Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/267

Rh not be done otherwise. But Michelagnolo, perceiving that the architect was either incapable or unfriendly towards himself, went at once to the Pope, whom he assured that such a scaffolding was not the proper one, adding that Bramante did not know how to construct it; and Julius, in the presence of Bramante, replied, that Michelagnolo might construct it himself after his own fashion. The latter then erected his scaffolding on props in such a manner that the walls were not injured, and this method has since been pursued by Bramante and others, who were hereby taught the best way in which preparations for the execution of pictures on ceilings, and other works of the kind could be made, the ropes used by Bramante and which Michelagnolo’s construction had rendered needless, the latter gave to the poor carpenter, by whom the scaffolding was rebuilt, and who sold them for a sum which enabled him to make up the dowry of his daughter.

Michelagnolo now began to prepare the Cartoons for the ceiling, His Holiness giving orders to the effect that all the paintings executed on the walls by older masters in the time of Pope Sixtus, should be destroyed, it was furthermore decided that Michelagnolo should receive fifteen thousand ducats for the work, an estimation of its value which was made by Giuliano da San Gallo. But the extent of the work now compelled Michelagnolo to seek assistance; he therefore sent for men to Florence, resolving to prove himself the conqueror of all who had preceded him, and to show modern artists how drawing and painting ought to be done. The circumstances of the case became a stimulus to his exertions, and impelled him forward, not for his own fame only, but for the welfare of Art also. He had finished the cartoons, but deferred commencing the frescoes until certain of the Florentine painters who were his friends should arrive in Rome, partly to decrease his labour by assisting in the execution of the work, but also in part to show him the processes of fresco-painting, wherein some of them were well-experienced. Among these artists were Granacci, Giuliano Bugiardini, Jacopo di Sandro, and the elder Indaco, with Agnolo da Donnino, and Aristotile da Sangallo.