On the outskirts of Rome, about a few fats away, there was a small town called Trajan's Hill, which was small in number, with less than a hundred households, and the whole town was built on the slope of a hill, and the houses in the town were undulating and scattered from a distance.

In the north of the town of Trajan's Hill there was a house with a series of cloisters enclosed in the middle by a low stone wall, and one of the houses had a wooden fence around the roof of the house, and a large balcony had been built.

Michelangelo lived here.

Today, however, Michelangelo is no longer the "Millet" he once was, and with the completion of the statue of the Lady of Lamentation, people are marveling at the emergence of a new and amazing master.

The Lady of Lament is a sign of Michelangelo's journey to becoming a master artist, and in this striking masterpiece he not only showed astonishing and extraordinary skill, but more importantly gave new meaning to this famous work, which has been repeatedly created by countless master carvers for more than a decade.

The stone was brought to life by Michelangelo, and one could see not only the sorrow for her son's martyrdom in the expression of the Virgin, but also the trembling marks in her hand holding the body of Jesus Christ, and her murmur of pain in the scattered strands of hair on her slightly drooping head.

It's a living statue, an icon that makes you forget you're facing a cold stone, and you can't help but worship it.

When the statue of the Virgin Mary was brought to Alexander VI, even the Pope, who had already seen countless works of art, could not help but lose his mind for a moment because of this miraculous skill.

Michelangelo became popular, and his name was no longer just among a few small circles interested in him, but throughout Rome and beyond.

Much was said about his works, and then some began to compare them with some of the masters who are now known in Europe.

Michelangelo was favored by the Roman nobility and the wealthy, who began to invite him to banquets in their own homes and to sign contracts with him, which made Michelangelo's life suddenly rich, and he had the money to find himself a larger workshop and more assistants, but he did not look for a place in the bustling city, but found himself a satisfactory place to live in the town of Trajan's Hill, a few fats away from the city of Rome.

Perhaps out of some eccentricity of the great masters, Michelangelo closed the door after living in the house, and shut himself up in the room with a covered balcony, rarely even out of the courtyard except for eating, and Michelangelo seemed to disappear from the sight of the Romans at this day when it was already the height of summer.

This has sparked even greater curiosity, with many speculating about what amazing masterpiece the rising star of the art must be brewing.

In fact, Michelangelo was not immersed in any artistic inspiration, but was hesitant to stay for himself.

Gaining the Pope's appreciation is a dream for many people, but in Michelangelo's heart, there is another dream that he will never let go, that is, to go to Florence, which is known as the capital of art, because only there can he truly prove that he is a true master of art.

No one can deny the unshakable position of Florence in today's booming art trend, and it is the efforts and almost sacrificial devotion of many Florentine masters that have led generations of successors to lead this great trend throughout Europe.

Michelangelo felt that he should go to Florence, and although his achievements in Rome brought him great fame and great reward, he knew very well that if he did not gain the approval of the Florentines for a day, he could not become a true master of art recognized by the world.

Another reason that prompted him to go to Florence was the fall of Savonarola.

Like many artistic geniuses who were valued by the aristocracy because of their extraordinary artistic talent in their youth, Michelangelo had such an experience in his childhood, and it was Lorenzo de Medici who was known as the great Lorenzo who first discovered and nurtured him.

Michelangelo didn't know what would have happened to him without the French invasion, maybe he would have stayed in Florence and carried out his work carefree with the Medici family's patronage.

But the appearance of the French shattered his dreams, and with the overthrow and expulsion of the Medici family, Michelangelo had to follow his patrons to flee the terrible city in a hurry, and then spent the next few years wandering from place to place, trying to gain the appreciation of the great nobles and the rich, and the hardships of this now seem to have become the ultimate success of the trial.

But these are not the most important things, one of the important reasons why Michelangelo decided to go to Florence was because he heard that the abbot of St. Mark's in Florence was the monk Mahimo.

Michelangelo was somewhat familiar with that monk, and he knew that he was a very good friend of Alexandria, which made him feel that at least after returning to Florence, there would be no one to turn to, and from the fact that he succeeded Savonarola as the abbot of St. Mark, that Massimo should be called a high authority in Florence.

Michelangelo now needed more than just the Pope's appreciation, after all, he was not the only artist who could be appreciated by the Pope, and if he wanted to become a master that everyone admired, he had to be able to get the Florentines to recognize his talent.

Michelangelo has been thinking about the pros and cons these days, and he knows that he has to make the right decision, after all, in a place like Rome, fame and decline are almost as fast, people are always chasing after those new people and things, and liking the new and hating the old is their common characteristic.

