Female Painters Mannequin, 1800s

Description

Female painter's mannequin mid-1800s made of beech essence with traces of preparation for lacquering. Life-sized, this antique artist's mannequin features … more Female painter's mannequin mid-1800s made of beech essence with traces of preparation for lacquering. Life-sized, this antique artist's mannequin features feminine attributes as indicated by adolescent breasts and pierced earlobes. Intended for an atelier, to serve as a model for anatomical studies, this ancient mannequin of italian origin is sculpted in a realistic manner, completely articulated and articulated, the hands are rendered in a particularly accurate manner, the fingers are all articulated and refined even in the detail of the nails. It is in a good state of conservation with slight additions to the toes of the left foot and the little finger of the left hand, it appears to be a little rigid only at the pelvis.

the verb mannequiner (from which the italian term mannequin derives) first appears in eighteenth-century france and is used to describe the act of skillfully draping fabric over a mannequin with a natural effect (j. Munro, silent partners: artist and mannequin from function to fetish, fitzwilliam museum, cambridge, 14 october 2014 – 25 january 2015, exhibition catalogue, p.

“the articulated human figure made of wax or wood has been a common tool of european artistic practice since the 16th century. His tireless limbs and his silence allowed the artist to study anatomical proportions, establish a pose according to his own taste and perfect the representation of drapery and clothes. Over the course of the 19th century, however, the mannequin (or lay figure in english) gradually emerged from the atelier to become a subject in its own right, first with humor, then in more disturbing ways, playing on the unnerving psychological presence of a realistic but unreal, truthful but lifeless.
despite the plethora of human effigies and avatars, both virtual and real, that inhabit our 21st century existence, the mannequin continues to fascinate and disturb, an empty vessel for our fears and fantasies\." (j. Munro, op. Cit., introduction).
“…as a tool in the artist's arsenal, however, mannequins were hidden from view and rarely, if ever, included in representations of the artist's studio – their presence hinted at the laborious act of painting and diminished the perception of artist as inspired genius \." (j. Munro, op. Cit., p. 2). less