Sculptor Receiving Visitors in his Studio

1728–93

Not on view

The eighteenth-century Dutch artist Nicolaes Aartman produced various designs for book illustrations, as well as small-scale independent drawings. This scene of a fashionable couple visiting a sculptor’s workshop may have been intended as a design for a book illustration, although no print after the design is known.

The image provides an interesting insight into a contemporary sculptor’s atelier. The master sculptor points towards his latest masterpiece; a free standing statue of a female nude, while his assistant to the left is carving the epitaph on a tombstone. Various workshop attributes – compasses, levels and hammers – are lying around. Little statuettes and other sculptural objects are lining the walls and even hanging from the ceiling.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Title: Sculptor Receiving Visitors in his Studio
Artist: Nicolaas Aartman (Dutch, Amsterdam 1713–1793 Amsterdam)
Date: 1728–93
Medium: Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash; framing lines in pen and black ink
Dimensions: 3 7/8 x 5 9/16 in. (9.8 x 14.2 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1955
Object Number: 55.224
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By Nicolaas Aartman

In the same medium

From the same time and place

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Seascape with Six Figures in the Foreground, Nicolaas Aartman Dutch, Brush and gray and black ink, with watercolor, over traces of black chalk — Seascape with Six Figures in the Foreground
Nicolaas Aartman
1728–93

Seascape with Seven Figures and a Dog, Nicolaas Aartman Dutch, Brush and gray and black ink, with watercolor, over traces of black chalk — Seascape with Seven Figures and a Dog
Nicolaas Aartman
1728–93

Landscape with Resting Cavaliers and a Shepherd with his Flock, Nicolaas Aartman Dutch, Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash over a sketch in black chalk — Landscape with Resting Cavaliers and a Shepherd with his Flock
Nicolaas Aartman
1728–93

Cottage among Trees, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, on paper washed with brown — Cottage among Trees
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)
ca. 1650

Reading the News at the Weavers' Cottage, Adriaen van Ostade Dutch, Pen and brown ink, watercolor, white heightening, over traces of graphite; framing lines by the artist (?) in pen and brown ink and gold — Reading the News at the Weavers' Cottage
Adriaen van Ostade
1673

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