for Buonarroto's widow and children after his
burial, we find that their clothes had been destroyed because of the
infection. All the cares of the family now fell on Michelangelo's
shoulders. He placed his niece Francesca in a convent till the time
that she should marry, repaid her dowry to the widow Bartolommea, and
provided for the expenses of his nephew Lionardo.

For the rest, there is little to relate which has any bearing on the
way in which he passed his time before the siege of Florence began.
One glimpse, however, is afforded of his daily life and conversation
by Benvenuto Cellini, who had settled in Florence after the sack of
Rome, and was working in a shop he opened at the Mercato Nuovo. The
episode is sufficiently interesting to be quoted. A Sienese gentleman
had commissioned Cellini to make him a golden medal, to be worn in the
hat. "The subject was to be Hercules wrenching the lion's mouth. While
I was working at this piece, Michel Agnolo Buonarroti came oftentimes
to see it. I had spent infinite pains upon the design, so that the
attitude of the figure and the fierce passion of the beast were
executed in quite a different style from that of any craftsman who had
hitherto attempted such groups. This, together with the fact that the
special branch of art was totally unknown to Michel Agnolo, made the
divine master give such praises to my work that I felt incredibly
inspired for further effort.

"Just then I met with Federigo Ginori, a young man of very lofty
spirit. He had lived some years in Naples and being endowed with great
charms of person and presence, had been the lover of a Neapolitan
princess. He wanted to have a medal made with Atlas bearing the world
upon his shoulders, and applied to Michel Agnolo for a design. Michel
Agnolo made this answer: 'Go and find out a young goldsmith named
Benvenuto; he will serve you admirably, and certainly he does not
stand in need of sketches by me. However, to prevent your thinking
that I want to save myself the trouble of so slight a matter, I will
gladly sketch you something; but meanwhile speak to Benvenuto, and let
him also make a model; he can then execute the better of the two
designs.' Federigo Ginori came to me and told me what he wanted,
adding thereto how Michel Agnolo had praised me, and how he had
suggested I should make a waxen model while he undertook to supply a
sketch. The words of that great man so heartened me, that I set myself
to work at onc