The question is whether this strain upon his richly gifted genius did not come too late.

When called to paint the Sistine, he complained that painting was no art of his.

He painted, and produced a masterpiece; but sculpture still remained the major influence in all he wrought there.

Now he was bidden to quit both sculpture and painting for another field, and, as Vasari hints, he would not work under the guidance of men trained to architecture.

The result was that Michelangelo applied himself to building with the full-formed spirit of a figurative artist.