Standing Youth with Hands Behind His Back, and a Seated Youth Reading (recto); Two Studies of Hands (verso)

This small sheet is shared by two figures, one a beautifully modeled nude man standing to the left, his hands behind his head, the other a seated man, possibly reading, to the right. There is no thematic connection between the two men; it is a study sheet and not a finished composition, and was executed to address a particular technical challenge. The standing nude was a preliminary sketch for a much larger religious work, probably a Saint Sebastian or a Flagellation of Christ, the latter of which seems more likely for an artist of Rubens’s stature, who had many students. The seated reader was probably served by the student as an unofficial model, and was painted to practice drawing poses of people sitting, not for a specific assignment. The control of the technique is worth noting; metalpoint is an exacting medium that does not allow for mistakes once the image is drawn on specially prepared paper, and Filippino demonstrates his technical skill. The touches of white gouache lift forms off the pink-tinged sheet, allowing him to render the hands and faces with a degree of precision that suggests a certain level of description in the image. On the reverse side are two more studies, done less confidently, of the same hand, and showing the small difference between the confidence of the figures on the front of the sheet and the exploratory marks on the back. Large-scale figure studies are rare in Filippino’s surviving drawings, and its execution date places it in Lucchese (1482-83) – in the period when he was working on the Magrini altarpiece in Lucca. This small study thus quietly captures the moment of the making of one of his most important commissions.