Staand mannelijk naakt, op de rug gezien (1e prijs 1778) Possibly 1778

Abraham Pietersz. Hulk made this pencil drawing of a standing male nude in 1778. The inscription on the top left indicates that it won first prize. Drawings like this played a key role in artistic training during the late 18th century. Art academies across Europe set up drawing courses using classical sculpture and live models to teach young artists about proportion, anatomy, and ideal form. Artists were encouraged to internalize these principles of classical beauty and, from the late 1700s, were exposed to public exhibitions of student work. These nude studies display a combination of skill, knowledge, and taste, which spoke to the role of art institutions in shaping cultural values. To fully understand an artwork like this, we need to turn to archival sources that document the practices of art academies, the careers of individual artists, and the aesthetic debates of the period. Art is never produced in a vacuum.