Miscellanae Curiositae Michelangelae: A Steep Tariff, a Half-Dozen Horses, and Yards of Taffeta

Miscellanea Curiositae Michelangelae: A Steep Tariff, a Half Dozen Horses, and Yards ofTaffetaAuthor(s): William E. WallaceSource: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Summer, 1994), pp. 330-350Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Renaissance Society of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2862916 .

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Miscellanea Curiositae Michelangelae: A Steep Tariff, a Half Dozen Horses,

and Yards of Taffeta*

by WILLIAM E. WALLACE

T HERE IS SUCH AN abundance of documentary information about the life of Michelangelo Buonarroti that we necessarily are se-

lective in our use of the primary sources: nearly I,400 letters to and from the artist, more than three hundred published pages of his personal and professional ricordi, and an extensive correspondence among members of his immediate family. In addition to what they tell us about the artist and his commissions, these primary sources offer a rich and detailed picture of everyday life in Renaissance It-

aly. The following miscellany is offered as diverse glimpses into the world and work of Michelangelo, a sort of micro-historical view of a major historical figure.

** * * *

"They wanted Christ to pay duty to enter Rome" quipped Mi-

chelangelo's assistant Pietro Urbano in a letter describing his difficulties with the Rome customs officials who wanted to charge duty on the Risen Christ (fig. I). Problems with the sculpture began long before its arrival in Rome and have continued to our own day, for the Christ is probably the least admired of Michelangelo's marble sculptures. While many modern observers have found fault with the statue, it satisfied its patrons enormously, it was highly

*This article was completed during my tenure as a fellow at Villa I Tatti in Florence, I990-9I. For their help and many suggestions, I would like to thank Paul Barolsky, Alison Brown, Patrick Chorley, Samuel Heath, Edward Maeder, Thomas Roche, Michael Rocke, and Sarah Schroth.

IIn a recent review, Anthony Molho emphasized that the first published volume of the family correspondence, the Carteggio indiretto, represents "one of the most important published caches of documents regarding the domestic (or family) history of late medieval or early modern Florence" (Molho, I990, 75; see also review by Elizabeth Cropper).

[330]



A STEEP TARIFF

FIG. I. Michelangelo, Risen Christ, S. Maria sopra Minerva, Rome (photo: Ander-

son).

33I



RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY

praised by contemporaries, and it did finally arrive at its destination despite a checkered history and an arduous final journey.2

The history begins in 15 T4 when a trio of Roman patrons com- missioned Michelangelo to carve a lifesize marble Christ for the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome.3 Michelangelo worked on the figure in Florence until the marble block revealed a disfiguring black vein that prompted him to abandon it. After much prodding from Metello Vari, the principal agent in the commission, a new block was quarried in I 518 and Michelangelo carved a second version. He reported having finished the sculpture in April 1520, which elicited from Rome expressions similar to "God be praised" and "I thought I would never see the day."4 It had been almost six years since Michelangelo first received the commission. Yet another year and a half would pass before the sculpture was finally unveiled in the Roman church. Michelangelo refused to ship the completed statue until he had received his final payment. The patrons sent the payment in early 1521, with hopes that the sculpture would arrive in Rome in time for Easter celebrations. But, literally, it still had a long way to go.5

In mid-February 1521 the finished statue was carted to the riverport of Signa on the Arno, loaded onto a barge, and floated down river to Pisa where it was offloaded onto a seagoing vessel.6 Mi- chelangelo's assistant Pietro Urbano was to accompany the sculpture to Rome to supervise its installation, put on finishing touches, and repair any damages. Urbano went with the sculpture to Pisa and arranged on March I2 for its shipment to Rome.7 The squea- mish Urbano, however, did not want to hazard the sea voyage,

2In the first edition of his Lives (i 55), Michelangelo's biographer Giorgio Vasari praised the figure as "una figura miracolosissima"; in the 1568 edition, he wrote that it was "una figura mirabilissima" (Vasari-Barocchi, I:59). Despite the modern negative assessment, the figure has been the object of laudatory praise from, among many oth- ers, the Anonimo Magliabechiano, Vincenzo Borghini, Giampaolo Lomazzo, Filippo Titi, John Evelyn, Goethe, andJacob Burckhardt (for thefortuna critica, see ibid. 3:901- I4).

3For the contract, see Milanesi, 641, and for the history of the commission, see Thode, 2:257-72; Tolnay, 89-95, 177-80; Lotz; Parronchi; and Panofsky.

4"Dio si laudato, havisate la figora esser finita . ." and "non li pareva mai vedere quel di che fussi finita, attento che e passato el tempo de tanti anni ultra lo tempo dello obligo" (Carteggio, 2:229, 230).

5Ibid., 2:271, 282. 6Ibid., 2:273. 7Ricordi, 105.

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A STEEP TARIFF

preferring instead to go by land and meet the ship on its arrival in Rome.8 Michelangelo's friends in Rome, Leonardo Sellaio and Fe- derigo Frizzi, a minor Florentine sculptor to whom Michelangelo entrusted the carving of a tabernacle for the Christ, eagerly awaited the arrival of the new sculpture.

