The Venetians, thanks to their distance from Rome and Florence and to their ardent communion with nature, which to the horror of Vasari they dared to copy honestly,[158] were saved for a time, but in the end caught the infection. The Florentine spirit won this last refuge of art, and Tintoretto infused the spirit of Michelangelo into Venetian realism.[159][{166}]

The brain of Italy was a prey to fever.[160] Michelangelo had destroyed the balance of mind of a period dried out by intellectualism and weakened by the taste for pleasure. The shock of his dazzling light on their eyes, too feeble to bear it, blinded them and inspired a delirium of imagination without poetry, without thought and without life.

The Carracci were needed at the end of the century, if not to snatch Italian art from inevitable death, at least to lend it, emerging from its follies and delusions, an air of dignity and a cold distinction in which it could veil itself to die.

The greatness of Michelangelo was thus fatal to Italian art. So it is with everything that rises too far above its own time. Decadence can only be averted or retarded by intelligent and moderate talents like the Carracci, who, hardly separated from the average of their times, are easily understood by it. They are the geniuses of common sense, and they are, therefore, useful to the common man. The heroes of art are also its tyrants; their glory kills, and the greater they are the more they are to be feared, for they impose on all men the laws of a[{167}] personality which can exist but once. They are a devouring force; they illumine, but they burn; they have the right to be unique in their being and in their work. They seem to realise in themselves the whole aim of nature, and there is nothing left for those who follow but to be absorbed and disappear.

It would be absurd to offer Michelangelo as a model to young artists. Should great men ever be taken as models in art? Is not that one of the errors of classical training? They are examples of energy, sources of force and beauty. It is well to look for a moment on their radiance, then tear ourselves from their contemplation and work.[{168}] [{169}]

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

DATEIMPORTANT EVENTSPRINCIPAL WORKS
1475March 6. Birth of Michelangelo
at Caprese.
1488April 1. He enters the school of
Domenico and David Ghirlandajo.
1489He enters the school of Bertoldo
and becomes the protégé of Lorenzo de' Medici.
1490-1492. . . . . . . . . .Mask of a Faun.
Madonna of the Stairs.
Combat of the Centaurs.
1492April 8. Death of Lorenzo de' Medici.
1492-1494In the service of Piero de' Medici.Wooden crucifix.
Statue of Hercules.
1494October. Flight to Venice
and Bologna. He worked at
S. Petronio in Bologna.		Angel for the Arca of
S. Domenico in Bologna.
1495Return to Florence.Giovannino.
Sleeping Love.
1496June 25. Arrival in Rome.Bacchus.
Cupid.
1498May 23. Savonarola is burnedin Florence.
1498-1500. . . . . . . . . .Pietà of St. Peter's.
1501Return to Florence.Statues for the Piccolomini
altar in the cathedralof Sienna.[{170}]
1501-1505. . . . . . . . . .David.
Cartoon for the battleof Cascina.
Holy Family of AgnoloDoni.
Virgin of Bruges.
Bas-reliefs of the Madonna
for Taddeo
Taddei and Bartolommeo
Pitti.
1505March. He is summoned to Romeby Julius II.First plan for the tomb of Julius II
1506The Laocöon was discovered at Rome.
1506April 17. Flight to Florence.
1506End of November. Reconciliation
with Julius at Bologna.
1506-1508. . . . . . . . . .Bronze statue of Julius II
at Bologna.
1508Return to Rome.
1508May 10 to 1512, October. . . Paintings on the ceiling
of the Sistine.
1513February 21. Death of Julius II.
1513March 11. Election of Leo X.
1513May 6. Second contract for the
tomb of Julius II.
1513-1516Michelangelo at Florence.The Slaves.
Moses.
1516July. Third contract for the
tomb of Julius II.
1517September. Serious illness of
Michelangelo.
1518January 19. Contract in regard
to the façade of S. Lorenzo in
Florence.
1518-1520Michelangelo at the quarries
of Carrara, Seravezza.[{171}]
1520March 10. Michelangelo is released
from the contract for the
façade of S. Lorenzo by an
order from Leo X.		The Christ of the Minerva.
1520April 6. Death of Raphael.
1521Beginning of the work on the chapel
of the Medici at S. Lorenzo.		The Madonna of the
chapel of the Medici.
1521At the end of the year serious illness
of Michelangelo.		The Victory.
1522November 19. Election of Clement VII.
1524-1526. . . . . . . . . .Work on the tomb of
the Medici and the
Laurentian library.
1527May 6. Capture of Rome by the
Imperialists.
1529April 6. Michelangelo is named
Governatore Generale and Procuratore
of the fortifications of
Florence. Mission to inspect
the fortifications at Pisa, Livorno
and Ferrara.		Leda.
1529September 21. Flight to Venice.
Siege of Florence.
1529November 20. Return to Florence.
Defense of San Miniato.
1530August 12. Capitulation of Florence.
Proscriptions.		Apollo.
1531June. Serious illness of Michelangelo.Work on the Medici
tombs.
1532April 29. Fourth contract for the
monument of Julius II.
1533Beginning of the friendship with
Tommaso dei Cavalieri in
Rome.		First plan for the Last
Judgment.
1534Death in Florence of Lodovico, the
father of Michelangelo.[{172}]
1534September 23. Michelangelo returns
to Rome, where he remains until his
death.
1534September 25. Death of Clement VII.
1534October 13. Election of Paul III.
1535September 1. Michelangelo is named
by order of Paul III
architect-in-chief, sculptor and
painter of the Apostolic Palace.
1536Beginning of the friendship with
Vittoria Colonna at Rome.
1536April to November, 1541. . .Last Judgment in the
Sistine.
1538The statue of Marcus Aurelius is
raised on the Capitoline.		Brutus.
Drawings of Christ for Vittoria Colonna.
1542-1544. . . . . . . . . .Frescoes of the Pauline
Chapel.
1542August 20. Last agreement for the
monument of Julius II.
1544June. Serious illness of
Michelangelo, who was cared for in
the palace of the Strozzi.
1545February. . . . .Completion of the monument
of Julius II in S. Pietro
in Vinculi.
1545-1546Titian in Rome.
1546January. Serious illness of
Michelangelo. He gives the Slaves
to the Strozzi.		Work on the cornice of the
Farnese palace.
1547January 1. Michelangelo named by
Paul III architect of St. Peter's.
1547February 25. Death of Vittoria
Colonna.		Work on the Capitol.[{173}]
1549November 10. Death of Paul III.
1550February 8. Election of Julius III.Work on the Vigna del Papa
Giulio and the
reconstruction of the
Belvedere stairway.
1551First edition of the "Vite" of
Vasari.
1553First edition of the life of
Michelangelo by Ascanio Condivi.		Work on St. Peter's.
1555March 23. Death of Julius III.
1555May 23. Election of Paul IV.
1555December 3. Death of Urbino,
Michelangelo's servant.		The group of the Pietà,
broken by Michelangelo, is
continued and completed by
Tiberio Calcagni.
1558. . . . . . . . . .He works at the model of
the dome of St. Peter's.
1559-1560Daniele da Volterra, at the
command of Paul IV, paints drapery
on the figures of the Last
Judgment.
1560Catherine de' Medici requested
Michelangelo to make the statue of
Henri II.		Work on the transformation
of the Baths of Diocletian
into the church of S.
Maria degli Angeli.
1561August 29. Michelangelo was taken
ill.		Work on the Porta Pia.
1563January 31. Michelangelo made
President of the Academy of
Florence.
1564February.The Rondanini Pietà.
1564February 18. Death of Michelangelo.
1564July 14. Funeral at S. Lorenzo in
Florence.

