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Source Description
Universally considered one of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance, Michelangelo devoted four years to painting the vast ceiling fresco in the Sistine Chapel. This preparatory study portrays one of the 20 athletic male nudes, known as ignudi, who serve as supporting figures at each corner of the Old Testament scenes painted down the center of the ceiling. Michelangelo worked out the positioning of the ignudi in red chalk drawings before beginning to paint each section of wet plaster. The energy and monumentality of the figure in red chalk, whose body extends beyond the sheet, suggests the heroic athleticism of Michelangelo’s sculpture.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
119616
label
Figure Studies for the Sistine Ceiling (verso)
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
119616
contentType
drawing
title
Figure Studies for the Sistine Ceiling (verso)
description
Universally considered one of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance, Michelangelo devoted four years to painting the vast ceiling fresco in the Sistine Chapel. This preparatory study portrays one of the 20 athletic male nudes, known as ignudi, who serve as supporting figures at each corner of the Old Testament scenes painted down the center of the ceiling. Michelangelo worked out the positioning of the ignudi in red chalk drawings before beginning to paint each section of wet plaster. The energy and monumentality of the figure in red chalk, whose body extends beyond the sheet, suggests the heroic athleticism of Michelangelo’s sculpture.
date
1510–11
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80014696
creators
1171
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 23.4 x 33.5 cm (9 3/16 x 13 3/16 in.); Secondary Support: 24.4 x 34.4 cm (9 5/8 x 13 9/16 in.)
cul
Italy, 16th century
accession
1940.465.b
Source extras
tec
red chalk heightened with traces of white
tombstone
Figure Studies for the Sistine Ceiling (verso), 1510–11. Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475–1564). Red chalk heightened with traces of white; sheet: 23.4 x 33.5 cm (9 3/16 x 13 3/16 in.); secondary support: 24.4 x 34.4 cm (9 5/8 x 13 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift in memory of Henry G. Dalton by his nephews George S. Kendrick and Harry D. Kendrick, 1940.465.b
supportMaterials
description
beige(2) laid paper, perimeter mounted to gray laid paper
collection
DR - Italian
inscriptions
inscription
upper center, in brown ink: 82 (?); upper right, in brown ink: V./.
citations
citation
Francis, Henry S. "A Drawing in Red Chalk by Michelangelo." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 30, no. 3 (March 1943): 25-27.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 25-26; Reproduced: p. 27
citation
Pillsbury, Edmund P. <em>Florence and the Arts; Five Centuries of Patronage</em>. 1971.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 58
citation
Olszewski, Edward J. "A Design for the Sistine Chapel Ceiling." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 63, no. 1 (January 1976): 12-26.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 12-14, fig. 2-3
citation
Miller, Michael. "A Michelangelo Drawing." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 77, no. 5 (May 1990): 146-174.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 146-174; Reproduced: Back, p. 148, fig. 3
citation
Miller, Bruce F. "Technical Note on the Cleveland Michelangelo Drawing." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 77, no. 5 (May 1990): 175-179.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 177; Mentioned: p. 175-179
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, Diane DeGrazia, and Carter E. Foster. <em>Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned: P. 6, 30-33, 284; Reproduced: P. 32, cat. no. 6
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: P. 155
citation
Chapman, H. "Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer." <em>Master Drawings</em> 56, no.3 (Autumn 2018): 385-390.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 387, fig. 4
creditline
Gift in memory of Henry G. Dalton by his nephews George S. Kendrick and Harry D. Kendrick
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:10:29.804000
sourceId
119616
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - Italian
med
red chalk heightened with traces of white
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
5ff43a0f3e3b1720