Draped Man Running; Cartouche Supported by Two Winged Victories 1745 - 1793

Etienne de Lavallée-Poussin created this drawing with pen and brown ink, and brown wash, likely as a preparatory sketch. The artist has used these modest materials to build up a composition, with broad strokes suggesting the fall of light, and delicate hatching to define the forms. Washes were brushed on to create layered, translucent effects. The drawing depicts a ‘draped man’ in motion, his urgent pose set against classical architecture, beneath a cartouche ornamented with winged figures. While the drawing is executed with speed, it also calls on the artist’s thorough understanding of the human form, and of pictorial composition. Lavallée-Poussin’s skilled rendering elevates the mundane materials into something expressive and complex, hinting at greater meanings. Drawings like these, though often made rapidly, were integral to the wider processes of art and design in the 18th century. They were a foundation of visual culture, as worthy of study as any finished painting or sculpture.