The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

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0521551331 c 01 -p 3 a CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 11 , 2007 10 : 18

CATALOGUE 55 WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY AUTOGRAPH SHEETS 267

Carpiceci, whose interpretation of much of this verso

otherwise coincides with that of the compiler, thought it a

hasty memory sketch of the body of the basilica as already

executed. The elevation is divided into two storeys. The

lower storey is articulated by columns on high bases. At

the left is seen one column, at the right two, and the bay

at right seems to be wider than that at the left. It would be

easy to interpret this as a sketch of a palace fac ̧ade com-

posed of rhythmic bays – if of an unusual kind – but the

explanation for the discrepancy in the number of columns

is that Michelangelo has drawn that on the left as though

it were in profile view, not face-on, and it thus conceals

its companion. The apparent discrepancy in the width of

the bays also responds to the foreshortening of the bay on

the left, which notionally curves in depthaway from the

viewer. The effect, in more diagrammatic rendering, is

similar to that of the Lille drawing (Brejon de Lavergn ́ee

107 /Corpus 595 ). Both bays of the main storey contain

avertical window topped by a triangular pediment. In

the left-hand bay, however, this seems to be drawn over

curved lines. It is difficult to be certain, but this sketch

would seem to show Michelangelo deciding, finally, to

substitute rectangular windows for the round windows

indicated on CB 31 A/Corpus 600 and shown on Lille 107.

Above the main storey is a lightly sketched attic, artic-

ulated with short pilasters, again with one on the left

and two in the centre. It is this attic that occupied

Michelangelo’s attention in the other drawings for St.

Peter’s on this page, all of them drawn with the sheet

inverted with respect to A. The most important is F. This

shows, in elevation, a section of the drum attic articu-

lated by two short pilasters at the left and decorated by a

garland, as seen in Lille 107. Below the two pilasters, the

form that seems to be pendent is, in fact, a plan of the

platform formed by the entablature of the giant buttress

columns. The rows of small circles represent balustrades

(cf. Cat. 38 ), and the ovals contained within rectangles at

the outer side, the plinths and bases of statues. A statue,

its plinth, a balustrade, and the pilaster at the rear are

seen in profile elevation in G. The small sketch of paired

pilasters, H, was probably made to work out their form

more precisely. These drawings show Michelangelo try-

ing to establish the details within the composition of the

attic as seen in Lille 107 ,inwhich, despite the small scale,

platforms bearing large statues above the buttress-columns

can clearly be seen.

These St. Peter’s identifications are crucial for the date

of the present sequence of drawings. Because they seem

to show a transition from a drum perforated byochito one

perforated by windows, they were presumably drawn later

than the plan for the wooden model CB 31 A/Corpus 600.

This would suggest a date no earlier than the end of155 8,

and perhaps up to a year later.

There are also five sketches showing variants of curved

forms. These seem all to be related to the same project,

most clearly interpretable from C and M. These show two

large curves, more extensive than a semi-circle, joined by

a short straight section with two circles before it, and

two circles on each of the re-entrants, adjacent to the

straight section. This seems to be a ground plan of two

curved chapels, opening from a building that is probably

circular, but whose circularity is hardly discernible from

the way that Michelangelo has chosen to draw it. They

are obviously en-suite with the similar forms on Cat. 54

verso,and were no doubt made for San Giovanni dei

Fiorentini, thus datable155 9– 60.

The four sketches of staircases [I, J, N, O] show vari-

ations of circular or oval flights. I, a view from the front,

is the most informative. It shows three or four high steps

rising to a circular platform. At the right and left sides

are indicated further flights, in profile with, clearly, six

risers at the right. The implication seems to be that the

central form is primarily decorative, and that the route to

the platform is by the side flight. N and O show, it seems,

the central and side flights, the first, apparently, with four

and the second with five risers, although the sketches are

not precise enough to be certain of this. J is too vague to

interpret. It seems likely that these drawings were made

in response to the request to provide a design for the stair-

case of thericettoof the Laurentian Library. In the15 2 0s,

Michelangelo had experimented with curved steps, with

central steps with higher risers flanked by steps with lower

risers (see CB 92 Arecto and verso/B 89 /Corpus 525 ;red

and black chalk, pen and ink, 390 × 280 mm maximum),

and in each case the side steps contain either five or six

risers. The connection of the present sketches with the

San Lorenzoricettoproject appears to be firm, and the

date would again be congruent: late155 8–early155 9.

The sketch of a right shoulder seen from the front, B,

wascertainly the first drawing to be made on this side

of the sheet, probably some time before the others. It

cannot securely be connected with any other drawing

or project by Michelangelo, but it was, in all probability,

made to determine the surface forms of the right shoulder

of Christ in theRondanini Pieta`,onwhich Michelangelo

worked fitfully throughout the final years of his life.

Drawn Copies

1. The recto was copied on a small scale by Francesco

Buonarroti on Uffizi 5350 A, left side, a.

2. The recto and the arm study on the verso were

copied on the recto and the verso of a sheet now in