Young Warrior, Seen from Behind, Lifting a Curtain
Francesco Salviati (Italian, 1510–1563)
1550/55
- Medium
- Pen and brown ink, and brush and brown wash, heightened with white gouache, over black chalk, on cream laid paper
- Classification
- Drawing and Watercolor
- Dimensions
- 43.2 × 28 cm (17 1/16 × 11 1/16 in.)
- Culture
- Italy
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Prints and Drawings
- Credit line
- Gift of Richard and Mary L. Gray
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Throughout his career, Salviati produced drawings for various purposes and in a variety of media that display artifice and stylistic f lair. This sheet is notable for its deftly applied brown wash, including thick strokes, quick accents, and sinuous contours. The result is eloquently pictorial, which suggests that Salviati may have intended it as an independent work of art.
Salviati’s bravura graphic performance is matched by his deft interpretation of the subject, especially in the balletic pose of the young soldier balanced on one foot as he gingerly lifts the curtain.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
