About this artwork
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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Status
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On loan to UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley for Pure Drawing: Seven Centuries of Art from the Gray Collection
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- Peter Paul Rubens
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Title
- Nude Youth in the Pose of the Spinario
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Origin
- Flanders
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Date
- Made 1610–1616
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Medium
- Black chalk, heightened with white chalk, on tan laid paper
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Inscriptions
- Inscribed recto, lower right, in pen and black ink: Peter Paul Rubens f[ecit] 1577 + 1640"; lower right, in graphite: "Rubens" (partially erased)
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Dimensions
- 280 × 188 mm
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Credit Line
- Gift of Richard and Mary L. Gray
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Reference Number
- 2019.863
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/202249/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
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