Study of Two Women Grieving

As a sculptor, Flaxman was a leader of the British Neoclassical school. This delicate ink-and-wash drawing of two young women in classical robes contemplating a fire is believed to be a study for a tomb monument. A rare early work, probably made in the first years of the 1780s, it demonstrates the artist's ability to bring classical subjects to life even before he visited Rome (1787-94). There, he made outline drawings of subjects from Homer and Hesiod that were published as prints and helped to spread Neoclassical taste throughout Europe. Rendered in monochrome, the drawing's relation to sculpture is suggested by the way the figures are rendered in full or partial profile against an undefined ...