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Two Studies of a Seated Male Nude Seen from the Back

1596–1602
Not on view
The nude figure above holds the sawlike "bretessed bend" that figures, with six stars, in the arms of Pope Clement VIII Aldobrandini (1536-1605, r. 1592-1605). Many such nude figures holding these emblems appear, in large or small scale, in the frescoed vault of the Sala Clementina in the Vatican Palace painted between 1596 and 1602 by the brothers Giovanni and Cherubino Alberti. The dismembered sketchbook from which this drawing came contained at least five other chalk studies of 'ignudi' associable with the Sala Clementina vault fresco. In addition, there are studies for these nude figures in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan (see: Bora, 1976, no. 149, as Giovanni Alberti) and in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1977, pp. 271-2; repr, Bollettino d'arte, LXV, 5, 1980, p. 51, fig. 22, as Giovanni Alberti).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Two Studies of a Seated Male Nude Seen from the Back
  • Artist: attributed to Cherubino Alberti (Zaccaria Mattia) (Italian, Borgo Sansepolcro 1553–1615 Rome)
  • Date: 1596–1602
  • Medium: Red chalk, with some contours reinforced in pen and brown ink. Upper right corner replaced
  • Dimensions: 7-13/16 x 5-1/4 in. (19.8 x 13.3 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Harry G. Sperling Fund, 1980
  • Object Number: 1980.17.1
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
Allegorical Figure of Religion (recto); Study of a Griffon and of a Seated Figure (verso), Cherubino Alberti (Zaccaria Mattia) Italian, Red chalk with some black chalk
Allegorical Figure of Religion (recto); Study of a Griffon and of a Seated Figure (verso)
attributed to Cherubino Alberti (Zaccaria Mattia)
1553–1615
Lobster-Tail Burgonet, Steel, leather, gold, North Italian
Lobster-Tail Burgonet
North Italian
ca. 1610
Three Standing Figures (recto); Seated Woman and a Male Hermit in Half-length (verso), Stefano da Verona (Stefano di Giovanni d'Arbosio di Francia) Italian, Pen and brown ink, over traces of charcoal or black chalk (recto); pen and brown ink, brush with touches of brown wash, over traces of charcoal or black chalk (verso)
Three Standing Figures (recto); Seated Woman and a Male Hermit in Half-length (verso)
Stefano da Verona (Stefano di Giovanni d'Arbosio di Francia)
1435–38
Design for Two Knife Handles, Cherubino Alberti (Zaccaria Mattia) Italian, Engraving
Design for Two Knife Handles
Cherubino Alberti (Zaccaria Mattia)
After Francesco Salviati (Francesco de' Rossi)
1553–1615
Sallet in the Shape of a Lion's Head, Steel, copper, gold, glass, pigment, textile, Italian
Sallet in the Shape of a Lion's Head
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