Drawing Sheet 5-A

Support

Dimensions:

22.5 x 18 cm

Cut edge:

Left edge

Paper type:

Ivory wove paper, discolored to tan

Pinholes:

Left and right bottom edges

    Additional notes:

Media visible within pinhole

Sewing holes:

Left edge, 16.6 cm from top edge (partial)

Edges overlapping adj. sheet:

—

Edges extending below adj. sheet:

—

Edges abutting adj. sheet:

Top, right and bottom edges

Media

Colored pencil:

Black pencil is used to define the overall composition

Red pencil is applied over the black pencil in the canon armature, the flames exiting the canon and in the figures bodies and faces

Green pencil is applied over the black pencil in wings (right) and serpentine body of the right figure (harpe); and in the figure of the center figure.

Yellow pencil is applied in the animal (camel-like) at the bottom center and upper right in figure (harpe) at top

Graphite:

Possibly in the small faces (visually unclear)

Pastel:

Red pastel or conté crayon is applied at the top right (in smoke and fire) and top of the cannon armature

Watercolor:

—

Scratching:

—

Other media notes:

Composition

Drawing to sheet edges:

All media extends to the edges

Drawing into adjacent sheet:

Some strong black pencil lines extend into the right sheet when edges are abutted, at right with upper figure’s head and hand

Composition extends below into 6A, but the black pencil lines do not directly correspond; Colored pencil appears to extend across sheets

Compositional changes/additions:

The wings are extended and drawn over existing composition in black pencil (face at upper center-right)

Artist’s patches:

—

Former restoration:

—

Drawing on verso:

—

Additional observations:

Examine right edge of composition in relationship to 5C

Analysis

Technique

Area/location

Results/observations

Photo microscopy:

LRC

Media pushed through pinhole

Ultra-violet radiation:

Infrared radiation:

Raman Spectroscopy:

X-Ray diffraction:

Imagery description

The harpy figure at the right edge of sheet 5B is continued along the left edge of this sheet. She has a long, semi-collapsed, bat-like wing, a coiling, snake-like lower body, and long strands of hair that fall over her right shoulder. Her right arm ends oddly at the elbow in the shape of a circle. The wing and coiling lower body are delineated in dark black pencil and accented with green. Below the last green coil, a lightly outlined form with similar hatching to the rest of the snake-like lower body suggests that this feature could have been continued lower down the sheet but was not. The rest of the figure is delineated in light black pencil and the hair and circle at the elbow are accented with yellow.

Next to the upper portion of the harpy’s wing, a head with coarse features peeks out. One small triangular fold of the wing was drawn over the lower half of the face.

Next to the coiling lower body, and rendered in the same dark black pencil and green media, is a small segment of the large head from sheet 5B.

Slightly below the harpy, and behind her massive wing, is a naked male figure with coarse facial features highlighted with red media.

At the right bottom edge, below the naked male figure, is a curvilinear form colored with green media. It continues into and is elaborated in sheet 6A. Juxtaposed with the nude torso in sheets 5B and 6B, the form acts as a mermaid-like tale.

At the central bottom edge is a creature with the head of a camel emerging from a pug-like head, which is continued in sheet 6A below.

Along the left edge, a red shaft spans three-quarters of the sheet’s length and is topped by a squat cannon. The shaft is outlined in heavy black pencil and is heavily filled in with red media. Two star-shaped gears, filled in with yellow media, are at the top of the shaft. The cannon has a round bottom and short tubular barrel. It is rendered with crosshatched lines and accepted with yellow media. Pointed at the upper right, it shoots out a cloud of sea creatures into sheet 4A. A small portion of the cloud is at the upper right edge of this sheet. It is highlighted with red media.

In the center of the sheet, a full-length figure with grotesque face and fish-like costume swings from or pulls down a wrench with a crescent shaped end that is connected to the star-shaped gears on the red shaft.

Extremely simplified heads and skulls fill any negative space between the figures and elements described above.