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

Study of a Male Nude (recto)

c. 1504
Black chalk, partial white heightening, 404 x 260 mm
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Michelangelo first employed pen and ink to make studies for the soldiers in the Battle of Cascina because it allowed him to delineate individual muscles with a descriptive but agile line. But he soon became frustrated with the technical limitations and made the first set of chalk drawings of his career for the Cascina project to which this drawing belongs.

This black chalk drawing on the recto is a study for the soldier holding a lance and running into the scene at the right edge of the cartoon for the Battle of Cascina.

On the verso Michelangelo drew studies of a male torso and a bent leg on a later date. These are connected with Victory group in the Palazzo Vecchio.




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