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Marco Benefial

Study of a Decapitated Male Figure

Maker

Marco Benefial (Italian, 1684-1764)

Title

Study of a Decapitated Male Figure

Year

mid 1700s

Medium

  • Black and white chalk on beige laid paper

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Black and white chalk on beige laid paper

Materials

chalk

Supports

  • Grey paper

Dimensions

26.2 x 42.2 cm (10 5/16 x 16 5/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed by the artist in black chalk, LR: "Marco Benefiali Pit.[tore] Romano"

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

58.154

Type

  • Drawings and Watercolors

Exhibition History

Changing Poses
The Artist's Model
Nov 12, 2010 – Jun 06, 2011

Label copy

In 18th-century Rome, the corpses of executed criminals frequently served as models at the state-sponsored Academy of St. Luke and in smaller, private art schools opened by accomplished painters like Marco Benefial. Here the artist captures the stark play of light and shadow across the cadaver’s muscular shoulders and arms, as well as the clenched knuckles of the right hand, visceral evidence of a violent and painful death. Despite its morbid underpinnings, this drawing may have been a compositional study for a nobler subject, such as a dead saint or mythological hero. Benefial’s maverick concern for naturalistic depiction of the body is well

documented: in 1755, he was expelled from the Academy of St. Luke for his outspoken criticism of his colleagues’ allegedly incompetent methods of teaching life drawing.

Italian Drawings from the Museum's Collection
Mar 17, 1961 – Apr 16, 1961

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Marco Benefial (Italian, 1684-1764)
Study of a Decapitated Male Figure, mid 1700s
Black and white chalk on beige laid paper
26.2 x 42.2 cm (10 5/16 x 16 5/8 inches)
Museum Works of Art Fund 58.154

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

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