Jeune femme se déshabillant 1800

Pierre-Paul Prud'hon made this drawing, "Jeune femme se déshabillant", in France, at the turn of the 19th century, using black and white chalk on blue paper. Prud'hon’s study of a young woman undressing participates in the artistic and cultural traditions of representing the female nude. But its existence as a drawing gives us insight into academic artistic practices of the time. Artists working within the French academy would have rigorously studied the human form to prepare for history paintings or portraiture. The nude was also connected to philosophical ideals of beauty and truth. Drawings like this would be used to study the fall of light or the arrangement of drapery. By looking at the image with an understanding of academic artistic practice, we can gain an understanding of the cultural and institutional forces that shaped art making in this period.