id: 118604 accession number: 1939.63 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1939.63 updated: 2024-03-26 01:57:38.062000 Study of a Reclining Nude, c. 1841. Isidore Pils (French, 1813/15–1875). Oil on fabric; unframed: 72.5 x 92 cm (28 9/16 x 36 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. 1939.63 title: Study of a Reclining Nude title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1841 creation date earliest: 1836 creation date latest: 1846 current location: creditline: Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: oil on fabric department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960 type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Isidore Pils (French, 1813/15–1875) - artist In 1832, after an initial training with Guillaume Lethière (1760-1832), Pils entered the École des Beaux-Arts where he studied under François-Édouard Picot (1786-1868), with whom he became close friends. As winner of the Prix de Rome in 1838, with Saint Peter Healing a Lame Man at the Gate of the Temple, Pils went to the Académie de France in Rome, then led by Ingres (q.v.), and stayed in Italy until 1844. Often in poor health, Pils nevertheless managed to travel around and study the artifacts from antiquity. But his works were generally harshly criticized until his return to France, where his first success came five years later with the patriotic Rouget de l'Isle Singing the Marseillaise at the Residence of the Mayor of Strasbourg (1849, Historical Museum, Strasbourg). Pils would often choose his subjects in order to treat the life of the poor and ordinary people, such as his Death of a Sister of Charity (Salon 1850-51, Musée d'Orsay, Paris). A favorite of the imperial regime, Pils followed the French army to Crimea in 1854-55 and recorded the military campaign of Napoleon III. His Battle of Alma, 20 December 1854 (1861, Musée du Château de Versailles) was highly praised, and in 1863 he left for Algeria to carry out a commission for the emperor. One year later Pils became professor at the École des Beaux-Arts, and he would receive several honors and awards. The artist was given commissions for decorations in the churches of Saint-Eustache (1854) and Sainte-Clotilde (1858) in Paris, and he painted murals at the Opéra (1865-75). Pils also made several watercolors during the siege of Paris by the Prussians in 1871. Weakened by health problems, he last exhibited at the Salon of 1875, the year of his death. --- measurements: Unframed: 72.5 x 92 cm (28 9/16 x 36 1/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Silver Jubilee Exhibition opening date: 1941-06-23T04:00:00 The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941). title: French Drawings and Watercolors from French Public and Private Collections opening date: 1942-01-06T05:00:00 French Drawings and Watercolors from French Public and Private Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 6-February 15, 1942). title: 19th and 20th Century French Art and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Loans opening date: 1943-06-22T04:00:00 19th and 20th Century French Art and Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Loans. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 22-September 1, 1943). title: Two Sides of the Medal: French Painting from Gérôme to Gauguin opening date: 1954-09-28T05:00:00 Two Sides of the Medal: French Painting from Gérôme to Gauguin. The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (organizer) (September 28-November 6, 1954). title: Baron Gros, Painter of Battles: The First Romantic Painter opening date: 1956-03-08T05:00:00 Baron Gros, Painter of Battles: The First Romantic Painter. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 8-April 15, 1956). title: Man: Glory, Jest, and Riddle: A Survey of Human From Through the Ages opening date: 1964-11-10T05:00:00 Man: Glory, Jest, and Riddle: A Survey of Human From Through the Ages. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA (organizer) (November 10, 1964-January 3, 1965). title: Art in the Making opening date: 1966-07-14T04:00:00 Art in the Making. Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME (organizer) (July 14-September 25, 1966). title: French Nineteenth Century Oil Sketches: David to Degas opening date: 1978-03-05T05:00:00 French Nineteenth Century Oil Sketches: David to Degas. Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, Chapel Hill, NC (organizer) (March 5-April 30, 1978). title: Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism opening date: 1980-02-19T05:00:00 Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 19-March 23, 1980). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'San Francisco, Palace of Fine Arts. Golden Gate International Exposition (1940), no. 255 (repr.) (as Thomas Couture).', 'opening_date': '1940-01-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum. The Nude in Art (1946), no. 14 (as Couture).', 'opening_date': '1946-01-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'New York, Wildenstein. Nude in Painting (1956), no. 22 (repr.) (as Couture).', 'opening_date': '1956-01-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'San Francisco, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. Man, Glory, Jest, and Riddle: A Survey of the Human Form through the Ages (1964-65), no. 161 (as Couture).', 'opening_date': '1964-01-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Waterville, Maine, Colby College Art Museum. Art in the Making (1966), 10 (as Couture).', 'opening_date': '1966-01-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Chapel Hill, William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, University of North Carolina. French Nineteenth Century Oil Sketches: David to Degas (1978), no. 16 (repr.) (as anonymous).', 'opening_date': '1978-01-01T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE M. Zamaron, Paris. Bought from him by Mrs. Cornelius Sullivan, New York, before 1938. Bought by Leonard C. Hanna Jr. as gift for CMA on 8 February 1939. date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Detroit Institute of Arts. The Two Sides of the Medal; French Painting from Gérôme to Gauguin. 1954. page number: Referenced: cat. no. 21, p. 21, Reproduced: p.20 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 491 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n90 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 169 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n193 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 169 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n193 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 204 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n224 Johnson, Mark M. Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980. page number: Referenced: p. 76Reproduced: p. fig. 95, p. 76 url: Argencourt, Louise d', and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 488-491, Vol. II, no. 170 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1939.63/1939.63_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1939.63/1939.63_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1939.63/1939.63_full.tif