f Ulysses, so one
hand alone was capable of wielding the pencil of Buonarroti." Still it
must not be imagined that Michelangelo ground his own colours,
prepared his daily measure of wet plaster, and executed the whole
series of frescoes with his own hand. Condivi and Vasari imply,
indeed, that this was the case; but, beside the physical
impossibility, the fact remains that certain portions are obviously
executed by inferior masters. Vasari's anecdotes, moreover, contradict
his own assertion regarding Michelangelo's singlehanded labour. He
speaks about the caution which the master exercised to guard himself
against any treason of his workmen in the chapel. Nevertheless, far
the larger part, including all the most important figures, and
especially the nudes, belongs to Michelangelo.

These troubles with his assistants illustrate a point upon which I
shall have to offer some considerations at a future time. I allude to
Michelangelo's inaptitude for forming a school of intelligent
fellow-workers, for fashioning inferior natures into at least a
sympathy with his aims and methods, and finally for living long on
good terms with hired subordinates. All those qualities which the
facile and genial Raffaello possessed in such abundance, and which
made it possible for that young favourite of heaven and fortune to
fill Rome with so much work of mixed merit, were wanting to the stern,
exacting, and sensitive Buonarroti.

But the assistants were not the only hindrance to Michelangelo at the
outset. Condivi says that "he had hardly begun painting, and had
finished the picture of the Deluge, when the work began to throw out
mould to such an extent that the figures could hardly be seen through
it. Michelangelo thought that this excuse might be sufficient to get
him relieved of the whole job. So he went to the Pope and said: 'I
already told your Holiness that painting is not my trade; what I have
done is spoiled; if you do not believe it, send to see.' The Pope sent
San Gallo, who, after inspecting the fresco, pronounced that the
lime-basis had been put on too wet, and that water oozing out produced
this mouldy surface. He told Michelangelo what the cause was, and bade
him proceed with the work. So the excuse helped him nothing." About
the fresco of the Deluge Vasari relates that, having begun to paint
this compartment first, he noticed that the figures were too crowded,
and consequently changed his scale in all the other portions of th