Kompositionsudkast til et portræt af en ung pige med højre hånd i siden og venstre arm om halsen på sin hund, stående ved en havetrappe 1790s

Jens Juel created this pencil drawing, “Kompositionsudkast til et portræt af en ung pige med højre hånd i siden og venstre arm om halsen på sin hund, stående ved en havetrappe,”. The composition centres on the young girl and her dog, set against the faint backdrop of a garden. The drawing’s structure uses delicate, tentative lines, creating a sense of movement. The girl's dress, with its soft folds, suggests an engagement with classical forms, yet the setting is less defined, allowing the figures to dominate. Juel's formal arrangement invites a study into the semiotics of portraiture; the girl’s pose, with one hand casually placed and the other embracing her dog, challenges the rigid conventions of formal portraiture. The sketch destabilizes fixed meanings, inviting interpretation. The unfinished quality emphasizes form over content, drawing attention to the act of creation itself. This approach serves not merely as a portrait but also as a reflection on representation.