Pyramid of Five Men (c. 1540): Art, History and Details

Pyramid of Five Men (c. 1540) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Juste de Juste (French, 1505–1559).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Although almost nothing is known about Juste de Juste, he was probably among a circle of artists working at Fontainebleau in France in the 1540s. This eccentric composition seems to reference the twisting, turning, and balancing bodies found on the Sistine Chapel ceiling as well as the muscular nude body types associated with Michelangelo. However, the composition itself is a unique invention not derived from any specific part of the ceiling or indeed from life studies.

Object facts

• Title: Pyramid of Five Men
• Date: c. 1540
• Creator attribution: Juste de Juste (French, 1505–1559)
• Culture: France
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching
• Dimensions: Sheet: 29 x 21.7 cm (11 7/16 x 8 9/16 in.); Platemark: 27.8 x 20.7 cm (10 15/16 x 8 1/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 2007.167

Collection credit

Alma Kroeger Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.