La Guerre
Medium
Red chalk
Dimensions
12 11/16 x 8 13/16 in. (32.2 x 22.4 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harry G. Sperling Fund, 1979
Accession Number
1979.10.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
Edme Bouchardon, a prominent French sculptor and draughtsman of the 18th century (1698–1762), *La Guerre* ("The War") in red chalk, a medium prized for its warm, fleshy tones that excel in rendering human forms with lifelike subtlety. This intimate drawing, measuring 12 11/16 x 8 13/16 inches, likely captures the emotional toll of conflict through figures of women and children—oking pathos in a Rococo-era style that blends classical realism with expressive tenderness. Bouchardon, favored by Louis XV and renowned for monumental works like the Fountain of the Four Seasons, often used such prepar...
About the Artist
Edme Bouchardon · 1698–1762
Born 29 May 1698; died 27 July 1762. Bouchardon was a student of Guillaume Coustou, and won the prix de Rome in 1722. He spent ten years (1722-1732) in Rome, Italy working on various projects for Pope Clement XII. In 1732 Bouchardon was recalled to Paris and named sculptor to the king. Bouchardon became a professor at the Académie Royale in 1746. He worked on an equestrian monument of Louis XV, Ki...