Study of a Nude Man
1645–51
Medium
Black chalk on buff laid paper
Dimensions
13.6 × 19.4 cm (5 3/8 × 7 11/16 in.)
Classification
chalk
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
149048
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Abraham Bloemaert here used black chalk to carefully render a nude figure with notched ribs. The apparent strain in the figure’s sinewy muscles and the schematic rendering of support underneath his body suggest that the artist drew this figure from a live model. The rigid outline of the man’s body in addition to the short, hatched lines used for shading imply that Bloemaert could have conceived of this drawing for a pedagogical purpose. Bloemaert supervised dozens of pupils and is known to have ...
About the Artist
Abraham Bloemaert · 1566–1651
Abraham Bloemaert (1566–1651) was born in Gorinchem in the Dutch Republic, the son of architect Cornelis Bloemaert, and grew up in Utrecht after the family relocated there in 1575. His early artistic formation took him to Paris for three years in the early 1580s, where he studied with several masters before returning to the Northern Netherlands to pursue his career. He settled permanently in Utrec...