Two Studies of a Reclining Female Nude

Resting her head on her hand, a voluptuous woman stretches across the sheet and displays the rounded curves of her nude body. In this quick sketch, Domenico Tintoretto conveyed the model's languorous repose as she relaxes, head thrown back and legs outstretched. The artist focused on the central part of her body in the upper right corner. His confident strokes of black chalk define the sensuous curves of her body, while quickly-drawn white chalk lines add texture and substance to her form. In this sketch, Tintoretto also explored different ways to position his model on paper. This is most visible in her face, where the outlines of two poses overlap.

Tintoretto probably made this sketch for future use in a mythological composition, as both the woman's pose and form resemble the figure of the goddess Venus in contemporary Venetian artworks. But the artist's will, which mentions "150 studies from nature after men and 50 after women," reveals his general fascination with the human figure.