Michaelangelo's ‘A nude man (after Masaccio) and two figures behind’ | Christie's

Join us from our Christie’s Paris warehouse and admire a masterpiece recently rediscovered by Christie’s specialists : an exceptional work by Michelangelo, ‘A nude man (after Masaccio) and two figures behind’.
This drawing is one of the best of less than eight sheets by the artist still in private hands, and will become a touchstone for every study of the early part of Michelangelo’s long career.

Coming to the market from a private French collection, the work was designated a French National Treasure, originally preventing its export from the country for a period of thirty months. The French Government recently removed this designation and has granted its export licence, enabling the drawing to be offered without any restriction to collectors worldwide. Prior to its sale in Paris, Michelangelo’s drawing is scheduled to be exhibited in Hong Kong and New York.

Using two shades of brown ink, Michelangelo makes Masaccio’s figure his own by enhancing the man’s musculature and creating a more powerful and robust figure that presages his most famous representations of the human body, such as his monumental marble David at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence and his two Slaves at the Louvre. In a quite different, more energetic style, Michelangelo later added two figures behind the shivering man, unrelated to Masaccio’s original composition.