THE RAPE OF DEIANEIRA, OR THE BATTLE OF THE CENTAURS, AND THE ANGEL OF THE SHRINE OF SAINT DOMINIC All accounts agree as to the precocity of the genius of Michael Angelo, and Piero Soderini vouches for its practical character in the words quoted above.

It was not until he had suffered from the procrastination and uncertainty of the patronage of the Popes, that his work took him so long to finish that sometimes it had to be left incomplete.

His early works were remarkable, not only for their high finish but also for the expedition with which they were carried out.
Condivi has given us the story of his early difficulties and of his first picture,( 60) probably in Michael Angelo's own words; we may supplement this account by the following extract from Vasari, who gathered his information from the gossip of the workshops of Florence, and from Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, the son of his first master.

"Michael Angelo grew in power and character so rapidly that Domenico( 61) was astonished, seeing him do things quite extraordinary in a youth, for it seemed to him that he not only surpassed the other students, of whom Domenico had a large number, but that he often equalled the work done by him as master.

Now, one of the lads who studied under Domenico made a pen-drawing of some women, draped, after Ghirlandaio.