Two Studies of a Male Nude

Author: Surya Stemerding

This drawing of two seated male nudes in dynamic poses was corrected in the arms and legs as the artist continued working. It is probably two studies of the same model in different poses. The one on the left looks up at his raised right arm, while his companion on the right holds a long stick and looks down. They may be studies for one or more musical angels. The long stick and the pose of the right-hand figure has the look of a musician playing an instrument, perhaps a double bass. The cursory lines below the other figure suggest a cloud, but in that case his wings have been omitted for insertion later on.

On the back of the sheet there are four anatomical studies in red chalk, two of a standing lower part of a skeleton, one of a shoulder and right arm, and another of a lower right leg. They are drawn on top of a black chalk study of a woman’s head in profile.

The drawing was included in the inventory of the Koenigs Collection as Florentine, early seventeenth century. Pouncey later suggested Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-1664) as the draughtsman.^[1] It was later given to Giovanni Battista Mola (1585-1665) or follower. On the evidence of the style of drawing, however, it should be dated in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, which is not contradicted by the provenance and rough dating of the paper.