Reinier Vinkeles

This depiction of a custom-designed 18th-century drawing classroom illustrates the centrality of working from models to artistic training in that era. The room is organized around a stage with a wire frame above, from which ropes can suspend a model’s arms in a desired position for extended periods of time. Students here honed their skills in depicting human anatomy by drawing from both a live model and a skinned cadaver. Such empirical study fit the mission of the Felix Meritis Association (“Happiness through Merit”), a middleclass learned society still in operation today that promotes all branches of the arts and sciences.