Studies of a reclining male nude: Adam in the fresco 'The Creation of Man'

On this day in 1475 Michelangelo Buonarotti, an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance was born in the Republic of Florence. Of course we had to feature one of his magnificent works today! :)

You probably recognize this figure. It's the famous Adam from the Sistine Chapel's fresco. The drawing represents an unparalleled observation and idealization of the male form, symbolic of the perfection of God’s creation before the Fall: the ease of Adam’s pose and the candid display of his splayed thighs are at one with the generative meaning of the image. The prime focus of the study, the undulating forms of the muscular torso, are described in both hatching—consistently directed—and stippling whereby the point of the chalk is used to create fine gradations of tone.

Red chalk is Michelangelo’s preferred medium at this period, and although it gives slightly lesser contrasts of tone than black chalk, Michelangelo obviously appreciated its lustrous surface quality (it can be shaved to a finer point than black) and its saturated hue.

P.S. Read here 10 facts you probably didn't know about Michelangelo!