Composition

The pose is very close to that of a lithograph A Nude Model Arranging Flowers c057, possibly dating from 1892.

A Violet Note, Freer Gallery of Art

The White Symphony: Three Girls, Freer Gallery of Art

The final drawing is one of several late studies of bending nudes, exploring poses first developed in The White Symphony: Three Girls [YMSM 087] and The Three Girls [YMSM 088].

Technique

There are traces of another drawing underneath. This appears to be a woman with a long robe, which falls in a broad curve from her extended left arm, leaning on a railing. Patches of smudged white were used in the background to conceal the earlier drawing.

The final figure is solidly modelled, with the round end of the pastel used for highlights on shoulder and hand. Jagged and wrinkled lines are added to the folds over her stomach.

Conservation History

It was drawn on a greyish brown, fibrous paper, so rubbed by the artist with pastel and hand that the surface looks furry, like felt.