13. Baccio Bandinelli (Florence 1488-1560) Deux études de figures masculines (recto); Etude d'un taureau (verso) plume et encre brune (recto); sanguine (verso) pen and brown ink (recto); red chalk (verso) 43.3 x 27cm (17 1/16 x 10 5/8in). Provenance: The art market, Lyon, 1979, where purchased by Christian Adrien Collection, Neuilly-sur-Seine Private Collection, Europe Exhibited: Rennes, musée des Beaux-Arts, Dessins de la collection Christian et Isabelle Adrien, 21 March – 2 August, 2012, no 2 (note by Françoise Viatte) Literature: F. Viatte, Musée du Louvre, départment des Arts graphiques. Inventaire général des dessins italiens, vol. IX, Baccio Bandinelli, dessins, sculptures, peinture, Paris, 2011, p. 126, under nO 20, p. 206, no 86; P. Rosenburg et al, Dessins de la collection Christian et Isabelle Adrien, Paris, 2012, no 2 (note by Françoise Viatte) This sheet, rich in expressive force and drawn on both sides, represents, on the recto, two studies of the same standing man seen both in profile and slightly turning away. Executed by the Florentine artist Baccio Bandinelli, heir to Michelangelo's (1475-1564) visual legacy later the sixteenth century, it demonstrates his remarkable skill in rendering the body, its torsion and its muscular structure. Aided by the precise but repeated lines along with the parallel and crosshatching typical of the artist, here Bandinelli literally sculpts the figures on paper. As mentioned by Françoise Viatte in the catalogue of the exhibition dedicated to the Christian Adrien Collection of Old Master Drawings in 2012 (see literature), Bandinelli treated this type of drawing, which does not appear to be 'after the Antique', as a studio exercise, to work out poses, gestures, and the movement of figures within a spatial context. Not necessarily intended as preparation for a final composition, these types of studies are difficult to date. However, according to Viatte, the somewhat dry execution of the present lot resembles the artist's late projects, such as the studies made in preparation for the decoration of the choir of the Duomo of Florence, where the artist worked from 1547 onwards. There are numerous studies by the artist that, in terms of technique, style, and format, could be compared to the present work. They are preserved at the Ambrosiana Library, Milan (Cod. F. 269), the Louvre (RF 491), and the British Museum (the latter probably related to the work in the Louvre, Inv. 111). According to Françoise Viatte, for the study of the torso, Bandinelli may have used a small plaster model, like those seen on the upper shelf in his studio in Enea Vico's engraving of the Accademia di Bandinelli(see British Museum No.7.40.14). The verso of the drawing shows a study of a bull in red chalk and appears to be unconnected to the recto. This latter study reveals stylistic affinities with the works of his contemporaries, such Rosso Fiorentino (1495-1540) and Francesco Salviati (1510-153).