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
By the end of the 1500s, Michelangelo’s treatment of the nude male had permeated artistic practice. Some artists (today called Mannerists) began to stray from the master’s grounding in human anatomy, emphasizing instead the expressive potential that Michelangelo brought to bear on the human form. To make an emotional impact, Giovanni de’ Vecchi created fluid figures with exaggerated proportions, such as the central figure of Christ that appears here. De’ Vecchi used pen and purplish watercolor to render the forms of the dead Christ surrounded by Saint John the Apostle, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, the grief-stricken Virgin Mary, Saint Mary Magdalene (at Christ’s feet), and their companions, who adoringly convey his body to the tomb in the upper left. This drawing was preparatory for an altarpiece for the church of Santa Prassede in Rome.
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Pietro Testa — Allegorical Figures on Mount Parnassus: Study
Correggio (Antonio Allegri) — Standing Nude Child Surrounded
Michel Corneille the Younger — Figure Studies for a Judgment
Pietro Testa — Saint Jerome before a crucifix accompanied by
Salvator Rosa — Study for a Judgment of Paris and Other Figu
Anonymous, Italian, Roman-Bolognese, 17th century — Figures 
John Boydell|Giuseppe Canale — Mary Magdalene washing the fe
Anonymous, Italian, Roman-Bolognese, 17th century — Venus an
Anonymous, Italian, Roman-Bolognese, 17th century — Martyrdo
Adam van Vianen I|Paulus Willemsz. van Vianen — Diana and a 
Pietro Testa|François Collignon — Saint Peter standing in th
François Boucher — Vertumnus and Pomona
