chael Angelo the fresco
painter from his follower Daniele da Volterra.

Nearly all Michael Angelo's sonnets express personal feelings, and by
far the greater number of them were composed after his sixtieth year.
To whom they were addressed, we only know in a few instances. Vittoria
Colonna and Tommaso de' Cavalieri, the two most intimate friends of his
old age in Rome, received from him some of the most pathetically
beautiful of his love-poems. But to suppose that either the one or the
other was the object of more than a few well-authenticated sonnets
would be hazardous. Nothing is more clear than that Michael Angelo
worshipped Beauty in the Platonic spirit, passing beyond its personal
and specific manifestations to the universal and impersonal. This
thought is repeated over and over again in his poetry; and if we bear
in mind that he habitually regarded the loveliness of man or woman as a
sign and symbol of eternal and immutable beauty, we shall feel it of
less importance to discover who it was that prompted him to this or
that poetic utterance. That the loves of his youth were not so tranquil
as those of his old age, appears not only from the regrets expressed in
his religious verses, but also from one or two of the rare sonnets
referable to his manhood.

The love of beauty, the love of Florence, and the love of Christ, are
the three main motives of his poetry. This is not the place to discuss
at length the nature of his philosophy, his patriotism, or his
religion; to enquire how far he retained the early teaching of Ficino
and Savonarola; or to trace the influence of Dante and the Bible on his
mind. I may, however, refer my readers who are interested in these
questions, to the Discourse of Signor Guasti, the learned essay of Mr.
J.E. Taylor, and the refined study of Mr. W.H. Pater. My own views will
be found expressed in the third volume of my 'Renaissance in Italy';
and where I think it necessary, I shall take occasion to repeat them in
the notes appended to my translation.

III.

Michael Angelo's madrigals and sonnets were eagerly sought for during
his lifetime. They formed the themes of learned academical discourses,
and won for him the poet's crown in death. Upon his tomb the Muse of
Song was carved in company with Sculpture, Architecture, and Painting.
Since the publication of the _rifacimento_ in 1623, his verses have
been used among the _testi di lingua_ by Italians, and have been
studied in the three g