The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

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30 THE DRAWINGS OF MICHELANGELO AND HIS FOLLOWERS IN THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM

of his edition of Vasari, published in 1760 ,provides some

information:

Il Signor Filippo Cicciaporci, gentiluomo Fiorentino, ha una

copiossisima e singolar raccolta di disegni di vari, e tutti

d’insegni professori tanto antichi che moderni. Ella in gran

parte proviene da una collezione, che aveva fatta giailcav-`

alier Giuseppe Cesari d’Arpino, che egli poie andato sem-`

pre aumentando. Tra essi ve ne sono circa 80 attribuiti a

Michelangelo, e molti professori, che gli hanno veduti, gli

credono originali terminati parte di lapis rosso o nero e parti

in penna, fatti con quella intelligenza, e bravura, ch’era pro-

prio di questo divino artefice, sua insieme finiti con molto

diligenza. Il detto gentiluomo di presente abita in Roma.

It is particularly significant that this cache also included a

number of drawings by Daniele da Volterra.^165

Filippo Cicciaporci’s collection seems to have been

dispersed – probably in Rome rather than Florence –

around 1765 , shortly after Bottari published his edition of

Vasari. The main immediate beneficiary was no doubt the

Rome-based sculptor, restorer, and art-dealer, Bartolom-

meo Cavaceppi – listed by Ottley as the intermediate

owner of all the drawings said to come from Cicciaporci –

and a number of drawings with this provenance were

eventually acquired by William Young Ottley. Among

them were certainly some genuine drawings by Michelan-

gelo, including one in the British Museum (W 29 /Corpus

97 ), which is similar in pen style and approach to Cat. 22.

Cat. 22 itself was never owned by Ottley but was acquired

byWoodburn from Baron Dominique-Vivant Denon,

who may have been another beneficiary, via Cavaceppi,

from the dispersal of the Cicciaporci Collection when he

wasinItaly in the 1780 s and 1790 s. Vivant Denon owned

the famousDragon, Cat. 28 , which is similar in style

to theSybiland may also have been acquired in Italy –

although in this instance a strong argument can be made

for a French provenance.^166

Much less is known about Daniele’s other major pupil,

Michele degli Alberti, who also presumably acquired a

portion of the drawings left by his master. But it would

be tempting to identify him – or the still more shadowy

Feliciano di San Vito – as the owner of a group of

Michelangelo drawings, including a few copies by close

followers, that has recently been partly reconstituted.^167

These drawings can be identified by distinctive inscrip-

tions or by distinctive numberings or both. The inscrip-

tion usually readsdi Michel Angelo Bona Rotior some close

variant and is often accompanied by a number, written

byadifferent hand. Both inscription and number seem

to be of the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century.

It is likely that theBona Rotiinscriptions precede the

numbers.^168 The numbers rise as high as 96 , and this

series probably ran to around 100 sheets; at least seven are

in the Ashmolean.^169 However, because not all the draw-

ings carry both inscriptions and numbers, it is impossi-

bletosaywhether those sheets that carry one and not

the other were separated before those that carry both, or

whether they are simply sheets that were later trimmed or

subdivided. It is also a matter for conjecture whether the

drawings that bear both inscriptions and numbers passed

through two collections successively or remained in a sin-

gle collection but were marked at different moments by

different hands. The compiler is inclined to favour the

latter explanation, but it is safer to treat them as though

they were owned by two collectors, to be dubbed, respec-

tively, theBona RotiCollector and the Irregular Number-

ing Collector.

The largest group of such sheets is now in the Teyler

Museum in Haarlem. The Teyler’s holding of Michelan-

gelo drawings is the remains of a collection formed pri-

marily in Italy, between 1629 and 1637 ,probably from a

combination of single and group purchases, by the artist

and writer Joachim von Sandrart. Sandrart must have been

in touch with the owners of caches of Michelangelo draw-

ings, and virtually all those that are known today with a

secure provenance from his collection are of high quality.

In particular might be mentioned a group of extraordi-

narily beautiful drawings made for the Sistine ceiling. It

is in principle possible that Sandrart acquired some of

his drawings from the Cavaliere d’Arpino, but his sin-

gle most significant source of Michelangelo drawings was

probably the owner of theBona Roti/Irregular Number-

ing group. It is certain that the inscriptions and num-

berings were applied to these drawings before Sandrart

acquired them, and not after. One obvious reason for say-

ing this is that Sandrart possessed a number of drawings

byRaphael and his studio that are also now at Haar-

lem, and whose later provenance is identical with that

of the Michelangelos, and none of these drawings bears

comparable inscriptions or numbers.^170 It is notable that

the Michelangelo drawings in the Teyler Museum include

both of the figure-studies forCascina, which were known

in Rome in the155 0s and15 6 0, plus another sheet of

which both sides contain drawings executed by Michelan-

gelo specifically for Daniele, one made in preparation for

the statue of SaintPaulcommissioned from Daniele for

the Ricci chapel in San Pietro in Montorio, for which he

ordered marble in155 6,and the other side for Daniele’s

Aeneas Commanded by Mercury to Relinquish Dido,apaint-

ing being prepared by Daniele for Giovanni della Casa

in 1555 – 6.^171 It is tempting to conclude that the inscrip-

tions and the numbers are related to the group of sheets