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0521551331 c 01 -p 3 CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 11 , 2007 10 : 14
236 WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY AUTOGRAPH SHEETS CATALOGUE 48akin to high relief rather than free-standing sculpture.
Such a block would be eminently suitable for the scheme
tried on the present sheet, and it would be tempting
to think of it as a preliminary design for thePalestrina
Pieta`.However, on consideration this seems unlikely. The
Palestrina Piet`ais an overtly emotive work, making a direct
appeal to the spectator both in Christ’s lolling head and
the anguished gaze of the supporting figure. Further-
more, Michelangelo did not emphasise rectilinearity in
thePalestrina Pieta`–itwas surely conceived in the same
span of years that produced theEpifaniacartoon, in which
the massive forms still move in highly expressive ways, and
the design for the neo-trecentesqueAgony in the Garden
(see Cat. 47 ). In thePiet`a, furthermore, the body of Christ
is supported by the Virgin, who stands directly behind
Him, so the three figures are not spread out as frontally as
in the present drawings. Indeed, in the compiler’s view,
thePalestrina Pieta`finds its best place in Michelangelo’s
work between the four-figurePieta`and the final stages
of theRondanini Piet`a, and it is probably to be seen as
aproject of the mid-155 0s. The present drawings seem
to represent a still later conception, in which individ-
ual expression gives way to directness, severity, symme-
try, cohesiveness, and emotional restraint – on one level
it would hardly be possible to present the subject more
simply. Of course, the fact that such an arrangement co-
exists on this sheet with the more expressive sketches
related to theRondanini Piet`adoes emphasise that the
aged Michelangelo did not pursue a single stylistic or
emotional course.
The poses of the supporting figures on either side of
Christ are virtually mirror images, and a double-sided
sheet of drawings formerly in the Gathorne-Hardy Col-
lection and now in the National Gallery of Art in Wash-
ington, D.C. (Inv. 1991. 217. 2 a- 3 b/Corpus 429 ;black
chalk, 233 × 100 mm) was probably made to develop this
idea. The Washington drawing has generally been inter-
preted as a bearer in a Piet`aoranEntombment, but it
has been connected – by the compiler among others –
with the five-figureEntombmentknown from two drawn
copies, including one sometimes attributed to Jacomo del
Duca (also formerly in the Gathorne-Hardy Collection;
see Cat. 51 ). However, the otherwise unaltered reversal
of the recto figure on the verso of the Washington sheet
probably indicates that Michelangelo intended to repro-
duce this supporting figure with exact symmetry, a feature
of the three-figure design on the present sheet, but not
found in any of the other known Piet`aorEntombment
designs; this, plus the sculpturesque simplification of the
figures on the Washington sheet, argues that it was made
as a development of the present design.History
TheBona RotiCollector; The Cavaliere d’Arpino?; The
Cicciaporci family and Filippo Cicciaporci; Bartolom-
meo Cavaceppi; William Young Ottley (his sale, 6 June
1814 , etc., lot 825 , “One, of studies for a Piet`a–inblack
chalk. From the collection of the Cicciaporci family of
Florence to whom the contents of the three above lots
formerly belonged, mentioned in the preface to Condivi,
Life of Michelangelo, published in 1746 , page xviii. This
collection was sold and dispersed about 1765 , and with
others purchased of the Cav. Cavaceppi, 1792 – 3 ,bytheir
present proprietor,” £ 6. 10. 0 ). This drawing was probably
a fragment and was rejoined when in Lawrence’s collec-
tion with another fragment in Ottley’s 1814 sale, the first
of the two items in15 0 4(“Two on one leaf – three naked
figures carrying a dead body – stumped – black chalk –
fine; and two sketches of a figure for the last judgment –
black chalk. From the Cicciaporci collection.”); Sir
Thomas Lawrence (no stamp); Samuel Woodburn.References
Ottley sale, 6 June 1814 , etc., lot 825 (“One, of stud-
ies for a Piet`a–in black chalk. From the collection of
the Cicciaporci family of Florence to whom the con-
tents of the three above lots formerly belonged, men-
tioned in the preface to Condivi, Life of Michelangelo,
published in 1746 , page xviii. This collection was sold
and dispersed about 1765 , and with others purchased of
the Cav. Cavaceppi, 1792 – 3 ,bytheir present propri-
etor,ӣ 6. 10. 0 ) plus Ottley sale, 6 June 1814 , etc., lot
15 0 4i(“...three naked figures carrying a dead body –
stumped – black chalk – fine...From the Cicciaporci
collection.”). Woodburn, 1836 b,no. 82 (With [Cats. 45
and 47 ] “admirably drawn in black chalk; they are chiefly
subjects from the New Testament...the Virgin support-
ing the body of our Saviour etc.”). Woodburn,184 2,
no. 64 (As 1836 .). Woodburn,184 6,no. 35 (As184 2.).
Robinson,187 0,no. 70. 1 (Michel Angelo. Studies for a
Piet`aatthat time “in the Palace on the Corso occupied by
the Russian legation,” i.e., theRondanini Piet`a.). Black,
1875 ,p. 215 ,no. 60. Gotti, 1875 , II, p. 225. Springer,
187 8,p. 455 (Sketch forPiet`amentioned by Robinson;
datable to15 4 0s, before FlorencePieta`.). Springer, 1883 ,
II, p. 311 (As187 8.). Berenson, 1903 ,I,p. 227 ,no.15 7 2
(c.15 4 2,related to theRondanini Pieta`“in the action of
the legs, this as well as every other Christ for a ‘Piet`a’
that we have from Michelangelo’s hand harks back to the
picture in the National Gallery.” Leads towards the pupil
sketch in the Gathorne-Hardy Collection. The “slight
sketch on the far right [G] anticipates the motive of the
FlorentinePiet`a”[sic].). Thode, 1908 , II, pp. 497 , 499