hen his master saw it he exclaimed, "He already understands more
than I do myself." This excellence in the scholar roused the jealousy of
the master, as well as of his other pupils, and it was a relief to Michael
Angelo when, in answer to a request from Lorenzo de Medici, he and
Francesco Granacci were named by Ghirlandajo as his two most promising
scholars, and were then sent to the Academy which the duke had
established. The art treasures which Lorenzo gave for the use of the
students were arranged in the gardens of San Marco, and here, under the
instruction of the old Bertoldo, Angelo forgot painting in his enthusiasm
for sculpture. He first copied the face of a faun; but he changed it
somewhat, and opened the mouth so that the teeth could be seen. When
Lorenzo visited the garden he praised the work, but said, "You have made
your faun so old, and yet you have left him all his teeth; you should have
known that at such an advanced age there are generally some wanting." The
next time he came there was a gap in the teeth, and so well done that he
was delighted. This work is now in the Uffizi Gallery.

Lorenzo now sent for the father of Angelo, and asked that the son might
live in the Medici palace under his own care. Somewhat reluctantly the
father consented, and the duke gave him an office in the custom-house.
From this time for three years, Angelo sat daily at the duke's table, and
was treated as one of his own family; he was properly clothed, and had an
allowance of five ducats a month for pocket-money. It was the custom with
Lorenzo to give an entertainment every day; he took the head of the table,
and whoever came first had a seat next him. It often happened that Michael
Angelo had this place. Lorenzo was the head of Florence, and Florence was
the head of art, poetry, and all scholarly thought. Thus, in the home of
the Medici, the young artist heard learned talk upon all subjects of
interest; he saw there all the celebrated men who lived in the city or
visited it, and his life so near Lorenzo, for a thoughtful youth, as he
was, amounted to an education.

The society of Florence at this time was not of a high moral tone, and in
the year in which Michael Angelo entered the palace, a monk called
Savonarola came to Florence to preach against the customs and the crimes
of the city. Michael Angelo was much affected by this, and throughout his
long life remembered Savonarola with true respect and affection, and his
brother