Venuses in Red Chalk by Mihaly von Zichy

Here are some fine nudes by the Hungarian/Russian painter and illustrator Mihaly von Zichy (1827-1906).  Zichy was born in Austro-Hungary and studied in Budapest before moving to St Petersburg in 1847.

He stayed in the city and made a name for himself there as an artist and illustrator.  He was the most fantastic draftsman, as these pictures show.  Many of his works focus on the life of the Russian court.  He moved to Paris in 1874 and lived there for three years before travelling back to Hungary then to Vienna and Venice. Following a trip to the Caucasus he resettled in St Petersburg in 1883.

These days he is most famous for his strikingly animated erotic works, many of  which were issued as sets of lithographs at around the turn of the century.  It is probably fair to say that these are some of the best erotic drawings ever produced and we will look at some of them over on our The Seduction of Venus blog shortly.

Agent Triple P always preferred red chalk or Conte crayon for his own figure work in the past.  The warm red tones, especially on coloured paper, work particularly well for nudes.