A fine nativity truly, which showed how great the child would be
and of how noble a genius; for the planet Mercury with Venus in seconda
being received into the house of Jupiter with benign aspect, promised what
afterwards followed, that the birth should be of a noble and high genius,
able to succeed in every undertaking, but principally in those arts that
delight the senses, such as painting, sculpture, and architecture. Having
completed his term of office, the father returned to Florence and put the
child out to nurse in the village of Settignano, three miles from the
city, where he had a property, which was one of the first places in that
country bought by Messer Simone da Canossa. The nurse was a daughter of a
stone-carver and the wife of a stone-carver, so Michael Angelo used to say
jestingly, but perhaps in earnest too, that it was no wonder he delighted
in the use of the chisel, knowing that the milk of the foster-mother has
such power in us that often it will change the disposition, one bent being
thus altered to another of a very different nature.
V. The child grew and came to be of a reasonable age. His father, noticing
his ability, desired that he should devote himself to letters; he
therefore sent him to the school of a certain Maestro Francesco da Urbino,
who in those days taught grammar in Florence;(6) but although Michael
Angelo made progress in these studies, still the heavens and his nature,
both difficult to withstand, drew him towards the study of painting, so
that he could not resist, whenever he could steal the time, drawing now
here, now there, and seeking the company of painters.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25