and the vulgar tongue, on the above-named tomb, and this was continued for some time. Many of these compositions were afterwards printed, yet these made only a small part of the number written.
But to come to the obsequies; these were not solemnized on St. John’s day, as had been intended, but were deferred to the 14th of July,[1] when the three deputies (for the fourth, Benvenuto Cellini, who had been indisposed from the first, had taken no part in the matter), having chosen the sculptor, Zanobi Lastricati, as their Proveditor, resolved to exhibit some ingenious invention worthy of their art, rather than a pompous and costly ceremonial. Por, having to celebrate such a man as Michelagnolo, and this having to be effected by men of those vocations which he exercised, who are always more amply furnished with the wealth of mind than with other riches; it was most appropriate, as the deputies and their Proveditor agreed, that he should be honoured, not with regal pomp or superfluous vanities, but with ingenious inventions and works full of spirit and beauty, proceeding from the knowledge, ability, and promptitude of hand of our artists, thus honouring Art by Art. It is true that we might have reasonably expected to obtain from his Excellency all the money we should require, seeing that he had already given whatever we had asked, but we were nevertheless convinced that from us was expected a preparation; rich from its ingenuity and art, rather than the grandeur and cost of a pompous display. But although this was the conviction of the deputies, the magnificence of the ceremonial was equal to that of any ever solemnized by those academicians, and was no less remarkable for true splendour than for ingenious and praiseworthy inventions.
The arrangements finally made were as follows. In the central nave of San Lorenzo and between the two lateral doors, one of which opens on the street and the other on the cloister, was erected a Catafalque of a square form, twenty-
- ↑ Some of the Italian commentators affirm this date to be inaccurate, and cite in support of their opinion the libretto describing the ceremonies, published at the time by the Giunti, and with the title, Esequie del divin Michael Angelo Buonarroti celebrati, &c., 2Sth June, 1564. But Vasari has told us that the ceremony was “deferred and doubtless it was so, to the 14th of July, as he says, for was he likely to be mistaken as to the date of a solemnity in which he took so active a part? Let the reader judge.
