ONE OF THE ANCESTORS OF CHRIST, OVER THE WINDOW INSCRIBED "JESSE"
SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME
(By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence)
Then follow their affirmations in due form. Metello Vari dei Porcari, a Roman of an old family, appears to have been the real patron to whom Michael Angelo was responsible. The first block of marble was found to be faulty, so another one had to be carved. The work was not completed until 1521. It is now in the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva at Rome.
In 1515 Michael Angelo was still at work on the Tomb, but apprehensive of interruption from Pope Leo.
To Buonarroto di Lodovico Simoni, in Florence.
"Buonarroto,—I have written the letter to Filipo Strozzi; see if you like it and give it to him. If it is not well, I know he will hold me excused, for it is not my profession; enough if it serves its purpose. I wish you to go to the Spedalingo[120] of Santa Maria Nuova, and tell him to pay to me here one thousand and four hundred ducats of what he has of mine, because I must make a great effort this summer to finish my work quickly, because I expect [pg 182]soon to have to enter the Pope's service. And for this I have bought perhaps twenty thousands of bronze for casting certain figures. I must have money; so when you see this arrange with the Spedalingo to have it paid over to me; and if you are able to arrange with Pier Francesco Borgerini, who is there, that he should have it paid to me by his people here, I should be glad, for Pier Francesco is my friend and will serve me well; and do not talk about it for I wish it to be paid to me here secretly; and for what remains at Santa Maria Nuova, accept security from the Spedalingo, on account. I wait for the money. No more.
"On the 16th day of June, 1515.
"Michael Angelo, in Rome."[121]
So now, besides the Moses and the Captives in marble, the panels in relief were, perhaps, ready for casting. The lower portions of the architectural base, now in San Pietro in Vincula, were also probably finished. Half the period spent by Michael Angelo in quarrying and road-making for Pope Leo would have sufficed for the completion of the Tomb, which would then have been a monument of Michael Angelo's power as a sculptor, fit to rank with the monument of his power as a painter in the Sistine Chapel: a monument containing four figures, equal in execution and size to the Moses, twelve figures like the Slaves, altogether some forty statues and numerous bronze bas-reliefs besides. It is a great misfortune that we have no bronze bas-reliefs by Michael Angelo, for all his works prove that his genius would have been well expressed in this art.