Study for “The Enrollment of the Volunteers of 1792”

1848

Not on view

Following the success of Couture's "Romans of the Decadence," the Second Republic government commissioned "The Enrollment of the Volunteers of 1792" for the Hall of Sessions of the National Assembly, aiming to associate the recent revolution of 1848 with the foundational revolutionary moment of over fifty years prior. The project was never completed though the unfinished canvas survives (Musée Départemental de l'Oise) along with many studies such as this. Although a figure who strikes this exact pose has not been identified in the composition as it exists today, the inscription in the artist's hand definitively connects it to the project. This carefully observed drawing of an upraised arm with its creased sleeve demonstrates an aspect of the artist's process in preparing a monumental painting: the study from life of models in various attitudes.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

References

Title: Study for “The Enrollment of the Volunteers of 1792”
Artist: Thomas Couture (French, Senlis 1815–1879 Villiers-le-Bel)
Date: 1848
Medium: Fabricated black chalk
Dimensions: Sheet: 16 3/4 in. × 12 in. (42.5 × 30.5 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift of Roberta J.M. Olson and Alexander B.V. Johnson, 2018
Object Number: 2018.904.3
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Approach to a Mountain Village with Horsemen on the Road, Fra Bartolomeo (Bartolomeo di Paolo del Fattorino) Italian, Pen and brown ink, traces of black chalk; mounted on an album page — Approach to a Mountain Village with Horsemen on the Road
Fra Bartolomeo (Bartolomeo di Paolo del Fattorino)
ca. 1501

Lawyer on His Way to Court (Se Rendant à l'Audience), Thomas Couture French, Black chalk — Lawyer on His Way to Court (Se Rendant à l'Audience)
Thomas Couture
ca. 1860

Osage Warrior, Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin French, Watercolor and graphite on off-white wove paper, American — Osage Warrior
Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin
1805–7

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