Femme nue agenouillée 

Luc-Olivier Merson made this drawing of a kneeling nude woman in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century in France. It's an academic study, likely done in preparation for a history painting or mythological scene. The art academy was a powerful institution in France at this time, and drawing from the nude was central to its curriculum. While seemingly timeless, this exercise was also intensely gendered and classed. Male artists routinely depicted female nudes, but the reverse was almost unheard of. The male gaze was institutionally enforced. We can also wonder about the model's position. Was she paid? What were the conditions of her work? Art historians look at preparatory drawings like this alongside other documents, such as student records, exhibition reviews, and artists' letters, to understand the social world of art in the past. By doing so we can start to understand art as a product of its time and its institutions.