On March 24 Sellaio reported that Urbano had arrived but "la fighura per anchora non e arivata. "9 The latter became a refrain in the almost weekly correspondence between Rome and Florence during the next two months. At the end of March we learn that the ship was delayed by turbulent seas and Urbano was still awaiting its arrival "chon divotione."Io Easter came and went." On April I8 Pietro wrote with increasing impatience about the bad weather that was preventing the arrival of the ship. He now awaited it "chon passione."12 Three days later we learn that it was at Civitavecchia more than fifty kilometers north of Rome and still delayed "pel maltempo. "I3

We do not know exactly when the ship finally arrived at the Ripa, the riverport of Rome, but it was more than three months in transit from Pisa and it had been at least four months since it departed Michelangelo's studio in Florence. The lifesize marble figure was unloaded only with considerable difficulty ("grande noia") sometime in June or July. 4 Sellaio had told Urbano to expect to pay an import duty (gabella) of 8a percent. According to the 200-florin contracted value of the statue, the assessment should have been 17 florins plus handling charges, an unusually stiff fee. I

The unloading of a fully carved lifesize marble figure was an im- mensely delicate and difficult operation, as Urbano indicated in his letter to Michelangelo. Nonetheless, Pietro was indignant at the fees levied by the customs office. This was no shipload of foodstuffs or merchandise on which one normally paid gate or port gabelles, but rather a work of art by Italy's most renowned marble sculptor

8Carteggio, 2:277. 9Ibid., 280. o°Ibid., 282.

"Ibid., 283-87. '2bid., 287. I3Ibid., 292. 4Ibid., 305.

I5"Et la ghabbella della fighura di Ripa, sichonda mi dicie Lionardo ch'e' si dA 8 e 1/2 per ciento, e per levalla" (Carteggio, 2:283). In contrast, it cost only three and a half florins to ship the figure from Pisa to Rome (Ricordi, Io5).

333




destined for one of the most prominent churches in Rome. Playing on the delicious irony of the situation, Pietro wrote to Michelan- gelo: "They wanted Christ to pay duty to get into Rome."I6 In- deed, Christ paid his own tithe as the fees levied amounted to about one-tenth the contracted cost of the sculpture.

Having freed the impounded Christ, Pietro experienced further difficulties with the friars of Santa Maria sopra Minerva who also wanted to exact some kind of payment. "Those rogues of friars didn't want to accept it in the church if they weren't paid a second time. They have had one fee, now they want another," complained Urbano. 7 We sense his frustration as Urbano was forced to argue his way out of the customs house and into the church, an unlikely advocate for the advent of Christ. Seeking restitution for the duty paid on the figure, Urbano several times requested that Michelan- gelo ask Cardinal de' Medici to write letters to each of the customs officials. I8 We do not know the outcome of the suit, but the incident reveals something of contemporary attitudes--at least in the customs office-and the amount of petty aggravation that attended the creation of a Renaissance masterpiece.

Urbano's troubles did not end once the Risen Christ had forced the portals of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. He encountered further

'6"Perch'[e'] volevano che Christo paghasse ghabbella a entrare in Roma ..." (Carteggio, 2:305). It was not uncommon to pay duty on works of art; however, the assessed duty was still high (see Esch, 1978, 211-17, and idem, 198I, 9-79). In 1519, Michelangelo paid a I4-soldi gate tax on seven pieces of marble entering Florence (Ri- cordi, 65). In 1521-22, Domenico Naldini, a friend and professional associate of Mi- chelangelo, paid port duties at Pisa for marble arriving from the quarries: 3 5 soldi on twenty pieces of marble, and in a different instance 5 lire, 17 soldi, 6 denari on I2 pieces of marble and "una pila" (Archivio Salviati, Pisa 629, Quaderno di Cassa 1519-21, fol. I62v). The higher gabelles evidently were assessed for the larger blocks.

There is frequent mention of the payment of gate gabelles in Michelangelo's ricordi, usually on foodstuffs and mostly of nominal amounts, although the 18 lire I4 soldi paid on thirty barrels of oil seems high (Ricordi, 237; compare with other gate gabelles, 65, 194, 195, 197, 199, 213, 226, 237, 241, 257, 27, 330 and passim). During the quarrying of marble for the San Lorenzo facade, Michelangelo sought to have the import duties at Pisa waived because the "enttratta . . . vi sara dano asai." Pope Leo X eventually agreed to pay the Pisan gabelles: "La Santita di Nostro Signore sara contentissimo di pagare lui tucte dette gabelle" (Carteggio, 2:19, I33, 136, I43). On gabelles, see Bar- badoro; La Ronciere; Herlihy; and Molho, I971.

'7Carteggio, 2:305, trans. Murray, 104. i8Ibid., 305, 308, 309. Urbano named Bartolomeo della Valle, Francesco della

Fonte, andJacopo "che fa per Filippo Istrozi" (i.e. Strozzi). The most important, Fi- lippo Strozzi, was depositor of the Dogana and Doganiere dello Stato in i 522 (Bullard, 151-52).

