School of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta

This large study of a muscular nude male model reveals all of the talents that qualified Giovanni Battista Piazzetta to lead Venice’s first official drawing academy, the School of the Nude (Scuola del Nudo), when it opened in 1750. It shows a clear command of anatomy without exaggeration or contortion by the model, whose casually tousled hair reinforces the overall relaxation of his pose. Piazzetta had privately trained pupils in his studio for decades, and this figure is a type often found in both his work and in the drawings of his students. Such a figure could easily be presented as a shepherd in an Arcadian landscape, a popular subject in Venice in this period. Piazzetta often used family members as models, particularly his wife, Rosa, and son, Giacomo.