Torsos with Rib Cages
early 1540s
pen and brown ink with incised lines
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Not currently on view
In the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · as of July 2026
Discussion
FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG
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.
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