Clasped Hands [verso]
c. 1612
![Clasped Hands [verso] by Giacomo Cavedone](https://images.artheonmuseum.org/nga/thumb/clasped-hands-verso-nga-79418.webp)
Medium
black chalk heightened with white on gray-blue laid paper
Dimensions
overall: 26.8 x 37.5 cm (10 9/16 x 14 3/4 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
Accession Number
1993.13.1.b
Art Historical Context
Giacomo Cavedoni’s *Clasped Hands* is a sensitive study executed around 1612 in black chalk heightened with white chalk on gray-blue laid paper. The drawing captures two hands tightly intertwined, their forms emerging dramatically from the colored sheet through subtle gradations of light and shadow. At roughly 27 by 38 centimeters, the sheet is modest in scale yet rich in observational detail, suggesting it served as a preparatory exercise rather than a finished work. Cavedoni, a Bolognese artist active during the early Baroque period, trained under the Carracci and absorbed Caravaggio’s emph...
About the Artist
Giacomo Cavedone
Italian, Sassuolo 1577–1660 Bologna