The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

P 1 : JZP
0521551335 c 02 -p 4 CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 11 , 2007 10 : 54

CATALOGUES 61–62 COPIES OF SURVIVING DRAWINGS 293

1. London, British Museum18 95- 9 - 15 - 492 /W 87 (but

see also discussion under W 42 ); black chalk, 410 × 263

mm. By far the best surviving version, until 1953 generally

believed to be the original.

2. Sotheby’s sale, London, 9 July 1981 , lot 11 as Alessan-

dro Allori; black chalk, 414 × 275 mm.

3. Christie’s sale, London, 26 November 1973 , lot 339 ;

black chalk, 388 × 255 mm.

4. Paris, Musee du Louvre, Inv. ́ 10978 /J 71 ;black

chalk, 235 × 183 mm, fragmentary. Made on tracing

paper that has in part disintegrated; only the head

survives.

These copies are all on the same scale, no doubt that

of the original.

History

Sir Thomas Lawrence (L. 2445 ); Samuel Woodburn.

References

Woodburn,184 2,no.15 4(By Raphael.). Robinson,187 0,

p. 308 ,no. 172 (Copy from Michel Angelo. After helmet

of Count of Canossa; “probably by an engraver of the

sixteenth century.”). Parker, 1956 ,no. 353 (Timid copy

of a detail from Michelangelo’s lost drawing.). De Tolnay,

1973 ,p. 39 (Timid copy after a lost drawing for the head-

dress of the Count of Canossa; the head and neck antic-

ipate Cat. 36 ; for the hind legs, see BM W 50 /Corpus

305 .). De Tolnay, 1976 , Corpus II, no. 303 bis (As

1973 .).

CATALOGUE 62

battista franco(c.151 0– 1561 )

An Ideal Head

184 6. 94 ;R. 53 ( 2 ); P.II34 8

Dimensions: 148 × 163 mm, irregular, most of the top

edge and the lower right corner made up.

Medium

Black chalk.

Condition

The sheet is tissue lined. There are major toned infills,

a diagonal pressed-out crease, and repaired tears, with

some skinning at repairs. The sheet has abrasions, fibrous

accretions, general uneven discolouration and local

foxing.