(From Sketchbook) 1810 - 1820

This is an ink sketch from a sketchbook by Thomas Sully, an artist born in 1783. It is currently located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sully lived during a period when art academies reinforced strict social hierarchies and gendered expectations. Male artists were trained in life drawing and history painting, whereas women were often excluded from these opportunities, and confined to portraiture and domestic scenes. In this sketch we see a man and a woman, perhaps imagined figures, standing in classical poses. Sully, known as a portrait painter, seemed to be experimenting with the idealized form, likely inspired by classical sculpture. Notice that the woman is draped in fabric, a traditional representation of the female form in art, while the man is mostly nude, emphasizing their physical differences and conforming to the prevailing gender norms of the time. Sully spent time in Europe studying art, and he once said, "my object in painting is to fix the chain of association." Here he seems to fix the chain of classical artistic associations in the bodies he depicts. Sully's sketch embodies a moment in time where he grapples with classical forms, gender, and the role of the artist.