he destruction of the Paoline Chapel, the
offices of the Piombo and the Ruota, and more besides. I do not think
that even the Sistine would escape."

After this Michelangelo adds that to remove the out-works and
foundations begun upon Sangallo's plan would not cost 100,000 crowns,
as the sect alleged, but only 16,000, The material would be infinitely
useful, the foundations important for the building, and the whole
fabric would profit in something like 200,000 crowns and 300 years of
time. "This is my dispassionate opinion; and I say this in truth, for
to gain a victory here would be my own incalculable loss."
Michelangelo means that, at the time when he wrote the letter in
question, it was still in doubt whether Sangallo's design should be
carried out or his own adopted; and, as usual, he looked forward with
dread to undertaking a colossal architectural task.

V

Returning to the Palazzo Farnese, it only remains to be said that
Michelangelo lived to complete the edifice. His genius was responsible
for the inharmonious window above the main entrance. According to
Vasari, he not only finished the exterior from the second story
upwards, but designed the whole of the central courtyard above the
first story, "making it the finest thing of its sort in Europe." The
interior, with the halls painted by Annibale Caracci, owed its
disposition into chambers and galleries to his invention. The cornice
has always been reckoned among his indubitable successes, combining as
it does salience and audacity with a grand heroic air of grace. It has
been criticised for disproportionate projection; and Michelangelo
seems to have felt uneasy on this score, since he caused a wooden
model of the right size to be made and placed upon the wall, in order
to judge of its effect.

Taken as a whole, the Palazzo Farnese remains the most splendid of the
noble Roman houses, surpassing all the rest in pomp and pride, though
falling short of Peruzzi's Palazzo Massimo in beauty.

The catastrophe of 1527, when Rome was taken by assault on the side of
the Borgo without effective resistance being possible, rendered the
fortification of the city absolutely necessary. Paul III determined to
secure a position of such vital importance to the Vatican by bastions.
Accordingly he convened a diet of notables, including his
architect-in-chief, Antonio da Sangallo. He also wished to profit by
Michelangelo's experience, remembering the stout resistance offered t