In this fabulous drawing Jacobus Johannes Lauwers – 1763-1800 – represents an artist in his atelier, painting a handsome man. The pose of the model makes him resemble the one immortalized by famous Pierre Subleyras in his famous work entitled the Charon. This work can be seen in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Netherlands).
Jacobus Johannes Lauwers also made a handsome living doing portraits for the merchant class and the elite too.
The drawing is telling because it shows female students allowed to work along with male ones. This freedom showed the openness of Dutch society and the participation of women in academic figurative classes varied per nation, city, and time in history. Some studios forbid the practice. Others had to get notes from male relatives or their mothers. Other classes had an official from the city to attend to make sure “only art was going on.”
LADIES, we’ll talk about this sexist behavior in later posts. For now, we encourage you to touch your inner artistic romantic and paint the male figurative. Female ones too!
Kisses from PARIS!
