Male Academy with Wings
Medium
red chalk on cream laid paper
Dimensions
{"overall":{"height":0.301,"width":0.371}}
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Bequest of Muriel Butkin
Accession Number
2008.350
Tags
male
About this artwork
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.