ANGEL 0 BUONARROTI, MICHEL. This great painter, sculptor, and architect, was born in 1.474, died 1563. It is not within the objects of this work to enter into minute details of his life, or any critical account of his works. We confine our notice to the men tion of the two greatest monuments of his talents, in departments more immediately con nected with what we are accustomed to term the industrial arts. Pope Julius gave orders to Michel Angelo to paint the vault of the Sis tine Chapel. He most earnestly endeavoured to decline the task, and even alleged that he thought Raffaelle better qualified to perform it ; but Pope Julius allowed no impediment to stand in the way of his will, and Michel An gelo, finding himself without an alternative, and impressed with a sense of the vastness and grandeur of the task, commenced his car toons. He invited from Florence several artists distinguished as painters in fresco, a mode of practice in which he was then inex perienced, and the roof of the chapel was com menced by these assistants, under his direc tion ; their execution, however, fell short of his expectations, and entering the chapel one morning he dismissed them all, threw their work from the walls, and determined on exe cuting the whole himself. Having advanced to the third compartment, he had the mortifi cation to find his labour frustrated by the bad quality of his materials, in which fermentation had taken place, and in utter disappointment he renounced the undertaking. The pope, being made acquainted with this misfortune, sent to him his architect, San Gallo, who in. vestigated the cause of the failure, and taught him how to correct it. Thus reassured he proceeded, and the pontiff hearing at length that the ceiling was half completed, could control his impatience no longer, and ordered the chapel to be opened for his inspection. Many other persons found admission, and among the rest Raffaelle d'Urbino, who then first became acquainted with Michel Angelo's powers as a painter. Struck with admiration
he immediately changed his own style, and thanked God that he had been born in the same age with so great an artist. The work was now carried forward without interruption, and the whole was completed within one year and eight months from the time of its com mencement; an achievement which, whether we consider the magnitude and sublimity of the performance, or the almost incredibly short time in which it was executed, is unpa ralleled in the history of art. The effect of the whole work is adapted with admirable ac curacy to the vast height at which it is seen, and it is impossible to contemplate it without reverence and astonishment.
To a design which Michel Angelo made at the beginning of his career for the monument of Julius II., we are indebted for the magni ficent church of St. Peter. The monument was too vast for the old church, and the pope determined it should be rebuilt. The monu ment was finished upon a smaller scale, and placed in another church. But St. Peter's was created. The career of Michel Angelo is an example of the splendid results produced by great powers in conjunction with great oppor tunities. On St. Peter's he was occupied for the last twenty years of his life. As he had occasion, among the number of persons em ployed in the undertaking, to promote some and dismiss others, he was beset by cabals, and harassed by opposition ; and machinations were even employed to deprive him of his office : but he was uniformly supported by the pontiffs, especially by Julius III., who re garded him with profound respect and venera tion. For this great work he constantly refused any remuneration, declaring that he dedicated that service to the glory of God. Old age came upon him, not unaccompanied with the physical infirmities which belong to it, but he retained the vigour and alacrity of his mental faculties to the close of his long life.