334



A STEEP TARIFF

difficulties with Michelangelo's friends and associates in Rome, probably largely of his own making. Every day they were waiting for the Christ to arrive, Leonardo Sellaio tried to encourage Urbano to occupy himself by working on something else, evidently with little success. I9 Pietro was full of excuses; moreover, he had a fond- ness for indulgent living and sartorial extravagance. Sebastiano del Piombo, who claimed that "it's not my profession to speak ill of anyone," wrote to Michelangelo in September: "Don't be sur- prised to hear that Pietro cleared off; he wasn't seen for many days because he was in flight from the courts ... I have heard that he gambles and chases whores and flits about Rome in velvet shoes. "20

The poor regard for Urbano's character was coupled with den- igration of his abilities as a sculptor, for Michelangelo's friends held him responsible for nearly bungling the Risen Christ. Sebastiano wrote that "he has ruined everything, above all the right foot ... and he has also ruined the fingers of the hands, chiefly the one that holds the cross ... and they don't look as if they were made of marble, but made by someone who makes pasta."21 In September the discredited Urbano cleared out of Rome, but not before he stole a ring worth forty ducats and the cape and hat of a recently deceased compatriot.22

Urbano's sins have been unjustly visited upon the Risen Christ. Michelangelo asked Federigo Frizzi, the creator of the sculpture's tabernacle, to repair the damages wrought by Urbano.23 Despite Sebastiano's alarming report, the damages were easily remedied. Frizzi wrote to Michelangelo three times noting that there was re- ally "little to do," so little in fact that he did not want any payment.24 Nonetheless, probably in thanks, Michelangelo sent Frizzi four gold ducats. The patrons, moreover, were entirely satisfied

I9"... el primo di che Piero venne, che nonn era venuta la fighura, lo preghai andase a lavorare a chasa; e chosi ogni g[i]oro l'6 preghato" (Carteggio, 2:286). Urbano claimed to have begun something: ") chominciato a fare qualchosa per fino che no viene la fighura" and later in the same letter: "Vi pregho che io abbia luogho dove fare qualchosa mentro che non viene la fighura, e doppo che 1'e fornito, per fare o di terra o di marmmo" (ibid., 282).

2oIbid., 313; trans. Murray, I04. 2IIbid., 313-14; trans. Murray, I04. 22Ibid., 3IO, 3I9. 23Ibid., 317, 321. 24"E' v'e pocco da fare, e quelo pocco lo far6 chon quel diligenza che io saper6; e

per sl pocca facenda non c[i] achade pagamento, ch6 io farei mag[i]or chosa che none questa" (ibid., 318 and reiterated in two other letters, 317, 324).

335




with the completed statue, and they turned down the offer by Michelangelo, who had not seen the "damages" or Frizzi's repairs, to carve the entire figure anew-a third time! Vari, in particular, expressed his satisfaction to Michelangelo and in gratitude presented the artist with a horse.25 Sebastiano offered his own curious praise of the Risen Christ: "The knees of that figure are worth all of Rome."26 But let us turn our attention from Christ's knees to Vari's remarkable gift.

To own a horse was a luxury, and since ancient times had been the basis for a fundamental social distinction. Before the Cinque- cento few artists could afford to own a horse.27 Michelangelo more often made use of mules than horses since they were generally less expensive to own and hire, they were commonly used in traveling and as pack animals, and they were especially useful in the moun- tains when quarrying marble.28

In two different instances the pope's secretary and Michelange- lo's friend Sebastiano del Piombo both offered to loan mules to Michelangelo so that he could travel to Rome.29 The offers remind us that Michelangelo did not own a horse or mule for his personal use. He occasionally borrowed his family's mule, but it was valu- able property that was needed on the farm and had to be shared

25Ibid., 328-29, 334-35. 26"Perche val piu e' zenochii di quella figura che non val tutta Roma" (ibid., 3 4). 27Although Sodoma supposedly kept a whole stable of horses (Vasari-Milanesi,

6:380). 28Michelangelo hired a "buono mulo" to travel from Florence to Rome and back

in December I 523 (Carteggio, 3:2). He sent the wood model of the San Lorenzo facade to Rome by mule (Ricordi, 99, 103). Similarly, in 1559 he sent the model for the Lau- rentian Library steps to Bartolomeo Ammannati by mule (Carteggio, 5:I53).

29Carteggio, I:3I5; ibid., 4:18, 31, 38. Likewise, when Cardinal Antonio Pucci wished to encourage Michelangelo to come to Igno, he promised to send a horse (ibid., 4:47). And when his brother Giovansimone wanted to visit him in Bologna in 5o6, Michelangelo offered to send a horse so that he would not come "com'una bestia" (ibid., I:19). Michelangelo employed the identical phrase when, thirty-five years later, his nephew Leonardo wished to come visit him in Rome. Michelangelo would send Leonardo money "che tu non venga qua com'una bestia;" however, Leonardo appar- ently traveled by mule as Michelangelo wrote that he would make the arrangements with the muleteers (ibid., 1I 7, 124).

