A MICHAEL ANGELO DRAWING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 247, 18 October 1937, Page 9

A MICHAEL ANGELO DRAWING

REPUTED STUDY FOR SISTINE FRESCO. "THE LAST JUDGMENT.” A drawing in black chalk, apparently a study "or the upper portion of the Fresco of "The Last Judgment” by Michael Angelo in the Sistine Chapel, Rome, has come to ligh't, and competent authorities claim it to be a genuine and contemporary work. The drawing, which measures 17in. by lOSin., is carried out on thin Florentine paper backed by a heavier. On the bottom right-hand corner are initials which have been established as being the collection mark of the painter Sir Peter Lely. It is recorded by Brian Fairfax that at the sale of Lely's collection of pictures a number of drawings by Michael Angelo were included in “a most noble collection of drawings.” In Professor Fritz Knapp’s volume on this moster's work, published by F. Bruckmann, Munich, there is reproduced, plate 90, a drawing of the upper part of “The Last Judgment” Fresco. This rough sketch, although not carried so far as the drawing under review, bears a striking resemblance in that the two central figures are similarly placed. In the actual Fresco only one of these two figures remains in the same position. History records that exception was taken by Pope Paul's master of ceremonies, by name Bragio da Cesena, to the Fresco figures being undraped, whereupon Daniel da Volterra was employed to provide draperies for many of the figures. In this drawing the figures are in the nude, which fact, apart from other considerations, mentioned later, precludes it from being a copy of the Fresco. It is known that Michael Angelo sometimes employed studies he made from life in more than one subject. A marked resemblance to another work entitled “Soldiers Bathing” appears on the left-hand side of this drawing. On comparing the drawing under consideration with the actual Fresco, 11 figures identical in pose can be noted, but in different juxtaposition. There Is no known drawing by Michael Angelo which exactly coincides in its grouping, final arrangement, or in the number of its constituent figures with those which are manifest in the Sistine Chapel’s "Last Judgment.”

The drawing was for many years in the possession of the late Mr. R. Z. Troughton, one time secretary, treasurer and founder-member of the Art Union. It is now in the possession of an English collector.