Study of Hands
1842
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1842
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
You see four pairs of hands, drawn in soft pencil, stacked down a sheet of paper. Ingres made this as a practice sheet for stained-glass windows in a Paris chapel. Each hand is slightly different—some relaxed, some tense—but they all flow together like music. The way he arranged them on the page is called *mise en page*, a French term for careful layout. Look up the technique *sfumato* next to see how other artists softened edges like this.
![Studies of Hands [recto]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/594d36f72822a9f4/thumb.webp)
![Study of a Hand [recto]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/a1c8376edca59300/thumb.webp)
