Male Nude - Academic nude Study, half-length with Moustache and Arms folded1846 – 1849 Accession number: 1906P708 Black chalk on paper. Width: 142 mm Height: 172 mm InformationIn 1847 Ford Madox Brown attended life-classes run by his friend and fellow artist Charles Lucy (1814-73) and held in Lucy's studio at Tudor Lodge in Mornington Crescent, Camden Town, London. This house contained several artists' studios including one used for a short time by Brown. He also went to the Dickinson Brothers Drawing Academy at 18 1/2 Maddox Street, London where Lucy was employed as a drawing master. The exact date that the Academy opened is not known but it was advertised in the 'Illustrated London News' on 15 January 1848 'for the study of Painting and Sculpture, and Preparatory for the Royal Academy.' As Virginia Surtees notes the Academy was open to professional artists four evenings a week from 7pm to 10pm for life study and held ladies classes in the daytime ('The Diary of Ford Madox Brown,' p. 15). This drawing is one of four in the collection likely to have been drawn during a class at Tudor Lodge or the Dickinsons' academy. Together they show the range of poses set by the instructor to show off the muscular bodies of the models and liken the men to classical idols. Working class men were sought for these models as their strenuous jobs provided them with toned bodies resembling classical sculptures. LM
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