Skip to main content

Primary sourcePaintingc. 1492-1496

Three Standing Men in Wide Cloaks Turned to the Left

Michelangelo · c. 1492-1496

An early drawing by Michelangelo studying drapery on standing figures, with sketched heads in the background.

An early drawing by Michelangelo himself, showing his developing skill with drapery as a young artist.

Ask Michelangelo Buonarroti about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Pen and brown ink drawing on aged paper of a standing man in a long, heavy cloak seen from behind, turned to the left. Behind him are sketched heads and figures in profile, and a few faint letters and numbers appear in the lower left.
Michelangelo, Three Standing Men in Wide Cloaks Turned to the Left, c. 1492-1496.

About this source

What it is

This pen and brown ink drawing was made by Michelangelo around 1492-1496, early in his career. It shows a standing man in a heavy cloak seen from behind, with sketched heads and figures behind him.

Why it matters

This drawing shows Michelangelo practising how cloth falls and folds over a body, a skill he needed for painting and sculpture. As an early work, it gives a glimpse of him still developing his technique as a young artist.

Look closer

  • What does the way the cloak falls tell you about what the artist was trying to practise?
  • Why might an artist sketch several figures and faces on the same page?
  • What clues on the page suggest this was a working study rather than a finished artwork?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Michelangelo Buonarroti on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Michelangelo Buonarroti sources

Meet the AI Michelangelo Buonarroti →
Full-length white marble statue of a nude young male figure standing in contrapposto, one hand raised to his shoulder, the other at his side, set on a rough base within a domed, pale-walled room.Sculpture

Primary source

David

Michelangelo · 1501-1504

A printed plate, numbered 106, in a bound album showing an engraved elevation of a wall tomb with architectural niches, statues, reclining figures, a central arched niche with a seated figure, and a circular medallion at top. Handwritten German caption below reads Entwurf für ein medicäisches Doppelgrab (Orig. in d. Albertina).Artifact

Primary source

Elevation of a Planned Double Tomb for the Magnifici, Medici Chapel

unbestimmt

Wide view of the painted Sistine Chapel ceiling: a grid of framed panels with figures, nude and draped, with pendentives and lunettes in the corners, painted in warm earthy tones.Painting

Primary source

Sistine Chapel ceiling

Michelangelo · 1508-1512

Michelangelo's fresco The Last Judgment on a wall. Christ sits at center in a blue halo surrounded by nude figures. Angels blow trumpets above, the dead rise from the ground, and figures fall into a boat and down toward hell at the bottom.Painting

Secondary source

The Last Judgment

Michelangelo · 1536-1541

Engraved reproduction plate, page numbered 25, of Michelangelo's seated marble statue of Moses in an ornate architectural niche. Moses has a long flowing beard and horns, holds his beard with one hand, and rests on a pedestal inscribed with Latin text. Pencil caption at lower left reads S. Pietro in Vincoli.Photograph

Secondary source

Statue of Moses by Michelangelo, San Pietro in Vincoli

unbestimmt

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Michelangelo Buonarroti now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions