拍品專文
Prud'hon drew from the model throughout his life. He began his career by attending the academy courses of the painter Desvoges in Dijon and was still drawing academic nudes in the studio of his pupil Félix Tregel until late in his life. Jean Guiffrey accounts for more than one hundred of these academic nudes in the artist's oeuvre.
Very rarely did Prud'hon finish his nude studies, he always left the drawing partly unfinished. Prud'hon would first sketch the model in black chalk and then articulate the contours and the light and shade with bold hatching in white and black chalk. The last step was to draw small hatchings in black and white chalk, following the direction of the muscles. This addition of chalk would cover the first sketch and increase the impression of volume. The effect was the same as that left by a sculptor's chisel on marble.
Prud'hon never tried to hide the reality of the studio model: he would include all the props used in the studio setting and not mask the sometimes unflattering anatomy of the model.
The present model was one of Prud'hon's favorite sitters, her name was Marguerite. She posed for L'innocence in L'Amour séduit l'innocence, le plaisir l'entraîne, le repentir suit now in the Louvre, a first version of which, according to Charles Blanc, was exhibited at the Salon in 1791. A portrait of her by Prud'hon was sold at Christie's, London, 7 April 1981, lot 172, illustrated.
The present drawing was purportedly a gift from Prud'hon to his pupil Sophie Duprat, an engraver and portraitist who exhibited at the Salon from 1833 to 1851.
Very rarely did Prud'hon finish his nude studies, he always left the drawing partly unfinished. Prud'hon would first sketch the model in black chalk and then articulate the contours and the light and shade with bold hatching in white and black chalk. The last step was to draw small hatchings in black and white chalk, following the direction of the muscles. This addition of chalk would cover the first sketch and increase the impression of volume. The effect was the same as that left by a sculptor's chisel on marble.
Prud'hon never tried to hide the reality of the studio model: he would include all the props used in the studio setting and not mask the sometimes unflattering anatomy of the model.
The present model was one of Prud'hon's favorite sitters, her name was Marguerite. She posed for L'innocence in L'Amour séduit l'innocence, le plaisir l'entraîne, le repentir suit now in the Louvre, a first version of which, according to Charles Blanc, was exhibited at the Salon in 1791. A portrait of her by Prud'hon was sold at Christie's, London, 7 April 1981, lot 172, illustrated.
The present drawing was purportedly a gift from Prud'hon to his pupil Sophie Duprat, an engraver and portraitist who exhibited at the Salon from 1833 to 1851.