Collection
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American Art

A Drawing Lesson

Constantine Hertzberg

1 of 3

Object Label

Constantine Hertzberg rendered this detailed scene with remarkably fine and precise ink lines. In addition to demonstrating his masterful draftsmanship, the drawing reflects changes related to artistic training and gender in the latter half of the nineteenth century. This period witnessed the rise of the professional female artist, for whom drawing was a key component of artistic training rather than merely a genteel amateur accomplishment. At the time he made this work, Hertzberg was a drawing instructor at the Cooper Union School of Design for Women in New York, so the subject of his image could be autobiographical.

Caption

Constantine Hertzberg (American, born Germany, 1833–1919). A Drawing Lesson, 1865. Black ink on thick, cream, smooth wove paper, Sheet: 10 9/16 x 6 3/4 in. (26.8 x 17.1 cm) Image: 8 x 5 15/16 in. (20.3 x 15.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. Tom Cochran, 19.186. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

American Art

Title

A Drawing Lesson

Date

1865

Medium

Black ink on thick, cream, smooth wove paper

Classification

Drawing

Dimensions

Sheet: 10 9/16 x 6 3/4 in. (26.8 x 17.1 cm) Image: 8 x 5 15/16 in. (20.3 x 15.1 cm)

Signatures

Unsigned

Inscriptions

On recto: inscribed lower right in pen, "13266"; and lower center in graphite, "from Mrs. Tom Cochran / 301 Clermont Rd. / Brooklyn" On verso, inscribed in center in ink, "Composed and Drawn with the Pen. by Constantine Hertzberg. / Prof of Drawing and Perspective in the Brooklyn Polytechnique Institute and in / the Cooper Union. / August 1865."; and below in graphite, "see Karolik Coll. Vol. 1, p 186" and "D8209"

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Tom Cochran

Accession Number

19.186

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Artists and makers

Constantine Hertzberg

1 work in the collection