I must interrupt this narrative of the tomb to explain who some of the persons just mentioned were, and how they came to be connected with Buonarroti.  Donato Giannotti was the famous writer upon political and literary topics, who, after playing a conspicuous part in the revolution of Florence against the Medici, now lived in exile at Rome.  His dialogues on Dante, and Francesco d’Olanda’s account of the meetings at S. Silvestro, prove that he formed a member of that little circle which included Michelangelo and Vittoria Colonna.  Luigi del Riccio was a Florentine merchant, settled in the banking-house of the Strozzi at Rome.  For many years he acted as Michelangelo’s man of business; but their friendship was close and warm in many other ways.  They were drawn together by a common love of poetry, and by the charm of a rarely gifted youth called Cecchino dei Bracci.  Urbino was the great sculptor’s servant and man of all work, the last and best of that series, which included Stefano Miniatore, Pietro Urbino, Antonio Mini.  Michelangelo made Urbino’s fortune, mourned his death, and undertook the guardianship of his children, as will appear in due course.  All through his life the great sculptor was dependent upon some trusted servant, to whom he became personally attached, and who did not always repay his kindness with gratitude.  After Urbino’s death, Ascanio Condivi filled a similar post, and to this circumstance we owe the most precious of our contemporary biographies.

Our most important document with regard to the Tomb of Julius is an elaborate petition addressed by Michelangelo to Paul III. upon the 20th of July.  It begins by referring to the contract of April 18, 1532, and proceeds to state that the Pope’s new commission for the Cappella Paolina has interfered once more with the fulfilment of the sculptor’s engagements.  Then it recites the terms suggested by the Duke of Urbino in his letter of March 6, 1542, according to which three of the statues of the tomb may be assigned to capable craftsmen, while the other three, including the Moses, will have to be finished by Michelangelo himself.  Raffaello da Montelupo has already undertaken the Madonna and Child, a Prophet, and a Sibyl.  Giovanni de’ Marchese and Francesco da Urbino are at work upon the architecture.  It remains for Michelangelo to furnish the Moses and two Captives, all three of which are nearly completed.  The Captives, however, were designed for a much larger monument, and will not suit the present scheme.  Accordingly, he has blocked out two other figures, representing the Active and Contemplative Life.  But even these he is unable to finish, since the painting of the chapel absorbs his time and energy.  He therefore prays the Pope to use his influence with the Duke of Urbino, so that he may be henceforward wholly and absolutely freed from all obligations in the matter of the tomb.  The Moses he can deliver in a state of perfection, but he wishes to assign the Active and Contemplative Life to Raffaello or to any other sculptor who may be preferred by the Duke.  Finally, he is prepared to deposit a sum of 1200 crowns for the total costs, and to guarantee that the work shall be efficiently executed in all its details.