The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti | Page 7

feel certain that we may not have here Michelangelo's first
extant work in marble.

"Michelangelo accordingly went home, and delivered the message of
the Magnificent. His father, guessing probably what he was wanted for,
could only be persuaded by the urgent prayers of Granacci and other
friends to obey the summons. Indeed, he complained loudly that
Lorenzo wanted to lead his son astray, abiding firmly by the principle
that he would never permit a son of his to be a stonecutter. Vainly did
Granacci explain the difference between a sculptor and a stone-cutter:
all his arguments seemed thrown away. Nevertheless, when Lodovico
appeared before the Magnificent, and was asked if he would consent to
give his son up to the great man's guardianship, he did not know how to
refuse. 'In faith,' he added, 'not Michelangelo alone, but all of us, with
our lives and all our abilities, are at the pleasure of your Magnificence!'
When Lorenzo asked what he desired as a favour to himself, he
answered: 'I have never practised any art or trade, but have lived thus
far upon my modest income, attending to the little property in land
which has come down from my ancestors; and it has been my care not
only to preserve these estates, but to increase them so far as I was able
by my industry.' The Magnificent then added: 'Well, look about, and
see if there be anything in Florence which will suit you. Make use of
me, for I will do the utmost that I can for you.' It so happened that a
place in the Customs, which could only be filled by a Florentine citizen,
fell vacant shortly afterwards. Upon this Lodovico returned to the
Magnificent, and begged for it in these words: 'Lorenzo, I am good for
nothing but reading and writing. Now, the mate of Marco Pucci in the
Customs having died, I should like to enter into this office, feeling
myself able to fulfil its duties decently.' The Magnificent laid his hand
upon his shoulder, and said with a smile: 'You will always be a poor
man;' for he expected him to ask for something far more valuable. Then
he added: 'If you care to be the mate of Marco, you can take the post,
until such time as a better becomes vacant.' It was worth eight crowns
the month, a little more or a little less." A document is extant which
shows that Lodovico continued to fill this office at the Customs till
1494, when the heirs of Lorenzo were exiled; for in the year 1512, after
the Medici returned to Florence, he applied to Giuliano, Duke of
Nemours, to be reinstated in the same.
If it is true, as Vasari asserts, that Michelangelo quitted Ghirlandajo in

1489, and if Condivi is right in saying that he only lived in the Casa
Medici for about two years before the death of Lorenzo, April 1492,
then he must have spent some twelve months working in the gardens at
San Marco before the Faun's mask called attention to his talents. His
whole connection with Lorenzo, from the spring of 1489 to the spring
of 1492, lasted three years; and, since he was born in March 1475, the
space of his life covered by this patronage extended from the
commencement of his fifteenth to the commencement of his eighteenth
year.
These three years were decisive for the development of his mental
faculties and special artistic genius. It is not necessary to enlarge here
upon Lorenzo de' Medici's merits and demerits, either as the ruler of
Florence or as the central figure in the history of the Italian
Renaissance. These have supplied stock topics for discussion by all
writers who have devoted their attention to that period of culture. Still
we must remember that Michelangelo enjoyed singular privileges under
the roof of one who was not only great as diplomatist and politician,
and princely in his patronage, but was also a man of original genius in
literature, of fine taste in criticism, and of civil urbanity in manners.
The palace of the Medici formed a museum, at that period unique,
considering the number and value of its art treasures--bas-reliefs, vases,
coins, engraved stones, paintings by the best contemporary masters,
statues in bronze and marble by Verocchio and Donatello. Its library
contained the costliest manuscripts, collected from all quarters of
Europe and the Levant. The guests who assembled in its halls were
leaders in that intellectual movement which was destined to spread a
new type of culture far and wide over the globe. The young sculptor sat
at the same board as Marsilio Ficino, interpreter of Plato; Pico della
Mirandola, the phoenix of Oriental erudition; Angelo Poliziano, the
unrivalled humanist and melodious Italian poet; Luigi Pulci, the
humorous inventor of burlesque romance--with