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A STEEP TARIFF

among the various family members.30 Amidst talk of selling the mule in 1517 Michelangelo's father noted that his son "wanted a horse. "3' In the meantime Michelangelo borrowed the family mule to go to the marble quarries, which left his brother Buonarroto stranded in the Casentino without means of transport. 32

Travel by horse was faster but more expensive.33 Michelangelo first purchased a horse in 1497 to go to Carrara to find marble for the Rome Pieta. 34 He purchased another horse sometime after re- ceiving the commission for the San Lorenzo facade in 51 6. When it became indisposed in early 1517, the horse had to be left in Flo- rence and was eventually sold. Michelangelo first borrowed the family mule and then was obliged to rent horses.35 Indeed, a sig- nificant charge added to the overall cost of the never-realized facade of San Lorenzo was the horse that Michelangelo hired for eight months and another for Pietro Urbano for a month and a half to travel back and forth to the marble quarries.36

Before Vari's gift in I52I, therefore, Michelangelo occasionally owned but more often hired horses. A horse was exceptional rec- ompense for an artistic commission and signals a rise in the social

3°When Michelangelo's brother Buonarroto took the mule to the Casentino, he quickly discovered just how expensive it was to feed and maintain the animal. After it was sent to Bibbiena to recuperate, his father suggested sending the mule back to Florence "so that it will not die of hunger" ("se ctu non ai il mo[do] a dargli le spese, rimandalo qua, acci6 ch'egli non moia di famo," Carteggio indiretto, 1:64; see also 60, 67, 69, 7I, 73-74, 80, 83, 86, 90, 97, IOI-02, II7).

31"Vero e che Michelangniolo disse che in ongni modo voleva una chavalchatura" (ibid., i i 8).

32Ibid., 1:124, I30, I39. Michelangelo promised to send it back soon; however, his father advised Buonarroto: "Pertanto, se ctu n'ai di bisongnio, manda per esso" (ibid., I30).

33When Michelangelo and an assistant went to Pisa and Livoro in I 529, Michelan- gelo hired two horses for four days for ten lire: nearly twice the cost of a mule and the equivalent of ten days wages of a skilled marble carver (Ricordi, 252).

34Hirst, 1985, 55 and app. A, doc. 2. Michelangelo's biographer, Ascanio Condivi, informs us that when the artist went to Carrara in I 505 to quarry marble for the tomb ofJulius II, "stette in quei monti con due servitori ed una cavalcatura" (D'Ancona, 194). It is not certain whether Michelangelo owned or hired the horse, but he was the only one with a mount.

35The horse was sold for fifteen florins, which Buonarroto considered a good price (Carteggio, 1:241, 256, 266). The first horse that Michelangelo rented also became indisposed and had to be left in Pistoia with Pietro Urbano's uncle. InJune I 5 17 Gherardo Urbano wrote Michelangelo "solo questa per darvi adviso del chavallo" (ibid., 286).

36Ricordi, 97-99.

337




stature of the artist. It is, moreover, not the only horse that was given to Michelangelo by admiring friends or patrons. Michelan- gelo's biographer Giorgio Vasari informs us that Ippolito de' Me- dici presented the artist with a beautiful Arabian horse that had cap- tured Michelangelo's fancy, along with ten mules laden with fodder and a groom to look after them. 37 Vasari may have invented or exaggerated the story in order to endow his hero with the recognized status of a nobleman, but it is true that from the mid-I520s Mi- chelangelo regularly owned a horse, thereby clearly distinguishing him from most other men of his occupation.38

The record is far from complete; however, there is good evidence that Michelangelo owned at least five different horses during his lifetime, and probably at least two more. 39 His biographers confirm it: "He studied not only men but animals as well, and especially horses, which he loved to own."40

Leonardo da Vinci's fascination with horses has overshadowed Michelangelo's similar preoccupation with the animal. This is not the place to survey the horse in Michelangelo's art, but one might mention the treatise he intended to write on the horse; two commissions for equestrian statues; the Battle of Cascina fresco that was to include an equestrian scene to complement the nude bathers; the equine coats of arms that grace the facade of the Farnese palace, the tomb of Julius II, and the reliquary balcony in San Lorenzo; the Marcus Aurelius statue that he made the centerpiece of the Capi- toline Hill; the famous antique "Horse Attacked by a Lion," also

37Vasari-Barocchi, I: 18. 38His friend Sebastiano, who also had social pretensions, claimed to be speaking

from experience when he advised Michelangelo to ride for good health and rest at mid- day: "Advertite cavalcate per el fresco sopra tutto, et reposate da mezo zorno, che io vi parlo con la experientia in mano" (Carteggio, 3:420). Baccio Bandinelli, who also had

exaggerated social pretensions, claimed to own four mules and three horses (Colasanti, 439).

39In 526 Michelangelo was sharing the rent of a stall in a stable in Settignano and one outside the gate of San Pier Gattolini with the tenant farmers who worked his land (Ricordi, 215, 224). In I552 Michelangelo purchased his most expensive horse at

twenty-five scudi. A saddle, bit, barley, and the tariff"a la dogana de' cavagli" cost Michelangelo half again the price of the horse, a small indication of the expenses in- curred for owning one's own horse (ibid., 330). Perhaps the latter was the small chest- nut nag, grown old, that was in the stall of his house in Rome when Michelangelo died: "Uno ronzinetto piccolo di pelo castagnaccio, con sella, briglia . .." (Gotti, 2:I50).

