TO GIOVANNI DA PISTOJA,
WHILE THE AUTHOR WAS PAINTING THE SISTINE CHAPEL [1509]
I've grown a goitre by dwelling in this den —
As cats from stagnant streams in Lombardy,
Or in what other land they hap to be —
Which drives the belly close beneath the chin :
My beard turns up to heaven ; my nape falls in,
Fixed on my spine : my breast-bone visibly
Grows like a harp : a rich embroidery
Bedews my face from brush-drops thick and thin.
My loins into my paunch like levers grind :
My buttock like a crupper bears my weight ;
My feet unguided wander to and fro ;
In front my skin grows loose and long ; behind,
By bending it becomes more taut and strait ;
Crosswise I strain me like a Syrian bow :
Whence false and quaint, I know,
Must be the fruit of squinting brain and eye ;
For ill can aim the gun that bends awry.
Come then, Giovanni, try
To succour my dead pictures and my fame ;
Since foul I fare and painting is my shame.
Source here.
Over his lifetime Michelangelo earned about 50,000 large gold florins. In 2009 a typical university professor earns the equivalent of 40-60 large gold florins per year.
