Study for Penelope

1806

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

This drawing shows a woman wearing a high-waisted dress. She's Penelope, from a story. The artist drew her to practice how the light and shadow would look on her clothes. The artist used different pressures and a stump to smudge the chalk. This created a soft, gentle effect on the paper. You can learn more about this technique, called sfumato.