Buonarroto also tells me that you have a swelling on your side; it
comes from hardship or fatigue, or from eating something bad and windy, or
suffering the feet to be cold or damp. I have had one myself, and it still
troubles me when I eat windy food, or when I endure cold or such like
things. Our Francesco formerly had one, too, and also Gismondo similarly.
Be careful about it because it is dangerous."
The name of Michael Angelo's good friend, Jacopo Gallo, appears in the
agreement drawn up concerning the crowning work of this the first Roman
period, the Pieta, called the Madonna della Febbre, first placed in the
Chapel of Santa Petronilla, and now in the Chapel of Santa Maria della
Febbre, on the right of the entrance to St. Peters, in Rome. The
commission for this work was given by the Cardinal Jean de la Grostaye de
Villiers Francois, Abbot of St. Denis, called in Italy Cardinal di San
Dionigi. It is dated August 26, 1498.
[Image #4]
THE MADONNA BELLA PIETA
SAINT PETER'S, ROME
(_By permission, of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_)
"Be it known and manifest to whoso shall read the ensuing document, how
the Most Reverend Cardinal of San Dionigi has agreed with the master,
Michael Angelo, sculptor of Florence, that the said master shall make a
Pieta of marble at his own cost; that is, a Virgin Mary clothed, with the
dead Christ in her arms, of the size of a proper man, for the price of
four hundred and fifty golden Papal ducats, within the term of one year
from the day of the beginning of the work" (the Cardinal agrees to pay
certain sums in advance).
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