The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

P 1 : KsF
0521551331 c 01 CUNY 160 /Joannides 052155 133 1 January 10 , 2007 22 : 22

66 WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY AUTOGRAPH SHEETS CATALOGUE 2

Verso

A.Avery faint black chalk sketch in the lower left corner,

which seems to represent a right hand resting on a flat

surface with the fingers bent over its edge.

B.The left shoulder, upper back, and raised arm of a

young man, seen from behind.

C.The left arm pit and raised upper arm of a young man,

seen from the side.

D.The back of a young man, with the arms indicated as

lowered; he appears to be seated, since the buttocks are

compressed.

With the upper edge as base

E.The right thigh and knee of a young man, seen in left

three-quarter view.

Discussion

Cat. 1 verso and the recto and verso of the present sheet,

obviously closely connected in motif and technique,

are linked also with a third sheet in the Louvre (Inv.

714 /J 4 /Corpus 19 ; pen and ink, 262 × 185 mm) and, a

little more distantly, a fourth in the Albertina (BK 132 /

Corpus 14 ; pen and ink, 225 × 315 mm). It is not abso-

lutely necessary to suppose that all the drawings on the

four sheets were made at the same time, but there are no

good reasons for assuming otherwise.

None of the other drawings on these sheets is cer-

tainly connected with the group on the recto of Cat. 1 ,

although it is just possible that the two sketches of a female

head (B and C on its verso) may be. The studies of male

backs and shoulders found on the versos of both Cat. 1

and the present drawing – all probably from the same

model – are very similar to a study found on Louvre Inv.

714 /J 4 /Corpus 19 verso and, somewhat less clearly, with

a study of a right shoulder and arm seen from the front,

on the recto of the same sheet. Two further half studies of

backs can be found on another drawing in the Louvre (Inv.

718 /J 9 /Corpus 47 verso; pen and ink,34 0×18 0mm), of