Study of a Woman's Hands

Cornelis Jansen van Ceulen (Cornelius Jonson)

1646

Black chalk heightened with white chalk, on blue paper, Chalk

J. Paul Getty Museum

A study of two hands, one resting on top of the other, drawn in black and white chalk on blue paper. The hands are adorned with rings and bracelets. Using broadly applied black chalk, Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen suggested deep shadows at the waist, where this young woman folds her soft hands. Subtle highlights pick up the gleam of the pearl strands looped around her wrists and the shimmering highlights on her skin and sleeves. With few strokes, only two colors, and much use of blank paper, Janssens effectively rendered both texture and volume. Janssens probably learned the technique of drawing hand studies in chalks on blue paper from Anthony van Dyck while both artists were in London. The pinholes along the drawing's outer edge suggest that he attached the sheet of paper to a