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Preview image of work. pastel on paper,  Drapery Study for Figure 'Venice' 4598
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1959.3.4

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Drapery Study for Figure 'Venice'

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Artist

Kenyon Cox (Warren, Ohio, 1856 - 1919, New York City, New York)

Title

Drapery Study for Figure 'Venice'

Creation Date

1893

Century

19th century

Object Type

drawing

Creation Place

North America, United States

Medium and Support

pastel on paper

Credit Line

Gift of Colonel Leonard Cox, Mrs. Caroline Cox Lansing, and Mr. Allyn Cox

Copyright

Public Domain

Accession Number

1959.3.4

Having been commissioned to create an allegorical mural of the city of Venice for the Rotunda of the Museum’s Walker Art Building, New York artist Kenyon Cox embarked on a series of preparatory studies in graphite. Before working in oil, he used pastels to introduce color into the composition. A comparison between this drawing and the finished mural indicates that Cox’s ideas for the central figure of Venice changed little after he completed this drawing. Both the pose and the choice of colors remained remarkably similar. At least one later study in oil was completed, though it was the medium of pastel that was most useful for developing the painting’s color scheme.