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all of life Michelangelo said teaches us

that a work of art lives forever or as

the artists time is measured the Creator

will go but his work survives that is

why to escape death I attempt to bind my

life to my work this is the story of his

life and of the work that made him

immortal

on the low rolling slopes of the

Florentine countryside is the small

peaceful hamlet of caprese here

Michelangelo Buonarroti was born on the

6th of March 14 hundred and 75 the

infant was sent to the family farm in

Tuscany it was a region of fertile

fields and hillsides rich with marble

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and in the Stonecutters household where

he was raised a dominant sound was the

ring of the hammer and chisel at the

foot of these quarries lay Florence

where the air was filled with the

confident laughter that had shaken down

the gloomy vaults of the Middle Ages man

was proud self-sufficient and the

powerful Medicis rode the crest of this

surging spirit of rebirth under Lorenzo

Florence was becoming the queen city of

the Renaissance

but the patsies a rival family of nobles

were determined to set their own seal

upon the city with highly placed friends

in the papal court they plotted to

destroy Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano

the plot was simple and dairy

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Sunday morning the Medici brothers

arrived at the Cathedral for Salamis

cautious and wary by Nature

they have no fear in the house of God

this is the Haven of purity piety the

weak and the meek the church is the

refuge of assassins Ljubljana was struck

down Lorenzo was wounded but the drawn

sword he fights his way back to the

sacristy seeking shelter behind its

stout doors the City Hall is under

attack other Potsie forces are inciting

masses to revolt but the infamy of their

deeds spreads through Florence

the outraged people turn against the

conspirators

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conspiracy is smashed and its leaders

swiftly punished

the remnants of the Patsy band who were

driven from the city and the plot to

unseat the Medicis left Florence more

securely than ever before in the iron

grasp of Lorenzo a brilliant leader of

men

a poet scholar artist and thinker he was

the Renaissance Prince he surrounded

himself with the most gifted men of his

time and I showed him the Golden Age of

Florence

to the city of splendor young

Michelangelo was bought by his father

who had plans for him 13 years old and

as ignorant as a stonecutter

you must go to school and study the

classics humanities discipline and

manners

the requisites for a young gentleman the

lad was not interested in becoming a

gentleman the streets of the city

enchanted him

the rich stores of art in the churches

dazzled him on all sides were the works

of the great masters of Italy

the boy was filled with all how

wonderful it must be to do something

like this

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reluctantly the father apprenticed him

to the celebrated painter Domenico Gill

and dial

working with his master on the birth of

the virgin Michelangelo learned the art

of fresco which was to serve him well

later on in the fashion of his time

Gillan died or placed his religious

themes in middle-class Florentine homes

and closed his figures with the lavish

costumes of his own period but

Michelangelo also studied other masters

Giotto though seemingly old-fashioned to

the boy held him with his dramatic force

Masaccio more modern gave his figures

natural movement and weight in space

Michelangelo works he studies copying

sketchy he learns he grows confident

even arrogant he criticizes a fellow

apprentice insults follow and then a

fistfight

Michelangelo's nose is broken he who is

so sensitive to physical beauty is

himself marked with ugliness for life

but his confidence was unshakable and

with good reason

he was invited to study at Lorenzo's

Academy of sculpture

his work soon attracted his patrons

practice tie and the young man was taken

into the Medici household for all the

blessings of princely favour were heaped

upon him I like to remember that day

Lorenzo conducted me through his palace

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first he showed me his treasures of

beauty and fine craftsmanship then the

Primavera by Botticelli

and the gods only fresh scores all the

gaiety and richness of Florence crowded

into the walls of that room ill

Magnifico

proudly identified himself from

horseback and the other members of that

illustrious family but so he signed his

fresco with a portrait of himself

amongst a group of citizenry in my youth

I was dazzled by the magnificence of

that palace Lorenzo's exquisite tastes

was reflected in every salon every

culture on the sculpture of Donatello we

lingered his David was considered the

first great nude since the days of

ancient Rome

and we paused in the work of the Rocio

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Lorenzo requested something new and I

was determined to repay his kind

patronage at 17 he completed his first

major work the Battle of the Centaurs

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even at this early age such forceful

expression of explosive emotions the

fierce spirit to be used maturing in the

proud glow of the Renaissance he was in

truth a disciple of Lorenzo the

Magnificent

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but the proud world which the

