Silver Chalice 1935 - 1942

Thomas Holloway’s pencil drawing depicts a Silver Chalice with graceful economy. The surface is rendered using only the subtlest gradations of tone, an exercise in control that feels almost photographic. Look closely and you can see how the light seems to shimmer on the cup's surface, particularly around the inscription ‘BNRDIC’ which is set into the body of the metal, and how that subtle tonal variation gives the cup its volume and weight, despite the limited palette. Think of those subtle shifts of grey tone as a kind of emotional weather, a key to the feeling of this piece. That kind of restraint reminds me of some of Giorgio Morandi’s still life paintings, where he explores the beauty of everyday objects through a similar focus on subtle tones and careful composition. It's this attention to the ordinary, transformed through the artist's eye, that makes this drawing so quietly powerful.