Federico Zuccaro (Sant'Angelo in Vado, circa 1541-1609 Ancona)

The subject of this portrait has traditionally been identified as Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), of whom only a very few certain likenesses are known. Vasari, in his Life of Michelangelo, suggests that there are only two painted versions, one by Bugiardini and a second, unfinished, by Jacopino del Conte. The present drawing, showing Michelangelo's characteristic broken nose, is closest to the famous portrait drawing by Daniele da Volterra, in leadpoint and black chalk, now in the Teylers Museum, Haarlem (H.D. Chapman, Michelangelo drawings: Closer to the Master, London, 2005, no. 108 and p. 263).