his new pupil, Antonio Mini. It is in Michael
Angelo's own hand:--

_Disegna Antonio, disegna Antonio, disegna e non perder tempo._

Draw Antonio, draw Antonio, draw and do not lose time.

And now in August 1524,(129) the Tombs of the Medici in the new sacristy
were fairly under way. There are several preliminary designs in the Print
Room of the British Museum, the Albertina at Vienna, and the Uffizi,
Florence.(130) The first idea was for the tombs to be isolated in the
centre of the chapel, but we gather from a letter, written in May
1524,(131) that it had already been decided to have mural monuments. The
sarcophagi were to support portrait statues of the Dukes and Popes, of
Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano. At the foot were to be six rivers, two
under each tomb--the Arno, Tiber, Metauro, Po, Taro, and Ticino. The
drawings go to prove that the architectural background, as we see it now,
is as incomplete as it looks. Some of the drawings have elaborate
candlesticks at the top; others a circular panel supported by putti. In
several the first ideas for some of the final forms may be seen, but one
point is very important: in almost every case the sarcophagi are large
enough to support the figure or figures to be placed upon them, and never
do we see that uncomfortable arrangement by which the figures appear to be
sliding off their supports. Letters to Fattucci in October 1525, and April
1526,(132) give us an idea of the progress of the works. "I am working as
hard as I can, and in fifteen days I intend to begin the other captain.
Afterwards the only important things left will be the four rivers. The
four figures on the top of the sarcophagi, the four figures on the ground
which are the rivers, the two captains and Our Lady, who is to be placed
upon the tomb at the head of the chapel; these are the figures I mean to
carve with my own hand, and of them I have begun six; and I have
sufficient spirit to finish them in a convenient time, and bring partially
forward the others which are not of so much importance." The six he had
begun are those that are now in the chapel. The Giuliano and Lorenzo, Day
and Night, Dawn and Evening. The Madonna, perhaps Michael Angelo's finest
work in sculpture, was also carved by his own hand; the two other works,
now in the chapel representing the patron saints of the Medici family,
Cosmo and Damiano, were carved by Montelupo and Montorsoli; they do not
seem to have anything of Mi