A Young Woman Overcome by Love [recto] c. 1763

Jean-Baptiste Deshays created this drawing, "A Young Woman Overcome by Love," using brown wash on paper sometime in the 18th century. Wash is made by diluting ink or watercolor with water, and in this drawing, it's applied in loose, flowing strokes. The choice of material is critical. Deshays used it to quickly capture a scene filled with drama. You see the way he layered the wash to create depth and shadow, drawing our eyes to the central figure of the overcome woman. The fluidity of the wash mirrors the tumultuous emotion of the scene. The thinness of the lines suggests the immediacy of the artwork, and how the artist attempted to capture an elusive feeling of the scene. This wasn't about carefully rendering detail, but rather about conveying the raw emotion of the moment. The drawing’s power resides in its ability to capture not just an image, but a feeling. It's a great example of how the choice of materials can amplify the emotional resonance of a work of art, defying any separation between "high art" and the skilled use of humble materials.