Nudo maschile seduto (c.1618-1624)

Bernini, Gian Lorenzo (1598-1680)

Nudo maschile seduto (Seated Male Nude)
c.16181624
Red chalk heightened with white chalk on buff laid paper, 42.2 × 27.2 cm
Princeton University Art MuseumPrinceton

Bernini’s graphic oeuvre, which largely consists of quick sketches for sculptural and architectural projects, includes a handful of finished red chalk life studies of muscular male nudes, later known as academies. These may have been made as demonstration pieces in the context of the informal life-drawing classes that Bernini is said to have staged in his studio. Modest in scale yet powerfully three-dimensional in effect, this relatively early example displays Bernini’s ability to convey theatrical monumentality on paper. Through his economical handling of red and white chalks, surface and contour are expressively transformed by flickering light and surrounding atmosphere. Although Bernini is known to have been a prolific draftsman, only approximately three hundred of his drawings have survived from his long and illustrious career. Consisting primarily of quick sketches for his sculptural and architectural projects in Rome, his graphic oeuvre also includes a handful of finished red chalk life studies of muscular male nudes. Modest in scale yet powerfully three-dimensional in its effect, this example displays Bernini’s economical handling of red chalk in his creation of fleeting monumentality, whereby both surface and contour are expressively transformed by the flickering light and surrounding atmosphere. (PUAM)