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French Master Drawings

Highlights of the Exhibition


François Boucher (Paris 1703-1770) <I>Male Academy with Wings</I>, c. 1745-50.
François Boucher (1703-1770).
Male Academy with Wings, about 1745-50.
Red chalk; 301 x 371 mm
Collection of Muriel Butkin
[cat. no. 8]

François Boucher
Male Academy with Wings


This life study (a drawing made before the live nude model, also called an "academy") relates to a group of works Boucher drew around the same time, many of which seem to show the same model. He probably made these drawings as ends in themselves, not as studies for paintings, and many of them were reproduced by other artists as prints. This suggests there was a strong market for works featuring the male nude and that collectors understood and appreciated the importance of life drawing for the artistic process. Boucher typically added props to his life studies in order to imply a literary character. Here, the presence of wings suggests an allegorical figure of Time.


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Head of a Young Woman