The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

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238 WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY AUTOGRAPH SHEETS CATALOGUES 48–49

56 , 59 (Michelangelo, late; part of same sheet as [Cat. 47 ].

Shows development from a three-figure to a two-figure

group.). Fiorio, 1992 ,pp. 82 – 83 (“From an...idea for

a Deposition, seen in the central sketch and repeated in

the one immediately to the right, the group is reduced

to just two figures, the sketch of which on the left cor-

responds to the earlier version of theRondanini Piet`a.”).

Hirst, 1994 – 5 ,pp. 69 , 139 ,no. 26 (Three-figure group

echoes scheme of National GalleryEntombment;155 0s.).

Pos`eq, 1999 ,p. 96 (The central groups recall thePalestri-

na Piet`a; the others theRondanini Piet`a. “[E]ach of these

latter drawings presents the pair as if from a different

viewing point, which evokes Michelangelo making rapid

notes of the as yet non-existent sculpture as he rotates

it in his mind.”). Nagel, 1996 ,pp. 568 – 70 (c.155 2– 3 ;

three sketches related to the first version of theRondanini

Pieta`; the other two have been connected with thePalest-

rina Pieta`,but they seem rather to prepare anEntomb-

ment, elaborated on other lost drawings, known only in

copies, including the ex–Gathorne-Hardy sheet.). Per-

rig, 1999 ,pp. 232 , 276 (Michelangelo; from Farnese

Collection.). Nagel, 2000 ,pp. 209 – 10 (As 1996 .). Pao-

letti, 2000 ,pp. 55 – 6 (The three-figure groups show an

Entombment; the two-figure groups “give some indica-

tion” of the appearance of the first version of theRon-

danini Piet`a.).

CATALOGUE 49

Recto: A Male Torso with a Bent Left Arm; Part Studies

of Legs

Ve r so: Studies for Christ Crucified

184 6. 87 ;R. 5 ;P.II 341 ; Corpus 381

Dimensions: 252 × 161 mm

Watermark

A spread eagle within a circle: Roberts B, C, or D?.

Medium

Black chalk.

Condition

There is a major pressed-out central horizontal fold and

some edge damage with minor losses. Several diagonal

wrinkles are inherent in the sheet. There is skinning

around the edges and a number of small indents, but not

punctures. The sheet has general ingrained surface dirt

and discolouration around the edges.

Description and Inscriptions

Recto

With the lower edge as base

A.A male torso seen frontally, the left arm raised and

bent at the elbow and the wrist.

B.Two legs from hips to upper calf, seen frontally.

C.In Michelangelo’s hand, in pen:...iraor...ua

With right edge as base

D.In Michelangelo’s hand, in chalk:a(deleted?)di unidici

dagosto

Verso

A.A torso with outstretched arms, seen frontally, for a

Crucified Christ.

B.The left shoulder of A repeated, more diagramatically.

C.A curved line.

With the lower edge as base

D.Aright knee (no doubt related to B on therecto).

Discussion

This sheet should be dated late in Michelangelo’s life, as

the character of the handwriting, firm and clear but obvi-

ously written slowly and with deliberation, is sufficient

to confirm.

The upper drawing on the recto is closely related to

another study of a torso formerly in the Gathorne-Hardy

Collection at Donnington Priory, later in a Swiss pri-

vate collection and then at Christie’s, New York, 24 Jan-

uary 2006 , lot 18 (Corpus 382 recto; black chalk,

240 × 175 mm) in which the pose is very similar. Whereas

the present drawing establishes the arrangement of the

shoulders and upper torso, and lays out the saliences and

declivities of the collar bone and the musculature of the

right arm, the ex–Gathorne-Hardy drawing continues

the torso down to the hips, includes a summary head, and

develops the modelling of chest and shoulders more fully.

Even though it was the modelling of the shoulders that

most concerned Michelangelo – in the ex–Gathorne-

Hardy drawing the left shoulder is sketched again at the

lower right of the page, and the right shoulder is tried

twice at the lower left – he also focused on the rib-cage

and the abdomen. Whether the present drawing should be

seen as a preliminary sketch for the ex–Gathorne-Hardy

drawing, or whether both were drawn from a heavily

muscled model at the same session, with the pose slightly

modified from one moment to another – the viewpoint

in the ex–Gathorne-Hardy is shifted slightly to the right –

is debatable, but the compiler thinks that both drawings

are probably life studies and is inclined to the second