Italian school, ancient attribution to MIGUEL ANGEL (Italy, 1475-1564); XVI century.

Italian school, ancient attribution to MIGUEL ANGEL (Italy, 1475-1564); XVI century.
"Atlas."
Ink on paper.
Presents inscription on the back.
Measurements: 29 x 27,5 cm.
Nude male figure captured in full dynamic tension, made with pen and ink on paper and dated in the sixteenth century. The work is inscribed in the Italian school and presents an old attribution to Michelangelo (1475-1564), circumstance that is significant to understand both its quality and its formal language. The drawing depicts a naked man in a forced posture, bent under the weight of a large stone mass that he holds on his shoulders, captured at a moment of maximum physical tension.
From a stylistic point of view, the work reveals a profound knowledge of human anatomy, visible in the volumetric modeling of the body and in the meticulous definition of the musculature through a delicate interweaving of lines. The pronounced foreshortening and twisting of the torso clearly refer to solutions characteristic of Michelangelo's art, especially in figures such as the Slaves or the ignudi of the Sistine Chapel Vault, where the human body becomes a vehicle for dramatic expression. However, certain aspects suggest that it could be a follower or artist of his circle, rather than an autograph work.
Iconographically, the figure can be identified with Atlas, the titan of Greek mythology condemned to bear the weight of the sky. However, in this representation, the element he carries seems closer to a rock than to the celestial sphere, which also brings the image closer to the myth of Sisyphus. This iconographic ambiguity is not uncommon in the Renaissance, where classical themes are freely reinterpreted according to formal and expressive interest.