Michelangelo (1475-1564)
Studio di un uomo nudo, in piedi (Study of a naked man, standing)
c.1524
Black stone, on red chalk lines, traces of incision with a stylus, 38.5 x 24 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Project for one of the slaves in the tomb of Julius II (P. Joannides, 2003). The figure was taken up by Primaticce in a project for the ‘Feast of the Gods’ intended for the central compartment of the Galerie d’Ulysse, at the Château de Fontainebleau (Cf. Louvre, RF 566), around 1550, which proves that the drawing of Michelangelo was already in France at that date (see (P. Joannides, 2004 & V. Romani, 2004). The attribution of the sheet is controversial: Morelli, 1892: Michelangelo, attributed to; B. Berenson, 1903: Raffaele da Montelupo; Frey, 1909: Michelangelo, school of; Popp, 1922: Vincenzo Danti; Panofsky, 1927–1928: Antonio Mini; Wilde, 1928: Michelangelo, entourage; B. Berenson, 1938: Aristotile da Sangallo; Frey, 1951: Michelangelo, copy after; Dussler, 1959: Vincenzo Danti, attributed to; Perrig, 1981: Antonio Mini, attributed to. (Louvre)