Studie af stående apostel frontal, med løftede arme. Ikke anvendt figur til Himmelfarten 1923 - 1924

This drawing of an apostle with raised arms was made by Niels Larsen Stevns, though we don't know exactly when. It's a study, a sketch, not intended as a final piece, and you can really see Stevns working through the form. The pencil lines are so tentative, almost searching, especially around the head and hands. It's like he's feeling his way around the subject, trying to capture the essence of the figure's pose and the emotion it conveys. The lines are thin, delicate, but they build up in layers, creating a sense of depth and volume. You can see the ghost of the initial marks underneath. That little burst of yellow above the figure’s head—is it divine light, or just a note to himself about color? Maybe both? It's a really interesting juxtaposition with the unfinished quality of the rest of the drawing. Think of the way Cézanne would work on multiple versions of the same subject, each one a new attempt to capture the essence of the thing. There's a similar spirit of inquiry at work here, a sense of the artist wrestling with form and meaning.