In 1496 he got an important â commissionâ ( he was given a paid job ) from Cardinal Raffaele Riario . The Cardinal wanted Michelangelo to make a marble statue , larger than life-size , of Bacchus , the Ancient Roman God of wine . On 4 July of the same year , he began work on a commission for Cardinal Raffaele Riario , an over-life-size statue of the Roman wine god , Bacchus .