The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 19, 2025
Studies for Christ Meeting His Mother on the Road to Calvary, Studies of an Angel in a Pendentive (verso)
1599/1604
(Italian, 1552–1626)
Secondary Support: 27.8 x 35.3 cm (10 15/16 x 13 7/8 in.)
Location: Not on view
Description
In 1590, a generation after Michelangelo’s death, the dome he designed for Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome was finally completed. In 1597 Pope Clement VIII commissioned the mosaic decoration of the interior of the dome, choosing Cristoforo Roncalli in part because of his training in Florence, an origin he shared with Michelangelo. Roncalli made this preparatory drawing for the angels that would appear at each side of the four Evangelists in the trapezoidal spaces where the dome meets the supporting arches, called pendentives. Roncalli practiced rendering the foreshortened human form in three studies across the sheet, which are early stages of the design.- Capitaine Carlo Prayer, Milan (Lugt 2044, lower center, in red ink). Juan and Felix Bernasconi, Milan (according to departmental cataloguing sheet; sale, Christie's, London, 6-7 July 1987, no. 71). [W. M. Brady & Co., NY]
- [did not find a department notebook file for this one, Mar. 1996 (though did find it in the card file)]CMA, Concept, Dogma, and Feeling: Italian Drawings 1550-1650 (Aug. 27-Oct. 20, 1991).CMA, "The Year in Review: Selections 1989" (Feb. 6-Apr. 15, 1990), cma Bulletin 77 (1990), p. 76 no. 178.
- {{cite web|title=Studies for Christ Meeting His Mother on the Road to Calvary, Studies of an Angel in a Pendentive (verso)|url=false|author=Cristoforo Roncalli|year=1599/1604|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1989.45.b