Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1875-05-19
Che faulty Circle.
The Boy Sculptor.

of the Medci Palace. might be seen a
party of the young friends of Piero de
Medci, who had been dismissed from the
learned talk of the savants and artists
who surrounded the hospitable table of
:. Lorenzo the Magnificent" as he is often
called.
There had been an unusual fall of snow
for the warm climate of Italy, and it lay
before them on the ground in that soft,
tempting Wilderness that school-boys like
so we'll. 1t covered the statues and foun-
tans, and made grotesque figures of the
shrubs, which were cut in curious forms.
! Let us make statues, and decorate this
gallery" proposed one, youth of four
teen.
"Of wLat?' said another.
"Of snow," replies the first speaker
named Michael Angelo and with merry
shouts they plunged into the snow, with
out a thought of their costumes of velvet
and lace, carrying it and piling it in mas
ses along the gallery, and shaping it into
some rude resemblance of the human
form, which did not much differ, dare
say. from the "old snowman of the
bows of the nineteenth century.
But Michael Angelo saw in the distance
the statue of faun, headless and much in
iured, which had been brought from some
old ruin
"Ah. l will make Il head for this flun,"
and he began moulding and shaping the
damp snow.
As he worked, his companions gathered
around him and looked on, forgetting
their own sport in watching him, As grad
uallv the head began to appear and grew
under his touch into !. real face with good
| features.
Then standing, watching the effect of
each motion lie must be sardonic-
f,uns laughr said the boy us he gave an
of the mouth. There. that is not bad;
have drawn in the love of sculpture with
the milk of my nurse. Her husband is i
sculpture, and, from Il baby have played
making statues"
Stepping back to get Il good look at his
his amazement, discovered it was the
treat noble himself. who, followed by all
| his guests, had entered the gallery
gallery the youthful artists were decora-
ting for them, while they were SO engaged
Us not t. perceive them.
They all stopped to comment on the
statues and, approaching the tlun, Loren
70 said:
This is rather the work Of one enter
! inc upon the career of Il master than the
attempt of Il novice. But. Michael, 90
YOU not know that this is the Statue of an
| old faun. and that old do not have all their
! teeth? You have given him more than ICE
have Is it not 50, my friends?"
You are right, my lord" and, with
one stroke. Michael knocked out 4 tooth
and made the hollow in the gum which
showed it loss.
| Every one was delighted with this in
teiiycnt and discriminating act. and APP
plauded him with enthusiasm. >howering
praises and prophesies Of future fame on
the Young sculptor.
Among the noble guests were his father
and his uncle. who had >tcrnly discour-
aged all of Michacl's attempts at art, and
deemed it an unworthy thing that the heir
of the princelv house of Cano~sa should
handle the >cul ptors chisel even in sport.
Bat now, illttcreI by the praise of Loren
70, the great patron of art, they looked
smilingly on. and Michael knew. rs he
rode home that n-ht with his tu>tere relt
tions, that his long Forbidden love of ari
could now be inlulged; the glory of his
bovhool's dreams were to b, come the go-
" Of his life.
Who can tell what forms of of beauty
and visions of fame tlitte. throu III his eX-
cited brain. wild with the deligh. of L)r-
enZOS notice?
Could he fore>ec the wonderful crca-
ation> which would make I world stand in
silent admiration and ave?
Could he know that under the dome of
St Peters at Rome, the most magnificent
! . Oh,
all nations would come do to him hon.
age?
Let Us follow his career At nineteen
he made :, beautiful group in marble of
the dead Christ in his mothers lap. He
carved the colossal statue Of the Young
David for the Ducal palace of florence.
He designed. AMI in part completed the
grand mlu>oleum for Juliu, H.. tho cen
trail figure of which is Moses, at which he
worked over forty years; and the reclining
figures of Day AMI Night. Morning and
Evening, are 50 much admired that they
are to BE- reproduced on II monument soon
to be erected t. Michlcl Angelo ut the
scene of his labors.
TAert are bat few paintings of his on
canvas. for h is sud to have llld Il con-
tempt for es,el pittnres
The Pope sent for him to come and dec
crate the walls of his chapel at the Nati-
can. The architects did not know how to
construct; Il sratfoiding which would en,ble
him 10 reach the ceiling, AMI he invented
one; also curious paper cap, which
woud hold :. can He in the front, and thus
leave his hands free t. work at night He |
covered the ceilings with beautiful paint
inG- of scenes taken from the Old Te>t.l-
mrnt. thirty years afterward he painted
on the end wall of the chapel the wonder |
fil picture of " The Last Judgment"
Thousands of people visit it every Year
and gaze on it with reverence AMI wonder |
and delight. for it is one of the greatest |
pictures in the world.
st. Peters was the closing work OF his |
life. Begun long before. miny artists had
worked upon it-many architects had
made plans for it !; but it WAS left to Mich
ae Angelo to raise the dome, and to leave
such Il perfect model of its completion,
that it now stands the browning glory of |
his fame.
And it was the work of an old man. |
At seventy other men generally lay down !
their lfr's labor but he commenced the
painting of - The Last Judgments" and |
the builling of st. Peters was in prog
rr>s ut the time of his death. when he was
ninety.
With all his great powers, he was not |
unmindful of little things. Nothin. was
too trivial for care. The designing of a
cruritiX for Il lady's wear; the candclabra
for the chapel; the costumes of the Plpal |
Guard. still worn, shows his minute atten- |
ton to detail. In all his works we see the
same Intelligent thought that was mani
tested in the moulliny of the flun's |
mouth, his boyhood's triumph.
Noblv was the prediction of Loren
10 de Melici fulfilled. .th,t it was the
work of one entering upon the career of Il |
master" In Michael Angelo. the Great |
Master of Art, who at ninety stood among
the honored of the world, ripeneI all the |
promise of the boy, who more than seven
ty Years before, modelled the snow-flce |
for an hours w,stimc. in the gardens of
the Mcdici Palace.-!S. -Ntcholus.