Composition

The figure is similar to that in the 1889 lithograph The Dancing Girl c029, but is not a study for that print.

Technique

The use of line is similar to that seen in lithographs, particularly in the flow of the drapery. The blurring of the outline of the figure by short diagonal lines is curious. There are signs of pentimenti, showing that the shoulder was originally higher, and the skirt may have been lower.

It seems either to have been radically altered, or to have been drawn over another drawing. There are faint vertical lines and touches of grey, light red and orange to right of the body, and lines below and to left of the skirt, which seem unrelated to the main drawing. The original figure would have been on a larger scale.

Conservation History

The paper, a lightish brown, fibrous, has tiny wood flecks and a slight chequered grain.