Studies of a Young Boy Tumbling

The Berlin-based Menzel repeatedly visited Verona in the 1880s, always with a sketchbook at hand. The busy marketplace -- the cityʼs center since the Roman era -- is the subject of his 1884 painting Piazza delle Erbe. In the painting, a rambunctious boy almost somersaults into a woman; she is saved from the collision by her husbandʼs umbrella. Here, Menzelʼs quick graphite marks capture the acrobatics of Max Schenk, the boy who modeled for the artist.