Monkey in a Studio

Gallery 255, European Art 1850-1900, second floor (Rishel Gallery)

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Monkey in a Studio

1869

Antoine Vollon (French, 1833–1900)

In this study of an artist's studio, Vollon creates an allegory of the liberal arts. The score and trumpet represent music, the books philosophy, the canvas on the easel painting, and the various works scattered throughout the studio sculpture. At the rear are casts from Michelangelo's Medici tombs in Florence, and of Minerva, the Roman goddess of the arts. In depicting a monkey as an artist, Vollon evokes a seventeenth-century Dutch tradition of satirizing the artist as imitator of nature, or "art as the ape of nature."

Gallery 255, European Art 1850-1900, second floor (Rishel Gallery)

Object Details

Title:

Monkey in a Studio

Date:

1869

Artist:

Antoine Vollon (French, 1833–1900)

Medium:

Oil on panel

Dimensions:

18 1/8 × 14 5/8 inches (46 × 37.1 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

John G. Johnson Collection, 1917

Accession Number:

Cat. 1108

Geography:

Made in Paris, France, Europe

Provenance

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Gallery 255, European Art 1850-1900, second floor (Rishel Gallery)

Main Building

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