Figure Studies for the Sistine Ceiling (verso) — About This Work
Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1510–11
About the Work
The sheet brings together a large foot, a muscular torso, a head-and-shoulders study and smaller studies of toes. Red chalk modelling gives the fragments weight and movement, while traces of white heightening sharpen selected forms.
Cleveland identifies the drawing as preparatory work for one of the twenty ignudi arranged around the central Old Testament scenes of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Michelangelo used such studies to resolve pose and anatomy before painting each section into wet plaster.
The complete sheet measures 33.5 × 23.4 cm. The 30 × 40 cm frame preserves the horizontal study at Original Scale and keeps the irregular cluster of anatomical fragments surrounded by the full paper field.
The Work
Artist: Michelangelo Buonarroti
Title: Figure Studies for the Sistine Ceiling (verso)
Date: 1510–11
Medium: Red chalk
Recorded dimensions: 33.5 × 23.4 cm (W × H)
Collection: Cleveland Museum of Art
Accession number: 1940.465.b
Print & Presentation
Palatine presentation: 30 × 40 cm Classic Frame, landscape.
The complete artwork is reproduced at its recorded scale, subject only to negligible whole-pixel rounding, without enlargement, reduction, cropping or distortion. The surrounding white presentation area accommodates the artwork within the framed presentation and is incorporated into the print rather than added as a separate mount.
Frame finishes: Black, White or Natural.
Paper & glazing: Enhanced Matte + Perspex; or Enhanced Matte + Moth-Eye.
Why Original Scale?
Most art-print shops offer the same image in a choice of Small, Medium and Large sizes. We take a different approach. For each edition, we begin with the recorded dimensions of the original work and reproduce the complete image at that scale, preserving its proportions and avoiding enlargement, reduction, cropping or distortion.
Source: Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0.
Care: Display in a dry interior away from prolonged direct sunlight and sources of moisture.
Notes from Palatine
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Palatine Editions · Original Scale Editions · palatineeditions.com