[829° 
CHARACTERS. 
The Eife and Literary Works of 
Michel Angelo Buona®roti. 
NHE name of Michel Angele has 
been written differently by 
different authors. Angelo is made 
Agnolo by the Tuscaus, Angiolo by 
' the Bolognese, and Anziolo by the 
Venetians. The Roman form Angelo 
is authorised by the academy della 
Crusca. Buonarroti he himself 
wrote four different ways. 
Michel Angelo was descended 
from the famous countess Matilda, 
and had imperial blood in his veins ; 
it could not, therefore, have been 
from that side that he derived his 
love of liberty, his genius and his 
virtue. His father was podesta, or 
governor of Chiusi, in eld times 
the capital of Porsenna, and of Ca- 
-prere, where Michel was born, on 
the 6th of March, 1474, under a 
benign aspect, when Mercury and 
Venus, according to Condivi, were 
in conjunction with Jupiter for the 
second time, plainly shewing that 
the child would be a very extraor- 
dinary genius, whose success would 
be universal, but particularly in the 
arts of painting, sculpture, and ar- 
thitecture. But as his nurse was 
both daughter and wife of a stone- 
mason, the chisel was his plaything, , 
and his nursing had more to do than 
his nativity in making him a sculp- 
ter. His father wished to educate 
him for some learned profession, 
thinking that if he became an artist, 
according to his own early discover- 
ed propensity, it would degrade the 
dignity of his family; this propen~ 
sity, however, he was resolute in 
pursuing, and the father, at length 
wisely yielding to it, articled him, 
when he was fourteen, to Domenico 
Ghirlandaio and his brother David, 
for three years ; they were to. teach 
him the art and practice of paint- 
ing, and to allow him six florins for 
the first, wight for the second, and 
ten for the third year. Domenico 
had a numerous school, and was the 
most eminent painter in Florence. 
‘¢ Granacci was his constant 
friend and companion: they studied 
together, and probably helped each 
other in their pursuits. The first 
attempt Michel Angelo made in oil 
painting, was with his assistance: 
he lent him colours and pencils, and 
a print*, representing the story of 
St. Anthony beaten by devils, which 
he copied on a pannel with such 
success that it was’ much admired. 
In this little picture, besides the fi- 
gure of the saint, there were many 
strange forms and monsters, which 
he was so intent on representing in 
the best manner he was capable, that 
he ccloured no part without refer« 
ring to some natural object. He 
went to the fish-market to observe 
the form and colout of fins, and the 
> iB yeR 
| * Vasari says, this print was engraved by Martino Tedesco, but there remains 
Some doubt who this German artist was: Mariette is of opinion that his namie wae 
Martin Schoén, whose prints are known by this monogram, M ¢S. 
