Two Male Nudes
1710
Louis de Boullogne
Louis de Boullogne (French, 1654–1733)
Drawings
Two Male Nudes, 1710. Louis de Boullogne (French, 1654–1733). Black chalk, heightened with white chalk; overall: 58.4 x 41.9 cm (23 x 16 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.339 Michelangelo’s masterful rendering of the male nude set the standard for many generations of artists studying in academies across Europe. Life drawings (made from nude models) became so essential to an artist’s training at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris (founded in 1648 by Louis XIV) that finished drawings like these were commonly called academies.
Louis de Boullogne served as a professor of life drawing at the Royal Academy between 1694 and 1715. This work reflects the common practice of drawing from two models, which allowed artists to explore a narrative. Here the figures resemble a wounded warrior and his companion.
Louis de Boullogne served as a professor of life drawing at the Royal Academy between 1694 and 1715. This work reflects the common practice of drawing from two models, which allowed artists to explore a narrative. Here the figures resemble a wounded warrior and his companion.
- Maker/Artist
- Boullogne, Louis, the younger
- Classification
- Drawing
- Formatted Medium
- black chalk, heightened with white chalk
- Medium
- black, chalk, heightened, white
- Dimensions
- Overall: 58.4 x 41.9 cm (23 x 16 1/2 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: signed, lower center, in black chalk: Louis De Boullongne / 1710; verso, lower right, in graphite: 1608 [underlined] / 3; lower center, in graphite: #19
- Departments
- Drawings
- Accession Number
- 2008.339
- Credit Line
- Bequest of Muriel Butkin
- Exhibitions
- A Painting in Focus: Jean-Bernard Restout's Sleep and the French Royal Academy, French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin, Master/Apprentice: Imitation and Inspiration in the Renaissance, Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art (March 14 - May 23, 1999): "A Painting in Focus: Jean-Bernard Restout's Sleep and the French Royal Academy," exh. cat. no. 8 (repr.).
- Rights Statement
- CC0
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