lar space admirably. The Madonna is seated
facing the spectator, and looks out full towards him with an enigmatical
expression on her proud features; the Child stands beside her, His elbow
on her knee, as in the Bruges Madonna. The St. John is only roughly cut,
but the movement and forms are so well realised under the marble that one
does not wish for any further finish. In the Royal Academy tondo the
Madonna is seated more to the side of the circle, and is in profile; the
Child reclines upon her knee, clinging to her arm, startled but interested
by the little bird St. John has brought to show Him (a favourite motive
with Italian artists). The head and shoulders of the Madonna and the torso
of the Child Jesus are the only parts that are near completion, yet the
whole group is so much there that we do not ask for another touch; in
fact, the works of Michael Angelo were finished from the very first
strokes. The rough charcoal drawing upon the block of marble, could we see
it, would have been complete to us, only Michael Angelo could add anything
to it; and so it is with every fragment of stone or other piece of work by
his hand, from the lightest charcoal drawing to the great marble fragments
in the grotto of the Boboli Gardens. They are complete to us; the thing he
thought is there, and the art is there, and we are satisfied.

[Image #9]

THE HOLY FAMILY

THE UFFIZI, FLORENCE
(_Reproduced by permission from a photograph by Sig. D. Anderson, Rome_)

Another tondo executed about this time is the painting now in the Uffizi,
the only easel picture known with certainty to be by the hand of Michael
Angelo. This Holy Family, with naked shepherds in the background, was
painted for Angelo Doni, the same man whose portrait was painted by
Raphael. Vasari says that Michael Angelo asked seventy ducats for the
work, but that Doni only offered forty when the picture was delivered.
Michael Angelo sent word that he must pay a hundred or send back the
picture. Doni offered the original seventy; but Michael Angelo replied
that if he was bent on bargaining, he should not pay less than one hundred
and forty. In this composition the Madonna is seated upon the ground,
forming a pyramid, of which the heads of Joseph and the Child form the
apex; her lithe and strong form has a Greek loveliness as she turns
quickly and receives the beautiful Child on to he