OF ART IN THIS COLLECTION
IV. COLLATERAL READINGS FROM LITERATURE
V. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN MICHELANGELO'S LIFE
VI. SOME OF MICHELANGELO'S FAMOUS ITALIAN CONTEMPORARIES

I. MADONNA AND CHILD
II. DAVID
III. CUPID
IV. MOSES
V. THE HOLY FAMILY
VI. THE PIETA
VII. CHRIST TRIUMPHANT
VIII. THE CREATION OF MAN
IX. JEREMIAH
X. DANIEL
XI. THE DELPHIC SIBYL
XII. THE CUMAEAN SIBYL
XIII. LORENZO DE' MEDICI
XIV. TOMB OF GIULIANO DE' MEDICI
XV. CENTRAL FIGURES FROM THE LAST JUDGMENT
XVI. PORTRAIT OF MICHELANGELO (_See Frontispiece_)

PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS

NOTE: All the pictures with the exception of the Cupid were
made from photographs by Fratelli Alinari. The Cupid was photographed
from the statue in the South Kensington Museum, London.

INTRODUCTION

I. ON MICHELANGELO'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST.

Michelangelo's place in the world of art is altogether unique. His
supremacy is acknowledged by all, but is understood by a few only. In
the presence of his works none can stand unimpressed, yet few dare to
claim any intimate knowledge of his art. The quality so vividly
described in the Italian word _terribilita_ is his predominant trait.
He is one to awe rather than to attract, to overwhelm rather than to
delight. The spectator must needs exclaim with humility, "Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto
it." Yet while Michelangelo can never be a popular artist in the
ordinary sense of the word, the powerful influence which he exercises
seems constantly increasing. Year by year there are more who, drawn by
the strange fascination of his genius, seek to read the meaning of his
art.

His subjects are all profoundly serious in intention. Life was no
holiday to this strenuous spirit; it was a stern conflict with the
powers of darkness in which such heroes as David and Moses were
needed. Like the old Hebrew prophets, the artist poured out his soul
in a vehement protest against evil, and a stirring call to
righteousness.

Considered both as a sculptor and a painter, Michelangelo's one
vehicle of expression was the human body. His works are "form-poems,"
through which he uttered his message to mankind. As he writes in one
of his own sonnets,

"Nor hath God deigned to show himself elsewhere
More clearly than in human forms sublime."

In his art, says the critic Symonds, "a well-shaped hand,