o, being pleasing in colour, beautiful in
invention, and charming in the expressions, with design in keeping with
the rest; and that those of Buonarroti had none of those qualities, with
the exception of the design. And for such reasons these admirers judged
that in the whole field of painting Raffaello was, if not more excellent
than Michelagnolo, at least his equal; but in colouring they would have
it that he surpassed Buonarroti without a doubt. These humours, having
spread among a number of craftsmen who preferred the grace of
Raffaello to the profundity of Michelagnolo, had so increased that many,
for various reasons of interest, were more favourable in their judgments
to Raffaello than to Michelagnolo. But Sebastiano was in no way a
follower of that faction, since, being a man of exquisite judgment, he
knew the value of each of the two to perfection. The mind of
Michelagnolo, therefore, drew towards Sebastiano, whose colouring and
grace pleased him much, and he took him under his protection, thinking
that, if he were to assist Sebastiano in design, he would be able by
this means, without working himself, to confound those who held such an
opinion, remaining under cover of a third person as judge to decide
which of them was the best.

While the matter stood thus, and some works that Sebastiano had executed
were being much extolled, and even exalted to infinite heights on
account of the praise that Michelagnolo bestowed on them, besides the
fact that they were in themselves beautiful and worthy of praise, a
certain person from Viterbo, I know not who, much in favour with the
Pope, commissioned Sebastiano to paint a Dead Christ, with a Madonna who
is weeping over Him, for a chapel that he had caused to be built in S.
Francesco at Viterbo. That work was held by all who saw it to be truly
most beautiful, for the invention and the cartoon were by Michelagnolo,
although it was finished with great diligence by Sebastiano, who painted
in it a dark landscape that was much extolled, and thereby Sebastiano
acquired very great credit, and confirmed the opinions of those who
favoured him. Wherefore Pier Francesco Borgherini, a Florentine
merchant, who had taken over a chapel in S. Pietro in Montorio, which is
on the right as one enters the church, allotted it at the suggestion of
Michelagnolo to Sebastiano, because Borgherini thought that Michelagnolo
would execute the design of the whole work, as indeed he did.
Sebastiano, the