oked upon Michelangelo as a
supernatural being, for princes bowed before his fame and his great
virtue as Vasari calls it. Cosmo de' Medici, who tried in vain to recall
him to Florence, even offering to make him a senator,[112] treated
Michelangelo as an equal, Cosmo's son Don Francesco received him with
even greater respect (in October, 1561), his cap in his hand, "showing a
reverence without limit for so extraordinary a man."

In spite of all this adulation, or perhaps because of it, he had as
little intercourse as possible with the world. Popes and princes, men of
letters and artists, held but small place in his life, except a few
favourite pupils like Vasari, for whom he showed a fatherly affection,
especially in his last years, when, growing more feeble day by day, he
grew more demonstrative.

"I have been to see my great Michelangelo," Vasari wrote to Cosmo in
1560. "He did not expect me and showed as much feeling as a father who
has recovered a lost son. He threw his arms around my neck and kissed me
a thousand times, crying with pleasure" (lacrymando per dolcezza).[113]

[Illustration: TWILIGHT

Figure from the Tomb of Lorenzo de' Medici.

Chapel of the Medici in San Lorenzo, Florence (1524-1526 and 1530-1534).]

But the best of his heart was kept for his kin and for a few humble
friends. Of his two remaining brothers, Giovan Simone died in 1548, and
Gismondo, with whom he had never had much intercourse, in 1555. He
turned to Lionardo and Francesca, the children of his favourite brother
Buonarroto, for the family affection which he could not do without. He
charged himself with the education of Lionardo, who was nine years old
at his father's death, and the long correspondence between them which
has been preserved shows how seriously he took his responsibility as
guardian. The children grew up and after they had married he found
himself even more lonely than before.[114]

In his own house he had assistants who were devoted to him, but of no
great ability. "He had trouble with those in his service," says Vasari,
"for he never chanced to find men who could imitate him well." Pietro
Urbano de Pistoia was intelligent, but would take no trouble; Antonio
Mini was willing, but not intelligent; and Ascanio della Ripa Transone
tried hard, but never succeeded in doing anything. It is possible that
he deliberately chose mediocre assistants in order to have docile tools
instead of collaborators, which indeed would hav