Classical Portrait Bust of a Bearded Man 

John Flaxman created this delicate pencil drawing, “Classical Portrait Bust of a Bearded Man,” sometime before his death in 1826. Flaxman lived during a period when western society, particularly in art, was consumed by classical antiquity. Flaxman, like many of his contemporaries, looked to ancient Greece and Rome for inspiration. Yet, what did it mean to be ‘classical’ during a time of revolution? How did artists use the past to engage with their present? In this drawing, we see not just a figure rendered in the classical style but a reflection on authority, wisdom, and masculinity. The beard, the head covering, the very form of the bust, all speak to a certain kind of learned male identity. But it’s an identity that Flaxman approaches with a soft touch. There is a gentleness in the lines, a sense of humanism that perhaps speaks to the changing ideals of his own time. This drawing provides a lens through which we can consider the shifting sands of identity, and the emotional resonance of form.