Young man in bust 

Alfred Dehodencq created this drawing of a young man, sometime in the mid-19th century. The subject is a male figure depicted in a bust-length portrait, rendered with ink on paper. The loose style and informal pose suggests the piece was made in preparation for a larger work, or simply as an exercise. Dehodencq was a French Orientalist painter, who spent much of his career in Spain and North Africa. His paintings often focused on dramatic and violent events, but this drawing seems at first glance to be rather tame in comparison. Yet the choice of subject, the loose tunic and flowing locks, signal the artist's romantic sensibility. The image reflects the 19th century French artistic world, in which artists looked beyond the established norms of academic painting and into the lives of ordinary people. To fully understand the image, a historian would research the influence of the Barbizon school of painting on the artist, as well as more contemporary approaches to drawing. This contingent history provides a deeper appreciation.