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Reclining Female Nude

Creator

Dutch Artist · 1616–1680

A prosperous surgeon's son, Ferdinand Bol first studied locally in his native Dordrecht, and then became Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn's pupil in Amsterdam, where he settled. Bol witnessed a document concerning Rembrandt's wife Saskia's inheritance in 1640, a responsibility that suggests that by then Bol was probably no longer a student but a full-fledged assistant. After having risen quickly throu

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Date: about 1655–1661
Medium: Black chalk heightened with white chalk, on blue paper
Culture: Dutch
Department: Drawings
Institution: Getty Museum
Object ID: 23b6d649-70a5-46d0-acb3-8c8498b959c2

Drawing from a live model, Bol used black chalk to render the woman's contours and white chalk to suggest the luminous sheen of her skin. The smooth application of chalk, in combination with the blue paper, creates a sfumato effect and convincing three-dimensionality typical of Bol's later drawing style. Bol focused his attention on the reclining nude, seen from behind, while more loosely sketching the cloth on which she lies and the pillow that supports her. This sheet served as a preparatory study for the right-hand figure in Bol's painting of Cimon and Efigenia (Kunsthalle Bremen, lost during World War II).

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