P 1 : KsF
0521551331 c 01 -p 3 CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 11 , 2007 10 : 14
220 WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY AUTOGRAPH SHEETS CATALOGUE 44scale. It might in principle be a detailed study for a
head in one of the frescoes, which was subsequently
changed, but the likelihood is that it was drawn some-
what after155 0,asthe watermark suggests. Although
it is not an auxiliary cartoon in the narrow sense of
the term – no traces of pouncing are visible in it –
it could have been made to study, with some varia-
tions, a head in a lost cartoon. It was presumably made
with a group composition in view, perhaps aPieta` –
the subject of the cartoon with nine figures recorded
in Michelangelo’s posthumous inventory – in which this
head could be for one of the Virgin’s companions, gaz-
ing down at the body of Christ, but no suggestion about
its function can be more than speculative. The handling
is soft and unemphatic, apparently pictorial rather than
sculptural, yet the head emerges with a powerful sense of
volume.Verso
Although reminiscent of capitals of Michelangelo’s Flo-
rentine period – in which critics have persistently dated
it – this is much later and was probably drawn after
the recto. The death’s head might, as Hartt noted, sug-
gest a project for a tomb or for the portal of a funer-
ary chapel, but the scroll-like horns or ears, a fusion of
architectural and human or animal forms, and the beads
that are strung between them perhaps imply a context
less serious. Whatever the case, Michelangelo designed a
number of tombs during his last Roman period, most of
which remained unexecuted: That for Cecchino Bracci
in the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, and, in all
probability, that of Cardinal Raffaello Riario in Santi
Apostoli, are rare exceptions, but neither includes skull
capitals, and both probably antedate the present drawing
byabout a decade. Among drawings by Michelangelo
for tombs datable to the155 0sareCB 19 F/B15 0/Corpus
36 8(black chalk, 199 × 197 mm, probably of the early
155 0s and CB 103 Arecto/B 264 /Corpus 613 )black chalk,
34 8× 200 mm, but none is drawn in great detail or, so far
as can be seen, includes a capital of this kind.History
(More likely) Daniele da Volterra: theBona RotiCol-
lector (than, as given by all scholars from Wood-
burnonwards, Casa Buonarroti); Jean-Baptiste Wicar?;
William Young Ottley, his sale, 1814 , lot 257 ,“Aman’s
head – black chalk,” £ 5. 15. 6 (also £ 5. 5. 0 in pencil in
opposite margin); Sir Thomas Lawrence (L. 2445 ); Samuel
Woodburn.References
William Young Ottley, his sale, 1814 , lot 257 “A man’s
head – black chalk,” £ 5. 15. 6 [also £ 5. 5. 0 in pencil
in opposite margin]. Lawrence Inventory, 1830 ,M.A.
Buonaroti Case 3 , Drawer 3 [ 1830 - 85 ] (“A young Man’s
head slightly sketched in Chalk, an anatomical [sic. archi-
tectural?] ornament on the reverse.”). Woodburn, 1836 b,
no. 7 (“Full of expression and character. From the Collec-
tions of M. Buonarroti and the chevalier Vicar.”). Wood-
burn,184 2,no. 58 (As 1836 .). Woodburn,184 6,no. 26
(As184 2.). Robinson,187 0,no. 75 (Recto: “[O]f Michel
Angelo’s late time, the style of execution coinciding
exactly with that of the studies for several compositions
of the Salutation of the Virgin. The head, which is that of
ayoung man or perhaps a female, may indeed have been
intended either for the Virgin or the announcing angel
in one of these designs.”). Black, 1875 ,p. 215 ,no. 64.
Gotti, 1875 , II, p. 239. Berenson, 1903 ,no.15 7 6(“Very
late.”). Thode, 1908 ,I,p. 500 (Verso: for New Sacristy.).
K. Frey, 1909 – 11 ,no. 225 (Recto: pupil or assistant; New
Sacristy period.); no. 226 (Verso: related in type to New
Sacristy, but not used there.). Thode, 1913 ,no. 449
(Recto: head of a woman, drawn later than the verso,
which is of period and style of Medici Tombs.). Berenson,
1938 ,no.15 7 6 (As 1903 .). Delacre, 1938 ,pp. 375 – 6
(Recto: the same head as Windsor PW 434 /Corpus 325
and BM 1859 - 6 - 25 - 565 [not included by Wilde]; per-
haps that of a black man.); p.38 9(Verso: Michelangelo.).
Wilde, 1953 exh., no. 107 (Recto: after155 0.). Parker,
1956 ,no. 337 (Recto: probably a young man; purpose
indeterminate. Verso: earlier than recto.). Dussler, 1959 ,
no. 351 (Ascribed. Recto and verso contemporary, c.
155 0.). Berenson, 1961 ,no.15 7 6(As 1903 / 1938 .). Barbieri
and Puppi, 1964 a,p. 1004 (Verso:15 2 0– 30 .). Hartt, 1971 ,
no. 397 (Recto: 1534 – 5 .Perhaps for an angel head in the
Last Judgement.); no. 289 (Verso: 1516 – 7 .For upper storey
of tomb of Julius II. “The profile is almost identical with
that of the upper cornice of the tomb as executed. The
relative timidity and conservatism of the shapes... place
this drawing...intheperiodofMichelangelo’s first archi-
tectural experimentations....Acapital with a skull can be
related only to a tomb.”), Gere and Turner, 1975 ,no. 161
(Recto: perhaps after155 0;close resemblance, in reverse,
to Saint Dismas in theLast Judgement.Verso: generally
considered to be of the period of the New Sacristy.). De
Tolnay, 1978 , Corpus III, no. 402 (Recto: c.15 4 7– 50 ,
perhaps for the Virgin in anAnnunciation.Verso: chrono-
logical disparity with recto; recalls drawings of c. 1525 – 6 .).
Argan, 1990 ,p. 26 (Verso reproduced.). Perrig, 1999 ,pp.
239 – 40 (By Ascanio Condivi; from Farnese Collection.).