Portrait of a Man, said to be the Sculptor Clodion (1738–1814) (late 1700s): Art, History and Details

Portrait of a Man, said to be the Sculptor Clodion (1738–1814) (late 1700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Unknown.

The work and its context

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

This portrait is presumed to represent the French sculptor Clodion (1738-1814). He is depicted as a nobleman, wearing a suit with a ruffled collar and a wig tied with a ribbon. The medallion format and use of color in this drawing recall painted portrait miniatures, an art form that reached the height of its popularity in the 18th century.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait of a Man, said to be the Sculptor Clodion (1738–1814)
• Date: late 1700s
• Creator attribution: Unknown
• Culture: France
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: Black chalk with stumping and red and blue chalks; frame details in pen and brown ink and blue washes
• Dimensions: Diameter: 13.7 cm (5 3/8 in.); height: 13.9 cm (5 1/2 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2018.51

Collection credit

Bequest of Muriel Butkin

Further reading listed by the museum

• Dacier, Emile. Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, peintre, dessinateur et graveur, 1724-1780. Paris: G. van Oest, 1929.
• Weill and Henriot, Collection David Weill, vol. 3, pt. 2
• Dacier, Emile. Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, peintre, dessinateur et graveur, 1724-1780. Paris: G. van Oest, 1929.

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.