The death of Lorenzo, which happened about two years after, was an irreparable loss to the arts. his suc cessor Piero continued, indeed, to afford them that kind and degree of patronage which consisted with the worth lessness of his character and the depravity of his taste. Michael Angelo, who enjoyed a share of his notice and employment, still continued to reside in the palace ; and his protector was proud to say, that he had two eminent men under his roof,—a Spanish footman, remarkable for his speed in running, and Michael Angelo. By order of Piero, Michael Angelo executed several works of sculpture ; but the disturbances which arose in the state of Florence induced him soon after to retire to Bologna. Here he was received with nattering marks of conside ration, and executed two statues for the church of St Dominico.
After his return to Florence, he executed a variety of admirable sculptures, particularly the well-known colos sal statue of David, which was placed in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. The statue of Moses, executed at a subsequent period, is generally acknowledged to pmsess, in a higher degree than any of his other numerous sculp tures, that character of majesty which more or less ap pears in the whole of them.
Whether Nielrael Angelo excelled most in painting, in sculpture, or in architecture, it would be no easy task to determine. " Of a genius," as is observed by one of his most zealous admirers (M. Fuseli), " who succeed ed beyond rivalship in whatever he undertook, it is diffi cult to lix the principal sphere ; but it appears to be in comestible, that however great the loss, in such a case, might have been to either art, painting would have suf fered more if deprived of his powers than even sculpture. In sculpture we possess the reliques of the antique,— works that more than rival his. But what is there in painting that could compensate for the loss of the Sistine chapel ?" The pictures which occupy the ceilings of this edifice were finished in the year 1512 : and it stands on undoubt ed evidence, however fabulous it may seem, that the time spent in the execution of this stupendous monu ment of human genius, did not exceed twenty months. The celebrated picture of the Last Judgment, which fills the facade of the chapel, above the altar, was a subse quent performance, executed during the pontificate of Paul Ill. ; who, soon after his accession, paid a visit to the artist in person, attended by ten cardinals, to solicit him to undertake the work. It was finished in 1541; and, according to Vasari, was accomplished in less than seven years.
In the chapel called the Paulina, from its founder Paul III., Alichael Angelo, when advanced in years, was employed to paint the Conversion of St Paul, and the Crucifixion of St Peter. They are generally con sidered as greatly inferior to the works in the Sistine chapel.
It is commonly said that Michael Angelo entertained a contempt of oil painting, and used to call it the work of women alio idlers. Whether he ever practised the art himself is doubtful ; the fact at least rests on very slender evidence ; as several works of his hand, which were long supposed to be in oil, have recently hen discovered to be in distemper, and the picture of David and Gohiah in the Louvre is not considered as genuine. According to
the opinion of M. Fuseli, it is the work of Sebastian del Piombo.
Thi church of St Peter's is the splendid monument of ;Michael Angelo's genius and success as an architect. This fabric was begun by Julius 11. in 1506, and en trusted by him to the superintendence of Bramante. Af ter his death, the care of this immense work, was confer red on Antonio de San Gallo. After the work, by the change from one plan to another, had, as it advanced, threatened to turn out a mass of jarring incongruitY, it was submitted to the judgment and direction of Michael Angelo, who, notwithstanding its complexity, simplified and harmonized the whole.
To whatever department of art Michael Angelo ap plied the powers of I is mind, he seems from his first outset to have evinced an energy, originality, and subli mity of conception, almost peculiar to himself; and which has led some of his admirers to speak of him as of a being gifted by nature with powers of a super human order. :Majesty and grandeu• arc the great haracteristics of his style : character and beauty he admit ted only as far as they could he made subservient to these more exalted qualities. Considered as a painter, it was his glory to raise the art far above what is included in the mere imitation of nature, and to place it on a level with the heroit in poet•?. And it seems generally admit ted, that the success with which he accomplished this is such as to leave far behind whatever has been attempted with similar views since his time. One of his most en lightened admirers, and most de% oted and zealous enco miasts, Sir Joshua Reynolds, denominates him, " the ex alted founder and father of modern art ; of whit II, he adds, he was not only the inventor, but %% hick, by the din inc energy of his own mind, he carried at once to its highest point of possible perfection." The characters represent ed by Michael Angelo possess that kind of elevation above common and individual nature, which belongs to the per sonages of I loner or of Milton. In either case, although nature supply the materials, it is the boast of art to new model and arrange them to the production of some thing Iligher and more perfect than real life ever presents to our observation. And no where, perhaps, are there higher examples of the extent to which tl.is may be suc cessfully carried, than are furi.ished by the works of Mi chael Angelo. The personification of the Supreme Be ing, in the centre of the Capella Sestina ; the Sybils and the Prophets in the same chapel ; are all instances of this, in which the human form and expression are elevated to a character of grandeur and majesty far beyond the pitch of actual nature, as it is any where exhibited to our senses.