The four figures on the top of the sarcophagi, the four figures on the ground which are the rivers, the two captains and Our Lady, who is to be placed upon the tomb at the head of the chapel; these are the figures I mean to carve with my own hand, and of them I have begun six; and I have sufficient spirit to finish them in a convenient time, and bring partially forward the others which are not of so much importance." The six he had begun are those that are now in the chapel.

The Giuliano and Lorenzo, Day and Night, Dawn and Evening.

The Madonna, perhaps Michael Angelo's finest work in sculpture, was also carved by his own hand; the two other works, now in the chapel representing the patron saints of the Medici family, Cosmo and Damiano, were carved by Montelupo and Montorsoli; they do not seem to have anything of Michael Angelo about them, not even in design.
Meanwhile Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbino, the executor of Julius, was pressing the affair of the Tomb; he threatened a lawsuit to recover money advanced for the work.

Michael Angelo appeals to the Pope in a letter addressed to Giovanni Spina, of April 19, 1525:-- [Image #36] THE TOMB OF GIULIANO DE' MEDICI, DUKE OF NEMOURS THE NEW SACRISTY, SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) "It seems to me it is no good sending a power of attorney about the Tomb of Pope Julius, because I do not want to plead.

They cannot bring a suit against me if I acknowledge that I am in the wrong; so I assume that I have sued and lost, and have to pay; and this I am disposed to do if I am able.