ch time as you
arrive, and this he will do."

It was at a little before five o'clock on the afternoon of February
18, 1564, that Michelangelo breathed his last. The physicians who
attended him to the end were Federigo Donati, and Gherardo
Fidelissimi, of Pistoja. It is reported by Vasari that, during his
last moments, "he made his will in three sentences, committing his
soul into the hands of God, his body to the earth, and his substance
to his nearest relatives; enjoining upon these last, when their hour
came, to think upon the sufferings of Jesus Christ."

On the following day, February 19, Averardo Serristori, the Florentine
envoy in Rome, sent a despatch to the Duke, informing him of
Michelangelo's decease: "This morning, according to an arrangement I
had made, the Governor sent to take an inventory of all the articles
found in his house. These were few, and very few drawings. However,
what was there they duly registered. The most important object was a
box sealed with several seals, which the Governor ordered to be opened
in the presence of Messer Tommaso dei Cavalieri and Maestro Daniele da
Volterra, who had been sent for by Michelangelo before his death. Some
seven or eight thousand crowns were found in it, which have now been
deposited with the Ubaldini bankers. This was the command issued by
the Governor, and those whom it concerns will have to go there to get
the money. The people of the house will be examined as to whether
anything has been carried away from it. This is not supposed to have
been the case. As far as drawings are concerned, they say that he
burned what he had by him before he died. What there is shall be
handed over to his nephew when he comes, and this your Excellency can
inform him."

The objects of art discovered in Michelangelo's house were a
blocked-out statue of S. Peter, an unfinished Christ with another
figure, and a statuette of Christ with the cross, resembling the
Cristo Risorto of S. Maria Sopra Minerva. Ten original drawings were
also catalogued, one of which (a Pieta) belonged to Tommaso dei
Cavalieri; another (an Epiphany) was given to the notary, while the
rest came into the possession of Lionardo Buonarroti. The cash-box,
which had been sealed by Tommaso dei Cavalieri and Diomede Leoni, was
handed over to the Ubaldini, and from them it passed to Lionardo
Buonarroti at the end of February.

II

Lionardo travelled by post to Rome, but did not arrive until three
days aft