Artwork Page for Seated Male Nude

Details / Information for Seated Male Nude

Seated Male Nude

1693–95

Claude Gillot

(French, 1673–1722)
Culture
France, 18th century
Medium
red chalk
Measurements
Sheet: 43.1 x 28.6 cm (16 15/16 x 11 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.353
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 models. Here, the pose of the red chalk academie by Claude Gillot is reminiscent of the twisting male bodies on Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. Gillot may have seen prints or drawings of Michelangelo’s figures, though his model is more visually connected to the studio: for example, he drew the model’s stone perch as well as the drape tucked beneath his body.
A vertically oriented red chalk drawing on tan paper depicts a muscular nude male with a light skin tone, seated. Facing left, he turns his head away to look back. His right leg is crossed over his left knee, with his hand on his shin. His left arm extends down to a stone ledge. Fine red hatching and cross-hatching define his musculature against the light background.

Seated Male Nude

1693–95

Claude Gillot

(French, 1673–1722)
France, 18th century

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