home     Karl Zipser     essay list
A seated male nude twisting around
Pen and brown ink, brown and grey wash, heightened with crisp lead white strokes (partly discolored) over leadpoint and stylus
c. 1504-5
Michelangelo Drawings,
real or fake?

The drawing to the left is "one of Michelangelo's most celebrated works in the British Museum," in the words of curator Hugo Chapman.  But did Michelangelo draw it?

To answer this question it helps to consider, is the drawing:
  • similar to other works by Michelangelo?
  • something that plausibly could have been made by someone else?
The drawing to the left is different from other surviving drawings by Michelangelo, although it is clearly related to one of his lost masterpieces. But because of the unique history of that lost work, many copies were made by artists in the 16th century. The British Museum drawing is likely one of those copies.

Why does this matter? Tens of thousands of visitors to the Michelangelo Drawings exhibition were presented with the statement:
With his goose quill, Michelangelo was able to convey a more convincing suggestion of relief and a more expressive vitality of the human figure than any artist before him.
This remarkable interpretation of Michelangelo seems to be based on the one drawing shown to the left. If it is a copy by another artist, then the exhibition's interpretation of Michelangelo is not valid.



Essay List

 Karl Zipser's Homepage

Copyright © Karl Zipser 2006, all rights reserved.