uld be continued, and had therefore had
him summoned, his Holiness asked him to find a young man who might
restore some ancient statues in the Belvedere, which were broken.
Whereupon Buonarroti, remembering Fra Giovanni Agnolo, proposed him to
the Pope, and his Holiness demanded him in a brief from the General of
the Servite Order, who gave him up because he could not do otherwise,
and very unwillingly. Arriving in Rome, then, the friar, labouring in
the rooms of the Belvedere that were given to him by the Pope to live
and work in, restored the left arm that was wanting to the Apollo and
the right arm of the Laocoon, which statues are in that place, and
likewise gave directions for restoring the Hercules. And, since the Pope
went almost every morning to the Belvedere for recreation and to say the
office, the friar made his portrait in marble, and that so well that the
work brought him much praise, and the Pope conceived a very great
affection for him, particularly because he saw him to be very studious
of the matters of art, and heard that he used to draw all night in order
to have new things every morning to show to the Pope, who much delighted
in them. During that time, a canonicate having fallen vacant at S.
Lorenzo, a church in Florence built and endowed by the House of Medici,
Fra Giovanni Agnolo, who by that time had laid aside the friar's habit,
obtained it for M. Giovanni Norchiati, his uncle, who was chaplain in
the above-named church.

[Illustration: S. COSMAS

(_After the marble by =Fra Giovanni Agnolo Montorsoli=. Florence: S.
Lorenzo, Medici Chapel_)

_Alinari_]

Finally, Pope Clement, having determined that Buonarroti should return
to Florence to finish the works of the sacristy and library of S.
Lorenzo, gave him orders, since many statues were wanting there, as will
be told in the Life of Michelagnolo himself, that he should avail
himself of the most able men that could be found, and particularly of
Fra Giovanni Agnolo, employing the same methods as had been adopted by
Antonio da San Gallo in order to finish the works of the Madonna di
Loreto. Having therefore made his way with the Frate to Florence,
Michelagnolo, in executing the statues of Duke Lorenzo and Duke
Giuliano, employed the Frate much in polishing them and in executing
certain difficult undercuttings; with which occasion Fra Giovanni Agnolo
learned many things from that truly divine man, standing with
attention to watch him at work, and