Study for Prayer for Death in the Desert

Drawing was a vitally important practice for the artist Elihu Vedder, who ultimately was best known for his work as an illustrator. His preparatory works have a distinctive substantiality and force, owing to his skill in employing expressive, heavy outlines and dramatic contrasts of light and dark. Achieving these effects in his preliminary drawings through the use of charcoal and chalks (rather than the more restrained medium of pencil), Vedder sought a similar visual effect in his finished paintings by employing equally decisive contours and bold modeling in light and dark.