Ut Pictura Poesis

About the Artwork

Hutin’s drawing is an allegorical celebration of academic artistic training. The words UT PICTURA POESIS engraved on the stone tablet translate “as is painting, so is poetry.” Classical figures throughout the grand hall discuss their work as they practice different methods of making images. In the foreground, putti sculpt a portrait bust of Louis XV; behind them artists practice drawing a nude model. Among the sculptures in the room are the Farnese Hercules and the Venus de’ Medici, both famous Roman marbles in Italy, where Hutin trained from 1737 to 1742. In the upper right, Fame flies with trumpets above Minerva, the patron goddess of the arts, holding a paintbrush and palette as she drives out Ignorance and Envy.

Inscriptions

lower left, in brown ink: Natoire [4?][illegible]

Provenance

collection Paigon-Dijonval, cat. no. 3347 (according to Cailleux). Private Collection, Paris; [Cailleux]

Exhibition history

A Painting in Focus: Jean-Bernard Restout's Sleep and the French Royal Academy. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 14-May 23, 1999). Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016).

Quick Overview

Artist: Charles-François Hutin (French, 1715–1776)
Date: 1745–1746
Medium: Gray wash, watercolor, graphite, black chalk, and red chalk on cream laid paper
Dimensions: Sheet: 53.2 x 38 cm (20 15/16 x 14 15/16 in.)
Type: Drawing
Classification: Drawing
Department: Drawings
Credit line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession no.: 1998.76

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.