Sheet of Studies c. 1848

Curator: This small drawing, "Sheet of Studies" by Charles François Daubigny, captures the simple grace of barnyard animals. What do you make of it? Editor: It feels like a study in texture. The pencil work seems focused on capturing the materiality of skin, hair, and earth. Curator: Absolutely! It's as though he's charting their very essence. And look, down in the corner, a figure, maybe a farmhand, crawling along the ground. A study of human and animal labor? Editor: Or maybe it reveals Daubigny's process. The quick strokes, the variations—it's about the act of seeing and rendering the world. Curator: A world rendered with such simple means. Perhaps that's its enduring charm. Editor: Yes, the artist reveals his labor in it.