Studies for the Sistine Chapel frescoes

Starting in 1503-04, Michelangelo began striving to depict the extended movements and forced torsion of his figures, connecting them to the surrounding space by the painterly use of black chalk. This is still found in the drafts for the first half of the ceiling frescoes for the Sistine Chapel. In 1511, when Michelangelo began decorating the second half of the ceiling, another stylistic change can be observed: the figures are larger, more monumental and more individual and set off markedly from the background. In order to implement this new ideal in a suitable manner in his drawings, Michelangelo turned to a new material, the red chalk.

From 1533 Michelangelo was working on drafts for the Last Judgment fresco. In these drawings he developed a new monumental figural ideal. The massive figures with exaggeratedly bulging muscles are simplified to block-like shapes; they are depicted in highly unusual poses and in complicated twisted postures. The studies for the Last Judgment were executed in black chalk, a material that Michelangelo continued to prefer until the end of his life some thirty years later.

Unfortunately, only a few preparatory drawings for this monumental fresco have been preserved. There have must been numerous other study sheets on which the master prepared individual figures with utmost precision, altering and rejecting them as the final design took place.