in scorn of the low and
trivial, in lofty idealism. The art of all three is too far
above the common level to be popular; it requires too
much thinking to attract the superficial. In poetry, in
music, and in sculpture, all three utter the profoundest
truths of human experience, expressed in grand and sol-
emn harmonies.
11. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE.
The original materials for the study of Michelangelo's
life and work are the two biogrkphies by his contempo-
raries, Vasari and Condivi. Vasari's was the first of
these (1550), and like the other portions of his "Lives of
the Painters " contained many inaccuracies. It was to
correct these that Condivi published his little book a few
years later. This rival effort aroused Vasari's wrath, and
after Michelangelo's death he issued an enlarged edition
of his own book, unscrupulously incorporating all that
was valuable in Condivi's work, and adding thereto many
reminiscences of the master's life. The fame of Vasari's
monumental work caused Condivi's little book to be en-
tirely forgotten for long years, and it has been one of the
tasks of modern scholarship to restore it to its true place.
Even now, however, there is no available form of Con-
divi's biography for American readers, though Vasari's
" Lives " in Mrs. Foster's translation is found in most
libraries. The latest edition of Vasari, published in 1897,
contains annotations by Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Blashfield,
and A. A. Hopkins, which correct all the statements in
the light of recent authorities.
Far more valuable even than the early biographies is
the mass of existing documents of the Buonarotti family,
including contracts, letters, poems, and memoranda, and
containing data for a full and exact biography of the mas-
INTRODUCTION
XL
ter. Unfortunately, however, this great storehouse of
material has been for all these centuries a sealed treasure,
given up only little by little,- to successive generations of
scholars. When Hermann Grimm wrote his celebrated
"Life of Michael Angelo" (in 1860), the only original
material accessible to him was the collection of letters in
the British Museum. His volumes are still read with
interest and profit, though it is to be regretted that they
should be reprinted without any editorial comments to
connect formerly received opinions with later conclusions.
John S. Harford's " Life of Michael Angelo Buonarotti "
was published at about the same time as Grimm's work,
that is, in 1857. It was in two volumes, and contained
translations of many of Michelangelo's poems, as well as
material about Savonarola, Vittoria Colonna, and Raphael.
The work is found in the older libraries, and is well worth
studying, as the latter portion is still valuable for all that
refers to the architecture of St. Peter's.
Signer Gotti's " Yita," in 1875, was the first to profit
to any considerable degree by documentary researches.
The conclusions of this book are best known to the Eng-
lish-reading public through Charles Heath Wilson's " Life
and Works of Michelangelo Buonarotti " (1876 and 1881),
consisting of compilations from Gotti, to which are added
original investigations of the Sistine frescoes, which are
very valuable.
More privileged than any of his predecessors was John
Addington Symonds, who, by special favor of the Italian
government, was allowed to examine the Buonarotti col-
lection in Florence, so long debarred to others. His
" Life of Michelangelo Buonarotti " is therefore unique in
being, as the sub-title announces, " based on studies in the
archives of the Buonarotti family at Florence." It was
published in 1893 in two large, finely illustrated volumes,
and is taken as the latest authoritative word on the sub-
xii MICHELANGELO
ject, a word singularly independent of others' conclusions,
and influenced by an artistic and literary nature of rare
sensitiveness.
To those who wish briefer notices of Michelangelo's
life and work than any of these full biographies are
recommended the chapters on Michelangelo in Kugler's
"Handbook of the Italian Schools," in Mrs. Jameson's
"Memoirs of the Italian Painters," in Frank Preston
Stearns's " Midsummer of Italian Art," in Mrs. Oliphant's
" Makers of Florence," and in Symonds's volume on
" Fine Arts " in the series " Renaissance in Italy."
To understand more fully the character of the man
Michelangelo, the student should read his sonnets. There
is a complete collection translated by J. A. Symonds,
while both Wordsworth and Longfellow have translated
a few.
The life of Michelangelo has furnished material for
two long poems by American writers, — Longfellow's
drama, and the poem by Stuart Sterne. The former,
which is annotated, is a well-balanced study of the great
artist's career and ideals.
III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE WORKS OF
ART IN THIS COLLECTION.
Portrait frontispiece. An oil painting in The Hall of the
Portraits of Old Masters, Uffizi Gallery, Florence. The au-
thorship of the painting is not certainly known. Symonds says
that it " may perhaps be ascribed with some show of probabil-
ity to Bugiardini. Bugiardini was a friend of Michelangelo's
youth and a fellow student in the gardens of the Medici. That
later in life he painted a portrait of his distinguished friend we
know from Vasari. Vasari tells us that the portrait showed a
peculiarity in the right eye, and this fact lends probability to
the identification of the Uffizi portrait with Bugiardini's work.
1. Madonna and Child, an unfinished bas-relief medallion,
made, according to Vasari, during Michelangelo's residence in
INTRODUCTION xiii
Florence in 1501-1505. It was made for Bartolommeo Pitti.
It is now in the National Museum (Bargello), Florence.
2. David, a statue made from a block of Carrara marble
which had been spoiled by an unskilled sculptor. After it had
lain useless in Florence for a century, a sculptor applied to the
board of works of the cathedral for permission to use it. The
board consulted Michelangelo and offered him the marble. He
undertook to cut from it a single figure which would exactly
use the block. The contract to make the statue of David was
drawn up in 1501, and the statue was completed in 1504.
Forty men were employed four days to remove it from the
cathedral works to the Piazza della Signoria, where it was
placed on the platform of the palace (Palazzo Vecchio), remain-
ing in the open air more than three centuries. The weather
was beginning to injure it, and it was removed in 1873 to the
Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, where it now stands.
3. Cupid. Symonds gives the following account of the statue
in the " Life of Michelangelo," published in 1893 : " Discovered
some forty years ago, hidden away in the cellars of the Gual-
fonda (Ruccellai) Gardens, Florence,n5yTrofessor Milanesi and
the famous Florentine sculptor, Santarelli. On a cursory exam-
ination they both declared it to be a genuine Michelangelo.
The left arm was broken, the right hand damaged, and the hair
had never received the sculptor's final touches. Santarelli re-
stored the arm, and the Cupid passed by purchase into the pos-
session of the English nation." It is now in the Museum of
South Kensington.
4. Moses, a statue on the tomb commemorative of Julius 11.,^
in the church of S. Pietro in Vincoli, Rome. At the beginning
of Michelangelo's connection with Julius IL, he made plans
for a magnificent monumental tomb for this pope, to be orna-
mented with more than forty statues and to be of great size
(34^ X 23 feet). The fickleness of the Pope caused a contin-
ual series of disappointments in the progress of the work, which
was finally abandoned for the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel.
After the death of the Pope, his executors were even less zeal-
^ The Pope, Julius II., is buried at St. Peter's.
xiv MICHELANGELO
ous for the completion of the tomb. A succession of contracts
were made and broken, each one reducing the size and impor-
tance of the design. The artist was continually in demand for
other work. Finally, in 1542, to leave him free for the ser-
vices of the Pope, the completion of the tomb was put into other
hands. The statue of Moses, with those of Rachel and Leah,
is all that Michelangelo contributed to a work which had
occupied his thoughts for nearly forty years. The setting of
the Moses is in every way exceedingly unfavorable to a proper
appreciation of the work.
5. Holy Family, a tempera painting belonging to the Flor-
entine period 1501-1505, and painted for Angelo Doni. It is
now in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
6. The Fieta, a marble group executed by the order of the
Cardinal di San Dionigi according to a contract drawn up Au-
gust 28, 1498. It was placed in the old basilica of St. Peter's
(Rome), in a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Fever (Ma-
donna della Febbre). In the present church of St. Peter's it
occupies a side chapel, to which it gives its name, where it is
placed so high that it is impossible to see it well, and where its
beauty is disfigured by the bronze cherubs fastened above, hold-
ing a crown over the Virgin's head.
7. Christ Triumphant, a marble statue ordered by Bernardo
Cencio (a canon of St. Peter's), Mario Scappuci, and Metello
Varj dei Porcari for the church of S. Maria sopra Minerva,
Rome, where it still stands. The deed was executed in 1514,
specifying that the statue should be of marble, " life sized,
naked, erect, with a cross in his arms." It appears from
Michelangelo's correspondence that the work was finished by
apprentices, first by Pietro Urbano, who did so badly that he
was discharged and replaced by Federigo Frizzi. It was com-
pleted in 1521, when Michelangelo offered to make a new statue
if it was not satisfactory. Varj, however, declared that the
sculptor had " already made what could not be surpassed and
was incomparable," so the statue was placed in position.
8-12. The Creation of Man, Jeremiah, Daniel, The Del-
phic Sibyl, the Ctimcean Sibyl, frescoes on the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel, Rome, begun in 1508 at the order of the Pope
INTRODUCTION
XV
Julius II. Michelangelo undertook the work reluctantly, as
sculpture was his chosen art. The architect Braraante first
made a scaffolding for the work, so clumsily constructed that
Michelangelo replaced it by one of his own invention. Several
Florentine painters were engaged as assistants, but, failing to
satisfy the painter, returned. Julius II. often visited the chapel
during the work, climbing to the scaffolding to see how it pro-
gressed. Impatient to see it, he gave orders to have the ceiling
uncovered when but half finished. The first uncovering took
place November 1, 1509. The work was completed October,
1512.
13-14. Lorenzo de' Medici, Tomb of Giuliano de' Medici,
marble tombs first projected in 1520 or 1521, during the pon-
tificate of Leo X. (formerly Giovanni de' Medici). The order
was renewed by Clement VII., another Medici pope, in 1523.
The work was carried on intermittently a number of years
during which occurred the revolution, siege, and recapture of
Florence. From 1530-1533 Michelangelo carried them to the
point of completion in which they are now seen : they were
never fully finished. The identity of the tombs was long a mat-
ter of doubt. Though Vasari had called the helmeted figure
Lorenzo and the other Giuliano, there were critics, notably
Grimm, who took the opposite view. In 1875 the sarcophagus
of the helmeted figure was opened and evidence found proving
it to be unquestionably the tomb of Lorenzo, as Vasari had said.
Both tombs remain as originally placed in the new sacristy of
the church of San Lorenzo, Florence.
15. Central Figures of the Last Judgment, a fresco paint-
ing on the wall of the Sistine Chapel, executed by the order
of the Pope Paul III., who in 1535 api)ointed Michelangelo
chief architect, sculptor, and painter at the Vatican. The work
occupied several years and was completed in 1541.
IV. COLLATERAL READINGS FROM LITERATURE.
IN CONNECTION WITH THE SEVERAL WORKS HERE REPRESENTED.
The Madonna and Child and the Holy Family : —
The Latin hymn. Mater Speciosa, by Jacobus de Bene-
dictis, translated by Dr. Neale.
xvi MICHELANGELO
David : —
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. History of the Jewish Church,
Part II. Lectures XXII.-XXV. : David.
Robert Browning. Poem, Saul.
Psalm Twenty-three.
Cupid : —
Richard Crashaw. Poem, Cupid's Cryer ; out of the
Greek.
Edmund Gosse. Poem, Cupido Crucifixus.
Moses : —
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. History of the Jewish Church,
Part I, Lectures V.-VIII. : Moses.
Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney. The Open Mystery : A Read-
ing of the Mosaic Story, Part IV.
The Song of Moses : Deuteronomy, chapter xxxii.
The Prayer of Moses : Psalm Ninety.
Cecil Frances Alexander. Poem, The Burial of
Moses.
Sonnet on the statue of Moses by Giovanni Battista
Felice Zappi, translated by J. A. Symonds (in Life of
Michelangelo Buonarotti).
The Pieta : —
Latin hymn, Stabat Mater, by Jacobus de Benedictis,
translated by Lord Lindsay, by General Dix or by
Dr. Coles.
Christ Triumphant : —
Henryk Sienkiewicz. Quo Vadis, chapter Ixix.
Frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, general impressions : —
Symonds. Renaissance in Italy, volume on the Fine
Arts, chapter viii. : Life of Michael Angelo.
Taine. Italy, book iii., chapter ix. : Michael Angelo.
Andersen. The Improvisatore, chapter xii. : AUegri's
Miserere, in the Sistine Chapel.
The Creation of Man : —
Milton. Paradise Lost, book VIIL, lines 500-528.
Jeremiah : —
Lucy Larcom. Poem, The Weeping Prophet.
INTRODUCTION rvii
Daniel : —
Sir Edwin Arnold. Poem, The Feast of Belshazzar.
The Delphic Sibyl : —
Lord Houghton. Delphi, a poem included in Long-
fellow's collection of Poems of Places, volume on
Greece.
The Cumsean Sibyl : —
Virgil, ^neid, sixth book, translated by C. P. Cranch
or by John Conington.
The Medicean Tombs, general impressions : —
Symonds. The Renaissance in Italy, volume on the
Fine Arts, chapter viii. : Life of Michael Angelo.
Taine. Italy, book iii., chapter v. : The Florentine
School of Art.
Mrs. Oliphant. The Makers of Florence, chapter xv. :
Michael Angelo.
Rogers. Italy : poem on Florence.
Lorenzo de' Medici : —
Milton. II Penseroso.
Tomb of Giuliano de' Medici : —
Charles Algernon Swinburne. Poem, In San Lorenzo.
