"I record this first of April how that I, Lodovico di Lionardo di Buonarrota, bind my son Michael Angelo to Domenico and Davit di Tommaso di Currado for the next three ensuing years, under these conditions and contracts: to wit that the said Michael Angelo shall stay with the above-named masters during this time, to learn the art of painting, and to practise the same, and to be at the order of the above-named; and they for their part, shall give him in the course of these three years twenty-four florins (fiorini di Sagello, £8 12s.); to wit, six florins in the first year, eight in the second, ten in the third, making in all the sum of ninety-six pounds (lire)."
A note of April 16, 1488, records that two florins were paid to Michael Angelo upon that day. The total sum is estimated by Gotti (p. 6, note) to equal 206.40 lira present value—about £8 12s. It was usual for apprentices to pay a sum to their masters rather than to be paid.
Drawings, even by old masters, were of no pecuniary value in those days; they were merely kept for use in the workshop. The fashion of collecting drawings for their own sake was invented by Giorgio Vasari some sixty years later.
There is a mask of a grinning faun to be seen in the Bargello at Florence, attributed to Michael Angelo and said to be this his first work in sculpture. It does not correspond with either the account of Vasari or of Condivi; it is a poor and ugly piece of work, and shows no sign whatever of the early style of Michael Angelo, but is more likely a work of a later period by some one who had seen the mask under the left arm of "The Night" on the tomb of Lorenzo at San Lorenzo.
"During this time Michael Angelo received from the Magnifico an allowance of five ducats per month, and was furthermore presented for his gratification with a violet-coloured mantle. But, indeed, all the young men who studied in the gardens received stipends of greater or less amount from the liberality of that Magnificent and most noble citizen, being constantly encouraged and rewarded by him whilst he lived." (Vasari.)
Many motives from antique gems may be traced in the art of Michael Angelo, such as the Judith and her maid, some of the athletes the Leda, and even the Adam.
Lorenzo died upon the eighth day of April, 1492.
Equal to-day to 20.60 lire—about seventeen shillings.
Nineteen and a quarter inches according to the measurements of Heath Wilson ("Michael Angelo and his Works," p. 17, ed. 1881). This relief is in the Casa Buonarroti, Florence.
We have no record of this work, and its whereabouts is not known.