Wilkie Collins’s Mr Wrays Cash-Box – Figure Sketch 1851 - 1852

Here we see a pencil sketch of two figures, made by Sir John Everett Millais, likely as a preparatory study for an illustration. The composition is dominated by two figures rendered with a remarkable economy of line, their forms sketched with a deliberate lack of detail. The man, towering over the woman, is defined by sharp, angular lines that articulate his coat and posture, while the woman is delineated with softer, curved lines that suggest a sense of vulnerability. There is a semiotic interplay between the figures with the woman adjusting the man’s tie. This may be a gesture of intimacy, control, or a comment on societal roles. The background is only hinted at, adding to the sense that the artist is more interested in the relationship between the figures than the setting they inhabit. This sketch functions not merely as a preliminary study but as an exploration of human dynamics, rendered through the most fundamental of artistic means: the line.