Study of a Draped Woman Leaning on a Pedestal
1759/61
Medium
Black chalk, with stumping, and white chalk on buff laid paper, laid down onto thick modern laid paperboard
Dimensions
Primary support: 52.3 × 36 cm (20 5/8 × 14 3/16 in.); Secondary support: 54.5 × 38.7 cm (21 1/2 × 15 1/4 in.)
Classification
drawings (visual works)
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
244908
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In this powerful drawing, François Boucher’s model is so enveloped in yards of voluminous cloth that the fabric itself becomes the work’s subject and the drawing functions as an exercise in near abstraction. Boucher manipulated the black chalk to create outline and shadows, the white chalk to produce shimmering highlights, and the buff-colored paper to suggest flesh and give the fabric color and volume, in the process producing one of the finest drawings of 18th-century France. The sheet may ha...
About the Artist
François Boucher · 1703–1770
François Boucher (1703–1770) stands as the quintessential master of French Rococo painting and the most celebrated decorative artist of the 18th century. Born in Paris to a lace designer, Boucher created a visual language that perfectly embodied the refined taste, sensuality, and elegance of Louis XV's court. His prolific output—encompassing paintings, tapestry designs, theatrical sets, and decora...