Male Nude Leaning on a Ladder

Batoni placed so much emphasis on his studies of the nude from life that he often signed and dated them, as was the case with this sheet's companion piece, also in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and signed "Pompeo Batoni 1765." In the private life-drawing classes Batoni held in his studio in Rome, he required that the students copy his own academies and preparatory studies as well as draw from the live model.