Studies for musician and standing figures for 'The visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon'

Poynter’s early pencil drawings owe some of their delicacy, lightness and control to the example of the Pre-Raphaelites. However, most of the drawings in this group are in black chalk heightened with white on coloured paper (red-brown, grey or brown), Poynter’s most characteristic graphic technique. Poynter was an academic painter of the highest order who followed in the footsteps of his colleague Frederic Leighton in upholding the ideals of the classical tradition. Poynter based his working methods on the practice of the painters of the Italian Renaissance: he prepared his compositions scrupulously, making exhaustive preparatory drawings from the life model, as well as head and detail studies. He habitually began a project with studies of the nude figure, to establish the underlying form and structure for the subsequent drapery studies. Sometimes Poynter followed the nude figure with the draped form on the same sheet. Even secondary figures, such as background musicians and courtiers in The visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, had to be carefully worked out according to pose and expression.