New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-11-17

into his work something Of the pas
sion and the glamour of a novel. He
has done this in The Life Of Michael
Angelo" a narrative Of less than two
hundred pages which the buttons have
Just brought out in well illustrated
volume II is a narrative Of facts. but
when the author wishes 10 use name
or a date, or even, on occasion. an in
cidcnt. ne drops It into a foOtnOte and
asks MS i'm his text TO consider the fact
only as II bears upon a matter Of
spiritual evolution. In other words, his
aim is not tu give MS a record, but 10
dramatizc career. II is the soul OF
Michael Angelo that concerns him.
The result is a work not TO bc read for
information i'm the ordinary sense or
FOR art criticism in any sense at all,
but for such an initiation into the mys-
terry Of human being as VI. ROLAND
would consider Indispensable TO APP
probation of that human beings work.
The scientific" wiscacre may not be
particularly impressed. The general
reader. he who seeks merely To under
stand Michael Angelo a little better,
will turn these pages with gratitude.
They have been written with en-
thusiasm, with veneration, yet they do
not make for anything like emotional
hero worship. This biographer, who
knows where Michael Angelo was
strong, knows also where he was weak.
This. after all. is but another way Of
saying that he disccrns the man be-
meath the demi-god, and thereby gets
the more surely at the truth. In the
contemplation Of Il figure so grdndiose
we easily lose sight of the little things
which only seem little because they are
obsCured by majesty. VI. ROLAND,
having the courage 90 give its due
value to the familiar domestic trait.
little by little develops an cxtraordi-
narily vivid sense Of the great sculptor
as he actually lived and worked 1t Is
with candor like this that he bodies
forth his Jovian master:
Ills genius was coupled with a soul
which betrayed IT, People sometimes
sbcJN Ol IN" fatality wmah relentlcssiy
loho"1u Ii his iCotSteya and prevented
LIN carrying out "ny CI MS great pro-
je,,s. IG.S fatality was nmscI. The
secret oi ms IliatOi tunes that winch eN-
piatns the Whole tragedy OF his life (and
tins Is what people nave least seen or
least dared TO sce) was uis lack OF will
power ana weakness OF character.
tie was rresolute i'm art In politics. in
all MS actlOps and in all his thoughts
between Two works, two projects or two
lines 81 thought he was never able TO
choose. Inc mstO"y of the monument 10
julius ~, the facade OF san Lorenzo and
the tomDs o! the Medic is proof OF this
Tie began ana began again. but never
reached the end. He had barely made his
choice than ne began To doubt about IL.
At the end of his life Ing completed moth
ing; everything Disguised him. II has
been alleged that ms tasks were i'm
posed uloa him, and the responsibility Of
this perpetual wdVering between one
project and another has Dtcn laid on the
shoulders OF his masters. People forget
that his masters had no means Of ,mgOs-
inG them upon him had he decided to
refuse them But lie dare not
He was weak. He was weak In all
ways: through virtue ana through timid-
ity. He was weak through conscience
lie tOrrtntcd himself with n thousand
scruples which a more energetic nature
aggerated sense of responsibility he felt
himself Obliged TO undertake mediocre
tasks which any foreman could have done
better. He knew neither how To keep his
engagements nor To forget them.
He was weak through prudence and
through fear The man whom julius | 1
called the terrible III terribilG'-VG-
sari styles as ''prudent'-too prudent;
and he who frightened everybody, even
the Popes." had a fear of every one. lie
was weak with princes. And yet, who
despised more than he did those who We're
weak with princes-"the pack donkeys of
princes" as he called them? He wished
TO flee from the Popes, but he remained
and obeyed. He tolerated insulting letters
from his masters and reulied IN them