CHAPTER II.
THE BACCHUS, AND THE MADONNA DELLA PIETA OF SAINT PETER'S The story of a Cupid, carved and coloured in imitation of the antique, is given by Condivi.( 69) It was the cause of Michael Angelo's first visit to Rome.

As soon as he reached the Eternal City he set to work at his sculpture, as the purchase of a piece of marble mentioned in his letter to Pier Francesco de' Medici, sent to Florence under cover to Sandro Botticelli,( 70) indicates.

During the whole of this very important visit he worked in marble.

We have, however, one record of a cartoon by him for a Saint Francis receiving the Stigmata, to be painted by a certain barber; but that is all.

He studied the works of antique art and imitated the finish and softness of the Hellenic style: marbles of debased Greek workmanship abound to this day in the Roman collections.