The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

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38 6 MISCELLANEOUS CATALOGUE 111

D.Immediately below C. An elderly, long-bearded man

seen from the left.

E.The head of an elderly man, in left profile.

F. Immediately below E. A sketch of a flying God the

Father? seen frontally in foreshortening.

G.A standing female figure in a pose faintly reminiscent

of Leonardo’sLedaor Raphael’sVenus.

H.The same, abbreviated.

I. Lower centre, inscription:Al suo quanto fratello.

J. Right edge, inscription:Al suo (se)mpre?

Verso

A.Aright eye in right profile.

B.Aright leg, partially ́ecorchetoshow the muscles, seen ́

frontally.

C.Aright leg, partiallyecorch ́ ́etoshow the bones and

muscles, seen frontally (traced through from the recto).

Discussion

Although thought to be by Michelangelo as late as

Robinson’s catalogue, this double-sided sheet is certainly

byone of his followers. Berenson’s attribution to Raf-

faello da Montelupo has generally been accepted, but the

drawing does not display Raffaello’s characteristic left-

handed hatching, and the line-work seems more sinu-

ous and elegant than his. The way in which the bones

are drawn in pen and the muscles then inserted in red

chalk is also unusually neat for Raffaello. The compiler is

inclined to give this sheet to Battista Franco, who col-

laborated with Raffaello during the153 0sand copied

some of his drawings. However, this attribution must be

regarded as tentative, especially given our ignorance of

figure studies in pen by several of the artists who worked

closely with Michelangelo. Nor can any of the drawings

on this sheet firmly be connected with compositions by

Franco.

None of the drawings seem to derive directly from

surviving or lost drawings by Michelangelo. However,

the verso sketch of a right eye in profile comes close to

such as those found on Cat. 28 verso and might, per-

haps, have been copied directly or indirectly from a lost

“teaching drawing” by Michelangelo. The style of the

anatomical studies is more linear and less substantial than