Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011435Skeleton
About the Artwork
Michelangelo was among the first artists in Europe to attend a human dissection and to adopt anatomical knowledge as a necessity for depicting the human figure. These drawings of anatomically accurate skeletons by Battista Franco reflect the increased—and slightly macabre—interest in the interior workings of the human body inspired in part by Michelangelo’s example.
Inscriptions
VERSO OF SECONDARY SUPPORT, lower left, in graphite: 4 .
Provenance
Sir Thomas Lawrence, London (Lugt 2445, lower left, blind stamped). Samuel Woodburn, London (Lugt 2584, not stamped); [his sale Christie's, London, 4-8 June 1860] (according to departmental cataloguing sheet). Boguslaw Jolles, Dresden and Vienna (Lugt 381a, lower left, in blue ink); [sale Munich, 28-31 October 1895] (according to departmental cataloguing sheet). Prof. Otto Neubauer, Munich and London (according to departmental card). Mr. and Mrs. Claude Cassirer, Cleveland.
Exhibition history
Year in Review (1964). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1964-January 31, 1965). Science within Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 13-April 20, 1980). Master/Apprentice: Imitation and Inspiration in the Renaissance. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 13, 2019-February 23, 2020).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Battista Franco (Italian, c. 1510–1561)
- Date
- early 1540s
- Medium
- pen and brown ink; incised
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Claude Cassirer
- Accession no.
- 1964.380
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Open-access museum record · AT-00011435
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