Model stående, set fra ryggen, venstre arm løftet 1745 - 1802

Jens Juel made this nude figure study in pencil, probably in Denmark, sometime in the late 1700s. Such drawings were a staple of academic training for artists in this period, reflecting a broader social and cultural investment in Neoclassical ideals. This aesthetic, inspired by ancient Greece and Rome, prized the rational, the orderly, and above all the human form. But what was the role of the nude in an artist’s education? Well, in the studio, young artists honed their skills of observation and representation. But beyond this, the male nude was a vehicle for instilling values. It embodied ideas of beauty, strength, and virtue, all rooted in a classical past. It was a way of transmitting cultural values and maintaining a sense of historical continuity. Historians of art can draw on student memoirs, teaching manuals, and of course, the artworks themselves, to understand more about the role of the nude as an art institution.