A Philosopher (1662): Art, History and Details

A Philosopher (1662) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Pierre Puget (French, 1620–1694).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Puget traveled to Rome in the early 1660s, where he closely studied ancient busts in the collections of wealthy nobles. Although inspired by Greek and Roman depictions of individual philosophers, orators, and writers, Puget created a generalized image of this type—a mature, bearded man with a furrowed brow— rather than a portrait of a particular historical figure. The rounded forms of the flesh and individual locks of hair are particularly characteristic of 17th-century baroque taste.

Object facts

• Title: A Philosopher
• Date: 1662
• Creator attribution: Pierre Puget (French, 1620–1694)
• Culture: France, made in Rome, 17th century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: marble
• Dimensions: Overall: 39.4 x 22.6 x 25.4 cm (15 1/2 x 8 7/8 x 10 in.); Base: 20.5 x 20.5 x 20 cm (8 1/16 x 8 1/16 x 7 7/8 in.)
• Collection: Sculpture
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1969.121

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1969." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 57, no. 1 (1970): 2-50.
• Hawley, Henry. “Pierre Puget: Head of a Philosopher.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 57, no. 3 (March 1970): 77–80.
• Frel, Jiri. “Puget’s Philosopher.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 57, no. 8 (November 1970): 281–283.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.