CHAPTER III.
THE DAVID AND THE CARTOON OF PISA Family affairs recalled Michael Angelo to Florence in the spring of 1501.
He returned full of honours gained in Rome, and took up his position as the first sculptor of the day.

His next commission came from Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini, afterwards Pope Pius III.

A contract was signed on June 5, 1501, by which Michael Angelo agreed to complete some fifteen statues of male saints within the time of three years, for the Piccolomini Chapel, in the Duomo of Siena.

A Saint Francis was begun by Piero Torrigiano, and may have been finished by Michael Angelo.

The rest of the four works that were the outcome of this commission can have had nothing to do with the chisel of the sculptor of the Madonna della Febbre and the David.