Relais, Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Paris (recto); Scene from the Life of Odysseus (verso)
1812
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg Danish, 1783-1853
Denmark
When the young and ambitious Eckersberg entered Jacques-Louis David’s Parisian studio in 1811, he was encouraged to make studies after nature and therefore carried a sketchbook with him while moving through the city and the surrounding countryside. In a diary entry dated September 15, 1812, he recorded a tour of the Champs-Élysées, rendered here with deft handling of perspective and the witty detail of a young woman adjusting her stocking.
Pen and black ink, with brush and gray and brown washes, over graphite (recto); graphite and pen and black ink (verso) on off-white wove paper