Studies of the legs and foot of a male nude

The old inscription at lower left ascribes the drawing to Agostino Carracci. While the pen work, the hatching and, in particular, the subject matter are comparable to other sheets by the artist at Windsor (see, for example, R. Wittkower, The Drawings of the Carracci in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle, London, 1952, p. 118, no. 134, ill.), the present drawing is probably by one of Agostino’s close collaborators. Anatomical studies by Agostino were translated into prints by other artists and published as individual sheets in a series of plates, the Scuola perfetta per imparare a disegnare tutto il corpo umano, intended as teaching manual for student artists to understand the human anatomy. The present drawing is particularly close to an engraving by Luca Ciamberlano after Agostino, Five legs and three feet, an impression of which is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (fig. 1; inv. 51.501.270; see A. von Bartsch, Le Peintre graveur, XVIII, Vienna, 1828, p. 158, no. 62).

Fig. 1. Luca Ciamberlano, after Agostino Carracci, Five legs and three feet, engraving. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.