I have examined it minutely in full light and by the lens and mirror, and never saw anything more perfect .-- Yours to command, "The Marchioness of Pescara." Like many grand ladies of the highest rank, even though they are poetesses, Vittoria Colonna did not always write grammatically or coherently.

I am not therefore sure that I have seized the exact meaning of this diplomatical and flattering letter.

It would appear, however, that Michelangelo had sent her the drawing for a crucifix, intimating that, if she liked it, he would intrust its execution to one of his workmen, perhaps Urbino.

This, as we know, was a common practice adopted by him in old age, in order to avoid commissions which interfered with his main life-work at S.Peter's.

The noble lady, fully aware that the sketch is an original, affects some doubt upon the subject, declines the intervention of a common craftsman, and declares her firm resolve to keep it, leaving an impression that she would gladly possess the crucifix if executed by the same hand which had supplied the masterly design.
Another letter refers to the drawing of a Christ upon the cross between two angels.
"Your works forcibly stimulate the judgment of all who look at them.
My study of them made me speak of adding goodness to things perfect in themselves, and I have seen now that 'all is possible to him who believes.' I had the greatest faith in God that He would bestow upon you supernatural grace for the making of this Christ.