Page:The Life of Michael Angelo.djvu/165

Rh life was not long enough to enable him to accomplish his task. The conversation then passed to the highest artistic subjects, which the Marchesa treated with religious gravity. In her opinion, as in that of Michael Angolo, a work of art was an act of faith.

"Good painting," said Michael Angelo, "approaches God and is united with Him. ... It is but a copy of His perfection, a shadow of His brush. His music. His melody. . . . Consequently, it is not sufficient for a painter to be merely a great and skilful master. I think that his life must also be pure and holy as much as possible, in order that the Holy Spirit may govern his thoughts."

And thus the day wore on, with these truly sacred and majestically serene conversations in the Church of San Silvestro, unless the friends preferred to continue them in the garden—which Francis of Holland describes for us: "near the fountain, within the shade of laurel bushes, seated on a stone bench placed against an ivy-covered wall," whence they looked down on Rome stretched at their feet.

Unfortunately these beautiful conversations did not last. They were suddenly interrupted by the religious crisis through which the Marchesa di Pescara was passing. In 1541 she left Rome to shut herself up in a cloister, first at Orvieto and then at Viterbo.