The Last Judgment : —
The Latin hymn, Dies Irae, by Thomas de Celano,
translated by General John E. Dix.
Alexander Dumas. Les Trois Maitres : Description of
Last Judgment, translated by Esther Singleton in the
compilation Great Pictures described by Great
Writers.
The portrait of Michelangelo : —
C. P. Cranch. Michael Angelo Buonarotti, a poem read
at a celebration of • the 400th anniversary of his birth,
included in Longfellow's collection of Poems of Places,
volume on Italy.
xviii MICHELANGELO
V. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN
MICHELANGELO'S LIFE.
{Based on Symonds* Life of Michelangelo Buonarotti, to which the
accompanying notes on pages refer.)
1475. Born at Caprese, March 6 (p. 4).
1488. Apprenticed to Domenico and David Ghirlandajo, April
1 (p. 12).
1489-1492. Under the patronage of Lorenzo the Magnificent,
in the Casa Medici (p. 23).
1494, 1495. In Bologna, work on the tomb of St. Dominick
(pp. 47, 48).
1495. Return to Florence, the Sleeping Cupid (pp. 50-52).
1496-1498. In Rome : —
The Bacchus (p. 58).
The South Kensington Cupid (p. 62).
The Pietk (p. 69).
1500. A second visit to Rome (p. 80).
1501-1505. In Florence (p. 87).
1504. Statue of David (p. 96) taken from workshop, May
14 ; arrived at Piazza Signoria, May 18 ; set in place,
June 8.
Commissioned in August to prepare cartoons for decora-
tion of Hall in Palazzo Vecchio, on wall opposite to
that assigned to Leonardo da Vinci (p. 119).
1505. Arrival in Rome to work under patronage of the Pope
Julius IL (p. 126).
Preparations begun for work on tomb of Julius and trip
to Carrara to select marbles (p. 129).
1506. His angry flight from Rome (p. 155).
Visit in Florence and completion of competitive car-
toon (Battle of Pisa) for Palazzo Vecchio (p. 161).
Reconciliation with the Pope at Bologna, November
(p. 186).
1506-1508. Residence in Bologna, and statue of Julius II.
(pp. 187 and 195).
1508. Return to Florence, March (p. 197).
TfKence to Rome by order of Julius II. (p. 198).
Frescoes of the Sistine Chapel begun (p. 206).
INTRODUCTION
xiz
1509. First uncovering of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, showing
frescoes in the central space (pp. 209, 211).
1512. Sistine frescoes completed, October (p. 217).
1513. Death of Michelangelo's patron, Julius II., Feb. 21.
New contract for tomb, dated May 6 (p. 302).
1514. Contract for life size marble statue of Christ. Date of
deed, June 14 (p. 305).
1516. Reduced plan for tomb of Julius II. (p. 320).
Visit to Carrara to quarry marble.
Suspension of work on tomb to make facade of church
of S. Lorenzo (Florence) for Pope Leo X. (p. 323).
1518. Contract for facade of S. Lorenzo, Jan. 19 (p. 328).
1518, 1519. To and from Florence and Carrara for marble
(pp. 331, 339, 341, 342).
1520. Fagade of S. Lorenzo abandoned (p. 349).
1521. Work begun on tombs in sacristy of S. Lorenzo (p. 357).
Statue of Christ finished (pp. 306, 359).
Death of Michelangelo's patron, Leo X., Dec. 1.
1523. Fresh beginning of project of the Medicean tombs in
sacristy of S. Lorenzo (p. 372).
1524. Vasari's apprenticeship with Michelangelo (p. 389).
1525. Work in Florence on Medicean tombs (p. 391).
1526. Work begun on Laurentian Library (p. 397).
1527. 1528. Uneventful years in Florence (p. 404).
1529. His services on the fortifications of S. Miniato, to de-
fend Florence against the Medici (pp. 409, 412).
Flight from Florence to Venice, Sept. 21 (p. 416).
1530. Capitulation of Florence (p. 435).
Michelangelo in hiding (p. 437).
Resumption of work on Medicean tombs (p. 438).
1530-1533. Work on Medicean tombs (p. 447).
1532. New contract for tomb of Julius IL (p. 455).
1534. Death of Clement VII.
1535. Appointed chief architect, sculptor, and painter at the
Vatican by Pope Paul III., Sept. 1 (vol. ii. p. 40).
1536-1537. Work on the Last Judgment (vol. ii. p. 43).
1538-1547. Friendship with Vittoria Colonna (vol. ii. pp. 93,
117, 125).
XX
MICHELANGELO
1541. Last Judgment shown to the public, Christmas day
(voL ii. p. 58).
1542. Work assigned by Paul IIL for frescoes in the Pauline
Chapel (vol. ii. p. 69).
Michelangelo's last contract for tomb of Julius XL.
(vol. ii. pp. 40, 69, 73).
1544. Illness (vol. ii. pp. 183, 187).
1546. Michelangelo succeeds Antonio da Gallo as architect-in-
chief at St. Peter's (vol. ii. p. 213).
1552. Invitation of Duke Cosimo de' Medici to return to Flor-
ence declined (vol. ii. pp. 289-291).
1556. Excursion to Spoleto (vol. ii. p. 303).
1557. Model for cupola of St. Peter's <vol. ii. p. 232).
1564. Death in Rome, Feb. 17 (vol. ii. p. 320).
VI. SOME OF MICHELANGELO'S FAMOUS ITALIAN
CONTEMPORARIES.
RULERS.
Florentine Dukes : —
Lorenzo de' Medici, 1469-1492.
Piero de' Medici succeeded Lorenzo 1492, expelled from Flor-
ence 1493.
Alessandro de' Medici, made first hereditary duke of Florence
1531, assassinated 1537.
Cosimo de' Medici succeeded Alessandro, 1537-1574.
Popes : —
Sixtus IV., 1471-1484. Clement VIL, 1523-1534.
Innocent VIIL, 1484-1492. Paul IIL, 1534-1550.
Alexander VL, 1492-1503. Marcellus IL, 1550-1555.
- Pius IIL, 1503-1503. Paul IV., 1555-1555..
Julius IL, 1503-1513. Pius IV., 1555-1559.
Leo X., 1513-1522. Pius V., 1559-1566.
Hadrian VL, 1522-1523.
MEN OF LETTERS.
Boiardo, 1434-1494, poet (Orlando Innamorato).
Ariosto, 1474-1533, poet (Orlando Furioso).
INTRODUCTION xxi
Aretino (Venetian) 1492-1557, poet.
Francesco Berni, 1496-1535, burlesque poet.
Bandello, 1480-1562, novelUero.
Sannazaro, 1458-1530, poet (Arcadia).
Niccolo Machiavelli, 1469-1527, author of The Prince.
Gucciardini, 1483-1540, historian.
Tasso, 1544-1595, poet (Gerusalemme Liberata).
Group centring about Lorenzo the Magnificent in Florence,
Cristoforo Landino, 1424-1504, tutor of Lorenzo, and professor
of Latin Literature.
Bartolommeo Scala, 1430-1497, chancellor of Florence.
Luigi Pulci, 1431-1487, writer of burlesque epic II Morgante
Maggiore, and intimate friend of Lorenzo and Poliziano.
Marsilio Ficino, 1433-1499, president of Academy in 1463,
translator of Plato and Plotinus.
Angelo Poliziano, 1454-1494, tutor of Lorenzo's children, and
professor of Greek and Latin Literature in University of
Florence.
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, 1463-1494, published 900
theses at Rome in defence of Platonic mysticism.
Group in Rome : —
Pietro Bembo, 1470-1547, made cardinal in 1539, master of
Latin style and also writer in Italian.
Jacopo Sadoleto, 1477-1547, made cardinal in 1536, writer of
Latin verses, moral treatises, and commentary on Romans.
Egidio Canisio, 1470-1532, made cardinal in 1457, Latin orator
and writer on philosophy, history, and theology.
Paolo Giovio, 1483-1552, bishop of Nocera 1528, historian and
biographer.
Baldassare Castiglione, 1478-1529, diplomatist and scholar.
Gian Francesco Pico della Mirandola, 1470-1533, author of
life of Savonarola.
Jerome Aleander, 1480-1542, made cardinal in 1536, librarian
at Vatican.
Marcus Musurus, 1470-1517, lecturer in Gymnasium CabaUini
Montis.
xxii MICHELANGELO
Joannes Lascaris, 1445-1535, superintendent of Greek press
established in Rome by Leo X.
Riario, Giulio de' Medici, Bibbiena, Petrucci, Farnese, Alidosi,
Gonzaga, cardinals and patrons of literature.
PAINTERS.
Ghirlandajo, 1449-1495 ? Florentine
Verrocchio, 1435-1488 "
Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519 "
Bartolommeo, 1475-1517 "
Francesco Granacci, 1477-1543 (friend of Michelangelo) "
Giuliano Bugiardini, 1475-1554 (friend of Michelangelo) "
Raphael, 1483-1520
Andrea del Sarto, 1486-1531 "
Sebastiano del Piombo, 1485-1547 "
Giorgio Vasari, 1512-1574 "
Giovanni Bellini, 1428-1516 Venetian
Giorgione, 1477-1510 "
Titian, 1477-1576 «
Tintoretto, 1518-1594 "
Paolo Veronese, 1528-1588 "
Perugino, 1446-1523 Umbrian
Bazzi, 1477-1549 Sienese
Baldassare Peruzzi, 1481-1536 (also architect) "
Domenico Beccafumi, 1486-1551 "
Mantegna, 1431-1506 Mantuan
Francia, 1450-1518 Bolognese
Correggio, 1494-1534 Emilian
MISCELLANEOUS.
Savonarola, 1452-1498, prior of monastery of S. Marco, Florence,
preacher, reformer, martyr.
Marc' Antonio, 1487-1539, engraver.
Bramante, 1444-1514, architect of St. Peter's.
Antonio da San Gallo, 1485-1546, architect of St. Peter's.
Christopher Columbus, 1436 or 1446-1506, discoverer.
Aldo Manuzio (Teobaldo Mannucci), 1450-1515, printer, estab-
lished press at Venice 1490.
Vittoria Colonna, 1490-1547, poet.
THE MADONNA AND CHILD
About two thousand years ago a babe was born
in the httle Judsean village of Bethlehem whose life
was to change all history. His name was Jesus, and
every Christian country now takes his birth as a
standard from which to reckon time. When we
speak of the year 1900, we are counting the number
of years that have passed since that event.^ To
make this clear we sometimes add the initials A. D.,
standing for the Latin words. Anno Domini, mean-
ing in the year of our Lord. To go still farther
back we speak of an event as so many years b. c. or
Before Christ.
The infant Jesus came to his mother Mary as a
peculiar treasure. Before his birth she had had a
vision of an angel telling her that her son was to
reign over a great kingdom. She felt that there
was a great and solemn mystery in his life.
At the time he was born, Bethlehem happened to
be crowded with people who had come there to pay
their taxes. When Mary and her husband Joseph
went to the inn, there was no room for them, and
the baby was laid in a manger used to feed cattle.
^ To be perfectly exact we must always add four years to a date
to get the full length of time passed since the birth of Christ, as a
mistake has been made in the calculation.
2 MICHELANGELO
This was a humble cradle for one destined to be a
king ; but the mother did not think too much o£
outward things. Her confidence in her son's great-
ness was not to be shaken by trifles like this.
The new-born babe was soon sought out. First
came some shepherds asking to see him^ because,
while watching their sheep at night, they had had
a vision of angels telling them that a Saviour was
born in Bethlehem. Still stranger visitors were
some wise men from the East, who said they had
seen a star which signified to them the birth of a
king. They brought the babe royal gifts of gold
and frankincense and myrrh, and returned on their
way well pleased with the success of their journey*
When the babe was about a month old he was
carried up to the great city of Jerusalem, where,
according to the religious custom of the Jews, he
was to be offered or presented to the Lord, in the
temple. Here a saintly old man named Simeon
took him in his arms, with some strange words of
prophecy of the salvation which this child was to
bring to the world.
All these things made a deep impression upon
Mary, and she was a proud and devoted mother.
Day by day she watched her child grow " strong in
spirit, filled with wisdom ; and the grace of God
was upon him." It is said that
" All mothers worship little feet,
And kiss the very ground they 've trod,"
and this mother had special cause for child worship.
The Italians always refer to the mother of Jesus
Alioari, Photo.
John Andrew & Son, Sc.
MADONNA AND CHILD
National Museum, Florence
THE MADONNA AND CHILD 5
as the Madonna, which is the old ItaHan way of
addressing a lady. This representation of the Ma-
donna and Child makes us understand better what
the two were to each other. The confiding way
in which the boy leans against his mother's knee
shows the love between them. The mother looks
like a queen ; on her well-poised head she wears a
headdress something like a crown. As the mother
of a prince she bears her honors proudly.
On her lap is the book from which she has been
reading. The child seems dreaming of the wonder-
ful words he has heard, as he rests his cheek on his
little hand, his elbow bent across the open page. A
thoughtful mood is upon them both, and there is
something wistful in the boy's attitude. The mes-
sage they have read must indeed be a solemn one.
