Kniender Mann mit Bart und langem Mantel 

Paolo Veronese sketched this kneeling man in chalk on grey paper sometime in the 16th century. It's now held at the Städel Museum. This study of a bearded man in a long cloak shows the influence of Venice's artistic institutions on the production of preparatory drawings at this time. Veronese probably made this sketch as a study for a larger painting featuring religious or historical subjects. Religious orders and wealthy families frequently commissioned paintings, which would have been seen as cultural statements but also investments. The man's kneeling posture implies humility and supplication, values upheld by the Church at the time. The grid pattern in the background indicates that Veronese used a system of proportions to transfer his design onto a larger canvas, which was standard practice in workshops of the time. To understand the drawing's meaning more fully, art historians consult inventories, letters, and other documents to trace the changing social and institutional contexts of its creation and reception.