Michael Angelo'S Masterpieces

Michael Angelo's masterpiece in painting is considered to be the cartoon of a battle designed for the great hall of the Palazzo Vecchio, where Leonardo had been already engaged in painting.

It is called "The Instant before the Battle;" and the scene represents the soldiers, who are bathing in the Arno without a thought of impending danger, suddenly summoned to arms by the trumpet-call.

The unexpected surprise and the varied efforts of the men to hurry on their clothes, to seize their arms, and to hasten to the fight, are brought out in such a masterly manner, that, when the picture was completed, it excited the admiration of all the artist's contemporaries, and quite cast Leonardo's work into the shade. Michael Angelo had just completed his twelve years' study of anatomy, and over this cartoon showed more enthusiasm than over any succeeding work, exclaiming with wild energy, "I have triumphed!"

This cartoon was stolen or destroyed between the years 1512 and 1517. Bandinelli is accused by Vasari of the crime of having maliciously cut Michael Angelo's cartoon when the Duke Giuliano was in a dying state; and, as no one had time to take note of it, the pieces were lost. Condivi simply says the cartoon was lost, it is not known how.

This cartoon and several works of sculpture executed the same year, 1505, so added to Michael Angelo's fame, that he was invited to Rome by Pope Julius II., and shortly after received the order to paint the Sistine Chapel.

The ceiling of this chapel, completed in 1512, is the most complete of all the works extant of this master, and the grandest monument of painting of any age.

In sculpture Michael Angelo's masterpiece is his "Moses."

Grimm says, "The 'Moses' is the crown of modern sculpture." . . . "Whoever has once seen this statue must retain the impression of it forever."

It is one of the colossal figures designed by Michael Angelo for the mausoleum of Julius II., and is now to be seen in the Church of St. Pietro in Vincoli.

It stood in Michael Angelo's workshop for over forty years; and a crack in one knee is thus accounted for,--that the master, so deeply impressed himself with the lifelike appearance of the statue when completed, rushed up, and, striking it vehemently with his hammer, exclaimed, "Speak to me!" thus in one moment marring the crowning work of a lifetime.