The Death of Seneca

Jean Guillaume Moitte

ca. 1770–90 · Pen and black ink, brush and brown wash, heightened with white gouache on blue paper · Drawings and Prints

In addition to being a sculptor, Moitte made designs for prints and decorative arts and was a prolific draftsman. This painterly sheet must date to fairly early in his career, for while it features many classicizing elements in its costumes, setting, and décor, the overall composition still favors the oblique angles of the late Baroque rather than the planar arrangement of figures that would characterize his later work.

Artist

Jean Guillaume Moitte

Date

ca. 1770–90

Medium

Pen and black ink, brush and brown wash, heightened with white gouache on blue paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Gift in memory of Sir Anthony Lousada from his children, and The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2001