I hope before long to bring out some of Michael Angelo's sonnets
and madrigals, which I have for a long time collected, both from himself
and from others, that the world may know the worth of his imaginations,
and how many beautiful conceits were born in his divine spirit, and with
this I close.
PART II
THE WORKS OF MICHAEL ANGELO
"Non essendo homo in Italia apto ad expedire una opera di costesta
qualita, e necessario che lui solo, e non altro."
_Piero Soderini to the Marchese Alberigo Malaspina_, GAYE ii. 107.
CHAPTER I
THE RAPE OF DEIANEIRA, OR THE BATTLE OF THE CENTAURS, AND THE ANGEL OF THE
SHRINE OF SAINT DOMINIC
All accounts agree as to the precocity of the genius of Michael Angelo,
and Piero Soderini vouches for its practical character in the words quoted
above. It was not until he had suffered from the procrastination and
uncertainty of the patronage of the Popes, that his work took him so long
to finish that sometimes it had to be left incomplete. His early works
were remarkable, not only for their high finish but also for the
expedition with which they were carried out.
Condivi has given us the story of his early difficulties and of his first
picture,(60) probably in Michael Angelo's own words; we may supplement
this account by the following extract from Vasari, who gathered his
information from the gossip of the workshops of Florence, and from Ridolfo
Ghirlandaio, the son of his first master.
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