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Male Nude as Hercules

Jacques Louis David French

Not on view


With a name suggestive of the setting in which they were made, académies, or studies of male nudes, were an essential component in the training of young artists in eighteenth-century France. Props were sometimes included as vague allusions to historical and mythological characters. In this case, the chain presages David’s lifelong interest in themes of imprisonment and liberty.

Male Nude as Hercules, Jacques Louis David (French, Paris 1748–1825 Brussels), Red chalk

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