Artwork
Head of a Young Man
Head of a Young Man is a drawing by the Baroque artist Antoine Coypel. It dates from 1716 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
This drawing shows a man’s head turned to the side. Light hits his cheek and neck while shadows soften the rest. Coypel used red, black, and white chalk together to mix tones like paint.
The chalk mix gives depth without color. You can almost feel the man’s skin under the lines.
Look up Antoine Coypel (French, 1661–1722) to see how his hands shaped French art in the 1700s.
Overview
Head of a Young Man is a drawing by Antoine Coypel, a prominent French painter of the early 18th century, created during a transitional period in French monarchy and art.
Subject & Meaning
The drawing depicts a mourner at the funeral of Pallas, a scene from Virgil's Aeneid, likely serving as a study for Coypel's larger project, the Gallery of Aeneas decorations in the Palais Royal, Paris.
Technique & Style
Coypel employed a combination of red, black, and white chalk to achieve a nuanced tonal range, mimicking painterly depth without color, and capturing the subtlety of the subject's skin and expression.
History & Provenance
Originally part of the preparations for the Gallery of Aeneas project, most of whose paintings did not survive or are in a ruined state (like the related Louvre piece), this drawing is one of several surviving studies.
Context
Created amidst the artistic shift from the Louis XIV to the Louis XV era, the work reflects Coypel's balance between academic drawing traditions and emerging stylistic developments of the time.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Antoine Coypel (French pronunciation: ; 11 April 1661 – 7 January 1722) was a French painter, pastellist, engraver, decorative designer and draughtsman.
