Hercules, after the Antique 1868 - 1869

Editor: This is John Singer Sargent's pencil drawing "Hercules, after the Antique," housed here at Harvard. It feels like a quick study, focusing on form. What can you tell me about it? Curator: Notice the paper itself. Its texture, its likely mass production for academic exercises. Sargent, in engaging with this classical subject, is participating in a cycle of artistic labor and reproduction, isn't he? Editor: I see what you mean! It's not just about high art, but the whole system of training and materials that makes it possible. Curator: Precisely. And think about who had access to this kind of training, the social context embedded in even a simple sketch like this. Editor: That's a different perspective than I expected, but it really makes you think about the layers of production involved.