Three figures in discussion

The two figures to the right of the present drawing were used by Franco in the lower left corner of The Battle of Montemurlo, now in the Pitti Palace, Florence (M. Chiarini and S. Padovani, La Galleria Palatina e gli Appartamenti Reali di Palazzo Pitti, Catalogo dei Dipinti, Florence, 2003, II, no. 293). The painting, among Franco's best known works, reflects the influence of Michelangelo's compositions, not least the drawings of the Dream of Human Life (London, Courtauld Institute) and the Rape of Ganymede (Harvard, Fogg Art Museum). The present drawing is closely derived from Michelangelo's drawing, formerly given to Franco, in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, which was also formerly in the collections of the elder Richardson and Sir Thomas Lawrence (K.T.Parker, op. cit., no. 326). It is interesting to note that in 1763, when the present drawing, then belonging to John Barnard, was engraved from the collection of John Barnard, it was considered to be by Michelangelo, perhaps in preference to the drawing now in Oxford which was then in the collection of Earl Spencer. The Oxford drawing can be dated to circa 1526, and Franco's painting to shortly after the battle of Montemurlo itself on 2 August 1537, giving a precise period for the genesis of the present drawing.