Immediately after the death of Michelangelo, however, Nanni renewed his applications to the Grand Duke.

He claimed nothing less than the post of architect-in-chief.

His petition was sent to Florence under cover of a despatch from the Duke's envoy, Averardo Serristori.

The ambassador related the events of Michelangelo's death, and supported Nanni as "a worthy man, your vassal and true servant." IX Down to the last days of his life, Michelangelo was thus worried with the jealousies excited by his superintendence of the building at S.
Peter's; and when he passed to the majority, he had not secured his heart's desire, to wit, that the fabric should be forced to retain the form he had designed for it.

This was his own fault.