Reclining Nude with Cupid

1700s

Reclining Nude with Cupid, 1700s. Giovanni Battista Cipriani (Italian, 1727–1785). Red chalk heightened with white chalk on brown handmade antique laid paper; sheet: 27.5 x 39.1 cm (10 13/16 x 15 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2019.257 Giovanni Battista Cipriani spent much of his career in England, where he was a founding member of the Royal Academy. There, he taught life classes and focused on the study of the human form in his own work, such as this sheet. In addition to anatomical study, Cipriani often added fantastical flourishes to his studies, such as the cherub seen here. A series of Giovani Battista Cipriani’s drawings were published after his death as an instructional text for students of the medium.