Is it decadent to produce a drawing of a tragic death and frame it in a gilded gold frame…and to do so in a way that explores formal design rather than the unjustified circumstances of a child’s death from hunger?
Birth and death don’t define us, but at these moments things are apparent that are hard to see otherwise. It’s not limited to what we can see, but one aspect is that as this child’s flesh has wasted away from malnutrition, the basic underlying structure of the skeleton becomes more visible. It’s a dream come true for figure drawing.