paying him honour, and celebrating his
obsequies with befitting pomp. It was decided that all the leading
artists should contribute something, each in his own line, to the
erection of a splendid catafalque, and a sub-committee of four men was
elected to superintend its execution. These were Angelo Bronzino and
Vasari, Benvenuto Cellini and Ammanati, friends of the deceased, and
men of highest mark in the two fields of painting and sculpture. The
church selected for the ceremony was S. Lorenzo; the orator appointed
was Benedetto Varchi. Borghini, in his capacity of lieutenant or
official representative, obtained the Duke's assent to the plan, which
was subsequently carried out, as we shall see in due course.

Notwithstanding what Vasari wrote to Lionardo about his uncle's coffin
having been left at the Dogana, it seems that it was removed upon the
very day of its arrival, March II, to the Oratory of the Assunta,
underneath the church of S. Pietro Maggiore. On the following day the
painters, sculptors, and architects of the newly founded academy met
together at this place, intending to transfer the body secretly to S.
Croce. They only brought a single pall of velvet, embroidered with
gold, and a crucifix, to place upon the bier. When night fell, the
elder men lighted torches, while the younger crowded together, vying
one with another for the privilege of carrying the coffin. Meantime
the Florentines, suspecting that something unusual was going forward
at S. Pietro, gathered round, and soon the news spread through the
city that Michelangelo was being borne to S. Croce. A vast concourse
of people in this way came unexpectedly together, following the
artists through the streets, and doing pathetic honour to the memory
of the illustrious dead. The spacious church of S. Croce was crowded
in all its length and breadth, so that the pall-bearers had
considerable difficulty in reaching the sacristy with their precious
burden. In that place Don Vincenzo Borghini, who was lieutenant of the
academy, ordered that the coffin should be opened. "He thought he
should be doing what was pleasing to many of those present; and, as he
afterwards admitted, he was personally anxious to behold in death one
whom he had never seen in life, or at any rate so long ago as to have
quite forgotten the occasion. All of us who stood by expected to find
the corpse already defaced by the outrage of the sepulchre, inasmuch
as twenty-five days had elapsed sin