being a man of varied acquirements, he knew, among other things, how to write Tuscan verse in a jesting humour. Being reproached by certain persons, who declared it to be a shameful thing that he would no longer work, because he had sufficient to live on, Fra Sebastiano replied in this manner: “Nay, since I have enough to support me, I will not work; there are geniuses now in the world who do more in two months than I used to do in two years; I think, indeed, that if I live much longer I shall find that every thing has been painted which it is possible to paint, and since these good people are doing so much, it is upon the whole well that there is one who is content to do nothing, to the end that they may have all the more to do.” With these and other pleasantries, Fra Sebastiano was ever ready to reply, always facetious and amusing as he was; a better or more agreeable companion than himself, of a truth, there never lived. Sebastiano, as we have said, was much beloved by Michelagnolo, but it is also true that when that part of the chapel whereon is executed the Last Judgment of Buonarroti had to be painted, there did arise some anger between them; Sebastiano having persuaded the Pope to make Michelagnolo execute the work in oil, while the latter vcould do it in no other manner than fresco. But Michelagnolo saying neither yes nor no, the wall was prepared after the fashion of Fra Sebastiano, and Buonarroti suffered it to remain thus for several months, without doing anything to the work. At length, and when pressed on the subject, he declared that he would only do it in fresco, “oil-painting being an art only fit for women, or idle and leisurely people like Fra Bastiano.” The preparations made by Sebastiano were therefore removed, and everything being made ready for the painting in fresco, Michelagnolo then set hand to the work, but he never forgot the affront which it appeared to him that he had received from Fra Sebastiano, and maintained a feeling of hatred against him almost to the Frate’s death.
Being finally brought to a state wherein he would neither work nor do any other thing but just attend to his office as Frate del Piombo,nota and give himself good cheer, Fra [1]
- ↑ The reader who may desire an explanation of the nature of this office, will find it in the Life of Fra Bartolommeo, vol. ii. of the present work, p. 452, note.
