much in
the way. As for the expenses of expropriation, I think to reduce them we
could make the figure seated, and as it could be hollow, the shop could
be placed inside so the rent would not be lost. It seems to me a good
idea to put in the hand of the Colossus a horn of abundance, and this
could be hollow and would serve as a chimney. The head could also be
made use of, I should think, for the poultryman, my very good friend who
lives on the square, said to me secretly that it would make a wonderful
dovecote. I have another and still better idea--but in that case the
statue must be made very much larger, which would not be impossible, for
towers are made with stone--and that is that the head should serve as a
bell-tower to S. Lorenzo, which now has none. By placing the bell so
that the sound would come out of the mouth it would seem as if the
giant cried for mercy, especially on holidays when they use the big
bells."

Michelangelo had constant trouble with his workmen, and to these worries
and his pangs of conscience were added domestic difficulties which never
ceased to embitter his life. During the period of the Sistine frescoes
it was his relations with his brothers that gave him most trouble, for
they tried to make use of him and he had to watch them sharply. Then it
was his father whom he adored with almost religious reverence and who
undoubtedly loved him, but who, irritable like himself, and peevish and
suspicious, picked unfair quarrels and spread odious calumnies about
him.

In the midst of all these difficulties the work did not progress at all.
A letter of June, 1526, says that one statue of a captain had been
begun, as well as four allegories and the Madonna, but as a matter of
fact not one of these was ready in 1527. As for the Library and the
Medici Chapel they were hardly begun.

At this moment the revolution broke out in Florence (April, 1527).

[Illustration: JESSE

A Figure in the Series of the "Ancestors of Christ."

Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (1508-1512).]

Michelangelo had until then shown in politics the same indecision from
which he had suffered so much in his own affairs and even in his art. He
never succeeded in reconciling his love of liberty with his
obligations to the Medici. It must be admitted that this violent genius
was always timid in action; he never incurred any risk through
struggling against the powers of this world on political or religious
grounds. He was afraid of c