P 1 : KsF
0521551331 c 01 c CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 10 , 2007 22 : 14
CATALOGUE 29 WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY AUTOGRAPH SHEETS 165resemble a soft hood of a type familiar in quattrocento
painting, but it cannot be this because it it is clearly sepa-
rate from the other garment. It might be a soft beret-like
hat, perched on the far side of the sitter’s head, but in this
case the gap between the rim and the figure’s nose would
be hard to explain. It may, perhaps, best be interpreted
as a type of hat found in various portraits by Raphael
of the later151 0s, comprising a skull cap attached to a
discontinuous brim, like a soft mortar-board.
The verso seems to represent Hercules and the Ery-
manthian Boar. Parker, while noting that Hercules bears
none of his usual attributes, shrewdly observes that in this,
the third of Hercules’ labours, he carried back the boar
alive to Eurystheus, which seems to be indicated here.
Michelangelo was preoccupied in15 2 4– 5 with attempt-
ing to regain the commission for the group ofHercules
and Antaeus(see Cat. 30 ), but there is no mention in
any of the sources of the present subject. Of course,
this sketch, which is quite broad, may have been made
to prepare a Presentation Drawing representing one or
more of Hercules’ labours, such as that in the Royal
Collection, Windsor (PW 423 /Corpus 335 ;red chalk,
272 × 422 mm), made for an unknown recipient, proba-
bly towards153 0. This sheet includes three of the labours,
but not that of the Erymanthian Boar; maybe Michelan-
gelo envisaged a companion sheet, representing further
labours.
Another possibility is that the present drawing was
made for a statuette, to be executed in bronze by another
artist. Giambologna later made a bronze of this subject,
although that bears only slight relation in pose to this
drawing.Drawn Copies
Recto
A copy, unknown to the compiler, is recorded by Parker
as in the A. Wolmark Collection, London. With a prove-
nance from Jonathan Richardson Senior, Thomas Hud-
son, and Sir Joshua Reynolds, this copy must antedate
1720 and may well have been of the sixteenth century,
but further discussion must await its reappearance.
Parker states that Thode mentions copies of the recto
in the Uffizi and the Louvre, but the compiler can locate
no such reference in Thode and no such copies in those
two collections.Verso
A copy was made by Sir Edward Burne-Jones in186 6–
7 ,onfol. 26 recto of his sketchbook in the Fitzwilliam
Museum, Cambridge, 1070 - 2.Printed Copy
Recto
Published by William Young Ottley, 1808 – 23 , follow-
ing p. 32 , dated 1 May 1818 , etched by Thomas Vivares,
289 × 209 mm.History
Casa Buonarroti; Jean-Baptiste Wicar; William Young
Ottley; Sir Thomas Lawrence (L. 2445 ); Samuel Wood-
burn.References
Ottley, 1808 – 23 ,pp. 32 – 3 (Reproduced; “Finely expres-
sive of scornfulness and pride.”). Lawrence Inventory,
1830 ,M.A.Buonaroti, Case 3 , Drawer 3 ,no. 3 [ 1830 – 3 ]
(“Head of a Man of a Saturnine expression, red chalk, very
fine.”). Woodburn, 1836 b,no. 80 (“[S]trongly expres-
sive of malevolence, evidently drawn from life.”). The
Athenaeum, 16 July 1836 (“[M]ore finished than the
last [ 1836 – 87 ], yet of similar freedom. The grandeur of
those lines about the breast, and feathering the hair, is
worth particular notice; no painter but one could give
the fierce Satanic look of malevolent pride and vindic-
tiveness.”). The Literary Gazette, July 1836 (“[very like
Lord Brougham]...among the many productions in this
gallery which rivetted our attention.”). Woodburn,184 2,
no. 4 (As 1836 .). Fisher,186 2,p. 4 , pl. 12 (As Woodburn,
184 2.). Fisher, 1865 , II, p. 24 , pl. 19 (As186 2.). Robin-
son,187 0,no. 9 (Perhaps c.15 0 0,but possibly later.).
Fisher,187 2,I,p. 21 , pl. 12 (As186 2.). Ruskin,187 2,
pp. 98 – 9 (“Michael Angelo is always dwelling on this
satyric form of countenance; – sometimes violently car-
icatures it, but can never help drawing it...a celebrated
and entirely authentic drawing on which, I regret to say,
myown pencil comment in passing is merely ‘brutal lower
lip, and broken nose.’ ”). Black, 1875 ,p. 213 ,no. 9. Fisher,
187 9, IV/ 4 (Cites Ottley, 1808 – 23 .). Poynter,187 9,p. 244
(“[T]he precise contrary to everything we imagine as
satyric; satanic is perhaps the word he [Ruskin] meant to
use.”). Springer, 1883 ,I,p.31 0(Influence of Leonardo.).
Berenson, 1903 ,I,p. 181 ,no. 1551 (c.15 0 9. Recto: “an
atrabilious, youngish man.” “He has a vehement, almost
fierce look, exaggerated by the protruding lip and pro-
jecting nose. The columnar neck is magnificent. It is a
masterpiece of design, exquisitely precise in the render-
ing of the surfaces, yet with a splendid largeness of han-
dling.” Comparable in type with [Cats. 33 , 24 verso]. Use
of red chalk must have inspired envy in Andrea del Sarto.
Ve r so: “The action of the torso thrown back is superb.”).
Borough Johnson, 1908 ,pp. 10 – 11 , pl. II (c.15 0 9;“keen
observation as regards construction and planes.”). Thode,