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Studies of a Seated Youth in Armor

ca. 1505
Not on view
This celebrated drawing depicts a young model dressed in armor and positioned as though he were on horseback, his right arm raised and holding the shaft of a spear in his gloved hand. The figure is supplemented at upper right by a study of a helmet and, at lower left, by a detail of the armor. Both secondary studies are drawn in a larger scale, allowing Carpaccio to explore them in great detail. The pictorial effects of the drawing are achieved through the chromatic contrast of the blue paper; the reflections on the armor and the boy’s face are achieved through using white gouache and shadows in a few parallel lines. The artist may have intended to use this study for a painting, though the figure differs from the series of canvases dedicated to the life of the saint that he painted for the Scuola di San Giorgio in Venice.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Studies of a Seated Youth in Armor
  • Artist: Vittore Carpaccio (Italian, Venice 1460/66?–1525/26 Venice)
  • Date: ca. 1505
  • Medium: Black chalk, point of brush and gray wash, highlighted with white gouache, on blue paper
  • Dimensions: 7 1/2 x 7 1/16in. (19 x 18cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1954
  • Object Number: 54.119
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Saint Jerome (recto); Soldier with a Spear (verso), Vittore Carpaccio Italian, Brush with black ink and gray wash, over traces of black chalk or charcoal, highlighted with white gouache on blue paper (recto); black chalk, highlighted with white gouache, with some brush and gray wash (verso)
Saint Jerome (recto); Soldier with a Spear (verso)
Vittore Carpaccio
1460–1525
The Meditation on the Passion, Vittore Carpaccio Italian, Oil and tempera on wood
The Meditation on the Passion
Vittore Carpaccio
ca. 1490
Saint Martin and the Beggar, Vittore Carpaccio Italian, Pen and gray ink, brush and gray wash, over faint traces of black chalk
Saint Martin and the Beggar
Vittore Carpaccio
1493–1500
Standing Female Figure (St. Anne; Cartoon for a Painting), Vittore Carpaccio Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and gray-brown wash, over charcoal underdrawing; outlines pricked for transfer, on two glued sheets of paper with overlapping joins
Standing Female Figure (St. Anne; Cartoon for a Painting)
Vittore Carpaccio
ca. 1502–4
Jupiter and Juno: Study for the "Furti di Giove" Tapestries, Perino del Vaga (Pietro Buonaccorsi) Italian, Pen and dark brown ink, brush and brown and gray wash, highlighted with white gouache
Jupiter and Juno: Study for the "Furti di Giove" Tapestries
Perino del Vaga (Pietro Buonaccorsi)
ca. 1532–35

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