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Standing Youth with Hands Behind His Back, and a Seated Youth Reading (recto); Two Studies of Hands (verso)

1457/58–1504
Not on view
This sheet of figure studies illustrates Filippino Lippi’s virtuosity as a draftsman. His handling of the challenging technique of metalpoint is precise and descriptive. The lean, muscular male nude at left was conceived as preparatory study for either a Saint Sebastian or for Christ in a Flagellation scene. The study at right of a seated young man reading a book is probably of a workshop assistant posing as a model. The two faded studies of hands on the verso are of weaker execution than the figures on the recto. Extremely rare in Filippino's oeuvre for their large scale, they are in a style that dates no later than his Lucchese period, 1482–83, as exemplified by his Magrini altarpiece in Lucca.

(Carmen C. Bambach, 1997, revised 2014)

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Standing Youth with Hands Behind His Back, and a Seated Youth Reading (recto); Two Studies of Hands (verso)
  • Artist: Filippino Lippi (Italian, Prato ca. 1457–1504 Florence)
  • Date: 1457/58–1504
  • Medium: Metalpoint, highlighted with white gouache, on pink prepared paper (recto); metalpoint, on pink prepared paper (verso)
  • Dimensions: sheet: 9 5/8 x 8 1/2 in. (24.5 x 21.6 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1936
  • Object Number: 36.101.1
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Virgin and Child Attended by Angels, Filippino Lippi Italian, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, highlighted with white gouache
Virgin and Child Attended by Angels
Filippino Lippi
1457/58–1504
The Virgin of the Nativity, Filippino Lippi Italian, Tempera and gold on wood
The Virgin of the Nativity
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probably ca. 1500
Standing Male Figure, Filippino Lippi Italian, Soft metalpoint, highlighted with white gouache (some touches of black chalk probably added by later hand)
Standing Male Figure
Filippino Lippi
ca. 1480
The Descent from the Cross, Filippino Lippi Italian, Tempera on wood
The Descent from the Cross
Filippino Lippi
St. Joseph with the Christ Child and St. John the Baptist, Filippino Lippi Italian, Pen and brown ink, heightened with white on prepared paper
St. Joseph with the Christ Child and St. John the Baptist
Filippino Lippi
ca. 1500

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