174 MICHAELMAS DAISY 



MICHELANGELO 



appointed professor of Philosophy. He t<K>k an 

 active pnrt wilh Haller in tin- formation ( IT.'il ) of 

 the (iollingcii Academy. In IT."*) he luul IH-CII 

 elected U> till the chair" of Oriental IjBMMfMiB 

 addition to that of Philosophy. IK' died on '-"-'d 

 August 1791. Michaelis wan a' man of vast attain 

 nifiiu, especially in history, archeology, and 

 n.iiiii.il science; and to him belongs the credit of 

 being out- of tin- lir-l to study the biblical nar- 

 ratives an an integral part of oriental history. 



HU chief worlu are Einleituna in d'tr iiiiltlitlitn 

 Scltriftm da Venn Bunda (2 volm. 4th ed. 1788; Kng. 

 train', by Muih, 4 vob. 1803); MonMir* Retht (2d ed. 

 ft ToU. 1776-80; Eng. trn. by I)r Alexander Smith. 

 1814); Spifileyitim Utn(irapliia Hrttrmrum ( ITtilMW); 

 Orientaiurlte taut amjetufke BMiutlitk (1775-85); 

 Supplemrnta ad Ltrica Hrbraica (6 voU 1784-92) ; 

 and numcroiu other*. See his autobiographic Ltbtnt- 

 txtrhrtibuwi (ed. by Hauencanip, 1793). 



Michaelmas Daisy. See ASTEB. 



Michaelmas Day. On ilii- festival, which 

 was in-titiiti-d in tin' year 487 in honour of St 

 Michael and all Angels, is elected the Lord Mayor 

 of London. In Knglaiid. too. Micluiflnias Day is 

 one of the four quarterly terms on which rents are 

 ]>aid ; ami among tin 1 curious manorial rites con- 

 nected with tliU season may lie mentioned the 

 Lawless Court kept on Kind's Hill, near Kuclifonl, 

 in F,sex, on the WedaeMUn morning following 

 Michaelmas Dav. The Michaelmas goose is an 

 ancient institution. For Michaelmas term, see 

 TERM. 



Michel, FRANCISQVE, a learned French anti- 

 quary, wan liorn at Lyons, 18th February 1809, 

 became in 1839 professor in the Facultc ties Lettn-- 

 tu Bordeaux, anil died 19th -May 1887. He earned 

 a great reputation bv his exhaustive researches 

 in Norman history, French chanson*, argot, the 

 Basques, the history of medieval commerce, and 

 many more among the byways of learning ; 

 and among individual liookx may here be named 

 Hutoirt Jet Race* maudite* dc -la France et de 

 FEipagne (2 vols. 1847); Histoire dea ]/ Mel I eric*, 

 Cabaret*, Hutelt garnii, &c. (2 vols. 1851-54); 

 lEurre* choitiet de Shtiketpeare (3 vols. 1868) ; Let 

 Hcottai* em France et Lea fritnrait in coste (2 vols. 

 1802); and A Critical Inquiry into the Scottish 

 "lunge, illuttrntinit the J!ite and- Proyress of 

 Cintuation in Scotland ( Edin. 1882). 



MIchrlnnKelo. often MICHAEL AXC.KLO. 



MII-III :.ni_"ln liiionarroti, the most distinguished 

 culptor nf tin* mod'Tii world, was Unn on March 

 0, 1476. HJK father, l.udovico ill Leonardo Ituonar- 

 roti Simoni, wax a jvoor gentleman of Florence, 

 wlm. though bankrupt in fortune, did not lack the 

 i .iii-iilfTiititin which is paid to ancient lineage. 

