id: 166591
accession number: 2008.339
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.339
updated: 2022-01-04 17:44:01.414000
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:
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culture: France, 18th century
technique: black chalk, heightened with white chalk
department: Drawings
collection: DR - French
type: Drawing
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* Louis de Boullogne (French, 1654-1733) - artist
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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:
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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).
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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.).
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PROVENANCE
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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.
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RELATED WORKS
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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: Referenced: 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:
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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