Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1872-08-16
THE UNWILLING TASK OE MICHEL
ANGELO.


ANGELO.
In reading the lives of the great
master-spirits, whether in the realms of
literature, of science, or of art, one may
reasonably question whether genius has
not on the whole been more harassed
than benefited by the officious patron
age of the state. Kings and emperors
and popes have too often enforced the
artist-soul to uncongenial or petty per-
formances, or with the insolence of
office demanding impossibilities, have
crushed the very powers they sou ght to
stimulate. Many a gifted mind has
been doomed to expend its high ener-
gies or trivial subjects to crafty the
capricious whims or the passing vanity
of a conceited monarch.
Yet, on the other hand, it cannot be
denied that governmental patronage
has given to the world not few master
pieces that we had else lacked, and
even the capricious demands of princes
have sometimes served useful turn in
developing slumbering powers. Michel
Angelo suffered much in his day and
generation from the varying exactions
of successive patronizing popes, and
thinking OF the many months and even
years wasted on works projected but
never accomplished, one is half tempted
to regret that he had not carved out his
own path independently in his beloved
Florence, apart from the intriguing
breath of the papal court But one
hesitates to decide, remembering that
his marvellous powers in painting and
architecture might then never have
been revealed. He might indeed have
beoueathed to posterity many more
specimens of his noble sculpture, but
we should have lacked the sublime
frescoes of the Sistine Chapel and the
glorious fabric of st. Peter.
1t is an interesting and curious fact
that the work by which Michel Angeles
greatness as an artist is no , chiefly
estimated. he should have been com
PEELED to execute against his will. He
had expended much time and labor
upon the projected mausoleum of
Julius H., which according to his grand
design was to be adorned by forty
statues from his chisel, but the pontiff,
whose personal vanity had led him to
suggest the idea, had become alienated
from it, and Michel Angelo was
chagrined to find his plans indefinitely
postponed, while Julius with all his
ardor pushed forward the scheme of re-
building ST. Peters under the direction
of Bramante. The Pope, in his indie
cision how to employ the talents Of
Angelo at this period, was readily
pleased with the suggestion of Bramante
that he should invite the great sculptor
to paint in fresco the vast ceiling Of the
Sistine Chapel. 1t is generally believed
that Bramante, envious of Angelo,
hoped to engage him in an undertaking 9
in which he would fail, and thus check
his influence and diminish his reputa-
ton. But whatever were the motives
of Bramante, Julius, with his high esti-
mate of the powers of Angelo, seems
not for a moment to have doubted the
result. But Angelo himself listened to
the setting forth of this new commits
sion with deep distrust. He told the
Pope that fresco-painting was branch
of art which he had scarcely touched
upon that he was a sculptor, not a
painter; and he entreated him not to
insist upon his undertaking the task.
pointing to Raphael, who was then EN-
ployed in adorning the halls of the
Vatican in fresco on grand scale. as
the one above all others qualified for
the work. But the more Angelo oh
jected. the stronger grew the desire of
Julius to see what he could accomplish
in this new direction, and at last he
wrung from Angelo reluctant assent.
The result was the production of q
composition incomparably sublime in
conception, and wrought out in an un.
rivaled and original style, In which the
relief of sculpture blends with the
richness of painting. The great central
idea in this vast and comprehensive
work is siChrist the desire of all ma
tions," and to this all the numerous
supernatural and symbolical subjects
treated are subordinate, wlile at the
same time each compartment presents
perfect picture of itself. Architect
ural divisions, painted in relief. inter.
lace all the subsidiary subjects, serving
both to separate them, so that there is
no confusion of parts, and to bind them
together in one harmonious whole.
This grand composition, undertaken
so reluctantly, displays above all his
other works the genius of Michel An.
gelo at once as sculptor, painter, and
architect, and his transcendent power
in dealing with the ideal and the sub,
| lime in art. Once yielding the point,
he threw all his enormous energies into
the work; and after forming the gen
eral design, skillfully adapted to the
| peculiar form of the vaulted ceiIinr.
proceeded to model figures for his car.
toon. in clay or wax, in order 10 avail
himself of them in studying the per
spective and the Light and shade. With
him the painter grew out of the sculp
tor.
Braman.e, according to the instruc
tions of the Pope, constructed the
scaffolding required, but the hanging
platform whicn he prepared required
supporting beams to be fixed into holes
in the walls. Michel Angelo, noticing
this defect, asked, " When my labors
shall be completed and your scaffoldine
removed, how are the holes to be flleo
upW
| Bramante answered, "As to that, We