[{175}]

CATALOGUE OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS
OF MICHELANGELO IN PUBLIC
COLLECTIONS

I.—PAINTINGS
ITALY
FLORENCE. Uffizi.
Holy Family, painted for Agnolo Doni (between 1501 and 1505).
ROME. Vatican.
Paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine (1508-1512).
The Last Judgment (1536-1541).
The frescoes of the Pauline chapel (1542-1549).
ENGLAND
LONDON. National Gallery.
The Entombment (about 1495).
The Virgin of Manchester (about 1495).
II.—SCULPTURE
ITALY
FLORENCE. Museo Nazionale.
Mask of a Faun (between 1490 and 1492).
Bacchus (1497).[{176}]
The Dying Adonis (1497).
Virgin and Child, a circular bas-relief made for Taddeo Taddei (between 1501 and 1505).
Victory (1522-1523).
Apollino (1530).
Brutus (1538).
Galleria antica e moderna e Tribuna del David.
David (between 1501 and 1504).
Casa Buonarroti.
The Centaurs and Lapiths, bas-relief in marble (between 1490 and 1492).
Virgin and Child, bas-relief in bronze (between 1490 and 1492).
San Lorenzo.
The Medici tombs (1524-1527 and 1530-1534).
Santa Maria dei Fiore.
The descent from the cross (1553-1555).
ROME. Saint Peter's.
Pietà (1498-1500).
San Pietro in Vinculi.
Tomb of Julius II: (Moses, 1513-1516).
Rachel and Leah (1542-1545).
FRANCE
PARIS. The Louvre.
The Slaves (1513-1516).[{177}]
ENGLAND
LONDON. South Kensington Museum.
Kneeling Cupid (1497).
Royal Academy.
Holy Family, circular bas-relief made for Bart. Pitti (between 1501 and 1505).
BELGIUM
BRUGES. The Cathedral.
Madonna (between 1501 and 1505).
GERMANY
BERLIN. Koenigliche Museum.
Giovannino (1495).