Paul Cézanne (1839-1906)

In the introduction to his 1973 catalogue raisonné of Cézanne drawings, Adrien Chappuis lists 18 or possibly 19 known carnets, or sketch books, that were used by the artist, from which most of the drawings and small watercolours by the artist that are known today stem. This drawing originates from the second of the four of these carnets that were owned by Adrien Chappuis himself, which he designated 'CP I, II, III and IV' in his catalogue raisonné.

The recto study of the Venus de Milo is a recurrent theme in Cézanne's works on paper. As Chappuis suggested, it was probably done from a plaster cast, rather than from the original marble in the Louvre (op. cit.). In the present rendering of the Venus, Cézanne has put a greater emphasis on the modelling of the lower abdomen than in other sketches in the same sketchbook.

Chappuis also noted that the cloud studies on the verso are a rare subject for the artist (op. cit.). Their inherent ephemerality might seem to be at odds with Cézanne's normally solid approach to the modelling of objects; clouds nonetheless feature prominently in some of his landscapes and many of his bather paintings.