(From Sketchbook) 1810 - 1820

Thomas Sully created this sketchbook page with pen and ink, now held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The composition presents a seemingly random assortment of figures, each rendered with varying degrees of completion and detail. The linear quality of the ink drawings emphasizes contour and form, inviting us to consider the relationships between these sketched figures. Sully’s use of line is particularly striking; it is both delicate and decisive, capturing the essence of each figure with minimal strokes. The arrangement, lacking a clear narrative or compositional hierarchy, prompts a semiotic reading. Each figure acts as a signifier—a portrait, a mother and child, a reclining nude—pointing to broader cultural codes and artistic traditions. Yet, by presenting them in a fragmented, non-narrative space, Sully destabilizes fixed meanings, inviting us to contemplate the provisional nature of sketching. The interplay between the complete and incomplete forms encourages the viewer to engage actively in constructing their own interpretations. This sketchbook page becomes not merely a record of Sully’s artistic process, but a site of ongoing aesthetic and intellectual inquiry.