The documents for 1528 are almost as meagre.  We do not possess a single letter, and the most important Ricordi relate to Buonarroto’s death and the administration of his property.  He died of the plague upon the 2nd of July, to the very sincere sorrow of his brother.  It is said that Michelangelo held him in his arms while he was dying, without counting the risk to his own life.  Among the minutes of disbursements made for Buonarroto’s widow and children after his burial, we find that their clothes had been destroyed because of the infection.  All the cares of the family now fell on Michelangelo’s shoulders.  He placed his niece Francesca in a convent till the time that she should marry, repaid her dowry to the widow Bartolommea, and provided for the expenses of his nephew Lionardo.

For the rest, there is little to relate which has any bearing on the way in which he passed his time before the siege of Florence began.  One glimpse, however, is afforded of his daily life and conversation by Benvenuto Cellini, who had settled in Florence after the sack of Rome, and was working in a shop he opened at the Mercato Nuovo.  The episode is sufficiently interesting to be quoted.  A Sienese gentleman had commissioned Cellini to make him a golden medal, to be worn in the hat.  “The subject was to be Hercules wrenching the lion’s mouth.  While I was working at this piece, Michel Agnolo Buonarroti came oftentimes to see it.  I had spent infinite pains upon the design, so that the attitude of the figure and the fierce passion of the beast were executed in quite a different style from that of any craftsman who had hitherto attempted such groups.  This, together with the fact that the special branch of art was totally unknown to Michel Agnolo, made the divine master give such praises to my work that I felt incredibly inspired for further effort.

“Just then I met with Federigo Ginori, a young man of very lofty spirit.  He had lived some years in Naples and being endowed with great charms of person and presence, had been the lover of a Neapolitan princess.  He wanted to have a medal made with Atlas bearing the world upon his shoulders, and applied to Michel Agnolo for a design.  Michel Agnolo made this answer:  ’Go and find out a young goldsmith named Benvenuto; he will serve you admirably, and certainly he does not stand in need of sketches by me.  However, to prevent your thinking that I want to save myself the trouble of so slight a matter, I will gladly sketch you something; but meanwhile speak to Benvenuto, and let him also make a model; he can then execute the better of the two designs.’  Federigo Ginori came to me and told me what he wanted, adding thereto how Michel Agnolo had praised me, and how he had suggested I should make a waxen model while he undertook to supply a sketch.  The words of that great man so heartened me, that I set myself to work at once with eagerness upon the model; and when I had finished it, a painter who was intimate with Michel Agnolo, called Giuliano Bugiardini, brought me the drawing of Atlas.  On the same occasion I showed Giuliano my little model in wax, which was very different from Michel Agnolo’s drawing; and Federigo, in concert with Bugiardini, agreed that I should work upon my model.  So I took it in hand, and when Michel Agnolo saw it, he praised me to the skies.”