This small sketch in black and white chalk is a study for a equestrian statue of Henry II of France. It was completed in 1559 or 1560 and is the only work in the museum's collection by the famous Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. Henry II died on 10 June 1559 during a jousting tournament. His widow wanted a monument to her dead husband and gave the commission to Michelangelo, the most famous sculptor of the time. Michelangelo, who was then nearly eighty-five, wanted to design the effigy but asked his former pupil Daniele da Volterra to make the model, and subsequently the bronze cast, under his supervision. Due to the untimely deaths of both Michelangelo and Daniele, it was never made.
www.rijksmuseum.nl/![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}