A contemporary account, Gotti, vol. i. p. 29.
Firenze: Le Monnier, 1857, p. 197.
Perkins "Tuscan Sculptors," vol. ii. p. 74.
This reason given by Vasari for the use of various mediums is just the sort of reason he would have had himself for using them. Michael Angelo merely used different materials because it was the best way of getting the different effects he wanted, or, sometimes possibly, because they happened to be handy.
We know how difficult it is to get facts about the works done a few decades ago, even though the artists be still living; for instance, how little we know of the cartoon competition held in Westminster Hall in 1843, or the fresco of Justice painted by Mr. G.F. Watts, R.A., in the New Hall of Lincoln's Inn.
Gotti, i. p. 46 (in the Archivio Buonarroti).
Gaye, vol. ii. pp. 83, 84, 85, 91, 93, gives all the correspondence.
Lettere, No. ccclxxxiii.
About fourteen feet, that is to say, at least three times the size of life, as it was a sitting figure.
Lettere, No. xlviii. p. 61 (in the British Museum).