MICHAEL ANGELO. 255 



Rome, the 8th of July, 1506, III year of our pon- 

 tificate." 



This letter was followed by a second and a third, 

 the latter threatening Florence ; yet Michael Angelo 

 entertained a purpose to enter the service of the Sul- 

 tan, the proposition being to build a bridge from Con- 

 stantinople to Pera. To conciliate matters the Floren- 

 tine Government named Angelo as ambassador to 

 Rome, the commission being, by the law of nations, 

 inviolate. At this time the Pope, in a warlike expedi- 

 tion, entered Bologna, and there sought an interview 

 with his esteemed artist; and, through the mediation of 

 friends, a renewal of mutual admiration was restored, 

 the Pope giving Michael Angelo his benediction, and 

 an order to make a colossal statue of himself in bronze. 

 The renowned sculptor completed the monument in 

 sixteen months, and placed it in the facade of the 

 church of St. Petronio ; he then returned to Rome. 

 Within three years Bologna was retaken, and the im- 

 posing statue of Julius II. was thrown down, dragged 

 about the streets, and broken in pieces, the fragments 

 going to a foundry to be recast into a canon sic tran- 

 sit gloria mundi. 



Upon his arrival at the Vatican, Michael Angelo 

 was requested to ornament the Sistine Chapel on a 

 grand scale, and to do the painting with his own 

 hands. To this he objected on the ground that he 

 was not a fresco painter, but a sculptor and architect. 

 The Pope called attention to the high order of his 

 earlier labors with the brush, and commanded that he 

 engage in the work at once. 



Raphael was then at work on his cartoons, which 

 have since made famous the stanzas of the Vatican, 

 and Bramante was the acknowledged architect of the 



