But it was only for a moment: the stormy course of his life was resumed almost immediately and he fell back again into the night.
The new Pope, Leo X., undertook to tear Michael Angelo away from the glorification of his predecessor and to attach him to the triumph of his own house. It was more a question of pride than sympathy with him; for, with his epicurean nature, he could not understand Michael Angelo's sad genius[1]—all his favours were for Raphael. But the man who had produced the paintings of the Sistine Chapel was an Italian glory, and Leo X. wished to domesticate it.
He offered to allow Michael Angelo to build the façade of San Lorenzo, the church of the Medici, at Florence. Michael Angelo, stimulated by his rivalry with Raphael, who had profited by his absence to become the sovereign of art in Rome,[2] allowed himself to be allured by this
- ↑ He was not sparing in demonstrations of tenderness towards him; but he was frightened of Michael Angelo. He felt ill at ease in his presence. "When the Pope speaks of you," wrote Sebastiano del Piombo to the artist, "it is as though he were speaking of one of his brothers. There are almost tears in his eyes. He has told me that you were brought up together, and he protests that he knows and loves you. But you frighten everybody—even Popes." (October 27, 1520.) Michael Angelo was ridiculed at the court of Leo X. He laid himself open to raillery through the imprudence of his language. An unfortunate letter which he wrote to Cardinal Bibbiena, the patron of Raphael, caused joy amongst his enemies. "They speak of nothing else at the palace," wrote Sebastiano to Michael Angelo, "but of your letter. Everybody is laughing." (July 3, 1520.)
- ↑ Bramante had died in 1514, and Raphael had just been appointed superintendent of the building of St. Peter's.
were given by him in 1546 to Roberto Strozzi, the Florentine Republican, then exiled in France, who presented them to Francis I.
