92 Ar Project for the staircase of the Laurenziana library

This drawing shows several stages of the design project of the staircase in Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, designed to connect the vestibule with the reading room. At first Michelangelo had developed a double straicase running along the walls, but at the invitation of Clemente VII himself, he had reached the ultimate solution of a single monumental staircase spaced apart from the walls and located in the center of the vestibule. In the upper part of the sheet, overlapping to the staircase’s projects we recognize several columns bases profiles. The figures that can be clearly seen on the drawing aren’t autographic of the artist.