The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

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0521551331 c 01 -p 2 CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 11 , 2007 10 : 5

CATALOGUE 30 WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY AUTOGRAPH SHEETS 169

ne mi consiglio c ̃olamorte appresso

nemico di me stesso

inutilm ̃ete ipianti e sospir verso

Ch[e] n ̃oedanno pari al tempo p so

Oilme, oilme, pur reiterando

volmio passato tempo e n ̃oritruovo

in tucto un giorno ch(e) sie stato mio

le fallaci speranze e lva ̃desio

piangendo, amado, ardendo esospirado ̃

Cha affecto alcu ̃mortal nom ̃ epiu nuovo

manno tenuto ondel conosco e pruovo

lont ̃acerto dal vero

or comperiglio pero

Ch’l breve tempo me venuto m ̃aco

ne sarie ancor, se sall ̃ugassi, stanco

I’ vo lasso, ́olme, ne so ben dove

anzi temo chil veggi el tempo andato

me lmostra ne mi val ch[e] gliochi chiuda

or che ltempo la scorza cangia e muda

lamorte e lalma insieme ognior fan pruove

La prima e la secoda del mie stato ̃

Esie no ̃sono errato

Ch[e] diol voglia chi sia

L’ecterna pena mia

nel mal libero inteso oprato vero

vegg signior, ne so quel chio mi spero

Variants

Chil mi commesio

ne...scusa apresso addio mi parti

Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger, pp. 60 – 1 ;Guasti,

canzoniIII; Frey XLIX; Girardi, no. 51 ;Residori, no. 51

O ̈ımm`e, o ̈ımm`e, ch’i’ son tradito

da’ giorni mie fugaci e dallo spechio,

che’lver dice a.cciascun, che fiso ’l guarda!

Cos`ın’avien, chi troppo al fin ritarda,

com’ho fatt’io, che ’l tempo m’`efuggito,

si trova come me ’n un giorno vecchio.

N ́emiposso pentir, n ́em’apparecchio

n ́emiconsiglio con la morte appresso.

Nemico di me stesso,

inutilmente i pianti e’ sospir verso,

ch ́enon`edanno pari al tempo perso.

O ̈ımm`e, o ̈ımm`e, pur riterando

vo’l mio passato tempo, e non ritruovo

in tutto un giorno che sie stato mio!

Le fallaci speranze e ’l van desio,

piangendo, amando, ardendo e sospirando

(c’ affetto alcun mortal non m’epi` u`nuovo)

m’ hanno tenuto, ond’i ’l conosco e pruovo,

lontan certo dal vero.

Or con periglio p`ero;

ch ́e’lbreve tempo m’`evenuto manco,

n ́esarie ’ncor, se s’allungassi, stanco.

I’ vo lasso, oimm`e, n ́esobendove;

anzi temo, ch’i’ ’l veggio, e ’l tempo andato

mel mostra, n ́emival che gli occhi chiuda.

Or che ’l tempo la scorza cangia e muda,

la morte e l’alma insieme ognor fan pruove,

La prima e la seconda, del mie stato.

Es’io non sono errato,

(Che Dio ’l voglia, ch’io sia)

l’etterna pena mia

nel mal libero inteso oprato vero

veggio, Signior, n ́esoquel ch’io mi spero.

Ryan, no. 51

Alas, alas, I have been betrayed by my fleeting days and by

the mirror that tells the truth to everyone who looks steadily

into it! This is what happens to anyone who too long puts

off thinking about his end, as I have done, while time has

suddenly slipped me by: like me, he suddenly finds him-

self old. And I cannot repent, nor do I prepare myself, nor

reconsider my ways, even with death near. My own worst

enemy, I uselessly pour out tears and sighs, for there is no

harm to equal that of wasted time.

Alas, alas, though I keep going over my past life, I do not

find a single day that has been my own! False hopes and vain

desire have kept me weeping, loving, burning and sighing

(for no mortal emotion is stranger to me now), as I well

know and daily prove again, far indeed from the true good.

Now in danger I perish: Time’s short passage has run out

for me, and even if it were to lengthen, I should not tire of

my ways.

Igowearily on, alas, yet without really knowing where;

or rather I fear I do, for I see where, and my past shows

this to me, and it does me no good to close my eyes. Now

that time is changing skin and moult, death and my soul

are locked in battle every hour, one against the other, for

myfinal state. And if I am not mistaken (God grant that I

may be), I see the eternal punishment due for my having,

in freedom, badly understood and acted on the truth, Lord;

nor do I know what I may hope for.

Discussion

This sheet of drawings, which must have been worked

on c.15 2 4– 5 ,isone of the most complicated produced

byMichelangelo and his pupils to survive. It is in part a

teaching drawing, and the sheet would have been passed

around from hand to hand over a table. As demonstrated

byWallace, Michelangelo employed visual and verbal wit