Artwork Page for Two Male Nudes

Details / Information for Two Male Nudes

Two Male Nudes

1710

Louis de Boullogne

(French, 1654–1733)
Culture
France, 18th century
Medium
black chalk, heightened with white chalk
Support
Gray laid paper
Measurements
Overall: 58.4 x 41.9 cm (23 x 16 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.339
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

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.
A vertically oriented black and white chalk drawing on tan paper depicts two muscular nude men with light skin tones. On our left, one man stands looking upward, right arm raised. His left hand rests on the shoulder of a man crouching to our right. This man is bent forward with head bowed and right hand on a stone base. The text "Louis De Boullogne 1710" is inscribed at the bottom center.

Two Male Nudes

1710

Louis de Boullogne

(French, 1654–1733)
France, 18th century

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