MichelangeloItalian, 1475–1564Figure Studies for the Sistine Ceiling (verso)
Can I see it?
Not on view at present
Where is “Figure Studies for the Sistine Ceiling (verso)” now? Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.
Cleveland, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
Universally considered one of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance, Michelangelo devoted four years to painting the vast ceiling fresco in the Sistine Chapel. This preparatory study portrays one of the 20 athletic male nudes, known as ignudi, who serve as supporting figures at each corner of the Old Testament scenes painted down the center of the ceiling. Michelangelo worked out the positioning of the ignudi in red chalk drawings before beginning to paint each section of wet plaster. The energy and monumentality of the figure in red chalk, whose body extends beyond the sheet, suggests the heroic athleticism of Michelangelo’s sculpture.
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Details
- Accession number
- 1940.465.b
In the catalog
Sources
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art — Museum open access
In the life of Michelangelo
The whole life1506–1508 · Workplace
Florence
1508–1516 · Workplace
Rome
1513
Death of Julius II: “the tragedy of the tomb”
Michelangelo's chief patron, Pope Julius II, died, and the Florentine Giovanni de' Medici became Pope Leo X. Michelangelo signed a new contract for Julius's tomb, but this “tragedy of the tomb”, as Condivi called it, dragged on for forty years.