Perhaps it is something which recalls to the mother
the promise of the angel in foretelling the birth of
Jesus. She thinks of the great honors that are to
be his, and also of the sacrifices by which they must
be won. The book may be open at the words of
one of those old Hebrew prophets who longed for
the coming of the Redeemer. There is a verse in
the prophecy of Isaiah, which speaks of a child upon
whose shoulders the government shall rest.^ The
writer tells some of the many names by which he
shall be called, and we may imagine this mother
and child going over together these strange titles :
^^ Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The
Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
^ Isaiah, chapter ix. verse 6.
6 MICHELANGELO
Our illustration is from a bas-relief by Michel-
angelo, and as we examine it closely we discover
that the sculptor's work was left unfinished. The
rough marks of the chisel are still seen on the sur-
face of the marble. A child's figure in the back-
ground is quite indistinct. Probably it was intended
for the boy St. John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus.
The child Jesus himself is by no means completed ;
his right arm is only faintly indicated.
As we shall learn from other examples of sculp-
ture in this book/ Michelangelo often neglected to
carry his work to completion. He was so possessed
with his ideas that he could not work fast enough
in sketching them on the marble, but after this, it
did not matter so much to him about the finishing.
He had done enough to show his meaning.
There are reasons for liking such work all the
better for being unfinished. Some of the most
delightful stories ever written, like those of Haw-
thorne, leave something at the end still unexplained.
The reader's imagination is then free to go on for-
ever exploring the mystery, and inventing new
situations. So in this bas-relief, the great sculptor
does not work out the details, but allows us to exer-
cise our own fancy upon them. He sketches his
thought in a few noble lines, and each may round
out for himself the completed ideal.
1 Note particularly the Cupid on page 15, and the tomb of Giuliano
de' Medici on page 81.
II
DAVID
Long ago in the country of Palestine lived a lad
named David, who kept his father's sheep. His
free life out of doors made him strong and manly
beyond his years. The Israelites were at this time
at war with the Philistines, and David's quick wit
and indomitable courage fitted him to play an im-
portant part in the issue of the war.
The Philistine army contained a giant named
Goliath, described as " six cubits and a span " in
height. That is over ten feet ; but perhaps his ter-
rible appearance, in all his armor, made him taller
than he really was.
One day this giant came out from his army and
made a proposal to the Israelites : ^ " Choose you a
man for you, and let him come down to me. If he
be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will
we be your servants : but if I prevail against him
and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and
serve us." Every day, morning and evening for
forty days, the Philistine stood forth and repeated
his challenge, yet in vain. Saul, the king, and all
Israel, were " dismayed and greatly afraid."
Now it happened that David's three elder brothers
^ 1 Samuel, chapter xvii. verses 8, 9.
8 MICHELANGELO
were in the Israelite army, and one day their father
sent him to them with a present of some provisions.
While the lad was talking with his brothers, Goliath
came out with his usual call of defiance. David
listened with wonder and indignation. " Who is
this Philistine?" he asked scornfully, "that he
should defy the armies of the living God ? " The
brothers were angry at what they thought foolish
bravado on the part of David ; but there were others
who reported his words to Saul, who forthwith sent
for the lad. Then David amazed the king by boldly
offering to go and fight with the Philistine.
" And Saul said to David, ' Thou art not able to
go against this Philistine to fight with him : for
thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his
youth.' And David said unto Saul, ' Thy servant
kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and
a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock : And I
went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it
out of his mouth : and when he arose against me, I
caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew
him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear.
. . . The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of
the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will
deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.' And
Saul said unto David, ' Go, and the Lord be with
thee.'
" And Saul armed David with his armour, and he
put an helmet of brass upon his head ; also he armed
him with a coat of mail. And David girded his
sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go ; for
Alinari, Pboto.
John Andrew & Son, Sc.
DAVID
Academy of Fine Arts, Florence
DAVID U
he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul,
^ I cannot go with these ; for I have not proved
them.' And David put them off him. And he
took his staff in his hand and chose him five smooth
stones out of the brook, . . . and his sHng was in
his hand : and he drew near to the PhiHstine. . . .
^^And when the Philistine looked about, and saw
David, he disdained him : for he was but a youth,
and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. . . . And
the Philistine said to David, ' Come to me, and I
will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and
to the beasts of the field.' Then said David to
the Philistine, ' Thou comest to me with a sword,
and with a spear, and with a shield : but I come
to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God
of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand ;
and I will smite thee, and take thine head from
thee.' ...
"And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose,
and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David
hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the PhiHs-
tine. And David put his hand in his bag, and took
thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philis-
tine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his
forehead ; and he fell upon his face to the earth.
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling
and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew
him ; but there was no sword in the hand of David.
Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine,
and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath
12 MICHELANGELO
thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head there-
with. And when the Philistines saw their champion
was dead, they fled." ^
This heroic adventure of David is the subject
of Michelangelo's statue. The shepherd, having
thrown off the king's armor, advances naked and
unhampered, carrying only the sling flung across
his back. The large muscular hand hanging by his
side holds the piece of wood on which the sling is
hung. It is the hand that wrenched the lamb from
the lion's mouth and then seized the king of beasts
himself by the beard. The left hand, poised on the
shoulder, holds the centre of the sling where it
bulges with the pebble. The youth scans the enemy
keenly, marking the spot at which to aim. In
another moment the pebble will be speeding on its
way. His air of confidence makes us sure of the
victory. Determination like this must win the day.
Critics of sculpture tells us that the statue of
David must have been studied from a model of the
age which Michelangelo imagined as that of the
shepherd lad at this time. The figure is that of a
growing youth, and although it is therefore not so
beautiful as a type of perfectly developed manhood,
it has a rugged strength which makes it one of the
sculptor's most interesting works.
^ 1 Samuel, chapter xvii. verses 33-51.
Ill
CUPID
In the mythology of ancient Greece there is no
more popular figure than the little god of love, Eros,
more commonly known by the Latin name Cupid.
He was supposed to be the son of Venus, the god-
dess of love and beauty, whom he attended. He
was never without his bow and quiver of arrows.
Whoever was hit by one of his magic darts straight-
way fell in love. The wound was at once a pain and
a delight. Some traditions say that he shot blind-
folded,— his aim seemed often so at random. Sonxe-
times the one whom he wounded was apparently
least susceptible to love. Indeed, Cupid had the
reputation of being rather a mischievous fellow,
fond of pranks.
One of these was at the expense of Apollo, the
great sun god. Apollo was himself a mighty archer,
and had slain with his arrows the python of Delphi.
Proud of his victory, he mocked at the little god of
love, advising him to leave his arrows for the war-
like, and content himself with the torch of love.
Cupid, vexed at the taunt, replied threateningly,
" Thine arrows may strike all things else, Apollo, but
mine shall strike thee." So saying he drew from
his quiver two arrows, one of gold, to excite love,
14 MICHELANGELO
and one of lead^ to repel it. With the golden one
he shot Apollo through the heart, with the leaden
he shot the nymph Daphne. So Apollo became
nearly mad with love for Daphne, but the maid fled
from him with horror. He pursued her, and when
he was close upon her, she turned into a laurel-tree.
Cupid continued to work havoc with his arrows.
Even his mother Venus could not escape their power.
One day, when frolicking with her boy, she was
wounded by one of the darts, and before the
wound healed she saw and loved Adonis. When
that youth was killed in a struggle with a wild boar,
she was inconsolable.
Another romantic tragedy for which Cupid was
responsible was the love between Hero and Leander.
These two young people lived in towns on opposite
sides of the Hellespont. Leander was one day wor-
shipping in the temple of Venus, in Hero's town,
Sestos, when he saw Hero, and was at that moment
shot by Cupid's arrow. His love was returned, and
every night he swam across the channel to see his
lady love, until one night a tempest arose, and he
was drowned. The waves bore his body to the
shore, where Hero found him, and in her despair
threw herself into the sea and was also drowned.
Such legends as these were dear to the hearts of
the Greeks. Their poets and artists were very fond
of the subject of Cupid. Now Michelangelo's early
artistic training was under the influence of the Greek
culture. He was an inmate of the household of
Lorenzo de' Medici, who was an ardent lover of all
John Andrew & Son, So.
CUPID
South Kensington Museum^ London
CUPID 17
that was beautiful in Greek art and literature. At
the table of the prince the youth must often have
heard the old Greek myths related, and in the gardens
he saw splendid Greek marbles. It was natural, then,
that among his early works in sculpture he should
choose the subject of Cupid. His idea was, how-
ever, his own, and was not at all such as a Greek
would have imagined. Classic art always repre-
sented the god of love as a merry little winged boy,
while in this statue he is seen as a well-grown youth.
His face is strong and masterful, instead of inno-
cently gay.
He has dropped on one knee to take an arrow
from the ground. In his raised left hand he holds
the bow, of which we see only a portion. His left
leg is bent in position to rise again. Like David,
he has an abundance of bushy hair crowning his
handsome head ; his straight brows and set mouth
show the same determination of character. He
stands for love which is determined to win, for
love which conquers every obstacle, for love which
is unerring in aim. It is a much nobler conception
than the mere passing fancy of which the old myth
speaks. Michelangelo was one who believed that
" Love betters what is best,
Even here below, but more in heaven above." ^
So he put into a pagan fancy a new and higher
meaning:.
To understand fully the qualities of this work of
art, one ought to see it from many points of view,
^ From one of Michelangelo's sonnets translated by Wordsworth.
18 MICHELANGELO
and study the lines. The long curve of the right
arm follows the curve of the right leg from hip to
knee. The bend of the left arm repeats the line
made by the bend of the left leg. The two extended
arms together form a long line arching Hke the
curve of a bow.
From every standpoint all the lines are beautiful
and harmonious. This was the secret the Greeks
had taught the young Italian sculptor. In other
respects he was entirely original. Cupid^ like David,
is in an attitude of action. In another moment he
will move. This was quite different from the Greek
sculpture, which always gives an impression of
repose.
Note, — There is a difference of opinion among critics as to the
subject of the statue at South Kensington. Heath Wilson con-
sidered it an Apollo. The writer has followed Symonds in calling it
Cupid.
The size of the statue may be calculated from the foot rule which
lies across the pedestal in the picture.
IV
MOSES
In Michelangelo's statue of Moses the great He-
brew leader is represented at the height of his
career. He was a prophet, a poet, a military com-
mander, and a statesman. The story of his life will
show how all these qualities could be combined in
one person.
At the time of his birth his people were in slav-
ery to the Egyptians, who cruelly oppressed them.
Their numbers were increasing so rapidly that it
was feared they would soon outnumber their masters.
So the command went forth to drown every boy
baby. Now the mother of Moses had no mind to
lose her boy, and " when she could not longer hide
him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and
daubed it with slime and with pitch, and she put
the child therein and laid it in the flags by the
river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to know
what would be done to him." ^
Then a strange thing happened. The princess
came to the river with her maids for a bath, and
finding the babe, was touched by his cries. The
sister came up as if by chance, and asked if she
should seek a Hebrew nurse for the child, and when
1 Exodus, chapter ii. verses 3, 4, Revised Version.
20 MICHELANGELO
the princess said Yes, she went straight for her
mother.
So Moses was adopted by an Egyptian princess,
yet he was nurtured in infancy by his own mother.
This explains why, with all the Egyptian learning
acquired at court, he had still the religious training
of a Jew, and when he grew to manhood he was
full of sympathy for the wrongs of his people. One
day he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, and in
his wrath he slew the Egyptian on the spot. News
of the deed came to Pharaoh the king, and Moses
fled into a place called Midian. Here for forty
years he lived a quiet pastoral life as a shepherd for
Jethro, whose daughter he had married.
Then came the divine call. He was alone with
his sheep on the mountain-side, when he heard a
voice saying, " Come now and I will send thee unto
Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people
the children of Israel out of Egypt, . . . and I will
bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the
land of the Canaanites ... unto a land flowing
with milk and honey." ^ Thus Moses became the
leader of his people in their exodus, or departure
from Egypt.
After many strange experiences, the great com-
pany of emigrants made the passage of the E-ed Sea
in safety, and Moses showed his poetic gifts in a
song of triumph. Many years of slavery had taken
the spirit out of the Hebrews, and they needed a
wise head and a firm hand to govern them. Moses
^ Exodus, chapter iii. verses 10 and 17.
AliDari, Photo.
John Andrew i Sun, Si-.
MOSES
Church of S. Pietro in Vincoli, Rome
MOSES 23
had both, and he was, besides, a man of God.
Going apart from them for a season of divine com-
munion on the mountain, he spent forty days in
preparation for a system of government. On his
return he brought with him two tables of stone,
inscribed with the ten great commandments, which
are at the foundation of right character. He had
also detailed directions for their daily conduct, and
for their religfious ceremonial.
The people for whose good all these plans were
made were in the mean time discouraged by the
long absence of their leader. They had no idea
how much he was doing for them, and in their folly
they forgot his teachings, and began to practise the
idolatrous customs they had seen in Egypt. On
descending the mountain, Moses found them wor-
shipping the golden image of a calf. It is not to
be wondered at that, as the historian says,^ " Moses'
anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his
hands, and brake them beneath the mount."
Again Moses went up into the mount for com-
munion with God, and again two tables of stone
were inscribed with the ten commandments, to re-
place those which had been destroyed. Again, also,
he was gone forty days, and this time he was given
a mysterious revelation of the goodness of God.
