Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

A classical pencil drawing on a hot-pressed Somerset paper from a plate of a cast of a famous Roman sculpture. Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was the chief administrator under the Roman emperor Augustus. His foresight, reliability, and efficiency are conveyed by the severity of the portrait. A man of about forty, he is lighted from a direct overhead source that creates a symmetrical pattern of shadows under the projecting forms. The finished drawing shows how the human form can be simplified and still retain its integrity. Underneath it all is the stolid Roman fondness for heavy forms.