He answered: 'Go to work; you shall cast it over and over again till it succeeds; and I will give you enough to satisfy your wishes.' To put it briefly, I cast the statue twice; and at the end of two years, at Bologna, I found that I had four and a half ducats left.

I never received anything more for this job; and all the moneys I paid out during the said two years were the 1000 ducats with which I promised to cast it.

These were disbursed to me in instalments by Messer Antonio Maria da Legnano, a Bolognese." The statue must have been more than thrice life-size, if it rose fourteen feet in a sitting posture.

Michelangelo worked at the model in a hall called the Stanza del Pavaglione behind the Cathedral.

Three experienced workmen were sent, at his request, from Florence, and he began at once upon the arduous labour.