Description
Florentine artist and author Giorgio Vasari venerated Michelangelo as the premier example of artistic genius and emulated the master in much of his work. He made this modello (a finished drawing for presentation to a patron) in preparation for a church altarpiece in Florence. It shows a finely muscled Christ appearing within a host of angels above a group of saints. Vasari’s Christ imitates the pose and body type of Michelangelo’s Christ in the Last Judgment fresco; he altered the pose, while suggesting his knowledge of the earlier composition.
Provenance
Ludovico Moscardo, Verona (1611-1681) (?-?); Teresa Moscardo (1747-?), Verona, by descent; Count Mario Miniscalchi-Erizzo (1881-1957), Verona, by descent (-1957); with Francis Matthiesen (1897-1963), London (ca. 1957); with Mario Uzielli (1888-1973), Liestal, sold to Janos Scholz (ca. 1957); Janos Scholz (1903-1993), New York (1949-1961); Savoy Art & Auction Galleries, New York, Anonymous Sale, 25 February, 1961 (1961); Norbert L. H. Roesler, New York (ca. 1961-1990); His sale, Christie's New York, 31 May 1990, lot 3 (ill) (1990); With Colnaghi, London, 1991 (1991); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1991-)
Accession Number
1991.43
Medium
Black chalk, pen and brown ink, and extensive white heightening (wash and point of brush), with incising on paper prepared with a brown wash.
Dimensions
Sheet: 41.9 x 26.5 cm (16 1/2 x 10 7/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund
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