The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti | Page 3

in the distance. Gigantic oaks begin to
clothe the stony hillsides, and little by little a fertile mountain district of
chestnut-woods and vineyards expands before our eyes, equal in charm
to those aërial hills and vales above Pontremoli. Caprese has no central
commune or head-village. It is an aggregate of scattered hamlets and

farmhouses, deeply embosomed in a sea of greenery. Where the valley
contracts and the infant Tiber breaks into a gorge, rises a wooded rock
crowned with the ruins of an ancient castle. It was here, then, that
Michelangelo first saw the light. When we discover that he was a man
of more than usually nervous temperament, very different in quality
from any of his relatives, we must not forget what a fatiguing journey
had been performed by his mother, who was then awaiting her delivery.
Even supposing that Lodovico Buonarroti travelled from Florence by
Arezzo to Caprese, many miles of rough mountain-roads must have
been traversed by her on horseback.
III
Ludovico, who, as we have seen, was Podestà of Caprese and of Chiusi
in the Casentino, had already one son by his first wife, Francesca, the
daughter of Neri di Miniato del Sera and Bonda Rucellai. This elder
brother, Lionardo, grew to manhood, and become a devoted follower of
Savonarola. Under the influence of the Ferrarese friar, he determined to
abjure the world, and entered the Dominican Order in 1491. We know
very little about him, and he is only once mentioned in Michelangelo's
correspondence. Even this reference cannot be considered certain.
Writing to his father from Rome, July 1, 1497, Michelangelo says: "I
let you know that Fra Lionardo returned hither to Rome. He says that
he was forced to fly from Viterbo, and that his frock had been taken
from him, wherefore he wished to go there (_i.e._, to Florence). So I
gave him a golden ducat, which he asked for; and I think you ought
already to have learned this, for he should be there by this time." When
Lionardo died is uncertain. We only know that he was in the convent of
S. Mark at Florence in the year 1510. Owing to this brother's adoption
of the religious life, Michelangelo became, early in his youth, the eldest
son of Lodovico's family. It will be seen that during the whole course
of his long career he acted as the mainstay of his father, and as father to
his younger brothers. The strength and the tenacity of his domestic
affections are very remarkable in a man who seems never to have
thought of marrying. "Art," he used to say, "is a sufficiently exacting
mistress." Instead of seeking to beget children for his own solace, he
devoted himself to the interests of his kinsmen.

The office of Podestà lasted only six months, and at the expiration of
this term Lodovico returned to Florence. He put the infant
Michelangelo out to nurse in the village of Settignano, where the
Buonarroti Simoni owned a farm. Most of the people of that district
gained their livelihood in the stone-quarries around Settignano and
Maiano on the hillside of Fiesole. Michelangelo's foster-mother was the
daughter and the wife of stone-cutters. "George," said he in after-years
to his friend Vasari, "if I possess anything of good in my mental
constitution, it comes from my having been born in your keen climate
of Arezzo; just as I drew the chisel and the mallet with which I carve
statues in together with my nurse's milk."
When Michelangelo was of age to go to school, his father put him
under a grammarian at Florence named Francesco da Urbino. It does
not appear, however, that he learned more than reading and writing in
Italian, for later on in life we find him complaining that he knew no
Latin. The boy's genius attracted him irresistibly to art. He spent all his
leisure time in drawing, and frequented the society of youths who were
apprenticed to masters in painting and sculpture. Among these he
contracted an intimate friendship with Francesco Granacci, at that time
in the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandajo. Granacci used to lend him
drawings by Ghirlandajo, and inspired him with the resolution to
become a practical artist. Condivi says that "Francesco's influence,
combined with the continual craving of his nature, made him at last
abandon literary studies. This brought the boy into disfavour with his
father and uncles, who often used to beat him severely; for, being
insensible to the excellence and nobility of Art, they thought it
shameful to give her shelter in their house. Nevertheless, albeit their
opposition caused him the greatest sorrow, it was not sufficient to deter
him from his steady purpose. On the contrary, growing even bolder he
determined to work in colours." Condivi, whose narrative preserves for
us Michelangelo's own recollections