This bas-relief was presented to Cosimo de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany, by Michelangelo's nephew Lionardo.

It afterwards came back into the possession of the Buonarroti family, and forms at present an ornament of their house at Florence.
VII We are accustomed to think of Michelangelo as a self-withdrawn and solitary worker, living for his art, avoiding the conflict of society, immersed in sublime imaginings.

On the whole, this is a correct conception of the man.

Many passages of his biography will show how little he actively shared the passions and contentions of the stirring times through which he moved.

Yet his temperament exposed him to sudden outbursts of scorn and anger, which brought him now and then into violent collision with his neighbours.