it could possibly be the skin of a Leopardus. The tiger is supposedly an animal associated with Bacchus "for its love of the grape" (according to Michelangelo's biographer Ascanio Condivi). The feline skin is representative of both life and death. The feline in life must have been overwhelmed by the pressed fruit of Bacchus and as a result, it cost its life. History In his early career, Michelangelo had several prominent patrons who commissioned him for his work. The patron for Bacchus was the high-ranking Cardinal Raffaele Riario, who had previously bought Cupid (also known as Sleeping Cupid), a work made by Michelangelo but passed off as an authentic ancient sculpture. Cardinal Riario later discovered Michelangelo's fraudulence and demanded a refund of 200 ducats. In a letter, Cardinal Raffaele Riario asked Michelangelo if he was courageous enough to make his own work, instead of copying other masters. As a result, Michelangelo agreed and using a block of life-sized marble created the Bacchus. The statue was commissioned for the Cardinal's garden. who intended for it to complement his collection of classical sculptures. After gazing upon the final product, Cardinal Raffaele Riario refused to accept the piece for he deemed it too sinful, a symbol of sexual desire. By 1506 the sculpture found its way to the collection of Jacopo Galli, banker to both the cardinal and Michelangelo, who had a similar garden near the Palazzo della Cancelleria. There it first appeared in a drawing by Maarten van Heemskerck, c. 1533–1536. The statue was bought for the Medici and transferred to Florence in 1572. Letters to his father During the finishing process of Bacchus, Michelangelo sent letters to his father through the following years. The letters that he writes discusses the Cardinal, who refused to accept the newly made Bacchus. The tone of the letters show that Michelangelo and his father have a difficult relationship. July 1, 1497Do not be astonished that I have not come back, because I have not yet been able to work out my affairs with the Cardinal, and don't want to leave if I haven't been satisfied and reimbursed for my labor first; with these great personages one has to go slow, since they can't be pushed...August 19I undertook to do a figure for Piero de’ Medici and bought marble, and then never began it, because he hasn't done as he promised me. So I'm working on