The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 15, 2026

A vertically oriented portrait in black and white chalk on tan paper depicts the head of a boy with medium skin tone, tilted upward and to our right. His eyes are closed and mouth held wide open. Short dark hair with wispy strokes frames his face. Soft white highlights define his nose and lower lip, while dark shading provides depth. The initials L.O.M. appear in the lower right against the mottled paper.

Head of a Boy Singing (Study for Music)

c. 1898

Luc-Olivier Merson

(French, 1846–1920)
France, 19th century
black, white, and red chalk with stumping, pricked for transfer
Sheet: 39.6 x 27.2 cm (15 9/16 x 10 11/16 in.)
Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.394
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The face of the boy in this drawing is pricked extensively so that the image could be transferred directly to the final painting for which it was a study. The two works differ only in the addition of a hat on the boy's head in the final work.

Description

This sheet was a preparatory study for the face of a singing boy who appears near the center of Music, a mural decorating the left grand staircase at the Théâtre National de l’Opéra-Comique in Paris. Drawn from life with exquisite naturalism, Luc-Olivier Merson captured the sitter’s youthful beauty with such clarity that the purity of the boy’s voice seems to emanate from the drawing.
  • ?-1977
    (Galerie Jacques Fischer-Chantal Kiener, Paris, sold to Muriel Butkin, Shaker Heights, OH)
    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
  • Visages du dix-neuvième siècle. Exh. Cat. Paris: Galerie Jacques Fischer-Chantal Kiener, 1977. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 28
    Le Moyen-Âge et les peintres français de la fin du XIXe siècle: Jean-Paul Laurens et ses contemporains. Exh. Cat. Cagnes-sur-Mer: Château-Musée de Cagnes-sur-Mer, 1980. Mentioned: p. 65, under no. 42
    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. 128-29, 144, no. 59; Reproduced: p. 129
  • Themes and Variations: Musical Drawings and Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 25-May 17, 2015).
    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).
  • {{cite web|title=Head of a Boy Singing (Study for Music)|url=false|author=Luc-Olivier Merson|year=c. 1898|access-date=15 September 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2008.394