Study of Young Man in a Robe, Standing

As he worked on a group of six lithographs in 1895, Sargent moved away from images that silhouetted nude forms against light grounds, and added drapery to increase the amount of tone and texture. The standing model is swathed in a heavy sheet, which crumples into dark and light folds below his propped knee, and falls in strong verticals below his raised left elbow. Strong tonal contrasts would be developed fully in "Study of a Young Man, Seated" (50.558.4), the print Sargent sent to the Paris Palais des Beaux-Arts exhibition of October 1895. The British printer Frederick Goulding, who had developed an improved transfer paper for lithography, encouraged Sargent and other London artists to participate, offering to supply them with materials and to print their work. Sargent's valet, Nicola d’Inverno, a Londoner of Italian descent, is believed to have served as model.