4°Vasari-Barocchi, 1:116. In his life of Michelangelo, Ascanio Condivi wrote "ch'egli non solamente ha amata la bellezza umana, ma universalmente ogni cosa bella, un bel cavallo" (D'Ancona, 253).

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A STEEP TARIFF

on the Capitoline that he greatly admired; and innumerable drawings throughout his career. His most exquisite depiction of horses is found in his drawings of the "Fall of Phaeton" (figs. 2, 3).41 In the version in the Accademia in Venice (fig. 3), the powerful horses of divine Apollo fall helpless, entwined in lover-like embraces- perhaps the strangest and most difficult subject to draw convinc- ingly since neither nature nor antiquity provided adequate models.

* * * * *

Michelangelo's near contemporary Don Quixote claimed that "the art of riding a horse distinguishes a gentleman from a groom."42 Since Rozinante was little more than a nag, it was not the horse but one's comportment in the saddle that mattered to the peerless knight. There is scant evidence of Michelangelo's equestrian abilities, although once, on his return to Florence from Bo- logna in 50o8, the horse he had on loan from a friend threw him into the mud.43 Apart from this ignominious incident, Michelan- gelo must have cut a fine figure in the saddle since he generally dressed like a gentleman. We are, in fact, well informed about how Michelangelo dressed and this distinguished him from grooms and most other artists.

The first extant ricordo from Michelangelo's hand includes the purchase of a pair of stockings and the lining for a leather doublet ("g[i]ubone di quoio") in connection with his trip to Rome in 5o8 to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.44 In letters and several hundred ricordi over the course of the next fifty years, we have a running record of Michelangelo's wardrobe, including shoes (scarpe and pianelle), boots (stivali), a pair of clogs (zocholi), more than a dozen pairs of stockings (chalze and chalzoni), chemises (chamicie and maglie), doublets (giubbone), vests (veste), six different loose flowing garments known as saione and zimarra, a half dozen long gowns such as were worn by Florentine magistrates (lucco), at least

4IBritish Museum no. 1895-9-15-517; Windsor Castle no. 12766; Venice, Acca- demia inv. no. I77. The three versions of the subject have been discussed recently by Michael Hirst (Hirst, 1989, I13-15).

42Cervantes, 829. According to Baldassare Castiglione, 68-69, a proper courtier does not sit bolt upright in the saddle like the Venetians "but free and relaxed as if he were on the ground."

43Carteggio, 1:62. 44Ricordi, i.

339




FIG. 2. Michelangelo, Fall of Phaeton, Windsor Castle, Royal Library no. 12766 recto (photo: Royal Library, reproduced by Gracious Permission of H.M. the

Queen).

340



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three capes one of which is described as "una cappa alla spagnuola," several hats and caps (chapello and berretta), a purse, a sword sheath and a belt to strap it on.45

Several notable facts emerge from this sartorial inventory: the variety of materials used in making Michelangelo's clothes, his attention to describing them accurately, and his obvious preference for dressing in black. Michelangelo records a tremendous variety of fabrics purchased for clothing and most are black, from the more general "panno nero" and "tela nero" to more specific materials such as "saia nero," "saia milanese nero," "setta nera," "taffeta nero," "velluto nero," "domascho nero," "fregio nero," "acorde- latto nero," and "ermissi nero." Even the saddlecloth of his mule was "di panno nero."46

Among such a preponderance of black the exceptions are notable, such as the saione made of medley and sky blue cloth ("pano mischio" and "pano cilesto"),47 the five braccia of richly colored

stocking material (perpignano "di quello colore pieno"), and the crimson lining of his black velvet doublet.48 In I529, after owning four coats of black serge lined with black silk and taffeta, Michelan- gelo purchased eight braccia of coarse reddish brown cloth called "pannio monachino" to make a new, differently colored overcoat.49 Michelangelo wore white shirts but preferred black stockings, generally of ribbed cloth ("accordellato"), and for more than twelve years he had all his hosiery and that of his assistants made in the same stocking shop by a certain Sandro Catastini calzaiuolo. At his death he owned two coats, one tawny and one black, two black capes, one of which was of fine Florentine cloth lined with black silk and "quasi nuova," two black cassocks, and two black caps. so

The most expensive fabrics that Michelangelo purchased were the black taffeta and fine black serge (saia) employed in making his coats. These were followed by the black velvet for a doublet and

45On dress and costume, see Davenport; Cappi Bentivegna; Levi Pisetzky; Birbari; Anderson; Herald; Laver; Harte and Ponting. On the wool trade and types of cloths manufactured in Florence and elsewhere in Europe, see Hoshino.

46". .. una coverta di panno nero per la mula" (Ricordi, 327). 47Ibid., 104. 48Carteggio, 1:163, 164; Ricordi, 31. 49Ricordi, 232. s°Gotti, 2:149.

