The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Phryne before Her Judges

Phryne before Her Judges

c. 1816–20
(French, 1748–1825)
France, 19th century
black chalk on wove paper discolored to beige
Sheet: 13.3 x 19.6 cm (5 1/4 x 7 11/16 in.)
Gift in memory of Helen Borowitz 2013.249
Catalogue raisonné: Rosenberg and Prat 351
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The two male figures at center may be têtes d’expression, which convey emotion through pose and expression.

Description

Known in his own time for large-scale paintings on historical subjects, Jacques-Louis David drew avidly to plan his compositions. Late in life, however, his use of drawing changed dramatically, resulting in works such as this pair. After falling out of political favor during the French Revolution (1789–99), David moved to Brussels in exile. There, he crafted small, enigmatic drawings of close-up figures. Phryne features a mythological courtesan charged with blasphemy, while The Prisoner is vaguer, with an unidentifiable man grimacing alongside a chain and oil lamp. David embraced this uncertainty, writing at the time that “I just threw down . . . the mad ideas that came into my head.”
  • 1977
    (Adolphe Stein, Paris)
    by 1987-2013
    Helen [1929–2012] and Albert [b. 1930] Borowitz, Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2013-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cantaloube, A. "Les Dessins de Louis David," Gazette des Beaux-Arts 7 (September 1860): 285-303. Mentioned: p. 302, no. 14
    David, J. L. Jules. Le Peintre Louis David, 1748–1825: Souvenirs & documents inédits . 2 vols. Paris: Havard, 1880. Mentioned: vol. 1, p. 664
    Master Drawings. Exh. cat. London: Adolphe Stein, 1977. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 31
    Schnapper, Antoine and Arlette Sérullaz. Jacques-Louis David, 1748-1825. Exh. Cat. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1989. Mentioned: pp. 189, 548
    Rosenberg, Pierre and Louis-Antoine Prat. Jacques-Louis David, 1748–1825: Catalogue raisonné des dessins. Milan: Leonardo Arte, 2002. Mentioned and reproduced: vol. I, p. 326, no. 351
    Prat, Louis-Antoine. Le Dessin français au XIXe siècle. Paris: Louvre Éditions, 2012. Mentioned: p. 65
    David, Jacques Louis, and Perrin Stein. Jacques Louis David: Radical Draftsman. 2022, 252. Reproduced; p. 252, No. 80
    Stein, Perrin. Jacques-Louis David: Radical Draftsman, 252 (ill.), 256, no. 80. Exh. cat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022. Mentioned: p. 256, no. 80; Reproduced: p. 252
  • Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-April 30, 2023).
    Jacques Louis David: Radical Draftsman. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (February 14-May 15, 2022) https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2022/jacques-louis-david-radical-draftsman.
    Master Drawings. Covent Garden Gallery (Adolphe Stein), London (March 9–April 6, 1977).
  • {{cite web|title=Phryne before Her Judges|url=false|author=Jacques-Louis David|year=c. 1816–20|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2013.249