The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

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0521551331 c 01 a CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 10 , 2007 22 : 25

102 WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY AUTOGRAPH SHEETS CATALOGUE 11

Medium

Recto: Pen, faint offset traces in black chalk.

Verso: Pen and ink and black chalk.

Condition

There is a repaired tear; the edges are discoloured, bruised,

and nicked. The surface is disturbed and is fracturing.

There is a strong vertical crease and skinning, small inden-

tations, and fibrous accretions. Discolouration and stain-

ing are visible, particularly at the lower right and right

edge, and there is some ink show-through. The recto of

this page has suffered more than the others in this series

from over-exposure to light.

Description/Discussion

Recto

A.M...fer(Messer?)roma Silvio ̃ıroma falconi da magliano

silvio di mesfere...ma Damagliano in roma

The inscription is given to Michelangelo by some students and

not by others. The compiler tends to think it is not autograph.

B.Aseated figure in right profile (very faint).

C.Aseated figure in right profile with the right arm

outstretched.

This may be a first idea for the woman at the right of theIesse-

David-Salmonlunette; in the fresco, however, it is her left arm

that is stretched forward. This figure seems to have been drawn

after D; it is revised in G.

D.God the Father Separating Light from Darkness.

Michelangelo does not seem to have turned the sheet to

draw this figure. Robinson’s remark deserves quotation: “This

majestic impersonation was very little altered in the fresco,

and the difference which exists is perhaps to the disadvan-

tage of the latter; for it was impossible to surpass, or even

to retain, in a finished work, the fervent energy displayed in

every touch or rather scratch of the pen in this admirable

sketch.”

E.Seated nude figure facing forward, his right leg bent

up, his left stretched down.