Michelangelo's absence," and he attained a grandeur almost equal to the
latter, in the S. Mark and SS. Peter and Paul of his later years.

Meanwhile Mariotto was revelling in the Eden of art, drawing daily
beneath the Loggie--where the orange-trees grew close to the pillars--
from the exquisite statues and "torsi," peopling the shades with white
forms, or copying cartoons by the older masters, which hung against the
walls.

The _custode_ of all these treasures was Bertoldo, an old
sculptor, who boasted of having been the scholar of Donatello, and also
heir to his art possessions. He could also point to the bronze pulpits
of San Lorenzo, which he finished, as proof of his having inherited a
portion of his master's spirit. Bertoldo, having doubtless rendered to
Duke Cosimo's keeping his designs by Donatello, which were preserved in
the garden, obtained the post of instructor there; but his age may have
prevented his keeping perfect order, and the younger spirits
overpowered him. There were Michelangelo, with all the youthful power
of passion and force which he afterwards imparted to his works, and the
audacious Torrigiano, with his fierce voice, huge bulk, and knitted
brows, who was himself a discord like the serpent in Eden. Easily
offended, he was prompt in offering outrage. Did any other young man
show talent or surpass him, revenge deep and mean as that of Bandinelli
to Michelangelo was sure to follow, the envied work being spoiled in
his rage. Then there were the fun-loving Francesco Granacci, and the
witty Rustici, as full of boyish pranks as they were of genius--what
could one old man do among so many?--and now comes the impetuous
Mariotto to add one more unruly member to his class.

How well one can imagine the young men--in loose blouses confined at