Study of a Seated Youth

Given that apprentices would enter a master's workshop around the age of 9 or 10, Ferraù Fenzoni likely borrowed one of his young assistants for this sheet. Here the boy poses in mounds of thick drapery while seated on a chair. The figure points directly at the artist - - a difficult pose sustained with the aid of a staff to support the boy's hand. Fenzoni represented this daringly foreshortened gesture with extraordinary skill. Like a number of Fenzoni's life studies, the condition of this drawing is quite worn, indicating that it was displayed regularly and handled roughly. Perhaps the sheet was hung in the artist's studio as an exemplary life drawing, a model for young apprentices to study.