“Honoured Sir.  In Venice, this tenth day of September....  Ten ducats to Rinaldo Corsini.  Five ducats to Messer Loredan for the rent of the house.  Seventeen lire for the stockings of Antonio (Mini, perhaps).  For two stools, a table to eat on, and a coffer, half a ducat.  Eight soldi for straw.  Forty soldi for the hire of the bed.  Ten lire to the man (fante) who came from Florence.  Three ducats to Bondino for the journey to Venice with boats.  Twenty soldi to Piloto for a pair of shoes.  Fourteen days’ board in Venice, twenty lire.”

It has been argued from the date of the unfinished letter below which these items are jotted down, that Michelangelo must have been in Venice early in September, before his flight from Florence at the end of that month.  But whatever weight we may attach to this single date, there is no corroborative proof that he travelled twice to Venice, and everything in the Ricordo indicates that it refers to the period of his flight from Florence.  The sum paid to Corsini comes first, because it must have been disbursed when that man broke the journey at Ferrara.  Antonio Mini and Piloto are both mentioned:  a house has been engaged, and furnished with Michelangelo’s usual frugality, as though he contemplated a residence of some duration.  All this confirms Busini, Varchi, Segni, Nardi, and Vasari in the general outlines of their reports.  I am of opinion that, unassisted by further evidence, the Ricordo, in spite of its date, will not bear out Gotti’s view that Michelangelo sought Venice on a privy mission at the end of August 1529.  He was not likely to have been employed as ambassador extraordinary; the Signory required his services at home; and after Ferrara, Venice had little of importance to show the controller-general of defences in the way of earthworks and bastions.

IV

Varchi says that Michelangelo, when he reached Venice, “wishing to avoid visits and ceremonies, of which he was the greatest enemy, and in order to live alone, according to his custom, far away from company, retired quietly to the Giudecca; but the Signory, unable to ignore the advent of so eminent a man, sent two of their first noblemen to visit him in the name of the Republic, and to offer kindly all things which either he or any persons of his train might stand in need of.  This public compliment set forth the greatness of his fame as artist, and showed in what esteem the arts are held by their magnificent and most illustrious lordships.”  Vasari adds that the Doge, whom he calls Gritti, gave him commission to design a bridge for the Rialto, marvellous alike in its construction and its ornament.