When you look at this drawing, do you see a marble sculpture? Or a real body of flesh and blood? When Peter Paul Rubens traveled to Rome in 1600 as part of his artistic training, he devoted much of his time to sketching ancient marble sculptures. Take this first drawing of the Belvedere Torso, for example, and compare it with the second image of the original sculpture in the Vatican Museum. Swipe again to see another sketch by Rubens, but this time from a different angle, showing the Torso's back. See how Rubens has taken great pains to represent each rippling muscle and every fold of skin? He has even sketched in the outline of a head turned to the left, giving life to the inanimate marble fragment. This reflects Rubens's artistic theory of "imbibitio," which comes from the Latin word imbibere, meaning to drink or absorb. Rubens wasn't satisfied by merely imitating ancient statues. Rather, he would first immerse himself in the sculptures' anatomical details and dynamic forms, and t...