Study for “The Enrollment of the Volunteers of 1792”

1848

Not on view

Following the success of Couture's "Romans of the Decadence," the Second Republic government commissioned "The Enrollment of the Volunteers of 1792" for the Hall of Sessions of the National Assembly, aiming to associate the recent revolution of 1848 with the foundational revolutionary moment of over fifty years prior. The project was never completed though the unfinished canvas survives (Musée Départemental de l'Oise) along with many studies such as this. Although a figure who strikes this exact pose has not been identified in the composition as it exists today, the inscription in the artist's hand definitively connects it to the project. This carefully observed drawing of an upraised arm with its creased sleeve demonstrates an aspect of the artist's process in preparing a monumental painting: the study from life of models in various attitudes.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

References

Title: Study for “The Enrollment of the Volunteers of 1792”
Artist: Thomas Couture (French, Senlis 1815–1879 Villiers-le-Bel)
Date: 1848
Medium: Fabricated black chalk
Dimensions: Sheet: 16 3/4 in. × 12 in. (42.5 × 30.5 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift of Roberta J.M. Olson and Alexander B.V. Johnson, 2018
Object Number: 2018.904.3
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By Thomas Couture

In the same medium

From the same time and place

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Interior of a Church, Thomas Couture French, Black chalk, heightened with white — Interior of a Church
Thomas Couture
1877

Lawyer on His Way to Court (Se Rendant à l'Audience), Thomas Couture French, Black chalk — Lawyer on His Way to Court (Se Rendant à l'Audience)
Thomas Couture
1830–79

Study for the decoration of the ceiling of the Opéra Comique, Thomas Couture French, Black chalk on blue paper mounted on cardboard — Study for the decoration of the ceiling of the Opéra Comique
Thomas Couture
ca. 1857

Study for "The Enrollment of the Volunteers of 1792", Thomas Couture French, Black chalk on gray paper — Study for "The Enrollment of the Volunteers of 1792"
Thomas Couture
ca. 1848–51

Soap Bubbles, Thomas Couture French, Oil on canvas — Soap Bubbles
Thomas Couture
ca. 1859

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