Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00010979Study of a Nude Woman, Seated Looking to the Right (recto)
Also known as: Académie of a Nude Woman, Seated Looking to the Right (Académie de femme); Study of a Female Nude Looking to the Right
About the Artwork
This sheet is notable in its presentation of a woman, specifically one of Pierre-Paul Prud’hon’s favorite models, Marguerite—known for her curly hair and striking appearance. Following the artist’s death, more than 100 drawings were discovered in his studio, each portraying a closely studied nude figure like those shown here. The context of these works remains unclear: artists typically sketched from a model early in their training, but Prud’hon did so as a well-established painter. He saw drawing as a solitary practice, working consistently with white and black chalks on a paper described by one critic as “moonlit blue.”
Inscriptions
ON SEPERATELY APPLIED PIECES OF PAPER (now removed), printed in black ink: WALTER S. M. BURNS, ESQ. / To be Sold on giving up his Residence at 50, Grosvenor Street, W. / Sale - Sotheby [inscribed in black ink] / DAY OF SALE / Thursday, May 6th, 1926. ; printed in black ink: PIERRE PRUD'HON. / 134 Study of a Nude Woman seated looking to the Right / Black and white chalk on blue paper / 24 in. by 16 3/4 in. (610 mm. by 425 mm.) ; printed in black ink: 2.026
Provenance
Charles-Boulanger de Boisfremont, Paris (Lugt 353, lower left, in red ink); [his sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, 9 April 1870, lot 49] (according to letter of 16 Feb. 1981 from Sylvain Laveissière in departmental file). Walter S.M. Burns, London; [his sale, London, Sotheby's, 6 May 1926, p. 21, lot 134] (photocopy of cat. in departmental file)
Exhibition history
French Master Drawings of the 17th and 18th Centuries in North American Collections. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA (September 2-October 15, 1972); Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario M5T 1G4, Canada (organizer) (September 2-October 15, 1972); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ont.,, Canada (November 3-December 17, 1972); The New York Cultural Center, New York, NY (April 4-May 13, 1973). Conserving the Past for the Future. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-May 6, 2001). Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-June 11, 2023).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (French, 1758–1823)
- Date
- c. 1810
- Medium
- black and white chalk (both stumped)
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 61.9 x 43.6 cm (24 3/8 x 17 3/16 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Accession no.
- 1961.318.a
More by Pierre Paul Prud'hon in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00010979
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