MICHELANGELO Buonarroti
(b. 1475, Caprese, d. 1564, Roma)

Design for a Double Tomb in the Medici Chapel (verso)

1520-21
Black chalk, 382 x 223 mm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

The verso of the present sheet shows a design for the double tomb of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano de' Medici in the Medici Chapel. At the behest of Pope Leo X and his cousin Giulio de' Medici, Michelangelo had been working on a design for a funerary chapel in San Lorenzo for members of the Medici family since 1519. The double tomb was supposed to be installed at the entrance wall of the chapel, but the project was never realised.