Description
This study relates to the figure of the mother in Pierre Puvis de Chavannes's The Fisherman's Family, a painting first shown at the 1875 Paris Salon, and which the artist also painted in reduced scale in 1887. While Puvis represented his female figure completely nude in the study, in the painting he left bare just a breast, shoulder, and arm. The artist derived the mother figure seen in this drawing from an earlier canvas, Summer, purchased by the French state at the 1873 Salon. In this study, the figure retains some naturalistic features smoothed away in the later paintings, as seen in her proper right arm and hand and her collar and cheekbones.
Provenance
Adrien Karbowsky [1855-1945], Paris, by descent to his family (?-1945); Family of Adrien Karbowsky, Paris (1945-?); (Galerie Jacques Fischer-Chantal Kiener, Paris, sold to Muriel Butkin, Shaker Heights, OH) (?-probably 1980); Muriel Butkin [1916-2008], Shaker Heights, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (Probably 1980-2008); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2008-)
Accession Number
2008.390
Medium
black and white chalk with stumping, squared in black chalk
Dimensions
Sheet: 46.6 x 32.8 cm (18 3/8 x 12 15/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Bequest of Muriel Butkin
Tags
Color: Gray
Background & Context
Background Story
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes created this preparatory study around 1875 for the figure of the mother in "The Fisherman's Family" (La Famille du Pêcheur), one of his most important paintings. This study, executed in black and white chalk with stumping on paper, demonstrates Puvis's meticulous preparatory process. The drawing is squared for transfer—a grid system that allowed the artist to scale the figure up onto the final canvas with precise accuracy.
The mother figure is depicted seated, holding an infant, her body forming a protective enclosure around the child. The pose is stable, almost architectural, conveying the timeless dignity of motherhood. Puvis uses black chalk for the defining contours and shadowed areas, white chalk for highlights on the face and shoulders, and the paper's ground for mid-tones. Stumping—the technique of rubbing or smudging the chalk to create soft transitions—produces the subtle gradations of tone that give the figure its sculptural solidity. The figure's face, with its downcast eyes and composed expression, projects an attitude of quiet acceptance and resilience.
"The Fisherman's Family" was exhibited at the Paris Salon, and the painting belongs to a series of works in which Puvis explored the theme of rural life and human dignity. The drawing reveals Puvis's working method: starting from careful observation of the model, he purified and simplified the forms, eliminating incidental details to achieve the monumental, timeless quality that distinguishes his finished works. The squaring grid visible on the drawing testifies to the practical function of such studies in the production of large-scale paintings and murals.
Cultural Impact
This preparatory study offers unique insight into Puvis de Chavannes's creative process. It shows how he transformed a posed model into the timeless, idealized figure characteristic of his finished works—a process that was central to the academic tradition of painting.
Why It Matters
This squared study is both a beautiful drawing in its own right and a revealing document of artistic practice. It shows Puvis working out the structure, pose, and emotional tenor of a key figure with the combination of technical precision and classical idealism that defined his art.
