Art Institute of Chicago
Nude Youth in the Pose of the Spinario
Peter Paul RubensLinkedCulture matchlcp-f04bb8160cbf
- Date
- 1610/16
- Medium
- Black chalk, heightened with white chalk, on tan laid paper
- Culture
- Flanders
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 202249
From the Art Institute of Chicago record
Italy, specifically ancient Roman sculpture, profoundly influenced Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens. The artist himself wrote that “in order to attain the highest perfection in painting, it is necessary to understand the antiques . . . to be so thoroughly possessed of this knowledge that it may diffuse itself everywhere.” This drawing of a live studio model derives from the artist’s firsthand acquaintance with the Hellenistic bronze Spinario (also called Boy with Thorn, 1st century BCE), which was one of the most celebrated and copied sculptures in Rome. Absorbing antiquity without outright copying it, Rubens fully transformed his image from cold stone to vibrant flesh.
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Gift of Richard and Mary L. Gray
- Provenance
- Unidentified collector [partially erased stamp, recto, lower left]. Private collection, Sweden, by 1977 [Jaffé 1977 and Cuzin 2000 as private collection, London]; sold, Christie’s, London, July 8, 2003, lot 96, to Richard and Mary Gray, Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2019.
Linked open data
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- Object type
- AAT300033973
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