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.