Face and Figure (from Sketchbook)
Medium
Graphite, pen, ink, and watercolor on paper
Dimensions
Dimensions unavailable
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Gift of William Gedney Bunce, by exchange, 1979
Accession Number
1979.581.120
Tags
Art Historical Context
John William Casilear, prominent 19th-century American artist associated with the Hudson River School, captures the human form with delicate precision in *Face and Figure (from Sketchbook)*. intimate drawing, rendered in graphite, pen, ink, and watercolor on, reveals the artist's exploratory side beyond his renowned luminous landscapes. As a study from his personal sketchbook, it showcases the spontaneity of preparatory work, where quick lines and subtle washes blend to evoke expression and anatomy. The mixed-media technique—graphite for fine shading, ink for bold contours, and watercolor for...
About the Artist
John William Casilear · 1811–1893
John William Casilear, born on June 25, 1811, in New York City, began his artistic career as an engraver, apprenticed under the prominent Peter Maverick in 1826. He later studied painting under Asher B. Durand in 1831, forming a close friendship that profoundly shaped his path. Durand, influenced by Thomas Cole, introduced Casilear to landscape painting by the mid-1830s, transitioning him from ban...