Michelangelo wondered if he would be forgotten if he would be forgotten if he would come back after a while, or at least he might be left behind.

But the temptation of Florence made it difficult for him to give up, and he knew very well that only Florence was the key to determining whether he could become an admirable figure like Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci.

"It's a hard question to choose," said Michelangelo, sitting on the rooftop balcony, scratching his head a little hesitantly, his fingers rough and stiff, because of the perennial grip on the hammer, and when he couldn't help but curse under his breath as he pulled a few hairs with a little force, he heard a voice outside the courtyard.

"Is this the home of Venerable Bonaroti?"

Hearing the sound of the courtyard, Michelangelo did not reply, he knew that the servants would send everyone away, although many people came to visit these days, but they had been blocked by the servants he had ordered.

He was not worried about offending people because of this, on the contrary, Michelangelo clearly understood that the more he did this, the more he would show his extraordinary as a master.

Unlike artists who only know how to devote themselves to art, and who are completely different from the world, Michelangelo knew exactly what to do with his reputation.

Even his current entanglement about going and staying is more because he doesn't weigh the gains and losses and is a little forward-looking.

Michelangelo still closed his eyes and thought about his thoughts, until the voice of the servant raised his voice in the courtyard below.

"The master doesn't see guests casually, so please go back."

Michelangelo was a little surprised, he knew that this servant was very clever, so if he was a nobleman or a wealthy merchant, he could not have such an attitude.

And if it was a civilian, he didn't know who would be so obsessed with seeing him.

Michelangelo didn't think that he was the kind of person who could be an idol for others, and he had never heard of anyone who would be so reckless or even rude because he admired a character, the point was that he felt that his thoughts had been interrupted, although in fact he hadn't come up with a clue for so long, but because of this, he couldn't help but be a little annoyed.

"Who's down there!"

Michelangelo stood up and walked over to the railing and looked down, just in time to see the servant standing in front of the two young men.

"I'm sorry sir, I'll drive them away." The servant was a little nervous and told Michelangelo on the roof that he knew that the master was short-tempered and had a bad temper, but that he was quite generous.

"We are from Urbino," shouted Michelangelo on the roof of the house, the sturdy young man of the two, "we know you live here, and we wish to come and visit you." ”

"Urbino, then you are not on the way," Michelangelo muttered, since becoming famous, it is true that some people have indeed come here, and some even hope to get his guidance, Michelangelo is very tired of these people, if it is not for the fear that there may be some bad reputation, he will drive all these people away, "Why do you need my help?" ”

The so-called visit, most of the time is to ask for help.

"No, we're not here to beg." The young man in the back seemed a little angry, his slightly slender body stood upright, and a little anger faintly appeared on his delicate face.

Michelangelo looked at the boy carefully and was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect a man to be so delicate, or almost a little fascinating and beautiful, which reminded him of the famous beautiful boy Nacissos in Greek mythology, although this boy was not so beautiful, but this still made Michelangelo seem to find inspiration.

"Then please come in, my servant is really rude." Michelangelo's attitude suddenly became enthusiastic, and instead of turning back to the room, he simply climbed the ivy that grew to the edge of the house and went down to the courtyard very quickly, and Michelangelo burst out laughing when he saw that the two young men were a little stunned by his action.

Michelangelo was in a very good mood at this time, and although he gained a lot of prestige since the completion of the statue of the Virgin, he also lost the ability to capture inspiration for a while.

This made him a little worried about whether he had used up all the gifts given by God, which was why he wanted to leave Rome for a while.

Now the appearance of this teenager made Michelangelo seem to find a new inspiration, the slenderness and softness that are completely different from most people at the moment stimulated his imagination, and he felt as if he had found an idea for a new work.

But these are still secondary, mainly because he feels that this boy seems to have aroused a certain desire in his heart to pursue beauty.

"We are students from Urbino," said the sturdy young man, who had encouraged his friends to come to Rome and who was now respectful when they saw the new master, "We have admired you for a long time." ”

Michelangelo looked at the two men carefully, and he wanted to see from them if there was anything unreliable, but it seemed that they were indeed two young men who had come to Rome to try their luck.

"I'd love to talk to you about art and other things, but I've probably been in Rome for a short time, so I'll only have a chance to talk about it later." Michelangelo said with some regret, he looked at the teenager and said, "What's your name, I have to thank you." ”

"Rafael Sandy." The young man looked at the master in front of him suspiciously, he didn't understand why the other party would say this to him when they met for the first time.

"You made me think that I should pursue more and more beautiful things, to be honest, I was hesitant to give up everything in front of me, but you made me decide that I should pursue something better."

