Although he was largely self-taught and never entered the famous academy of the Carracci family, Guercino followed their methods, and by 1616 he was running his own school, the Accademia del Nudo. There, he encouraged students to attempt drawings like this large-scale study of a muscular model arranged in a complex foreshortened pose, made on rough paper with chalk dipped in oil or a gum solution. The intense black tones of these media probably appealed to the artist because they make a bold impression that matches the forthright observation underpinning the study. Although drawn for study rather than as a preparatory sketch, the nude can be compared to many figures in Guercino's early paintings.
Inscribed on the verso, in purple ink: "430". (This corresponds to the catalogue no. 430, an "Accademia, or Nude, in oiled charcoal" in the "Collezione di Disegni e Cartoni posseduti dal fu Francesco Giusti in Bologna," published in 1864 by Francesco Giusti's heirs.)
Inscribed on the verso, in black ink, by Hugo Fleischhauer: "Francesco Barbieri genannt Guercino No. 42 aus Sammlung Giusti."