Seated and Standing Male Nudes, after photographs by Eugène Durieu

Seated and Standing Male Nudes, after photographs by Eugène Durieu

Eugène Delacroix

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1854 Delacroix collaborated with amateur photographer Eugène Durieu to produce a series of photographs of nude models, which served as portable sources for the study of the human form. This sheet combines figures from two of the photographs. The artist builds up the form through short hatching strokes and juxtaposing planes.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Seated and Standing Male Nudes, after photographs by Eugène DurieuSeated and Standing Male Nudes, after photographs by Eugène DurieuSeated and Standing Male Nudes, after photographs by Eugène DurieuSeated and Standing Male Nudes, after photographs by Eugène DurieuSeated and Standing Male Nudes, after photographs by Eugène Durieu

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.