A Seated Youth
late 18th–mid-19th century
Medium
Graphite and pen and ink
Dimensions
sheet: 3 1/16 x 2 15/16 in. (7.8 x 7.4 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Alain and Marie-Christine van den Broek d'Obrenan Gift, 2008
Accession Number
2008.628
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
Bertel Thorvaldsen, the celebrated Danish sculptor and leading voice of Neoclassicism, created *A Seated Youth* during his long residence in Rome. Working from the late eighteenth into the mid-nineteenth century, Thorvaldsen drew constant inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman art, translating its calm idealism into both monumental sculpture and intimate studies such as this one. Executed in graphite and pen and ink on a sheet scarcely larger than a postcard, the drawing reveals the artist’s working method. Quick yet precise lines explore the balanced pose and serene contours of a young male figure, demonstrating how Thorvaldsen refined the harmonious proportions that would later appear in his celebrated marbles. Small preparatory sketches like this one allowed him to test ideas of movement and anatomy before committing to costly stone. Now in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection of drawings and prints, the sheet offers visitors a rare glimpse into the creative process behind Neoclassical masterworks. Its modest scale and spontaneous touch remind us that even the grandest public monuments began with quiet moments of observation and invention.
About the Artist
Bertel Thorvaldsen · 1770–1844
Danish sculptor. Comment on works: sculptor