Michelangelo Buonarroti, Back-view of a nude (1504)
pen, 40,8x28,4 cm
Florence, Casa Buonarroti
To understand what does a drawing for a sculptor mean, it is necessary to observe this drawing from Michelangelo.
The artist from Caprese said always he was not able in drawing, first of all because he was not so able with pens and pencils as with chisel, then because he could work better with sculpture rather then with drawings to make his sensations evident. This drawing,
Back-view of a nude, is a drawing of a sculptor because the lineas are that of a sculpture: the robust body, the darting muscles, the energic impetuosity, the tension of the anatomic details.
This drawing comes from a study for the realization of the
Battaglia di Cascina, a fresco that the seignory ordered to Michelangelo for the Sala del Maggior Consiglio in Palazzo Vecchio (Florence). The fresco would have realized together with the
Battaglia di Anghiari of his rival Leonardo. Nevertheles, both the frescos were not realized.