Mannelijk naakt, liggend op de rug, naar rechts 1725

Curator: It has a melancholic quality, doesn’t it? A feeling of profound weariness…or is it perhaps surrender? Editor: This pencil drawing, titled "Mannelijk naakt, liggend op de rug, naar rechts"—"Male nude, lying on his back, facing right" – comes to us from the hand of Louis Fabritius Dubourg around 1725, and resides today in the collection of the Rijksmuseum. I wonder about its place in the context of the Baroque period. Curator: I do too, actually. There's something…raw about it, isn't there? That relaxed, vulnerable pose. You feel his weight, almost. He’s so earthbound, lacking all that drama we often see in the Baroque. Editor: I'd argue this groundedness speaks to Baroque realism – an attempt to capture genuine human emotion within these idealized forms. Think about the role of male nudes in art history, often tied to power, dominance… What does it mean when we see that reversed, subverted even? The face is partly obscured, and turned away from the light. Curator: Yes, and those hands are behind his head… There’s almost a playful ease about the way he is stretching, right? But there's something almost unsettling about his complete openness. This is definitely not your typical glorification of the male form, this feels intimate in its ordinariness. Editor: Agreed. It's precisely this ordinariness, or this lack of grandiosity that allows us to think about vulnerability in masculine terms. He's taking up space in an unguarded way, defying the need to perform strength, while simultaneously displaying such raw physicality. How radical is that? Curator: I think this work asks us to really confront the expectations of how men are "supposed" to present themselves, in art, and even more, in life. A kind of silent challenge to performative masculinity, centuries before the phrase even existed. Editor: Indeed. I think considering works like Dubourg's nude is a step toward a richer understanding of the male gaze and challenges inherent within the creation and observation of art. Curator: I leave this experience wanting to sink into that field and join this man on his languid journey... perhaps. Editor: And I see a figure of history being transformed before our eyes, his vulnerability demanding space.