id: 166641 accession number: 2008.361 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.361 updated: 2024-03-26 02:01:12.143000 Young Man Leaning Forward with Outstretched Arms (Study for Soldiers Distributing Bread to the Poor), c. 1851. Isidore Pils (French, 1813/15–1875). Oil, brown oil wash or ink wash, and black crayon; sheet: 33.8 x 26.9 cm (13 5/16 x 10 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.361 title: Young Man Leaning Forward with Outstretched Arms (Study for Soldiers Distributing Bread to the Poor) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1851 creation date earliest: 1846 creation date latest: 1856 current location: creditline: Bequest of Muriel Butkin copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: oil, brown oil wash or ink wash, and black crayon department: Drawings collection: DR - French type: Drawing 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: Sheet: 33.8 x 26.9 cm (13 5/16 x 10 9/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: light brown wove paper lined with cream Japanese paper watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: by artist, lower left, in red chalk: Victor Boissé / [DF?]D [crossed out]; passage St Maur no 4 / chez M Morel. [underlined twice]; upper right, in brown ink: B2. No 9- 28; lower center, in red chalk: [No?] 42; verso of primary? support, upper left, in ink?: 666 [underlined] translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS 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, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'The Realist tradition : French painting and drawing, 1830-1900 / Gabriel P. Weisberg ; a special exhibition organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art, 12 November 1980 through 18 January 1981.', 'opening_date': '1980-11-12T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE Estate of the artist (Lugt 2030, lower right, in purple ink); [Hôtel Drouot, Paris (20 March 1876), 32, no. 297]. [Galerie Jacques Fischer-Chantal Kiener, Paris]. [Shepherd Gallery, New York]; purchased in 1977. date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Weisberg, Gabriel P. The Realist Tradition: French Painting and Drawing, 1830-1900. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980. page number: Mentioned cat. no. 80, p. 111-112, Reproduced: opp. p. 114 url: 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: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 36, p. 82-83 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.361/2008.361_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.361/2008.361_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.361/2008.361_full.tif