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Charon and the Souls of the Dead
Jean-Baptiste Carpeauxc. 1858
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
This drawing was likely created during time that Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux spent in Rome, where he studied the work of Renaissance masters. Carpeaux was particularly influenced by Michelangelo, especially the Italian sculptor’s compositions featuring twisted bodies and stacked forms. This drawing is one of several that were created in preparation for a painting—which was never completed—of Charon, responsible for ferrying deceased souls to the world of the dead.
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Details
- Title: Charon and the Souls of the Dead
- Creator: Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (French, 1827-1875)
- Date Created: c. 1858
- Physical Dimensions: Sheet: 16.1 x 22.4 cm (6 5/16 x 8 13/16 in.)
- Provenance: Studio of Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, (Galerie Manzi Joyant, Paris, France), (Rowland, Browse, and Delbanco, London, United Kingdom), (Adolphe Stein, Paris, France), (Shepherd Gallery, New York, NY), Jan Milner, New York, NY, Muriel Butkin, Cleveland, OH, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Type: Drawing
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2019.251
- Medium: Pen and brown ink and graphite on antique laid paper (recto), black chalk on antique laid paper (verso)
- Inscriptions: stamped at lower left, in black ink: Carpeaux sale stamp (L. 500)
- Fun Fact: This drawing was probably Carpeaux’s first version of the subject. In later sketches, he greatly reduced the number of figures in the composition.
- Department: Drawings
- Culture: France, 19th century
- Credit Line: Bequest of Muriel Butkin
- Collection: Drawings
- Accession Number: 2019.251
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