- Museum number
- 1895,0915.501
- Description
-
Christ risen; nude, standing to front, with his left hand raised and drawn back. 1532-3
Black chalk with much stippling over stylus underdrawing
Verso: A grotesque, fabulous monster; a nude man holding a dish
Black chalk
- Production date
- 1532-1533
- Dimensions
-
Height: 412 millimetres
-
Width: 272 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- W54 is the third of the BM's sequence of three Resurrection drawings, part of a series of fourteen linked and contemporaneous variations on this theme (see W52 for the list). Christ rises majestically from the sarcophagus, his r. foot stepping on its upturned lid, and the direction of his downcast case emphasized by his outstretched r. arm and hand. W54 is closely linked to the Windsor sheet of this group, Corpus 265: in both the figure occupies a whole folio sheet and soft hatching and stippling are used in combination for the internal modelling. The Windsor sheet is more elaborately worked, however, and Michelangelo has erased the major pentimenti. In W54 a significant pentimento is seen in the position of Christ's head; another, an open hand to the r. of Christ's closed hand, is close to the Windsor drawing and highlights the kinship of the two sheets. The contours of Christ's body have been thickened in Michelangelo's characteristic manner. Especially visible in Christ's l. arm and r. forearm are preliminary lines drawn with the stylus.
Two sheets in the Casa Buonarroti, Corpus 261-2, contain vital first ideas for this sheet which in turn were probably preceded by the sketch traced from the recto of the Windsor sheet of Tityus (Corpus 347). De Tolnay considers W53 and W54 to be studies for the altar wall of the Sistine chapel, on the basis of a contemporary letter in which it is related that Michelangelo has been persuaded to work for the pope 'et che sopra l'altare [of the Sistine Chapel] si farà la resurrectione' (cited in Pastor). However, as Hirst points out [1961], this could equally refer to the Resurrection of the Dead, i.e the 'Guidizio Universale'. W54 certainly anticipates the Christ of Michelangelo's Sistine altar wall fresco.
Hirst argues that W53 and W54 are studies for Sebastiano del Piombo's documented commission for an altarpiece representing the Resurrection for the Chigi Chapel in S. Maria della Pace. He notes that the lighting from the right would accord with the source of light within the chapel - with which Raphael's Sybils already frescoed in the spandrels conform. This would also be consistent with Sebastiano's concern (both seen in his paintings and documented in letters) for the fall of light in chapel ensembles: cf. the Borgherini Chapel in S. Pietro in Montorio - W15 and 15A. Joannides (1996) demurs, considering that drawings such as W54 and Corpus 265 would have stretched Sebastiano's capacities as a painter of the nude. Regarding the purpose of the drawings of this series he writes, 'It may be that the explanation is a mixed one and that the drawings, although prompted by Sebastiano's putative request, developed an independent existence.'
Dussler dates the drawing to 1533-4, a year later than Wilde. Perrig (1991) reproduces a facsimile copy in Frankfurt Städliches Kunstinstitut, no. 3976) beside W54 which he also judges to be a facsimile. He considers the motive to represent 'Christ Descending to Limbo' (this despite the open sarcophagus) and be the basis for Sebastiano's 'Christ in Limbo' (Prado, Madrid).
The verso contains two small sketches in black chalk. One represents a 'grotesque and fabulous' monster, crouching and with an almost human-like l shoulder and arm and breasts, the other a man raising a dish. Both have been framed with lines drawn, probably, by a later hand. The top undulous contour of the monster has been copied in chalk below. Dussler (1959) does not regard these drawings as autograph. He notes that the motive of the dish-carrying man is found on two sheets, Corpus 229 bis and 317 in the Casa Buonarroti and the Uffizi respectively.
Lit.: J.C. Robinson, 'Descriptive Catalogue of Drawings by the Old Masters, forming the Collection of John Malcolm of Poltalloch, Esq.', London, 1876, no. 64; A.E. Popham and J. Wilde (the Michelangelo entries by the latter), 'The Italian Drawings of the XV and XVI Centuries in the Collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle', London, 1949, under no. 428 (= Corpus 265), pp. 251-2; L. Goldscheider, 'Michelangelo Drawings', London, 1971, no. 81; J. Wilde, 'Italian Drawings in the BM, Michelangelo and his Studio', London, 1953, no. 54, pp. 88-91 (with further literature); L. Dussler, `Die Zeichnungen des Michelangelo', 1959, no. 328 (recto), p. 179 (ascribed to Michelangelo), no. 571 (verso), p. 262 (apocryphally ascribed to Michelangelo); F. Hartt, 'The Drawings of Michelangelo', London, 1971, no. 183; J.A. Gere and N. Turner, in exhib. cat., London, BM, 'Drawings by Michelangelo', 1975, no. 47; C. de Tolnay, 'Corpus dei disegni di Michelangelo', Novara, 1976, II, no. 263; A. Perrig, 'Michelangelo's drawings: the science of attribution', New Haven and London, 1991, fig. 14 (as a facsimile copy), p. 21, 33-4, 42, 45; P. Joannides, in exhib. cat., Washington, National Gallery of Art and London, Queen's Gallery, 'Michelangelo and his Influence, Drawings from Windsor Castle', 1996, under no. 39 (= Corpus 265), p. 130; H. Chapman, in exhib. cat., BM, 'Michelangelo Drawings: closer to the master', 2005, no. 76, p. 219; A. Schumacher, `Michelangelo`s Teste Divine. Idealbildnisse als Exempla der Zeichenkunst`, Münster, 2007, p. 58 (as a facsimile copy).
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1964 BM, Michelangelo, no. 35
1975 Feb-Apr, BM, Drawings by Michelangelo, no. 47
2005/6 Oct-Jan, Haarlem, Teylers Museum, 'Michelangelo Drawings: Closer to the Master'
2006 Mar-Jun, BM, 'Michelangelo Drawings: Closer to the Master'
2009 Mar-Jun, Frankfurt, Städel Museum, Michelangelo as Draughtsman
2014 May-Sep, Rome, Capitoline Museums, 'Michelangelo'
2017 15 Mar-25 Jun, London, The National Gallery, Sebastiano-Michelangelo
- Acquisition date
- 1895
- Acquisition notes
- Verso inscribed by Robinson: "J C Robinson June/1860/no 534"
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1895,0915.501
