Ut Pictura Poesis

Description

Hutin’s drawing is an allegorical celebration of academic artistic training. The words UT PICTURA POESIS engraved on the stone tablet translate “as is painting, so is poetry.” Classical figures throughout the grand hall discuss their work as they practice different methods of making images. In the foreground, putti sculpt a portrait bust of Louis XV; behind them artists practice drawing a nude model. Among the sculptures in the room are the Farnese Hercules and the Venus de’ Medici, both famous Roman marbles in Italy, where Hutin trained from 1737 to 1742. In the upper right, Fame flies with trumpets above Minerva, the patron goddess of the arts, holding a paintbrush and palette as she drives out Ignorance and Envy.

Provenance

collection Paigon-Dijonval, cat. no. 3347 (according to Cailleux). Private Collection, Paris; [Cailleux]

Ut Pictura Poesis

Charles-François Hutin

1745–1746

Accession Number

1998.76

Medium

Gray wash, watercolor, graphite, black chalk, and red chalk on cream laid paper

Dimensions

Sheet: 53.2 x 38 cm (20 15/16 x 14 15/16 in.)

Classification

Drawing

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund