A Standing Male Nude (recto); A Standing Male Nude (verso) (Main View)

Giovanni Battista Naldini used each side of this page to experiment with several positions for this male nude's arms and legs. On the recto, the man leans sharply forward, hands wrapped around the ledge or with the fingers folded under, knuckles supporting his weight in an alternate pose. The red chalk study on the verso, which is faintly drawn and somewhat rubbed, shows the same figure with his hands placed in the higher of the two positions from the recto.

The striking pose of these figures closely recalls an onlooker in a fresco by Andrea del Sarto in a Florentine church.