The records of this period are so scanty that every detail acquires a certain importance for Michelangelo’s biographer.  By a deed executed on the 14th of June 1514, we find that he contracted to make a figure of Christ in marble, “life-sized, naked, erect, with a cross in his arms, and in such attitude as shall seem best to Michelangelo.”  The persons who ordered the statue were Bernardo Cencio (a Canon of S. Peter’s), Mario Scappucci, and Metello Varj dei Porcari, a Roman of ancient blood.  They undertook to pay 200 golden ducats for the work; and Michelangelo promised to finish it within the space of four years, when it was to be placed in the Church of S. Maria sopra Minerva.  Metello Varj, though mentioned last in the contract, seems to have been the man who practically gave the commission, and to whom Michelangelo was finally responsible for its performance.  He began to hew it from a block, and discovered black veins in the working.  This, then, was thrown aside, and a new marble had to be attacked.  The statue, now visible at the Minerva, was not finished until the year 1521, when we shall have to return to it again.

There is a point of some interest in the wording of this contract, on which, as facts to dwell upon are few and far between at present, I may perhaps allow myself to digress.  The master is here described as Michelangelo (di Lodovico) Simoni, Scultore.  Now Michelangelo always signed his own letters Michelangelo Buonarroti, although he addressed the members of his family by the surname of Simoni.  This proves that the patronymic usually given to the house at large was still Simoni, and that Michelangelo himself acknowledged that name in a legal document.  The adoption of Buonarroti by his brother’s children and descendants may therefore be ascribed to usage ensuing from the illustration of their race by so renowned a man.  It should also be observed that at this time Michelangelo is always described in deeds as sculptor, and that he frequently signs with Michelangelo, Scultore.  Later on in life he changed his views.  He wrote in 1548 to his nephew Lionardo:  “Tell the priest not to write to me again as Michelangelo the sculptor, for I am not known here except as Michelangelo Buonarroti.  Say, too, that if a citizen of Florence wants to have an altar-piece painted, he must find some painter; for I was never either sculptor or painter in the way of one who keeps a shop.  I have always avoided that, for the honour of my father and my brothers.  True, I have served three Popes; but that was a matter of necessity.”  Earlier, in 1543, he had written to the same effect:  “When you correspond with me, do not use the superscription Michelangelo Simoni, nor sculptor; it is enough to put Michelangelo Buonarroti, for that is how I am known here.”  On another occasion, advising his nephew what surname the latter ought to adopt, he says:  “I should certainly use Simoni, and if the whole (that is, the