Diagram of a rectangular block of marble

Although briefly mentioned in 2003 (see Literature), this small sketch can be considered a new addition to the group of diagrams of marble blocks drawn by Michelangelo, most of which are preserved at the Casa Buonarroti, Florence (C. de Tolnay, Corpus dei disegni di Michelangelo, III, Novara, 1978, nos. 441-487, ill.). A few other drawings of this type were discovered recently, among them one acquired by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (inv. 2000.44; see M. Mussolin, ‘Minimal Michelangelo: The Journey of a Sketch’, online publication, 31 October 2023, accessed January 2024); one sold at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 12 May 2004; and one sold at Christie’s, London, 12 November 2008, lot 82.

In these simple drawings, the great artist recorded the size and form of block of marble needed for sculptural and architectural projects; they ‘provided instructions for quarrying the blocks, and allowed for the quantification of costs related to the material and its transportation’ (Mussolin, op. cit.). The drawings were given (or sometimes sold?) by Michelangelo’s nineteenth-century relative, Cosimo Buonarroti. As recorded in the note written by him at the moment of the gift of the present sheet, its recipient was John Bowring, a British economist and writer who later became fourth Governor of Hong Kong. Originally, the drawing offered here must have had a second of similar size and form next to it, as suggested by the word ‘simile’ in Michelangelo’s handwriting.