In this vivid depiction of manual labor, Stella captures the exertions of five men moving a stone block using two long poles for leverage. The authenticity of the vignette is heightened by the artist’s economy of means. Employing black chalk and gray wash, Stella left areas of the sheet in reserve, or unworked, to convey the bright fall of sunshine on the men and on the top face of the block.
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Medium:Pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash, over traces of black chalk
Dimensions:6 1/2 x 10 in. (16.5 x 25.4 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1962
Object Number:62.130.3
Signature: On stone, in slightly faded pen and brown ink: "JS" (in monogram)
Inscription: At lower right in pen and brown ink (recto): "Stella" ; in black chalk (verso): "B. Stella [?]"
Gilbert Paignon-Dijonval (French); Charles-Gilbert Terray Morel de Vindé (French); Vendor: P. & D. Colnaghi & Co.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Seventeenth Century French Drawings and Prints from the Museum's Collections," May 18–August 22, 1982.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Seventeenth Century French Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum," February 2–April 25, 1996.
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyons. "Jacques Stella (1596-1657)," November 17, 2006–February 19, 2007.
Musée des Augustins. "Jacques Stella (1596-1657)," March 17, 2007–June 18, 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints: Rembrandt," April 30–July 28, 2019.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints: Materials and Techniques," April 29–July 26, 2021.
M. Bénard Cabinet de M. Paignon-Dijonval: État détaillé et raisonné des dessins et estampes dont il est composé. vols. I & II, Paris, 1810, p. 123.
Pierre Rosenberg French Master Drawings of the 17th and 18th Centuries in North American Collections. Ex. cat., Art Gallery of Ontario, 2 Sept. - 15 Oct., National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 3 Nov. - 17 Dec. 1972, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 12 Jan. - 11 Mar. 1973. Toronto, 1972, cat. no. under 137, p. 213.
Gail S. Davidson "Some Genre Drawings by Jacques Stella: Notes on an Attribution." Master Drawings. vol. 13, no. 2, 1975, fig. no. pl. 11, pp. 149-150, ill.
Jacob Bean, Lawrence Turčić 15th-18th Century French Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986, cat. no. 284, p. 250, ill.
Hilliard T. Goldfarb From Fontainebleau to the Louvre: French Drawing from the Seventeenth Century. Exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, December 13, 1989-January 28, 1990, cat. no. under no. 70, fig. no. 70b, pp. 144-145.
Sylvain Laveissière, Léna Widerkehr Jacques Stella (1596-1657). Exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon, Nov. 17, 2006-Feb. 19, 2007, and at Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, Mar. 17-Jun. 18, 2007. Paris, 2006, cat. no. 128, p. 212, ill.
Le Dessin français au XVIIe siècle. Somogy. Paris, 2013, fig. no. 735, 312-13, ill.
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The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.
