In the autumn of 1504 Michelangelo was given the commission to paint a battle scene for the Palazzo della Signoria as a companion piece to Leonardo's Battle of Anghiari. This grand project came to nothing: the cartoon was finished - at least in part - by February 1505, but the urgent summons from Pope Julius II prevented Michelangelo from continuing with the work, for which only some drawings survived.

The drafts for the Battle of Cascina wall fresco, for which Michelangelo progressed only as far as the cartoon (no longer extant), mark a highlight in his early graphic works. Contemporaries admired the complexity of the bathing soldiers' movements, the unheard-of degree of foreshortening, the monumentality of the figures, and the anatomical correctness of the bodies. The studies for the composition are indicative of a stylistic change: while earlier figures were primarily seen in frontal view, these figures are depicted in many and diverse rotational movements as they explore the space around them in every direction. In order to underscore this aspect, the artist began using a different, more suitable drawing material, the black chalk.

Preview	Picture Data	Info
	Battle of Cascina (central section) 1505 Oil on panel, 77 x 130 cm Holkham Hall, Norfolk
	Battle Scene 1504 Pen and ink on paper, 179 x 251 mm Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
	Study for the Battle of Cascina c. 1504 Pencil and silverpoint on paper, 235 x 356 mm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Figure Studies (verso) 1503-04 Black chalk, 258 x 153 mm Musée du Louvre, Paris
	Standing Male Nude, Seen from the Rear (recto) c. 1503 Pen and brown ink, 387 x 195 mm Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna
	Male Nude, Seen from the Rear (recto) 1503-04 Black chalk, pen and brown ink, 260 x 170 mm Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
	Nude Rider Mounting a Horse and a Male Nude (verso) 1503-04 Black chalk, 260 x 170 mm Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
	Male Nude, Seen from the Rear 1503-04 Pen and brown ink, 409 x 285 mm Casa Buonarroti, Florence
	Group of Three Male Nudes (recto) 1503-04 Black chalk over drawing in stylus, 332 x 174 mm Musée du Louvre, Paris
	Studies of Nudes (verso) 1503-04 Pen and brown ink, black chalk, 332 x 174 mm Musée du Louvre, Paris
	Male Nude, Seen from the Rear (recto) 1503-04 Black chalk, 218 x 174 mm Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge
	Male Nude, Seen from the Rear (recto) 1503-04 Black pencil, 282 x 203 mm Musée du Louvre, Paris
	Two Nude Studies (recto) c. 1504 Pen and brown ink over drawing in black chalk, 270 x 196 mm Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna
	Male Nude, Seen from the Rear (verso) c. 1504 Black chalk, heightened with white, 270 x 196 mm Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna
	Seven Studies of a Raised Arm with Shoulder Joint c. 1504 Pen and brown ink, black chalk, 226 x 315 mm Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna
	Sitting Male Nude (recto) c. 1504 Pen and brown ink, gray-brown wash, heightened in white, over drawing in stylus, 420 x 285 mm British Museum, London
	Nude Study 1503-04 Pen and brown ink in two shades, 374 x 228 mm British Museum, London
	Male Nude, Seen from the Right (recto) c. 1504 Black chalk, heightened with white, 405 x 225 mm Teylers Museum, Haarlem
	Study of a Male Nude (recto) c. 1504 Black chalk, partial white heightening, 404 x 260 mm Teylers Museum, Haarlem
	Kneeling Male Nude - Black chalk on paper Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Three Studies of a Leg - Pen and ink on paper Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
	Nude Man Turned to the Right 1510-11 Chalk, 250 x 96 mm Musée du Louvre, Paris
	Helmeted Head of a Youth, and Other Studies (recto) 1503-04 Pen and brown ink, black pencil, 205 x 253 mm Kunsthalle, Hamburg
	Bust of a Warrior, and a Head in Profile 1503-04 Pen and brown ink, 139 x 115 mm Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
	Galloping Rider, a Horse, and Other Studies 1503-04 Pen and brown ink, black chalk, leadpoint, 190 x 260 mm Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
	Horse with Two Riders (recto) 1508-09 Black chalk, 222 x 198 mm Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam