Draped Model

This drawing of a woman in classical robes likely was made in preparation for a fresco that Moore executed in 1866 at Claremont, a Georgian house near Salford, outside Manchester. Now lost, the painting was one of three overdoors in the octagonal hall and showed four women drawing water from a fountain. The model's pose, with a hand on her hip and the other at her chin, is one of waiting. The artist made numerous nude and draped studies for the commission; in the present sheet he focused on the model's voluminous translucent draperies. He used black and white chalk to capture shadows and highlights against the brown middle tone of the paper. Moore's decorative approach to classical subjects is characteristic of the Aesthetic Movement and influenced James McNeill Whistler, who began to make similar pastel studies on brown paper about this time.