Michael Angelo Buonarroti Part 21

And Michael Angelo having stopped, I proceeded:

"It is also a great thing that a great master, although he may wish and work hard to do so, cannot so change or injure his hand as to paint something appearing to have been done by an apprentice, for whoever carefully examines such a thing, will find in it some sign by which he will know that it was done by the hand of a skilful person. And on the contrary, one who knows little, although he may endeavour to do the smallest thing so that it may appear to have been done by a great man, will have his trouble in vain, because immediately, when placed beside the work of a great man, it will be recognised as having been done by a prentice hand. But I should like now to know something more from Senhor Michael Angelo, to see whether he agrees with my opinion, and that is that he should tell me whether it is better to paint a work quickly or slowly?"

And he answered:

"I will tell you: to do anything quickly and swiftly is very profitable and good, and it is a gift received from the immortal G.o.d to do in a few hours what another is painting during many days; for if it were not so Pausias of Sicyon would not work so hard in order to paint in one day the perfection of a child in a picture. If he who paints quickly does not on that account paint worse than one who paints slowly, he deserves therefore much greater praise. But should he through the hurry of his hand pa.s.s the limits which it is not right to pa.s.s in art, he ought rather to paint more slowly and studiously; for an excellent and skilful man is not ent.i.tled to allow his taste to err through his haste when thereby some part is forgotten or neglected of the great object perfection, which is what must be always sought; hence it is not a vice to work a little slowly or even to be very slow, nor to spend much time and care on works, if this be done for more perfection; only the want of knowledge is a defect.

"And I wish to tell you, Francisco d'Ollanda, of an exceedingly great beauty in this science of ours, of which perhaps you are aware, and which I think you consider the highest, namely, that what one has most to work and struggle for in painting is to do the work with a great amount of labour and study in such a way that it may afterwards appear, however much it was laboured, to have been done almost quickly and almost without any labour, and very easily, although it was not. And this is a very excellent beauty, at times some things are done with little work in the way I have said, but very seldom: most are done by dint of hard work and appear to have been done very quickly.

"But Plutarch says in his book _De Liberis educandis_, that a poor painter showed Apelles what he was doing, telling him: 'This painting has just this moment been done by my hand,' Apelles answered: 'Even if you had not said so I should have known that it was by your hand and that it was done quickly, and I am surprised that you do not do many of them every day.'

"However I should prefer (if one had either to err or be correct) to err or be correct quickly rather than slowly, and that my painter should rather paint diligently and a little less well than one who is very slow, painting better, but not much better.

"But now I wish to know this of you, M. Francisco, to see whether you agree with my opinion, namely, that you should tell me if there are many different ways of painting almost of equal goodness; which of them will you consider the worst, or which of them are bad?"

"That is still a greater question," I replied, "Senhor Michael, than the one I put to you; but just as Mother Nature has produced in one place men and animals, and in another place men and animals, all made according to one art and proportion, and yet very different to each other, so it is, almost miraculously, with the hands of painters, as you will find many great men each of whom paints in his own manner and style men and women and animals, their styles greatly differing, and yet they all of them retain the same proportions and principles; and yet all these different styles may be good and worthy of being praised in their differences. For in Rome Polidoro, a painter, had a very different style to that of Balthazar, of Siena; M. Perino different from that of Julius, of Mantua; Martorino did not resemble Parmesano; Cavalliere Tiziano in Venice was softer than Leonardo da Vinci; the sprightliness of Raphael of Urbino and his softness does not resemble the work of Bastiao Veneziano; your work does not resemble any other; nor is my small talent similar to any other.

And although the famous ones whom I have mentioned have the light and shade, the design and the colours different from each other, they are none the less all great and famous men, and each distinguished by his difference and style, and their works very worthy of being valued at almost the same price, because each of them worked to imitate Nature and perfection in the manner that he considered to be the most proper, and his own, and in accordance with his idea and intention."

And this said, we rose and went away as it was already night.

THE WORKS OF MICHAEL ANGELO

The Rape of Deianira, or the Battle of the Centaurs, a bas-relief, 1490.

Casa Buonarroti, Florence.

The Angel of the Shrine of Saint Dominic, a marble statuette, 1494.

San Domenico, Bologna.

The Bacchus, a marble statue, 1497.

National Museum, Florence.

The Madonna della Pieta, a marble group, 1499.

St. Peter's, Rome.

The David, a colossal marble statue, 1504.

Accademia della Belle Arti, Florence.

St. Matthew, an unfinished heroic marble statue.

The Court of the Accademia delle Belle Arti, Florence.

The Madonna and Child, marble statue, 1506.

St. Bavon, Bruges.

The Madonna and Child, a tondo, marble bas-relief, unfinished.

National Museum, Florence.

The Madonna and Child, a tondo, marble bas-relief, unfinished.

The Diploma Gallery of the Royal Academy, London.

The Holy Family, a tondo, painted on wood.

No. 1139, The Uffizi, Florence.

The Moses, a heroic marble statue.

San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome.

The Vault of the Sistine Chapel, ceiling frescoes, 1512.

Vatican, Rome.

The Madonna and Infant Christ, St. John the Baptist and Angels, an unfinished painting on wood by Bugiardini, the Cartoon alone by Michael Angelo.

No. 809, The National Gallery, London.

The Risen Christ, a marble statue, 1521.

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Rome.

The Tombs of Lorenzo dei Medici, Duke of Urbino and Giuliano, Duc de Nemours, heroic marble statues, the figures of Day and Evening and the architecture left unfinished by the master in 1534.

New Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence.

The Madonna and Child, heroic marble statue.

New Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence.

Four Slaves, unfinished heroic marble statues.

The Grotto of the Boboli Gardens, Florence.

The Apollo, an unfinished marble statue.

The National Museum, Florence.

The Leda, a painting, damaged and restored as to the head, arms, and shoulder, 1529.

Offices of the National Gallery, London.

The Slaves, two heroic marble statues.

Room of Renaissance Sculpture, the Louvre, Paris.

The Brutus, an unfinished marble bust.

The National Museum, Florence.

The Day of Judgment, fresco, 1541.

The Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome.

The Entombment of our Lord, an unfinished painting on wood, the figures of our Lord and the men very much repainted, the three women and the background by the master.

No. 790, the National Gallery, London.

The Martyrdom of St. Peter, a fresco, 1549.

Cappella Paolina, Vatican, Rome.