The Monks

c. 1802–30

The Monks, c. 1802–30. François Marius Granet (French, 1775–1849). Watercolor, pen and brown ink on laid paper; sheet: 35 x 25.2 cm (13 3/4 x 9 15/16 in.); primary mount: 37 x 27.4 cm (14 9/16 x 10 13/16 in.); secondary mount: 43.4 x 37.1 cm (17 1/16 x 14 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2018.1059 The French artist François Granet traveled to Rome in 1802, where he became fascinated by the lives of monks and priests, and the cloistered interiors where they lived and worked. For most of his career, these figures and settings remained the primary subject of his work. This drawing shows one such group in the midst of private study and contemplation. In addition to working as an artist, Granet served as curator of the Musée du Louvre beginning in 1824.