18th Century French School, Christ Ressuscité Tenant Sa Croix, Red Chalk Drawing

This beautiful drawing, executed in red chalk , depicts Christ embracing his crucifix
. It was inspired by Michelangelo's sculpture executed around 1519-1521, theCristo della Minerva, preserved in the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome.Rome. It was commissioned from the great Italian sculptor in 1514.
The work is famous and has inspired numerous artists who havefrequently reproduced it in drawing or sculpture, such as Edme Bouchardon (1698-1762) whose sculptural work is preserved in the church of Saint Sulpice in Paris.
Bouchardon was inspired by Michelangelo,Christ's attitude and the position of his head, but the composition is identical. Bouchardon also left a red chalk drawing (Cabinet des arts graphiques du musée du Louvre, INV 23921) which was probably engraved.
Our sanguine appears to have been engraved from this Bouchardon drawing by Bouchardon and not the original sculpted by Michelangelo, as the composition being reversed and the drapery being close to Bouchardon's and not to the gilded bronze placed on Michelangelo's sculpture after the Council of Trent.
The artist we're concerned with here has significantly altered the canon of the body, which is more muscular than that of the original, but it retains the same attitude as that given by Michelangelo to his Christ, in particular the position of both hands on the cross, with the raised index finger seemingly pointing to the cross, the object of his torment and death.
Antique frame.