Thus it was that when he came down the people
were afraid to come near, for ^ " the skin of his face
shone," or "put forth beams," as the expression
^ Exodus, chapter xxxii. verse 19.
2 Ibid , chapter xxxiv. verse 30. See Revised Version.
24 MICHELANGELO
reads In some Bible translations. In the old Latin
version made by Jerome in the fifth century, and
known as the Vulgate, translated into what is now
called the Douay Bible, we read that " Moses' face
was horned." This is why all the old artists, who
were guided by the Vulgate, represented Moses
with horns. These horns became, as it were, sym-
bols of Moses' inspiration as a prophet.
Michelangelo followed the prevailing custom in
using these curious symbols. The long curling
beard gives his hero the aspect of a poet. The
tables of stone show him to be a law-giver. But
of all the qualities of this many-sided man seen
in the great statue, the most conspicuous are his
qualities of leadership, — the keen glance, the com-
manding air, the alert attitude, the determined look.
He seems ready to spring to his feet if occasion
demands. We see also something of his faults, of
the impulsive anger which slew the Egyptian, and
dashed in pieces the tables of stone, and of the
arrogance which cost him the privilege of entering
Canaan.
He was not permitted to see his labors carried to
completion, but on the borders of Canaan " went up
into the mountain of Nebo, . . . and died there in
the land of Moab, according to the word of the
Lord. And he buried him in a valley . . . over
against Beth-peor ; but no man knoweth of his sep-
ulchre unto this day."
THE HOLY FAMILY
The pictures we have thus far studied in this col-
lection are reproductions of works of sculpture.
This is the art which Michelangelo loved best. He
was, however, a painter also, and in the later years
of his life he was even drawn into architecture.
Painting was the first art he studied, but he soon
laid it aside for sculpture, and after that returned
to it from time to time throughout his life.
This picture of the Holy Family is from a tempera
painting. It shows us a glimpse of the home life of
the child Jesus. We have already seen in the bas-
relief of the Madonna and Child how thoughtful a
mood was sometimes upon the mother and her boy.
In this picture they are making merry together.
The mother, seated on the ground, tosses the boy
with her strong arms, for her husband Joseph to
catch. She is a beautiful woman, large, and full of
life and vigor. The boy is a healthy, happy child,
with perfect confidence in his mother. He rests his
fat little hands on her head to steady himself.
Joseph, bald and gray, takes the play a little
more seriously, as he gently lifts the boy from the
mother's arms. He has a special care for the child.
It was he who was warned by an angel in a dream
26 MICHELANGELO
that it was dangerous to remain in Judaea. It was
he who " took the young child and his mother by
night and departed into Egypt." ^ It was he again
who duly brought them back to their native country
when the cruel king was dead who had threatened
the child's life. After the return from Egypt Joseph
and his family settled in the little town of Nazareth,
where he followed the trade of a carpenter.
Now Jesus had a cousin, a boy who was not far
from the same age. His name was John, and his
mission in life was closely connected with that of
Jesus. He was to grow up a great preacher, and
finally to lead people to Jesus himself. His parents
knew before his birth, from an angelic visitation,
that he was to be a prophet. His mother Eliza-
beth, and Mary the mother of Jesus, used to talk
together, before their children were born, of the
strange future in store for them. We like to think
that the two boys grew up as companions aild play-
mates.
It is this little boy John who is seen in the back
of the picture, at the right, coming up as if to join
the child Jesus in his romp. We see his eager little
face, with the long hair blown back from it, just
above the coping stone surrounding the garden in-
closure which the Holy Family occupy. He carries
over his left shoulder a slender reed cross, such as
is given him in all the old works of art as a symbol
of his prophetic character.
You may say when you look at the picture that
1 Matthew, chapter ii. verses 13, 14.
Aliuari, Fboto.
John Andrew Si Son, Sc.
THE HOLY FAMILY
UJizi Galleryy Florence
lA677~k
THE HOLY FAMILY 29
this is sucli a group as you might see any day in
some Tuscan village. The people are indeed very
plainly of the peasant class, and the artist did not
go far out of his way to find his figures. Perhaps
he thought this was after all the best way to show
that the Holy Family was not unlike other families
in enjoying the simple pleasures of home life. We
may feel a closer sense of kinship with them on that
account.
In studying the artistic qualities of this picture
we have to remember that Michelangelo was more
of a sculptor than a painter, and that he went to
work upon a painting with the same methods he
used in marble. The central figures are grouped in
a solid mass as if for a bas-relief, as we may see by
comparing this illustration with that of the Madonna
and Child. The mother's arms are so " modelled,"
to use a critical term, that they seem to start out
from the canvas " in the round," just as if cut from
marble. The folds of her dress, as well as those of
Joseph's garment, are arranged in the long beauti-
ful lines artists call " sculpturesque."
The sculptor's methods are also plainly seen in
the peculiarity of his background. In a picture of
this kind most painters would have painted there a
landscape, but Michelangelo did nothing of the
kind. Instead there is a semicircular parapet upon
which five slender unclothed youths are playing
together. Three sit upon the wall and two lean
against it.
The figures bear no relation to the story of the
30 MICHELANGELO
picture. They are introduced merely for the sake
of decoration. To Michelangelo there was nothing
so beautiful in decoration as the human form. The
lines made by different positions of the body trace
patterns more beautiful, he thought, than any ara-
besques. The Greeks had the same idea when they
decorated the pediments of their temples with bas-
reliefs of nude figures. Applying this principle of
sculpture to his painting, Michelangelo arranged
these boys so that their slender limbs intertwine in
graceful patterns, making a decorative background
to fill in the picture. The lightness and delicacy
of the design heighten the effect of solidity in the
figures of the foreground, giving them the promi-
nence of figures in relief.
VI
THE PIETA
In the busy years of Christ's ministry we do not
read of his often being with his mother Mary. He
was going about the country preaching and heahng,
and gave himself wholly to his mission. Yet we
know that the love between mother and son was
constant and unchanging. From beginning to end
she always had confidence in his power, and his
tender care for her was among his last thoughts.
On the dreadful day of the Crucifixion, the mother
was found standing by the cross, with her sister and
Mary Magdalene. " When Jesus therefore saw his
mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved
[that is, St. John], he saith unto his mother. Wo-
man, behold thy son ! Then saith he to the dis-
ciple, Behold thy mother ! And from that hour
that disciple took her unto his own home." ^
We can imagine the mother's anguish in seeing
her son suffer this cruel and ignominious death.
He had lived only to do good, and now he was dying
an innocent sacrifice to his enemies. At such a
moment the mother might truly feel that a sword
was piercing her soul, as the old man Simeon ^ had
once prophesied of her, many years before.
^ John, chapter xix. verses 26, 27. ^ Luke, chapter ii. verse 35.
32 MICHELANGELO
" Wearied was her heart with grieving,
Worn her breast with sorrow heaving,
Through her soul the sword had passed.
" Ah ! how sad and broken-hearted
Was that blessed mother, parted
From the God-begotten One!
" How her loving heart did languish
When she saw the mortal anguish
Which o'erwhelmed her peerless Son." ^
Time passed, and Jesus now being dead, his
friends were permitted by the governor to remove
him from the cross. Joseph of Arimathea took the
lead, as he was to lay the body in a new sepulchre
recently made in his garden. Nicodemus was also
there, bringing linen and spices for the burial, and
the loving women lingered to see these preparations.
We can imagine how theyjnight all stand aside to
make room for the mother Mary. Perhaps, indeed,
they would withdraw a little way to leave her for a
moment alone with her son. The years seem to
melt away, and again she gathers him in her lap as
when he was a babe. All the motherly tenderness
which she has had long pent up in her heart now
overflows. If she has sometimes felt a little lonely
that in his manhood he no longer needed her care,
she forgets it now. He is still her child.
The marble group by Michelangelo interprets
such a moment for us. The Italians call the subject
the Pieta, which means compassion, but the name
scarcely expresses all the emotions of the mother.
1 From Stahat Mater.
AliQftil, Fboto.
John Andrew & Son, So.
THE PIETA
S/. Peter's^ Rome
1
THE PIETA 36
She seems as strong and young as when she brooded
over her babe in the Bethlehem manger. " Purity
enjoys eternal youth " was the sculptor's explanation
to those who objected.
Across her capacious, motherly lap lies the slen-
der, youthful figure of the dead Christ. The head
falls back, and the limbs are relaxed in death. Suf-
fering has left no trace on his face. The nail prints
in hands and feet, and the scar in the side, are the
only signs of his crucifixion. The delicately moulded
body is beautiful in repose.
The mother seems to find mysterious comfort in
gazing upon her son. Perhaps his death has opened
her eyes to the meaning of his life. If this is so,
she cannot grieve. He has finished the work given
him to do, and death is the beginning of immor-
tality. So sorrow gives place to resignation. She
is again the proud mother. The fond hopes with
which she watched his childhood have been more
than fulfilled. She extends her hand in a gesture
which seems to say, "Behold and see."
It is said that certain Lombards, passing through
the church where the Pieta stood, ascribed the work
to a Milanese sculptor named Cristoforo Solari.
Michelangelo, having overheard them, shut himself
up in the chapel, and chiselled his name upon the
girdle which crosses the Madonna's breast and sup-
ports her flowing garments. His name is not found
on any of his other works, and we can understand
why he felt proud of such a masterpiece. Though
made when on the very threshold of his career, it
36 MICHELANGELO
was never surpassed even in his later years. Some
other artist afterwards designed the two little bronze
cherubs who hold a crown over the Madonna's head.
They are quite out of harmony with the impressive
dignity of the figures below.
Michelangelo's early love of Greek sculpture
taught him many lessons, which were worked out in
this group. It has, first of all, that perfect repose
which was the leading trait in classic art. There is
nothing strained or violent in the positions. Besides
this, the figures are so arranged that on all sides, as
in a Greek statue, the lines are beautiful and har-
monious.
But the subject itself is one which would have
been too sad for the pleasure-loving Greek. To the
pagan the thought of death was something to be
avoided. Michelangelo's statue teaches the highest
lesson of religious faith, — the beauty of resigned
sorrow and the sublimity of sacrificing love.
VII
CHRIST TRIUMPHANT
(Crista Risorto)
The character of Christ is so many-sided that
when trying to fancy how he looked while he lived
in the world, every one has probably a different
thought uppermost. The business man and the
lawyer may imagine the keen, searching glance
which he turned upon those who tried to entangle
him with hard questions. A loving woman thinks
rather of the compassionate look with which he
greeted the sisters of Lazarus when they came to
tell him that their brother was dead. The physician
may wonder how he looked when he spoke the com-
manding words to those whom he healed.
Others dwell upon his sufferings as the Man of
Sorrows, and often think how sad he looked when
he referred to the disciple who should betray him.
Lovers of nature like to imagine the look of pleasure
on his face in seeing the lilies growing in the field,
or the expression of eager inquiry with which he
asked the fishermen what luck they had had. Every
boy and girl likes best to think of him smiling upon
the children, whom he called to him and took in
his arms.
Now when an artist makes an ideal representation
38 MICHELANGELO
of Christ, he tries to show us as many as possible
of these elements of character combined in one
figure. So we may test the success of Michelan-
gelo's statue of Christ by searching out these vari-
ous elements in it. We must also know what inci-
dent the artist had in mind of which the work is an
illustration, so to speak.
The statue is called in Italian Crista RisortOy
that is, Christ Risen or Triumphant, because the
reference is to a circumstance not recorded of his
earthly career, but belonging to the time following
his resurrection. It is connected with a story told
by St. Ambrose about the apostle Peter. St. Peter,
it is believed, spent the latter part of his life in
Rome, where the cruel emperor, Nero, was doing
his best to exterminate the Christians.
" After the burning of Rome, Nero threw upon
the Christians the accusation of having fired the
city. This was the origin of the first persecution,
in which many perished by terrible and hitherto un-
heard-of deaths. The Christian converts besought
Peter not to expose his life, which was dear and
necessary to the well-being of all ; and at length he
consented to depart from Rome. But as he fled
along the Appian Way, about two miles from the
gates, he was met by a vision of our Saviour, travel-
ling towards the city. Struck with amazement, he
exclaimed, ' Lord ! whither goest thou ? ' (Domine,
quo vadisf) to which the Saviour, looking upon
him with a mild sadness, replied, ^ I go to Rome to
be crucified a second time,' and vanished. Peter,
Alinari, Photo.
John Andrew & Sou, He.
CHRIST TRIUMPHANT
Church of S. Maria sopra Minerva, Rome
CHRIST TRIUMPHANT 41
taking this for a sign that he was to submit himself
to the sufferings prepared for him, immediately
turned back, and reentered the city." ^
It is this visionary figure of the Christ, appear-
ing and disappearing before the eyes of Peter, that
Michelangelo represents in the statue. He carries
a cross not large enough for an actual crucifixion,
as that would be out of place here, but tall enough
to show its real purpose. He has also the long reed
and the sponge which the soldier used to give him
a drink of vinegar and gall when he thirsted on the
cross. A bit of rope is a reminder of the scourging
given him by the governor.
All these things he carries with him to Rome for
a fresh martyrdom. It is as if in walking along the
way he suddenly meets Peter, and, at the apostle's
astonished question, he pauses, leaning a moment
on the cross, as he turns gently to reply.
