eek-bones beyond the rest of the
face; the skull in proportion to the face must be called large. The front
view of the forehead is square, the nose a little flattened, not
naturally, but because when he was a boy, one Torrigiano, a brutal and
proud fellow, with a blow almost broke the cartilage, so that Michael
Angelo was carried home as one dead; for this Torrigiano was banished from
Florence, and he came to a bad end.(58) Michael Angelo's nose, such as it
is, is in proportion to the forehead and the rest of the face. His lips
are mobile, the lower one somewhat the thicker, so that seen in profile it
sticks out a little. The chin goes well with the above-mentioned parts.
The forehead in profile is almost in front of the nose, which is little
less than broken, except for a small lump in the middle. The eyebrows have
few hairs; the eyes are rather small than otherwise, the colour is that of
horn, but changing, with sparkles of yellow and blue; the ears in
proportion; the hair black, and beard also, but, in this his seventy-ninth
year, plentifully sprinkled with grey; his beard is forked, four or five
fingers long and not very thick, as may be seen in his portraits. Many
other things remain to be said, but I have left them out because of the
hurry in which I bring out these writings, hearing that others(59) wish to
reap the reward of my labours, which I had confided to their hands; so, if
it should ever happen that another should undertake this work again, I
hereby offer to tell him all I know, or most lovingly to give it to him in
writing. I hope before long to bring out some of Michael Angelo's sonnets
and madrigals, which I have for a long time collected, both from himself
and from others, that the world may know the worth of his imaginations,
and how many beautiful conceits were born in his divine spirit, and with
this I close.

PART II

THE WORKS OF MICHAEL ANGELO

"Non essendo homo in Italia apto ad expedire una opera di costesta
qualita, e necessario che lui solo, e non altro."

_Piero Soderini to the Marchese Alberigo Malaspina_, GAYE ii. 107.

CHAPTER I

THE RAPE OF DEIANEIRA, OR THE BATTLE OF THE CENTAURS, AND THE ANGEL OF THE
SHRINE OF SAINT DOMINIC

All accounts agree as to the precocity of the genius of Michael Angelo,
and Piero Soderini vouches for its practical character in the words quoted
above. It was not until he ha