The Passion of Collecting Academic Nudes

Join me as we explore my collection of Academic Nudes from the 18th, 19th, and Early 20th Centuries and serendipitous finds in the Museum, Art Auction, and Gallery world......examples from the Golden Age of the European Academie


Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Anonymous Academic Study: Christ on the Cross - circa 1790-1800

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Addendum: I finally found the reference to the nude sculpture of Christ that I mentioned in the post below. The sculpture is indeed not in the Vatican but is in the Escorial in Spain. The white marble of the nude Christ is by Cellini.
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The photo appears in the small paperback book "How to Look at Sculpture" by David Finn, Publisher, Harry Abrams, New York, 1989... ISBN: 0-8109-2412-9 .... Call number: NB1142.5.F5 1989

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This drawing is so unusual I thought I would go ahead and post it. I have spent the last several days going over literally hundreds of pages of auction listings from various European auction houses pulling out academic nudes and compositions featuring the nude and I will be listing what I found in my next post but this drawing really got my attention. Outside of a sculpture of Christ on the Cross in the Vatican that I discovered in a book on sculpture, I do not ever recall seeing a frontally exposed (although with a modestly sized member) Christ on the Cross. Ordinarily the models of Christ are all modestly clothed with a loin cloth covering the royal genitalia but this Christ is fully exposed and even has his foreskin intact. Very unusual find. It is not signed but dates from the 1790 to 1800 time period from Europe.
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Caption: Christ on the Cross
Artist: unsigned
Material: pierre noire on paper
Dated: 1790-1800

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