Getty Museum
Figure Studies (recto); Figure Studies (verso)
Creator
Karel SkrétaArtist · 1610–1674
All works by this person →"The father of Bohemian Baroque painting," Karel Skréta was a royal clerk's son; his first mentors were probably artists at Rudolf II's court. His Protestant family was expelled from Prague around 1627, and he visited Venice, Florence, and Bologna about three years later. Arriving in Rome around 1634, Skréta joined the northern European artists called the *Schildersbent,* or "Birds of a Feather,"
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1660
- Medium
- Red chalk (recto); red chalk and brown ink (verso)
- Culture
- Bohemian
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
As he worked out compositional arrangements and poses of figures, Karel Skréta filled this sheet with studies of the Virgin and Child adored by saints. On the recto, figures pour across the page almost cinematically, their flowing rhythm lending the entire sheet the feeling of being a single idea. Two compositional studies on the verso display Skréta's sensitivity to the ability of a few well-chosen lines to describe everything. At the left, his economical, delicate lines suggest drapery, relationships, and form. On the right, he made further reductions by gently going over selected red chalk lines with pen and ink. The juxtaposition of pen-and-ink with red chalk also shows how different media affected the quality of Skréta's line.
The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.
Get printable QR codesHide QR codes
Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.
Related across collections
Semantically similar works from Getty Museum and other institutions.