Studies of a Standing Male Nude, Seated Male Nude, and Bust of a Woman,

1520s

Michelangelo’s principal rival in Florence was the sculptor Baccio Bandinelli, who perfected a distinctive pen and ink technique char¬acterized by firm outlines and vigorous parallel shading, exemplified in this sheet. The central figure is a live model, shown steadying his posture with a staff grasped in his right hand. His pose derives from the antique sculpture Apollo Belvedere, a major source of inspiration for Bandinelli. The surrounding figures are less precisely rendered, suggesting that they were drawn from memory rather than from life.

Enea Vico’s celebrated engraving of Bandinelli’s teaching academy depicts students eagerly sketching in a room filled with books, human and animal bones, and antique statuettes similar to the one on view. One can imagine that Bandinelli’s students also copied and learned from drawings made by the master, such as this one.