Design for an Equestrian Statue of Henry II of France
Also titled Ontwerp voor een ruiterstandbeeld van Hendrik II van Frankrijk
Michelangelo (Caprese Michelangelo, 1475–1564)
1559 - 1564
- Medium
- paper, chalk
- Classification
- drawing
- Dimensions
- height 130 mm x width 120 mm
- Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Credit line
- Aankoop uit het legaat van de heer J.C.J. Bierens de Haan, Amsterdam, met medewerking van Mevrouw Baronesse de Geer van Juphaas, geb. Roëll van Hazerswoude en van de Vereniging Rembrandt
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
About this work
In 1559 Catherine de Medici commissioned Michelangelo to create a monument with an equestrian statue for her husband, who had died in a tournament. However, it was never realized due to the death of the artist and of the assistant who was to take on the work. This sketch focuses mainly on the monumental pedestal (base). Its shape is derived from a design that the great master had made about fifty years earlier.