Now as this is the Christ risen, or triumphant,
the Christ who has conquered death and the grave,
Michelangelo wanted to do all he could to make a
noble-looking figure. The face is of the handsome
type, with regular features, which the Italians hke
to give to their ideal of Christ. The expression of
reproach is so gentle that one deserving rebuke may
well feel ashamed before it.
The sorrow in the face is such as Jesus mig-ht
have shown as he turned to Judas at the Last Sup-
per. The gentleness in it is of the quality so at-
tractive to children. There is, too, something of the
* From Mrs. Jamesou's Sacred and Legendary Art, pages 200, 201.
42 MICHELANGELO
sympathetic element in it which Mary and Martha
found.
The countenance is not without intellectuahty,
though it scarcely shows the keenness which the
lawyers found it hard to outwit. It has rather the
refinement of a lover of all that is beautiful. Nor
is there much in expression or attitude to suggest
the more commanding qualities of Jesus. These
stronger elements the statue seems to lack.
It is rather puzzling to one who is trying to form
standards of taste to learn that critics are divided in
their opinion about this statue. It is, therefore,
well to know that Michelangelo is not wholly respon-
sible for the work as we now see it. Though he
designed and began it, he left it to some unskilful
apprentices to finish. The effect of the lines is in-
jured by the bronze drapery which was added later.
A bronze sandal has also been put on the right foot
to protect it, as it had become much worn by kisses.
In criticising a statue one must always remember
that it is best seen in the surroundings for which it
is designed. It is said, even by one who does not
greatly admire Michelangelo's Christ, that in the
dim light of the church where it stands, " it diffuses
a grace and sweetness which no reproduction ren-
ders.'' 1
^ Symonds, in Life of Michelangelo Buonarotti.
VIII
THE CREATION OF MAN
Science has long been trying to solve the problem
of the origin of the human race. Great books are
published by learned men to explain how the being
called man came to be what he is. But centuries
before the beginnings of science a wonderful poem
was written on the same subject of the creation.
This poem is called Genesis, that is, the Birth or
Origin of things, and it forms a part of the first
book of our Bible. Ever since it was written it has
been one of the sacred books of many people.
'^ This story of creation was once the favorite
subject of artists. In the period before the inven-
tion of printing, people depended for their in-
struction upon pictures about as much as we now
do upon books. Painters sometimes covered the
walls and ceiling of churches with illustrations of
the book of Genesis, transforming them into huge
picture-books, from which the worshippers could
learn the Bible stories which they were unable to
read in books.
Michelangelo was one of the last Italian painters
to do this, and he profited by all the wDrk that had
been done before to make the grandest series of
Genesis illustrations ever produced. It is from this
44 MICHELANGELO
series that our illustration is taken, representing the
subject of the Creation of Man. The painter did
not try to follow the text very literally. In the
book of Genesis we read : ^ —
" And God said, Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness : and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and
over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
" So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God created he him. . . . And the Lord
God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living soul."
Michelangelo takes these words, and expresses, in
his own way, the supreme creative moment when
" man became a living soul."
The man Adam lies on a jutting promontory of
the newly made land. Though his body is formed,
he lacks as yet the inner force to use it ; he is not
yet alive. The Creator is borne along on a swirling
cloud of cherubs, moving forward through space
like a rushing mighty wind. Perhaps the painter
was thinking of the psalmist's beautiful description
of God's coming : ^ " He rode upon a cherub, and
did fly : yea, he did fly upon the wings of the
wind."
In His fatherly face is expressed the good pur-
pose to create a son ^^in his own image." The
* Genesis, chapter i. verses 26-27 ; chapter ii. verse 7.
2 Psalm xviii. verse 10.
i^ "VJ
s
\
THE CREATION OF MAN 47
cherubic host accompanying him are full of joy and
awe. We are reminded of that time of which the
poet Milton wrote/ when
"All
The multitude of angels, with a shout
Loud as from numbers without number, sweet
As from blest voices, uttering joy, — Heaven rung
With jubilee, and loud hosannas filled
The eternal regions."
The sign of the Almighty's creative power is the
outstretched arm extended towards Adam with a
superb gesture of command. As if in answer to
the divine summons, the lifeless figure begins to
stir, rising slowly to a sitting posture. The face
turns towards the source of life as the flower turns
to the sun. The eyes are lifted to the Creator's
with a wistful yearning. It is the look we some-
times see in the eyes of a woodland creature appeal-
ing for mercy. It is such a look as might belong
to that imaginary being of the Greek mythology,
the faun, half beast, half human. Thus Adam, still
but half created, begins to feel the thrill of life
in his members, and is aroused to action. He lifts
his hand to meet the Creator's outstretched finger.
The current of life is established, the vital spark is
communicated, and in another moment Adam will
rise in his full dignity as a human soul.
This picture was painted long before there was
any knowledge of electricity, of electric sparks, and
electric currents. Yet, if we did not know other-
wise, we might fancy that Michelangelo had some
^ Paradise Lost, book iii. lines 344-349.
48 MICHELANGELO
of these wonderful ideas of modern science in mind,
as the symbols of the great thoughts he was trying
to express.
The picture suggests to our latter day scientific
imagination that God's currents of power move as
silently, as swiftly, as invisibly and mysteriously as
the currents of electricity. The painter meant to
show that the work of creation was not a mechanical
effort of the Almighty, but that with him a gesture,
a word, even a thought, brings something into
being.
The series of which this picture forms a part is
painted in fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel, in the Pope's palace of the Vatican, Eome.
To break up the monotony of the long plain surface
he had to decorate, the painter divided the strip of
space in the centre into nine compartments. These
are separated from each other by a painted architec-
tural framework, so cunningly represented that it
seems to project from the ceiling like a solid struc-
ture of beams.
Our illustration shows a portion of the simulated
framework which incloses the picture. On what
appears to be a pedestal at each corner is a seated
figure representing a statue. One is a beautiful
youth with a horn of plenty, and the other is a
faun-like creature capering gayly. The purpose of
these figures is decorative,Uike those in the back-
ground of the Holy Family.
IX
JEREMIAH
Michelangelo's decoration of the Sistine Chapel
ceiling did not stop with the series of panels run-
ning along the flat space in the centre. On either
side, where the ceiling arches to meet the side walls,
he painted a row of figures, which seem to be seated
in sculptured niches. There are twelve of these
figures in all, and seven of them are Hebrew pro-
phets.
The prophets were holy men of old, who walked
with God, and carried his messages among men.
They were men of great courage and conviction,
fearlessly denouncing the sins of their times. Some-
times they were great reformers, bringing about by
their preaching an improved condition of things.
Often their mission was to arouse hope in discour-
agement, to strengthen faith in a happier time to
come. They looked forward to a future day, when
the Prince of Peace should reign in the earth.
Jeremiah was a prophet of Judah during the cor-
rupt and troublous times in the reigns of Josiah,
Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah. He has been compared
by a recent writer ^ to " a Puritan living in the age
of the Stuarts, to a Huguenot living in the age of
^ Lyman Abbot; . Hebrew Prophets and American Problems.
60 MICHELANGELO
the Medici, or a Savonarola living in the age of
Pope Alexander VI." He was born in Anathoth,
a little village of Judaea, and being the son of a
priest was consecrated to the priesthood from birth.
He was still very young when it was borne in
upon him that to be loyal to God he must stand
forth and speak the truth more boldly than other
priests were doing. Shrinking from such a task,
he besought God to spare him. " Ah, Lord God !
behold, I cannot speak : for I am a child."
And this, writes Jeremiah, is the answer he re-
ceived : ^ " Say not, I am a child : for thou shalt
go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I
command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of
their faces : for I am with thee to deliver thee,
saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand,
and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto
me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
See, I have this day set thee over the nations and
over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down,
and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to
plant."
Thus Jeremiah became a prophet, and from that
time on his life was "one long, hopeless protest
against folly and crime." Earnestly he besought
his people to return to God before it was too late :
" 0 Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness,
that thou mayest be saved ; " ^ but prayers and
threats were alike of no avail, and misfortunes be-
gan to afflict the land. Then Jeremiah shows
1 Jeremiah, chapter i. verses 6-10. ^ Ibid., eh. iv. v. 14.
Alinari. Photo.
John Andrew & Son, Sc.
JEREMIAH
Sistine Chapel y Rome
JEREMIAH 63
himself a true patriot. Though his people refused
to hear him, he still loves them and pleads their
cause. In the horror of famine, he prays to God
in their behalf.
There are times even in the midst of disappoint-
ment when Jeremiah has some gleam of hope for
the future. He predicts the days when "a King
shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment
and justice in the earth." ^ Such times he himself
was never to enjoy. He lived to see the Babylonian
invasion, Jerusalem besieged and laid waste, and his
people taken captive. The reward of his faithful
warnings was to be cast into prison by the ungrate-
ful King Zedekiah. Finally he was carried by the
remnant of his people into Egypt, where he died in
a sad and lonely old age.
Once in a moment of discouragement early in
life, his grief had burst forth in words which might
well express the feelings of his old age : " Oh
that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain
of tears, that I might weep day and night for the
slain of the daughter of my people ! " ^
All the pathos of these words is conveyed in
Michelangelo's wonderful figure of Jeremiah. The
story of his life is written in his face and attitude.
He is an old man, with long gray beard, but he still
has the splendid vigor which comes from plain and
simple living. He sits with bowed head, lost in
thought, his long life passing in review before his
^ Jeremiah, chapter xxiii. verse 5.
* Jeremiah, chapter ix. verse 1.
54 MICHELANGELO
mind's eye. His message is spoken, his race is run ;
he is weary of life and longs to die. There is some-
thing inexpressibly moving in his profound melan-
choly.
The painter has placed just behind the prophet
two little figures which are like attendant spirits.
They seem to sympathize with Jeremiah's sorrows.
The figures ornamenting the sculptured niche re-
mind us of those in the background of the Holy
Family and have a similar decorative purpose.
Those who have studied the history of the times
in which Michelangelo lived may find in this figure
of Jeremiah an expression of the artist's own char-
acter. Like the old Hebrew prophet, he lived in
the midst of a corruption which he was helpless to
remedy, and which saddened his inmost soul. His
own life was full of disappointments. In his lonely
old age he wrote a sonnet, which is not unlike some
of Jeremiah's utterances, and which is a clue to the
meaning of the picture : —
" Borne to the utmost brink of life's dark sea,
Too late thy joys I understand, O earth !
How thou dost promise peace which cannot be,
And that repose which ever dies at birth.
The retrospect of life through many a day,
Now to its close attained by Heaven's decree,
Brings forth from memory, in sad array,
Only old errors, fain forgot by me, —
Errors which e'en, if long life's erring day.
To soul destruction would have led my way.
For this I know — the greatest bliss on high
Belongs to him called earliest to die."
X
DANIEL
In striking contrast to the bowed and sorrowful
old prophet Jeremiah is the alert and eager youth
Daniel. The two men were contemporaries, though
there was a difference in their ages. When, in the
reign of Jehoiakim, the Jews were taken into captiv-
ity to Babylon, the youth Daniel went with them, while
the old prophet Jeremiah was left behind. Daniel
was chosen, with three companions, to be educated
at the court of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnez-
zar. They were taught the Chaldean language and
the sciences, and the king was delighted with their
progress.
An opportunity soon came for Daniel to be of
service to his royal patron. Nebuchadnezzar had a
strange dream, which none of his magicians could
interpret, because, unfortunately, he had forgotten
it. In his anger that no one could supply the lost
memory, he commanded to destroy all the wise men
of Babylon. But Daniel prayed to God that the
secret might be revealed to him.
His prayers were answered, and he related to the
king not only just what the dream was, but the full
meaning of it : ^ " Thou, 0 king, sawest, and behold
^ Dauiel, chapter ii. verses 31-35.
56 MICHELANGELO
a great image. This great image, whose brightness
was excellent, stood before thee ; and the form
thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine
gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and
his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of
iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone
was cut out without hands, which smote the image
upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake
them to pieces. . . . And the stone that smote the
image became a great mountain, and filled the whole
earth."
In Daniel's interpretation the different portions
of the image represented the different kingdoms
which should follow, one after another, in the
future. The stone which brake the image in pieces
referred to the final kingdom which the God of
heaven shall set up, "which shall never be de-
stroyed," but which shall stand forever.
From this time forth Daniel became a seer. He
had many wonderful visions in the night, and inter-
preted them with reference to future historical
events. He was also a statesman, the king having
made him governor of the province as a reward for
his services. In later years he acted as viceroy at a
time when the king was insane.
In the reign of Nebuchadnezzar's successor, Bel-
shazzar, Daniel was again called into service as a
seer. One night, during a great feast, a mysterious
hand appeared to write some inscription on the wall,
and Daniel alone could interpret it. The message
was ominous, but the prophet spoke out boldly.
AliDari, Photo
John Audrev & Son, Sc.
DANIEL
Sistine Chapel, Rome
DANIEL 59
"Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, ran the words,
" Thou art weig-hed in the balances and art found
wanting." Daniel condemned the king for his in-
iquities, and declared that his kingdom should be
divided by the Medes and Persians. That very
night Belshazzar was slain, and Darius, the Median,
took the kingdom.
