Michelangelo Buonarroti

Michelangelo Buonarroti stands among the defining figures of the Italian Renaissance, celebrated for sculpture and drawing alike and for subjects drawn from sacred history and classical myth. The sheets gathered here reflect that breadth, ranging across bronze, terracotta, plaster, gilt bronze and pen and brown ink, with the Pietà, Hercules and Cacus, Samson and the Philistines and the paired figures of Day and Dusk among the subjects represented. Fifteen works make up the collection, whose sheets span 1475 to 1600, a range extending past the artist's lifetime and therefore including impressions up to that later date.

15 works in the collection · All public domain (CC0)

Anatomical Studies of a Leg (recto); Study of a Leg (verso)

1475–1564 · Pen and brown ink, and red chalk (recto); pen and brown ink (verso)

A Figure and Some Architectural Details

1475–1564 · Pen and brown ink

Anatomical Study of a Knee

1475–1564 · Pen and brown ink

Dying Slave

1505–45 · Plaster

Rebellious Captive

1505–45 · Plaster

Design for the Tomb of Pope Julius II della Rovere

1505–6 · Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over stylus ruling and leadpoint

The Last Judgment (1570–90)

1570–90 · Black chalk on brownish paper

Hercules and Cacus (19th century?)

19th century? · Bronze

Studies for the Libyan Sibyl (recto); Studies for the Libyan Sibyl and a small Sketch for a Seated Figure (verso)

ca. 1510–11 · Red chalk, with small accents of white chalk on the left shoulder of the figure in the main study (recto); soft black chalk, or less probably charcoal (verso)

Samson and the Philistines

ca. 1550 · Bronze

Christ and the Two Thieves Crucified

ca. 1560–70 · Bronze

The Day

ca. 1600 · Terracotta

The Dusk (one of a pair)

ca. 1600 · Terracotta

Pietà

mid-16th century · Gilt bronze

Sketches of a Funeral Monument, a Niche with Statues, a Helmet in the Shape of a Human Head, an Entablature and a Female Statue

n.d. · Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over some traces of leadpoint