The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

P 1 : KsF
0521551331 c 01 -p 2 CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 11 , 2007 10 : 5

174 WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY AUTOGRAPH SHEETS CATALOGUES 30–31

also autograph, the remainder pupil copies. Verso: poem

written first in Michelangelo’s writing of the15 2 0s. The

heads [D, E] and the crustaceans by Michelangelo, the

remainder in part by Mini, in part by Quaratesi.). de

Tolnay and Brizio, 1980 ,no. 66 (Recto: onlyHercules

and Antaeussketches discussed.). Guazzoni, 1984 , pl. 94

(Hercules and Antaeussketches [F, I] by Michelangelo.).

Wallace, 1995 ,pp. 115 – 18 (Verso: informal pedagogical

drawings, with Michelangelo and Mini handing the sheet

back and forth: the “childlike scrawl [of the giraffe, V] is

byMichelangelo...the purposeful creation of a clever

rather than incompetent draftsman” imitating a naive

drawing.). Ryan, 1996 ,no. 51 ,pp. 38 – 41 (Transcription

and prose translation of poem.); p. 278 (Commentary.).

Ryan, 1998 ,pp. 60 – 2 (Discussion of poem.).

CATALOGUE 31

An Idealised Bust

184 6. 61 ;R. 10 ;P.II 315 ; Corpus 323

Dimensions: 205 × 165 mm

Medium

Red chalk.

Condition

There is uneven pulp, a pressed-out horizontal fold,

and another horizontal line of abrasion/crease. A major

repaired loss and skinned area, minor edge losses, nicks,

and skinning are visible. There are several scratches,

incised marks, and deeper, diagonal surface scratches,

abrasions, and accretions. The sheet is unevenly dis-

coloured with dark foxing and local staining.

Discussion

This drawing, of the head and shoulders of a subject

whose identity and sex are disputed, is generally con-

sidered to date from c. 1522 .However, it may have been

made a little later given that the particular elegance of

the facial type and the delicacy of the pose have cer-

tain links with the figure ofVictory, underway during the

later15 2 0s. The stylisation of the features, with a long

slightly fleshy nose, and prominent chin, has something

in common with the female type seen in the drawing usu-

ally identified as theVirgin with Child and Angelsin the

Accademia in Venice (Inv. 199 /Corpus 244 ;black chalk,

37 0× 250 mm; for a copy see Cat. 65 ). The present head

also recalls earlier work. The twist of the neck of the

figure – whose sex is also disputed – supporting the body

of Christ at the right of theEntombmentin the National

Gallery (NG 790 ; oil on wood, 161. 7 × 149. 9 cm) bears

aresemblance to that of the present head and because

the period towards153 0 seems to have been a period

of graphic retrospection in Michelangelo’s work, such a

link would also support a later date. The exotic head-

dress is presumably an invention by Michelangelo, whose

fascination for such adornments goes back at least to the

Entombmentand is particularly notable among the Sistine

Ancestors of Christ.

From the drawing’s degree of finish and the self-

sufficient nature of the image, it seems likely that it was

made as a Presentation Drawing, probably in Florence

rather than in Rome.

Unlike the three sheets of heads that Michelangelo

made for Gherardo Perini around15 2 4(Florence, Uffizi,

598 Erecto/B 185 /Corpus 307 , 599 Erecto/B 186 /Corpus

308 , 601 E/B 187 /Corpus 306 ; all in black chalk, respec-

tively, 357 × 252 mm, 343 × 236 mm, and 298 × 205 mm),

which are dense in content and no doubt have didac-

tic intent – as do those made in the early153 0s for

Tommaso de’Cavalieri – the present head seems not to

embody any specific message, and rather to be a study in

character and temperament: perhaps melancholy. It was

copied (see next section) but not frequently. Therefore,

if Michelangelo gave it to a friend, it was probably not

made widely available by its owner. If the provenance from

Casa Buonarroti is correct, it was presumably acquired

for or presented to the Casa in the early seventeenth

century.

Drawn Copies

1. Florence, Uffizi, 602 E/B 188 /Petrioli Tofani, 1986 ,

p. 268 ;red chalk, 160 × 121 mm. The image size is iden-

tical with that of the original, and this copy was undoubt-

edly made directly from it, probably in the153 0s. Uffizi

602 Ewas attributed confidently by Robinson to Battista

Franco; Parker, Barocchi, and others have given it to

Bacchiacca. But to the compiler, Uffizi 602 E displays the

characteristics of neither Franco nor Bacchiacca – who

does not seem to have employed this head in any of his

paintings – and he is inclined to think rather of an artist

in the circle of Bronzino.

2. Oxfordshire, Private Collection; black chalk, 176 ×

132 mm; from the collection of Carlo Prayer (Lugt,

2044 ). By Battista Franco; see Lauder, 2003 ,p. 96. Most

of Franco’s copies after drawings by Michelangelo are

indirect, made from copies of them by Raffaello da

Montelupo, but this seems likely to have been made from

the original.