The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2024

Head of a Man

Head of a Man

1886
(French, 1837–1911)
France, 19th century
metalpoint
Sheet: 31.5 x 23 cm (12 3/8 x 9 1/16 in.)
Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.392
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler encouraged Alphonse Legros to visit London in 1863, and he spent the rest of his life there.

Description

This drawing, which appears to be a portrait at first glance, is difficult to categorize. Alphonse Legros created many such images while teaching in London, at the school of South Kensington and then at the Slade School, where he advised his students to directly copy the Old Masters. Legros combined depiction of live models with references to art of the past, as seen here. He used the thin lines of metalpoint for expressive means on this sheet.
  • by 1957-before 1967
    T. Edward Hanley, Bradford, PA
    1977-2008
    Muriel Butkin [1916-2008], Shaker Heights, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    2008-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 According to old exhibition labels, now removed.
  • Selections from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. T. Edward Hanley. Exh. Cat. New York: Gallery of Modern Art, 1967. Mentioned: p. 63
    Visages du dix-neuvième siècle. Exh. Cat. Paris: Galerie Jacques Fischer-Chantal Kiener, 1977. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 25
    Foster, Carter E., Sylvain Bellenger, and Patrick Shaw Cable. French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Mentioned: pp. 118-19, 143, no. 54; Reproduced: p. 119
  • 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).
    Visages du dix-neuvième siècle, Galerie Jacques Fischer-Chantal Kiener, Paris (December 1 - 15, 1977).
    Selections from the Collection of Dr. and Mrs. T. Edward Hanley, Gallery of Modern Art, New York (January 3 - March 12, 1967); Philadelphia Museum of Art (April 6 - May 28, 1967); Denver Art Museum (February 22 - April 30, 1968).
    T. Edward Hanley Collection. Philadelphia Museum of Art (1957).
  • {{cite web|title=Head of a Man|url=false|author=Alphonse Legros|year=1886|access-date=23 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2008.392