- Museum number
- 1950,0722.6
- Description
-
Studies of two legs and a right arm, after Michelangelo
Red chalk. Framing lines in red chalk on l. edge and top
- Production date
- 1600 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 304 millimetres
-
Width: 201 millimetres (sheet made up)
- Curator's comments
- The leg study to the left is a faithful copy after an original in the same medium by Michelangelo in Christ Church, Oxford (Corpus 86), and dated to around 1520 as Michelangelo was embarking on a fresh study of anatomy in preparation for the sculptures of the Medici chapel. The BM`s copy is dated by Wilde to much later to the early 1600s. In keeping with the work of a copyist, the pentimenti and redrawn contours of the original have been simplified and the two lines with circles at one end, indicating details and characteristic of Michelangelo`s anatomical studies, have been left off. The elongated muscles of the leg and the downward pointing foot, suggests that the original derives from the observation of a hanging body, probably a cadaver (compare with the anatomical drawing of two pairs of hanging limbs by Bartolomeo Torre in the BM, 1971,1110.1 recto). The knee bones in outline relate to the adjacent knee; they are also present on the Oxford sheet and reflect the original`s mise en page.
The study of a right leg in profile documents a drawing that was in all likelihood once paired with that on the Oxford sheet but lost when the sheet was cut down in relation to the recto (Wilde). Whether the BM sheet reflects the mise en page of the original sheet is difficult to judge: although the left leg and knee bone are placed in identical relationship to the original, a portion of the right leg would appear in the Oxford sheet if similarly placed. Our copyist has left a considerable portion of paper blank suggesting further copies were intended.
The right leg has more redrawn contours than the flanking left leg, perhaps indicating a shift in the view point of the lost original. A small circle on the pelvis displays Michelangelo`s idiosyncratic use of circles to indicate areas of greatest highlight as seen in the BM`s study of Haman (Wilde 13 / 1895,0915.497). The fall of light over both legs is identical despite the rotation of the limbs. The Oxford sheet also contains a leg in profile to the left, sketchily drawn in contour only. In contrast to the other two studies, the bone structure is indicated within, a method of study also seen in the pen and ink drawing of a bent right leg in the BM (Wilde 45 / 1895,0514.821) equally dated to the 1520s.
De Tolnay (1975) judges the limbs of the original sheet to be preparatory for the `Risen Christ` sculpture of 1518 in S. Maria sopra Minerva, Rome, the motif of the left leg in the drawing switched to the right leg of the sculpture. The rotated points of view certainly show the thinking of a sculptor in three dimensions.
The outstretched right arm is copied from a black chalk drawing formerly in the Koenigs collection, Rotterdam, identified by Wilde as a study for one of Noah`s sons on the Sistine Ceiling - only the fingers were slightly differently arranged (compare with the near contemporary copy, Wilde 95 / 1895,0915.497). The original would thus date to 1508 and shows that our copyist had access to a variety of Michelangelo`s drawings close to a century after their production.
An album of anatomical studies attributed to artists in the circle of Baccio Baldinelli is in the BM (1866,1208.640 to 669). It contains fourteen sheets by a single hand, some of which derive from sheets by Michelangelo of limbs flayed to reveal the musculature, another method of studying human anatomy employed by Michelangelo (in contrast to surface and bone structure).
A copy such as this drawing must have been employed by Agostino Carracci in the design of two prints for an engraved pattern book, see 1874,0808.639 and 1934,0103.14.13.
Lit.: J. Wilde, `Italian Drawings in the British Museum, Michelangelo and His Studio`, London, 1953, no. 86, pp. 123-4; L. Dussler, `Die Zeichnungen des Michelangelo`, Berlin, 1959, no. 636 (= Corpus 86), pp. 284-5; C. de Tolnay, `Corpus dei disegni di Michelangelo`, Novara, 1975, vol. i., under no. 86 (= Christ Church, Oxford, Inv. 0068), pp. 79-80; A. Gnann, exhib.cat., Albertina, Vienna, `Michelangelo: Zeichnungen eines Genies`, 2010, under no.54 (= Corpus 86), p.188.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1950
- Acquisition notes
- This item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45. The British Museum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1950,0722.6