I am a poor man and of little merit, who plod along in the art which God gave me, to lengthen out my life as far as possible.

Such as I am, I remain your servant and that of all the house of Martelli.

I thank you for your letter and the poems, but not as much as duty bids, for I cannot soar to such heights of courtesy." When the Last Judgment was finished, Michelangelo not unreasonably hoped that he might resume his work upon the Tomb of Julius.

But this was not to be.

Antonio da San Gallo had just completed the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament in the Vatican, which is known as the Cappella Paolina, and the Pope resolved that its frescoes should be painted by Buonarroti.