Vasari's Lives of Italian Painters (Volume 4 - 189? - ) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 189?. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI. born 1475--Died 1564.] In the Casentino, in the year 1474, a son was born, under a fated and happy star, to the Signor Lodovico di Lionardo Buonarroti Simoni, who, as it is said, was descended from the most noble and most ancient family of the'Counts of Canossa; the mother being also a noble as well as excellent lady. Lodovico was that year Podesta, or Mayor of Chiusi-e-Caprese, near the Sasso dalla Vernia, where St. Francis received the Stigmata, and which is in the diocese of Arezzo. The child was born on a Sunday, the 6th of March namely, at eight of the oaght, and the name he received was Michelagnolo, because, without further consideration, and inspired by some influence from above, the father thought he perceived something celestial and divine in him beyond what is usual with mortals, as was indeed afterwards inferred from the constellations of his nativity, Mercury and Venus exhibiting a friendly aspect, and being in the second house of Jupiter, which proved that his works of art, whether as conceived in the spirit or performed by hand, would be admirable and stupendous. ., His office, or Podesteria, having come to an end, Lodovico returned to Florence, or rather to the Villa of Settignano, about three miles from that city, where he had a farm which he had inherited from his ancestors. The place is rich in stone, more especially in quarries of the macigno, which are constantly worked by stone-cutters and sculptors, for the most part natives of the place, and here Michelagnolo was given to the wife of a stone-cutter to be nursed. Wherefore, jesting with Vasari one day, Michelagnolo once said, "Giorgio, if I have anything good in me, that comes from my birth in the subtle air of your countrj DEGREES of Arezzo, and perhaps also from the fa...