Studies of draped female and male figures; verso: Studies of draped female figures
18th–early 19th century
Medium
Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over red chalk
Dimensions
sheet: 8 1/16 x 11 5/8 in. (20.5 x 29.6 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
2008.607a, b
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 18th to early 19th century, Austrian artist Bartholomaeus Ignaz Weiss created this exquisite sheet of studies, capturing the fluid grace of draped male and female figures on theo, with additional female studies on the verso. These preparatory drawings reflect the rigorous academic tradition of the time, where artists honed their skills in rendering the human form under fabric folds—a cornerstone of European figure drawing from the Baroque era into Neoclassicism. Weiss's sensitive observations likely served as exercises for larger compositions, emphasizing anatomy, movement, and lig...