Studies for male heads and a seated nude woman 1548 - 1628

Jacopo Palma, called il Giovane, made this drawing of male heads and a seated nude woman with pen and brown ink in Venice sometime in the late 16th or early 17th century. Venice in Palma’s time was a major centre for artistic production, with a guild system that controlled training and commissions. Palma inherited his workshop from his great-uncle Palma Vecchio, so he had an institutional advantage. Drawings such as this one would have been part of his workshop practice, as he trained assistants in the depiction of the human figure. Note the emphasis on the male gaze as the means to represent both men and women. These kinds of drawing served a social function. The circulation of images was a crucial way of shaping taste, which is why academies and workshops were so important to the creation and maintenance of artistic hierarchies. By understanding the social conditions of artistic production, we gain a better grasp of the true meaning of art. We must examine archival documents such as guild records and inventories, to properly understand the making of art in its own time.