Apart a trip to Venice in 1760, which was of great importance to his style, and to Paris and London in 1788, Gaetano Gandolfi seems to have worked almost exclusively in his native Bologna where he developed a highly successful career.  He received numerous commissions for altarpieces for churches throughout Emilia and elsewhere and also worked extensively as a fresco painter. In the later years of his career, he concentrated on grand easel paintings of historical and mythological subjects.

 The touches of white chalk on the fingers and knee of this uncomfortably posed figure are strikingly fresh.  A very fine white line traces the outline of the upper body and left leg. These highlights suggest that the model was posed as if shielding himself from a blinding light and this presentation, combined with the naturalistic detail of rocks and plants lend atmosphere to what is essentially an academic drawing, a study of the human form made for its own sake as an exercise and possibly done for sale, or as a model for others.  

Gaetano practiced academic drawing throughout his career, beginning as a student at the prestigious Accademia Clementina, by which institution he was awarded four medals for his drawings and two for sculpture, and later establishing himself as an esteemed master.  The lightness of touch and relative softness of the modelling suggest that the drawing may have been made fairly early in Gaetano’s career.