About this artwork
Raphael's exquisite drawings reveal his meticulous preparation for the compositions he painted. Traditionally, young male assistants were used by Renaissance artists to model female figures, a practice Raphael followed in his early work. In Rome, however, he was one of the first to use female models for life drawing, as here. He also realised the potential of the new medium of red chalk for descriptive outlines and subtle modelling. This study and the smaller sketches next to it are connected with frescoes of Cupid and Psyche Raphael planned in 1518 for the villa beside the river Tiber of the wealthy banker Agostino Chigi.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Raphael (Raffaello Santi) (1483 - 1520) Italian
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title:A Kneeling Nude Woman
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date created:About 1518
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materials:Red chalk, with touches of black chalk, over stylus underdrawing on off-white paper
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measurements:27.90 x 18.70 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased by Private Treaty with the aid of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund and the Pilgrim Trust, 1987
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accession number:D 5145
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gallery:
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subject:
Raphael (Raffaello Santi)
Raphael (Raffaello Santi)
During Raphael's short career he produced works of extraordinary refinement that were to have a profound influence on the course of European painting. His artistic education began in Urbino, where his father was court painter; he then moved to Florence, and finally to Rome, summoned by Pope Julius...