Study of a Vulture with Wings Spread c. 1890 - 1916

Editor: So, this quick sketch is John Singer Sargent's "Study of a Vulture with Wings Spread." It's a simple graphite piece, but there's a real energy in the wings. What do you make of it? Curator: It's all about flight, isn't it? That feeling of potential, of freedom. The vulture, often seen as a symbol of death, here feels almost…ascendant. I imagine Sargent, pencil in hand, trying to capture that fleeting moment of liftoff. Do you feel that too? Editor: I do, now that you mention it. It's less morbid than I initially thought! Curator: Exactly! It makes you wonder what Sargent was planning. Was this for a larger work? Or simply a moment of inspiration, sketched and then… forgotten? A bit like life, really. Editor: That's a beautiful thought. I'll never look at vultures the same way again. Curator: Me neither!