Male Nude Study
1751 to 1775
Medium
charcoal heightened with white chalk on blue paper
Dimensions
overall: 45.3 x 25 cm (17 13/16 x 9 13/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Howard Sturges
Accession Number
1956.9.11
Art Historical Context
Pierre-Paul Prud'hon’s *Male Nude Study* offers a sensitive exploration of the human form, created during the artist’s formative years between 1751 and 1775. Working in France at a time when artists looked to classical antiquity for inspiration, Prud’hon used this drawing to examine anatomy, balance, and the play of light across the body. The result is both a technical exercise and a quietly poetic image that reflects the period’s renewed interest in idealized yet lifelike figures. The choice of charcoal heightened with white chalk on blue paper is especially effective here. The blue sheet ac...
About the Artist
Pierre Paul Prud'hon
Pierre Paul Prud'hon (1758–1823) was a French painter and draughtsman whose dreamy, sensuous art occupied a singular position between the Neoclassicism and Romanticism that competed for dominance in French painting around 1800. Born in Cluny in Burgundy, he received his early artistic training at the Dijon Academy before winning the Prix de Rome of the Estates of Burgundy, which allowed him to spe...