Nude Male Figures Bearing the Bodies of their Dead Companions

Discussion

FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

James Jefferys’s powerful and eccentric drawing demonstrates the emotional intensity, exaggerated gesture, simplified form, and bold modeling that defined the new style forged by Henry Fuseli, whose circle Jefferys frequented when both artists lived in Rome in the 1770s. While the exact subject of the drawing is obscure, it appears that the two dead youths are being carried by their companions to a funeral pyre. An almost obsessive use of vertical ink hatching reminiscent of printmaking (in which Jefferys was trained) is accompanied by broad passages of brown wash to establish location and mood. While the artist occasionally uses light brown wash for modeling, for the most part the flesh of his strongly outlined nude figures is defined by the untouched cream-colored paper.

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