Mrs. E.H. Blashfield, and A.A.
Hopkins, which correct all the statements in the light of recent
authorities.

Far more valuable even than the early biographies is the mass of
existing documents of the Buonarotti family, including contracts,
letters, poems, and memoranda, and containing data for a full and
exact biography of the master. Unfortunately, however, this great
storehouse of material has been for all these centuries a sealed
treasure, given up only little by little, to successive generations of
scholars. When Hermann Grimm wrote his celebrated "Life of Michael
Angelo" (in 1860), the only original material accessible to him was
the collection of letters in the British Museum. His volumes are still
read with interest and profit, though it is to be regretted that they
should be reprinted without any editorial comments to connect formerly
received opinions with later conclusions. John S. Harford's "Life of
Michael Angelo Buonarotti" was published at about the same time as
Grimm's work, that is, in 1857. It was in two volumes, and contained
translations of many of Michelangelo's poems, as well as material
about Savonarola, Vittoria Colonna, and Raphael. The work is found in
the older libraries, and is well worth studying, as the latter portion
is still valuable for all that refers to the architecture of St.
Peter's.

Signor Gotti's "Vita," in 1875, was the first to profit to any
considerable degree by documentary researches. The conclusions of this
book are best known to the English-reading public through Charles
Heath Wilson's "Life and Works of Michelangelo Buonarotti" (1876 and
1881), consisting of compilations from Gotti, to which are added
original investigations of the Sistine frescoes, which are very
valuable.

More privileged than any of his predecessors was John Addington
Symonds, who, by special favor of the Italian government, was allowed
to examine the Buonarotti collection in Florence, so long debarred to
others. His "Life of Michelangelo Buonarotti" is therefore unique in
being, as the sub-title announces, "based on studies in the archives
of the Buonarotti family at Florence." It was published in 1893 in two
large, finely illustrated volumes, and is taken as the latest
authoritative word on the subject, a word singularly independent of
others' conclusions, and influenced by an artistic and literary nature
of rare sensitiveness.

To those who wish briefer notices of Michelangelo's life and work