basilica are executed to such a degree that its completion is inevitable. Michelangelo's strength wanes and his friends visit him to say their goodbyes, while Tommaso vows to finish St. Peter's. Michelangelo passes away while reminiscing on his body of work. Characters Buonarroti Family Michelangelo Buonarroti, the protagonist Ludovico, Michelangelo's father who is obsessively focused on money and his family's fortunes Bugiardini, Michelangelo's brother who helps manage his money Lionardo, Michelangelo's brother who joins the church and follows Savonarola Giovansimone, Michelangelo's brother who becomes part of Savonarola's Army of Boys Michelangelo's Teachers Ghirlandaio, Michelangelo's first master, a fresco painter who runs his own studio Bertoldo, Michelangelo's master in sculpture, who lives and works with him in the Medici palace Michelangelo's Friends Francesco Granacci, Michelangelo's first and closest friend Gianfrancesco Aldovrandi, who hosts Michelangelo in Bologna Giuliano da Sangallo, a Florentine architect Jacopo Galli, a Roman banker who helps manage Michelangelo's finances Argiento, an apprentice of Michelangelo's Urbino, an apprentice of Michelangelo's for the last third of his life Vittoria Colonna Tommaso dei Cavalieri Medici Family Lorenzo de' Medici, Michelangelo's first patron and surrogate father figure Contessa de' Medici, Lorenzo's daughter and a close friend of Michelangelo Piero de' Medici, Lorenzo's son and heir Church Savonarola, a religious reformer who turns Florence against the Medici family Nicola Bichiellini, the prior of Santo Spirito who opens the church to Michelangelo Works of art discussed in The Agony and the Ecstasy Book One: The Studio Crucifixes of Donatello and Brunelleschi After Ghirlandaio looks at Michelangelo’s sketches of Christ drawn with a stonemason as the model, he tells Michelangelo the story of Donatello showing his newly carved crucifix to Brunelleschi. Brunelleschi observes that it seems to him Donatello has, “put a plowman on the cross, rather than the body of Jesus Christ, which was most delicate in all its parts." Donatello, upset by his friend’s criticism, challenges Brunelleschi to make Christ’s figure himself. When Brunelleschi presents his own, newly finished crucifix, “Donatello, who could not take his eyes off the beautiful Christ, answered, ‘It is your work to make Christs, and mine to make plowmen.’” Michelangelo, familiar with both carvings, tells Ghirlandaio that he “preferred Donatello’s plowman to Brunelleschi’s ethereal Christ, which was so slight that it looked as though it had been created to be crucified. With Donatello’s figure, the crucifixion had come as a horrifying surprise….” Ghirlandaio was currently working on the