Head of a Boy Singing (Study for Music)
Medium
black, white, and red chalk with stumping, pricked for transfer
Dimensions
39.6 × 27.2 cm
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Bequest of Muriel Butkin
Accession Number
2008.394
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
male
About this artwork
This sheet was a preparatory study for the face of a singing boy who appears near the center of Music, a mural decorating the left grand staircase at the Théâtre National de l’Opéra-Comique in Paris. Drawn from life with exquisite naturalism, Luc-Olivier Merson captured the sitter’s youthful beauty with such clarity that the purity of the boy’s voice seems to emanate from the drawing.