Focus on Allegory of Patience (Vasari) and discuss the Correspondence.
In a copy of a letter from the artist dated 14 November 1551 made by his nephew Giorgio Vasari the Younger, Vasari informed his patron Bernadetto Minerbetti, Bishop of Arezzo (Vasari's own home town), of his meetings with Michelangelo to agree a suitable representation of Patience. While the accompanying drawing is now lost, the letter describes in some detail a female figure "of middle age", half-clad so as to appear midway between Riches and Poverty, bound to a stone by her foot, "to give less offence to her more noble parts", but with her arms free, so that it is within her power to free herself, yet preferring instead to signal with them that she will wait till the water wears away the stone and thus sets her free. While in respect of the chain, the Allegory in the Palazzo Pitti first attributed to Vasari by Hermann Voss seemingly corresponds more closely to this vision, the presence of the Latin phrase (with a pentimento), selected with input from Annibale Caro, the very absence of physical bonds, emphasizing her choice and virtù, and the urn's clear function as a clepsydra help contribute to the identification.
Giorgio Vasari Patience Bishop of Arezzo Michelangelo Hermann Voss Arezzo clepsydra pentimento Annibale Caro virtù Palazzo Pitti