A Man and a Woman Embracing

baron Antoine Jean Gros

Date unknown · Pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk · Drawings and Prints

Of all of Jacques Louis David’s students, Gros was among the most successful and the most loyal. When David was banished from France after the downfall of Napoleon, it was to Gros whom he entrusted the management of his studio. Despite the enduring closeness of the two men, their drawing techniques could hardly have been more different. While David’s technique was rational and legible, Gros tended to cover the sheet with a flurry of rapid sketches. This study of a couple embracing may have been related to his lost painting Les Bergers d’Arcadie (The Shepherds of Arcadia), executed around 1792.

Artist

baron Antoine Jean Gros

Date

Date unknown

Medium

Pen and brown ink with brown wash over black chalk

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Gift of Mrs. Gardner Cassatt, by exchange, 1998