Renaissance glorified suddenly collapsed

at its center Lorenzo died

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the Medici name lost its magic his

enemies in the church rose swiftly to

the attack denouncing the arrogance and

vanity which Lorenzo symbolized timid

and insecure Michelangelo was frightened

by the turmoil in Florence a sense of

impending disaster made him flee to

Bologna

he arrived in that strange city without

money or references but some Fame had

preceded him and he soon secured a

commission he carved an angel gravely

watching over the remains of sin domine

the beauty of the statue was admired but

the Balinese sculptors were openly

jealous of their rival so Michelangelo

moved on to Rome

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wrong was rediscovering its great past

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remnants of antiquity were being

unearthed examined and pieced together

to recreate a picture of the Empire

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but the young Michelangelo the imperial

majesty of ancient rome was everywhere

in evidence he marveled at the heroic

proportions of the forum created by

Augustus founder of the Roman Empire a

lofty triumphal arches built in honor of

demigods one - Emperor Constantine

another - emperor Titus

the Colosseum which the Romans erected

for their barbarous spectacles

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Castel Sant'Angelo tomb of the Emperor

Adrian

and just as the Florentine frescoes have

excited his imagination so these vivid

remains of pagan glory open new vistas

to him

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the impact of the roman past was

reflected in the first work he did in

Rome the Greek god of wine Bacchus

to Renaissance realism he added the

pagan idea of man rooted in nature a

roguish drunk with engaging charm but

the body ripe as the grapes at harvest

time

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pagon works of art like the Bacchus and

the spirit they embodied came under

violent attack in Florence the storm had

long been brewing its center was the

convent of San Marco in the silence of

its gardens an austere monk brooded

bitterly on this pagan insolence from

his quiet cell he lashed out at the

pleasure-loving Florentines he accused

the renaissance realists of undermining

Christian faith people began to listen

to the monk his name

Savonarola anything didn't know he

universe without the same mercy Florence

old Florence we bought your house with a

groove of iron in fire or you will

hasten to perdition Lawrence trembles

people weak to shame fear a wave of

religious terror sweeps through the city

its people are caught in the grip of

consuming repentance they respond

fervently books and paintings jewels and

luxuries into the purifying flame

all the symbols of worldly pleasure

frenzy months sweeping Savonarola along

with it you two princes of the church do

penance everything can be bought

therefore the price of gold people of

Florence harsh on Rome

and deliver my curse sabato Rome replies

the Pope pronounces a major

excommunication upon Savonarola and the

Thundering prophet of doom is silenced

his own followers turn against him

torture him and sentence him to death

Ascension Day the people of Florence

gathered in the Piazza they are

frightened afraid of themselves afraid

of the deed they are about to commit

Savonarola must hang his remains to be

destroyed by flame

the pyre is ready

the people wait

the monk of San Marco is silenced

forever but his dire warnings will be

heard again remorseful the people of

Florence inscribe a plaque to Savonarola

his single hope was to save their souls

and he paid for his zeal with his life

in Rome

Michelangelo followed the tragic events

intensely as a youth he too had heard

the words of Savonarola and a spirit of

compassion moved him it was reflected in

the statue he was completing at the time

placed in the Cathedral of st. Peter the

work was mistaken for that of another

artist under the cover of darkness the

indignant Michelangelo slipped into the

chapel with hammer and chisel I

Michelangelo Buonarroti

of Florence made this it was the only

work that he ever signed his first

guitar

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the mood is no longer that of his

Bacchus it is one of an enveloping

sadness and wonder

the Virgin laments a divine child

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Florence was at peace once more and

