P 1 : KsF
0521551331 c 01 -p 3 a CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 11 , 2007 10 : 18
278 WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY AUTOGRAPH SHEETS CATALOGUE 572. British Museum,18 95- 9 - 15 - 509 /W 81 /Corpus 417 ;
black chalk with white heightening, 413 × 286 mm.
3. British Museum,18 95- 9 - 15 - 510 /W 82 /Corpus 419 ;
black chalk with white heightening, 412 × 279 mm.
4. Windsor, Royal Library, 12761 /PW 437 /Corpus 416 ;
black chalk, 405 × 208 mm.
5. Windsor, Royal Library 12775 /PW 436 /Corpus 418 ,
black chalk with white heightening, 382 × 210 mm.Two drawings in the Louvre (Inv. 720 and 698 /J 39 and
J 40 / Corpus 412 and 413 ; both black chalk, respectively,
230 × 110 mm and 250 × 82 mm), which show the Virgin
and St. John as they are placed at the foot of the Cross,
are not, as sometimes supposed, fragments of a seventh
version but were drawn by Michelangelo in the mid-155 0s
to be added to the much-copiedChrist on the Cross, the
original drawing of which Michelangelo had presented to
Vittoria Colonna c.15 4 0. These supplementary figures,more solidly drawn than those in the present sheet and the
five companion drawings, were no doubt provided by the
artist at the request of his friend and servant Urbino, to
prepare a painting to be executed for Urbino by Marcello
Ve n usti (see Cat. 50 ).
One of the sheets, no. 4 (PW 437 ), provides some evi-
dence as to what might have prompted Michelangelo to
draw such a series. It carries on its verso a triangular out-
line encompassing the recto figure of Christ. De Tolnay,
who first observed this, suggested that this represented a
marble block and indicated that Michelangelo planned to
sculpt a Crucifix late in life. This opinion was strongly
opposed by Hirst, but he provided no alternative expla-
nation for the verso outline. It seems more likely, as de
Tolnay subsequently realised, that this block was intended
to be small and of wood, and that the drawing is con-
nected with a wooden Crucifix, referred to in two let-
ters to Michelangelo’s nephew Leonardo Buonarroti, of