ys
alert, bold, and resolute. He drew for many months from the pictures
of Masaccio in the Carmine, where he copied those works with so much
judgment, that the craftsmen and all other men were astonished, in
such sort that envy grew against him together with his fame. It is
said that Torrigiano, after contracting a friendship with him, mocked
him, being moved by envy at seeing him more honoured than himself and
more able in art, and struck him a blow of the fist on the nose with
such force, that he broke and crushed it very grievously and marked
him for life; on which account Torrigiano was banished from Florence,
as has been related in another place.

[Illustration: THE ANGEL WITH THE CANDLESTICK

(_After =Michelagnolo=. Bologna: S. Domenico_)

_Alinari_]

When the Magnificent Lorenzo died, Michelagnolo returned to his
father's house in infinite sorrow at the death of so great a man, the
friend of every talent. There he bought a great piece of marble, and
from it carved a Hercules of four braccia, which stood for many years
in the Palace of the Strozzi; this was esteemed an admirable work, and
afterwards, in the year of the siege, it was sent into France to King
Francis by Giovan Battista della Palla. It is said that Piero de'
Medici, who had been left heir to his father Lorenzo, having long
been intimate with Michelagnolo, used often to send for him when he
wished to buy antiques, such as cameos and other carved stones. One
winter, when much snow fell in Florence, he caused him to make in his
courtyard a statue of snow, which was very beautiful; and he honoured
Michelagnolo on account of his talents in such a manner, that his
father, beginning to see that he was esteemed among the great, clothed
him much more honourably than he had been wont to do.

For the Church of S. Spirito in the city of Florence Michelagnolo made
a Crucifix of wood, which was placed, as it still is, above the
lunette of the high-altar; doing this to please the Prior, who placed
rooms at his disposal, in which he was constantly flaying dead bodies,
in order to study the secrets of anatomy, thus beginning to give
perfection to the great knowledge of design that he afterwards
acquired. It came about that the Medici were driven out of Florence,
and a few weeks before that Michelagnolo had gone to Bologna, and then
to Venice, fearing, as he saw the insolence and bad government of
Piero de' Medici, lest some evil thing might befall him from his