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Sleep
Jean Bernard Restout (French, 1732–1797)c. 1771
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
The tradition of painting nude male figures in a studio setting was the cornerstone of artistic practice, teaching artists to depict the human body in complex poses in order to create larger narratives. However, by the late 1700s, some artists began to see these studies as independent works of art. By adding the wings and the poppies, Restout transformed his study into a more specific subject, and he first exhibited the work in a privately organized exhibition in 1783 under the title of Morpheus, the god of sleep.
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Details
- Title: Sleep
- Creator: Jean Bernard Restout (French, 1732–1797)
- Date Created: c. 1771
- Physical Dimensions: Framed: 127.5 x 160 x 14 cm (50 3/16 x 63 x 5 1/2 in.); Unframed: 97.6 x 130 cm (38 7/16 x 51 3/16 in.)
- Provenance: possibly exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1771, cat. 137 ("Sommeil, figure d'etude), possibly exhibited at the Salon de la Correspondance of 1783, cat. 144 (as "Morphée"), possibly listed as "Morphée" in the inventory made at the artist's death, 1797, (Sold, Boussod, Valadon et Cie., Paris [as attributed to Fragonard]), (sold, Hotel Drouot, Paris, December 2, 1910, no. 13, as attributed to Fragonard), Octave Linet (1870-1962), Paris and Tours, France, (Octave Linet, sold, Palais Galliera, Paris, March 23, 1963, no. 16, as "Le genie du sommeil," as by François Boucher), (Galerie Cailleux, Paris, France), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1963., The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Type: Painting
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.502
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Fun Fact: A source of inspiration for this painting was probably the Roman poet Ovid's <em>Metamorphoses</em>, which describes the god of sleep as living in a cave with sleep-inducing poppies at the entrance.
- Department: European Painting and Sculpture
- Culture: France, 18th century
- Credit Line: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund
- Collection: P - French 18th Century
- Accession Number: 1963.502
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