The Drawing Academy at the Felix Meritis Society in Amsterdam

Jacques Kuyper|Daniel Vrydag|Reinier Vinkeles|Pieter Barbiers II

ca. 1800 · Etching and engraving · Drawings and Prints

The Drawing Academy at the Felix Meritis Society in Amsterdam — Jacques Kuyper|Daniel Vrydag|Reinier Vinkeles|Pieter Barbiers II

The Felix Meritis Society opened in Amsterdam in the late eighteenth century to promote the arts and sciences. (Its name translates as "happiness through merit.") The society’s drawing classroom was outfitted for study from live models. It featured a wire frame affixed to the ceiling from which ropes could be hung to suspend a backdrop and support models’ arms while they posed for extended periods. In this scene, artists gather to sketch from a live model and a skinned cadaver.

Artist
Jacques Kuyper|Daniel Vrydag|Reinier Vinkeles|Pieter Barbiers II
Date
ca. 1800
Medium
Etching and engraving
Department
Drawings and Prints
Credit line
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1947