The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

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CATALOGUE 74 STUDIO DRAWINGS AND DRAWINGS OF UNDETERMINED STATUS 321

The smaller figure, which overlaps the Faun slightly,
is placed in a quite complex pose and must derive from
an invention by Michelangelo, but it cannot be linked
with any known project. One possible purpose, in the
compiler’s view, would be for a figure placed on a ladder,
helping to support the body of Christ as it is lowered from
the Cross: An example of such a scheme by Michelan-
gelo dating from this time is theDepositionin the Teyler
Museum, Haarlem (A 25 recto/VT 60 /Corpus 89 ;red
chalk 331 × 229 mm). However, the present figure cannot
be found in that drawing, and it might well have been
drawn with some other subject in mind.
The hatching on the legs is relatively fluent and fast
and, again, could represent re-touching by Michelangelo
as could the contour of the figure’s right calf. It is, of
course, uncertain when this drawing was made, but, like

Cat. 73 ,itprobably dates from a relatively developed stage
in Mini’s career in Michelangelo’s workshop.

Verso
These drawings might well be copies after sketches by
Michelangelo, either ones made with didactic purpose,
or simply studies retained in the studio, in which case
the models for these copies might well have antedated
them by two decades or more. Studies by Michelangelo
of legs seen from the front and of hands are sufficiently
common not to require itemising. H, which might rep-
resent the shoulder and a neck of a turning figure, is
loosely reminiscent of certain diagrammatic sketches by
Michelangelo, such as CB 15 F/B 179 /Corpus 326 ;black
chalk, 206 × 248 mm; probably of the later15 2 0s made in
preparation for theVictory.Ifso, then the present sheet
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