Study of a Male Nude and Other Studies Possibly 1858 - 1860

Mariano Fortuny Marsal made this study of a male nude and other studies using pen and brown ink with brush and brown wash on paper. During the 19th century, artistic academies across Europe played a central role in shaping artistic taste. A key element of academic training was life drawing, where artists sketched nude models to learn anatomy and proportion. This sheet gives us insight into the artist's formation, revealing the importance of the male nude as a subject of study. Fortuny was Spanish and this work would have been produced in his studio in Rome. It is interesting to see how the art of classical antiquity influenced the artist. We can tell this by the poses of the male figures. These echo ancient sculptures that Fortuny would have studied. Art historians study such works by comparing them with other contemporary studies, academic treatises, and surviving studio records to understand more about the training and artistic conventions of the period.