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the damask (dommasco) and fine silk (raso) purchased for an un- known purpose. 5s One of the most inexpensive fabrics was cardi- nalesco (chardinaletti), a cheap red fabric that he used to cover four windows of his workshop on Via Mozza. 52 In our age of ubiquitous glass windows, we must remind ourselves of their expense and comparative rarity in the Renaissance, especially in such utilitarian premises. On the other hand, cheap cloth was evidently more prac- tical and durable than the oiled paper that covered the windows in many private residences and, for example, in the Medici Chapel.

Michelangelo's nephew Leonardo once sent him a roll of fine rash ("ruotolo di rascia"), the most expensive woolen cloth manufactured in sixteenth century Florence. It was "molto bella," Mi- chelangelo wrote, but it would have been better if Leonardo had given it to some poor person, "per l'amor di Dio."53 A few years later Leonardo sent some more of the same fine cloth prompting a more appreciative Michelangelo to remark that it would have cost a lot more in Rome and would not have been as beautiful.54

Indeed, Michelangelo always preferred Florentine goods. Once he moved permanently to Rome in 1534, Leonardo regularly sent pears, marzolino cheeses, and trebbiano wine. He also supplied Michelangelo with new shirts. The first ones Leonardo sent were "so coarse that there is not a peasant in Rome who would not be ashamed to wear them," but thereafter Michelangelo was grateful for the batches of new shirts that arrived about every four years. 55 In the inventory taken at his death, Michelangelo owned nineteen used shirts and five new ones. 56 Despite what his biographers tell us of his disregard for his dress and appearance, it seems that Mi- chelangelo dressed well and self-consciously. Once, for example, in ordering material for new stockings he insisted "that above all it is beautiful. "57 And when he returned to Florence from Rome in

5IRicordi, 30, 31, 93, 246. 52Ibid., 68.

53Carteggio, 4:330. 54Ibid., 5:26. Most fabric in Rome was imported from Florence (Esch, 1981, 32-39). 55". . . perch6 son si grosse che qua non e contadino nessuno che non si vergogniassi

a portarle" (Carteggio, 4:o08). See also ibid., 4:239, 348; ibid., 5:8, 175, as well as two hats ("cappelli"), unidentified fabric ("panno") and handkerchiefs for Urbino's widow (ibid., 5:87, 259, 297).

56Gotti, 2: 50. 57"E fa' sopr'ogni cosa che sia bello" (Carteggio, 1:163).

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I5 I6, a friend reported that "Michelangelo has arrived, but has not

yet ventured out of the house because he does not have any clothes." A doublet and other vestments were on immediate order. 58

In I529, in a fit of panic just prior to the siege of Florence by the forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Michelangelo fled to Venice. Finding himself without adequate clothes, Michelangelo was forced to purchase two pairs of shoes, stockings, a pair of boots, two shirts, a beret, and a hat for himself and the two friends who accompanied him. 59 Since Michelangelo had been in Venice for scarcely two weeks when he noted these expenses, it is likely that he purchased these clothes readymade. Usually he bought materials and paid separately to have clothing made.

As was common practice, Michelangelo often provided clothes for his household assistants.60 They also frequently wore black, although they appear to have fancied colors more than their master. Pietro Urbano, in particular, was fond of fine apparel. In 1518, Michelangelo completely outfitted Urbano with a beretta, a giubbone, a zimarra, a pair of shoes and stockings, and a saione "di

panno bigio franceschano."61 Michelangelo purchased many other items for Urbano's wardrobe; however, he does not appear to have bought the velvet shoes in which, according to Sebastiano, Urbano flitted about Rome chasing prostitutes.

When his beloved assistant Urbino-successor to the velvet- shod Urbano - died in I555, Michelangelo paid the funeral ex-

58"Et per anchora non e uscito di casa per non havere panni" (Carteggio indiretto, 1:52).

59Ricordi, 262-63. As Michelangelo wrote in a letter to Battista della Palla, he left Florence "molto disordinatamente" (Carteggio, 3:280).

60Michelangelo dressed his assistant Nardo in a hat of"piloso nero," a giubbone, a saione, two long cloaks (zimarra) -one of which was "di panno San Matteo nero"- and a pair of grey stockings (Ricordi, 245, 272-73). Among other things Michelangelo outfitted another assistant, Gianino d'Antonio, with a grey round hat ("un tocho bigio"), a white doublet, a pair of shoes, and a pair of blue stockings of fine cloth, "uno paio di halze azure di pano fino" (ibid., 261). Michelangelo once sent his trusted su- pervisor in the marble quarries Donato Benti three and a half braccia of corded black cloth to make a new doublet (ibid., 35, 67).

6IRicordi, 31-32, 33-34, 35, 52-53. Michelangelo bought new drawstrings for Ur- bano's coat in November and less than two years later a pair of white and two pairs of black stockings, a new giubbone and a saione made of serge ("saia di lila"), possibly from Lille (ibid., 52, 54, 92, 93, 104). I would like to thank Patrick Chorley for his help with the nomenclature of fabrics.

