ABSTRACT
Shortly after taking up residence in Rome in late August or early September 1532, the 57-year-old Michelangelo met Tommaso de' Cavalieri for the first time. The earliest documentary evidence of their burgeoning relationship is provided by three letters written between December 1532 and January 1533. The giving of gifts was not unusual in sixteenth-century Italy. As in most other cultures throughout history, it was the oil that greased the wheels of social life. Through the exchange of carefully chosen items, new bonds were forged, existing ties consolidated and old alliances renewed. The conscious act of surrender prevented any mercenary designs from being attributed to Michelangelo. What was more, any bond forged between the two men would be decided by Tommaso and the gift-drawings. The agency that had allowed Michelangelo's gift-drawings to function outside the bounds of gratuitous giving and reciprocal exchange was, however, short-lived.
