Studies of Hands 1630 - 1680

Curator: Oh, how delicate, almost dreamlike! The shading feels so soft, almost reverent. Editor: That’s a wonderful way to describe it. We’re looking at "Studies of Hands," a drawing attributed to Sir Peter Lely, created sometime between 1630 and 1680. It’s currently part of the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Curator: Ah, Lely! A chronicler of courtly life! But these aren’t grand portraits. They feel like private musings, experiments in form and grace. Did he perhaps have a hand model that he found exceptionally inspiring? Editor: It's plausible. You know, drawings like this were vital for artists during this era. Before photography, accurately rendering anatomical details like hands was fundamental, academic. It trained the eye, solidified technique. I see several different gestures here, a repertoire of hand language, almost. Curator: Language, exactly! Look at the way the light catches the knuckles, the subtle tension in the fingers. Each pose whispers a different emotion. One hand points, commanding or directing. Another rests open, as if in offering. Each is so unique in tone. It's mesmerizing. Editor: Right, and Lely uses a technique that really invites closer observation, combining pencil with red chalk, allowing some of the underdrawing to come through, thus emphasizing the developmental and exploratory aspect of drawing. It also lets some warmth in. Curator: It really humanizes the artmaking! It invites the viewer to see the mind, and hand, at work. As someone fixated on Baroque arts, I see an attempt to discover, and showcase the interior emotional life, by subtly conveying these gestures of each hand. These gestures invite each of us into the painting's space! Editor: Agreed. Lely also left us an insightful reminder that before grand, polished canvases, came such dedication, to draftsmanship and detail. Curator: These hands almost touch us across the ages. I want to believe I am shaking each of them! Editor: A handshake across time, indeed. It prompts us to acknowledge what’s required for the grand spectacles, and value this preparatory process.