s."

This letter must have been written when Michelangelo was still working
on the frescoes of the Cappella Paolina, and therefore before 1549.
The check to his importunacy, given with genial tact by the
Marchioness, might be taken, by those who believe their _liaison_ to
have had a touch of passion in it, as an argument in favour of that
view. The great age which Buonarroti had now reached renders this,
however, improbable; while the general tenor of their correspondence
is that of admiration for a great artist on the lady's side, and of
attraction to a noble nature on the man's side, cemented by religious
sentiment and common interests in serious topics.

III

All students of Michelangelo's biography are well acquainted with the
Dialogues on Painting, composed by the Portuguese miniature artist,
Francis of Holland. Written in the quaint style of the sixteenth
century, which curiously blent actual circumstance and fact with the
author's speculation, these essays present a vivid picture of
Buonarroti's conferences with Vittoria Colonna and her friends. The
dialogues are divided into four parts, three of which profess to give
a detailed account of three several Sunday conversations in the
Convent of S. Silvestro on Monte Cavallo. After describing the objects
which brought him to Rome, Francis says: "Above all, Michelangelo
inspired me with such esteem, that when I met him in the palace of the
Pope or on the streets, I could not make my mind up to leave him until
the stars forced us to retire." Indeed, it would seem from his frank
admissions in another place that the Portuguese painter had become a
little too attentive to the famous old man, and that Buonarroti "did
all he could to shun his company, seeing that when they once came
together, they could not separate." It happened one Sunday that
Francis paid a visit to his friend Lattanzio Tolomei, who had gone
abroad, leaving a message that he would be found in the Church of S.
Silvestro, where he was hoping to hear a lecture by Brother Ambrose of
Siena on the Epistles of S. Paul, in company with the Marchioness.
Accordingly he repaired to this place, and was graciously received by
the noble lady. She courteously remarked that he would probably enjoy
a conversation with Michelangelo more than a sermon from Brother
Ambrose, and after an interval of compliments a servant was sent to
find him. It chanced that Buonarroti was walking with the man whom
Francis of Holland c