Thomas Hovenden, Study of a Breton

While Thomas Hovenden lived and worked in Pont-Aven, he developed his signature approach to arranging compositions for his paintings. He assembled furniture, clothes, accessories, and enough lighting for his models to pose in his studio while he sketched and painted them.

This drawing of a Breton man is one of several studies of this figure. In both this one and Study of Two Standing Breton Males, the man’s arms are folded across his chest and he shifts his weight to his right leg. However, this drawing places greater emphasis on the man’s garments: His cropped trousers are rendered in greater detail, and the shading along the curve of his back shows the way his billowy shirt hangs off his torso.