Chapter 21 Two Confidence -1

After Victoria's death, he wanted to return to Florence, to sleep "his tired muscles and bones beside his old father".Michelangelo to Vasari, September 19, 1552.After serving several generations of popes in his life, he will dedicate his remaining years to God.Maybe he was encouraged by his girlfriend to fulfill his last wish.On January 1, 1547, a month before the death of Victoria Colonna, he was appointed architect and director of St. Peter's by order of Paul III.It was not without difficulty that he accepted this appointment; nor was it the Pope's insistence that made him decide to undertake in his seventies a heavy responsibility that he had never borne in his life.He saw it as God's mission, his duty: "Many think—and I believe—that I was placed by God in this position," he wrote, "however old I may be, I do not want to give it up; for I serve in the love of God, on whom I place all my hopes.” Michaelis wrote to his nephew Leonardo on July 7, 1557.

He would not accept any salary for this sacred cause. In this matter, he encountered many enemies: the first was the Sangallo faction, this is Antonio da Sangallo, who was the leader from 1537 to the time of his death in 1546. Chief Architect of St. Peter's.He has always been Michelangelo's enemy, because Michelangelo left no room for him.For the issue of the castle in the Pope's Palace area, the two of them were in a position of extreme opposition, and finally Michael canceled Sangallo's plan.Later, when the Farnese Palace was built, Sangallo had built it to the second floor. In 1549, when Michelle completed it, he completely changed his original design.As Vasari said, in addition to all the clerks, priests, and construction contractors, he exposed many misdeeds of selfishness and fraud, but Sangallo pretended to be deaf and indifferent to these. "Michelangelo," said Vasari, "freed St. Peter from the hands of thieves and robbers."

Those who opposed him united.At the head was the shameless architect Nanni di Baggio Biggio, whom Vasari believed to have stolen from Michelangelo and who now wanted to exclude him.People spread lies that Michelangelo knew nothing about architecture and was just wasting money and ruining the work of his predecessors.The administrative council of St. Peter's also joined in the attack on the architects, instituting in 1551 a solemn investigative commission chaired by the Pope; inspectors and workers to accuse Michelangelo, Salviati and Che The two bishops of Irvine again sided with the accusers.Bishop of Cerviny, the future Pope Marcellus II.Michelangelo was hardly pleading: he refused to argue with them. — He and Bishop Cervini said: "I have no obligation to inform you, or anyone else, of the plans I am going to make. Your business is to monitor the expenditure of funds. Other things have nothing to do with you." According to Vasa record. —his unmodified pride never promised to tell anyone about his plans.He replied to those complaining workers: "Your jobs are masons, carpenters, and carpenters. Do your job and carry out my orders. As for what I think, you will never know; because it is a loss. Of my dignity." According to Bothari.

His methods naturally aroused much hatred, and he would not for a moment have been able to withstand those venomous attacks had he not been defended by the popes.At the last meeting of the Commission of Inquiry in 1551, Michelangelo turned to Julius III, the chairman of the committee, and said: "Holy Father, see what I have earned! If my troubles do not benefit my soul, I have wasted my time and my pain." - the Pope, who loved him, put his hand on his shoulder, and said: "You have earned soul and body. Do not be afraid!" (according to Vasari) Therefore , when Bishop Cervini ascended the throne after the death of Julius III, he was about to leave Rome.Pope Paul III died on November 10, 1549; Julius III, who loved Michelangelo like him, reigned from February 8, 1550 to 1555 March 23rd.On May 9, 1555, Archbishop Cerviny was elected Pope under the title Marcellus II.He ascended the throne for only a few days; on May 23, 1555, Paul IV succeeded him.But the new pope, Marcellus II, died shortly after he ascended the throne, and was succeeded by Paul IV.Having reasserted the supreme protection, Michelangelo continued the struggle.He thought that if he gave up his work, his reputation would be ruined and his soul would be corrupted.He said: "I was involuntarily allowed to do this work. For eight years, I struggled in vain among worries and fatigue. At this moment, the construction work has made considerable progress, and when I can start building the vault, if I leave Rome, will make the work fall short: it will be my great shame, and it will be the great sin of my soul." May 11, 1555 Michaelis wrote to his nephew Leonardo.In 1560, criticized by his friends, he demanded that "the people promise to relieve him of the burden which he had borne for seventeen years by pontificate and obligatory." — but his resignation was not granted, and Pope Paul IV decreed that he should be re-granted all expedients. ——At that time, he decided to agree to Cavalieri's request and started the construction of the wooden form of the vault.So far, he has been hiding all his plans from anyone.

His enemies did not back down; and the struggle was sometimes tragic.In 1563, in the St. Peter's project, Gaeta, one of Michelangelo's most loyal assistants, was arrested and imprisoned, falsely accused of theft; his chief engineer Cesare was stabbed to death.Michelangelo retaliated by appointing Gaeta to replace Cesare.The Administrative Council ousted Gaeta and appointed Michelangelo's enemy Nanni di Baggio Biggio.Michelangelo was so angry that he didn't come to see St. Peter.Rumors spread that he had resigned; and the committee quickly appointed Nanni to replace him, and Nanni immediately became the master.He tried to discourage the eighty-eight-year-old critically ill man in various ways.But he did not know his enemy.Michelangelo immediately went to the Pope; he threatened to leave Rome if justice was not done for him.He insisted on a new investigation, proving Nanni's incompetence and lies, and expelling him.The day after Michelangelo's death, Nanni immediately went to ask the Grand Duke Cosme to appoint him as Michelangelo's successor.This was in September 1563, four months before his death. -- Thus, until the last stage of his life, he had to struggle with envy and resentment.

But we needn't feel sorry for him.He knew self-defense; even at the hour of his death he was able, as he and his brother said, by himself, to "crack the beasts to pieces."