Sheet with Figure Study, undated

A small paper fragment shows a figure, hinted at with only a few lines and outlined by a square, with both arms stretched out sideways. There are other extant sketches, undated and swiftly drawn, of figures with outstretched arms, some of them dressed, cf. Fragment of a Page from a Sketchbook with Figure Study and Sheet with Figure Study, which, unlike Sheet with Crucifixion Scene, do not necessarily have Christian connotations. We know from a historical photograph that the works Figure Study to Figure Study used to be all together on a (loose) sheet from a sketchbook – along with further depictions – which was later cut up. We do not know for certain which work the sketches might have been connected to; Jane Kallir suspects a connection with the now lost painting Conversion, of which only fragments remain.

KJ, 2024