P 1 : KsF
0521551331 c 01 -p 3 a CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 11 , 2007 10 : 18
CATALOGUE 57 WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY AUTOGRAPH SHEETS 2791 and 2 August15 6 2from, respectively, Lorenzo Mar-
iottini and Cesare Bittino. They inform Leonardo that
Michelangelo planned to carve aCrucifixin wood and
that he therefore wished Leonardo to forward to him
his wood-working tools. A woodenCrucifix is obvi-
ously a more feasible project for a very old man than
one in marble. Thus, as ageing artists often return to
the interests of their youth, Michelangelo – who had
probably not executed wood carvings in the interven-
ing years, save, perhaps, for small models – reverted to
the conception of theCrucifixin Santo Spirito, which
he had carved exactly seventy years earlier, in 1492 .It
wasprobably in preparation for this that Michelangelo
whittled the small model, also in Casa Buonarroti, per-
ceptively revalued by de Tolnay in 1965 .Itislikely that
the outline on the verso of the Windsor drawing sim-
ply indicated the dimensions and shape of a small piece
of wood – which Michelangelo may or may not have
carved.
It seems that the scheme to carve a woodenCrucifix
proceeded no further. Instead, Michelangelo continued
to labour fitfully on theRondanini Piet`a, which he had
had underway for some years, and on which he was still
working only a few days before his death on 18 February
15 6 4.Itisunlikely that all theChrist on the Crossdrawings
werespecifically made with a carving in mind, and it
is more likely that the idea of a carving provided the
impetus for what became a series of meditations. They
could be seen as a form of spiritual exercise, concentrating
the artist’s mind and spirit on the redemptive sacrifice; the
old man at the left of the present drawing might well be an
allusive self-portrait, like Michelangelo’s representation of
himself as Nicodemus in theFlorence Piet`a.
But the theme of the Crucifixion haunted Michelan-
gelo, and his visual ideas pursued the archaising path
that they had followed for some years. When writ-
ing about thePiet`a, another drawing that Michelangelo
had made for Vittoria Colonna, probably toward the
mid-15 4 0s (Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum,
Hadley, 1968 ,no. 7 /Corpus 460 ;black chalk, 295 × 195
mm, reduced at the top by about 50 mm), Condivi
remarked that the Y-shaped Cross under which the Vir-
ginwas seated was that carried by the Bianchi during
the great plague of134 8. This can hardly have come
from Condivi’s own store of knowledge, and he undoubt-
edly learned of it from Michelangelo. Together with
the fact that in the Piet`athe cross’s upright bears a
quotation from Dante, it emphasises that Michelangelo
was turning consciously both to archaic sources and to
his own youth, for what is generally recognised as his
earliest drawing is a copy after Giotto. In the Wind-sor drawing, the “Bianchi Cross” is used again, and
the sliding sideways movement of Christ’s body recalls
the painfully intense small-scale crucifixes of Giovanni
Pisano.
Apart from the conjectural impetus provided by the
projectedCrucifixof15 6 2, there is no external evidence to
date these drawings. Most scholars place the series in the
mid-155 0s, but it is likely that this is too early. The highly
pictorial style, and the technique, with successive appli-
cation of chalk, brown wash, and layers of white, come,
as Hirst has noted, closest to the style and technique of
Michelangelo’s drawings for the Porta Pia of c.15 6 0– 1.
The compiler believes that the Porta Pia drawings are a
terminus post quemrather than aterminus ante quemfor
theChrist on the Cross drawings, and that they were
made between15 6 2and Michelangelo’s death in February
15 6 4.
The identities of the figures beneath the Cross have
been much disputed. That at the right seems most likely
to be St. John, while that at the left might be the Cen-
turion, also present at the Crucifixion and one of the
first gentile converts. Of course, if Michelangelo was
creating a mystical rather than historical representation
of the subject, then the left-hand figure might be any
saint – or even non-saint – with whom he felt a strong
identity.
On the verso of the present sheet, the Crucified Christ
is found again, in a slightly more contorted and angular
form. Michelangelo presumably made this as a correction
to the figure on the recto but, as far as is known, did not
pursue this particular type.
Also on the verso are found theBona Rotiinscription
and the irregular numbering, one of the two occasions
when these – or one of them – occurs on a sheet claimed
to have a Casa Buonarroti provenance. If this claim is
correct, then a second sheet of drawings in addition to
that in the British Museum (W 27 /Corpus 185 )owned
bytheBona Rotiand Irregular Numbering Collectors
found its way into the Casa Buonarroti, probably, like
the British Museum sheet, as one of Michelangelo the
Younger’s acquisitions. It is worth noting that the forms
of the numbers at the upper right of the recto are, as
farasthe compiler is aware, found only on this sheet,
which may indicate that it passed through the hands of
yet another collector after it left theBona Roti/Irregular
Numbering Collection(s) and before it entered (if it did)
Casa Buonarroti.History
The Bona Roti Collector; The Irregular Numbering
Collector; Unidentified Collector? Casa Buonarroti?;