Sketches of Seven Statues: Faith, Paolo and Francesca di RImini, Charity, Ceres, Heavenly Venus, Dancer, and Sleeping Cupid 1845 - 1855

John Gibson created these sketches of seven statues on paper, likely in the early to mid-19th century. At first glance, the pencil on paper seems like a straightforward choice for preparatory drawings. But it is so much more. Consider the context: Gibson was a neoclassical sculptor, working in marble. The drawings are not just about form, but also about a certain kind of idealized beauty, one that is directly linked to the history of sculpture. The very act of sketching these figures in pencil—a medium capable of capturing light and shadow with precision—mirrors the sculptor's process of gradually revealing form from a solid block of stone. These sketches, therefore, are more than mere drafts. They are a meditation on the nature of sculpture itself, a dialogue between the immediacy of the hand and the enduring presence of marble. They ask us to consider the labor and the thought that goes into bringing an artwork to life, from the first spark of an idea to the final, polished form.