Getty Museum

Study of a Man with Various Sketches (recto); Study of a Man's Draped Leg (verso)

Creator

Polidoro da Caravaggio (Polidoro Caldara)

Italian Artist · 1495–1500

When Polidoro da Caravaggio arrived in Rome around 1515, possibly untrained, he was hired to carry plaster for Raphael's workshop in the Vatican. Under foreman Giulio Romano and co-worker Perino del Vaga, Polidoro advanced quickly to fresco painter. Between 1524 and 1527, Polidoro became renowned for his monochrome re-creations of Roman history that spanned palace facades. When Charles V's armies

More on Getty ULAN

Date: about 1535
Medium: Red chalk (recto); black chalk (verso)
Culture: Italian
Department: Drawings
Institution: Getty Museum
Object ID: efb58c0e-bbd0-45d8-964e-7207bfcddd90

From the Getty Museum record

Polidoro da Caravaggio made this careful study of a naked man with his left leg extended and his arms raised above his drooping head. Another sketch of his pointed left foot and calf appears along the top of the sheet, while his disembodied left arm floats along the right side of the sheet. Polidoro applied the red chalk energetically, describing the taut muscles of the man's chest, arms, and thighs with strong diagonal shading. His head, in contrast, is loosely drawn, as the artist preferred to concentrate on the position and form of the body instead. The sharply pointed toes on the single foot provide a sharp contrast to the limp angle of his hand. Scholars believe Polidoro produced this sketch in connection with a martyrdom scene. When the Getty Museum purchased this sheet, its parts were arranged differently, with the arm at the right margin incorrectly attached along the lower edge. Museum conservators restored the fragment to its proper position.

View at Getty Museum ↗

The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.

Get printable QR codes

Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.

Open this page

See at Getty Museum

Related across collections

Semantically similar works from Getty Museum and other institutions.

Study of a Nude Seen from the Back, and Two Studies of an Arm (recto); Nude Seen from the Back, with Subsidiary Studies of a Shoulder and Leg (verso)

Art Institute of Chicago

#202143

Study of a man's right hand (recto); Studies of four heads and of a nude figure seen from the rear (verso)

Getty Museum

#698b5271-01b0-4158-b7cd-cc5937581463

Study of a Nude Boy, Partial Figure Study (recto); Study of a Seated Man (verso)

Getty Museum

#0ac03aeb-0235-4772-8867-0c14c6b7eca1

A Standing Male Nude (recto); A Standing Male Nude (verso)

Getty Museum

#19d66727-37e9-4bd2-ad8c-d6b7a1c8b62c

Study for the Head of Saint Joseph (recto); Two Studies of Legs (verso)

Getty Museum

#c392263f-5754-47ba-ac27-dfa8662583bc

Four Studies of Heads Drawn over a Copy of Saint John the Evangelist by Correggio (recto); Three Studies of Men (verso)

Getty Museum

#26ed67ad-9541-4139-9be5-bc5940fa9795

Figure Studies (recto); Figure Studies (verso)

Getty Museum

#d9343eb9-c63d-433a-8416-630f0ccd04c3

Studies of the Leg of a Man and a Horse's Head (recto); sketches of the back of a man's left shoulder and a chained (?) figure.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

#459492

Study of a Young Man (recto); Study of a Standing Man with a Beard (verso), accidental offset

Getty Museum

#87d911e1-41f8-492f-b8e3-38b18c59e327

Study of Two Men (recto); Study of the Head of a Bearded Man (verso)

Getty Museum

#0f1548ae-3a61-4f93-aa9c-bc9965201f22

Studies for the Christ Child with a Lamb (recto); Head of an Old Man, and Studies of Machinery (verso)

Getty Museum

#477d1ec7-ec36-46fe-9c9d-4c3fa7b7ecf8

Studies of a Statuette of Atlas (recto); Studies of a Statuette of Atlas and a Figure Praying (verso)

Getty Museum

#07b9a811-3991-48b4-90b4-d0b008a27894