ook a chisel in his
left hand with a little of the marble dust from the platform and began to
let fall a little of it at each touch of the tool, but he did not alter
the nose from what it was before; then he looked down to the Gonfaloniere,
who stood watching below: 'Look at it now,' said Michael Angelo. 'I like
it better. You have given it life,' said the Gonfaloniere," rubbing the
dust out of his eyes.

On August 12, 1502, Michael Angelo undertook another commission for the
Republic--another giant David. This time it was to be in bronze, two cubits
and a quarter in height; in the casting he was to be assisted by Benedetto
da Rovezzano. It has been suggested that the pen and ink drawing in the
Louvre is a design for this second David, but the drawing of an arm on the
same sheet is so like the right arm of the first David that it is more
probably an early idea for the first David, in which we see that Michael
Angelo's design needed more room than the cramped block of marble allowed;
it makes us wonder the more at the marvellous freedom of action that he
managed to get out of the cramped stone. The bronze David was intended for
the French statesman, Pierre de Rohan, Marechal de Gie, as a present from
the Florentine Republic, but before it was finished the Marechal fell into
disgrace and could be of no further use to the Florentines. The Signory
therefore determined to send the bronze to Florimond Robertet, Secretary
of Finance to the French King. A minute of the Signory dated November 6,
1508, informs us that the bronze David, weighing about 800 pounds, had
been "packed in the name of God," and sent to Signa on its way to Leghorn.
Florimond Robertet placed it in the courtyard of his chateau of Bury, near
Blois. It remained there for more than a hundred years, then it was
removed to the chateau of Villeroy, and disappeared no one knows whither.

On April 24, 1503, the Consuls of the Arte della Lana and the Operai of
the Duomo ordered Michael Angelo to carve out of Carrara marble twelve
Apostles, each four and a quarter cubits high, to be placed inside the
church. One was to be finished each year, the Operai paying all expenses,
including the cost of living for the sculptor and his assistants, and
paying him two golden florins a month. They built a house and workshops
for him in the Borgo Pinti; it was designed by Il Cronaca. Michael Angelo
lived there rent free until it was evident that the contract could not be
c