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| Daniele da Volterra Bearded man leaning against wall ca. 1548 drawing British Museum |
"Daniele, when he was a lad, learned to draw a little from Giovanni Antonio Sodoma, who went at that time to execute certain works in the city of Volterra; and when Sodoma had gone away he made much greater and better proficience under Baldassare Peruzzi than he had done under the discipline of the other. But to tell the truth, for all that, he achieved no great success at that time, for the reason that in proportion as he devoted great effort and study to seeking to learn, being urged by a strong desire, even so, on the other hand, did his brain and hand fail him. Wherefore in his first works, which he executed at Volterra, there is evidence of very great, nay, infinite labor, but not yet any promise of a grand or beautiful manner, nor any grace, charm, or invention, such as have been seen at an early hour in many others who have been born to be painters, and who, even in their first beginnings, have shown facility, boldness, and some indication of a good manner. His first works, indeed, seem in truth as if done by a melancholic, being full of effort and executed with much patience and expenditure of time."
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| Daniele da Volterra Nude bearded man standing on ladder before 1566 drawing - for Descent from the Cross British Museum |
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| Daniele da Volterra Eve tempting Adam before 1566 drawing British Museum |
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| Daniele da Volterra David and Goliath before 1566 drawing - study for painting on slate British Museum |
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| Daniele da Volterra Virgin and Child before 1566 drawing - study for painting British Museum |
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| Daniele da Volterra Bearded old man addressing nude young man ca. 1555-56 drawing - study for painting British Museum |
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| Daniele da Volterra Wrestler ca. 1555-56 drawing - study for painting British Museum |
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| Daniele da Volterra Group of twelve men in conversation ca. 1555-56 drawing - study for painting British Museum |
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| Daniele da Volterra Wrestlers ca. 1555-56 drawing - study for painting British Museum |
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| Daniele da Volterra Study for head of St Joseph before 1566 drawing - cartoon for fresco British Museum |
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| Daniele da Volterra Three nude men ca. 1555-56 drawing - study for painting British Museum |
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| Daniele da Volterra Nude male figure from the back ca. 1555-56 drawing - study for painting British Museum |
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| Daniele da Volterra Seated young man ca. 1555-56 drawing - study for painting British Museum |
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| Daniele da Volterra Seated old man and young man ca. 1555-56 drawing - study for painting British Museum |
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| Daniele da Volterra Portrait of Michelangelo ca. 1548-53 drawing Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
Posthumous fame clings to Daniele da Volterra mainly because of a perverse service he performed for his friend Michelangelo after the latter's death – as Vasari relates below –
"When Daniele had finally returned to Rome, Pope Paul IV having a desire to throw to the ground the Judgment of Michelangelo on account of the nudes, which seemed to him to display the parts of shame in an unseemly manner, it was said by the Cardinals and by men of judgment that it would be a great sin to spoil them, and they found a way out of it, which was that Daniele should paint some light garments to cover them; and the business was afterwards finished in the time of Pius IV by repainting the S. Catherine and the S. Biagio, which were thought to be unseemly."
– from Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1568) by Giorgio Vasari, translated by Gaston du C. de Vere (1912)
Many of the modesty aprons added to Michelangelo's Last Judgment nudes by Daniele da Volterra were only removed toward the end of the 20th century.