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penses and settled a number of outstanding bills for clothing items.62 The following year Urbino's widow asked Michelangelo for eight braccia of Florentine rascia, that fine and expensive woolen cloth so that she could make a mantle. 63 Michelangelo sent fifty gold scudi (more than a year's salary for most skilled workers) to his nephew in Florence and asked him to buy the lightest and most beautiful material possible. And black. The cloth was found and sent, with the remainder of the money being given as alms.64

Michelangelo was generous in providing clothes not only for his assistants but also for his friends and relatives. He purchased shoes for his nephew Leonardo and a whole wardrobe for his niece Francesca who, after the death of her father in 1528, complained that "I am left with nothing." She headed her want list with the re- quest for a blue dress ("saia azurra") "furnished according to cus- tom and as you see fit"-revealing evidence of Michelangelo's acquaintance with fashion.6s

Over the years Michelangelo continued to provide Francesca with many necessities. In 1533, for example, he sent her three sheets, six blouses, and a vest of dark red serge and fine white silk.66 In addition, Michelangelo provided Francesca with a conspicuously generous dowry and her complete trousseau when she married into the noble family of the Guicciardini in I537.67

62The funerary items included a shroud and five caps (berrette), one of which was placed on Urbino while the other four were given to "li altri di casa" (Ricordi, 339). The outstanding bills for clothing items included a variety of silk buttons, a thin silk black bib "per putto," a beret with a red lining for his son named Michelangelo, and a vest trimmed in genoese green velvet for his wife Cornelia (ibid., 345, 350-5I).

63She also requested two braccia of black ermisino ("remenzino negro") for an un- dershirt ("una zamaretta") for her son (Carteggio, 5:100-01). See also the seven braccia of unidentified cloth that Michelangelo ordered from Florence for her in 1556 (ibid., 58-59).

64". octo braccia di rascia nera la pii legiera e bella che tu truovi" (ibid., 104, 109).

65".. . una saia azurra fornita chome s'usa e chome pare a voi" (Ricordi, 274). In addition, she claimed to need the following items: a pair of shoes and a pair of slippers, twenty braccia of cloth for blouses, fabric to make a cap or bonnet (cufie), cambric (rensa) to make a pair of sleeves, perpignan cloth (perpignano) for stockings, material to make a blue apron or pinafore (grenbiule), and a white taffeta belt (becca).

66". . una vesta di saia pagonaza e raso bianco . . . e la saia fu d'una vesta che fu di sua madre" (Ricordi, 276). See also the extensive list of expenses between September 1528 and May 1529 (ibid., 242-43).

67Ibid., 278-79, and possibly 298-99; Carteggio indiretto, I:L.

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A fine piece of cloth could even serve as an appropriate gift. When the eminent Flemish composer Jacques Arcadelt set one of his madrigals to music, Michelangelo found himself at a loss as to how to express his gratitude properly. He asked his friend Luigi del Riccio to send Arcadelt either "cloth or money," and in a subse- quent note mentioned that he had a piece of satin for a doublet that might make a suitable present.68

It is evident from Michelangelo's ricordi that he kept a record of virtually every piece of fabric he purchased and every item of clothing made from them. He even kept the left-over scraps such as the "two remnants of cloth of my black coat" that must have been from the new lucco he had made in early 1527.69 Like other Florentines, Michelangelo made inventories of his household linens. One such list includes four tablecloths and five sheets with precise lengths and widths noted, ten table napkins, two towels, four handkerchiefs, ten good shirts and two bad chactive.70

Michelangelo obviously knew about fabrics and clothing, as might be expected from an artist whose family had long been in- volved in the Florentine wool industry and who were members of the principal cloth guild, the Arte della Lana. In 1507 Michelangelo's father matriculated in the guild in order to transmit to his sons the privileges and concessions deriving from guild membership. Mi- chelangelos' favorite brother Buonarroto was a partner in the wool shop of Lorenzo and Filippo Strozzi before opening his own shop in company with his brothers in 1514, and with financial assistance from Michelangelo.7I In the first six months of 1520 Michelangelo ran up a large bill with the family bottega which included stuff and some of the labor on four pairs of stockings, a doublet, a saione, a zimarra, and a new black overcoat or lucco lined with black taffeta.72 This latter was the single most expensive item in Michelan- gelo's wardrobe. At a cost of nearly twenty florins for the materials alone, the coat represented the equivalent of almost half a year's

68Carteggio, 4:99, Ioo. 69". . . dua scampoli di panno d'un mio lucco nero" (Ricordi, 243). 70Ibid., 112. Compare the list of household linens ("panni sudici") that Michelan-

gelo gave to his tenant farmer Lapo (ibid., III).

7ICarteggio indiretto, i:xx and passim. Similarly, Buonarroto's son, Leonardo, opened a wool shop in 1548 with Michelangelo's financial assistance (Carteggio, 4:296 and passim).

72Ricordi, 92-93.

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wages of one of the skilled marble carvers employed at that time by the artist in the Medici Chapel.

