How tenderly Michelangelo’s thought dwelt upon Urbino appears from this sonnet, addressed in 1556 to Monsignor Lodovico Beccadelli:—­

  God’s grace, the cross, our troubles multiplied,
    Will make us meet in heaven, full well I know: 
    Yet ere we yield, our breath on earth below,
    Why need a little solace be denied? 
  Though seas and mountains and rough ways divide
    Our feet asunder, neither frost nor snow
    Can make the soul her ancient love; or ego;
    Nor chains nor bonds the wings of thought have tied. 
  Borne by these wings, with thee I dwell for aye,
    And weep, and of my dead Urbino talk,
    Who, were he living, now perchance would be—­
  For so ’twas planned—­thy guest as well as I.
    Warned by his death, another way I walk
    To meet him where he waits to live with me.

By his will, dated November 24, 1555, Urbino, whose real name was Francesco degli Amadori of Castel Durante, appointed his old friend and master one of his executors and the chief guardian of his widow and children.  A certain Roso de Rosis and Pietro Filippo Vandini, both of Castel Durante, are named in the trust; and they managed the estate.  Yet Michelangelo was evidently the principal authority.  A voluminous correspondence preserved in the Buonarroti Archives proves this; for it consists of numerous letters addressed by Urbino’s executors and family from Castel Durante and elsewhere to the old sculptor in Rome.  Urbino had married a woman of fine character and high intelligence, named Cornelia Colonnelli.  Two of her letters are printed by Gotti, and deserve to be studied for the power of their style and the elevation of their sentiments.  He has not made use, however, of the other documents, all of which have some interest as giving a pretty complete view of a private family and its vexations, while they illustrate the conscientious fidelity with which Michelangelo discharged his duties as trustee.  Urbino had a brother, also resident at Castel Durante, Raffaello’s celebrated pupil in fresco-painting, Il Fattorino.  This man and Vandini, together with Cornelia and her parents and her second husband, Giulio Brunelli, all wrote letters to Rome about the welfare of the children and the financial affairs of the estate.  The coexecutor Roso de Rosis did not write; it appears from one of Cornelia’s despatches that he took no active interest in the trust, while Brunelli even complains that he withheld moneys which were legally due to the heirs.  One of Michelangelo’s first duties was to take care that Cornelia got a proper man for her second husband.  Her parents were eager to see her married, being themselves old, and not liking to leave a comparatively young widow alone in the world with so many children to look after.  Their choice fell first upon a very undesirable person called Santagnolo, a young man of dissolute habits, ruined constitution, bad character, and no estate.