Study (Young Male Nude Seated Beside the Sea)

Study (Young Male Nude Seated Beside the Sea)(French:Jeune Homme nu assis au bord de la mer, figure d'étude) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French artistHippolyte Flandrinexecuted between 1835 and 1836. It is held in theLouvre,inParis,and is the best-known work by the artist.

Study (Young Male Nude Seated Beside the Sea)
Artist	Hippolyte Flandrin
Year	1835-1836
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	98 cm × 124 cm (39 in × 49 in)
Location	Louvre,Paris

History

Flandrin had won thePrix de Romein 1832, a bursary which provided the winner with a trip to Rome to concentrate on their vocation. There, Flandrin produced thisstudy,which he sent back to Paris in 1837, in fulfillment of the bursary's requirements for the student to submit works in the tradition of various genres. In 1857,Napoleon IIIpurchased the painting, which is now in the collection of Paris'sLouvre.

Description and analysis

The painting gained attention among contemporary French art critics, and remains one of Flandrin's best-known works, despite being produced relatively early in his career. The subject is an unidentified youth, an "ephebe",who sits nude on a rock with his arms wrapped around his legs and his head resting on his knees, eyes closed. There is a sea in the background, and no distinguishable landmarks locate the figure. The Enigma tic scene provides no explanation for the figure's pose:Théophile Gautier(1811–1872) commented that the young man could be shipwrecked on a deserted island, or be ashepherdwho has lost his flock. Ultimately, any explanation for this scene is left to the imagination, leading to comparisons withSurrealistart in the twentieth century.

Critical evaluation

In examining the influence of Germanaesthetic theoryonFrench art,criticElizabeth Prettejohnfinds that the roundedness of form and "flawless" modeling of flesh would have met withJohann Joachim Winckelmann's approval as an exemplar of the beautiful. Prettejohn compares the figure's almost circular pose and sparse framing with that ofLeonardo da Vinci'sVitruvian Man.

Photograph after Flandrin's study byWilhelm von Gloeden

Cultural influence

Vital to the painting's spread were reproductions based on an 1887 engraving byJean-Baptiste Danguinthat was commissioned by the state. As awareness of the work grew, the painting, despite argually meant to have no sexual subtext, became aniconof homosexual culture in the 20th century. PhotographersMarcel MooreandClaude Cahunadopted the pose in a photograph of the lesbian Cahun, c. 1911. The painting was similarly evoked in early twentieth-centuryart photographybyF. Holland DayandWilhelm von Gloeden,and later byRobert Mapplethorpe.

References

• Aldrich, Robert and Garry Wotherspoon (2003).Who's who in gay and lesbian history: from antiquity to World War II.Routledge.ISBN0-415-15983-0.
• Latimer, Tirza True (2005).Women together/women apart: portraits of lesbian Paris.Rutgers University Press, pp. 71–73.ISBN0-8135-3595-6.
• Prettejohn, Elizabeth(2005).Beauty & Art, 1750–2000.Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 65–67.ISBN0-19-280160-0.