Allegorical Figure of Melancholy

A seated woman rests her head on one hand, lost in thought, beside a large globe, a skull, and an open book with scribbled pages at lower right. A bat flies above, and a lamp glows at upper left, all rendered in pen and brown wash with soft shadows.

Look closer: Handwritten inscription in the upper right corner of the sheet, with a date near it.

Artist

Charles de La Traverse

Date

1763

Medium

Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over black chalk

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

2398 × 3629 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Van Day Truex Fund, 1983