Click image to view full screen
Male Academy with Wings
✓ Authenticity guarantee · ✓ Specialist condition report · ✓ Insured worldwide shipping · ✓ Private-room viewing
Academically trained artists often practiced drawing live models. Called academies, these figure studies occasionally served as preparatory drawings for paintings. Some artists crafted their academies to appeal to collectors interested in contemplating technical skill and inventiveness. Boucher may have imaginatively given wings to this male nude, who does not appear in any known painting, to demonstrate his ingenuity by transforming the model into a mythological figure.
| Artist / Maker | François Boucher |
|---|---|
| Date | 1745–50 |
| Culture / Origin | France |
| Medium | red chalk on cream laid paper |
| Dimensions | Overall: 30.1 x 37.1 cm (11 7/8 x 14 5/8 in.) |
| Department | Drawings |
| Type | Drawing |
About the Artist
French Rococo artist who epitomizes the frivolous and elegant court life of France in the mid-18th century. During his early career he was closely associated with Watteau, many of whose paintings he engraved. Boucher was a successful and incredibly prolific artistic who had a major impact on both fine and decorative art of the 18th century. He is particularly noted for having reinvented the genre of the pastoral, creating images of shepherds and shepherdesses as sentimental lovers that was taken… Full biography →
Provenance & Source
Image & data: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0 / Public Domain.
Condition
A detailed condition report and high-resolution photography are available from our specialists in advance of the sale.
Shipping & Collection
Fine-art shipping with climate control and full insurance to over 120 countries; collection by appointment.
Buying at Matchless Pieces
Register, verify your identity, and bid online or in a private room. Buyer’s premium and taxes are shown before you confirm.
