Not currently on view
In the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · as of August 2026
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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Half Figure of a Youth with Outstretched Left Arm and Bowed 
The Entombment
St. Jerome
The Entombment of Christ
Six Animals, including lions, a tiger, a leopard, a griffin,
Two Angels or Winged Genii Carrying Torches
Fortitude and Justice, an allegorical composition in round f
The Adoration of the Shepherds with angels overhead
Central Italian — Studies of the Leg of a Man and a Horse's 
Jacopo Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti) — Reclining Male Figure
Luzio Romano (Italian, active 1528–75) — Sketches of Five Ar
Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475–1564) — Figure Studie
Alphonse Legros — Torso of the Belvedere
Joseph Wright (Wright of Derby) — Sketches of Male Bodies, p
Antonio Canova|Anonymous, Italian, early 19th century — Nude
Battista Franco (Italian, 1498?–1561) — Half-Length Skeleton
Rosso Fiorentino — Two Figures in an Architectural Setting: 
Michelangelo Buonarroti — Anatomical Study of a Knee
Domenico Beccafumi (Italian, 1486–1551) — Three Male Nudes
Gasparo Diziani — Staande Neptunus met drietand in de rechte