Study of a Reclining Nude
Medium
oil on fabric
Dimensions
72.5 × 92 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Modern European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.
Accession Number
1939.63
Tags
male
About this artwork
The languorous, sensuous pose of this woman is strongly reminiscent of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres's popular paintings of odalisques, female slaves, and concubines in Turkish harems. Much of this canvas has been left thinly painted or entirely blank, suggesting that it was a figural study rather than a finished work of art. The French Academy in the 1800s viewed the depiction of the nude as the ultimate measure of an artist's skill. Because models changed poses frequently, students had to work...