Standing Female Nude (after the Medici Venus) 1805

Christian Daniel Rauch made this red chalk drawing, Standing Female Nude, after the Medici Venus, in Rome in 1805. Rauch, a German sculptor, was working in the neo-classical style that looked back to classical antiquity for its ideals of beauty and harmony. The rediscovery of classical sculpture fueled the artistic imagination of the time, with the Medici Venus, a Roman marble sculpture, being a particularly influential model. Artists often made copies or variations of it to master the classical form. Note the figure's pose and the idealized anatomy. Rauch’s focus on the nude female form reflects the academic emphasis on anatomical study and the revival of classical artistic principles that characterized the art institutions of early 19th-century Europe. It also reveals the cultural values around ideal beauty and the classical past. To understand this drawing better, research into the academic practices of the time is invaluable. It is vital to consider the institutional frameworks that shaped artistic training and the revival of classical aesthetics in early 19th-century Europe.