Seated male nude holding a staff, 1742

Marcus Tuscher (1705 - 1751)

RA Collection: Art

An accomplished study of a seated male nude, in red chalk. The model is depicted in a landscape setting although this drawing was almost certainly made in a life room. The figure is drawn with a strong outline then shaded in curving, hatched and cross-hatched strokes. The pose, highly-defined musclature and stylised technique are all typical of European academic life drawing at this time.

The inscription on the label which was attached to the drawing states that it was drawn in London by Marcus Tuscher in 1742. By this date, Tuscher was an established artist who had already completed training at the academy in his native Nuremberg as well as studying in Rome and other Italian cities. The purpose of his visit to London was to establish an art school but in 1743 he was summoned to Copenhagen to become court painter to Christian VI. A finished drawing like this was perhaps to demonstrate the type of life study that his students would be encouraged to produce.

Edward Edwards records that Tuscher, 'A native of Germany, was for some years in England. He painted portraits in small whole-lengths, of which there is a good specimen in the possession of Mrs Lloyd'. Significantly, Edwards also mentions this drawing: 'in the Secretary's Office of the Royal Academy there is a figure drawn by him, which is signed Marcus Tuscher Noricus Londini 1742'.

In 1808 the Secretary of the Royal Academy was John Inigo Richards and it is possible that the drawing came to the RA through him. Richards' father was a screen painter who knew Hogarth and other artists associated with the St. Martin's Lane Academy. Alternatively, this drawing - and other similar examples - could have come directly from St. Martin's Lane when the RA Schools were founded.