Vasari saw this work in progress, and gives us a glimpse into the
home-life of the aged worker, who was never content out of his workshop,
and spent his sleepless nights working at this huge marble with a paper
cap on his head, in which he stuck a lighted candle to see by. The
solitary figure of the old man in the vast and dimly lighted studio,
groping round the inchoate marble; the stillness of the night, broken only
by the sharp click of the mallet and the grating of the chisel, is a
picture of many of the bravest hours of his old age. Vasari, observing all
this, and wishing to do the revered artist a kindness, sent him 40 lbs. of
candles made of goat's fat, knowing that they gutter less than ordinary
dips of tallow. His servant carried them politely to the house two hours
after night-fall, and presented them to Michael Angelo. He refused, and
said he did not want them. The man answered: "Sir, they have almost broken
my back carrying them all this long way from the bridge, and I will not
carry them home again. There is a heap of mud opposite your door, thick
and firm enough to hold them upright. Here then will I set them all up,
and light them." When Michael Angelo heard this he gave way: "Lay them
down; I do not mean you to play pranks at my house door." Vasari tells
another anecdote about the Deposition. Pope Julius III. sent him late one
evening to Michael Angelo's house for a certain drawing. The aged master
came down with a lantern, and, hearing what was wanted, told Urbino to
look for the design.
Pages:
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247