Nuns (mid-1800s): Art, History and Details

Nuns (mid-1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Anonymous.

The work and its context

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

In this drawing, a group of young nuns gather to pray. The unknown French artist used white chalk to delicately highlight the central figure with clasped hands. The work suggests the new style and subject matter that proliferated throughout France during the mid-19th century when an emerging middle-class audience became interested in collecting art and viewing it in exhibitions such as the Paris Salon.

Object facts

• Title: Nuns
• Date: mid-1800s
• Creator attribution: Anonymous
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: black and white chalk on gray laid paper
• Dimensions: Sheet: 18.8 x 21.2 cm (7 3/8 x 8 3/8 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2019.60

A detail from the museum

This drawing’s anonymous artist used a combination of black and white chalk to create a dramatic pattern of highlights and shadows.

Collection credit

Bequest of Muriel Butkin

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.