Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.14125

    Man sitting in water

    Date
    1794
    Creator
    Guglielmo Morghen (1780 - 1825, Italian) , Engraver
    After
    Francesco Antonio Lapegna (1769, Italian) , Painter
    Object type
    Library reference
    27806
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 195mm
    width (print): 289mm
    Description
    Figure of a classically styled near-nude man shown in a sitting position, preparatory to swimming. His arms are outstretched. The waterline is indicated at shoulder level with water movement at the hands, one leg extended as he sits on the sea floor in shallow water.

    Plate 8 from L'uomo galleggiante, o sia l'arte ragionata del nuoto; scoperta fisica [‘The floating man, or the reasoned art of swimming…], by Oronzio de’ Bernardi (Naples, 1794), pp.48/49. The plate is inscribed above: ‘Tav,.V.’ Below: ‘Francesco Lapegna dis. dal Naturale. Gugl. Morghen inc.’

    The illustration is intended to be instructional, in Bernardi’s manual of swimming practice. It accompanies lesson 6 on swimming in the book: ‘Precetti di equilibrio per la postura su de fianchi standosi nell'acqua.’ [Balance precepts for hip posture while standing in the water].

    Oronzio de’ Bernardi (1620-1707), Italian priest and author of a manual of swimming. Bernardi was not a Fellow of the Royal Society.
    Associated place
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