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0521551335 c 07 CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 11 , 2007 13 : 37
CATALOGUE 111 MISCELLANEOUS 38 7Michelangelo’s anatomies in pen and can hardly be copied
from him, but the proportions of the leg are reminiscent
of Michelangelo’s work of the153 0s and15 4 0s when he
adopted thicker and heavier figure types. It is notable that
the draughtsman by tracing the forms of the left leg on
the recto, produced those of the right leg on the verso.
Such tracing was at times employed by Michelangelo,
butitwas common enough practice for this not to be
significant.
The grotesque profiles on the recto reflect an interest
common to Michelangelo and his pupils, but they can-
not be linked directly with any known drawings by them.
The well-characterised sketch of the elderly bearded
man – certainly not Michelangelo himself, as Robinson
surmised – is notable, but the compiler is unable to con-
nect it with other drawings.History
Pierre Crozat; Pierre-Jean Mariette (L. 1852 ); Graf Moritz
von Fries (L. 2903 ); Marquis de Lagoy (no stamp); Sir
Thomas Lawrence (L. 2445 ); Samuel Woodburn.References
Vasari (Bottari, ed.), III, 1760 ,p. 240? (“Michelangelo,
quando doveva delineare una figura, cominciava dal farne
primo su una carta lo scheletro, e poi sopra un’ altra carta
disegnava la stessa figura rivestite di muscoli....Signor
Mariette ha gli studi del Christo della Minerva fatti in
questa guisa.”). Marquis de Lagoy, etching of uncer-
tain date. Lawrence Inventory, 1830 ,no. 6 [ 1830 - 9 ] (“A
Curious leaf, on one side it is a portrait of M. Angelo.”).
Woodburn, 1836 b,no. 45 (Recto: “Various studies – a
leg, of which the bones are drawn with surprising truth
to nature, and the sinews and flesh marked in red chalk.
Also some heads of caricature, and an old man’s por-
trait, with a long beard. On the reverse are other studies.
Size,11 1/ 4 inches by 81 / 4 inches. From the Collections
of M. Crozat, Mariette and the Count of Fries.”). The
Literary Gazette, July 1836 (“Nor ought the carefulness
with which this great man made his anatomical studies
to be lost upon the young artist....So great, indeed,
washis solicitude in this respect, that he occasionally
drew the bones first, with one material, and superinduced
the muscles with another. This practice is exemplified in