Now because he had no doubt that Michael Angelo knew these errors of his, he always sought to remove him from Rome, or, at least, to deprive him of the favour of the Pope, and of the glory and usefulness that he might have acquired by his industry.

He succeeded in the matter of the tomb.

There is no doubt that if he had been allowed to finish it, according to his first design,( 36) having so large a field in which to show his worth, no other artist, however celebrated (be it said without envy), could have wrested from him the high place he would have held.

Those parts which he did finish show what the rest would have been like.

The two slaves were done for this work: those who have seen them declare that no such worthy statues were ever carved.
XXVI.