DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61542#0414
358
MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI [1475-
the Vatican, a short time before the Pope’s death.
Here the faces are cold and inexpressive, and the
figures, in spite of their violent action and distorted
attitudes, are wanting in life and vigour. The decay
of power is evident, and we think sadly of the seven
years of “ great effort and fatigue ” which they cost
the aged master. When he finished these frescoes,
Michelangelo was already seventy-five, and as he
told Vasari, “fresco-painting was not fit work for
old men.”
His last years were chiefly devoted to architectural
works. In 1547, Paul HI. appointed him architect of
St. Peter’s, and he held this office under five successive
Popes, without accepting any salary, “solely out of
love to God and reverence for the Prince of the
Apostles.” In vain Duke Cosimo de’ Medici sent
Vasari and Cellini to implore him to return to
Florence. No offers or entreaties could induce him
to desert his post.
“ I was set to work upon St. Peter’s against my will,” he
wrote, “ and I have served eight years without wages, and
with great injury and discomfort to my health. Now that
the work is being pushed forward and I am on the point of
vaulting in the Cupola, my departure from Rome would ruin
the structure and would be a great disgrace to Christendom,
and a grievous sin on my part.”
After Michelangelo’s death, however, the building
was entirely re-modelled, the plan of a Latin cross was
substituted for the Greek one which he had designed,
and Bernini’s modern facade was allowed to destroy
the imposing effect of the cupola which he had
modelled. It is only when we look down on the
MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI [1475-
the Vatican, a short time before the Pope’s death.
Here the faces are cold and inexpressive, and the
figures, in spite of their violent action and distorted
attitudes, are wanting in life and vigour. The decay
of power is evident, and we think sadly of the seven
years of “ great effort and fatigue ” which they cost
the aged master. When he finished these frescoes,
Michelangelo was already seventy-five, and as he
told Vasari, “fresco-painting was not fit work for
old men.”
His last years were chiefly devoted to architectural
works. In 1547, Paul HI. appointed him architect of
St. Peter’s, and he held this office under five successive
Popes, without accepting any salary, “solely out of
love to God and reverence for the Prince of the
Apostles.” In vain Duke Cosimo de’ Medici sent
Vasari and Cellini to implore him to return to
Florence. No offers or entreaties could induce him
to desert his post.
“ I was set to work upon St. Peter’s against my will,” he
wrote, “ and I have served eight years without wages, and
with great injury and discomfort to my health. Now that
the work is being pushed forward and I am on the point of
vaulting in the Cupola, my departure from Rome would ruin
the structure and would be a great disgrace to Christendom,
and a grievous sin on my part.”
After Michelangelo’s death, however, the building
was entirely re-modelled, the plan of a Latin cross was
substituted for the Greek one which he had designed,
and Bernini’s modern facade was allowed to destroy
the imposing effect of the cupola which he had
modelled. It is only when we look down on the