The Presentation in the Temple
c. 1770
François Boucher
François Boucher (French, 1703–1770)
Drawings
The Presentation in the Temple, c. 1770. François Boucher (French, 1703–1770). Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, and black chalk, heightened with white paint; framing lines in pen and brown ink; sheet: 32.3 x 20 cm (12 11/16 x 7 7/8 in.); framed: 66 x 50.9 x 6.4 cm (26 x 20 1/16 x 2 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. 1925.1005 Late in his career, François Boucher adopted a drawing style characterized by strong pen lines and loosely brushed washes. This sheet, which dates from that period, depicts the blind priest Simeon, at left, who was promised that he would see the Messiah before his death. When the Christ child was brought into the temple near him, Simeon regained his sight. Boucher emphasized the miraculous event by showing divine light streaming down onto the priest from the dove above, which represents the Holy Spirit. The drawing is similar to an oil sketch (Louvre, Paris) that Boucher completed during the last year of his life -- one of the very last projects he ever completed. This drawing was probably a sketch for an oil painting that Boucher was unable to complete before his death.
- Maker/Artist
- Boucher, François
- Classification
- Drawing
- Formatted Medium
- pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, and black chalk, heightened with white paint; framing lines in pen and brown ink
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 32.3 x 20 cm (12 11/16 x 7 7/8 in.); Framed: 66 x 50.9 x 6.4 cm (26 x 20 1/16 x 2 1/2 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: verso, center, in graphite: G; lower left, in graphite: Lest R./-oc-.
- Departments
- Drawings
- Accession Number
- 1925.1005
- Credit Line
- Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.
- Exhibitions
- Drawings in the Classic and Romantic Tradition before 1830, Art of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, Old Master Drawings from the Museum Collection, Drawings from the Museum Collection, Eighteenth Century Masterpieces, Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition, French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse, Italian and French Drawings, Aspects of Drawing, Drawings, Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands, Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection, Drawings, François Boucher in North American Collections: 100 Drawings, Seventeenth-, Eighteenth-, and Early Nineteenth-Century Genre and French Prints and Drawings, 18th Century Master Drawings, French Prints and Drawings in the Age of the Bourbons, 1589-1792, Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art, I and Thou, French Drawings from the Collection, Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Drawings of François Boucher, <em>The French Eighteenth Century: Drawings Coming From the J. P. Heseltine Collection</em>. E. Gimpel & Wildenstein, New York (March 21 - April 16, 1914).
- Rights Statement
- CC0
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