Description
Michelangelo’s Studies for the Libyan Sibyl turns the human body into a study of powerful, coordinated movement. A muscular male model is seen from behind, his torso turning and an arm lifted, while smaller studies of a head, hands and feet surround the principal figure. Red chalk gives the forms warmth and weight, with the pale paper carrying the light across the shoulder and back.
Drawn around 1510–11, these studies prepared the female Libyan Sibyl on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Michelangelo worked from a male model to develop the twisting action of that monumental figure. The sheet allows the larger movement and its individual parts to be considered together: a turn of the torso, a supporting foot and the placement of a hand become elements of one complex bodily rhythm.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Michelangelo collection.
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