Page 266 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

battles, such as that against Laomedon, king of Alberti's requirement that in portraying a dead
Troy, or simply evoke his valor. The fondness of man there should be "no member that does not
the Medici, particularly Lorenzo, for images of seem completely lifeless; they all hang loose;
"Hercules florentinus" favors the suggestion that hands, fingers, neck, all droop inertly down, all
Hercules is the central protagonist. combine together to represent death" (Kemp
The prime function of the relief was to demon- 1991, 37). The work that Alberti held out as an
strate the artist's virtuosity in the depiction of the exemplar to modern artists was a Roman sarcoph-
human figure, an effort to rival and indeed to sur- agus relief of the dead Meleager, which Signorelli
pass the ancients. The action is described with a adapted as a tomb relief in the background of his
fierce energy, and the figures are sculpted with fresco of the Pieta at Orvieto.
a robust vigor that is difficult to appreciate from M.K.
photographs. Bertoldo's inventiveness in charac-
terizing the motions of man and animal far
exceeds that of the prototype. The complex twist-
ing poses and virtuoso passages of falling warriors l66
display a positive relish for overcoming difficul-
ties, and look forward to the obsession with Michelangelo
technical challenges of Michelangelo and the Florentine, 1475-1564
Mannerists. In view of Bertoldo's likely role as a
tutor to younger sculptors in the Medicean orbit, STUDIES OF A NUDE MAN (RECTO)
most notably Michelangelo, the great variety of AND COMPOSITIONAL STUDY FOR
poses of single figures and groups may be seen as 'JUDITH AND HOLOFERNES' (VERSO)
his conscious effort to set a far-reaching agenda
for the rising generation of artists in Florence. c. 1505 recto; 1508-1509 verso
M.K. Black chalk, with touches of white on recto, on paper
inscribed: di Bona . . .
7
2
40.4 X 26 (l$ /8 X 1O /4J
references: Frey 1909; Berenson 1938; Hartt 1971,
42 (recto), 66 (verso); De Tolnay 1975-1980, 50;
Hirst 1988; Washington 1988
Teylers Museum, Haarlem
165
of Cascina, and there can be little doubt that
Luca Signorelli Michelangelo studied the frescoes on one of his Together with its companion drawing in the Tey-
Umbrian, probably 1441-1523 journeys between Florence and Rome. lers Museum (A i9r), the principal drawing on
The few surviving drawings that are definitely the recto of this sheet is a study for one of the
NUDE MAN CARRYING ANOTHER MAN preparatory works for the frescoes reveal Sig- soldiers in Michelangelo's Battle of Cascina, the
ON HIS BACK norelli's vigorous working procedures and free unrealized project for a mural on which he was
graphic style (Martindale 1961). The relationship working for the council hall of the Florentine
before 1503 of the more highly finished figure studies to the republic. The painting was to depict Florentine
watercolor heightened with white paintings is problematic. At first sight the present soldiers scrambling out of the water, dressing, and
35 x 25 (14 x 10) drawing bears a strong relationship to the motif arming themselves to resist what was thought to
references: Fumi 1891; Kurz 1937, 15; Berenson
1938, 2059 H-2; Martindale 1961; Scarpellini 1964; of a figure being carried on another's back in the be an imminent attack from the Pisans in an epi-
Carli 1965; Meltzoff 1988- Kemp 1991, 37 right middle ground of the tangle of terrified sode that preceded a battle which took place in
men and women in the Damned Taken by Devils. 1364. Michelangelo was engaged on the cartoon
Musee du Louvre, Paris, departement des However, the motif in the fresco is in reverse, (the appearance of which is best recorded in a gri-
Arts Graphiques with the head of a limp figure disposed to the saille painting by Aristotele da Sangallo, cat. 167)
right, and the arms of the supporting figure are in 1504 (Frey 1909). The figure on this drawing
The crowning achievement of Signorelli's career arranged differently. corresponds closely to a soldier on the right of the
was the fresco cycle in the San Brizio Chapel in The drawing is a virtuoso demonstration of the Sangallo copy. Soldiers placed in front of him in
the Cathedral at Orvieto, the vault of which Fra brush-drawing technique, closely related to the the finished cartoon concealed his right arm, the
Angelico had begun in 1447 (Fumi 1891). Sig- hatched modeling in the fresco. It has the air of an lower portion of his left leg, and his right foot and
norelli's commission dates from 5 April 1499, "academic" drawing made in the studio as a self- ankle, while the position of his left arm is unclear
following Perugino's failure to undertake the conscious exercise. Such a work could have pro- in the copy. The slight sketch to the right of the
work, and the cycle was largely complete by late vided the basis for the motif in the fresco, but it figure's right arm appears to depict the contours
1503. The elaborate scheme encompasses a com- would not have been in the literal sense a study of his belly. The sketch of shoulders below it does
plex iconographic program centering upon judg- for the figures. It could also have served as an not appear to have been used in the cartoon.
ment, resurrection, and damnation, which draws exemplary study in the context of the workshop Michelangelo's use of black chalk for such vig-
upon a variety of theological and poetic sources, for the apprentices. Although the anatomy of Sig- orous, large scale, and close-range studies of fig-
including the writings of Dante (Meltzoff 1988). norelli's figures includes some schematization ures from the live model appears to be new in his
The scenes involving complex friezes of nude fig- that is not based on direct observation, he rivals art of this period (Hirst 1988, no. 7) and may rep-
ures, particularly the Damned Taken by Devils, Pollaiuolo in revealing the potential of nude fig- resent his response to the challenge of the red
are the most ambitious such compositions under- ures as vehicles of expression. The pendulous chalk figure drawings of Leonardo, who was
taken by any artist prior to Michelangelo's Battle limbs of the unconscious figure perfectly satisfy already working on his Battle of Anghiari for the

EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 265