THE EXPULSION
SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME
(By permission of Messrs. Braun, Clément & Co., in. Dornach, Alsace)
Neither Raffaellino del Garbo nor Giovanni Michi were employed, but the next letter of Granacci, dated July 24, 1508, mentions Giuliano Buggiardini and Jacopo L'Indaco, who were both tried. Vasari informs us that [pg 151]Granacci, Jacopo di Sandro, and the elder Indaco, Agnolo di Donnino, and Aristotile da Sangallo also accepted work. We have another proof that the actual fresco painting did not begin at this period, in a document preserved in the National Archives at Florence. Heath Wilson obtained legal opinion that Michael Angelo must have been in Florence in person when this deed was executed. It runs: "In the year of our Lord, 1508, on the 11th day of August, Michael Angelo, the son of Ludovico Lionardo di Buonarroto, cancelled his lawful claim upon the estate of his uncle Francis by a deed drawn up by Ser Giovanni di Guasparre da Montevarchi, Florentine notary, on the 27th of the month of July, 1508." Another instance of Michael Angelo's generosity to his family. If Michael Angelo at once proceeded to Rome, he and his assistants may have begun work towards the end of August. During all this period we must notice how troubled he was by the affairs of his family and his household arrangements. Michael Angelo, while living like a poor man in Rome, sent money to, and purchased land for, his family in Florence, and helped to establish Buonarroto in business, but they were never satisfied, and his letters to his father and Giovan Simone show how his mind was troubled. There is a letter in the British Museum that belongs to this summer of 1508.
"Most Reverend Father,—I have learnt by your last how things go with you, and how Giovan Simone behaves himself. I have not had worse news for ten years than on the evening when I read your letter, for I thought that I had arranged their affairs so that they had reason to hope they would make a good shop with my aid. Now, [pg 152]I see, they do the contrary, especially Giovan Simone. From this I know that it is profitless to try and do him good. Had it been possible on the day when I received your letter I should have mounted on horseback and by this time should have settled everything; but not being able to do so, I write him such a letter as appears to me to be necessary, and if from now he does not change his nature, or if ever he takes from the home so much as a stick, or does anything to displease you, I pray you to let me know, because I will obtain leave from the Pope to come to you, when I shall show him his error. I wish you to be certain that all the labours which I have continually endured have been more for your sake than for my own, and the property which I have bought I have bought that it may be yours whilst you live. Had it not been for you I should not have bought it. Therefore, if it please you to let this house or the farm, do so; and with that income and with what I shall give you you will live like a gentleman. Were it not that the summer were coming on I would say come and live with me here, but it is not the season, for here in summer you would not live long. It has occurred to me to take from him (Giovan Simone) the money which he has in the shop, and to give it to Gismondo, so that he and Buonarroto may get on together as well as they can ... and if you let these said houses and the farm of the Pazolatica, and with that income and with the help that I will give you besides, you will take refuge in some place where you will be comfortable, and you will be able to keep some one to serve you either in Florence or outside Florence, and leave that good-for-nothing ... I pray you to consider yourself, and in all things whatever you wish to do—that is, for [pg 153]yourself in all you desire—I will aid you all I know and can. Let me hear about Cassandra's affairs. I am advised not to go to law about it here. I am told that I shall spend here three times as much as there; and this is certain, for a grosso goes further there than two carlini here. Besides, I have no friend here to trust to, and I could not attend to such things. It seems to me, when you desire to attend to it, that you should go by the usual way, as reason demands, and you must defend yourself as well as you are able and know how; and for the money that is necessary to spend I will not fail as long as I have any. Have as little fear as you can, for it is not a case of life and death. No more. Let me know, as I told you above.
"From Michael Angelo, in Rome."[107]
THE DELUGE
A DETAIL, SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME
(Reproduced by permission from a photograph by Sig. D. Anderson, Rome)