Cornelis Saftleven

A young man, his hair tousled and feet bare, relaxes on the ground, leaning on a rock and looking to the left. Despite its appearance as an impromptu sketch created on site, this signed and dated drawing was made in the studio from a posed model. Saftleven executed his study in both dry and wet media: black chalk for the line work, paired with a gray-blue wash applied with a brush, most visible on the ground and the rock. Once the wash dried, he reinforced some lines and added new hatching. Saftleven’s layered technique is similar to that of his contemporary Jan van Goyen, whose work is on view nearby.