1510
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Study for the Nude Youth over the Prophet Daniel (recto); Figure Studies for the Sistine Ceiling (verso) is a 1510 by Michelangelo, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This sheet shows two red-chalk drawings by Michelangelo. On one side, a young man leans over an older seated figure. On the other, quick figures pose in different positions. The lines look loose but precise. Michelangelo used these studies to plan the muscular “ignudi” figures on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. He worked out poses before painting on wet plaster. The red chalk lets you see his thinking. If you like this line work, check the artist’s other drawings at The Cleveland Museum of Art.
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,…
When Michelangelo ran out of room for the figure's left foot, he turned the paper over and drew the foot in detail along with three additional sketches of the big toe.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance.
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![Male Nude [recto]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/8c3354d89884753a/thumb.webp)
![Male Nude [verso]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/d48a81b2ad2bdbb8/thumb.webp)
