The boy has been for some days out of health and pining, and I am anxious about him." It is probable that some means were found for escorting them both safely to Settignano.

We hear no more about Lodovico till the period of his death, the date of which has not been ascertained with certainty.
From the autumn of 1530 on to the end of 1533 Michelangelo worked at the Medicean monuments.

His letters are singularly scanty during all this period, but we possess sufficient information from other sources to enable us to reconstruct a portion of his life.

What may be called the chronic malady of his existence, that never-ending worry with the tomb of Julius, assumed an acute form again in the spring of 1531.

The correspondence with Sebastiano del Piombo, which had been interrupted since 1525, now becomes plentiful, and enables us to follow some of the steps which led to the new and solemn contract of May 1532.
It is possible that Michelangelo thought he ought to go to Rome in the beginning of the year.