But before he did so Michelangelo had made the clay model.

Being in some doubt how to manage the left hand, after making the Pope give the benediction with the right, he asked Julius, who had come to see the statue, if he would like it to hold a book.

'What book ?' replied he: 'a sword! I know nothing about letters, not I.' Jesting then about the right hand, which was vehement in action, he said with a smile to Michelangelo: 'That statue of yours, is it blessing or cursing ?' To which the sculptor replied: 'Holy Father, it is threatening this people of Bologna if they are not prudent.'" Michelangelo's letter to Fattucci confirms Condivi's narrative.

"When Pope Julius went to Bologna the first time, I was forced to go there with a rope round my neck to beg his pardon.

He ordered me to make his portrait in bronze, sitting, about seven cubits (14 feet) in height.
When he asked what it would cost, I answered that I thought I could cast it for 1000 ducats; but that this was not my trade, and that I did not wish to undertake it.