painters in genius, was pre-eminently
there in thoroughness, while he was good for the boy too in spirit,
having a large way with him. The first work of Ghirlandaio which
the boy saw in the making was the beautiful "Adoration of the Magi,"
in the Church of the Spedale degli Innocenti, completed in 1488, and
the S. Maria Novella frescoes, and it is reasonable to suppose that
he helped with the frescoes in colour grinding, even if he did not,
as some have said, paint with his own hand the beggar sitting on the
steps in the scene representing the "Presentation of the Virgin". That
he was already clever with his pencil, we know, for he had made some
caricatures and corrected a drawing or two.

The three years with Ghirlandaio were reduced eventually to one, the
boy having the good fortune to be chosen as one of enough promise to be
worth instruction, both by precept and example, in the famous Medici
garden. Here he was more at home than in a painting room, for plastic
art was his passion, and not only had Lorenzo the Magnificent gathered
together there many of those masterpieces of ancient sculpture which we
shall see at the Uffizi, but Bertoldo, the aged head of this informal
school, was the possessor of a private collection of Donatellos and
other Renaissance work of extraordinary beauty and worth. Donatello's
influence on the boy held long enough for him to make the low relief
of the Madonna, much in his style, which is now preserved in the
Casa Buonarroti, while the plaque of the battle of the Centaurs and
Lapithae which is also there shows Bertoldo's influence.

The boy's first encounter with Lorenzo occurred while he was modelling
the head of an aged faun. His magnificent patron stopped to watch him,
pointing out that so old a creature would probably not have such a
fine set of teeth, and Michelangelo, taking the hint, in a moment had
not only knocked out a tooth or two but--and here his observation
told--hollowed the gums and cheeks a little in sympathy. Lorenzo
was so pleased with his quickness and skill that he received him
into his house as the companion of his three sons: of Piero, who
was so soon and so disastrously to succeed his father, but was now a
high-spirited youth; of Giovanni, who, as Pope Leo X many years after,
was to give Michelangelo the commission for this very sacristy; and
of Giuliano, who lies beneath one of the tombs. As their companion
he enjoyed the advantage of sharing their lessons under