IV

When Julius received news that his statue had been duly cast and set up in its place above the great door of S. Petronio, he began to be anxious to have Michelangelo once more near his person.  The date at which the sculptor left Florence again for Rome is fixed approximately by the fact that Lodovico Buonarroti emancipated his son from parental control upon the 13th of March 1508.  According to Florentine law, Michelangelo was not of age, nor master over his property and person, until this deed had been executed.

In the often-quoted letter to Fattucci he says:  “The Pope was still unwilling that I should complete the tomb, and ordered me to paint the vault of the Sistine.  We agreed for 3000 ducats.  The first design I made for this work had twelve apostles in the lunettes, the remainder being a certain space filled in with ornamental details, according to the usual manner.  After I had begun, it seemed to me that this would turn out rather meanly; and I told the Pope that the Apostles alone would yield a poor effect, in my opinion.  He asked me why.  I answered, ‘Because they too were poor.’  Then he gave me commission to do what I liked best, and promised to satisfy my claims for the work, and told me to paint down the pictured histories upon the lower row.”

There is little doubt that Michelangelo disliked beginning this new work, and that he would have greatly preferred to continue the sepulchral monument, for which he had made such vast and costly preparations.  He did not feel certain how he should succeed in fresco on a large scale, not having had any practice in that style of painting since he was a prentice under Ghirlandajo.  It is true that the Cartoon for the Battle of Pisa had been a splendid success; still this, as we have seen, was not coloured, but executed in various methods of outline and chiaroscuro.  Later on, while seriously engaged upon the Sistine, he complains to his father:  “I am still in great distress of mind, because it is now a year since I had a farthing from the Pope; and I do not ask, because my work is not going forward in a way that seems to me to deserve it.  That comes from its difficulty, and also from this not being my trade. And so I waste my time without results.  God help me.”

We may therefore believe Condivi when he asserts that “Michelangelo, who had not yet practised colouring, and knew that the painting of a vault is very difficult, endeavoured by all means to get himself excused, putting Raffaello forward as the proper man, and pleading that this was not his trade, and that he should not succeed.”  Condivi states in the same chapter that Julius had been prompted to intrust him with the Sistine by Bramante, who was jealous of his great abilities, and hoped he might fail conspicuously when he left the field of sculpture.  I have given my reasons above for doubting the accuracy of this tradition; and what we have just read of Michelangelo’s own hesitation confirms the statement made by Bramante in the Pope’s presence, as recorded by Rosselli.  In fact, although we may assume the truth of Bramante’s hostility, it is difficult to form an exact conception of the intrigues he carried on against Buonarroti.