P 1 : JZP
0521551335 c 02 -p 4 CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 11 , 2007 10 : 54
CATALOGUE 60 COPIES OF LOST OR PARTIALLY LOST DRAWINGS 291
of which the draughtsman presumably had free run.
Although this is, in effect, an anthology sheet, the treat-
ment of the forms, shown merging with and emerg-
ing from each other, suggests that the copyist was aware
of Michelangelo’s own propensity for overlapping and
superimposition. In principle, therefore, it is possible that
the present drawing was made by Antonio Mini himself,
in which case it would constitute his highest achieve-
ment. However, the compiler would find it hard to accept
this attribution and, since it may be assumed that Mini’s
own drawings and copies after Michelangelo went with
him to France, together with the originals given him by
Michelangelo, one would expect the provenance of the
present sheet to be French. However, although nothing
is known of its history prior to its appearance in the col-
lection of Jeremiah Harman, there is no suggestion that
it came from France.
Alternatively, the present sheet might have been made
by one of the other artists who collaborated with
Michelangelo in the early153 0s. The style does not imme-
diately suggest a specific candidate, but red chalk draw-
ings by Giovanni Montorsoli, Silvio Cosini, and Niccolo`
Tr ibolo are virtually unknown, and much remains to
be discovered about these sculptors’ graphic work. The
copyist is, in any case, likely to have been Florentine.
Because copies F and I are the same size as Michelan-
gelo’s originals, it is probable, but obviously not certain,
that the other drawings on the present sheet are also the
same size as the lost originals that they reproduce.
History
Jeremiah Harman; Samuel Woodburn (Parker’s insertion
of Sir Thomas Lawrence must be a slip).
References
Woodburn,184 2,no. 81 (“A fine sheet of studies of male
and female heads.”). Woodburn,184 6,no. 42 (As184 2.).
Fisher,186 2,p. 4 , pl. 16 (As Woodburn,184 2.). Fisher,
1865 , II, p. 24 , pl. 17 (As186 2.). Robinson,187 0,no. 32
(Michel Angelo. Datable c. 1511 – 12 , perhaps made for
Tommaso Cavalieri. [F] developed from a head on British
Museum, W 11 /Corpus 134 verso, close to that of Adam.
“Several other of the heads...are, if not directly repro-
duced, probably only slightly altered from those of figures
to be found on the ceiling.” [A] “has something of the
characteristic typical expression of Leonardo da Vinci’s
youthful heads...whilst the outline sketch of a grinning
Satyr’s face in profile [L] seems to have been inspired by
a head in one of Andrea Mantegna’s prints (the ‘Fight-
ing Tritons.’)... The style of design of these heads is of
inimitable power and perfection; the outlines are firmly
drawn, without any appearance of that uncertainty which
so often distinguishes Michel Angelo’s drawings at a later
period, and the shading is laid in in broad and simple
masses of graduated tint, as if with a brush: in fact they are
modelled up in precisely the same style as the heads in his
oil pictures and frescoes. The writer’s belief is, that Michel
Angelo, having been called upon for a sheet of studies to
serve as drawing copies, selected various heads from his
ownworks, previously executed; and copied them at once
on this paper, on a reduced scale from the Cartoons in his
studio”). Fisher,187 2,I,p. 15 , pl. 17 (As186 2.). Ruskin,
187 2,p. 100 (“[T]his sheet of Vasari’s ‘teste divine’ con-
tains, in fact, not a single drawing of high quality –
only one of moderate agreeableness, and two caricatured
heads, one of a satyr with hair like the fur of an animal, and
one of a monstrous and sensual face such as could only
have occurred to the sculptor in a fatigued dream, and
which in my own notes I have classed with the vile face
in No. 45 [presumably J or K on Cat. 30 recto].”). Black,
1875 ,p. 214 ,no. 32. Gotti, 1875 , II, p. 239. Springer,
187 8,pp. 32 – 3 (By Michelangelo, early, strongly influ-
enced by Leonardo in types and drawing technique. Illus-
trated.). Fisher,187 9,p. 25 ,no. 33 (“A Sheet of Studies.”).
Springer, 1883 ,I,p. 43 , fig. 15 (As187 8.). Portheim,
188 9,p. 145 (“[B]esonders der Lockerkopf links oben
sich wie eine nachahmung Lionardo’s ausnimmt.” Criti-
cism of Robinson’s view that Michelangelo copied either
Mantegna or his own work.). Wolfflin, ̈ 18 91,pp. 62 , 85 – 7
(A forgery based in part on drawings by Michelan-
gelo. “Einen ̈achten Zug scheint der junge mannliche ̈
Kopf in der Mitte links [F] zu besitzen. Er steht den
letzten sixtinischen Kopfen nahe.”). Knackfuss, ̈ 1896 ,
p. 22 (Michelangelo, influenced by Leonardo.). Berenson,
1903 ,no. 1706 (“[W]retched imitations.” [F] after same
lost original copied on BM W 11 /Corpus 134 verso.).
Ferri and Jacobsen, 1905 ,p. 12 (Note that head [I]
copied after Uffizi 14412 F/Corpus37 8.). Steinmann,
1905 , II, p. 595 (One of heads copied after same drawing
also copied on BM W 11 /Corpus 134 verso.). Jacobsen,
1907 ,p. 393 ([F] after same lost original copied on BM
W 11 /Corpus 134 verso.). Thode, 1908 ,I,p. 262 ; II,
p. 337 ,34 0(Probably after drawings by Michelangelo of
Sistine period; [F] and BM W 11 /Corpus 134 versocopied
fromignudoleft abovePersica; [B] and [L] related; [A]
from an Ideal Head.). K. Frey, 1907 ,p. 89 (“unacht.”). ̈
K. Frey, 1909 – 11 , under no. 155 a (Not Michelangelo;
byan artist from the second third of the cinquecento
aware of drawings by Michelangelo and Leonardo; links
with Cat. 1 verso and Louvre Inv. 684 /J 29 /Corpus 95 .).
Thode, 1913 ,no. 419 (Copies; [F] after BM W 11 /Corpus
134 verso; [I] after Uffizi 14412 F/Corpus37 8.). Berenson,