Venetian school; second half of the XVIII century.
"Lord in costume".
Ink drawing on laid paper.
Presents stains on the paper.
Size: 41 x 35,5 cm; 16,5 x 10,7 cm (frame).
Work in which a technical exercise of the artist is appreciated, since it presents the figure of a man in profile, with the intention of capturing all the anatomical details and caricature them. Studies are often used to understand the problems involved in depicting subjects and to plan the elements to be used in finished works, such as light, color, form, perspective and composition. Studies can have more impact than more elaborately planned work because of the new insights the artist gains as he or she explores the subject matter. Such details help reveal the thought processes and techniques of many artists.
Such a composition and the subject matter treated by the author is typical of the scenes of reality that were so in demand during the period, influenced in such themes by the picaresque literature of the time, bringing the piece closer to the naturalistic current. It is a genre in which popular types and attitudes, behaviors, values and habits common to a specific group of the population, region or class are described by means of a satirical, nostalgic or narrative description of the environments, customs, clothing, parties and entertainment, traditions, trades and representative types of a society. The idea of costumbrismo arose from an attempt to understand reality, or more precisely, reality understood in a particular way, from a specific point of view.