Under the new dynasty Daniel was given so much
power that some of the officials, jealous of his pre-
ferment, plotted against him. They contrived to
persuade King Darius to sign a decree that " who-
soever should ask a petition of any god or man for
thirty days, save of the king himself, should be cast
into the den of lions." The officials were right in
supposing that this would entrap Daniel into law-
breaking, for, faithful to his Hebrew training, he
offered prayer to God three times a day. He was
therefore cast into the lions' den, but no harm befell
him, because, according to his own explanation, God
sent his angel to shut the lions' mouths.
Daniel continued to hold office even in the reign
of the next king, Cyrus the Persian. He lived to a
great old age, but he was so young when he first
showed his prophetic gifts that it is natural to think
of him in his youth as Michelangelo has represented
him. It would seem that the artist had in mind
Daniel's early years of education at court. On his
lap is a large open book supported on the back of a
tiny figure standing between his knees. This may
represent a volume of Chaldean learning. His pos-
ture shows that he has been consulting the volume,
60 MICHELANGELO
and now turns to his writing tablets to record his
own thoughts.
His broad forehead shows him to be a student
and a thinker. The waving hair is brushed back
to form an aureole about his face. It is the face of
a dreamer in a moment of inspiration. Eagerly he
writes his words of mingled poetry and prophecy.
He is full of youthful enthusiasm for his work, a
nature fitted for action as well as for vision. He
has also the spirited bearing of one who fears
neither the rage of a lion nor the wrath of a king.
There is a breezy energy in his motions, as if
thoughts came more swiftly than he could tran-
scribe them.
His expression of happy anticipation is in vivid
contrast to Jeremiah's sorrowful attitude of retro-
spection. The picture brings out clearly the fact
that the keynote of DanieFs prophecy is hope.
Looking into his rapt face, we may imagine that
this is the message he is writing : " They that be
wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ;
and they that turn many to righteousness, as the
stars forever and ever." ^
1 Daniel, chapter xii. verse 3.
XI
THE DELPHIC SIBYL
In the rows of figures which Michelangelo painted
along the arched portion of the ceiling of the Sis-
tine Chapel, the prophets are associated with sibyls.
Hence, in the plan of decoration, there comes first
the figure of a man, and then the figure of a
woman.
Now, as the Bible contains no allusion to sibyls,
it may seem strange that they should have a place
in a series of Bible illustrations, and especially that
they should appear side by side with the prophets.
To explain this, we must learn something about the
sibyls.
They were women of ancient times supposed to
have supernatural gifts of foretelling the future.
They devoted themselves to solitude and meditation,
and sometimes lived apart in caves or grottoes.
Sometimes they were connected with temples, and
delivered what were supposed to be the messages of
the gods to the worshippers. These messages were
called oracles, and were greatly revered by the peo-
ple who consulted the gods.
Some of the sibyls' words of wisdom were com-
mitted to writing and passed down to following
generations. Though they lived in heathen coun-
62 MICHELANGELO
tries, the tradition ran that they prophesied the
advent of Christ. There is a passage in one of
Virgil's eclogues (the fourth) upon which the sup-
position is based. Early in the Christian era, when
men were spreading the new faith, they made much
of these sibylline prophecies to add weight to their
teachings.
In former times, fact and fable were very often
confused, and people did not take pains to distin-
guish the legends of tire sibyls from the history of
the prophets. When the Latin hymn " Dies Irae "
was written, the sibyl was mentioned, with the
prophet, as predicting the final destruction of the
world. Many painters and sculptors gave the two I
equal honor in the same way. In the prevailing
opinion, the sibyls shared with the prophets an in-
spired foreknowledge of the Christian faith.
The nine main panels of Michelangelo's ceiling
decoration show how man was created, and how
he was tempted and fell into sin. To carry on still
further the story of the human race, the painter
shows the succession of men and women, prophets
and sibyls, who, one after another, predicted the
redemption of the world in Christ. On the side
walls, below these figures, the story is carried to
completion in a series of pictures illustrating the
life of Christ. The last named frescoes were painted
by various artists some years before Michelangelo's
work on the ceiling.
The number of sibyls was given as ten or twelve,
and of these Michelangelo selected five. His idea
Alinari, Photo.
John Andrew & Son, Sc.
THE DELPHIC SIBYL
Sistine Chapel, Rome
THE DELPHIC SIBYL 65
here, as with the prophets, seemed to be to represent
some in old age and some in youth.
The Delphic sibyl is the youngest and most beau-
tiful of them all. She presided over the temple of
Apollo in the Greek town of Delphi, where it was
long customary for the priestess, ov pythia, as she
was called, to be a young woman selected from some
family of poor country people.
The temple at Delphi was one of great celebrity.
In the centre was a small opening in the ground,
whence arose an intoxicating vapor, and over this
sat the pythia, on a three-legged seat, or tripod, and
delivered the oracle communicated to her by the
god. These oracles were delivered in verse.
The Delphic sibyl, or pythia, of Michelangelo's
picture, has the splendid stature of an Amazon.
Her head is draped with a sort of Greek turban,
beneath which her hair escapes in flying curls. Her
face and expression show her at once to be unlike
an ordinary woman. She has the look of a startled
fawn, which has suddenly heard the call of a distant
voice. She turns her head in the attitude of one
listening. She looks far away with eyes that see
visions, but what those visions are none can guess.
There are other pictures of the same sibyl carrying
a crown of thorns, showing that she predicted the
sufferings of Christ. Perhaps this is the meaning
of the sorrowful expression in these wide eyes.
The scroll which she unrolls in her left hand is
the scroll of her prophecy. The two little figures
holding a book, just behind her right shoulder, are
66 MICHELANGELO
genii, or spirits, symbolic of her inspiration. One
reads eagerly from the volume while the other lis-
tens with rapt attention.
The picture makes a very interesting study in the
composition of lines. Starting from the topmost
point of the turban, draw a line on the right, com-
ing across the shoulder along the outer edge of the
drapery to the toe. On the left, let the line con-
necting the same two points follow the outer curve
of the scroll, along the slanting edge of the mantle,
and we get a beautiful pointed oval as the basis of
the composition.
The sibyl's left arm drops a curve across the
upper part of the figure, and this curve is repeated
a little lower down by the creases in the drapery
across the lap. Such are the few strong, simple
lines which compose the picture, producing an effect
of grandeur which a confusion of many lines would
entirely spoil.
XII
THE CUM^AN SIBYL
Of all the sibyls, the one we hear most about is
the Cumsean. The legend runs that, having asked
a boon of Apollo, she gathered a handful of sand
and said, " Grant me to see as many birthdays as
there are sand grains in my hand." The wish was
gratified, but unluckily she forgot to ask for endur-
ing youth, so she was doomed to live a thousand
years in a withered old age. Thus we always think
of her as an old woman, as Michelangelo has repre-
sented her.
She is called the Cumsean sibyl because she is
supposed to have lived in Cumse, which was the
oldest and one of the most important of the Greek
colonies in Italy. Her real name, we are told, was
Demos. She lived in a great cavern, where the
people came to consult her, and her answers to their
questions were regarded as oracles, or answers from
the deities. She used to write on the leaves of trees
the names and fates of different persons, arranging
them in her cave to be read by her votaries. Some-
times the wind sweeping through the cavern scat-
tered the leaves broadcast through the world.
The manner of consulting her is fully described
by the Latin poet Virgil in the sixth book of the
68 MICHELANGELO
iEneid. He tells how iEneas, arriving with his
fellow voyagers at the town of Cumse, immediately
goes to the temple of Apollo,
" And seeks the cave of wondrous size,
The sibyl's dread retreat,
The sibyl, whom the Delian seer
Inspires to see the future clear,
And tills with frenzy's heat ;
The grove they enter, and behold
Above their heads the roof of gold.
** Within the mountain's hollow side,
A cavern stretches high and wide ;
A hundred entries thither lead ;
A hundred voices thence proceed,
Each uttering forth the sibyl's rede.
The sacred threshold now they trod :
*Pray for an answer ! pray ! the god,'
She cries, ' the god is nigh ! '
" And as before the door in view
She stands, her visage pales its hue,
Her locks dishevelled fly.
Her breath comes thick, her wild heart glows.
Dilating as the madness grows,
Her form looks larger to the eye ;
Unearthly peals her deep-toned cry.
As, breathing nearer and more near.
The god comes rushing on his seer."
^neas now begs a favor of the sibyl. He has
heard that here the path leads downward to the
dead, and he desires to go thither to visit his father,
Anchises. There are certain conditions to fulfil
before setting forth, but when these are done the
sibyl guides him on his way, and the journey is
safely made.
Alinari, Photo.
John Andrew & Son, Kc.
THE CUMiEAN SIBYL
Sistine Chapel, Rome
THE CUM^AN SIBYL 71
Another legend of the Cumsean sibyl has to do
with the Roman emperor Tarquin. The sibyl came
to him one day with nine books of oracles, which
she wished him to buy. The price was exorbitant,
and the emperor refused her demand. She then
went away, burned three of the books, and, return-
ing with the remaining six, made the same demand.
Again her offer was refused, and again she burned
three books and returned, still requiring the original
price for the three that were left. Tarquin now
consulted the soothsayers, and, acting upon their
advice, bought the books, which were found to con-
tain directions concerning the religion and policy of
Rome.
For many years they were held sacred, and were
carefully preserved in the temple of Jupiter in the
Capitol, under the care of official guardians. At
length the temple was destroyed by fire, and the
original sibylline books perished. In the following
centuries they were replaced by scattered papers,
collected from time to time in various parts of the
empire, purporting to be the writings of the sibyl.
These sibylline leaves, as they were called, contained
passages supposed to be prophetic of the coming of
Christ, and this is why the Cumsean sibyl is placed
by Michelangelo among the prophets.
The sibyl is reading aloud from one of her books
of oracles. The two little genii standing behind
her shoulder, and listening with absorbed attention,
hold another book, not yet unclasped, ready for her.
She reads her prophecy with keen, searching eyes.
72
MICHELANGELO
and a manner that is almost stern. We can see in
the large, strong features the determination of her
character.
It is not a gentle face, and not pleasing, but it is
full of meaning. We read there the record of the
centuries :which have passed over her head, bringing
her the deep secrets of life. Yet the prophecies
are still unfulfilled, and there is a look of unsatisfied
longing in her wrinkled old face.
You will notice that the outlines of the Cumsean
sibyl are drawn in an oval figure similar to that
inclosing the Delphic sibyl. Here, however, the
oval is of a more elongated form, and the left side
is broken midway by the introduction of the book.
The old writer Pausanias, writing his " Descrip-
tion of Greece," in the second century, says that the
people of Cumse showed a small stone urn in the
temple of Apollo containing the ashes of the sibyl.
For many centuries her cavern was pointed out to
travellers in a rock under the citadel of Cumse.
Finally the fortifications of the city were under-
mined, but to this day a subterranean passage in
the rock on which they were built is still shown as
the entrance to the sibyl's cave.
XIII
LORENZO De' MEDICI
The statue of Lorenzo de' Medici is the central
figure on the tomb erected to the memory of this
prince. He was the rather unworthy namesake of
his illustrious grandfather, who was known as
Lorenzo the Magnificent. The Medici family was
for many generations the richest and most powerful
in Florence. They were originally merchants, and,
as the name signifies, physicians, and, accumulating
great wealth, they became powerful leaders, and
really the rulers of the republic.
Some of them were munificent patrons of art and
literature. There was one named Cosimo, who did
so much to make his city famous that he was called
Pater Patriae, the father of the country, as was,
centuries afterwards, our own Washington. His
grandson Lorenzo won the title of the Magnificent
for his lavish generosity and superb plans for the
advancement of art and learning. So much power
could not safely be in the hands of a single family.
The Medici, from being benefactors, finally became
tyrants.
The Lorenzo of this statue was one of the more
insignificant members of the family. It is said that
" he inherited the vices without the genius of the
74 MICHELANGELO
family, and was ambitious, unscrupulous, and dissi-
pated. His uncle, Pope Leo X., after depriving the
Duke of Urbino of his hereditary domains, bestowed
them, with the title of duke, on Lorenzo, whom he
also made general of the pontifical forces." ^ In
1518 Leo united him in marriage to a French prin-
cess, and their daughter was the afterwards cele-
brated Catharine de' Medici, queen of the French
king, Henry 11. These are the main facts in the
life of a man who is remembered only because he
had illustrious ancestors, a famous daughter, and a
superb tomb.
It mattered nothing to Michelangelo that he had
so poor a subject for a statue. It is supposed that
he made no attempt at correct portraiture in the
figure. . The insignificant Lorenzo was transformed
by the magic of his genius into a hero.
He wears a suit of Eoman armor, in accordance
with his career as a general in the wars with the
Duke of Urbino, whose title he took. His helmet
is pulled well forward over the brow, the head is
bent, the cheek rests upon the left hand, the elbow
supported on a casket placed on the knee. With
finger laid thoughtfully upon the lips, he is thinking
intently. The right hand rests, palm out, against
the knee in a characteristic position of inaction.
His mood is not that of a dreamer lost to his pre-
sent surroundings. Rather he seems to be keenly
aware of what is going on ; his meditations have to
do with the present. It is as if, having given an
order, he awaits its execution, his mind still intent
^ Susan and Joanna Horner's Walks in Florence, vol. i. p. 125.
