Model Study of a Man Leaning over a Table c. 1612

Giacomo Cavedone created this model study of a man leaning over a table with chalk. During the late Renaissance, life drawing became integral to academic artistic training. Cavedone and his contemporaries often used these studies to prepare for larger, more complex compositions. But what does it mean to be bent over in this way? Is the man sleeping? Or is his posture suggestive of despair or deep thought? In Cavedone’s Italy, depictions of men often carried connotations of power, intellect, or religious virtue. Yet, here, we see vulnerability, a departure from the idealized masculine forms that dominated the era. This choice might reflect Cavedone’s own experiences. After losing his wife and children to the plague, Cavedone reputedly became withdrawn. This drawing therefore becomes an intimate reflection on personal loss and the quiet moments of human experience.