of his manner in old age; whereas the rest of the picture shows no trace of that manner.  I am inclined to think that the Entombment was the production of a second-rate craftsman, working upon some design made by Michelangelo at the advanced period when the Passion of our Lord occupied his thoughts in Rome.  Even so, the spirit of the drawing must have been imperfectly assimilated; and, what is more puzzling, the composition does not recall the style of Michelangelo’s old age.  The colouring, so far as we can understand it, rather suggests Pontormo.

VII

Michelangelo’s good friend, Jacopo Gallo, was again helpful to him in the last and greatest work which he produced during this Roman residence.  The Cardinal Jean de la Groslaye de Villiers Francois, Abbot of S. Denys, and commonly called by Italians the Cardinal di San Dionigi, wished to have a specimen of the young sculptor’s handiwork.  Accordingly articles were drawn up to the following effect on August 26, 1498:  “Let it be known and manifest to whoso shall read the ensuing document, that the most Rev. Cardinal of S. Dionigi has thus agreed with the master Michelangelo, sculptor of Florence, to wit, that the said master shall make a Pieta of marble at his own cost; that is to say, a Virgin Mary clothed, with the dead Christ in her arms, of the size of a proper man, for the price of 450 golden ducats of the Papal mint, within the term of one year from the day of the commencement of the work.”  Next follow clauses regarding the payment of the money, whereby the Cardinal agrees to disburse sums in advance.  The contract concludes with a guarantee and surety given by Jacopo Gallo.  “And I, Jacopo Gallo, pledge my word to his most Rev. Lordship that the said Michelangelo will finish the said work within one year, and that it shall be the finest work in marble which Rome to-day can show, and that no master of our days shall be able to produce a better.  And, in like manner, on the other side, I pledge my word to the said Michelangelo that the most Rev. Card. will disburse the payments according to the articles above engrossed.  To witness which, I, Jacopo Gallo, have made this present writing with my own hand, according to the date of year, month, and day as above.”

The Pieta raised Michelangelo at once to the highest place among the artists of his time, and it still remains unrivalled for the union of sublime aesthetic beauty with profound religious feeling.  The mother of the dead Christ is seated on a stone at the foot of the cross, supporting the body of her son upon her knees, gazing sadly at his wounded side, and gently lifting her left hand, as though to say, “Behold and see!” She has the small head and heroic torso used by Michelangelo to suggest immense physical force.  We feel that such a woman has no difficulty in holding a man’s corpse upon her ample lap and in her powerful arms.  Her face, which differs from the