Studies of a Naked Seated Boy

c. 1603

Studies of a Naked Seated Boy, c. 1603. The elder Jacob de Gheyn II (Dutch, 1565–1629). Black chalk and white chalks with stumping on gray-blue antique laid paper; sheet: 23.7 x 16.5 cm (9 5/16 x 6 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 2019.2 This sheet of studies of a young male model drawn from various angles is among the earliest nudes drawn from life in the Netherlands. The artist Jacques de Gheyn carefully observed the boy’s body and poses, concentrating on the modeling of his skin and muscles through light and shadow rendered with a combination of black and white chalks on gray-blue paper. The directness of this study was unusual in the Northern Netherlands around 1600, where the vogue for mythological scenes inspired human bodies that were more artificial than natural. This sheet of studies of a young male model drawn from various angles is among the earliest nudes drawn from life in the Netherlands.