Johann Justin Preissler (1698–1771) Study of Draped Figure

Johann Justin Preissler (Nuremberg 1698 – 1771 Nuremberg)

Study of a Draped Figure

Red, white and black chalk on buff-coloured paper, 58 x 44 cm; including frame 88 x 73 cm

Provenance
Private collection, Belgium
De Mol van Otterloo collection, The Netherlands

Preissler was born and died in Nuremberg. He was the son and pupil of Johann Daniel Preissler and the brother of Georg Martin and Johan Martin Preissler. Like his father before him, he took a Grand Tour as a young man and travelled extensively in Italy, including to Venice, Florence Rome and Naples. On his return he married the glasspainter Susanna Maria Dorsch (1738). He became director of the Nuremberg Academy (founded by his father) in 1742, and in 1752 he became director of the drawing academy. His copies of the ceiling pieces by Rubens and Van Dyck in the Carolus Borromeus church were published by his brother Georg Martin in 1735. They form an historic record of those paintings, as lightning struck the church in 1718 and caused a fire which caused the roof to collapse.

This very large drawing was presumably drawn from a life model either in Preissler’s studio or at the academy. The technique in chalks in three colours on buff-coloured paper is typical for the artist.