s
quiver, and carried it almost to completion. It is now in the
apartment of the Prince of Florence, and is a very rare work, although
it is not completely finished.

At this time a certain gentleman was sent to Michelagnolo by Duke
Alfonso of Ferrara, who, having heard that the master had made some
rare work for him with his own hand, did not wish to lose such a
jewel. Having arrived in Florence and found Michelagnolo, the envoy
presented to him letters of recommendation from that lord; whereupon
Michelagnolo, receiving him courteously, showed him the Leda embracing
the Swan that he had painted, with Castor and Pollux issuing from the
Egg, in a large picture executed in distemper, as it were with the
breath. The Duke's envoy, thinking from the praise that he heard
everywhere of Michelagnolo that he should have done something great,
and not recognizing the excellence and artistry of that figure, said
to Michelagnolo: "Oh, this is but a trifle." Michelagnolo, knowing
that no one is better able to pronounce judgment on works than those
who have had long practise in them, asked him what was his vocation.
And he answered, with a sneer, "I am a merchant"; believing that he
had not been recognized by Michelagnolo as a gentleman, and as it were
making fun of such a question, and at the same time affecting to
despise the industry of the Florentines. Michelagnolo, who had
understood perfectly the meaning of his words, at once replied: "You
will find you have made a bad bargain this time for your master. Get
you gone out of my sight."

[Illustration: APOLLO

(_After =Michelagnolo=. Florence: Museo Nazionale_)

_Alinari_]

Now in those days Antonio Mini, his disciple, who had two sisters
waiting to be married, asked him for the Leda, and he gave it to him
willingly, with the greater part of the designs and cartoons that he
had made, which were divine things, and also two chests full of
models, with a great number of finished cartoons for making pictures,
and some of works that had been painted. When Antonio took it into his
head to go to France, he carried all these with him; the Leda he sold
to King Francis by means of some merchants, and it is now at
Fontainebleau, but the cartoons and designs were lost, for he died
there in a short time, and some were stolen; and so our country was
deprived of all these valuable labours, which was an incalculable
loss. The cartoon of the Leda has since come back to Florence, and
Bernard