Geometric study of the female body and of a child, frontal view
1724. Burin on copperplate.Not on display
The copperplate engraved on both sides by the former illustrates the exceptionally influential treatise by Palomino’s uncle Antonio, “El museo pictórico y escala óptica” (The pictorial museum and optical scale) published in 1715–24. Specifically, the two engravings accompanied Chapter V of Book IV, “On the symmetry of the human body”, showing the correct proportions for women and children’s bodies, both contrasted with the male ideal. The female body type thus has to be “fleshier, smoother and more rounded, and with some dimples, like children, particularly in the hands when extended and on the knees, in order to convey delicacy, softness and gentleness.”
Blanco, Miguel Ángel (comisario), Reversos, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2023, p.156
