c. 1870

Black chalk and highlights of white chalk on blue paper

255 × 440 mm​

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Isidore Pils, a Prix de Rome laureate trained at the École des Beaux-Arts, was an important figure of French academic painting, known for his historical scenes and later for his major decorative commissions under the Second Empire. He contributed to the painted programme of the Palais Garnier, where he developed large-scale allegorical compositions integrated into the architecture.

Our drawing is a study of a mythological figure's upper body, which includes the shoulders, arms, and hands, executed in black chalk with delicate gradations and precise linear accents. While the shoulders establish the structure of the pose, the focus clearly lies on the expressive gesture of the arms and hands. The modelling is economical yet highly controlled, with subtle shading effectively suggesting volume, weight, and tension.

This sheet can be directly related to the figure holding a book in Pils’ fresco of The City of Paris Receiving the Plans of the New Opéra (fig. 1) at the Opéra Garnier. The position of the arms, the articulation of the hands, and the way the book is held correspond closely, indicating that this drawing served as a preparatory study. Beyond its functional role, the work demonstrates the artist’s acute observation of gesture and his ability to convey movement and intention through a focused study of the body.