A new drawing and a new date for Michelangelo’s ‘finestre inginocchiate’ at Palazzo Medici, Florence.

Starting from the intuition of the purpose and object of a well-known design, but without convincing interpretations , the study recognizes in it one of the few drawings in Michelangelo's own hand for the windows of the Palazzo Medici in Florence. Through the informations on the paper the work research reconstructs its history and sets a new date close to the construction of the tombs in the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo to for this poorly documented work. From the analysis of the conventions in the rapresentation appear that the drawing belong very close at the construction process , and used a common graphical language used by the artist and the workers responsible for realize his ideas The writer examines a new drawing that can be related to the “finestre inginocchiate” (“kneeling windows”) designed by Michelangelo for the corner of Palazzo Medici, Florence, Italy, and offers a new date for those windows. The drawing features on a sheets of architectural sketches that the artist reused to calculate the wages of his work force. While a date of April 9, 1525, has been accepted for this sheet, a new dating can be calculated on the basis of the payroll, providing a terminus ante quem of spring 1524 for the red-chalk sketch, a plan relating to the “finestre inginocchiate.” The verso suggests a date much closer in time to Michelangelo's payroll of spring 1524. Thus, while the “finestre inginocchiate” have been traditionally dated to 1517, this sketch for the windows would postdate the design for the cornice (1521–24) and predate the payroll of April 1524.