Beschreibung:

Michelangelo BUONARROTI (1475-1564)] - Francesco VIGOROSI (notaire du pape). Document autographe signé donnant les termes du contrat établit avec Michel-Ange pour la tombe du Pape Jules II à Saint Pierre in Vincoli, Rome, 6 mai, 1513. Ce contrat en latin concerne le second projet de la tombe de Jules II (aucun contrat du premier projet ne subsiste). [BUONARROTI, Michelangelo (1475-1564)] -- Francesco VIGOROSI (papal notary). Autograph document signed giving the terms of the contract with Michelangelo for the tomb of Pope Julius II, Rome, 6 May 1513, in Latin , the date inscribed at the head, signed at the foot 'Franciscus Vigorosi Curie Cansarum Camere Apostolice Notarius', 98 lines written in brown ink on a bifolium, 295 x 215 mm (including 37 lines on f.1, 34 on f.1v and 15 on f.2, autograph endorsement on f.2v), autograph corrections and cancellations made by Vigorosi. Modern blue morocco gilt portfolio in morocco-backed box. Michelangelo's tomb of Pope Julius II in the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome was the most complex, protracted, and tormented of all his undertakings. The statue of Moses, which is its centrepiece, is among his greatest masterpieces, but the monument as a whole is a pale shadow of what was originally intended. It is no wonder that Michelangelo himself referred to 'the tragedy of the tomb'. Information concerning the progress of the project is recorded in a variety of contemporary documents: legal contracts, such as the present lot, but also letters to and from Michelangelo and others, as well as the complementary and at times conflicting accounts of his two biographers, Giorgio Vasari (1550 and 1568) and Ascario Condivi (1553). In all there were six distinct projects (1505, 1513, 1516, 1525-26, 1532 and 1542), which involved a gradual but inexorable whittling away at the ambition of the scheme, but in the context of the present document it is the first two which are of the greatest interest. No contract for the original project of 1505 survives, but Condivi's account of the design, which was intended for a special chapel in St Peter's, is impressively informative. He explains that the tomb was conceived as a rectangular free-standing monument measuring 12 by 18 braccia (7.2 x 10.8 metres). It was to be adorned with figures bound like captives representative of the liberal arts, while at the corners of the cornice there were to be four colossal figures, of which the Moses was one. On a higher level came the bier of the Pope, with his effigy, supported by two angels. The body of the pontiff was to be contained in a central tomb chamber. Progress on the project was necessarily gradual, but was also considerably slowed down by the commission Michelangelo received in 1508 to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling, which he completed in 1512. Pope Julius II died on 21 February 1513, and in the wake of the election of his successor, Leo X, a new contract was drawn up for Julius's executors, Cardinal Aginensis and Lorenzo Pucci, the Cardinal of Santi Quattro with the papal notary, Francesco Vigorosi. This contract is known in two versions, the one in the Archivio Buonarroti published by Gaetano Milanesi ( Le Lettere di Michelangelo Buonarroti pubblicate coi ricordi ed i contratti artistici , Florence, 1875, pp.635-40) and the present document (S. Prete, The Original Contract with Michelangelo for the Tomb of Pope Julius II dated May 6, 1513 , New York, 1963). In addition to minor differences between them, the major difference is that the present document is confined to the Latin contract and concerns practical arrangements for the execution and completion of the tomb, whereas the Archivio Buonarrotti version has an Italian translation of the contract together with an annexe outlining the new form of the tomb. This text begins with the formulation 'Let it be known to all that, Michelangelo,' ('Sia noto a qualunche persona com'io Michelangelo'), and describes the new arrangement in considerable detail.