Michelangelo decided to go home

here he learned of a challenging Civic

project the cathedral owned an enormous

block of marble which had revealed a

deep flaw no sculptor thought it could

be salvaged

no sculptor except Michelangelo taking

up the challenge of the 19 foot block he

locked himself away in the work yard

behind the Cathedral and hammered and

chiseled in secrecy for years he labored

and Florence echoed with rumours

finally it was finished and the secret

was out in a holiday mood the citizens

of Florence awaited its unveiling they

watched as walls were torn down to let

the huge figure pass through the narrow

streets they waited with growing

excitement a scores of men worked to

place the Colossus on its base the

statue exalted all of the Florentines of

the renaissance stood for pride of youth

pride of strength pride of intellect it

was David with slingshot and stone in

hand he stands poised to defend his

people

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as david towered over florence saw

michelangelo now loomed head and

shoulders over the other sculptors of

his day he was a public hero the city

voted him a house and studio and to it

came an endless stream of wealthy

patrons for the bank of PT he made the

buy jell-o madonna his technique was

sure his moved calm in the stoned he

finds a harmony between the tender

gravity of the Virgin and the exuberance

of the child

the mood is sustained in the Madonna a

day

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with greater solemnity in the Bruges

Madonna

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in his painting of the Holy Family the

Virgin is robust

the child and infant hero

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figures as vigorous as a family of

Stonecutters he also did an Apollo

and a Christ with the cross

at this time the city fathers of forints

voted to beautify the Palazzo della

Signoria

by commissioning to historical murals

for its Great Hall one of them was

entrusted to the undisputed master of

the day Leonardo da Vinci the other to

Michelangelo 25 years his junior

Leonardo conceived a tremendous battle

scene but he never finished it all that

remains of his work is a copy made by

the Flemish Master Rubens of

Michelangelo's efforts even less remains

a student's inferior copy of his

drawings but those who saw the actual

sketches were greatly impressed and

everyone in Florence took sides in this

contest of tightness Michelangelo also

abandoned his project a more important

patron demanded his services

the mighty Pope Julius summoned him to

the Vatican a man of imperial ambitions

julius ii wished a colossal monument

built for his tomb the artist set to

work here are the plans your holiness

will it be truly magnificent my son that

depends upon your wishes Holy Father

then spare no effort lose not a moment

we wish to see the completed tomb within

our own lifetime he roamed the mountains

of Kerala selecting a marble for the

tomb his creative genius was fired by

the boundless possibilities of the

project to fulfill his exalted visions

only a mountain would do he even

conceived the idea of carving a colossus

out of a mountaintop for eight long

months he lived in his feverish state

filled with excitement

he returned to Rome but the Pope was

occupied with other matters he could not

receive Michelangelo and kept putting

him off

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awaiting the pleasure of his holiness

the sculptor spent restless days

examining the excavations of antiquity

each day there are new discoveries a

startling find is reported

in the ruins of the palace of titus the

workmen have unearthed an ancient statue

made more than 1500 years earlier it

tells the story of a Trojan priest and

his two sons who are punished for

defying the goddess Athena it is the

legendary Leia Kwan

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the theme of anguish influenced

Michelangelo's dying slave which he made

for the tomb of Julius but the grandiose

project was everyday becoming a more

uncertain affair Michelangelo's enemies

were undermining him at the papal court

it over the old to build one's tomb

within one's lifetime if Michelangelo

has his way the edifice will glorify him

rather than be a monument to your

holiness

okay never mind it's project Julius is

swayed so be it abandoned furious

Michelangelo fled the city all that work

all those plans gone nothing worked

until my health shattered mama rots in

Carrara you would not see me

you'll never see me again but it was not

to be that simple Julius was also

enraged he sent armed couriers in

pursuit of the sculptor they approached

he terrible where Michelangelo has

stopped to rest for one he races off to

the north

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but in the village of bonzi they

over taken his holiness commands he

returned tell his Most Blessed Holiness

that I was turned away from his palace

on his own orders wherefore I give

notice that from this time forward if he

wants me he must seek me out swear than

enroll in a return with his message I go

on to Florence

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the immensity of his creative vision in

