Four Figure Studies for Monument to the Dead

Albert Bartholomé

1889–93 · Charcoal "manilla" pencil · Drawings and Prints

This is one of very few known drawings related to the sculptor Bartholomé's greatest work, his "Monument to the Dead" in the Père Lachaise Cemetery. Beginning in 1889, the project occupied him for ten years. The drawing reveals how Bartholomé worked with a model to establish the pose for this kneeling figure; each iteration on the sheet varies slightly in perspective or posture. In the final composition, she appears at the center of a frieze of grievers on the left side of the monument. The artist also created a related smaller-scale work focused on this figure alone, titled "Grief" (1982.17).

Artist

Albert Bartholomé

Date

1889–93

Medium

Charcoal "manilla" pencil

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Bequest of Harvey Salzman, 2022