Studies of Arms, Shoulders and Hands

Studies of Arms, Shoulders and Hands

Giacomo Franco

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Traditionally attributed to Jacopo Palma the Younger (ca. 1548-1628), this sheet was conceived by Jacopo Franco as a design for an illustration his popular drawing manuals "De excellentia and nobilitate delineationis libri duo" (The excellency and nobility of the line, where it appears on plate 24) and "Regole per imparar a disegnar il corpo humano" (Rules to Learn How to Draw the Human Body), both published in Venice in 1611. It presents a series of anatomical studies of gesticulating hands, arms, and shoulders, likely drawn from a live male model, to be used in preparation for paintings or for drawing exercise. A successful publisher and engraver, Franco was also a talented designer, as proven by this tour de force of draftsmanship that combines hybrid, undulating motifs against a warmly washed background.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Studies of Arms, Shoulders and HandsStudies of Arms, Shoulders and HandsStudies of Arms, Shoulders and HandsStudies of Arms, Shoulders and HandsStudies of Arms, Shoulders and Hands

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.