the mountains now set in motion new

forces a more intense feeling was

breaking through the pattern of his

earlier perfection Saint Matthew is

keyed to the tragic the inspired

sculptor can achieve nothing but the

marble itself does not contain in his

hand obedient to his spirit reveals all

that the stone holds concealed but the

work is lengthy the effort harmed as the

stone resists the chisel that attacks it

at last

the finished work appears to the light

to the senior of Florence Pope Julius

sent letter after letter demanding the

return of Michelangelo the sculptors

friends were alarmed for him you have

behaved toward the Pope is the King of

France himself the senior er pleaded

with him when the Pope it's just the we

were talking of a brother you'll

frighten even popes

he was reassured once more he left

Florence Michelangelo's fight was

forgiven the matter of the tomb

forgotten for the moment Julius was

filled with another great scheme it

concerned the Sistine Chapel his wishes

our great ceiling is barren here it

would please us that your genius shall

create a beautiful painting to the

greater glory of God the artist was

hesitant beloved father I have told you

time and again this is not my trade the

painting of a vault is a very difficult

endeavor the Pope insisted once in

agreement however they were both equally

excited by the magnitude of the project

the area to be covered measured ten

thousand square feet

he divided the ceiling into a series of

panels each telling a story from the

Bible ranged along the sides and

filled with pretentious wonder Sybil's

and prophets follow the drama of man

from the creation to the flood only by

mounting a high scaffold and lying on

his back most of the time he was

bringing the world into being for

endless tortured years later

Michelangelo descended the scaffold for

the last time he had finished like God

he had created his own heaven and a

and God divided the light from the

darkness

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and God said let the waters be gathered

together unto one place and let the dry

land appear

so God created man in his own image

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male and female created he them

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and the Lord God said Behold the man is

become as one of us to know good and

evil

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therefore the Lord God sent him forth

from the Garden of Eden

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and Noah builded an altar to the Lord

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and the rain was upon the earth 40 days

and 40 nights

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and M saw the nakedness of his father

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Julius died Giovanni

son of Lorenzo the Magnificent was

ordained Pope Leo the tenth he had grown

up with Michelangelo in the Medici

palace and he now summoned his boyhood

friend but Michelangelo was not free to

work for him he was still bound by the

old contract to the heirs of Julius they

insisted he finished the tomb he went to

work for the base of the tomb he made

four slaves

symbols of the suffering that his man's

fate on earth

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they carry the central meaning of

Michelangelo's art and life where the

will of God wrestles with the will of

man

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a sketch of Pope Julius made many years

earlier he idealized into a portrait of

Moses the marble still trembles with a

lightning alertness he is poised to

defend the Lord's unshakable law

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in the year of our Lord 1518 Leo the

10th made a triumphant entry into

Florence he graciously bestowed titles

of nobility on Michelangelo's family and

requested a tomb for the glory of the

Medici dead Moses and the vaults of the

Sistine exalted the power of life now

his spirits subsided into a serene

meditation on death

a requiem carved out of eternal science

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in the dream world of the Dead Lorenzo

and his cousin Giuliano

contemplate the Madonna and Child

symbol of eternal truth

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Lorenzo grandson of the Magnificent

personifies the contemplative life

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he has shaken off the comments of the

living expressed in the figures below

dawn heavily drags herself awake to

another day of pain

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Twilight doesn't even attempt the

struggle with the living the burden of

his hopelessness weighs him down

you Julia nephew of the Giuliano slain

in the Patsy revolt personifies the

active life

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night struggles in her sleep with the

torment of her dreams

there are murky symbols lies scattered

on her couch

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day awakens in a rage there is terror in

his eyes

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the heavy burdens of the living seem to

force open the tools releasing the souls

of the dead who live forever in the

presence of the Lord all the tensions of

human time dawn

Twilight night and day are resolved in

the harmonies of eternal time

after the completion of the Medici

Chapel the whole of Italy held

Michelangelo in awe for Pope Clement the

seventh he now built the laurentian

library to house the fabulous literary

collection of the Medici the manuscripts

of Dante Virgil Patrick and Tacitus

among others the storehouse of

humanistic learning as in his sculpture

he conceived the library with forms

locked in tensions which are never

resolved the columns are imprisoned in

the walls the scrolls bleed nowhere even

where the staircase flows freely upward

there is a counter flow on either side

the enslaved room not only expressed his

own inner conflicts but symbolized a

time out of joint

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a spirit of religious reform was

