Page:The Life of Michael Angelo.djvu/74

 and difficulty. I think of nothing else than working night and day. I have endured such sufferings, and I continue to endure them, that I believe that if I had the statue to make once more my life would not suffice for the task. It has been a gigantic undertaking.”

Considering the fatigue entailed, the fate which was in store for this work of art was pitiful. Erected in February 1508 in front of the façade of San Petronio, the statue of Julius II. remained there but four years. In December 1511 it was destroyed by the party of the Bentivoglio family, the enemies of Julius II., and Alfonzo d’Este bought the fragments to make a cannon.

Michael Angelo returned to Rome. Julius now imposed upon him another task, no less unexpected and still more perilous. He ordered the painter, who knew nothing about the technique of fresco painting, to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. One would have said that he took pleasure in ordering impossible things and Michael Angelo in carrying them out.

It seems that it was Bramante who, seeing Michael Angelo return to favour, brought this task upon him—a task in the carrying out of which he thought his glory would wane. The ordeal was all the more dangerous for Michael Angelo as, in the same year, 1508, his rival Raphael had commenced painting the “Stanze” of the Vatican with incomparable success. He did everything