Ancient sculpture, which Rubens studied during histwo stays in Rome, significantly shaped his artisticpractice. He believed that to achieve mastery of painting, it was crucial to understand ancient art, and “to be so thoroughly possessed of this knowledge that it may diffuse itself everywhere.” In this drawing, Rubens arranged a studio model in a pose derived from the Hellenistic bronze known as the Spinario, which shows a boy removing a thorn from the sole of his foot. Closely following an ancient example yet based on a live model, the drawing demonstrates Rubens’s conviction that art should respond to older works but ultimately imitate nature.
Peter Paul Rubens
Flemish, 1577–1640
Nude youth in the pose of the Spinario, ca. 1610–16
Black chalk with white chalk
The Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Richard and Mary L. Gray; 2019.863
Gray Collection Trust, Art Institute of Chicago
Photography by Jamie Stukenberg, Professional Graphics Inc.
Austėja Mackelaitė: The importance of ancient sculpture in Rubens' development and artistic practice is difficult to overstate. He visited Rome twice and each time returned to his native Antwerp with a large cache of drawings recording the monuments and sculptures he encountered there. Having acquired considerable wealth through his artistic and diplomatic activities, Rubens even started collecting antiquities himself, amassing one of the most important collections of ancient marbles in 17th century Flanders. Nonetheless, Rubens was also aware of the dangers posed by the overzealous study of ancient art and insisted that drawings after antiquities must not be static or inert, that they must not, in his words, smell of stone. This sheet, which was made not long after Rubens' return from Rome encapsulates this idea. The artist arranged a young male model in a position derived from the Spinario, an ancient bronze statue, which he must have seen in Rome. By focusing on a live model, he transformed the classical image into a living, breathing presence. The artist employed soft, tightly packed strokes of black chalk to render the youth's anatomy and relied on unworked paper to convey the translucency of his skin. Working nearly three centuries later, Paul Cézanne also investigated the human form with the help of classical statuary. The peculiar pose of the bather, with outstretched arms exhibited nearby, was derived from a Roman sculpture of a dancing satyr. Unlike Rubens however, Cézanne was unconcerned with naturalism. His primary interest laid in drawing after antiquity as an exercise in formal composition.