Chapter 25 Two Confidence - 5

He has other strange friends.Because of his strong nature's resistance to social constraints, he loves to hang out with simple-minded and informal people. ——Topolino, a stonecutter from Carare, "he thinks he is an outstanding sculptor, and every time he goes to Rome to carry stones, he must send a few small portraits made by him, which makes Michelangelo Kiro laughed at it"; see Vasari. —A Valdarno painter, Menigella, from time to time went to Michelangelo and asked him to paint a statue of St. Roque or St. Anthony, which he then painted and sold to the countrymen.And Michelangelo, whose works were difficult for the emperors to obtain, was willing to follow Menegella's instructions and make those sketches; - a barber, also has a hobby of painting, Michelangelo for him Made a drawing of St. Francis;--a Roman workman, working on the tomb of Julius II, fancied himself a great sculptor without knowing it, by obediently obeying Michelangelo Instructed by his guidance, he managed to carve a beautiful colossal statue out of white stone, and stupefied himself;—a comic goldsmith, Pilotto, nicknamed Lasca;—a lazy, strange painter Indarko, "he loves chatting to the same extent as he hates painting." He often said: "Working forever and not looking for entertainment is not worthy of being a Christian." See Vasari's record. —especially that ridiculous and innocent Giuliano Bugiardini, for whom Michelangelo had a special affection.

"Giuliano had a natural gentleness, a simple way of life, without evil or desire, which made Michelangelo very comfortable. His only fault was that he loved his own work too much. But Michelangelo Ciiro often thought that this was enough to make him happy; because Michelle knew that he was very distressed that he could not fully satisfy himself... On one occasion, Ottaviano Te Medici asked Giuliano to paint him a painting. A portrait of Michelangelo. Zhu set to work; after he taught Michelangelo to sit silently for two hours, he shouted: 'Michelangelo, come and see, get up: the main face I've caught the part." Michelangelo stood up, and when he saw the portrait, he asked Giuliano with a smile: "What the hell are you doing? You put one of my eyes in the temple; look Be careful." Giuliano was baffled by these words. He looked at the portrait and the person several times in turn; and boldly replied: "I don't think so; but go sit down anyway, If so, I will revise it.' Michelangelo knew what kind of situation he had fallen into, and sat with a smile opposite Giuliano. Giuliano looked at him and at the portrait again and again, so he stood up and said : 'Your eyes, as I have drawn them, appear so naturally.' 'Then,' laughed Michelangelo, 'it is the fault of nature. Go on.'" See Vasari.

This kind of tolerance, which Michelangelo didn't have the habit of treating others, can be applied to those small and humble people.This is also his pity for these poor people who are self-confident as great artists. Perhaps the scenes of those lunatics aroused his own crazy memories.Here, indeed, there is a sadly comical humor.Like all sombre souls, Michelangelo was sometimes comic; he wrote not a few witty poems, but his comic was always serious, bordering on tragic.Such as a sketch of his old age and so on. (See volume 81 of the collection of poems.) In this way, he only lives with those humble friends: his assistant and his crazy friend, and even humbler companions-his livestock: his mother Chicken and his cat.Angiolini wrote to him when he was away in 1553: "The rooster and the hen are happy;—but the cats are very sad because they don't see you, though they are not short of food."

In fact, he is lonely, and he is getting more and more lonely. "I am always alone," he wrote to his nephew in 1548, "I talk to no one." , Thoughts are also indifferent. The last passion that bound him to the contemporary crowd—republican thought—was quenched.When he was nursed by his friend Riccio at the house of Strozzi during his two severe illnesses in 1544 and 1546, he gave off the last flash of the shower, and Michelangelo recovered from his illness. At that time, Roberto Strozzi, who was in exile in Lyon, asked the King of France to fulfill his promise: he said that if Francis I was willing to restore the freedom of Emerald, he would use his own money A bronze equestrian statue was built on the field.Letter from Riccio to Roberto di Filippo Strozzi, July 21, 1544.In 1546, as a token of his gratitude to Strozzi for his kindness as a host, he bequeathed to him two "Slaves", which he in turn dedicated to Francis I.

But it was just a flare-up of political fever—the last flare-up.In his conversation with Gianotti in 1545, several of his confessions resembled Tolstoy's idea of ​​the futility of struggle and non-resistance: "It is a great honor to dare to kill a man. Presumptuous, for we cannot know with certainty whether death produces some good, and life prevents some good. Therefore I cannot bear with those who say that no good can ever be effected unless it begins with evil—that is, killing. The age Changes, new accidents are happening, desires are shifting, human beings are getting tired... and in the end, there will always be the unexpected."

