1810
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Study of a Male Nude (verso) is a 1810 by Pierre Paul Prud'hon, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a man’s back, muscles and skin drawn in soft, smoky lines on paper. Prud’hon drew this same model—Marguerite, with her curly hair—over and over, even after he was already famous. Most artists stop sketching nudes once they’re trained, but he kept going, filling his studio with these quiet studies. No one knows why. Look up *sfumato* to see how he made edges blur like breath on glass.
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…
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon was raised in the Cluny abbey by monks, who recognized and encouraged his artistic talent as a boy.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (French pronunciation: , 4 April 1758 – 16 February 16, 1823) was a French Neo-classical painter and draughtsman best known in his own time for his allegorical paintings and portraits, now for his drawings.
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