1864
Fusain sur papier
57 x 42 cm - 22 7/16 x 16 9/16 in.
Montpellier, Musée Fabre, France - Inv. 49.5.1
Dernière mise à jour : 2022-04-03 06:21:48
Référence : MSb-97
Famille de l'artiste, Montpellier - Frédéric Bazille, neveu de l'artiste - Don Frédéric Bazille au musée Fabre en 1949.
Montpellier, musée Fabre, 1991-1992, 150e anniversaire de Frédéric Bazille, fig. 20 bis, p. 20 - Montpellier, New York, 1992-1993, n° 3, repr. p. 80.
Sarraute, 1948, appendice n° 7 - Daulte, Bazille et son temps, 1952, n° 3 [Thèse de l'Ecole du Louvre non publiée] - Claparède, 1962, n° 15 bis (repr.) - Daulte, Frédéric Bazille : Catalogue de l'œuvre peint, 1992, p. 19 (repr.) - Jourdan, Cat. exp. Montpellier, New York, 1992-1993, n° 3, repr. p. 80 - Schulman, Frédéric Bazille : Catalogue raisonné, 1995, n° 8, repr. p. 240 - Schulman, Frédéric Bazille : Catalogue raisonné numérique, 2022, n° 97.
Drawn on the reverse of the preparatory drawing for the Study of a Reclining Nude, this drawing has been variously attributed. Is it really Villa by Bazille, as Daulte says [Daulte, 1992, p. 19], or, as Sarraute also did [Sarraute, 1948, appendix n° 7], a drawing by Villa?
We prefer, for several reasons, to keep the attribution of this drawing to Bazille. First, because we cannot, for lack of evidence, confirm Sarraute's hypothesis; and second, because of the graphic comparisons we can establish with other drawings by Bazille.
We prefer, for several reasons, to keep the attribution of this drawing to Bazille.
Bazille commonly uses pencil and blur in a complementary manner. Moreover, the workmanship of this man's head on a barely sketched bust can be found in preparatory drawings for Ruth and Booz. Moreover, there is a certain awkwardness in the drawing of the neck, an awkwardness of which we have pointed out another example in the Academy of Woman.
Finally, note that the drawing bears two inscriptions in the lower right corner: Bazille (signature?) and Nu couché.
