Getty Museum

The Artist in his Atelier

Date

about 1805–1808

Medium

Black chalk and watercolor

Culture

Dutch

Department

Drawings

Institution

Getty Museum

Sitting at a drafting table in a private drawing school, an artist concentrates on his work. Pots of ink and drawing instruments lay on the table, while plaster casts of classicizing reliefs--common teaching implements in drawing schools--hang on the wall. This vivid watercolor is notable not only for its beauty but for the way in which it reveals the cultural life of the early 1800s. During this period, the art of drawing expanded its influence, leaving the confines of the academy and entering the homes of the middle-class. Andriessen derived his primary source of income from his activity as a private drawing instructor. There is speculation that this may be a self-portrait of the artist in his studio.

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