Studies for the Sistine Chapel frescoes
by MICHELANGELO

Starting in 1503-04, Michelangelo began striving to depict the extended movements and forced torsion of his figures, connecting them to the surrounding space by the painterly use of black chalk. This is still found in the drafts for the first half of the ceiling frescoes for the Sistine Chapel. In 1511, when Michelangelo began decorating the second half of the ceiling, another stylistic change can be observed: the figures are larger, more monumental and more individual and set off markedly from the background. In order to implement this new ideal in a suitable manner in his drawings, Michelangelo turned to a new material, the red chalk.

From 1533 Michelangelo was working on drafts for the Last Judgment fresco. In these drawings he developed a new monumental figural ideal. The massive figures with exaggeratedly bulging muscles are simplified to block-like shapes; they are depicted in highly unusual poses and in complicated twisted postures. The studies for the Last Judgment were executed in black chalk, a material that Michelangelo continued to prefer until the end of his life some thirty years later.

Unfortunately, only a few preparatory drawings for this monumental fresco have been preserved. There have must been numerous other study sheets on which the master prepared individual figures with utmost precision, altering and rejecting them as the final design took place.

Preview Picture Data Info
Two Studies of an Outstretched Right Arm (verso)
1508-09
Black chalk, 222 x 198 mm
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam


Study of Adam
1508-09
Black chalk, 396 x 254 mm
Casa Buonarroti, Florence


Various Studies of Figures and Limbs (verso)
c. 1511
Red chalk, leadpoint, 279 x 211 mm
Teylers Museum, Haarlem


Various figure Studies (verso)
1511-12
Red chalk over deawing in stylus, 265 x 195 mm
Teylers Museum, Haarlem


Study for Adam
c. 1510
Red chalk, 193 x 259 mm
British Museum, London


Bearded Head in Profile (recto)
c. 1508
Black chalk, 435 x 276 mm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence


Study for the Head of the Cumeaen Sibyl (recto)
1508-10
Black chalk, 320 x 228 mm
Biblioteca Reale, Turin


Studies for the Libyan Sibyl (recto)
1511-12
Red chalk, 289 x 214 mm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York


Studies for the Libyan Sibyl (verso)
1511-12
Black chalk, 289 x 214 mm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York


Studies for the Libyan Sibyl
-
Red chalk on paper, pen and ink, 288 x 194 mm
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford


Head Study of a Smiling Youth (recto)
1508-09
Black chalk, white heightening, 305 x 210 mm
Musée du Louvre, Paris


Youthful Nude (verso)
1508-09
Black chalk over drawing in stylus, 305 x 210 mm
Musée du Louvre, Paris


Sitting Nude Figures
1508-09
Black chalk, partly reworked in pen and brown ink, 414 x 270 mm
Casa Buonarroti, Florence


Sitting Male Nude (recto)
c. 1511
Red chalk, heightened with white, 279 x 211 mm
Teylers Museum, Haarlem


Male Head in Profile and Leg Studies (recto)
1511-12
Red chalk, 265 x 195 mm
Teylers Museum, Haarlem


Nude Study of a Sitting Youth (recto)
1511-12
Red chalk heightened with white, 272 x 192 mm
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna


Nude Study
1510-11
Chalk
Teylers Museum, Haarlem


Study of a Man
1510-11
Chalk
Musée de Poitiers, Poitiers


Compositional Sketch for "Judith and Holofernes"
c. 1508
Pen and ink, 405 x 225 mm
Teylers Museum, Haarlem


Four Studies for the Crucified Haman (recto)
c. 1512
Red chalk, 406 x 207 mm
British Museum, London


Five Studies for the Figure of Haman (recto)
c. 1512
Red and black chalk, 251 x 202 mm
Teylers Museum, Haarlem


Two Sitting Figures (verso)
1508-10
Black chalk, 320 x 228 mm
Biblioteca Reale, Turin


Study of a Seated Woman
-
Chalk
Musée Condé, Chantilly


Various Studies (verso)
1533-34
Black chalk, 398 x 282 mm
Casa Buonarroti, Florence


Study for the Last Judgment
1533-34
Black chalk, 192 x 287 mm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence


Studies for a Flying Angel (recto)
1534-36
Black chalk, 407 x 272 mm
British Museum, London


Studies for a Flying Angel (verso)
1534-36
Black chalk, 407 x 272 mm
British Museum, London


Study of a Male Nude (recto)
1534-36
Black chalk on brown paper, 242 x 182 mm
Teylers Museum, Haarlem


Male Nude, Seen from the Rear (verso)
1534-36
Black chalk on brown paper, 242 x 182 mm
Teylers Museum, Haarlem


Kneeling Male Nude, Seen from the Rear
1534-36
Black chalk, 269 x 168 mm
Casa Buonarroti, Florence


Male Figures
1530s
Chalk
Musée du Louvre, Paris


Sonnet with a Caricature
c. 1510
Pen and brown ink, 283 x 200 mm
Casa Buonarroti, Florence



Summary of works by Michelangelo
Sculptures | Paintings | Sistine Chapel | Drawings | Architecture
Drawings
Early drawings | Studies for the Battle of Cascina | Studies for sculptures
Studies for the Sistine Chapel | Studies for the Medici tombs
Studies for Madonna and Child | Studies for Crucifixion scenes
Gifts to Cavalieri | Drafts for other painters | Various drawings



© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.