Seated Young Woman
late 16th–early 17th century
Medium
Gouache
Dimensions
2 15/16 x 2 13/16 in. (7.5 x 7.2 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Louis V. Bell Fund, Leon D. Black Gift and Dodge Fund, 1997
Accession Number
1997.373
Tags
Art Historical Context
Adam Elsheimer’s *Seated Young Woman* is a delicate example of early seventeenth-century draftsmanship. Created in gouache on a support measuring just under three inches square, the tiny work captures a quietly posed figure with remarkable intimacy. Elsheimer, a German artist active in Italy, was celebrated for such small-scale studies that reward close looking; their compact format encouraged private contemplation rather than public display. Gouache’s opaque, velvety quality allowed Elsheimer to model form and suggest fabric texture with fine precision, bridging the graphic clarity of drawin...
About the Artist
Adam Elsheimer · 1578–1610
Elsheimer's meticulously detailed small paintings on copper would establish him as the most influential artist to follow Albrecht Dürer. He most likely arrived in Italy ca. 1598, where he quite possibly was associated with Hans Rottenhammer, and then moved to Rome in 1600, where he remained until his death. Comment on works: Landscapes; Religious.