Vision of the True Cross Appearing to St. Helen 1790 - 1836

This is William Young Ottley’s pencil drawing, "Vision of the True Cross Appearing to St. Helen." What strikes you immediately is the ethereal quality, achieved through delicate lines and subtle gradations of tone. Helen is centered, seated on a stone block, draped in flowing fabric. She clasps her chest with her arms and gazes upwards, towards the barely-there forms suggesting the True Cross. Ottley’s strategic use of the medium and the pencil marks give a sense of the divine interrupting the earthly realm. The composition is structured to draw the eye upward, guided by Helen’s gaze and the ascending lines of her figure. The use of line and form is more than just descriptive. The open space around Helen and the ghostly cross serves to destabilize our sense of place and reality. Ottley asks us to consider the power of vision, and the transformative potential of an encounter with the sacred.