Seated Young Man Gm-00034401

Unknown maker, Florentine School The voluminous swathe of fabric arranged over the young man's left shoulder is the main focus of this drawing. The youth's pose--seated on a barely visible stool and raising a leg on which his hidden arm rests--serves only to display the unknown artist's mastery of drapery. Perhaps done simply as a drapery study, the drawing may also be a preparatory study for a painting.

The metalpoint technique required paper prepared with a ground so that the metal stylus would leave a mark. The harder ground would wear down the stylus's tip as it was being moved across the surface, leaving a silver, gray, or soft brown line. Here the unknown artist exploited the aesthetic potential of the ground, tinting it light pink to beautifully complement the silvery metalpoint lines.