William Page, born Albany, NY 1811-died - Eros (Vatican no. 250), two views - ca. 1849-1853 - T-Shirt

This is a pencil study of a youthful male torso, drawn twice on one sheet so the same form can be seen from two angles.

Visual Elements & Composition

The drawing is built from fine, light graphite lines on a cream sheet. Two torsos sit side by side. On the left, the head turns to show the profile of the face, and on the right it faces more frontally. Both heads are bowed with downcast eyes, and curling hair falls about the neck. The chest, ribs and abdomen are modelled with restrained contours, and the arms are only partly drawn and stop abruptly, so the torsos read as fragments. Pale cream dominates the composition, with the grey of the pencil as the only other colour.

Meaning & Symbolism

Eros, the god of love in Greek and Roman mythology, was a favoured subject in classical sculpture. Here the figure is not playful. The lowered gaze gives it a pensive mood, and the drawing shows how a nineteenth-century artist studied an antique statue for its form rather than its story. William Page (1811-1885) was an American painter born in Albany, New York, who spent much of his career in Italy. There he studied classical sculpture and the Old Masters, and studies like this one were part of that training. The catalogue dates the sheet to about 1849 to 1853, and it is held in the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection.

On the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

A drawing of two turning heads suits a shirt, because the figures are arranged across a wide, open field rather than packed into a small space. Seen from a few feet away, the bowed heads and soft contours read as one quiet, considered image. Wearing it puts that study of the figure from two angles in motion across the chest, where the eye moves from one profile to the other just as the artist meant it to.