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Gallery Text

Executed in elegant, calligraphic pen strokes with translucent washes, this drawing exemplifies Van Mander’s command over the human form. The male nude is shown with his back turned toward the viewer, resting his right hand on a stick and holding a piece of drapery. Although these are the traditional trappings of a lifedrawing session, the figure in the Abrams drawing must have been conjured up from imagination and memory, not direct observation. This is evident in the simplified rendering of the man’s musculature and his overall stance. Raising his left foot and holding the stick at a sharp angle to the floor, the model would have struggled to keep his balance. Unusually for Van Mander, who rarely signed his study drawings, the sheet includes a large monogram at lower right, suggesting that the artist considered this drawing to be a finished work of art in its own right.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2023.638
People
Karel van Mander, Netherlandish (Meulebeke, Belgium 1548 - 1606 Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Title
Standing Male Nude
Other Titles
Alternate Title: A Male Nude, Seen from Behind
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1588-1590
Culture
Dutch
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/358848

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Brown ink and brown wash over traces of black chalk on light tan antique laid paper
Dimensions
17.4 × 12.7 cm (6 7/8 × 5 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: on old mat, now removed, graphite: prev: present to JQ v RA / by Derkinderen? / 535 [encircled]
  • inscription: lower right, brown ink: KVM

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Antoon Johannes der Kinderen (1859-1924), Amsterdam; by descent to his widow; by whom presented or bequeathed to I.Q. van Regteren Altena, by 1937, sold [Christie's, July 10, 2014, lot 21] sold; to George Abrams, Boston, gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2023

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
The Maida and George Abrams Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Gift of George Abrams in memory of Ger Luijten, Director of the Fondation Custodia (2012-2022)
Accession Year
2023
Object Number
2023.638
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Elisabeth Valentiner, Karel van Mander als Maler, J. H. ED. Heitz (Strasburg, 1930), no. 43, pl. 13
  • I. Q. van Regteren Altena, "Carel van Mander", Elsevier's geïllustreerd maandschrift (March 1937), XLVII, p. 161, fig. 13
  • Hollandse Tekeningen rond 1600, exh. cat., Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie ('s-Gravenhage, 1952), no. 54, repr.
  • A. Welcker, "Karel van Mander als ontwerper voor zilversmeeden", Oud Holland (1953), LXVIII, pp. 127-135, p. 129, pl. 5
  • Helen Aldert Noë, Carel van Mander en Italië: beschouwingen en notities naar aanleiding van zijn Leven der dees-tijtsche doorluchtighe Italiaesche schilders, Martinus Nijhoff (s'-Gravenhage, 1954), p. 197
  • De Triomf van het Maniërisme de Europese Stijl van Michelangelo tot El Greco, exh. cat., Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (Amsterdam, 1955), cat. no. 214
  • Walther Bernt, Die Niederländischen Zeichner des 17. Jahrhunderts, Bruckmann Verlag (Munich, 1958), vol. 2, no. 386, repr.
  • Jan Gerrit van Gelder, "De noordnederlandse schilderkunst in de zestiende eeuw", Kunstgeschiedenis der Nederlanden (Zeist-Antwerp, 1963-1964), IV, p. 615, pl. 7
  • Pieter Jacobus Johannes van Thiel, "Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem as a Draughtsman", Master Drawings (1965), vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 133-135, p. 129, fig. 2
  • Gottfried Bammes, Das zeichnerische Akststudium, E.A. Seemann Verlag (Leipzig, 1968), pp. 116, 328, pl. 69
  • Hessel Miedema, Karel van Mander: Den grondt der edel vrij schilder-const, Haentjens Dekker & Gumbert (Utrecht, 1973), II, p. 432, fig. 13
  • Le cabinet d'un amateur: Dessins flamands et hollandais des XVIe et XVIIe siècles d'une collection privée d'Amsterdam, exh. cat., Bibliothèque Royale Albert 1er (Brussels, 1976), no. 86, pl. 19
  • Frima Fox Hofrichter, Haarlem: The Seventeenth Century, exh. cat., Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum (New Brunswick, NJ, 1983), cat. no. 74, repr., p. 37
  • Marjolein Leesberg, "Karel van Mander as a Painter", Simiolus (1993-1994), XXII, pp. 5-57, p. 23, note 106
  • Ger Luijten, ed., Dawn of the Golden Age: Northern Netherlandish Art, 1580-1620, exh. cat., Rijksmuseum Amsterdam and Waanders Uitgevers (Amsterdam and Zwolle, 1993), p. 74, fig. 119
  • Hessel Miedema, ed., Karel van Mander, the Lives of the Illustrious Netherlandish and German Painters, from the First Edition of the Schilder-boeck (1603-1604), Davaco Publishers (Doornspijk, 1994-1999), p. 137, fig. D54
  • Lee Hendrix, European Drawings, vol. 3: Catalogue of the Collections: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California, J. Paul Getty Museum (Malibu, 1997), p. 218, under no. 89
  • Pieter J. J. van Thiel, Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem, 1526-1638: A Monograph and Catalogue Raisonné, Davaco Publishers (Doornspijk, The Netherlands, 1999), pp. 73-74, 161, note 7, fig. 14
  • The I. Q. van Regteren Altena Collection. Part 1, auct. cat., Christie's, London (London, July 10, 2014), lot 21, repr.

Exhibition History

  • Karel van Mander-Tentoonstelling, Koninklijk Oudheidkundig Genootschap, 01/01/1936 - 12/31/1936
  • Hollandse Tekeningen rond 1600, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, 07/20/1952 - 08/11/1952
  • De Triomf van het Maniërisme de Europese Stijl van Michelangelo tot El Greco, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 07/01/1955 - 10/16/1955
  • Le cabinet d'un amateur: Dessins flamands et hollandais des XVIe et XVIIe siècles d'une collection privée d'Amsterdam, Stichting Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, 11/25/1976 - 01/09/1977; Institut Néerlandais, 01/20/1977 - 03/06/1977; Bibliothèque Royale Albert 1er, 03/19/1977 - 04/30/1977
  • Haarlem: The Seventeenth Century, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, 02/20/1983 - 04/17/1983
  • The Art of Drawing in the Early Dutch Golden Age, 1590–1630: Selected Works from the Abrams Collection, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/09/2017 - 01/14/2018

Subjects and Contexts

  • Dutch, Flemish, & Netherlandish Drawings

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu