The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

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31 0 STUDIO DRAWINGS AND DRAWINGS OF UNDETERMINED STATUS CATALOGUES 68–69

before the scheme was changed.). Thode, 1908 ,I,p. 253 ;

II, p. 491 (Not forIonas, perhaps for aPiet`a.). K. Frey,

1909 – 11 ,no. 155 a (Michelangelo: study for a Sistine

prophet, perhapsIoel.). Thode, 1913 ,no. 396 (Neither for

Ionasnor aPiet`a.). Berenson, 1938 ,no.155 4. 1 (As 1903 .).

Parker, 1956 ,no.37 0 (“[M]ore than doubtful whether

this very slight sketch is attributable to Michelangelo.”).

Dussler, 1959 ,no. 601 (School drawing; Sistine period.).

Berenson, 1961 ,no.155 4a (As 1903 / 1938 .). Barocchi,

1962 ,p. 23 (Michelangelo.). De Tolnay, 1975 , Corpus

I, no.15 0(Attribution to Michelangelo doubtful.). Joan-

nides, 1981 b,p. 682 (Not Michelangelo.). Perrig, 1991 ,

p. 146 (By a pupil of Daniele da Volterra.).

CATALOGUE 69

ABoyStruggling with an Unidentifiable Form

184 6. 114 ;R. 42 ( 1 ); P.II37 2

Dimensions: 163 × 129 mm

Medium

Black chalk.

Condition

There is minor edge skinning, minor abrasion, local fox-

ing, and uneven discolouration.

Discussion

This drawing has generally not been accepted as being by

Michelangelo over the last century, and, despite its decent

quality, this view is surely correct.

The pose is based on a well-known Hellenistic pro-

totype of a boy wrestling with a goose, which exists

in numerous versions, and which was certainly known

to Michelangelo (Natali, 1985 ,p. 28 , suggests that the

Child in theDoni tondowas inspired by such a figure.).

In the present drawing, however, the compiler is unable

to descry the boy’s opponent, and thus the subject. The

infant Hercules strangling the serpents is obviously one

possibility, and even though this victory was, in princi-

ple, achieved by a child seated or reclining in a cradle