Drapery Study for Sainte-Clotilde (upper register); verso: Standing Soldier; (studies for wall paintings in the Chapel of Saint Remi, Sainte-Clotilde, Paris, 1858)

Art Historical Context

This delicate preparatory drawing by French artist Isidore Pils (1813–1875) offers a glimpse into the meticulous behind grand 19th-century church decorations. Created around 1858, it served as a study for the paintings in the Chapel of Remi at the neo-Gothic Church of Sainte-Clotilde in, a major project blending Romantic historicism with academic precision. Pils, a history painter and member of the Institut de France, captured flowing drapery for the upper register on the recto, while the verso features a standing soldier—visible through the translucent tracing paper—highlighting his layered compositional planning. Executed in red and white chalk on the front and black chalk on the back, then pasted onto a larger sheet, the work showcases innovative techniques for the era. The tracing paper's transparency allowed Pils to refine figures and poses iteratively, a practical method for scaling up to monumental murals. Notice the expressive hands in the drapery folds, a tag that underscores Pils' attention to anatomical detail and fabric's dynamic movement. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department (Purchase, Karen B. Cohen Gift, 1989), this 17 x 9¾-inch sheet reveals the artistry behind public commissions, bridging studio sketch to sacred space and embodying France's Second Empire revival of religious painting.

About the Artist

Isidore Pils · 1813–1875

Isidore-Alexandre-Augustin Pils (1813/15–1875), born in Paris to the soldier François Pils, emerged as a leading French academic painter known for religious and military subjects. At age twelve, he studied under Guillaume Guillon-Lethière for four years before entering the École des Beaux-Arts in 1831 as a student of François-Édouard Picot. His talent secured the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1838 w...