Artwork Page for Arm Bones

Details / Information for Arm Bones

Arm Bones

early 1540s

Battista Franco

(Italian, c. 1510–1561)
Culture
Italy, 16th century
Medium
pen and brown ink with incised lines
Support
Two sheets (joined) light brown laid paper, laid down on cream(3) laid(?) paper
Measurements
Sheet: 11.8 x 36.7 cm (4 5/8 x 14 7/16 in.); Secondary Support: 11.8 x 36.7 cm (4 5/8 x 14 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Claude Cassirer 1964.379
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

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 arm bones, though rendered accurately, are placed into decorative piles. The odd assembly vacillates between scientific study and a symbolic memento mori, or reminder of death.
A horizontally oriented drawing in pen and brown ink on a wide strip of aged tan paper features anatomical studies. Toward the left, skeletal fragments of a shoulder or hip appear. Long limb bones overlap across the center, defined by fine hatching and incised lines. At the far right, several skeletal hands with articulated fingers cluster together. The mottled paper shows a vertical fold toward the right edge.

Arm Bones

early 1540s

Battista Franco

(Italian, c. 1510–1561)
Italy, 16th century

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