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Oil by Philip Melville Courtney
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Philip Melville CourtneyContemplation of Form En Grisaille Male Nude
Oil by Philip Melville Courtney2025
2025
$8,500
£6,455.02
€7,415.61
CA$11,983
A$12,740.40
CHF 6,889.62
MX$151,550.95
NOK 86,302.33
SEK 78,819.71
DKK 55,397.14
About the Item
Contemplation of Form — En Grisaille Male Nude
by Philip Melville Courtney
This commanding en grisaille oil on canvas presents a classically modeled standing male nude captured in a moment of quiet repose, leaning contemplatively against an implied plinth. Conceived as a gesture sketch elevated into a finished painting, Contemplation of Form exemplifies Courtney’s distinctive practice—reviving the rigor and idealism of 18th-century academic classicism and translating it seamlessly for modern interiors.
The figure is rendered with exceptional muscularity and anatomical precision, the torso, legs, and arms articulated through a refined understanding of balance, structure, and proportion. Strength is tempered by introspection, creating a presence that is at once masculine, seductive, and timeless. The implied architectural support reinforces classical tradition while anchoring the figure within space.
Executed in a restrained tonal greige palette, the painting demonstrates masterful modulation of neutrals, allowing form to emerge through subtle transitions rather than color. Courtney’s nuanced use of chiaroscuro—the deliberate play of light and shadow—sculpts the body with remarkable depth, evoking the tactile authority of carved marble while retaining the sensuality unique to oil on canvas.
Presented in a narrow black floater frame, the work is given a crisp, contemporary edge that heightens its relevance in minimalist, modern, or transitional interiors. Elegant, confident, and quietly provocative, Contemplation of Form — En Grisaille Male Nude stands as an enduring fusion of classical beauty and modern sophistication, ideal for collectors drawn to figurative works of lasting artistic authority.
Philip Melville Courtney
Philip Melville Courtney — New Works in Collaboration with Maison Palm Beach / Mark Lukas Fine Art Maison Palm Beach / Mark Lukas Fine Art is pleased to announce a new collaboration with acclaimed American artist Philip Melville Courtney, presenting five new works that highlight his remarkable technical mastery. In this collection, Courtney returns to the classical foundations of figure drawing, rendering the human form in oil with exceptional precision, restraint, and depth.
Introducing an exciting direction in his practice, Courtney also unveils a series of antique sculptures, reliefs and gesture sketches —modern reinterpretations of antique, Renaissance, and nineteenth-century motifs. These works merge painting with sculptural illusion, offering collectors a fresh and sophisticated way to experience art historical tradition through a contemporary lens.
A graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Courtney spent more than twenty-five years as a billboard artist in Philadelphia before dedicating himself fully to fine art. His work has been featured in respected galleries and juried exhibitions, including selections by the John Peto Museum International Art Exhibition, Fine Art Connoisseur, and the Philadelphia Watercolor Society’s International Exhibition of Works on Paper. In 2025, his portrait Face to Faceearned a Certificate of Excellence in the 27th Annual International Portrait Competition, chosen from more than 3,000 submissions worldwide.
Fluent in both oil and watercolor, Courtney is recognized for his disciplined draftsmanship, refined surfaces, and the quiet emotional resonance of his subjects.
This new body of work marks a significant evolution—uniting classical rigor with contemporary innovation. It presents an exciting opportunity for collectors seeking work of enduring beauty, impeccable craftsmanship, and intellectual sophistication.
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