Artwork preview

Fleeing Barbarian

Polidoro da Caravaggio

National Gallery of Art

Drawn lightly with black chalk on tan-colored paper, a man runs to our right, lifting his right arm and looking back over his right shoulder so he faces us in this vertical drawing. His left leg, farther from us, is raised as he runs. A few lines suggest short curly hair and a beard, shadowed eyes, and his lips seem slightly parted. His thigh-length cape billows behind him, to our left, and he wears a fitted tunic or breastplate and pants cinched at the knee, calf, and ankle. He holds a round shield on his left arm. An annotation in ink in the top left corner reads, “no. 94.” A notation in the lower right, also in ink, reads, “i.91” near a seal or crest that appears to have been stamped in black ink.

Artwork Details

Date
early 1520s
Medium
black chalk on laid paper
Dimensions
2442 × 3549 px
Public Domain
Yes
Museum Record
View original