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Source Description
Michelangelo was among the first artists in Europe to attend a human dissection and to adopt anatomical knowledge as a necessity for depicting the human figure. These drawings by Battista Franco reflect the increased—and slightly macabre—interest in the interior workings of the human body inspired in part by Michelangelo’s example. Here, the groupings of arm bones, though rendered accurately, are placed into decorative piles. The odd assembly vacillates between scientific study and a symbolic memento mori, or reminder of death.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
140466
label
Arm Bones
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
140466
contentType
drawing
title
Arm Bones
description
Michelangelo was among the first artists in Europe to attend a human dissection and to adopt anatomical knowledge as a necessity for depicting the human figure. These drawings by Battista Franco reflect the increased—and slightly macabre—interest in the interior workings of the human body inspired in part by Michelangelo’s example. Here, the groupings of arm bones, though rendered accurately, are placed into decorative piles. The odd assembly vacillates between scientific study and a symbolic memento mori, or reminder of death.
date
early 1540s
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80038790
creators
300711
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 11.8 x 36.7 cm (4 5/8 x 14 7/16 in.); Secondary Support: 11.8 x 36.7 cm (4 5/8 x 14 7/16 in.)
cul
Italy, 16th century
accession
1964.379
Source extras
tec
pen and brown ink with incised lines
tombstone
Arm Bones, early 1540s. Battista Franco (Italian, c. 1510–1561). Pen and brown ink with incised lines; sheet: 11.8 x 36.7 cm (4 5/8 x 14 7/16 in.); secondary support: 11.8 x 36.7 cm (4 5/8 x 14 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Claude Cassirer, 1964.379
supportMaterials
description
two sheets (joined) light brown laid paper, laid down on cream(3) laid(?) paper
collection
DR - Italian
inscriptions
inscription
VERSO OF SECONDARY SUPPORT, lower left, in graphite: 2.
citations
citation
Richards, Louise S. “Drawings by Battista Franco.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 52, no. 8 (October 1965): 106–112.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 107; Reproduced: p. 111, fig. 4
citation
Kornell, Monique. “Anatomical Drawings by Battista Franco.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 76, no. 9 (November 1989): 302–325.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 314, fig. 13
creditline
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Claude Cassirer
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:13:03.417000
sourceId
140466
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - Italian
med
pen and brown ink with incised lines
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
078ac412e565676f