Leonardo Buonarroti, the nephew of Michelagnolo (who had departed post for Rome on hearing of his uncle’s sickness, hut had not found him living), had been told by Daniello da Volterra, the intimate friend of Michelagnolo, as well as by others who had been about his person, that he had requested and even entreated them to have his body taken to Florence, his most noble country, to which he had ever borne the tenderest affection. Leonardo therefore had promptly and with great resolution, but also very cautiously, had the body taken out of Rome, and had sent it towards Florence in the form of a bale, as if it had been some kind of merchandise. And here we are not to conceal the fact that this ultimate determination of Michelagnolo confirmed what many did not believe, but which was nevertheless true, namely, that his having remained away from Florence for so many years had been caused by the effect of the air only, the sharpness of which, as experience had taught him, was injurious to his constitution.[1] That of Rome, on the contrary, more temperate and mild, had kept him in health to nearly his ninetieth year, preserving all his faculties in perfection, and giving him so much strength, his age considered, that he had not been compelled to cease entirely from his labours, till the very last.
The sudden and almost unexpected arrival of the body, not having permitted such dispositions for its reception as were afterwards made, it was placed, by desire of the deputies, in the vault of the Company of the Assumption, which is beneath the steps at the back of the High Altar in the Church of San Pietro Maggiore. This was on the 11th of March, which was a Saturday, and for that day nothing more was done. The next day, which was the second Sunday in Lent, all the painters, sculptors, and architects assembled quietly around St. Peter’s, whither they had taken nothing more than a pall of velvet, richly decorated and embroidered all over with gold, and this they placed over the bier as well as cotfin, on which there lay a crucifix. At nightfall they gathered silently around the corpse, when the oldest and most distinguished masters each took one of a large number of torches, which had been brought for that purpose, the
- ↑ Vasari was the devoted servant of Duke Cosimo, and had not the slightest suspicion of Michael Angelo’s real motive for avoiding Florence; he therefore accepted the master’s excuses in good faith.
