Sketches of Five Arms and a Head (verso) (mid 1500s): Art, History and Details

Sketches of Five Arms and a Head (verso) (mid 1500s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Luzio Romano (Italian, active 1528–75).

The work and its context

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

Luzio Romano’s drawing of arms and a head were made from a flayed body (a cadaver with its skin removed). The triangle placed over the facial profile points to the Renaissance artist’s interest in geometry and to the idea that the human body is the primary model of perfect proportions.

Object facts

• Title: Sketches of Five Arms and a Head (verso)
• Date: mid 1500s
• Creator attribution: Luzio Romano (Italian, active 1528–75)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash, and charcoal underdrawing
• Dimensions: Sheet: 31.6 x 21.6 cm (12 7/16 x 8 1/2 in.)
• Collection: DR - Italian
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1925.1190.b

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen 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.