David and Goliath
by DANIELE da Volterra, Black chalk, 300 x 400 mm
After the completion of the frescoes in the Cappella Paolina in 1550, Michelangelo abandoned painting. He continued, however, to create drafts for paintings by artists such as Ascanio Condivi, Marcello Venusti, and Daniele da Volterra. He provided Daniele preliminary drawings for several paintings, among them the David and Goliath painted on slate (now in the Louvre, Paris). For the depictions on both sides of the slate, Daniele created numerous drafts, starting from the initial ideas received from Michelangelo’s drawings. The present sheet in the Uffizi is one of Daniele’s drafts.