Study for Penelope (c. 1806): Art, History and Details

Study for Penelope (c. 1806) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier (French, 1743–1824).

The work and its context

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

This drawing depicts the figure of Penelope, featured in a painting by Lemonnier exhibited in the Salon of 1806, The Departure of Ulysses and Penelope for Ithaca (now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen). Essentially a drapery study of the high-waisted dress worn by the figure in the painting, it corresponds to the final work. The artist focused mostly on the play of light and shadow, varying the pressure of the chalk strokes and using a stump to smudge the chalk in order to produce a variety of tonal effects. The idealized face of the figure recalls classical sculpture and reflects the artist's academic training as well as the style of figural representation favored by the artists of Jacques-Louis David's generation.

Object facts

• Title: Study for Penelope
• Date: c. 1806
• Creator attribution: Anicet Charles Gabriel Lemonnier (French, 1743–1824)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: black chalk heightened with white chalk, with stumping, squared in graphite
• Dimensions: Sheet: 36.8 x 20.7 cm (14 1/2 x 8 1/8 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1996.286

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

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.