Zittend mannelijk naakt, met knots Possibly 1723 - 1729

This sanguine drawing of a seated male nude with a club was made in 1729 by Bernard Picart. The artist has expertly rendered the forms of the figure using sanguine, a drawing medium composed of iron oxide pigment and clay. The substance lends the drawing a warm, reddish-brown hue, contributing to the overall sense of depth and volume. Look closely, and you can see that Picart varied the pressure of his strokes to create a range of tonal values. This material quality allows him to give form to the model’s muscles and the folds of drapery on which he sits. While the drawing might seem simple, it actually results from years of academic training and painstaking observation. The very directness of the marks belies the amount of labor, thought, and skill that was necessary to produce the image. It is through this making process that Picart imbued the drawing with both aesthetic and cultural significance, inviting us to reflect on the traditions of classical art.