me the greatest sorrow;
for though I am old, I had yet hoped to see him before he died, and
before I died. God has willed it so. Patience! I should be glad to
hear circumstantially what kind of end he made, and whether he
confessed and communicated with all the sacraments of the Church. If
he did so, and I am informed of it, I shall suffer less." A few days
after the date of this letter, Michelangelo writes again, blaming
Lionardo pretty severely for negligence in giving particulars of his
uncle's death and affairs. Later on, it seems that he was satisfied
regarding Giovan Simone's manner of departure from this world. A
grudge remained against Lionardo because he had omitted to inform him
about the property. "I heard the details from other persons before you
sent them, which angered me exceedingly."

V

The year 1549 is marked by an exchange of civilities between
Michelangelo and Benedetto Varchi. The learned man of letters and
minute historiographer of Florence probably enjoyed our great
sculptor's society in former years: recently they had been brought
into closer relations at Rome. Varchi, who was interested in critical
and academical problems, started the question whether sculpture or
painting could justly claim a priority in the plastic arts. He
conceived the very modern idea of collecting opinions from practical
craftsmen, instituting, in fact, what would now be called a
"Symposium" upon the subject. A good number of the answers to his
query have been preserved, and among them is a letter from
Michelangelo. It contains the following passage, which proves in how
deep a sense Buonarroti was by temperament and predilection a
sculptor: "My opinion is that all painting is the better the nearer it
approaches to relief, and relief is the worse in proportion as it
inclines to painting. And so I have been wont to think that sculpture
is the lamp of painting, and that the difference between them might be
likened to the difference between the sun and moon. Now that I have
read your essay, in which you maintain that, philosophically speaking,
things which fulfil the same purpose are essentially the same, I have
altered my view. Therefore I say that, if greater judgment and
difficulty, impediment and labour, in the handling of material do not
constitute higher nobility, then painting and sculpture form one art.
This being granted, it follows that no painter should underrate
sculpture, and no sculptor should make light of