Sketch for a Life Saving Medal (from McGuire Scrapbook)
Original title: Sketch for a Life Saving Medal (from McGuire Scrapbook)
kurzbeschreibung
Emanuel Leutze left behind this sheet as a design for a lifesaving medal. No date has come down to us for the drawing, which was made in pen, ink, and graphite on thin off-white laid paper. Two figures appear: an angel-like being has taken a second person, evidently in distress, onto its back.
Description
Two figures govern the black and white of the sheet. A winged, angelic being carries a second figure piggyback; that person's face registers worry or alarm. Both rest on a cloud that fills the lower half of the image. Faint, indistinct lines in the distance hint at water or waves. The stroke stays sketchy and plain, the light falls evenly, and shading is absent.
Context
Emanuel Leutze, best known for his painting Washington Crossing the Delaware, probably made this design for a medal competition or a commissioned project. The sheet belongs to the McGuire sketchbook, a collection of Leutze's designs. No precise dating exists; the artist worked in Germany and the United States during the nineteenth century.
Impact
Clean lines and the pared-down arrangement give the drawing an immediate urgency. Despite its sketchy character, the rescue scene carries an emotional force that the rescued figure's expression only heightens.
Technique
The work was executed in pen, ink, and graphite on thin off-white laid paper. Ink and pencil together allow both precise contours and soft, sketchy transitions of the kind typical of nineteenth-century design drawings.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)