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0521551335 c 02 -p 4 CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 11 , 2007 10 : 54
286 COPIES OF LOST OR PARTIALLY LOST DRAWINGS CATALOGUE 59originals of any of the other drawings on the present page
are known, but there can be no doubt that they too are
replicas of drawings made by Michelangelo at about the
same time. With the exception of the leg study I, which
bears some resemblance to the right leg of theRebellious
Slave, and which might copy a drawing made in prepa-
ration for the Julius Tomb, all the other drawings on this
page of which originals are not known are also found on
a page that passed through the London art market in the
early 1970 s (Neerman,n.d.[c. 1972 ], no. 2 ; pen and ink,
318 × 221 mm; see Joannides 2002 b) attributed, uncon-
vincingly, to Battista Franco. The ex-Neerman page con-
tains a further sketch that is known from a third sheet
of copies (formerly Brussels, Emile Wauters collection,
present whereabouts unknown; reproduced by K. Frey,
1909 – 11 ,no 249 a; pen and ink, 220 × 165 mm; since
the verso of the ex-Wauters sheet bears a fragment of
a letter in Michelangelo’s hand, it evidently comes from
Michelangelo’s studio), as well as other drawings in the
same style, which are also obviously replicas of sketches
byMichelangelo, but of which no other versions survive.
The ex-Neerman page was certainly not copied from the
present one for the version of K that it bears is shown at
greater length.
It is possible that Michelangelo’s original sketches of
the three putti on the British Museum sheet were drawn
in connection with a scheme that included the Christ
Child and the infant Baptist. Another of the drawings on
W 4 verso, not copied here, seems to have been used in
Michelangelo’sTa d dei Tondo,nowin the Royal Academy
London, whose date is probably c.15 0 4. The main figure
(copied here as A) is generally connected with theBattle
of Cascinaand may have been drawn with that project in
view; but no figure resembling this appears in any other
known drawing connected with it, and the compiler’s
suggestion that it might have been made for a figure in a
Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand, for which Michelangelo
made numerous drawings c.15 0 6,remains an alternative.
An important piece of evidence for the project of a
Martyrdom of the Ten Thousandis the fact that the fig-
ure in a contorted pose on the present page (K – more
clearly recorded on the ex-Neerman page) is found in
a drawing, known in three versions, that depicts seven
men crucified on trees. One of these is by Michelangelo’s
young acquaintance Alonso Berruguete; one, by an Ital-
ian hand of the early sixteenth century; and the third is a
later copy, but all of them must go back to a Michelan-
gelo original. Three of the other figures on the present
page, all of which recur, in a different relation, on the
ex-Neerman page, might also have been made for this
project. For a fuller discussion of this putative project, seeJoannides, 1994 c and 2002 b.Anadditional piece of evi-
dence in support of the view that Michelangelo designed
such a scheme is provided by a drawing attributed to him
and recorded in Jabach’s posthumous inventory of 1695
(Py, 2001 ,no. 769 ):Un empereur sur son trone, entourˆ ede ́
gens de guerre, qui fait assommer un homme devant lui,ala`
plume, lav ́e sur papier bistr ́e, long de 14 3/4 pouces sur 10 1/2
pouces.
The small figure in the lower centre of the present page,
Saint John the Baptist Filling his Bowl[J]–also found in the
ex-Neerman page – was obviously drawn in preparation
for a painting. Although this episode had been treated
earlier within Saint John cycles, it seems to have been
isolated as a self-sufficient subject only in the late quattro-
cento. An intarsia panel at the left side of the Tornabuoni
Chapel in Santa Maria Novella, whose fresco scheme was
being executed when the adolescent Michelangelo was
in the studio of Ghirlandaio, showsSaint John the Bap-
tist Filling His Bowlin an exceptionally intense design
which has nothing to do with Ghirlandaio but seems to
be by Filippino Lippi. Michelangelo no doubt recalled
this when making his own drawing. Michelangelo may
have had some responsibility for the theme’s propagation:
Paintings ofSaint John the Baptist Filling His Bowlbecame
quite popular in Florence after c.151 0; examples survive
byBugiardini and Bacchiacca among others, although
no known examples reflect the present design, in which,
unlike most renderings of the subject, the Baptist is shown
not seated but standing, eager to begin his mission, a suc-
cessor of Moses. However, a painting ofSaint John the Bap-
tist Filling His Bowlof c. 1517 byRaphael’s pupil Giovanni
Francesco Penni (London, formerly Pouncey Collection;
oil on panel, 648 × 485 mm; identified by Philip Pouncey;
published in Joannides, 1993 ), which shows the Saint
standing, may reflect some awareness of Michelangelo’s
idea.
Only one commission that could in principle have
some relevance to such a project is known: Cardinal Ali-
dosi wrote to Michelangelo on 3 May151 0asking him
to execute a fresco of John baptising Christ in the chapel
of his Villa at La Magliana. Although the subject is not
the same, it could, in principle, have been planned as a
complementary episode. However, the Cardinal’s request
seems to have had no sequel, and because it is improbable
that the original of the present sketch could have been as
late as151 0,itismost likely that it was sketched c.15 0 5for
some entirely independent project, perhaps for a friend.
The small seated figure, whose sex is unclear, turning
to what seems to be a receptacle on his or her right, is
difficult to interpret. It too recurs on the ex-Neerman
page. There is some relation to the seated figures on the