Raphael looked at Michelangelo blankly, he wanted to ask why, but he was afraid of offending the person in front of him, until Plotto next to him interrupted, he shook his head in a trance.

"You're leaving Rome?" Proto asked, stunned, "We thought we could get some more advice from you." Speaking of this, he paused, turned his head and deliberately said to Raphael next to him, "Didn't the earl's butler say that we can ask the master for advice, is he lying, but although he is a Moor, I don't think that the earl will not have the vision to use a man who likes to lie to serve him." ”

"Which earl, and who are the Moors?"

Michelangelo immediately asked sensitively, he knew a lot of nobles, but not many would use Moors as butlers, and if you think about it, there may be only one.

"Oh, Master, it's nothing, it's just a nobleman who happened to have met in Pisa, and although my friend had the privilege of painting a lover of whom she was in love with, it was a trivial matter to you." Plotto said in a deliberately understated tone, and then winked at Raphael, as if to remind him not to disturb the big man in front of him with such a small matter.

The Count you met in Pisa?

And a lover in love?

By this time, Michelangelo was almost certain of who the two men were talking about.

However, he remained silent, he needed to know if these two people were really important in that person's mind, and if they were treated as if they were just ordinary wandering artists, Michelangelo did not intend to let him influence his decision to leave Rome just because he knew him.

"But that lady is indeed beautiful, isn't it, Raphael, I can even see the admiration for her in your eyes, so you can create a work like that, otherwise the Count would not be so satisfied with your painting," Proto said to Raphael next to him, and when he saw that Raphael seemed to be about to justify, he immediately patted his mouth, as if he was annoyed by the gaffe just now, "Oh, in fact, it is your painting that satisfies the Count, and even the brother of that lady has been complimenting?" As far as I know, he's a very critical man, but he obviously admits that your drawing skills are really rare, but you don't have to be discouraged, you know that the two adults don't get along very well, otherwise the Moors wouldn't think we should come to Rome, after all, your painting is causing a lot of trouble. ”

Michelangelo looked at the two people in front of him in astonishment, he told himself that what these two people said should be false, but if he thought about it carefully, he couldn't help but admit that the things they said couldn't be so clear if they weren't for someone who knew some insiders.

Many people do know the conflict between Alexander and Caesar, but they don't know as much as they think that Lucrezia is Alexander's lover, after all, the isolation of this era makes too many things unknown.

And coincidentally, Michelangelo was in and out of the Vatican from time to time because of the Pope's appreciation during this time, so he knew that Caesar was indeed not in Rome now, but went to Pisa.

This made Michelangelo's eyes change slightly when he looked at the young man named Raphael in front of him, as if he seemed to see the emergence of a young genius who might compete with him in the future.

Michelangelo knew that if the slick-looking young man in front of him had not lied, and could have caused a conflict between Alexander and Caesar, then this young man must have an extraordinary talent that others could not imagine, because at least in Michelangelo's mind, whether he was "Millet" at the beginning or has now become a master admired by everyone, although Alexander valued him, he did not have a conflict with anyone.

What caught Michelangelo's attention the most was what Proto said was the reason why they came to Rome.

Because of the trouble caused by their painting, the Moors sent them to Rome?

Thinking about this, Michelangelo was even a little jealous, he felt that although he had received a lot of help from Alexander before, it was always only the appreciation of the aristocracy for the artist, but the young man in front of him could actually use a painting to make Alexander care about his future?

Michelangelo was secretly amazed, he had heard of many geniuses, and he himself was one of the most talented, but now he felt as if he had met a real man of extraordinary talent.

"What is the Moorish man's name you are talking about?" Michelangelo finally asked cautiously.

"Ulliu, his name is Ulliu, but I don't think he's an ordinary servant or a butler," Proto pondered and shook his head, "The nobles seem to have a lot of respect for him, you know what I mean?" ”

"I know." Michelangelo nodded, he looked at the young man who didn't seem to talk much, and after a little muttering, beckoned to them, "Come to my room, you need a drink to quench your thirst on such a hot day, and tell me about your painting, I would like to know how those two saw your work." ”

Raphael nodded excitedly, he felt that he was so lucky to be favored by the famous Michelangelo, and he followed him into the room with a little nervousness and whispered to Michelangelo about the conception and creation of his Trinity.

Behind them, Proto followed into the house, but stopped as he was about to enter, and turned to look at the city of Rome in the distance outside the courtyard.

"Rome is an interesting city, and I think you're going to love it."

Prato suddenly remembered what the Moorish man had said to him when he left Pisa.