Study of a Young Man, study for the tapestry, Sancho’s departure for the island of Barataria c. 1735

Charles-Joseph Natoire made this drawing as a preparatory study for a tapestry, likely using paper and sanguine chalk. Notice how the chalk is not just a way to capture the figure's likeness, but also to suggest the textures of the clothing, hair, and even the skin. The drawing, with its visible hatched lines, preserves the immediate qualities of the artist’s hand, and allows us to trace the creative process. But consider also what comes next: the translation of this sketch into a full-scale tapestry, a process that requires the labor of weavers, who are the anonymous craftspeople essential to the manufacturing of this elaborate art form. Tapestries in the 18th century were luxury goods, often commissioned by the very wealthy. The subject matter also played a role in the work’s reception: Natoire has visualized a scene from the novel Don Quixote, itself a story about the blurred boundaries between fantasy and reality. The tapestry form, like the novel, becomes a way to consider the social and economic realities of the time.