It goes by the name of the Battle of Pisa, though the event really took place at Cascina on the Arno, some six miles above that city.
We have every reason to regard the composition of this Cartoon as the central point in Michelangelo's life as an artist.

It was the watershed, so to speak, which divided his earlier from his later manner; and if we attach any value to the critical judgment of his enthusiastic admirer, Cellini, even the roof of the Sistine fell short of its perfection.

Important, however, as it certainly is in the history of his development, I must defer speaking of it in detail until the end of the next chapter.

For some reason or other, unknown to us, he left his work unfinished early in 1505, and went, at the Pope's invitation, to Rome.

When he returned, in the ensuing year, to Florence, he resumed and completed the design.