Monk (lower register); verso: Drapery Study for a Bishop (lower register); (studies for wall paintings in the Chapel of Saint Remi, Sainte-Clotilde, Paris, 1858) 1830 - 1875

Isidore Pils made this graphite drawing around 1858 as part of a study for wall paintings in the Chapel of Saint Remi, Sainte-Clotilde, Paris. Pils, who was a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts, completed this drawing during a period of immense social change in France. Following the 1848 revolution, the Second Republic was established, reflecting the growing influence of republican and socialist ideas. Pils would have been aware of the ongoing debates surrounding the role of the church in a changing society. Consider the weight of the monk's habit, the implied humility, and the contrast between the figure's solitude and the grandeur of the chapel he would inhabit. How does Pils’s study capture the emotional and social complexities of religious identity during a period of transition, and how does it challenge or reinforce traditional representations of piety and devotion? The drawing gives us an intimate insight into the lives and identities of those who sought solace and purpose within the confines of religious institutions.