payment down caused pater to capitulate, and the boy went to work--aged
fourteen.

The terms of his apprenticeship called for three years, but after he had
been at work a year, the ability of the youth made such an impression on
the master that he took him to Lorenzo, Lorenzo the Magnificent, who then
ruled over Florence.

Lorenzo had him draw a few sketches, and he was admitted to the Academy.
This "Academy" was situated in the palace of Lorenzo, and in the gardens
was a rich collection of antique marbles: busts, columns, and valuable
fragments that had come down from the days when Pericles did for Athens
what Lorenzo was then doing for Florence. The march of commerce has
overrun the garden, but in the Uffizi Gallery are to be seen today most
of the curios that Lorenzo collected.

By introducing the lad to Lorenzo, Ghirlandajo lost his best helper, but
so unselfish was this excellent master that he seemed quite willing to
forego his own profit that the boy might have the best possible
advantages. And I never think of Ghirlandajo without mentally lifting my
hat.

At the Academy, Michelangelo ceased to paint and draw, and devoted all
his energies to modeling in clay. So intent was his application that in a
few weeks he had mastered technicalities that took others years to
comprehend.

One day the father came and found the boy in a blouse at work with mallet
and chisel on a block of marble. "And is it a stone-mason you want to
make of my heir and firstborn?" asked the fond father.