The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Rib Cages

Rib Cages

early 1540s
(Italian, c. 1510–1561)
Italy, 16th century
pen and brown ink
Sheet: 11.6 x 23.8 cm (4 9/16 x 9 3/8 in.); Secondary Support: 11.6 x 23.8 cm (4 9/16 x 9 3/8 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Claude Cassirer 1964.383
Location: not on view

Description

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 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. Here, the groupings of rib cages, though rendered accurately, are placed into decorative piles. The odd assembly vacillates between scientific study and a symbolic memento mori, or reminder of death.
  • Sir Thomas Lawrence, London (Lugt 2445, lower left, blind stamped). Samuel Woodburn, London (according to departmental cataloguing sheet, sale 4-8 June 1860, Christie's London; Lugt 2584, not stamped). Boguslaw Jolles, Dresden and Vienna (Lugt 381a, lower left, in blue ink; according to departmental cataloguing sheet, sale 28-31 October 1895, Munich). Prof. Otto Neubauer, Munich and London (according to departmental card). Mr. and Mrs. Claude Cassirer, Cleveland
  • Master/Apprentice: Imitation and Inspiration in the Renaissance. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 13, 2019-February 23, 2020).
    Drawings: Discoveries in the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 7-October 28, 1990).
    The Draftsman's Eye: Late Italian Renaissance Schools and Styles. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 6-April 22, 1979).
    CMA, The Draftsman's Eye: Late Italian Renaissance Schools and Styles (Mar. 6-Apr. 22, 1979), no. 49, illus., pp. 16, 23, 59.
    CMA, Ars Medica (Aug. 3-Dec. 12, 1965).
    Year in Review (1964). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1964-January 31, 1965).
    CMA, "Year in Review for 1964" (Dec. 8, 1964-Feb. 17, 1965), cma Bulletin 51 (1964), p. 265 no. 115, illus. p. 241.
  • {{cite web|title=Rib Cages|url=false|author=Battista Franco|year=early 1540s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1964.383