Study for 'The Siege of Gibraltar': Officer in Four Poses
Original title: Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar": Officer in Four Poses
kurzbeschreibung
John Singleton Copley recorded four poses of a uniformed officer in this 1785–86 drawing, one of the preparatory studies for his large history painting The Siege of Gibraltar. Executed in black chalk on blue paper, the sheet shows the officer in changing attitudes.
Description
Four men in uniform stand in a row: one sits on a chair, a second kneels, a third crouches on one leg with a hand resting on his knee, and the fourth stands holding a stick. Black on blue paper, with clearly visible strokes and contours. The light is evenly distributed, as is typical for a study.
Context
The drawing was made as a preparatory study for Copley's monumental painting The Siege of Gibraltar (1783–1791), which depicts the defence of the British fortress against Spanish and French troops in 1782. For the historical scene the artist portrayed numerous officers to achieve the greatest possible accuracy. Copley worked in London, where he had lived since 1774 and had made his name with large history paintings.
Impact
Precise and detailed lines clearly trace the different bodily postures. Because the sheet is limited to black and blue, it feels calm and objective; the eye stays focused on the figure study.
Technique
Black chalk on blue laid paper – a combination often used for study drawings in the eighteenth century. The chalk allows fine hatching and strong contours, while the blue paper serves as a middle tone and brings out light and shadow effects.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)