The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

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0521551331 c 01 a CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 10 , 2007 22 : 25

118 WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY AUTOGRAPH SHEETS CATALOGUE 17

Discussion

This figure, probably Josaphat, was drawn quite quickly.

He was first depicted reading and then, by the addi-

tion of two feathery strokes of the chalk to place a

pen between the thumb and forefinger of his right

hand, writing, the action adopted in the fresco. The

change may have been motivated by Michelangelo’s

desire to introduce a link between the preceding Sibyl,

Cumaea,who is reading, and the succeeding Prophet,

Daniel, who writes in one codex a commentary on

another. Michelangelo also considered lifting Josaphat’s

head, in a hair-line pentimento drawn across the tur-

ban and behind the rear of the head, and extending the

jaw downwards, but in the event decided against these

changes.

In the fresco, the forms of the drapery are somewhat

simplified and given a rectilinear emphasis, the extended

left leg is set at a slightly steeper angle, the right thigh

protrudes at a lower – but equally improbable – angle

from the body, and the right calf is somewhat elongated.

The shape of the parchment, which rests on the knee, is

also altered.

Despite the differences from the fresco and the clear

evidence of creativity, this drawing has frequently been

questioned. It is similar in this respect to a drawing in

Florence (CB 24 F/B 242 /Corpus 160 ,black chalk,