id: 166591 accession number: 2008.339 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.339 updated: 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 title: Two Male Nudes title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1710 creation date earliest: 1710 creation date latest: 1710 current location: creditline: Bequest of Muriel Butkin copyright: --- culture: France, 18th century technique: black chalk, heightened with white chalk department: Drawings collection: DR - French type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Louis de Boullogne (French, 1654–1733) - artist --- measurements: Overall: 58.4 x 41.9 cm (23 x 16 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: gray laid paper watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: signed, lower center, in black chalk: Louis De Boullongne / 1710; verso, lower right, in graphite: 1608 [underlined] / 3; lower center, in graphite: #19 translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: A Painting in Focus: Jean-Bernard Restout's Sleep and the French Royal Academy opening date: 1999-03-14T00:00:00 A Painting in Focus: Jean-Bernard Restout's Sleep and the French Royal Academy. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 14-May 23, 1999). title: French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin opening date: 2001-08-26T00:00:00 French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002). title: Master/Apprentice: Imitation and Inspiration in the Renaissance opening date: 2019-10-13T04:00:00 Master/Apprentice: Imitation and Inspiration in the Renaissance. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 13, 2019-February 23, 2020). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * 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.). --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: 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. wall description: Drawing the male nude from a live model was the cornerstone of artistic training at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris. Louis de Boullogne was a professor there the year he made this drawing, and it may well record the pose he set during one of the life classes he supervised. The posing of two models together was established as a monthly practice at the Academy in 1706 and normally occurred during the last week of the month. The use of two men instead of one allowed the professor to suggest a narrative more easily. Here, their interaction implies a warrior dying in battle being supported by a companion. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Foster, Carter E. "Jean-Bernard Restout's "Sleep: Figure Study": Painting and Drawing from Life at the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture." Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 3 (1998): 48-85. page number: Mentioned: p. 54, Reproduced: fig. 11, p. 54 url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20079698. Foster, Carter E., Sylvain Bellenger, and Patrick Shaw Cable. French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. page number: Referenced: cat. no. 3, p. 16-17, Reproduced: p. 17 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.339/2008.339_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.339/2008.339_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.339/2008.339_full.tif