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Fantastic Drawing of a Sculptor at Work on a Colossal Statue, Man Blowing a Trumpet
Carl August Ehrensvärd (Swedish, 1745–1800)
Pen and brown ink, gray wash, heightened with white, on gray paper; 41.7 x 26.7 cm
Gift of Jean-Luc Baroni and Colnaghi, in honor of Jacob Bean, 1992 (1992.229.1)

This image of an artist carving a work that dwarfs him while a trumpeter plays is one of numerous autobiographical drawings the Swedish sculptor Ehrensvärd made throughout his career that reveal both the convivial and the melancholy sides of his personality. While it encapsulates the Piranesi-esque idea of modern man overwhelmed by the magnitude of the monuments of antiquity, Ehrensvärd's drawing is less histrionic in tone.

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    • Fantastic Drawing of a Sculptor at Work on a Colossal Statue, Man Blowing a Trumpet
    Carl August Ehrensvärd (Swedish, 1745–1800)
    Pen and brown ink, gray wash, heightened with white, on gray paper; 41.7 x 26.7 cm
    Gift of Jean-Luc Baroni and Colnaghi, in honor of Jacob Bean, 1992 (1992.229.1)