This is my second drawing from the Altes Museum in Berlin. It is part of a statue of a little girl playing Astragaloi (the Roman knucklebone game) and was found on the Eastern slope of the Caelian Hill. The statue was lit in the worst possible way. There was a strong ceiling light positioned directly above the statue and a very large window behind which cast the entire front and face of the work into deep shadow. But even with the poor lighting it was still one of the most moving and powerful works in the museum. While I drew almost everyone who passed by stopped or even sat to pay brief homage to this sculpture which must of graced a young girl's gravesite who died nearly two thousand years ago. I could barely see what I was drawing and could not, in any way, do it justice.

2018