Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/258

246 great reverence, as indeed they well deserve to be; for in looking at them one cannot but consider them rather of divine than merely human origin.

The fame of Michelagnolo had now, by his Pietà, by the Colossal Statue in Florence, and by his Cartoon, become so much bruited abroad, that in 1503, when our artist was about twenty-nine years old, he was invited to Pome with great favour by Julius II., who had succeeded Alexander VI. on the papal throne. Here His Holiness, who had caused one hundred crowns to be paid to Michelagnolo by his agents for travelling expenses, commissioned him to prepare his Sepulchral Monument, but he had been several months in Rome before he was directed to make any commencement. Finally, it was determined that a design which he had made for that Tomb, should be adopted, and this work also bore ample testimony to the genius of the Master, seeing that, in beauty, magnificence, superb ornament, and wealth of statues, it surpassed every other sepulchre, not excepting the Imperial tombs, or those of antiquity. Encouraged by this success, Pope Julius ultimately determined to rebuild the Church of San Pietro, for the purpose of worthily installing the monument above-mentioned within it, as has been related elsewhere.

Michelagnolo then set hand to his work with great spirit, repairing for that purpose, with two of his disciples, to Carrara, to superintend the excavation of the marbles, having first received one thousand crowns in Florence from Alamanno Salviati, on account of those works.

In those mountains, then, he spent eight months without receiving any additional stipend or supplies of any kind, amusing himself meanwhile by planning all manner of immense figures to be hewn in those rocks, in memorial of himself, as did certain of the ancients, invited thereto by the vast masses before him. Having finally selected all that he required, he loaded them on ships, which he despatched to Rome, where they filled the entire half of the Piazza, which is towards Santa Caterina, and the whole space between the church and the corridor leading to the Castello, where Mi-