Page:The Life of Michael Angelo.djvu/94

56 But it was only for a moment: the stormy course of his life was resumed almost immediately and he fell back again into the night.

The new Pope, Leo X., undertook to tear Michael Angelo away from the glorification of his predecessor and to attach him to the triumph of his own house. It was more a question of pride than sympathy with him; for, with his epicurean nature, he could not understand Michael Angelo's sad genius —all his favours were for Raphael. But the man who had produced the paintings of the Sistine Chapel was an Italian glory, and Leo X. wished to domesticate it.

He offered to allow Michael Angelo to build the façade of San Lorenzo, the church of the Medici, at Florence. Michael Angelo, stimulated by his rivalry with Raphael, who had profited by his absence to become the sovereign of art in Rome, allowed himself to be allured by this