It has long been a disputed point whether Michael Angelo ever painted in oil; but it has been ascertained by Lanzi that the Holy Family in the Florentine gallery, which is the only picture by him supposed to be painted in oil, is in reality in distemper. Many of his designs, however, were executed in oil by his cotemporaries, especially Sebastiano del Piombo, Jacopo da Pontormo, and Marcello Venusti. Fresco painting was better adapted to the elevated character of his composition, which required a simple and solid system of coloring, rather subdued than enlivened, and producing a grand and impressive effect, which could not have been expressed by the glittering splendor of oil painting. There are many oil paintings erroneously attributed to him in the galleries at Rome, Florence, Milan, the Imperial gallery at Vienna, and elsewhere. (See Spooner's Dict. of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors, and Architects; table of Imitators.)
MICHAEL ANGELO, HIS PROPHETS, AND JULIUS II.
When Michael Angelo had finished the works in
the Sistine chapel which Julius II. had commanded
him to paint, the Pope, not appreciating their native
dignity and simplicity, told him that "the chapel appeared
cold and mean, and there wanted some brilliancy
of coloring, and some gilding to be added to
it." "Holy father," replied the artist, "formerly
men did not dress as they do now, in gold and sil-
