Lying model 1833

Wilhelm Marstrand created ‘Lying Model’ using oil paints, a traditional medium for academic figure studies of his time. Marstrand's choice of oil paint lends a particular quality to the flesh tones, allowing him to build up layers of color and achieve a luminous, lifelike effect, which was an established mode within the fine arts. The way the model's form is rendered speaks to the artist's mastery and the hours of labor required to achieve such a high level of verisimilitude. But it also implicitly refers to another kind of labor—that of the model. The painting is a reminder that fine art is always made by many hands: those of the artist, but also of the people who prepare the canvas and grind pigments, and of course the subject of the artwork itself. Paying attention to the amount of work that goes into the production process challenges the traditional distinction between fine art and craft, urging us to consider the social context in which the artwork was made.