The Hours Taking the Horses from Juno's Car n.d.

This delicate drawing, "The Hours Taking the Horses from Juno's Car," was made by John Flaxman, probably in the late 18th or early 19th century. He used graphite, a humble material, on paper. The gossamer lines create the scene – a classical composition of figures and horses. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving across the page, capturing the energy of the scene with minimal strokes. The magic of graphite lies in its capacity for both precision and subtlety. Flaxman’s emphasis on line, rather than tonal modeling, echoes the simplified forms of ancient Greek pottery. He gained fame creating outlines for book illustrations, a relatively new development enabled by industrial printing. The same clarity that served this commercial purpose also informed his more ambitious works, like this drawing. It suggests that even the loftiest artistic visions are always shaped by the social and technological contexts of their making.