Possible study for ‘The Spirit of Religious Liberty’ 1983

Edwin Austin Abbey made this possible study for ‘The Spirit of Religious Liberty’ using chalk and pencil on paper, and it’s all about how process can reveal a form. I love how the dark blue paper becomes this atmospheric space, almost like a stage, for these figures sketched in white and sanguine chalk. Look at how Abbey builds the form of the figures, especially the one in the foreground. It's all these little hatches, marks laid down like tentative thoughts, as if he's feeling his way toward the final image. It’s like you are watching the artist think. The texture is so immediate; you can almost feel the chalk snagging on the paper. I’m drawn to the legs of the foremost figure. The way he suggests the musculature with these simple, searching lines. This piece feels like a conversation with the old masters, like Rubens, but with a modern sensibility. It celebrates not just the ideal but also the act of searching for it. The ambiguity, the incompleteness, allows for multiple readings. Like religious liberty itself, the image remains open to interpretation.