DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51585#0066
62 EARLY ITALIAN PAINTERS.
perfections he made a drawing, since become fa-
mous, which represents an aged man in a go-cart,
and underneath the words “ Aneora impara ”
(“ still learning”).
He continued to labour unremittingly, and with
the same resolute energy of mind and purpose, till
the gradual decay of his strength warned him of
his approaching end. He did not suffer from any
particular malady, and his mind was strong and
clear to the last. He died at Rome, on the 17th
of February, 1563, in the eighty-ninth year of his
age. A few days before his death, he dictated his
will in these few simple words: “I bequeath my
soul to God, my body to the earth, and my pos-
sessions to my nearest relations.” His nephew,
Lionardo Buonaroti, who was his principal heir,
by the orders of the Grand Duke Cosmo had his
remains secretly conveyed out of Rome and
brought to Florence ; they were with due honours
deposited in the church of Santa Croce, under a
costly monument, on which we may see his noble
bust surrounded by three very common-place and
ill-executed statues representing the arts in which
he excelled—Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture.
They might have added Poetry; for Michael
Angelo was so fine a poet that his productions
would have given him fame, though he had never
peopled the Sistine with his giant creations, nor
perfections he made a drawing, since become fa-
mous, which represents an aged man in a go-cart,
and underneath the words “ Aneora impara ”
(“ still learning”).
He continued to labour unremittingly, and with
the same resolute energy of mind and purpose, till
the gradual decay of his strength warned him of
his approaching end. He did not suffer from any
particular malady, and his mind was strong and
clear to the last. He died at Rome, on the 17th
of February, 1563, in the eighty-ninth year of his
age. A few days before his death, he dictated his
will in these few simple words: “I bequeath my
soul to God, my body to the earth, and my pos-
sessions to my nearest relations.” His nephew,
Lionardo Buonaroti, who was his principal heir,
by the orders of the Grand Duke Cosmo had his
remains secretly conveyed out of Rome and
brought to Florence ; they were with due honours
deposited in the church of Santa Croce, under a
costly monument, on which we may see his noble
bust surrounded by three very common-place and
ill-executed statues representing the arts in which
he excelled—Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture.
They might have added Poetry; for Michael
Angelo was so fine a poet that his productions
would have given him fame, though he had never
peopled the Sistine with his giant creations, nor