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Study of Thirteen Heads

1770
Not on view
Boissieu's graphic oeuvre includes several sketch plates such as this one, where an etching needle was used to draw independent sketches directly onto a prepared copper plate. A format originally associated with the learning process and an artist's initial forays into the medium, the sketch plate became, in the hands of Rembrandt and his eighteenth-century emulators, a vehicle for virtuosity. Here, Boissieu covered the plate with sketches, mostly of old men, juxtaposing heads drawn to different scales and with different degrees of finish.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Study of Thirteen Heads
  • Artist: Jean Jacques de Boissieu (French, Lyons 1736–1810 Lyons)
  • Date: 1770
  • Medium: Etching with drypoint; second state of three
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 9 7/16 × 7 3/16 in. (24 × 18.3 cm)
    Plate: 9 1/4 × 7 1/16 in. (23.5 × 17.9 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1967
  • Object Number: 67.793.25
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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Village Festival (La Fête du Village)
Jean Jacques de Boissieu
1773
Rupture des Digues de Hollande
Jean Jacques de Boissieu
Jan Asselijn
1782
The School Master (Le grand Maître d'École)
Jean Jacques de Boissieu
1780
View of Old Customs House in Rome (Vue de l'ancienne Douane de Rome)
Jean Jacques de Boissieu
1736–1810
Pope Pius VII Blessing Children During his Stay in Lyon
Jean Jacques de Boissieu
1805

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