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Three Young Artists in a Studio

Creator

French Artist · 1761–1845

The son of a wood-sculptor, Louis-Léopold Boilly came from a modest background. As a teenager, he studied painting in the provinces, moving to Paris in 1785 only after ascertaining the marketability of his genre scenes. He established himself as a painter of slightly naughty images, which were especially popular with patrons who enjoyed the mischievous side of life. In 1794, an erotic painting eli

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Date: about 1820
Medium: Black chalk with white chalk heightening and stumping, on beige paper
Culture: French
Department: Drawings
Institution: Getty Museum
Object ID: 32fb8a43-2e7c-421e-a577-4ae99bdf7b65

From the Getty Museum record

Louis-Léopold Boilly's depiction of three artists in a studio conveys the serious and dignified role that he ascribed to the profession. Boilly's harmonious use of black-and-white chalk on beige paper further underscores the subject's sobriety. The three fashionably dressed men, with their tousled hair and intense expressions, confront the viewer with a sense of their fierce commitment to their metier and to each other. In Boilly's numerous variations on this theme, artists are shown in their studios, engaged in discussion with fellow-artists and surrounded by the fruits of their labors. It is likely that Boilly's three sons, all of whom became artists, were the models for this sheet.

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