This is a drawing of a bear standing on its hind legs. The bear has its front paws raised. The drawing uses broad strokes to depict the bear's fur and volume, with a limited color palette of brown, black, and lighter tones. The background is muted and textured. The bear's posture and gesture give the scene a dynamic quality. There's a sketch of another animal in the top left, possibly a small dog. The style is energetic and spontaneous, with a focus on essence rather than detailed realism.
Gallery mode Full size at the museum

Studies of a Bear

Leonard Bramer (Dutch, 1596 - 1674)

1620s?

Medium
brown wash with blue gouache over black chalk on blue-green laid paper, inlaid in old album page
Classification
Drawing
Dimensions
sheet: 50.2 × 29.6 cm (19 3/4 × 11 5/8 in.) ; mount: 60 × 37 cm (23 5/8 × 14 9/16 in.)
Museum
National Gallery of Art, CG-E
Credit line
Gift of John Carter Brown IV and Elissa Brown in Memory of J. Carter Brown
Rights
Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed

View at the National Gallery of Art

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