1518
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Seated Male Nude is a 1518 by Baccio Bandinelli, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A muscular man sits on a block, twisting his body to show every curve of his back and arms. The lines are sharp in some places, smudged in others, like the artist changed his mind halfway. Bandinelli drew this after seeing Michelangelo’s *ignudi*—the nude figures on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. He wanted to match their power but make it his own. The smudges soften the edges, almost like the body is still moving. To see how Michelangelo did it, look up the subject *italy, 16th century*.
Both Baccio Bandinelli and Michelangelo made figure drawing the foundation of their artistic and inventive processes. In this drawing, Bandinelli reimagined one of Michelangelo’s ignudi , the athletic male nudes that decorate the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Probably drawing from a live model, Bandinelli combined controlled, defined lines and smudges to create a massively muscled form, that, like Michelangelo’s figures, refers to ancient sculpture as well as to knowledge of anatomy. His use of red chalk—Michelangelo’s preferred medium for sketching the ignudi—suggests that he sought to compare his…
Bandinelli's drawing of a moody nude combines his knowledge of ancient sculpture and paintings by Michelangelo with observation from life.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Baccio Bandinelli (also called Bartolomeo Brandini; 12 November 1493 – shortly before 7 February 1560) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, draughtsman, and painter.
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