Drapery Study for Reclining Female Study for "Painting"
1851 to 1875
Medium
graphite on laid paper, squared with graphite
Dimensions
sheet: 40.6 × 50.6 cm (16 × 19 15/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
John Davis Hatch Collection
Accession Number
1979.20.24
Art Historical Context
Kenyon Cox's *Drapery Study forclining Female Study forPainting"* (ca. 1851–1875) is a delicate preparatory drawing that reveals the meticulous process behind classical figure compositions. Created during Cox's formative years as an American artist influenced by European academic traditions, this work served as a study for a larger reclining female figure intended for a painting titled "Painting." Such preparatory sketches were essential in the 19th-century studio practice, allowing artists to refine anatomy, pose, and fabric folds before committing to canvas. Executed in graphite on laid pap...
About the Artist
Kenyon Cox · 1856–1919
Kenyon Cox (1856–1919) was born on October 27 in Warren, Ohio, to General Jacob Dolson Cox, a prominent politician and Civil War veteran, and Helen Finney Cox. Despite fragile health, young Cox pursued art at the Art Academy of Cincinnati before advancing to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. In 1877, he traveled to Paris, studying first under Carolus-Duran, then at the Éco...