had made such vast and costly
preparations. He did not feel certain how he should succeed in fresco
on a large scale, not having had any practice in that style of
painting since he was a prentice under Ghirlandajo. It is true that
the Cartoon for the Battle of Pisa had been a splendid success; still
this, as we have seen, was not coloured, but executed in various
methods of outline and chiaroscuro. Later on, while seriously engaged
upon the Sistine, he complains to his father: "I am still in great
distress of mind, because it is now a year since I had a farthing from
the Pope; and I do not ask, because my work is not going forward in a
way that seems to me to deserve it. That comes from its difficulty,
and also _from this not being my trade._ And so I waste my time
without results. God help me."

We may therefore believe Condivi when he asserts that "Michelangelo,
who had not yet practised colouring, and knew that the painting of a
vault is very difficult, endeavoured by all means to get himself
excused, putting Raffaello forward as the proper man, and pleading
that this was not his trade, and that he should not succeed." Condivi
states in the same chapter that Julius had been prompted to intrust
him with the Sistine by Bramante, who was jealous of his great
abilities, and hoped he might fail conspicuously when he left the
field of sculpture. I have given my reasons above for doubting the
accuracy of this tradition; and what we have just read of
Michelangelo's own hesitation confirms the statement made by Bramante
in the Pope's presence, as recorded by Rosselli. In fact, although we
may assume the truth of Bramante's hostility, it is difficult to form
an exact conception of the intrigues he carried on against Buonarroti.

Julius would not listen to any arguments. Accordingly, Michelangelo
made up his mind to obey the patron whom he nicknamed his Medusa.
Bramante was commissioned to erect the scaffolding, which he did so
clumsily, with beams suspended from the vault by huge cables, that
Michelangelo asked how the holes in the roof would be stopped up when
his painting was finished. The Pope allowed him to take down
Bramante's machinery, and to raise a scaffold after his own design.
The rope alone which had been used, and now was wasted, enabled a poor
carpenter to dower his daughter. Michelangelo built his own scaffold
free from the walls, inventing a method which was afterwards adopted
by all architects for vault-buil