ection of the study of a head by
saying that they had only three or four sittings.

Condivi asserts, and Vasari follows him, that the part uncovered in
November 1509, was the first half of the whole vault, beginning at the
large door of entrance and ending in the middle. But Albertini states in
his _Mirabilia Urbis_(115) that the upper portion of the whole vaulted
roof had been uncovered when he saw it in 1509, and this statement is
corroborated by the work itself. There is a distinct enlargement of the
style from the Sin of the Sons of Ham through the series of the Creation
and the Athletes to the Prophets and Sibyls, and again from the first of
these, near the large door, to those near the altar wall. So it may have
been the complete work on the flat part of the vault that was shown to the
world, including the story of the Creation and Fall of Man; and it was
not, therefore, so very unreasonable of Bramante to propose that Raphael
should continue the work, for he probably did not know of Michael Angelo's
intention of commemorating the promise of the Redeemer by his prophets and
sibyls upon the curved surface of the vaulting. Michael Angelo was
naturally indignant at his action, but Julius, who probably was the only
man who knew Michael Angelo's scheme, commanded him to complete his work.

We gather from a letter to his father that the scaffolding for completing
the painting of the vault was not put up on September 7, 1510.

[Image #24]

THE PROPHET JOEL

SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME
(_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_)

_To_ LODOVICO DI BUONARROTA SIMONI, _in Florence_.

_From_ ROME, _September 7, 1510._

"DEAREST FATHER,--I have received your last, and hear with the
greatest anxiety that Buonarroto is ill; therefore, as soon as you
see this, go to the Spedalingo(116) and make him give you fifty or
an hundred ducats; you may need them. Arrange that all things
necessary be provided in good time, and that there be no lack of
money. Let me tell you how that I am waiting to receive from the
Pope five hundred ducats, well earned, and he should give me as
much again to put up the scaffolding and go on with the other part
of my work. And he has gone from here without leaving me any
orders. I have written him a letter. I do not know wh