Cristo risorto adorato da santi e angeli (1566-1568)

Vasari, Giorgio (1511-1574)

Cristo risorto adorato da santi e angeli (The Risen Christ Adored by Saints and Angels)
15661568
Black chalk, pen and brown ink on paper, 41.9 x 26.5 cm
Cleveland Museum of ArtCleveland

This highly finished presentation drawing, called a modello, was made by the artist to show to his patron the final plans for a painted altarpiece. Florentine artist and author Giorgio Vasari venerated Michelangelo as the premier example of artistic genius and emulated the master in much of his work. He made this modello (a finished drawing for presentation to a patron) in preparation for a church altarpiece in Florence. It shows a finely muscled Christ appearing within a host of angels above a group of saints. Vasari’s Christ imitates the pose and body type of Michelangelo’s Christ in the Last Judgment fresco; he altered the pose, while suggesting his knowledge of the earlier composition. (CMA)