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François-Marius Granet

A Friar in the Doorway of a Convent, ca. 1802 - 1824

Now On View

Description

Maker

Title

A Friar in the Doorway of a Convent

Year

ca. 1802 - 1824

Medium

Brush and ink on wove paper

Dimensions

Sheet: 15.2 x 11 cm (6 x 4 5/16 inches)

Type

Credit

Museum purchase: Esther Mauran Acquisitions Fund and gift of Ambassador J. W. Middendorf II and Frances Middendorf

Object Number

2018.55

About

Against a stream of light piercing a long dark corridor, a monk is seen from behind. Executed in pen and ink and wash, the drawing is striking for its masterful command of the medium and palpable sense of mystery.

In both style and subject, the work is typical of Granet, a French painter who spent 22 years in Rome. His ability to create lyrical light effects was admired by Jacques Louis David—with whom Granet briefly studied—as well as by his fellow artists and friends Jean August Dominique Ingres and Antonio Canova. Granet reveals a Romantic taste for the Middle Ages that followed the French Catholic revival, a reaction to anticlerical sentiment unleashed by the French Revolution.

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Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Drawing Closer

March 12 - September 4, 2022

Here a caped friar is seen from behind at the end of a vaulted corridor. At the center of the sheet light breaks the shadows, refracting off the walls and revealing the features of the sparse interior. François-Marius Granet achieved these rich atmospheric effects solely through washes; no penwork or underdrawing are visible. He used a fine brush and a dark ink for details, a larger dry brush for the long shadow cast by the friar, and multiple applications of wash to build up the subtle chiaroscuro. The artist made a series of moody wash drawings of ecclesiastical interiors during his 22-year stay in Rome.

Use

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