It is impossible to describe the refinements of modulated shading and the precision of predetermined outlines by means of which these incomparable drawings have been produced.

They seem to melt and to escape inspection, yet they remain fixed on the memory as firmly as forms in carven basalt.
The whole series of designs for Christ's Crucifixion and Deposition from the Cross are executed in chalk, sometimes black, but mostly red.
It is manifest, upon examination, that they are not studies from the model, but thoughts evoked and shadowed forth on paper.

Their perplexing multiplicity and subtle variety--as though a mighty improvisatore were preluding again and yet again upon the clavichord to find his theme, abandoning the search, renewing it, altering the key, changing the accent--prove that this continued seeking with the crayon after form and composition was carried on in solitude and abstract moments.

Incomplete as the designs may be, they reveal Michelangelo's loftiest dreams and purest visions.

The nervous energy, the passionate grip upon the subject, shown in the pen-drawings, are absent here.