Study for Geometry in “The Sorbonne"

1886–87

Not on view

The youthful, pensive figure in this drawing stands as part of an allegory of geometry in one of Puvis’s great mural masterpieces: "The Sorbonne" (1887–89), which he painted in the newly rebuilt lecture hall of the University of Paris. The unfinished lower body indicates that Puvis had likely already decided on his placement behind a rock in the mural before he made the drawing of the model. Yet the pose appears reversed in the finished painting, suggesting that the artist may have flipped the tracing paper over as he transferred the design in a subsequent phase of developing the composition. A reduced-scale version of the mural (29.100.117), in which transfer gridlines are also visible, is on view in Gallery 800.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Exhibition History

Title: Study for Geometry in “The Sorbonne"
Artist: Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (French, Lyons 1824–1898 Paris)
Date: 1886–87
Medium: Fabricated black crayon, squared with blue crayon
Dimensions: 10 x 6 7/8 in. (25.4 x 17.5 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1935
Object Number: 35.93.1
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By Pierre Puvis de Chavannes

In the same medium

From the same time and place

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A Muse of Poetry, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes French, Graphite and chalk on paper — A Muse of Poetry
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
19th century

Sleep: sketch for the painting, now in the museum at Lille, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes French, Pen and brown ink on tracing paper — Sleep: sketch for the painting, now in the museum at Lille
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
1840–98

Sketch for War, painting in the Museum of Picardy at Amiens, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes French, Black chalk touched with white and red chalk — Sketch for War, painting in the Museum of Picardy at Amiens
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
ca. 1861

Seated Figure: Study for “A Vision of Antiquity”, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes French, Fabricated black crayon, squared — Seated Figure: Study for “A Vision of Antiquity”
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
1883–85

Fantasy, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes French, Pen and brown ink on calque, laid down on wove paper — Fantasy
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
1824–98

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