Ecorché: The Backs of Two Seated Figures

Eugène Delacroix French

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An essential component of artistic training and one Delacroix’s teacher Guérin particularly encouraged, the écorché—or flayed anatomical drawing—familiarized students with the underlying structures of the body. Artists examined and made drawings based on illustrated treatises on anatomy, sculptural models, and actual cadavers, all in the pursuit of accurately representing the human form. The uncanny animation of the two figures in this example emphasizes the relationship between movement and musculature.

Ecorché: The Backs of Two Seated Figures, Eugène Delacroix (French, Charenton-Saint-Maurice 1798–1863 Paris), Red and black fabricated chalk

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