Kneeling Figure (recto); Reclining Figure (verso) (Main View)

The use of chalk on blue paper was a common practice of Venetian artists and one that Agostino Carracci used frequently, in order to create mass through broad modeling. In the figure on the recto, Carracci used white chalk to pick up highlights on the man's back and curly locks of hair.

Carracci based this drawing on a painting by Veronese that he saw on a trip to Venice and Padua in 1582. During this sojourn, Carracci carefully studied the works of the Venetian masters Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese and made numerous engravings after their paintings.