The Wild Man 1649

Conrad Meyer created this drawing, The Wild Man, using pen and brown ink with white heightening on paper. The figure, centered and nearly life-sized, immediately commands our attention. Meyer’s strategic use of hatching and cross-hatching creates the figure’s volume against the flat, uniformly colored ground. This technique, coupled with the stark white highlights, gives the Wild Man a striking three-dimensionality. The figure's musculature is emphasized, yet softened by the reddish-brown monochrome which lends the drawing a warm, tactile quality. Meyer’s Wild Man challenges conventions by standing in a contemplative pose, leaning on a crude club while also resting a hand on a pedestal. Meyer seems to play with semiotic expectations: the figure simultaneously embodies untamed nature and civilized reflection. The oak leaves, arranged as both a crown and a skirt, act as visual puns, further destabilizing any fixed categorization of this figure. Ultimately, Meyer’s precise and detailed linework renders a complex image that blurs boundaries between the wild and the cultivated, the body and intellect.