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76 WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY AUTOGRAPH SHEETS CATALOGUE 4when Michelangelo, having returned precipitately from
Rome to Florence, may again have taken up work on the
Battle of Cascina,isaplausible date for them. Otherwise a
date around 1516 ,atthe beginning of Michelangelo’s long
sojourn in Florence would be most likely, although this
would be some years later than the dates usually given to
the poems. If, on the other hand, the sheet did accompany
Michelangelo to Rome, then the dates ranging between
15 0 4for “Grato e felice...” and 1511 for “Signor, e vero
`e...”given by Girardi and others, would be allowable,
although15 0 4for the first would probably be a little early.
Some clue may be given by the subject-matter. Three
of the poems, “Grato e felice...,” “Che`e quel...,”
and “Come puo esser` ...” deal with the pains inflicted
byLove on one formerly immune to its charms. Whether
they reflect Michelangelo’s own experience of the help-
lessness of one suddenly and unexpectedly overcome by
love – as the compiler is inclined to think – or whether
they are simply poetic exercises, the emphasis on eyes has
obvious resonance with Michelangelo’s concentration on
them in his drawings, and the stress on physical beauty has
patent – if general – relation to his painting and sculpture.
More specific, perhaps, is the reference to chains and con-
straint in “Che`e quel...,” which obviously links closely
with the theme of the prisoners on the Tomb of Julius II.
“Colui che ’l tutto fe...”isamore general medita-
tion on beauty and shows a train of thought akin to the
legend of Zeuxis, whch Michelangelo would certainly
have known, selecting the most beautiful forms out of
which to make his “divin’arte,” a process paralleled by
Michelangelo himself, who strove to idealise his figures.
It, is, however, a timeless meditation, and could apply to
any period in Michelangelo’s early career.
It is “Signor se vero`e...” that seems most specific.
It has, from the time of Michelangelo the Younger, been
taken to refer to Michelangelo’s problems with Julius II,
and this is surely correct. The emphasis on the speaker’s
servitude, on the master’s power (but over the speaker’s
ambitions rather than his affections) but lack of concern,
the reference to the symbols of Justice – a fresco of which
was commissioned by Julius from Raphael – and above all
the reference to the tree (the scrub-oak, therovereof Julius’
name) make this a virtual certainty. Indeed, in one of his
earliest projects for the Pope’s tomb of15 0 5, Michelangelo
had prominently portrayed the oak as a source of nour-
ishment (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Inv.
62931 /BT 132 /Corpus 489 ; pen and ink over black chalk,
509 × 318 mm). This motif was reduced in later projects,
as it is in the Sistine ceiling, but it would have been very
much in Michelangelo’s mind in the period immediately
following his flight from Rome, which would support a
date for that poem and the others of15 0 6.Drawn Copies
Aonthe recto was copied c.15 8 0byAndrea Commodi
on the recto of Uffizi186 22F, and again, with B from the
recto, on the verso of the same sheet.
History
Casa Buonarroti; Jean-Baptiste Wicar?; William Young
Ottley (his sale, 6 June 1814 , etc., lot 1758 , “One – mas-
terly studies of horses; one a skirmish intended probably
for the cartoon of Pisa – one of Michel Angelo’s sonnets in
his own handwriting on the back. From the Buonarroti
collection.” £ 23. 2. 0 .); Samuel Woodburn; Sir Thomas
Lawrence (L. 2445 ); Samuel Woodburn.
References
Ottley sale, 6 June 1814 , etc., lot 1758 (“One – masterly
studies of horses; one a skirmish intended probably for
the cartoon of Pisa – one of Michel Angelo’s sonnets in
his own handwriting on the back. From the Buonarroti
collection.” £ 23. 2. 0 .). Lawrence Inventory, 1830 ,M.A.
Buonaroti Case 3 , Drawer 3 [ 1830 - 99 ] (“A very singu-
lar sheet being studies for part of a Horse etc., on the
back is a Sonnet by M. Angelo.”). Woodburn, 1836 b,
no. 55 (“[T]he horses are evidently drawn from life...at
the time he was undecided as to the subject for the
cartoon of Pisa.”). Woodburn,184 2,no. 30 (As 1836 .).
Woodburn, 1853 , pl. 29 (Recto reproduced.); pl. 31
(Verso reproduced.). Fisher,186 2,p. 5 , pl. 21 (Recto.).
Guasti, 1863 ,pp. 50 , 90 ,15 6, 280 (Poems transcribed
from a manuscript copy, Codex XV, by Michelangelo
the Younger preserved in Casa Buonarroti.). Fisher, 1865 ,
II, p. 24 , pl. 21 (As186 2.). Robinson,187 0,pp. 325 – 6 ,
no. 18 and (Michel Angelo. Horse studies from nature,
made in preparation forCascina;“The small fighting
group is doubtless a sketch for a portion of the back-
ground of...[Cascina]representing the attack of the Pisan
horsemen on the unprepared Florentines,” depicted in
[Cat. 5 ]. Three poems transcribed.). Fisher,187 2,II,
p. 22 , pl. 21 (As186 2.). Black, 1875 ,p. 213 ,no. 18.
Gotti, 1875 , II, p. 231. Fisher,187 9,p. 11 ,no. 13 (For
Cascina.). Portheim,188 9,p. 144 (Sketch of cavalryman
fighting infantry very close to Leonardo’s chalk sketches
forAnghiari, and shows “dass es schwer wird...and die
Selbstandigkeit ̈ ...[Michelangelo] zu glauben.”). K. Frey,
1897 ,pp. 2 – 5 , 303 – 6 , nos. II–IV (Poems transcribed;
dated early. Among the poems [ 2 ]isthe first and [ 1 ] the
last. The drawings were made forCascina,byOctober
15 0 4.). Berenson, 1903 ,I,pp. 177 – 8 ,no.155 8(“I question
whether in the whole range of Italian art, not excepting
even Leonardo, we shall find another horse so like to the
real animal, and so close to the horse as contemporary
art since Gericault has represented him.” “[A]s free from ́
convention as a horse by Meissonier – nay by Degas.”).