I found these two gentlemen in a ragged folio at a community market circling a midcentury apartment block in the northwest of Paris. I was pretty excited by the quality of the drawing and an older gentleman hovering around, anxious to see what I left behind, seemed to agree. There were about 10 portraits in among architectural studies and watercolour landscapes and I liked these two best.
I've christened the mustached man as "Experience": His eyes are knowing, his wiry arm is bent in a protective position, he knows what the world has in store. The lad with the roman cut is "Youth": he has no idea what's coming, he's open to anything and is ready to prove himself. I've decided that they are studies for a mural painted in some Parisian church around 1900. The dealer could offer no providence but the paper is watermarked "Ingres 1870" and "Experience" bears a striking resemblance to John MacNeill Whistler......
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