Portræthoved i profil af kunstnerens hustru Georgia Skovgaard, sovende. 1850s

Here we see a profile portrait of P.C. Skovgaard’s wife, Georgia, rendered with delicate lines on paper. The serene image captures her in a state of slumber, a moment of private repose made public through the artist's hand. Consider the motif of sleep itself, a symbol deeply rooted in the human psyche. Throughout art history, sleep has been depicted as a threshold between worlds, a state of vulnerability, and a source of dreams. Think of the countless sleeping figures in classical sculpture, or even the romanticized depictions of slumber in the Renaissance. There's a cyclical nature to this imagery, isn’t there? Just as the sleeping figures of antiquity represented a break from the waking world, Georgia's peaceful rest evokes a similar sense of retreat and introspection. It's a powerful reminder of our shared human experiences across time, echoing through the corridors of memory and art.