Hercules Resting1897
Cézanne made this pencil drawing in 1897 after a sculpture of Hercules at rest, one of the many works of sculpture he studied in the Louvre and in plaster casts throughout his life. More about this work
About this work
Cézanne made this pencil drawing in 1897 after a sculpture of Hercules at rest, one of the many works of sculpture he studied in the Louvre and in plaster casts throughout his life. Copying sculpture let him concentrate on the turning planes and volumes of the body without the distractions of a living model. The searching, repeated contours, which never quite settle into a single outline, show his method of building form through many small adjustments.
Written by Ochre Editions.
What you’re looking at
A work made of graphite on ivory wove paper.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
How it was made
- Graphite
- Pencil. Graphite has been used for drawing since the 1500s; in 1795 Nicolas-Jacques Conté mixed it with clay, so its hardness could be graded.
Paul Cézanne
French, 1839–1906 · Born and died in Aix-en-Provence.
Cézanne divided his life between Paris and his native Aix-en-Provence. Encouraged by his schoolfriend Émile Zola and later by Pissarro, with whom he painted at Pontoise and Auvers in the 1870s, he showed at the first and third Impressionist exhibitions. He then withdrew to Provence and worked towards a more structured art, building form from patches of colour in still lifes, bathers and repeated views of Mont Sainte-Victoire. Younger painters, Picasso and Braque among them, saw him as a founder of modern painting.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Post-Impressionism
Artists who kept Impressionism's colour but pushed towards structure, symbol and feeling.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1998.695v
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Drawing and Watercolor
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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More by Paul Cézanne
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