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Studies of a Naked Seated Boy
About the Artwork
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.
Inscriptions
in graphite, verso: “24” and “376/” and “Helmont”?
Provenance
1747-1808: (possibly) Jacob Helmolt, Haarlem, Netherlands Faerber and Maison, Ltd., London, England Einar Perman, Stockholm, Sweden October 29, 1979: Sotheby's, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1979-2019: Private Collection, Amsterdam, Netherlands March 4, 2019: the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Tales of the City: Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (October 9, 2022-January 8, 2023).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Jacob de Gheyn II (Netherlandish, 1565–1629)
- Date
- c. 1603
- Medium
- Black chalk and white chalks with stumping on gray-blue antique laid paper
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 23.7 x 16.5 cm (9 5/16 x 6 1/2 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 2019.2
More by Jacques de Gheyn II in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00011178
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