Alinari, Pboto.
John Andrew & Son, Sc.
LORENZO DE' MEDICI
Chti7'ch of S. Lorenzo, Florence
LORENZO DE' MEDICI 77
upon his purposes, satisfied with his decision, and
calmly expectant of its success. His affair is one of
serious importance; no trifling matter absorbs the
thought of this grave man. " A king sits in this at-
titude when, in the midst of his army, he orders the
execution of some judicial act, like the destruction
of a city. Frederic Barbarossa must have appeared
thus when he caused Milan to be ploughed up." ^
The lack of resemblance in the statue to the
original duke Lorenzo made it for a long time
doubful whether it was intended to be his tomb.
The Florentines, in their poetic way, fell into the
habit of calling it II Pensiero, that is. Thought, or
Meditation, sometimes II Pensieroso, The Thinker.
These are, after all, the best names for the statue,
which is allegorical rather than historical in its in-
tention. The great English poet Milton has writ-
ten a poem, which is like a companion piece to the
statue, fitting it as words sometimes fit music. It
begins in this way, in words which II Pensieroso
himself might speak : —
" Hence, vain deluding Joys,
The brood of Folly, without father bred !
How little you bested.
Or fill the fix^d mind with all your toys I
Dwell in some idle brain,
And fancies fond with gaudy shape possess,
As thick and numberless
As the gay motes that people the sunbeams,
Or likest hovering dreams.
The fickle pensioners of Morpheus' train.
But hail ! thou Goddess sage and holy.
Hail, divinest Melancholy ! "
^ Taine, Travels in Italy,
78 MICHELANGELO
Lorenzo's statue stands in a niche above the sar-
cophagus, or stone coffin, in which his body was
laid. On the top of the sarcophagus are two reclin-
ing figures called Dawn and Twilight. The tomb
itself is in a chapel, or sacristy, called the New
Sacristy (to distinguish it from one still older), in
the Church of S. Lorenzo, Florence. The entire
sacristy is devoted to the memory of the Medici
family, who had for several generations been bene-
factors of this church.
Now Michelangelo had a great deal to do with
this family first and last, and his work on the tomb
has an additional interest on this account. It was
to Lorenzo the Magnificent that he owed his first
start as a sculptor in an academy founded by this
prince. He so pleased his patron that he was re-
ceived into the duke's own household, and treated
almost like a son. Years passed ; Lorenzo had long
been dead, when, one after another, two members of
the same family came to the papal throne, and they
desired to honor their name by employing the great-
est sculptor of Italy in this monumental work.
So Michelangelo began designs for the sacristy,
the entire decoration of which was intrusted to him.
The walls of the rooms were panelled with marble,
set with niches, in the form of windows, in which
the statues were to be placed.
As the work proceeded, it was interrupted by
some strange incidents, of which we shall hear later.
The whole plan was never fully carried out, but in
spite of incompleteness the chapel is a grand and
impressive place.
XIV
THE TOMB OF GIULIANO DE' MEDICI
The tomb of Giuliano de' Medici is the companion
to the tomb of Lorenzo, and stands on the opposite
side of the altar which separates them. Our illus-
tration shows the entire work, the statue being in
the niche above, and the sarcophagus standing below
with two reclining figures on it.
Giuliano de' Medici, duke of Nemours, was the
youngest son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and con-
sequently the uncle of the younger Lorenzo. In
reality he was greatly superior to his nephew, but
curiously enough his appearance in Michelangelo's
statue is more commonplace, though his attitude is
graceful. He was a thoughtful man, somewhat
melancholy in disposition, and the author of a poem
on suicide. He wears the costume of a Roman
general, but his small head and slender throat are
not those of a warrior.
You will notice that the attitude of the duke
Giuliano is somewhat similar to that of Moses.
Both sit with left foot drawn back and right knee
extended. Both turn the head in profile, looking
intently toward the left. In either case it is easy to
imagine the figure suddenly springing up.
Now this fact emphasizes the difference we have
80 MICHELANGELO
already noted between the sculpture of Michelangelo
and that of the Greeks. The leading idea in Greek
sculpture was that of repose, while, as we have seen
in the David and the Cupid, Michelangelo chose for
his figures a moment of action. To give this sug-
gestion of motion to a seated figure is even more
remarkable than in the case of one standing, for the
sitting posture naturally has an effect of stability.
The reclining figures on the sarcophagus of the
Duke Giuliano represent Night and Day, and are
supposed to be symbolic of death and resurrection.
Night is a woman lying with head sunk upon the
breast in a deep sleep. She is crowned with a cres-
cent moon and star, and an owl is placed at her feet.
The mask beneath her pillow symbolizes the body
from which the spirit has departed. Though the
figure is not beautiful in the Greek sense, it is grand
and queenly. Opposite is Day, an unfinished cap-
tive, his head half freed from the stone, the arms
rigid, the body contorted.
These two figures, together with Dawn and Twi-
light on Lorenzo's tomb, have an allegorical meaning
which must be read in the light of Michelangelo's
own life history. " Life is a dream between two
slumbers ; sleep is death's twin-brother ; night is the
shadow of death ; death is the gate of life — such
is the mysterious mythology wrought by the sculp-
tor." '
The work on the Medicean tombs covered a period
of about twelve years. During this time the Medici
^ Symonds, in Renaissance in Italy : the Fine Arts.
Alinari, Photo.
John Andrew & Son, So.
TOMB OF GIULIANO DE ' MEDICI
Church of S. Lorenzo, Florence
THE TOMB OF GIULIANO DE' MEDICI 83
family passed through varying fortunes, and in con-
sequence the fate of the tombs, and indeed that of
the sculptor himself, hung in the balance. Florence
became weary of tyranny and rose in a revolution
which drove the Medici from the city in 1527.
Success was of short duration : the republic soon
"found herself standing out against a world of
foes," the Pope, Clement VII. (himself a Medici),
"threatening fire and flame," and all the Medici
family " getting ready to return in double force."
The Florentines prepared to fight for their liberty,
and Michelangelo was found among the patriots.
No sense of personal gratitude to the Medici could
shake his love of liberty. He forsook the monu-
ments and turned his skill to the fortification of the
city.
For eleven months Florence was besieged, and in
the end the city was captured. The Medici returned
conquerors. Mercenaries now broke into the houses,
killing the best citizens. Had not Michelangelo
been in hiding, he too would have perished. But
the Pope could not afford to lose his best sculptor,
and, calling him forth from his hiding-place, again
set him to work in the Medici chapel. It is not
strange that the sculptor's proud spirit rebelled at
having to work on that which was to honor the ene-
mies of his beloved Florence.
Thus it was that his sculpture told the story of
" the tragedy of Florence : how hope had departed,
how life had become a desert, and how it was hard
to struggle with waking cpnsciousness, but good to
84 MICHELANGELO
sleep and forget — nay, best of all, to be stone and
feel no more."
The old writer Vasari, who was once a pupil of
Michelangelo, and tells us many anecdotes of the
sculptor, relates that when the statue of Night was
first shown to the public, it called forth a verse from
a contemporary poet (Giovan Battista Strozzi).
This is the verse : —
" Night in so sweet an attitude beheld
Asleep, was hy an angel sculptured
In this stone; and sleeping, is alive;
Waken her, doubter; she will speak to thee." ^
To this Michelangelo replied in the following
lines : ^ —
" W^elcome is sleep, more welcome sleep of stone
Whilst crime and shame continue in the land;
My happy fortune not to see or hear;
Waken me not; — in mercy whisper low."^
The artist's verse may be taken as a keynote to
the solemn tragedy of the work. In fact, the monu-
ments are not really to Lorenzo and Giuliano, but
to Florence, to " the great city which had struggled
and erred so long, which had gone astray and re-
pented, and sufPered and erred again, but always
mightily, with full tide of life in her veins and con-
sciousness in her heart, until now the time had come
when she was dead and past, chained down by icy
oppression in a living grave." ^
1 Both translations are from Horners' Walks in Florence. Sy-
monds has also translated the verses, but less literally.
^ Swinburne in his lines, " In San Lorenzo," answers these lines,
"Is thine hour come to waken, slumbering Night ?"
8 This and the preceding quotations are from Mrs. Oliphant's
Makers of Florence.
XV
CENTRAL FIGURES IN THE LAST JUDGMENT
There are in the Bible certain references to sl ]^ )
great day when the Son of Man shall be seen " com-
ing in the clouds with great power and glory."
" And he shall send his angels with a great sound
of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven
to the other." ^ St. Paul, in a letter which he wrote
to the Christians in Corinth, speaks of this as a
" mystery," and says : ^ " We shall not all sleep, but
we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twin-
kling of an eye, at the last trump : for the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorrupt-
ible, and we shall be changed."
In the Middle Ages these passages were interpreted
very literally and had a great influence over the
people. At that time the Christian religion was a
religion of fear rather than of love, and men were
continually picturing in their minds God's angry
separation of the good from the wicked.
How much such thoughts occupied them we may
see from Dante's great poem describing a vision of
^ Matthew, chapter xxiv. verse 31.
2 1 Corinthians, chapter xv. verses 51, 52.
86 MICHELANGELO
the Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise. This was
written in the thirteenth century, and in the same
period appeared a short Latin lyric, or hymn, called
" Dies Irae," or the Day of Wrath, from an expres-
sion used by the old Hebrew prophet Zephaniah.
The author was a Franciscan monk named Thomas
of Celano, and we may see how deeply he felt from
these verses : —
" Ah ! what terror is impending
When the Judge is seen descending,
And each secret veil is rending.
" To the throne, the trumpet sounding.
Through the sepulchres resounding,
Summons all, with voice astounding.
" Sits the Judge, the raised arraigning.
Darkest mysteries explaining.
Nothing unavenged remaining."
This vivid word picture forms the subject of many
great paintings by the older Italian masters, known
under the title of the Last Judgment. Michelan-
gelo's was one of the last of these, and in general
arrangement his composition resembles those of his
predecessors.
From the upper air a company of angels descends,
carrying a cross, a crown of thorns, and other instru-
ments of the Saviour's sufferings. Below them is
the Judge himself surrounded by the apostles and
other saints. Underneath are the archangels blow-
ing their trumpets. On earth, in the lowest part of
the picture at the left, the dead rise from their
graves and ascend through the air to the Judge.
Alinari, Phoco.
John Andrew i Son. Sc.
CENTRAL FIGURES OF THE LAST JUDGMENT
Sistiiie Chapel, Rome
CENTRAL FIGURES IN THE LAST JUDGMENT 89
At the right, opposite the ascending dead, are the
condemned sinners, descending to the boat which
will carry them over the river Styx into the Inferno.
Our illustration gives only the central figures in
this great multitude, the Divine Judge accompanied
by his mother. He is a man of mighty muscular
power, young and handsome, with an expression of
imperious dignity. Enthroned on the clouds, he
seems just rising from a sitting posture to execute
his judgments. He lifts his arms in a sweeping
motion as if to part the multitudes pressing upon
him on both sides. In so doing he shows the wound
in his right side made by the soldier's spear at the
crucifixion. Neither expression nor gesture mani-
fests anger ; those beautiful hands with delicately
extended fingers will strike no blow. The gesture
itself is a command.
Beneath Christ's upraised arm, on his right side,
sits his Mother Mary. Each must interpret for
himself her attitude and expression. Some think
that because she turns her face away she is shrink-
ing from her son in terror. Yet her expression is so
gentle that others say she is nestling close to him
for protection. This is certainly as we should im-
agine the situation. When she was a young mother,
she was proud to take care of her child. And
now on this great day she is equally proud to let
him take care of her. As he clung to her, his
mother, so she now clings to him, the Judge.
Looking at the composition of the picture, we
see that her figure completes a pyramid, whose apex
a^^
90 MICHELANGELO
is the uplifted hand of the Judge, and whose base
lies along the cloud supporting his feet and hers.
This gives proper stability to the figures which
dominate the whole great picture. Considered in
a larger way, the pyramid is itself the upper part
of a long oval which keeps the central group apart
from the surrounding host.
The picture of the Last Judgment was painted by
Michelangelo on the end wall of the Sistine Chapel,
over the altar, nearly twenty years after the com-
pletion of the ceiling frescoes. There is a great dif-
ference between the two works. The figures on the
ceiling are strong and powerful, their attitudes
spirited and graceful. Those in the Last Judgment
are huge and cumbersome, their attitudes strained
and violent. The entire effect of the vast company
of colossal figures is awe-inspiring, but not pleasing.
It is a relief to fix our eyes upon the central
portion. Here the painter expressed an idea at
once noble and original. The figure of the Christ
has not the delicate beauty of the dead Christ in
the Pieta, or the finished elegance of the Christ Tri-
umphant, but he has the splendid vigor of a force-
ful character. The Mother, less grand and noble
than in the bereavement of the Pieta, less proud
than in her young motherhood, is a gentle and
lovely creature. Thus the intensely masculine is
completed by the delicately feminine, and the artist
shows us ideal types of manhood and womanhood.
XVI
PORTRAIT
In the pictures of this collection we have learned
something of the work of Michelangelo as a sculptor
and a painter. He was an artist whose personality
was so strongly impressed upon his work that we
have come thus to know, to a certain extent, the
man himself. His, as we have seen, was not a-
happy nature, and many of the circumstances of his
life conspired against his happiness.
