Two men studying a corpse by the light of a candle stuck in its chest. Etching after a drawing attributed to Polidoro Caldara (Polidoro da Caravaggio).

  • Polidoro, da Caravaggio, approximately 1495-approximately 1543.
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24713i
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view Two men studying a corpse by the light of a candle stuck in its chest. Etching after a drawing attributed to Polidoro Caldara (Polidoro da Caravaggio).

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Credit

Two men studying a corpse by the light of a candle stuck in its chest. Etching after a drawing attributed to Polidoro Caldara (Polidoro da Caravaggio). Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

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About this work

Description

Traditionally, this drawing has been considered to represent Michelangelo studying anatomy. It has been associated with Mariette's description of one of two drawings in Crozat's collection representing "Michel-Ange occupé à faire des dissections". While it was in Woodburn's collection it was described as Michelangelo and the anatomist Marcantonio della Torre dissecting a cadaver. It is unlikely that Michelangelo and della Torre knew each other, and it might be a confusion for Vasari's description of Leonardo da Vinci's collaboration with the anatomist. The kneeling figure on the left holds a compass in his right hand and the seated figure on the right indicating the abdomen, also seems to have a measuring instrument which rests against his left arm. In the original drawing, lines emanating from the candle's flame to the two figures have been incised

Physical description

1 print : etching ; image 15.8 x 24.5 cm

Contributors

References note

P. J. Mariette, Description sommaire des desseins des grands maistres d'Italie, des Pays-Bas et de France, du cabinet de feu M. Crozat, 1741, p. 3, no. 18 ("Michel-Ange Buonaroti ... Dix, idem [i.e. desseins], dont deux desseins représentant Michel-Ange occupé à faire des dissections")
J.B.L.G. Seroux d'Agincourt, Histoire de l'art par les monumens, tom. VI, Paris 1823, pl. CLXXVII, as "Dessin de Michel-Ange Buonarroti; Etude anatomique XVe-XVIe siècles.
J. C. Robinson, A critical account of the drawings by Michel Angelo and Raffaello in the University Galleries, Oxford. Oxford 1870, no. 50
E. Holländer, Die Medizin in der klassichen Malerei, 3rd ed., 1923, p. 20
K. T. Parker, Catalogue of the collection of drawings in the Ashmolean Museum, vol. ii: Italian Schools, Oxford 1956, no. 480, p. 239
G. Wolf-Heidegger and A. M. Cetto, Die anatomische Sektion in bildlicher Darstellung, Basel and New York 1967, no. 246
A. Marabottini, Polidoro da Caravaggio, 2 vols, 1969, i, p. 315, no. 69; ii, pl. lxxxviii, 2
H. Macandrew, Catalogue of the collection of drawings in the Ashmolean Museum, vol. iii: Italian schools: supplement, Oxford 1980, p. 273

Reference

Wellcome Collection 24713i

Reproduction note

After an etching published in Seroux d'Agincourt, loc. cit., after a pen and ink drawing in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. In the publication of Seroux d'Agincourt and in the drawings collection of the painter, Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1820), the drawing was considered to be by Michelangelo. While this attribution has been rejected, there has been no lasting consensus as to the identity of the artist responsible for the drawing. It has been linked with the name of Bartolomeo Manfredi and, more lastingly, to Polidoro Caldara (Polidoro da Caravaggio). The Sienese artist, Bernardino Capitelli, has also been suggested as a possibility

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