The same Michelangelo, who vehemently attacked despots, now opposes the revolutionaries who dreamed of changing the world by one act, and he knew very well that he had been one of them; he himself.Like Hamlet, he doubts everything now, his thoughts, his grievances, everything he believes.He said goodbye to action.He wrote: "A man who replied: 'I am not a statesman, I am an honest man, a man who sees everything with good intentions.' He was telling the truth. If only my work in Rome could give me As light a care as politics!" to his nephew Leonardo in 1547. In fact, he didn't hold grudges any more.He can't hate.Because it is too late: "Unfortunate me, weary of waiting too long, unfortunate me, it is too late for my wish! And now, don't you know? A generous, proud, kind heart He has a heart, knows how to forgive, and repays all those who insult him with kindness!" Poems volume 109, sixty-fourth.Here Michelle imagines a conversation between a poet and a vagrant in Emerald—possibly written after Alessandro de' Medici was stabbed to death by Lorenzino in 1536.

He lives in Macel de Corvi, on the heights of the Trayango Market.He has a house here, and a little garden.He occupied the dwelling with a manservant, a maid, and many domestic animals.Among his servants was a Frenchman named Richard.He and his servants were not comfortable.For, according to Vasari, "they are always careless and unclean." He often changed his servants, and complained bitterly.On August 16, 1550, he wrote to Leonardo: "I want a good and clean maid but it is very difficult: they are all dirty and immoral, and my life is very poor. , but I hired servants at a very high price.” His entanglements with servants were similar to those of Beethoven.After driving out a maid in 1560, he exclaimed, "I wish she never came here!"

His bedroom was as dark as a tomb.Volume eighty one of poetry anthology. "The spiders do all their work inside, spinning as much as they can." Id. ——In the middle of the stairs, he painted a portrait of "Death" carrying a coffin on his back.The following poem was inscribed on the coffin: "I tell you, you who gave the world soul, body and spirit: In this dark box you can grasp everything." He lived like a poor man and ate very little, Vasari records: "He ate very little. In youth, he ate only some bread and wine, in order to devote all his time to work. In old age, since he From "The Last Judgment" onwards, he used to drink some alcohol, but only in the evening, at the end of the day's work, and very sparingly. Although he was rich, he lived like a poor man. Never (or very rarely) ) a friend eats with him: nor does he accept gifts; "He couldn't sleep at night, so he got up and was obsessed with cutting work. He made a paper hat with a candle in the middle, so that his hands could be completely free when he was working, and he didn't have to worry about the problem of light."Vasari noticed that he did not use wax but used mutton oil stamens as candlesticks, so he gave him forty catties of wax.The servant took it, but Michelangelo refused to accept it.The servant said: "Master, my arm is about to be broken, and I don't want to take it back. If you don't want it, I will put them together in the mud hole in front of the door and burn them." So Michelangelo said : "Then put it here; for I don't want you to do that foolish thing at my door." (recorded by Vasari) The older he got, the more lonely he became.When all was asleep in Rome, he took refuge in his night's work: it was already a necessity for him.Silence was a boon to him, and night was a friend: "O night, O gentle time, dark though it is, where all endeavors are at peace, and those who praise you see and understand; praise you Whose judgment is perfect indeed. You cut off all weary thoughts, Deeply penetrated by moist shadows and luscious rests; from the earth, you have often carried me to heaven, where I longed to go. O shadow of death, from which the foe of soul and heart--disaster--is warded off, O supreme remedy for the sorrowful, you restore health to our sick bodies, you dry our Tears, you wash away our weariness, you wash good people from their hatred and loathing." Poems Vol. 78.

One night, Vasari went to visit the old man who was alone in the desolate house, facing his mournful "Mourning for Christ": Vasari knocked on the door, and Michelangelo stood up, holding on to the candlestick to answer.Vasari wanted to see the statue; but Michelangelo deliberately extinguished the candle by dropping it in the ground so that he could not see it.And when Urbino went looking for another candle, he turned to Vasari and said: I am so old that Death is always pulling at the bottom of my trousers and asking me to go with it.One day my body will crumble, and like this torch, and like it, the light of my life will go out. "