Seated Nude Male in Profile View Facing Left with Arm Raised; Fragment of Study of Right Hand 1600 - 1700

This study of a seated nude male, whose creator we don't know, was made with red chalk on paper. Chalk is a humble material – literally ground from stone. The artist would have used it to build up the figure through careful layering of tone. Notice the hatching marks, the lines of parallel strokes that suggest volume. These give a wonderful sense of three-dimensionality to the figure. The tooth of the paper, its slight roughness, grabs the chalk, creating a soft, almost porous effect. This drawing gives us special insight into the working process of an artist, who would likely have used this study as preparation for a painting or sculpture. It may have been a student exercise. But it shows how even the simplest, most direct means of production can yield remarkable results. When you look at the drawing, consider the essential relationship between hand, tool, and surface, a relationship that has been at the core of artmaking for millennia.