Two Roman Soldiers 1747 - 1757

Curator: This pencil and ink drawing from Augustin Pajou, sometime between 1747 and 1757, features two Roman soldiers, now residing at the Met. What leaps out at you? Editor: The starkness of the figures! It’s all sinew and muscle, even though the tones are subtle and the figures a little blurry. Like looking at ancient ghosts in graphite. Curator: Indeed, Pajou manages to convey that classical ideal, the strong heroic male form, but he does it with an economy of line. We can see the influence of academic art. Editor: You nailed it with "ideal." There’s something slightly unsettling in how idealized they are. The almost absent facial features amplify that disconnect, like statues brought to life...but not quite finished. Curator: Perhaps he meant to capture them mid-motion; these are just preparatory sketches of idealized figures! See how he suggests shadow and texture without fully rendering it? Editor: Yes! But that incomplete quality heightens the drama somehow. Is that a shield one of them is hauling around? The looseness creates movement. I feel this conveys the burden, of war, of history itself. Curator: I would say there is also the question of legacy! Think about it: Pajou was trying to solidify his role, maybe sketching his ticket into the Royal Academy with studies like this one. Editor: True, ambition definitely radiates here. Funny, to capture legacy he omits specificity. It’s an uncanny dance, seeing perfection and vagueness waltz on the same page. A very powerful drawing! Curator: A drawing to ruminate over indeed; the starkness of the work is now settling. Editor: The echo of distant wars still heard on paper.