The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti | Page 5

follows about
Michelangelo's relations with Domenico Ghirlandajo: "He was fourteen
years of age when he entered that master's service, and inasmuch as one
(Condivi), who composed his biography after 1550, when I had
published these Lives for the first time, declares that certain persons,

from want of familiarity with Michelangelo, have recorded things that
did not happen, and have omitted others worthy of relation; and in
particular has touched upon the point at issue, accusing Domenico of
envy, and saying that he never rendered Michelangelo
assistance."--Here Vasari, out of breath with indignation, appeals to the
record of Lodovico's contract with the Ghirlandajo brothers. "These
minutes," he goes on to say, "I copied from the ledger, in order to show
that everything I formerly published, or which will be published at the
present time, is truth. Nor am I acquainted with any one who had
greater familiarity with Michelangelo than I had, or who served him
more faithfully in friendly offices; nor do I believe that a single man
could exhibit a larger number of letters written with his own hand, or
evincing greater personal affection, than I can."
This contention between Condivi and Vasari, our two contemporary
authorities upon the facts of Michelangelo's life, may not seem to be a
matter of great moment for his biographer after the lapse of four
centuries. Yet the first steps in the art-career of so exceptional a genius
possess peculiar interest. It is not insignificant to ascertain, so far as
now is possible, what Michelangelo owed to his teachers. In equity, we
acknowledge that Lodovico's record on the ledger of the Ghirlandajo
brothers proves their willingness to take him as a prentice, and their
payment to him of two florins in advance; but the same record does not
disprove Condivi's statement, derived from his old master's
reminiscences, to the effect that Domenico Ghirlandajo was in no way
greatly serviceable to him as an instructor. The fault, in all probability,
did not lie with Ghirlandajo alone. Michelangelo, as we shall have
occasions in plenty to observe, was difficult to live with; frank in
speech to the point of rudeness, ready with criticism, incapable of
governing his temper, and at no time apt to work harmoniously with
fellow-craftsmen. His extraordinary force and originality of genius
made themselves felt, undoubtedly, at the very outset of his career; and
Ghirlandajo may be excused if, without being positively jealous of the
young eagle settled in his homely nest, he failed to do the utmost for
this gifted and rough-natured child of promise. Beethoven's discontent
with Haydn as a teacher offers a parallel; and sympathetic students of
psychology will perceive that Ghirlandajo and Haydn were almost

superfluous in the training of phenomenal natures like Michelangelo
and Beethoven.
Vasari, passing from controversy to the gossip of the studio, has
sketched a pleasant picture of the young Buonarroti in his master's
employ. "The artistic and personal qualities of Michelangelo developed
so rapidly that Domenico was astounded by signs of power in him
beyond the ordinary scope of youth. He perceived, in short, that he not
only surpassed the other students, of whom Ghirlandajo had a large
number under his tuition, but also that he often competed on an
equality with the master. One of the lads who worked there made a
pen-drawing of some women, clothed, from a design of Ghirlandajo.
Michelangelo took up the paper, and with a broader nib corrected the
outline of a female figure, so as to bring it into perfect truth to life.
Wonderful it was to see the difference of the two styles, and to note the
judgment and ability of a mere boy, so spirited and bold, who had the
courage to chastise his master's handiwork! This drawing I now
preserve as a precious relique, since it was given me by Granacci, that
it might take a place in my Book of Original Designs, together with
others presented to me by Michelangelo. In the year 1550, when I was
in Rome, I Giorgio showed it to Michelangelo, who recognised it
immediately, and was pleased to see it again, observing modestly that
he knew more about the art when he was a child than now in his old
age.
"It happened then that Domenico was engaged upon the great Chapel of
S. Maria Novella; and being absent one day, Michelangelo set himself
to draw from nature the whole scaffolding, with some easels and all the
appurtenances of the art, and a few of the young men at work there.
When Domenico returned and saw the drawing, he exclaimed: 'This
fellow knows more about it than I do,' and remained quite stupefied by
the new style and the new method of imitation, which a boy of years so
tender had received as a gift from heaven."
Both Condivi