THE LIFE OF MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. BIRTH, BOYHOOD, YOUTH AT FLORENCE, DOWN TO LORENZO DE' MEDICI'S
DEATH. 1475-1492.

II. FIRST VISITS TO BOLOGNA AND ROME--THE MADONNA DELLA FEBBRE AND
OTHER WORKS IN MARBLE. 1492-1501.

III. RESIDENCE IN FLORENCE--THE DAVID. 1501-1505.

IV. JULIUS II. CALLS MICHELANGELO TO ROME--PROJECT FOR THE POPE'S
TOMB--THE REBUILDING OF S. PETER'S--FLIGHT FROM ROME--CARTOON
FOR THE BATTLE OF PISA. 1505, 1506.

V. SECOND VISIT TO BOLOGNA--THE BRONZE STATUE OF JULIUS
II--PAINTING OF THE SISTINE VAULT. 1506-1512.

VI. ON MICHELANGELO AS DRAUGHTSMAN, PAINTER, SCULPTOR.

VII. LEO X. PLANS FOR THE CHURCH OF S. LORENZO AT
FLORENCE--MICHELANGELO'S LIFE AT CARRARA. 1513-1521.

VIII. ADRIAN VI AND CLEMENT VII--THE SACRISTY AND LIBRARY OF S.
LORENZO. 1521-1526.

IX. SACK OF ROME AND SIEGE OF FLORENCE--MICHELANGELO'S FLIGHT TO
VENICE--HIS RELATIONS TO THE MEDICI. 1527-1534.

X. ON MICHELANGELO AS ARCHITECT.

XI. FINAL SETTLEMENT IN ROME--PAUL III.--THE LAST JUDGMENT AND THE
PAOLINE CHAPEL--THE TOMB OF JULIUS. 1535-1542.

XII. VITTORIA COLONNA AND TOMMASO CAVALIERI--MICHELANGELO AS POET AND
MAN OF FEELING.

XIII. MICHELANGELO APPOINTED ARCHITECT-IN-CHIEF AT THE
VATICAN--HISTORY OF S. PETER'S. 1542-1557.

XIV. LAST YEARS OF LIFE--MICHELANGELO'S PORTRAITS--ILLNESS OF OLD
AGE. 1557-1564.

XV. DEATH AT ROME--BURIAL AND OBSEQUIES AT
FLORENCE--ANECDOTES--ESTIMATE OF MICHELANGELO AS MAN AND ARTIST.




THE LIFE OF MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI


CHAPTER I


I

The Buonarroti Simoni, to whom Michelangelo belonged, were a
Florentine family of ancient burgher nobility. Their arms appear to
have been originally "azure two bends or." To this coat was added "a
label of four points gules inclosing three fleur-de-lys or." That
augmentation, adopted from the shield of Charles of Anjou, occurs upon
the scutcheons of many Guelf houses and cities. In the case of the
Florentine Simoni, it may be ascribed to the period when Buonarrota di
Simone Simoni held office as a captain of the Guelf party (1392).
Such, then, was the paternal coat borne by the subject of this Memoir.
His brother Buonarroto received a further augmentation in 1515 from
Leo X., to wit: "upon a chief or, a pellet azure charged with
fleur-de-lys or, between the capital letters L. and X." At the same
time he was created Count Palatine. The old and simple bearing of the
two bends was then crowded down into the extreme base of the shield,
while the Angevine label found room beneath the chief.