260 ANDREW JACKSON HOWE. 



ique erect, stately, and commanding ; and his counte- 

 nance was animated and expressive. 



From youth Michael Angelo cultivated his mind 

 in solitude, studying every branch of knowledge that 

 might contribute to the advancement of his ambitious 

 schemes. 



He wrote creditable poetry, and in his sonnets 

 religion and love are the prevailing subjects. In the ac- 

 complished Vittoria Colonna, Marchioness of Pascbara, 

 Michael Angelo recognized a genius and spirit in har- 

 mony with his own. When they first met she was a 

 widow. Though past her youth, she was yet young 

 in comparison with his age. She resided in a convent, 

 and was occupied in doing good to the sick and 

 needy. She died at the age of 56. 



He did not amass immense wealth, but left to his 

 relatives enough to make them comfortable. His old 

 home in Florence is still in possession of the Buonar- 

 roti line, and many relics of the family are still ex- 

 hibited at the family residence. Among these is a 

 well worn copy of Dante. The author of La Divina 

 Comedia, was born in Florence two hundred or more 

 years before Michael Angelo saw the light ; and the 

 latter became a warm admirer of the great poet, and 

 a thorough student of his dramatic creations. The 

 " Demons " in Angelo's " Last Judgment " are not 

 Scriptural, but the inventions of the ingenious Dante. 



Although the compositions of Michael Angelo 

 carry the freshness of originality along with them, not 

 a few are suggestive of preceding thought. His po- 

 ems bore a resemblance to the emanations of Petrarch ; 

 his sculpture, if not in style antique, is often classically 

 Greek ; and the conceptions in his pictures are pre- 

 dominantly Biblical or pagan. 



