Throughout his long life, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) never
ceased to practice drawing with pen, pencil, or chalk. In the 60 years
of creative activity encompassed by this volume, the artist produced
scores of sketches, drawings, and studies -- nudes, heads, figure
studies, Madonnas, anatomical drawings, studies of children and animals,
mythical representations, and religious works. This book reproduces 46
of his finest drawings, embodying most of his artistic themes and
techniques, and executed in his characteristic media of pen and ink, and
red and black chalk. The extraordinary strength, grace, and clarity of
his renderings are beautifully illustrated on every page.
The compositions, carefully reproduced on fine-quality paper, range from
youthful studies modeled after ancient sculpture and early Renaissance
frescoes to the otherworldly religious creations of his old age. Many
are preliminary drawings executed in connection with some of his most
important commissions: the marble David of 1501-04; the famous cartoon
of 1504 for the projected fresco in the Palazzo Vecchio, The Battle of
Cascina; the paintings on the vaulted ceiling of the Sistine Chapel,
executed 1508-12; and the imposing fresco of The Last Judgment in the
same chapel, executed 1535-14; as well as several of the more highly
finished allegorical presentation drawings of the early 1530s. In some
cases, e.g. The Battle of Cascina, the drawings are all that remain of
a lost masterpiece. All drawings are accompanied by brief descriptive
captions including date, medium, size, and current location.
