Chapter Thirty-Eight

Rome, 1501

The next morning, the first thing that Michelangelo did was to write a note to the pope requesting an appointment at His Holiness’ convenience. After sending it with a messenger, he spent the rest of the morning painting and reviewing the plan in his mind.

About an hour later, there was a knock at the door. As he opened it, he was greeted by Cesare Borgia, who said, “My father has been waiting for you to contact him. He would like you to come at once, and he sent me in a carriage to fetch you.”

“Just give me a few minutes,” Michelangelo said. Going upstairs, he retrieved the cameos from their hiding place, wrapped each in a piece of red velvet and placed them carefully in his bag - arranging them in a very specific order.

As he walked downstairs, he said to Cesare, “I am ready.” “Wonderful,” exclaimed Cesare.

They rode to the Vatican in silence, broken occasionally by Cesare’s attempts to make conversation.

“You must excuse my reticence, Cesare. It’s just that I am very nervous about meeting your father. After all, without his approval, all my work will have been for naught.”

“I am certain that my father will appreciate your efforts,” said Cesare, who added, “I must confess that I too am quite eager to see your creations. However, my father threatened to excommunicate me if I looked upon them before he did.”

The thought of Cesare, once a cardinal and a member of the Curia, being cast out from the Church for looking upon the cameos before his father made Michelangelo chuckle, and before long both men were laughing and the tension had been broken.

When they arrived at the papal palace, Cesare led Michelangelo into a small room off the main hall where the ball had taken place.

“Make yourself comfortable,” said Cesare, “I’ll tell my father that you have arrived. Should you be hungry or thirsty ...” and he pointed to a sideboard laden with food and beverages.

Left alone, Michelangelo decided to sample the grapes. They looked plump and inviting. Popping one into his mouth, he felt the juice cascade across his tongue as he bit it. Taking a bunch, he poured himself water and proceeded to examine the frescoes on the walls.

He was so absorbed in admiring the detail of a work by Bernadino di Betto that he never heard Pope Alexander enter the room.

“Do you like the work of Pinturicchio?” asked the pope, startling Michelangelo.

“I do very much,” continued the pope. “Even though he has done work for the della Rovere family, I find his style irresistible.”

“He has an eye,” admitted Michelangelo, “and he is certainly prolific. But I do think he needs to demand more from his apprentices.”

“Oh?” said the pope.

“Consider this seraph,” said Michelangelo. “Look at how uneven the brushstrokes are. Fortunately, it’s not a focal point, but neither should it be treated as an afterthought.”

“As you say, he has an eye,” laughed the pope. “Still, he is not half the artist you are. Perhaps his nickname - the little painter - is more apropos than originally thought.”

“You flatter me,” said Michelangelo.

“Now, I understand that you have something to show me,” said the pontiff.

“I hope you like them,” said Michelangelo, who began to withdraw the cameos from his bag in the reverse order in which he had deposited them earlier, placing each on a table.

After he had arranged the velvet pouches on the table. He said to the pope, “Please humor me and open them in the order in which I have placed them.”

“As you wish, my son.” Removing the first cameo from its pouch, the pope began to laugh heartily. As he gazed upon the image of Cardinal Briconnet with the enormous stomach, he said, “Well done, my son, he may be a cardinal, but Briconnet is truly a swine, and you have captured him perfectly.”

Next the pope looked at the image of Cardinal Marti. “This is brilliant, Michelangelo. How he ever became a clergyman - much less a cardinal - continues to mystify me.” As he opened the velvet that encased the image of Cardinal Malerba, he smiled, turned to Michelangelo, and said, “He was truly a wonder to behold at the ball, was he not?”

Turning his attention to the image of red-faced Cardinal Fiorza next, he said, “Michelangelo, with each cameo you surpass the previous ones. These are better than I might have hoped.”

“I can only hope you find the last three as much to your liking as the first four,” Michelangelo said.

Picking up the next one, he unwrapped it and looked upon the image of his vice chancellor. The pope turned to Michelangelo and said, “You do know he is the man responsible for my sitting upon the throne of St. Peter?”

“I do, Your Holiness.”

