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| Francesco Salviati Figure Studies for David ca. 1526-33 drawing National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
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| Domenico Beccafumi Figure Studies for River Gods ca. 1540-50 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Michelangelo Figure Studies before 1564 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Andrea Boscoli Figure Study ca. 1592-97 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Annibale Carracci Figure Study ca. 1599-1604 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
"The best explanation of how the knave, and sometimes even the fool, nearly always make out better in the world than do the honest man and the man of intelligence, is that the knave and the fool have less difficulty keeping the pace and the tone of the world which, for the most part, is nothing but knavery and foolishness, whereas the honest man and the man of sense, unable to enter so unhesitatingly into commerce with the world, waste moments which, in matters of fortune, are priceless. The former are merchants who, knowing the language of the country, sell and provide for themselves immediately, while the latter are obliged to learn the language from their buyers and sellers before they can display their merchandise and come to terms with them. Often, indeed, they scorn to learn the language at all, and return without having struck a single bargain."
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| Sisto Badalocchio Figure Study ca. 1602-1612 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Pietro Sorri Figure Study ca. 1609-1614 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Giuseppe Cesari Figure Study, half-length before 1640 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Pietro della Vecchia Figure Study, half-length ca. 1643-63 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| attributed to Giacomo Cavedone Figure Study before 1660 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
"Society is not, as is commonly believed, the development of Nature, but rather its decomposition and total reconstruction. It is a second building, constructed from the ruins of the first. One discovers the fragments with a pleasure mingled with surprise. It is the same feeling that is evoked by the naive expression of a natural sentiment, when anything of the kind occurs in society. Sometimes indeed it is especially pleasing when the person who voices it is someone of high rank – that is, further removed from Nature. It charms, in the person of a king, because a king is at the opposite extreme. It is a fragment of the ancient Doric or Corinthian architecture in a crude and modern edifice."
– this and the passage above are maxims from Products of the Perfected Civilization: Selected Writings of Chamfort, extracted from texts published posthumously in 1795, translated by W.S. Merwin (New York: Macmillan, 1969)
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| Francesco Montelatici Figure Study before 1661 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Francesco Trevisani Figure Study ca. 1685-95 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Baldassare Franceschini Figure Study before 1698 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Ubaldo Gandolfi Figure Study before 1781 drawing Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |