An Angel in Flight

This drawing is a study for an angel in a fresco executed in the church of San Giovanni in Laterano, in Rome. Painstakingly modeled with fine lines of black chalk, the dynamic, muscular figure of the angel recalls Michelangelo’s monumental nudes created earlier in the century, while the androgynous features of his face are typical of the elegant style favored in the late 1500s. Considered a child prodigy by his contemporaries, Giuseppe Cesari became the head of the artists’ academy in Rome at the young age of 31. His busy workshop was a training ground for numerous pupils, the most notable of which was perhaps Caravaggio.