Reclamebiljet voor: Cours de dessen-academique (...), ca. 1830 1826 - 1833

This advertisement for drawing courses was made around 1830 by an anonymous artist. It reflects the 19th-century academic tradition, where the study of the human body was central to artistic training. The advertisement promises instruction in drawing every part of the human body, from the straight line to the most varied attitudes, progressing to osteology, myology and the exterior of the body. This method mirrors the period's emphasis on reason, order, and the empirical observation of the human form. It also reflects the gendered nature of such training, as women were often excluded or limited in their access to life drawing classes. The courses offered here, based on drawing from great masters, likely upheld established aesthetic and cultural norms, reinforcing a particular vision of beauty and the ideal human form. Consider how such training might have shaped the bodies and subjects deemed worthy of representation in art, influencing broader societal perceptions of beauty, gender, and race.