Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/259

Rh chelagnolo had his studio, and where he prepared the Statues and all other things needful for the Tomb. And to the end that His Holiness might come conveniently to see the artist at work, there was a drawbridge constructed between the corridor and the studio, a circumstance which gave rise to so close an intimacy, that the favourable notice thus bestowed on Michelagnolo having awakened great envy among the artists of his own calling, occasioned him much vexation and even persecution. Of this work, Michelagnolo finished four Statues and commenced eight others, either during the life or after the death of Pope Julius; and as the arrangements made for this work give proof of extraordinary powers of invention, we will here describe the principal features thereof.

For the greater magnificence of the efiect, it was decided that the tomb should be wholly isolated, a passage remaining entirely around it, the fabric being eighteen braccia in extent on two sides, and twelve on the other two, the dimensions thus presenting a square and a half: a range of niches passed entirely around it, and these were interchanged by terminal figures, clothed from the middle upwards, and bearing the first cornice on their heads, while to every one was bound a captive in a strange distorted attitude, the feet of these prisoners resting on the projection of a socle or basement. These captives were intended to signify the Provinces subjugated by Pope Julius, and brought by him into the obedience of the apostolic Church. There were other statues, also bound, and these represented the Fine Arts and liberal Sciences, which were thus intimated to be subjected to death no less than was that Pontiff, by whom they had been so honourably protected. On the angles of the first cornice were four large figures, representing Active Life and Contemplative Life, with St. Paul and Moses.

Above the cornice the fabric gradually diminished, exhibiting a frieze of stories in bronze, with figures of angels in the form of boys, and other ornaments around them; and over all, at the summit of the work, were two figures, one of which, having a smiling aspect, represented Heaven,