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Male Nude Half Figure with Raised Arms, Facing Right

Male Nude Half Figure with Raised Arms, Facing Right

Attributed to: Domenico Cresti (in circa 1580-1600)

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Specifications

Title Male Nude Half Figure with Raised Arms, Facing Right
Material and technique Red chalk
Object type
Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Location This object is in storage
Dimensions Height 236 mm
Width 210 mm
Artists Attributed to: Domenico Cresti
Previously attributed: Annibale Carracci
Accession number MB 948 (PK)
Department Drawings & Prints
Acquisition date 1847
Creation date in circa 1580-1600
Watermark letters MS in ligature, possibly fragment (lower middle, upside down, on P4 of 7P, vH, half folio), not in Briquet or Piccard Online
Provenance unknown
Research Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600
Material
Object
Geographical origin Italy > Southern Europe > Europe
Place of manufacture Bologna > Italy > Southern Europe > Europe

Entry catalogue Italian Drawings 1400-1600

Author: Surya Stemerding

The half-length male nude in this drawing has raised his arms in a defensive, parrying pose. The object concealed in his balled left hand could be a stone, a knife or a stick. His face is in lost profile, with only the contour of his cheek and chin visible, together with his eyelashes and part of his nose, but not his mouth. It is not clear whether this is a preliminary study or a copy after part of a painting, print or drawing. The pose suggests a position to the left of a main scene.

For a long time this sheet was attributed to an anonymous artist from the circle of Annibale Carracci (1560-1609), but stylistically a Tuscan artist from the closing decades of the sixteenth century would be a more plausible candidate.[1] The head with its striking profile recalls figure studies in red chalk by Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530), such as a sheet with a kneeling figure of around 1522-26 in Los Angeles.[2] The draughtsmanship here is more fluid, though, and lacks the forceful hatching with which Del Sarto up built his surfaces. A drawing in black and red chalk of a seated man seen from behind with his head averted, auctioned in 2013 as a work by Domenico Cresti (called Il Passignano, 1559-1638), displays some affinity with the Rotterdam study. The similarities can be seen in both the detailed depiction of the hands and the hatching that follows the curvature of the body, creating a subtle shift in contrast.[3]

From the point of view of anatomy, the most serious shortcomings in the Rotterdam drawing are the lack of cohesion between the shoulder blades, the vertebrae and the bundle of muscles in the twisted torso. One thinks, then, of a less skilled artist who was not drawing from life but from an inanimate object.

Footnotes

[1] Jutta Lauke Gernsheim (1921-2015) was the first to draw attention to the Mannerist features of the figure, which was her reason for dating the sheet to the end of the sixteenth century (oral communication, 7 September 1960). According to Catherine Monbeig Goguel the artist may have been a member of the circle around Alessandro Allori, expert meeting in The Hague, 10 September 2020.

[2] J. Paul Getty Museum, inv. 84.GB.7; Los Angeles 2015, no. 26; Los Angeles 1988, pp. 19-21, cat. 1.

[3] Paris (Art Curial) 13 November 2013, lot 5.

Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600
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All about the artist

Domenico Cresti

Tavarnelle Val di Pesa 1559 - Florence 1638

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