Study of a Head

Michelangelo Buonarroti (after)

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing by Michelangelo. The drawing is of the head of a person whose sex is not clear. The person's facial features are detailed with soft shading, and he or she is gazing downwards. The outline of the front of a headdress, with sections that sit against either side of the face, is visible. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "5. MICHELANGELO (b. 1475; d. 1564) Royal Library, Windsor Castle. Black chalk. 20.7 x 14.3 cm. (8 1/8 x 5 5/8 in.). Berenson seems confident that this is a study for 'Joseph in the lunette over Pope Eutychianus' in the Sistine Chapel. The head of the female figure to which this must be meant to apply does not bear any striking resemblance to the drawing: the glance is upwards and to the front: the headdress is different and the body turned to the right, not to the left as in the drawing. Steinmann is doubtful as to the drawing being a study for the figure in question, but confident that is belongs to the period when Michelangelo was painting the lunettes. Jacobsen (Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft, xxx (1907), p. 494) doubts its having any connexion with the Sistine Chapel. Whatever its purpose, period, or sex, the drawing has in combination with typical Michelangelo excellences, a grace and poise not always to be found. A. E. P. [B. Berenson, Florentine Drawings, I. p. 186 and II. p. 107, No. 1608. Ernst Steinmann, Die Handzeichnungen Michelangelos (Sonderabdruck aus: Die Sixtinische Kapelle), p. 603, No. 56 (not in K. Freu, Michelangelo's Handzeichnungen).]"