Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 5.djvu/345

Rh Giovambattista Altoviti, a good friend of Vasari and of these arts, was also present, and when Ferratino had heard the discourse made to him by Vasari, he solemnly promised to observe, and see observed, every order and arrangement left by Michelagnolo, adding that he would himself be the protector, defender, and preserver of the labours performed by that great man.

Returning to Michelagnolo himself, I have to relate, that about a year before his death, Vasari secretly prevailed on Duke Cosimo, to move the Pope, through Messer Averardo his Ambassador, to the end that since Michelagnolo was now much debilitated. His Holiness should keep a careful eye on those by whom he was surrounded, and should cause him to be visited at his house, for the due preservation of his designs, cartoons, models, and other property, taking measures, in the event of any sudden accident, such as may well happen to the very old; and this, in order that whatever might belong to, or be needful for, the fabric of San Pietro, the Sacristy and Library of San Lorenzo, or the Fa9ade of the lastnamed Church, might not be taken away, as so frequently happens, nor were these precautions, which were all duly attended to, without a satisfactory result.

In the Lent of this year, Leonardo, the nephew of Michelagnolo, resolved to go to Rome, as though divining that his kinsman was now near the end of his life, and the promise of this visit was all the more welcome to the latter, as he was already suffering from a slow fever. He caused his physician, Messer Federigo Donato, to write to Leonardo, hastening his arrival; but his malady increased, notwithstanding the cares of those around him: still, retaining perfect self-possession, the master at length made his will in three words, saying he left his soul to God, his body to the earth, and his goods to his nearest relations. He recommended his attendants to bethink themselves, in the passage from this life, of the sufferings endured by Our Saviour Christ; and on the I7th of February, in the year 1563, and at 23 o’clock, according to the Florentine computation, (in 1564 after that of Rome,) he departed to a better life.