The Wild Man

Art Historical Context

Created in 1649 Conrad Meyer’s “The Man” showcases the draftsmanship of seventeenth-century European artists. Executed in pen and black-and-white ink with brush-applied brown wash and touches of white gouache over faint graphite, the drawing demonstrates how layered media could produce rich tonal contrasts and luminous highlights on paper. At roughly sixteen by nine-and-a-half inches, the sheet’s vertical format emphasizes the solitary figure, inviting close inspection of every delicate stroke. The subject, identified simply through the tags “Men” and “Leaves,” evokes the age-old European image of the wild man—a mythical being associated with untamed nature. Meyer’s careful rendering of foliage across the figure suggests both protective covering and symbolic connection to the forest, themes that resonated in an era when explorations of the natural world and human identity were gaining renewed interest. Today housed in the Metropolitan Museum’s Department of Drawings and Prints, this work exemplifies how drawings served as both independent creations and preparatory studies. Its acquisition through the Van Day Truex Fund underscores the enduring appeal of such intimate, technically sophisticated sheets for understanding artistic practice of the period.

About the Artist

Conrad Meyer · 1618–1689

Comment on works: Portraits; Figures; Landscapes