Stående munk. Studie af en arm 1671 - 1738

Hendrik Krock made this drawing of a standing monk and a study of an arm, with pencil on paper, sometime around the late 17th or early 18th century. Drawings like this are usually understood through the lens of the artist’s biography, or in relation to the stylistic features of the period, the Baroque. But we might also see this as a product of a particular institution: the art academy. In Krock’s time, academies, such as those in Rome or Paris, provided artists with a place to study canonical works, develop their skills, and exhibit their art. The intense focus on the human form we see in this drawing reflects the academy’s emphasis on life drawing as the foundation of artistic training. We can learn more about Krock’s world through archival research into the art academy and the network of artists it sustained. The meaning of art is contingent on this social and institutional context.