The Agony and the Ecstasy

[repeated exchange]

Pope Julius II:
When will you make an end?

Michelangelo:
When I am finished!

Contessina de Medici:
Your question insults us both!

Pope Julius II:
You dare to dicker with your pontiff?

Pope Julius II:
What do you think we should do here? Bramante wants to pull it down. He likes pulling things down! No, I want to do something less destructive.

Raphael:
For what is an artist in this world but a servant, a lackey for the rich and powerful? Before we even begin to work, to feed this craving of ours, we must find a patron, a rich man of affairs, or a merchant, or a prince or... a Pope. We must bow, fawn, kiss hands to be able to do the things we must do or die.

[chuckles]

Raphael:
We are harlots always peddling beauty at the doorsteps of the mighty.

Michelangelo:
If it comes to that, I won't be an artist.

Raphael:
[scoffs] You'll always be an artist. You have no choice.

Pope Julius II:
You see, my son... how well we understand each other... when you don't shout?