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Michael Angelo Buonarroti
By Charles Holroyd,Keeper of the National Gallery of British Art, with Translations of the
Life of the Master by His Scholar, Ascanio Condivi, and Three Dialogues
from the Portuguese by Francisco d'Ollanda
London
Duckworth and Company
New York
Charles Scribner's Sons
1903
[Frontispiece]
MICHAEL ANGELO
From an early proof of the engraving by
GIULIO BONASONI
( In the Print Room of the British Museum )
CONTENTS
Preface
Illustrations
PART I
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
PART II
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER XI
APPENDIX
FIRST DIALOGUE
SECOND DIALOGUE
THIRD DIALOGUE
THE WORKS OF MICHAEL ANGELO
A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL BOOKS CONSULTED BY THE AUTHOR
ERRATUM
INDEX
PREFACE
Of all the many lives of Michael Angelo that have been written, that by
his friend and pupil, Ascanio Condivi, is the most valuable. For not only
is it a contemporary record, like the lives inserted by Giorgio Vasari in
the two editions of his famous book, "The Lives of the Most Eminent
Painters, Sculptors, and Architects," published in Florence in 1550 and
1568; but Condivi's work has almost the authority of an autobiography,
many phrases are in the same words, as certain letters in the hand of
Michael Angelo still in existence, especially those relating to the early
life and the ancestry of the master, to his favourite nephew Lionardo, and
concerning the whole story of the Tragedy of the Tomb to Francesco
Fattucci and others.
Condivi's description of his master's personal appearance is so detailed
that we can see him with his sculptor's callipers measuring the head of
his dear master, and gazing earnestly into his eyes, recording the colours
of their scintillations, with the patience of a painter.
Vasari's account has been translated more than once, but Condivi's never,
at least never completely. Extracts have been given, and it has been the
main resource of every writer on the master; but the faithful and reverent
character of the whole work can only be given in a complete translation,
its transparent honesty, and its loving devotion. Even had the subject of
this naif and unscholarly narrative been an ordinary man in an ordinary
period, it would have been worth translating for its truth to life and
human nature, much more, therefore, when it is about the greatest
craftsman of the Cinque Cento.
Condivi published his "Vita di Michael Angelo Buonarroti" on July 16,
1553; probably incited thereto by the master himself, who desired to
correct certain misstatements of his excellent friend, Giorgio Vasari,
without hurting that worthy's feelings. Nevertheless, we gather from what
Vasari says in his second edition that he somewhat resented the appearance
of this new biographer. Perhaps this coloured his unflattering account of
Condivi as an artist, when describing Michael Angelo's scholars: "Ascanio
della Ripa took great pains, but no results have been seen, whether in
designs or finished works. He spent several years over a picture for which
Michael Angelo had given him the cartoon, and, at a word, the hopes
conceived of him have vanished in smoke." What a good thing it would have
been for Vasari's reputation if his art work had vanished in smoke, too,
and only his biographies remained. Condivi lives, as he said he wished to
live, in the dedication of his work to Pope Julius III., with the name of
being a faithful servant and disciple of Michael Angelo.
A second edition of the "Vita di Michael Angelo," by Ascanio Condivi, was
published at Florence in 1746. The introduction informs us that Condivi
was born at Ripa Transona, and that he outlived his master ten years,
dying on February 17, 1563 (1564), aged nearly eighty nine years... Continue reading book >>
