ul
whether a man like Aretino had any sincere faith, possesses
considerable literary interest. In the first place, it is curious as
coming from one who lived on terms of closest intimacy with painters,
and who certainly appreciated art; for this reason, that nothing less
pictorial than the images evoked could be invented. Then, again, in
the first half of the sixteenth century it anticipated the rhetoric of
the _barocco_ period--the eloquence of seventeenth-century divines,
Dutch poets, Jesuit pulpiteers. Aretino's originality consisted in his
precocious divination of a whole new age of taste and style, which was
destined to supersede the purer graces of the Renaissance.

The letter ends with an assurance that if anything could persuade him
to break a resolution he had formed, and to revisit Rome, it would be
his great anxiety to view the Last Judgment of the Sistine Chapel with
his own eyes. Michelangelo sent an answer which may be cited as an
example of his peculiar irony. Under the form of elaborate compliment
it conceals the scorn he must have conceived for Aretino and his
insolent advice. Yet he knew how dangerous the man could be, and felt
obliged to humour him.

"Magnificent Messer Pietro, my lord and brother,--The receipt of your
letter gave me both joy and sorrow. I rejoiced exceedingly, since it
came from you, who are without peer in all the world for talent. Yet
at the same time I grieved, inasmuch as, having finished a large part
of the fresco, I cannot realise your conception, which is so complete,
that if the Day of Judgment had come, and you had been present and
seen it with your eyes, your words could not have described it better.
Now, touching an answer to my letter, I reply that I not only desire
it, but I entreat you to write one, seeing that kings and emperors
esteem it the highest favour to be mentioned by your pen. Meanwhile,
if I have anything that you would like, I offer it with all my heart.
In conclusion, do not break your resolve of never revisiting Rome on
account of the picture I am painting, for this would be too much."

Aretino's real object was to wheedle some priceless sketch or drawing
out of the great master. This appears from a second letter written by
him on the 20th of January 1538. "Does not my devotion deserve that I
should receive from you, the prince of sculpture and of painting, one
of those cartoons which you fling into the fire, to the end that
during life I may enjoy it,