The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 7, 2026

A vertically oriented pen and brown ink drawing with graphite on weathered paper depicts a fragmented, headless Roman statue of a woman seated facing right, her draped gown tied at the waist featuring star-shaped patterns on the sleeves. Dense hatching defines heavy folds of fabric cascading over her legs to her feet. Thin lines frame the composition, which is marked by a horizontal center crease and worn, irregular edges.

Copy of a Roman Statue of a Seated Woman

c. 1450–94

circle of Domenico Ghirlandaio

(Italian, 1449–1494)
Italy, 15th century
pen and brown ink (two different colors) with graphite; framing lines in pen and brown ink
Sheet: 23 x 12.8 cm (9 1/16 x 5 1/16 in.); Secondary Support: 23 x 12.8 cm (9 1/16 x 5 1/16 in.)
Gift of Robert Hays Gries 1939.653
Location: Not on view

Description

The oddness of a sculptural fragment draped with clothing points to the workshop context of this drawing. When young artists became apprentices to master artists, they sometimes learned to draw by sketching from sculptures, even draping them with fabric in order to practice folds and texture. The technique of this pen-and-ink drawing—with closely spaced, crossed lines within tightly closed outlines—ties it to the circle of Domenico Ghirlandaio, a Florentine painter to which Michelangelo was apprenticed in 1487. Apprentices in Ghirlandaio’s large studio were taught his “system” for creating tone and depth.
  • Dr. Daniel A. Huebsch, Cleveland, OH
    ?-1939
    Robert Hays Gries, Cleveland, OH, given to The Cleveland Museum of Art
    December 19, 1939-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Miller, Michael. "A Michelangelo Drawing." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 5 (1990): 146-74. Reproduced: p. 158; Mentioned: p. 158, 173 www.jstor.org
  • Michelangelo: Mind of the Master. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 22, 2019-January 5, 2020).
    Drawings: Discoveries in the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 7-October 28, 1990).
    Italian Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 16, 1986-March 1, 1987).
    CMA, Italian Drawings from the Permanent Collection (Dec. 15, 1986-Mar. 1, 1987).
    Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 19-March 23, 1980).
    CMA, Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism (Feb. 19-Mar. 23, 1980), pp. 16-7, illus.
  • {{cite web|title=Copy of a Roman Statue of a Seated Woman|url=false|author=Domenico Ghirlandaio|year=c. 1450–94|access-date=07 June 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1939.653