“And yet you depict him as jealous? Despite the presence of the comely Mistress Antonia, the eyes are searching, restless - and to make them green - Michelangelo, as I have said, you truly have a gift. You see into the souls of men. I can only hope that you do not look too closely into mine. I think Cardinal Sforza would murder me and my entire family if he thought he could escape punishment. He is a viper, always sneaking about, seeking to undermine me. Considering the power of his family, he would have been my second-in-command if for no other reason than because I needed to keep him close.”

“Given the insight these cameos demonstrate, I cannot even imagine what remains.” Picking up the next cameo, he looked at Michelangelo and said, “Only two sins remain - greed and pride - and I am guessing that this is greed? Am I right?”

“Indeed, Your Holiness,” replied Michelangelo.

Removing the velvet, he looked at Michelangelo, and said, “Maestro. Of all people, that wretch Savonarola. The bane of my existence for many years. Yes, Michelangelo, because he could not enjoy the bounty of God, which manifests itself in so many ways, he forbade others from doing so as well. Again, brilliant!”

“And now we come to the finale,” said the pope. As he pulled the cameo from the velvet, he paused, looked at Michelangelo and said, “I do not understand. I am looking at myself, and I am flattered by the depiction of me, but what about the sin of pride?”

Michelangelo reached for the box and said simply, “May I?”

“By all means,” said the Pope.

Taking the chain from his neck, Michelangelo said to the Pope, “We are all body and soul, devil and angel, virtue and vice. Should you ever wish to meditate upon humility, you have but to gaze upon your own image. However, should temptation rear its ugly head, simply insert these keys like so, with the word ‘virtutus’ facing up on both. Turn them to the right, and you can now flip the image to see the personification of pride. Would you like to try it, Your Holiness?”

“You are full of surprises, aren’t you, Michelangelo?”

The pope took the chain, inserted the keys, released the locks and turned the cameo over. As he gazed upon the image of Cardinal della Rovere, he remained silent for a full minute. Turning, he embraced Michelangelo, “I think with these cameos, you may have saved my immortal soul, and perhaps helped me curtail my wayward Curia.”

“Am I on the reverse of all the cameos?” the pope inquired.

“Indeed,” said Michelangelo, “but in different poses and with different settings - each appropriate to that particular virtue.”

“I shall examine those at a later date,” said the pope humbly.

Deciding the force the issue, Michelangelo said, “Your Holiness, I beg you. If the other cardinals see what I have done, I am a dead man.”

“I can protect you, my son.”

“If only that were true.”

“Are you not surrounded by traitors and those seeking to usurp your authority? If they dare to trifle with you, they will have no qualms about dispatching me, Your Holiness.”

The pope nodded, looked at Michelangelo, and said, “But what’s to be done?”

“If I may speak frankly, Your Holiness,” said Michelangelo.

“Of course, my son.”

“There is quite a disparity in our ages.”

“True,” said the Pope. “I will be 71 in a few months.

And you are...”

“Twenty-six, Your Holiness.”

“Yes, I suppose you are right,” said the pope. “At best, my protection would be rather limited. So, what do you suggest I do?”

“Do as you told me you would. Use the cameos like prayer beads when you need to be reminded that the path to eternal glory is difficult and the descent to hell is easy as Virgil tells us.”

“To use my own words against me,” laughed the pope, “You would have made a wonderful Spaniard.”

“I shall do as you wish, my son, for several reasons. First, because I feel that you have an incredibly bright future. Second, because, as you point out, you did these at my behest. They are better than anything I could have imagined. Yet, you did them knowing full well the danger inherent in the task. Such bravery is to be rewarded, not extinguished because of an old man’s folly. Finally, I shall do as you wish because my daughter admires you, and I would do anything to avoid hurting her.”

The pope paused then resumed, “Do you have any objections if I leave them to my successors, so that they might benefit from them as I have?”

“Only one, Your Holiness?”

“And what is that, my son?”

“What if Cardinal della Rovere should become pope?”

“You raise an interesting point. I have no doubt that he would nothing more than to be successor, but I believe that I may have devised a way around that. Would you like to hear it?”

“Yes, Your Holiness,” said Michelangelo.

Pope Alexander then explained his plan, and when he had finished, he looked at Michelangelo, and asked, “Have I overlooked anything?”

“I don’t believe so, your Holiness.”

“Splendid; now let me put these in a safe place and then we shall dine and discuss our next steps.”