P 1 : KsF
0521551331 c 01 -p 2 CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 11 , 2007 10 : 5
CATALOGUE 35 WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY AUTOGRAPH SHEETS 191CATALOGUE 35Samson and Delilah
184 6. 65 ;R. 55 ;P.II31 9; Corpus 297
Dimensions: 272 × 395 mmWatermark: Robinson Appendix no. 11. Roberts Anchor
F. Briquet 527 ,Verona,155 8.Medium
Red chalk with subsequent? stylus indentation.Condition
There is a central, vertical rope mark, a pressed-out hor-
izontal fold with ingrained dirt, and other creases. The
sheet has a tear repair, edge repairs, minor infills, a small
hole with skinning, accretions, ingrained dirt, local stain-
ing, and widespread foxing.Numbering
Robinson’s numbering in graphite: 55.Discussion
This drawing may have been made as a gift for one of
Michelangelo’s friends and, if so, was presumably acquired
later for the Casa Buonarroti. However, it is not brought
to the same degree of finish as most of his Presentation
Drawings, and it could also be seen as a design for a work
to be executed in relief sculpture or painting. It is sim-
ilar both in conception and composition to Michelan-
gelo’s design of c. 1532 for the painting ofVenus and
Cupidto be executed by Pontormo for their common
friend Bartolommeo Bettini. In both, a smaller figure
clambers triumphantly over a larger one, but there is no
evidence that the two compositions were planned as a
pair. It is rather that the triumphal theme in the present
drawing was re-used, with a more complex pattern of
interaction between the two characters, in theVenus and
Cupid.Itwas again recalled, more straightforwardly, in
Michelangelo’s sketches ofDavid and Goliathof the155 0s
(see Cat. 46 a). The form of Samson also refers back to ear-
lier work by Michelangelo: There are close resemblances
between it and the conquered figures at the base of the
Victoriesin Michelangelo’s projects in Berlin (Inv.153 0 5
recto/Corpus 55 ; pen and ink with brush and wash over
stylus indications and traces of black chalk, 525 × 343 mm)