sweeping Europe Luther was thundering in

Germany the North was in revolt Rome had

been sacked and Pope Clement was

prisoner in Castel Sant'Angelo

having lost half of Europe Clement took

a new course he elide himself with the

holy roman emperor charles v his former

enemy and together they launched an

offensive against florence within the

city and there were riots and disorder

stirred up by Medici partisans the gates

were closed but the turmoil continued

David himself was wounded a missile

flung from a balcony shattered his arm

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Michelangelo doctor architect painters

employed now became a man of battle

he was commissioned general in charge of

fortifications to safeguard the city's

outposts he fortified the mountain

stronghold of San Miniato

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his efforts were of no avail the city

fell

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the Protestant upheaval provoked a new

spirit of reform in Catholic Rome this

renewed faith also ruled the Vatican in

Pope Paul the third begged the master to

lend his genius to the struggle of the

church militant fighting for its very

life once more michelangelo came to the

Sistine Chapel warily the sixty year old

man mounted the scaffold to paint his

Last Judgement the upheaval of

Christendom fusing with his own bitter

turmoil unleashed all the Furies of his

genius for five anguished years he drove

himself to the point of exhaustion and

beyond when at last he had finished they

all to all blazed out with an

apocalyptic vision of final judgment a

sinful and stunned humanity churns in

the torrents of his day of Wrath in a

gesture of insane rage he seems to skin

himself alive on a tattered skin which

Saint Bartholomew presents to the Lord

is painted Michelangelo's own tragic

mask It was as though he had ripped the

renaissance completely out of his system

Savonarola thundering prophecies had

never left his mind now they rang out in

a deafening blast of doom

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when the fevered tempo of his rage had

spent itself Michelangelo collapsed

members of the stratsi family old-time

friends from Florence took him to their

estate at Tivoli

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in these peaceful sunbathe surroundings

his health was gradually restored

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now recovered Michelangelo returned to

Rome as chief architect of the city his

work on palaces gardens and churches

gave Roma living grandeur which matched

his vision of ancient Rome for the

reconstruction of the Capitol Square he

designed a splendid staircase in marble

and decorated it with antique statutes

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in the center of the square he erected

an imposing figure of Marcus Aurelius

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the handsome staircase of the palace of

the Senate lent new dignity with the

Capitol

overwhelmed with public duties he still

found time to continue work on his own

sculpture

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at 75 he was regarded with almost

religious reverence and now the Pope

asked him to redesign st. Peter's to

build a monument worthy of the church

triumphant he had to cut through a

tangle of plans submitted by all the

leading architects his own was a triumph

of clarity he was prevailed upon to

construct a working model of the dome to

assure its completion in the event of

his death it was the greatest of all

domes made up to that time

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now in the last years of his life he

worked in his modest studio near the

Trajan forum avoiding all contact with

the papal court and Roman nobility here

in the shadows of st. Peter's he labored

to outwit death but his health was

failing I'm broken

torn asunder I am nothing but a bag of

bones I'm like a scarecrow said in a

feel a spider things in one of my ears

and any other cricket chirps all night

long

the Scarecrow was making another pietà

figures that once trembled with power

now crumble in a vibrant throb

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he is discouraged

the servitude that weighs on me the

great disgust the great distress of soul

but all my human weakness I was still

fashioned out of stone human being was

made to the image of God now his eyes

turn inward in his hands give form to

the tremors of his soul it is one of his

last works the descent from the cross

and the face of the old man Nicodemus

who is looking toward Jesus is the face

of the sculptor himself you know with

all the troubles which I want to afflict

old I am

for she fears that I may forget

I will not forget

I know he said the Creator will go but

his work survives that is why to escape

death I attempt to bind my soul to my

work

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you