Rear View of Seated Man

Also known as: Seated Man

About the Artwork

By the late 1600s, painters of religious subjects, such as Carlo Vimercati, sought to make the content of their church decorations more accessible to a general congregation through the use of dramatic gestures and observed naturalistic details. Such artists often relied on figure studies like this drawing of a posed studio assistant to capture the dress and physique of everyday people and thus imbue their paintings with realistic elements.

Inscriptions

VERSO, upper right, in graphite: CARRACCI / Soc. G - 631 / OA ; upper center, in graphite: Pontormo

Exhibition history

Year in Review (1963). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 27, 1963-January 5, 1964). Old Master Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 10-31, 1964). Italian Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 16, 1986-March 1, 1987). Concept, Dogma and Feeling: Italian Drawings 1550-1650. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 20, 1991). Stories from Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).

Quick Overview

Artist: Carlo Vimercati (Italian, 1660–1715)
Date: late 1600s?
Medium: red chalk heightened with white chalk
Dimensions: Sheet: 27.8 x 17.8 cm (10 15/16 x 7 in.)
Type: Drawing
Classification: Drawing
Department: Drawings
Credit line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Leopold Blumka
Accession no.: 1963.72

Provenance

Ludwig Pollak, Rome (Lugt 788b, lower right, in black ink). [Salocchi & Freschi, Florence]

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.