Study for the Figure of Aeolus
1549–51
Medium
Red chalk
Dimensions
sheet: 11 9/16 x 7 3/16 in. (29.4 x 18.2 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Sally and Howard Lepow Gift, 2007
Accession Number
2007.127
Tags
Art Historical Context
Pellegrino Tibaldi’s *Study for the Figure of Aeolus* captures the dynamic energy of a male form in motion, rendered with the fluid precision of red chalk. Created between 1549 and1551, this drawing served as a preparatory study, likely for a larger fresco or painting featuring the mythological keeper of the winds. Tibaldi, a leading Mannerist artist active in Bologna and Rome, often explored such mythological subjects, infusing them with the dramatic poses and muscular anatomy inspired by Michelangelo. The choice of red chalk allowed Tibaldi to model light and shadow with remarkable subtlety...