Studie van een jonge vrouw, half op de rug gezien 1845

Eugène François de Block made this black and white chalk drawing of a young woman in the mid-19th century. The artwork’s title identifies it as a study, implying an institutional setting where the artist likely trained. Academies of art in Europe developed the practice of drawing from life models as a way to teach aspiring artists how to represent the human form. De Block would have learned the techniques of shading and proportion to create the illusion of three-dimensionality on a flat surface. This drawing’s soft lines and delicate handling of light is characteristic of academic art of the time. But it is important to remember that such artwork also served to reinforce cultural values related to beauty, femininity, and social class. To know more about the artistic conventions and social context in which this drawing was made, one might consult archives, exhibition catalogues, or scholarly books on 19th century French art.