In his early youth he seemed strangely aware of
his own superior gifts and was often so overbearing
that he made enemies. The story is told of a quar-
rel he had with a young man named Torrigiano, in
whose company he was copying some frescoes in a
church in Florence. Stung by some tormenting
words of Michelangelo, Torrigiano retaliated with a
blow of the fist, which crushed his companion's nose,
and disfigured him for life.
Michelangelo's real education began in the palace
of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who discovered the
lad's talent and made him a favorite. " He sat at
the same table with Ficino, Pico, and Poliziano, lis-
tening to dialogues on Plato, and drinking in the
golden poetry of Greece. Greek literature and
philosophy, expounded by the men who had discov-
92 MICHELANGELO
ered them, first moulded his mind to those lofty
thoughts which it became the task of his life to
express in form. At the same time he heard the
preaching of Savonarola. In the Duomo and the
cloister of S. Marco another portion of his soul was
touched, and he acquired that deep religious tone
which gives its majesty and terror to the Sistine." ^
In the gardens of S. Marco he had Lorenzo's fine
collection of antiquities to study, and learned from
them the secrets of Greek sculpture.
In all these opportunities it would seem that
Michelangelo was a most fortunate person. Nor
did he lack proper appreciation ; the Pieta placed
him at once on a pinnacle of fame, and the David
was heartily admired.
It was when he entered the service of the Pope
that his troubles beg^an. He w^as never thereafter a
free man. His genius was at the disposition of a
series of men, each ambitious for his own fame,
and caring little for the artist's personal aspirations.
His proud nature was bitterly humiliated by this
sacrifice of his independence. Sometimes he openly
rebelled, but in the end was always obliged to yield
to papal authority.
Michelangelo's sternly upright spirit found also
much to sadden him in the corruption of the times.
He was a lover of righteousness as well as a lover
of liberty, and he greatly mourned the evils which
surrounded him.
One of the pleasantest traits in his character was
^ Symonds, in Renaissance in Italy : The Fine Arts.
PORTRAIT 93
his warm affection for the members of his family
and for the few whom he honored with his friend-
ship. One of the latter was Yittoria Colonna, a
woman of strong and beautiful character, who
brought much brightness into his life.
Our portrait shows him somewhat past middle life
when occupied with many important concerns. We
can read in the face something of the character of
the man. It is certainly not a handsome face, for
any good looks he might once have boasted were
destroyed by his broken nose. It is nevertheless a
face full of rugged strength, with not a little kindli-
ness in the expression. Here is a man whose enmity
we should avoid, but whose friendship we should
value above rubies.
It is the face of a lonely man. Michelangelo had
to suffer the loneliness of genius. No one could
fully understand him. He stood apart, towering
like a giant above his fellow men.
On the four hundredth anniversary of Michelan-
gelo's birthday, some verses were written by an
American poet, Christopher Cranch, which one
should read while looking at this portrait : —
" This is the rugged face
Of him who won a place
Above all kings and lords;
Whose various skill and power
Left Italy a dower
No numbers can compute, no tongue translate in words.
" Patient to train and school
His genius to the rule
Art's sternest laws required;
94 MICHELANGELO
Yet, by no custom chained,
His daring hand disdained
The academic forms by tamer souls admired.
** In his interior light
Awoke those shapes of might
Once known that never die;
Forms of titanic birth.
The elder brood of earth.
That fill the mind more grandly than they charm the eye.
" Yet when the master chose,
Ideal graces rose
Like flowers on gnarled boughs;
For he was nursed and fed
At beauty's fountain head
And to the goddess pledged his earliest warmest vows."
The poet describes still further the artist's char-
acter, and then enumerates some of his great works.
Whatever occupied him —
" Still proudly poised, he stepped
The way his vision swept,
And scorned the narrower view.
He touched with glory all
That pope or cardinal.
With lower aim than his, allotted him to do.
" So stood this Angelo
Four hundred years ago ;
So grandly still he stands,
Mid lesser worlds of art,
Colossal and apart.
Like Memnon breathing songs across the desert sands."
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES
AND FOREIGN WORDS
The Diacritical Marks given are those found in the latest edition of Webster's Inter-
national Dictionary.
EXPLANATION OF DIACRITICAL MARKS.
A Dash (~) above the vowel denotes the long sound, as in fate, eve, time, note, use.
A Dash and a Dot (■^) above the vowel denote the same sound, less prolonged.
A Curve (") above the vowel denotes the short sound, as in 5dd, 6nd, TU, 6dd, up.
A Dot ( * ) above the vowel a denotes the obscure sound of a in past, abate, Amgric&.
A Double Dot (■)above the vowel a denotes the broad sound of a in father, alms.
A Double Dot (,.) below the vowel a denotes the sound of a in ball,
A Wave (~) above the vowel e denotes the souud of e in her.
A Circumflex Accent {'^) above the vowel o denotes the sound of o in bdru.
^ sounds like s.
•e sounds like k.
g sounds like z.
g is hard as in get.
g is soft as in gem.
Ado'nTs.
-^Eneas (e ne'as) ; JEneid (e ne'id).
Am'azon.
Am'broge.
An'athoth.
Anchises (an ki'sez),
An'no Dom'ini.
ApoHo.
Ap'pian.
Arimathe'a.
Babylon (bab'i lun) ; Pab^lo'nian.
Barbaros'sa.
BargeFlo.
Beethoven (ba'to vun).
Belshaz'zar.
Beth'lehem.
Beth-pe'or.
Bramante (bra man'ta).
Bugiardini (boo jar de'ne).
Buonarroti (boo 6 nar rot'e).
Canaan (ka'nan or ka'na an),
('arra'ra.
Celano (cha la'no).
Cencio, Bernardo (b§r nar'do chen'-
che 6).
Chaldean (kal de'an).
Colonna, Vittoria (vet to'r& a ko lon'-
na).
Condi vi (ksn de've).
Cosinio (k6'z6 mo).
Cristo Risorto (kres't6 re zor'to).
Cumse (kii'me).
Cyrus (si'rus).
Daniel (dan'yel or dan'i el).
Dan'te.
Daphne (daf'ne).
Dari'us.
De'lian.
Delphi (del'fl).
De'mos.
Dies Irse (de'as e'ri or di'ez I're).
Dionigi, di San (de san de 6 ne'je).
Domine, quo vadis (do'rae na, kwo
wa'dis or dom'i ne, kwo va' dis).
Doni, Angelo (an'ja lo do'ns).
Douay (doo a').
Duomo (dob o'mo).
E'ros.
Febbre, della (del'la feb'bra).
96
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY
Fieino (fs che'no).
Franciscan (t'ran sis'kan).
Frizzi, Federigo (fa da re'go fret'se).
Giovanni (jo van'ns).
Giuliano (joo Is a'no).
Goli'ath
Gotti (got'ts).
Gualfonda (gwal fon'da).
Hel'lespont.
Huguenot (hu'ge not).
Inf§r'no.
Isaiah (i za'ya).
Israel (iz'ra el).
Jameson (ja'me sun).
Jehoi'akim.
J ere mi' ah,
Jerome (J6 rom' or jer'om).
Jerii'salem.
Je'thro,
JosFah.
Judaea (ju d6'a).
Jii'dah.
Jii'pitgr.
Kugler (kobg'lSr).
Laz'arus.
Lean'der.
Lombards.
Mag'dalsne.
Me'dian.
Medici (ma'de che).
Mem'non.
Me'ne.
Michelangelo (me kel an'ja 15).
Midian.
Milan (mil' an or mi Ian').
Milanesi (me lana'ze).
M5ab.
Morpheus (mor'fiis).
Naz'areth.
Ne'bo.
Nebuchadnezzar (neb u kad nez'zar).
Nemour (ne moor').
Ne'ro.
Oliphant (ol'i fant).
Palazzo Vecchio (pa lat'so vek'ke 6).
Pal'estine.
Pater Patriae (pa'tar pa'tre i or
pa'tgr pa'tri e).
Pausanias (pa sa'ni as).
Pensiero, II (el pen se a'ro) ; Pensie-
roso (pen sB a ro'zO).
Pharaoh (fa'rO).
Philistine.
Piazza della Signoria (pe at'sa del'la
sen y6 re 'a).
Pico (pe'ko).
Pietk (p6 a ta').
Pietro in Vincoli (pe a'tro en ven'-
kole).
Pitti, Bartolommeo (bar to lom ma'6
pet'te).
Plato.
Poliziano (p6 let s6 a'no)
pyth'i a.
Raphael (ra/fa el).
Rucellai (rob chel la'e).
Sae'risty.
Santarelli (san ta rel'le).
Savonarola (sa v6 na ro'la).
Scappuci, Mario (ma're 6 skap pob'-
che).
Ses'tos.
Sib'yl
Sim'eon.
Sistine (sis 'ten).
Solari, Cristof oro (kres tof '& r6 so-
la're).
Stabat Mater (sta'bat ma'tgr or sta'-
bat ma'tur).
Strozzi, Giovan Battista (30 van' bat-
tes'ta strot'se).
St^x.
Swin'burne.
Sym'ond§.
Tarquin (tar'kwin).
te'kel.
terribilit^ (ter r5 be^le ta').
Torrigiano (tor re ja'nO).
Uffizi (obf f et'se).
Upharsin (u far'sin). _
Urbano, Pietro (p6 a'tro oor ba'no).
Urbino (obr be'nO).
Varj dei Porcari, Metello (ma tel'16
va're da' 6 por ka're).
Vasari (va sa're).
Vatican (vat'i kan).
Virgil (vgr'jil).
Vul'gate.
Zedeki'ah.
Zephaniah (zef a nl'a).
AUTHORS' PORTRAIjTS,
FOR SCHOOL USIJV: > "^ ^ '^
Sample of the portraits in " MasterptccVs" ^ o/!' Aitierican
Literature'' and ^''Masterpieces of\BritisA Liierature,^^^ ,
described on the second page of this circular, • »'•, " .
^f^l-eyty ^d^a^/^^:^^^^.
P0RI^:^AITS OF AUTHORS
, ^''^'aJ^^D i»^CTURES OF THEIR HOMES
* ^ :'r <
^FQ/^ ^THM rt/^E OF PUPILS IN THE STUDY OF
"-'''< /I -;,'/ ,' 'LITER A TURE
'" We have received so many calls for portraits of
authors ,and pictures of their homes suitable for class
and note-book use in ?,he study of reading and litera-
ture, that we have decided to issue separately the
twenty-nine portraits contained in '* Masterpieces of
American Literature " and " Masterpieces of British
Literature," and the homes of eight American authors
as shown in the Appendix to the newly revised edition
of " Richardson's Primer of American Literature."
PORTRAITS
AMERICAN.
BRYANT.
HAWTHORNE.
O'REILLY.
EMERSON.
HOLMES.
THOREAU.
EVERETT.
IRVING.
WEBSTER.
FRANKLIN.
LONGFELLOW.
LOWELL.
BRITISH.
WHITTIER.
ADDISON.
COLERIDGE.
MACAULAY.
BACON.
COWPER.
MILTON.
BROWN.
DICKENS.
RUSKIN.
BURNS.
GOLDSMITH.
TENNYSON.
BYRON.
GRAY.
LAMB.
WORDSWORTH.
HOMES OF AUTHORS
BRYANT.
HOLMES.
LOWELL.
EMERSON.
LONGFELLOW.
STOWE.
HAWTHORNE.
WHITTIER.
Sold only in lots of ten or nioi^e, assorted as desired.
Ten, assorted, postpaid, 20 cents.
Each additional one in the same package, i cent.
In lots of 100 or more, assorted, i cent each, postpaid.
Eor mutual convenience please send a remittance with each
order. Postage stamps taken.
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
4 Park Street, Boston; ii East 17TH Street, New York;
.•?78-388 Wabash Avenue, Chicago.
ORNAMENTS
FOR SCHOOL-ROOMS
THE ATLANTIC LIFE-SIZE PORTRAITS
Of Whittier, Lowell, Emerson, Hawthorne, Long-
fellow, Holmes, Bryant. Size, 24 by 30 inches. Lith-
ographs, ^i.oo, net, each, postpaid. Teachers' price,
85 cents, net, each, postpaid.
MASTERPIECES PORTRAITS.
For descriptions and prices see other pages of this
circular.
HOMES OF AMERICAN AUTHORS.
For descriptions and prices see other pages of this
circular.
LONGFELLOW'S RESIDENCE.
A colored lithograph of the historic mansion ("Wash-
ington's Headquarters") at Cambridge, in which Mr.
Longfellow lived for forty years. Size, 12 by 16
inches. Price, 50 cents, net, postpaid.
FINE STEEL PORTRAITS
(The size of cabinet photographs) of over ninety of
the most celebrated American and European Au-
thors. The 25-cent portraits and the 75-cent por-
traits are printed on paper measuring 9 by 12 inches,
and the $1.00 portraits 11 by 14 inches. A list with
prices to teachers may be had on application.
HOUGHTON, MIF-FLIN & CO.
4 P!\RK Strrrt, Boston; ii East 17TH Street, New York:
378-388 Wabash Avenue, Chicago.
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PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON & CO.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
U.S.A.
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