Etude de nu tenant une guirlande.

Pierre-Victor Galland (1822-1892), Study of a Nude Holding a Garland, 19th century, red chalk on paper, 23.9 x 18.5 cm, with a red ink mark of the posthumous sale of the artist's studio in the lower right (Lugt 1197).

Pierre-Victor Galland was born in Geneva of French parents in 1822 and died in Paris 1892. He was a student of Drolling at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and worked with Labrouste and Cicéri. Employed by various decorators, his works are present in several European capitals as well as in Constantinople and New York. In Paris, he decorated many private residences and collaborated in the decoration of public buildings such as the Pantheon. Galland was a professor of decorative art at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and also art director at the Gobelins factory. 

This unpublished sheet testifies to his graphic talent and to his nickname "French Tiepolo of the 19th century". The present sheet is most likely preliminary to the execution of a decoration. This naked man, in the tradition of Michelangelo's ignudi, supports a richly decorated floral garland that evokes the spirit of Raphael's work at villa Farnesina.