Given his family background and the evident attention to clothing and to many varieties of fabric, perhaps we should pay more attention to dress in Michelangelo's art. Are the clothes he created in painting and sculpture as fantastic as is generally assumed? Are the newly unveiled colors in the Sistine Chapel true to life, to the reality of an enormously rich and varied cloth industry? There are more than fifty varieties of textiles noted in Michelangelo's letters and ricordi, as well as many items of adornment: buttons, pins, cords and strings, linings, ribbons and other kinds of trim. In several hundred notices relating to clothing and materials, one notes the frequency of such fabrics as taffeta, rovescio, riverso rosso and especially ermisino, a thin silk, like sarsanet, named after the island in the Persian gulf from which it was first imported. 73 These are cloths with unusual coloristic qualities, including what we now call "shot color." Is the "shot color" characteristic of mannerist painting a stylistic mode or a fashion mode, an artistic device or the attentive observation of nature?74

Like many of his Florentine contemporaries, Michelangelo was familiar with a wide variety of manufactured textiles; he had a di- versified descriptive vocabulary and an evident appreciation for the stuff of habiliment. We may properly picture Michelangelo dressed in black, with black silk ribbons fastening his cape and cloak, sober in color but not in the quality of the materials. Such a picture ac- cords well with painted depictions of Michelangelo by his contemporaries, almost all of which portray him dressed in black.

Michelangelo belonged to a family with aristocratic pretensions and a claim to noble origins. He traced his lineage to the counts of Canossa and firmly believed that he was a descendent of the famous Queen Matilda.75 Michelangelo's preference for dressing in black probably was part of his elevated self-perception. Noblemen and magistrates wore black and the black lucco was a common and dis- tinctive item of dress among Florence's elite. Moreover, by the third decade of the sixteenth century it was fashionable for Italians

73Richards, 307. I would like to thank Edward Maeder for this reference. 74Edward Maeder discusses this topic in "I costumi degli antenati di Cristo," La

Capella Sistina. La volta restaurata: il trionfo del colore, Novara, 1992, 194-223. 75See Carteggio, 2:245, 253, 266; and Wallace.

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to imitate Spanish dress with its definite preference for black.76 One recalls, for example, that as early as 1529 Michelangelo purchased five and a half braccia of black cloth ("panno nero") to make "una cappa alla spagnuola. "77 Thus, Michelangelo's habits of dress co- incided with current aristocratic fashion and probably were dictated by his social ambitions. Vasari attributed Michelangelo's love of beautiful horses and his penchant for quality vestments to his elevated status and noble birth.78

While the minutiae of Michelangelo's everyday records supports the accepted picture of his rise from craftsman to gentleman, they also offer a glimpse of another side of his life as an artist. I conclude with just one example, an unimportant but nonetheless illuminat- ing incident. In 1550, at the summit of his illustrious career and widely acknowledged to be the greatest living artist, the seventy- five-year-old Michelangelo was paid six scudi for gilding eight knobs on two bedsteads of Pope Julius III.79

76In The Book of the Courtier, Federico Fregoso is made to remark, "so it seems to me that the most agreeable colour is black," and further, "I should like the clothes our courtier wears to reflect the sobriety characteristic of the Spaniards" (Castiglione, 13 5). The Florentine historian Giovanni Cambi noted that after the death of Duke Lorenzo de' Medici in 5Ig9, the citizens, from the most to the least important, began to dress in black. It is not entirely clear if this was a temporary expression of mourning or a more enduring change of fashion: "E da notare una cosa in questi tenpi, che tutti e' ciptadini dal maggiore al minore cominciorono a vestire nero" (Cambi, 154). Period- ically, black was the color of fashion, as in mid-fifteenth century Rome (Esch, 1981, 48). On the economic, as well as the social and symbolic implications of black dress, see Schneider (I would like to thank Julius Kirshner for this reference).

77Ricordi, 232. 78"E di onorati vestimenti ha sempre la sua virtu ornato, dilettandosi di bellissimi

cavalli, perch6, essendo egli nato di nobilissimi cittadini, ha mantenuto il grado e mos- tro il sapere di maraviglioso artefice" (Vasari-Barocchi, I:I25). The passage appears only in the 155o edition. In the 1568 edition, Vasari merely notes "et in tutti i costumi modesto," thus entirely changing the emphasis, and consequently, our mental picture of the artist. I would like to thank Paul Barolsky for pointing out this passage.

In responding to an insulting remark from the artist Jacone, Vasari made clear that dressing well and owning a horse were marks of economic and social success: "I used to dress in the clothes of poor painters, now I dress in velvet. I once traveled by foot, now on horseback" (Vasari-Milanesi, 6:453; quoted from Barolsky, 98).

79". . . a Michelangelo pittore per doratura di otto pomi di lettiera di due letti di N. S.re" (Frey, I6I, n. 295). In a payment for the model of the palace ofJulius III, Mich- elangelo was again referred to as "Michelangelo pittor" (ibid., n. 305).

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We need not imagine that Michelangelo himself carried out this humble task, but he was the person who received payment and pre- sumably he was responsible for seeing it completed. To the un- known Vatican functionary who made the payment, this man was merely "Michelangelo pittore." Such is the everyday world, even of the great persons of the past. Leaving the Vatican palace that evening, Michelangelo mounted his horse and wrapped himself in his heavy black cloak against the chill winter wind. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

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Miscellanae Curiositae Michelangelae: A Steep Tariff, a Half-Dozen Horses, and Yards of Taffeta

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