Vincent’s pen-and-ink lines vibrate with an elegant muscularity in this compositional study for his 1787 painting The Clemency of Augustus. Like his contemporary Jacques Louis David, Vincent worked out the compositions of his history paintings by first drawing the figures nude. The declamatory poses of the figures reflect their dramatic pedigree, as the artist here depicts the concluding scene of Pierre Corneille’s 1641 play, Cinna.
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Artwork Details
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Title:The Clemency of Augustus (recto); Knight Restraining a Female Figure (verso)
Artist:François André Vincent (French, Paris 1746–1816 Paris)
Date:ca. 1787–88
Medium:Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over traces of red chalk; perspective lines in graphite (recto). Red chalk; squared in red chalk (verso).
Dimensions:13 1/4 x 15 1/16 in. (33.7 x 38.3 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Harry G. Sperling Fund, 1985
Object Number:1985.245.2
Signature: At lower right in pen and black ink: "Vincent 1788"
Vendor: P. & D. Colnaghi & Co.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," February 6–April 16, 1995.
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours. "François-André Vincent," October 18, 2013–January 19, 2014.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "In the Orbit of Jacques Louis David: Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints," January 20–May 31, 2022.
Bean and Turcic 1986.319; Cuzin 1988.46
Old Master Drawings. Exh. cat., June 25 - July 13. P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., 1985, cat. no. 46, 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. 319, pp. 282-284, ill.
Philip Conisbee "New York French Drawings [exhibition review]." The Burlington Magazine. vol. 128, London, December 1986, p. 925.
Jacob Bean "Curatorial Reports and Departmental Accessions: Drawings." in Annual Report of the Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 1, 1985 - June 30, 1986. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 116, New York, 1986, p. 23, ill.
Jennifer Montagu "Quand un musée s'expose: des dessins français du 15e au 18e siècle, Metropolitan Museum, New York." in Connaissance des Arts. no. 416, Paris, October 1986, p. 91, ill.
Jean-Pierre Cuzin "François-André Vincent, 1746-1816." Cahiers du Dessin Français. vol. 4, Paris, 1988, cat. no. 46, p. 21, ill.
Richard J. Campbell, Victor I. Carlson Visions of Antiquity: Neoclassical Figure Drawings. Exh. cat., Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Minneapolis. 1993, cat. no. 37, fig. no. 37, pp. 185-186, ill.
Jean-Pierre Cuzin François-André Vincent, 1746-1816: Entre Fragonard et David. Paris, 2013, cat. no. 466D, 150-151, 153, 458, ill.
Tradition & Transitions Eighteenth-Century French Art from The Horvitz Collection. Alvin L. Clark Jr., 2017, 460.
Louis-Antoine Prat Le Dessin Français au XVIIIe siècle. Paris, 2017, fig. no. 1258, 608-09, 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.
