Standing Male Nude (Saint Jerome?) with Book
1550/59
Medium
Pen and brown ink on buff laid paper
Dimensions
40.7 × 28.5 cm (16 1/16 × 11 1/4 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
86033
Art Historical Context
In the mid-16th century, Luca Cambiaso, a pioneering Genoese artist (1527–1585), created this striking *Standing Male Nude (Saint Jerome?) with Book* around 1550–59. Working in pen and brown ink on buff laid paper (40.7 × 28.5 cm), Cambiaso captures a muscular figure in a dynamic contrapposto pose, clutching a book that hints at the scholarly saint. As a master of Mannerism—a stylish evolution from High Renaissance ideals—Cambiaso drew inspiration from Michelangelo's anatomical precision, elongating forms for dramatic effect and infusing his works with energetic movement. This drawing exempli...
About the Artist
Luca Cambiaso · 1527–1585
Luca Cambiaso (1527–1585) was an Italian painter and draftsman who dominated artistic life in Genoa during the second half of the sixteenth century and became one of the most innovative draftsmen of the Late Renaissance. Born in Moneglia near Genoa, he trained under his father, the painter Giovanni Cambiaso, and demonstrated precocious talent, reportedly completing his first public fresco commissi...