THE LAST ACT OF THE TRAGEDY OF THE TOMB, AND THE DAY OF JUDGMENT As soon as Michael Angelo arrived in Rome, in 1535, he set to work to complete his contract for the Tomb of Julius, and marbles that had waited in silence for his liberating hand began to resound with the clink of the iron.

The two Slaves in the Louvre appear to have been worked upon once again at this date, if we may judge by their likeness to the work in the Dawn and the Day.

After the death of Clement the new Pope, Paul III., Farnese, sent for him and requested him to enter his service, as Condivi tells us.( 147) Paul III., in a brief dated September 1, 1535,( 148) appointed Michael Angelo chief architect, sculptor, and painter at the Vatican; he became a member of the Pope's household, with a pension of 1200 golden crowns, raised on the revenue from a ferry across the river Po, at Piacenza.

This was so unremunerative, however, that it was exchanged for a post on the Chancery at Rimini.

And now the doors of the Sistine Chapel once more close upon the master, not to be opened again until the Christmas of 1541.
[Image #43] THE DAY OF JUDGMENT (_From a print in the British Museum_) Michael Angelo had to destroy three frescoes by Perugino and two lunettes of his own upon the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel for his new scheme.
He is said to have had the wall rebuilt of well-baked bricks, so possibly the old frescoes had suffered from damp and dirt.