Nude Youth in the Pose of the Spinario

1610·Black chalk, heightened with white chalk, on tan laid paper·28 × 18.8 cm (11 1/16 × 7 7/16 in.)

<p>Italy, specifically ancient Roman sculpture, profoundly influenced Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens. The artist himself wrote that “in order to attain the highest perfection in painting, it is necessary to understand the antiques . . . to be so thoroughly possessed of this knowledge that it may diffuse itself everywhere.”</p> <p>This drawing of a live studio model derives from the artist’s firsthand acquaintance with the Hellenistic bronze Spinario (also called Boy with Thorn, 1st century BCE), which was one of the most celebrated and copied sculptures in Rome. Absorbing antiquity without outright copying it, Rubens fully transformed his image from cold stone to vibrant flesh.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1610
Medium: Black chalk, heightened with white chalk, on tan laid paper
Dimensions: 28 × 18.8 cm (11 1/16 × 7 7/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Peter Paul Rubens

Artist

Peter Paul Rubens

Painting

Sir Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens's highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of classical and Christian history. His unique and immensely popular Baroque style emphasised movement, colour, and sensuality, which followed the immediate, dramatic artistic style promoted in the Counter-Reformation. Rubens was a painter producing altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. He was also a prolific designer of cartoons for the Flemish tapestry workshops and of frontispieces for the publishers in Antwerp.

Siegen, Westphalia

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