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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
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The Archangel Gabriel announcing the birth of Christ, Lucas van Leyden  Netherlandish, Pen and brown ink; squared in black chalk; framing lines in pen and brown ink
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A Man Shooting a Crossbow, Cherubino Alberti (Zaccaria Mattia)  Italian, Engraving
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after Lelio Orsi (called Lelio da Novellara)
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