Two Studies of the Belvedere Torso 

Editor: This is Joseph Highmore's "Two Studies of the Belvedere Torso." The sketch feels very academic, very much about the male form. What's your take on it? Curator: Well, it's interesting to consider the Belvedere Torso itself as a fragmented representation of idealized masculinity, isn't it? And Highmore, by studying and copying it, engages with this ideal. But what does it mean to reproduce a fragment? Does it reinforce or question the power structures inherent in the classical canon? Editor: That's a good point. I hadn't thought of the fragment itself as a statement. Curator: Exactly. Think about the social context of Highmore's time. How might the study of such a form, even in fragmented representation, speak to the construction of gender and power in 18th-century England? The act of drawing, of recreating, is never neutral. Editor: That gives me a lot to think about. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure!