Figurehead: Julius Caesar 1935 - 1942

Here we see a drawing of a statue of Julius Caesar, made at an unknown time, by an unknown artist. The limited colour palette seems to suggest a preliminary sketch for a sculpture, but it also makes me think of those old photos where they hand-tinted people's cheeks. It's rendered with precision, capturing the texture of the stone, but also the softness of the light. Look at the way the artist renders the folds of Caesar’s toga and the shadows on his face. There's a real sense of depth and volume, even though it’s just a drawing. And the way the artist leaves the arms unfinished gives it a modern, almost abstract quality. It reminds me a little bit of those drawings by Agnes Martin, where she's trying to capture something ephemeral and intangible with very simple means. It's like the artist is trying to get at something essential about the figure of Caesar, rather than just creating a realistic representation. And maybe that's why they didn't bother finishing it, because the essence was already there.