Standbeeld van een naakte jongen met fakkel 1636 - 1647

Cornelis Bloemaert made this print of a nude boy with a torch sometime in the 17th century. It’s an intriguing image, isn’t it? There are clear references to classical antiquity in the figure’s idealized form, and the torch might connect the image to enlightenment, or perhaps a more dangerous kind of illumination. The image presents us with the male nude as an object of aesthetic contemplation, but it does so within the context of the print market in the Dutch Golden Age. Prints like these served as models for aspiring artists in the academies. Bloemaert also produced prints for religious instruction, and it’s important to remember that the Netherlands was deeply invested in its own Protestant culture. To understand this image more fully, we need to look at the systems of artistic training at the time, and the intersection of these artistic institutions with religious beliefs and commercial opportunities.