 When the wulptor was Itorn. his father :i> /H,,l,-*tn 

 or mayor of Cnprcoc and Cliiui-i, two townships in 



Tnncany. He returned to Klorei when liis term 



of office wan expired, and the child was entrusted 

 In the fuMeiing caie of n stonemason's wife at 

 Seltignano, where Ludovicoowneil a small property, 

 The boy's enthusiasm for art revealed itself at an 

 early axe, and. though he was sent to the school 

 I Mi*wwr Francesco ih 1'iKino to lenrn the element*, 

 ii !M.I ener^io* were devoteil to ilrawing. To his 

 father's aristocratic prejudice sculpture seemed a 

 calling unworthy of a gentleman. The lad, how- 

 ever, wai remlute, and in 1488, while yet only 

 thirteen yean of axe, lie entered the Ixitlrtjn of 

 Uomenico (iliirlandajo, to whom he waa bound 

 apprentice for three vcars. None was ever more 

 fortunate than Micheinngelo in the time and place 

 of liis birth. From hi* boyhood he wan familiar 

 with the masterpieces of Dotmtello, and he joined 

 hi* contemporaries in making a pilgrimage to the 

 content of the Carmine, where ho studiously copied 



the supreme examples of Masaccio's art. I'.y ;hir- 

 landajo lie wiis recommended U> Lorenzo de' Mwlici, 

 and entered the school which the M:n mti. ' hail 

 establi~heil in his ganlen on the Piazza. Here was 

 gathered together, under the care of Bertoldo, a 

 priceless collection of antiques, and here Michel- 

 angelo encountered what proved the most eniluring 

 innuence of his life. His talent was not long in 

 arresting the notice of Lorenzo, who henceforth 

 gave him a room in his house and a seat at his 

 laKlc ; and to the l>enelicencc of his patron lie <>\\>-<l 

 the acquaintance of Polizianoand many of the most 

 learnexl of the day. To this period liehmg two 

 interesting reliefs. In the ' Hattle of the Centaurs ' 

 (now in the Casa Buonarroti at Florence) the 

 classical influence of Lorenzo's garden is strikingly 

 apparent. In truth it has little of the <li^nilicil 

 calm which distinguishes the work of I'liidias 

 and his contemporaries ; the style of a later 

 pei iod wai its inspiration ; but it reveals the 

 lasting characteristics of Michelangelo V genius. 

 The inexhaustible variety of [MPSC, the stiaining 

 muscles, the contorted limbs, which mark the 

 artist's mature work, are already visible. A mar- 

 vellous contrast to the 'Centaurs 1 ' is the 'Mailonna,' 

 conceived and executed in the spirit of Donatello, 

 which without a suggestion of movement is quiet 

 ami harmonious in composition, and though not 

 consciously antique is far more classical. 



In 1492, when Michelangelo had spent some 

 three years in his house, Lorenzo died, and the 

 school which had conferred so great lieiietils upon 

 art was straightway dissolved. Piero, Lorenzo's 

 sun and successor, it is true, retained for a time 

 the services of Michelangelo, but he is said to 

 have treated him with scant courtesy ; ami Michel- 

 angelo fled to Bologna. Nor did lie here wait 

 long for a natron ; <;ianfranceco Aldrovandi com- 

 missioned him to execute a statue. In Bologna 

 the sculptor lingered for a year; then he once 

 more (in 149o) returned to Florence. It was 

 during this sojourn i:i his native city that he 

 fashioned the marble ' Cupid ' to which he owed 

 bis lirst introduction to Koine. Haldassare del 

 Milanese |>crsuaded him to give the work the air 

 of an antique by burial, and despatch it to Home. 

 Here it was purchased by Cardinal San Giorgio, 

 " ho. though he speedily discovered the fraud which 

 had lieen put upon him. was iiuick to detect tho 

 talent of the sculptor who had tricked him. He 

 therefore summoned him to Home, and on June 25, 

 1 I'.Mi Michelangelo arrived for the lirst time in the 

 Eternal City. The influence of Rome and the 

 antique is easily discernible in the ' Bacchus,' now 

 in the National Museum at Florence; it is modelled 

 with an elegance and lestrnint which are evidence 

 of the hold which the classical tradition, as inter- 

 preted by the (Ineco Homaii sculptors, had upon 

 Slichelangclo. To the same period l>elongs the ex- 

 quisite 'Cupid ' of the South JKcnsington Museum. 

 The 'Pieta,' which is now in St Peter's, was 

 executed in 14!!", but presents an amazing con- 

 trast. There is in it a touch of the middle ages, a 

 suggestion of realism which is wholly at variance 

 with the antique ideal. But it is beautifully com- 

 jiosed, the drairerv is handled with a masterly 

 breadth, and the "body of the dead Christ is an 

 epitome of anatomical research. 



For four yeais the sculptor remained in Rome, 

 perpetually urged to return to Florence by his 

 fat her, wlio, though he objected to his son's 

 craft a* unbefitting his station, was nothing 

 loth to profit by the wealth which was the 

 reward of artistic success. Michelangelo went 

 back ; and Sodcrini, who was then gonfaloniere, 

 permitted him to convert into a statue the cohsal 

 block of marble upon which Agostino d'Antonio 

 had been at work many yearn before, and out of 



