Fuseli lived in Rome from 1770 to 1778. It was there that Michelangelo became his great hero and role model, and where Fuseli developed his own Michelangelesque style of drawing. Although this rapid sketch—a study of one of the male nudes (Ignudi) by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel—was probably made well after he had returned to England, Michelangelo’s art informed Fuseli’s work throughout his life.