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| Lelio Orsi Centaur before a maze 16th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
"The debate over the hierarchy of the arts, a distinctive feature of 16th-century treatises, is summarized and concluded by Vasari, beginning with the very title of his Lives. Painters, sculptors and architects were elevated to a higher social and intellectual status because of the importance of 'ideas' in their work, expressed through design. Ceramists, cabinetmakers, goldsmiths, tapestry weavers, and even engravers, by contrast, were relegated to the level of specialized technicians, because the work they did demanded, first of all, a mastery of the materials, instruments, equipment, and practices of the workshop. There were further distinctions among the various materials and subjects within the larger heading of the 'fine arts.' According to Michelangelo, fresco painters were held in higher esteem and considered more 'virile' than those who merely painted panels and canvases; 'true' sculpture was that which was executed 'through the process of removal' by painstaking chipping away at marble. Materials that could be worked more easily, such as wood or terracotta, were considered less noble from then on. Michelangelo thought an artist should pursue the most elevated subject: the human body, or even better, male nudes, either in isolation or within the context of a narrative episode of great exemplary worth. Religious scenes and austere literary and mythological subjects were considered 'elevated,' as were celebratory portraits of illustrious personages."
– from European Art of the Sixteenth Century by Stefano Zuffi, translated by Antony Shugaar (Getty Museum, 2005)
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| Lelio Orsi Apotheosis of Hercules 16th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Nosadella Kneeling old man 16th century drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Bartolomeo Neroni Reclining nude 16th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Francesco Morandini Studies of an infant head, after a cast 1572-74 ddrawing Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Francesco Morandini Laughing boy 16th century drawing Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
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| Lattanzio Gambara Female figure di sotto in su 16th century drawing Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
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| Marco Marchetti Design for a Fountain 16th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Marcantonio Raimondi Captive 16th century drawing Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
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| Andrea Lilli Half-length male figure 16th century drawing Ashmolean Museum, Oxford |
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| Pirro Ligorio Seated sibyl and attendant genius ca. 1540 drawing Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Leone Leoni Profile studies for the head of Andrea Doria and sketches of a horse tamer 16th century drawing Morgan Library, New York |
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| Anonymous Italian artist Studies of eagles ca. 1500 drawing British Museum |
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| Anonymous Italian artist Draped kneeling figure ca. 1520-40 drawing British Museum |