The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

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120 WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY AUTOGRAPH SHEETS CATALOGUES 17–18

butremarks: “Doubts have been raised that this drawing

is in fact autograph.”). Lafranconi, 1998 ,p. 544 (Identi-

fied with the drawing recorded in the Tronsarelli inven-

tory in 1601 as A 48 .). Lafranconi, 2003 ,p. 99 (As 1998 ;

demonstration that much of the Tronsarelli Collection

was subsequently acquired by the Borghese.).

CATALOGUE 18

Study for the Sistine Ceiling and Sketches for the Julius

Tomb

184 6. 43 ;R. 23 ;P.II 297 ; Corpus15 7

Dimensions: 286 × 194 mm

Medium

Recto: Red chalk and pen.

Ve r so: Pen and ink and black chalk.

Condition

A major pressed-out horizontal fold, just below the cen-

tre, is supported by tissue on the recto. Fractures and

minor vertical tears run across the horizontal fold, and a

major vertical tear is repaired. There is creasing along the

upper edge, a small hole, and some edge abrasion. The

sheet has uneven discolouration and local staining, with

show-through and bleeding of some of the ink.

Description

Recto

A.One of theputtiaccompanyingLibica.

B.The right hand ofLibica.

C.Aprigioneseen in left profile, attached to a herm

pilaster, his arms bound behind his back, his right leg

raised and supported on a helmet?, a cuirass behind his

legs, his head turned to his left. This figure is obviously

related to theRebellious Slave,but there are substantial

differences from the figure as executed.

D.A standingprigioneseen frontally, attached to a herm

pilaster, his arms folded across his chest, his head turned

left, his legs crossed at the calves and bound.

E.A standingprigioneseen frontally attached to a tapering

herm pilaster, the right arm bound by his side, the left

folded behind his head, his legs crossed at the ankles and

bound.

F. Aprigionein half right view, with his head turned back

to his right; both arms are raised (bound?) above his head,

his legs are crossed at the knees.

G.The counterpart of F, but not a mirror-image.

H.Astandingprigioneseen frontally, his hands bound

behind his neck, his head bent forward, his legs crossed

at the calves.

With the left side of the sheet as the base

I. A section of a highly decorated cornice.

Verso

A.A left knee and part of a thigh, seen frontally.

With the right side of the sheet as the base

B.A left knee and foot; while the foot is seen frontally,

the knee seems to be seen in left profile, which creates an

(exaggerated) effect of strain.

Discussion

It has been suggested by de Tolnay and others that the

present sheet originally formed one with that in the

Metropolitan Museum, on whose recto is Michelan-

gelo’s famous drawing forLibica(Inv. 24. 197. 2 recto/BT

131 /Corpus15 6;red chalk, 288 × 213 mm). This sug-

gestion is supported by the fact that a study ofLibica’s

right hand, very like the study of the left hand on the

Metropolitan page, is found on the present sheet, but it

cannot be regarded as certain. In any case, if the two

sheets were once joined, they were probably divided by

the artist himself. The verso drawings are quite discontin-

uous, and the fold that runs across the present sheet, but

not across that in the Metropolitan, could well have been

made by Michelangelo when he came to use the verso

of the present sheet for two studies, placed with differ-

ent orientations and separated from one another precisely

bythe fold. By the time Biagio Pupini saw the present

sheet (or a copy of it; see following discussion), it was

undoubtedly separate from the other. The provenances of

the two sheets are also very different, and when, around

or before c. 1600 ,anunidentified draughtsman made a

same-size copy of the Metropolitan recto, the two may

not even have been in the same collection because the

copyist made no reference to any of the drawings on the

present sheet. (The copy in question, Uffizi 2318 F/B 268 ;

red chalk, 287 × 215 mm, is in detail a near facsimile of

Michelangelo’s original, but the individual drawings are

re-arranged on the page, there are some omissions, and

it contains a study ofLibica’s right foot, not found on the

Metropolitan recto, which was no doubt copied from a

fragment of that sheet now lost; for further discussion of

this copy, see the Introduction, n. 113 ).