Study for "Phaethon" 1922 - 1925

John Singer Sargent made this drawing "Study for 'Phaeton'" on a sheet of paper with pencil. I can imagine him in the studio thinking about how to depict a figure falling from the sky! He's trying to catch that moment of freefall, of being totally out of control. Those sketchy lines around the figure, they give a real sense of movement, don't they? You can feel the drama of the moment. And the flames! They're not just flames, they're like another character in the story. It feels like a Baroque painting. This work shows Sargent thinking through what painting could do. He was always exploring, always pushing.