Drawings for sculptures and paintings in the Medici Chapel
by MICHELANGELO

When Pope Leo X entered Florence in triumph in 1515, he and his cousins Giulio (later Pope Clement VII) initiated a series of commissions at San Lorenzo which built upon the projects of their Medici ancestors at that church. The new Sacristy, now generally known as the Medici Chapel (Cappella Medicea), was designed as a burial pantheon for the Medici family. The funereal monuments were commissioned in 1520 by Pope Clement VII, executed largely by Michelangelo from 1520 to 1534, and completed by Michelangelo's pupils after his departure.

The studies for or the allegorical figures in the Medici Chapel illustrate the weight of a muscular body. The powerful body seems stolid and portly, almost pressed down under its own weight, as expressed in the vigorous contour lines that appear to be yielding to the massive figure. The drafts are a sculptor's drawings in which the master was already thinking of the later execution in marble as he made various studies of details from different points of view.

Michelangelo also made studies for a painting (a Resurrection scene) in the lunette above the double tomb of the Magnifici at the entrance wall of the chapel. This painting was not realized.

Preview Picture Data Info
Design for a Double Tomb in the Medici Chapel (verso)
1520-21
Black chalk, 382 x 223 mm
Musée du Louvre, Paris


Male Torso (recto)
1524-25
Black chalk, 332 x 258 mm
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford


Four Studies of a Bent Arm (verso)
1524-25
Red chalk, 332 x 258 mm
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford


Three Studies of a Left Arm and Shoulder
1524-25
Black chalk, 162 x 264 mm
Teylers Museum, Haarlem


Study of a Left Leg (recto)
1524-25
Black chalk, 207 x 247 mm
Teylers Museum, Haarlem


Study of a Left Leg and Knee (recto)
1524-25
Black chalk, 207 x 247 mm
Teylers Museum, Haarlem


Studies of Two Male Torsi and a Right Leg
1524-25
Pen and brown ink, 262 x 266 mm
Casa Buonarroti, Florence


Grotesque Heads (recto)
1524-25
Red chalk, 260 x 410 mm
Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt


Studies of Heads, an Ear, and a Leg (verso)
1524-25
Red and black chalk, 260 x 410 mm
Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt


Studies of grotesque heads
1530
Red chalk, 255 x 350 mm
British Museum, London


The Resurrection (recto)
1531-32
Black chalk, traces of red chalk, 240 x 347 mm
Royal Collection, Windsor


Resurrection of Christ
c. 1530
Red chalk, 152 x 171 mm
Musée du Louvre, Paris


The Resurrection (recto, detail)
1531-32
Black chalk, traces of red chalk
Royal Collection, Windsor


The Risen Christ
1532-34
Black chalk, 325 x 190 mm
Casa Buonarroti, Florence


The Risen Christ
1532-34
Black chalk, traces of stylus, 373 x 221 mm
Royal Collection, Windsor


Resurrection of Christ
1532-33
Black pencil, 381 x 252 mm
Casa Buonarroti, Florence


Study of Nude Figures
-
Black chalk, pen and brown ink, 180 x 210 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.