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

Male Upper Body with Folded Hands (verso)

1511-12
Red and black chalk, pen and brown ink, 272 x 192 mm
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

The verso of the sheet is filled with studies of a male torso and folded hands. Although it was assumed by scholars that the studies were initially conceived for the figure of Eve in the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, in fact they served as models for Sebastiano del Piombo's Madonna in the Pietà. Apart from the central torso, the sheet is filled with detailed studies of the Virgin Mary's folded hands in red chalk, black chalk, and pen and brown ink.