William Page, born Albany, NY 1811-died - Moses, Aaron and Hur on Mount Horeb (drapery study) - ca. 1857 - T-Shirt

This pencil study by William Page shows two robed figures, one standing with an arm raised high and one seated with bent knees, worked across a creased sheet of yellowed paper.

Visual Elements & Composition

Pale yellow paper fills nearly the whole sheet, with graphite grey lines carrying the drawing. At the right, a standing figure in a long, loosely belted robe and a wrapped head covering lifts one arm toward the top edge. Its drapery falls in long vertical lines and gathers at the waist. In the lower left, a seated figure holds a heavy garment across the lap, its folds drawn in slightly heavier strokes. A partial profile of a head sits at the upper left. Fine creases radiate across the paper, and the contours stay soft and unhurried.

Meaning & Symbolism

The study belongs to the story of Moses on Mount Horeb, told in Exodus 17. While the battle is fought below, companions hold his arms aloft so the fight can be won. The raised arm and the seated figure carry that act of support, and the drawing frames it as human strain and shared endurance. William Page, born in Albany, New York, in 1811, was a portrait and history painter who spent much of his career in Italy, studying Renaissance and Venetian painting. Studies like this were a working step in his method, letting him test how cloth falls and how a pose reads before a large canvas was begun. The sheet is dated around 1857, and it is held in the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection.

On the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

Drapery is the subject here, and drapery already moves with the body. The long vertical folds of the standing robe run the way a shirt hangs from the shoulders, so the design reads naturally when worn. The raised arm and the gathered garment give the composition its focus, placed on the chest where the eye lands first. Printed on a tee, this quiet study of cloth and posture stays close to the body, as the original sketch did on the artist's table.