ABSTRACT
Pope Julius must have been pleased with the Sistine ceiling, but two letters of the period immediately following its completion in the fall of 1512 imply that Michelangelo was not immediately employed on the old tomb project. A letter does say that he is working, but we don't know on what. A letter makes sarcastic inquiry about the whereabouts of marbles ordered for the Julius tomb, and the letter goes on to ask his father whether there is some lad in Florence. In 1515 Michelangelo wrote to his father that he had to make a great effort to finish the tomb as soon as possible because he anticipated having to work for the Pope. This could refer to the colossal Hercules for the Piazza in Florence. Michelangelo's old friend Pietro Soderini had been forced to resign as Gonfaloniere of Florence in the summer of 1512 when the republican government fell victim to irresistible Medici pressure.
