The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

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330 STUDIO DRAWINGS AND DRAWINGS OF UNDETERMINED STATUS CATALOGUE 77

of combat between cavalrymen and between cavalrymen

and pikemen, as demonstrated in Cats. 4 , 5 , and 6 ; fur-

thermore, several copies after lost sketches of cavalry com-

bats by Michelangelo dating from the period ofCascina

are found on a sheet in the British Museum ( 1946 - 7 - 13 -

635 ; pen and ink, 306 × 460 mm; attributed to Raffaello

da Montelupo but in the compiler’s opinion not by him;

see Joannides, 2002 b,tav. 11 ), and it may be that A here

also records a group planned for that project.

Berenson suggested that the main drawing was for a

decoration in relief – perhaps for the frieze of a fire-

place – which is quite possible; but it could as well be

for a painting as a sculpture. The compiler would raise

the possibility that it could have been made for one of

the temporary projects on which Raffaello was heavily

engaged in the mid-153 0s, perhaps for a simulated relief

in grisaille on a triumphal arch constructed for some for-

mal entry. Supporting the view that something of this

nature was intended is the equine trophy, which would

obviously be suitable for execution on the attic of a tem-

porary arch.

Verso

The largest study on the verso, C, probably the first to

be drawn on this side of the sheet, would appear to be

for a statue standing in a niche. The scale indicated along