French, 1839–1906

Paul Cézanne's son remembered posing as Harlequin in his father's studio in Paris in late1888, and it is possible that he modeled for this three-quarter-length rendering. Though sensitively captured in two other studies showing his face only, the boy's youthful features are here unrecognizable. As in the adjacent canvas, Cézanne's simplifications rendered the face expressionless, like a puppet, doll, or mask. The artist seems to have played with the positioning of the baton, sketching it in the figure's right hand, as in the painting, as well as in the crook of his left arm. By contrast, Cézanne very clearly drew in Harlequin's costume, carefully contorting the geometric, diamond-shaped pattern around the figure's large, rounded limbs and torso.

_{Paul Cézanne. Study of a Harlequin, c. 1888. The Art Institute of Chicago, Margaret Day Blake Collection.}