Studies of Angels (recto); Panthea before Cyrus? (verso)

Dorigny was the collaborator and son-in-law of Simon Vouet, the leading painter working in Paris in the mid-1600s. Their drawing styles are similar, and this sheet was once attributed to Vouet. However, the airy, floating drapery, firm contour lines, and regular parallel hatching lines are all typical of Dorigny's technique in black chalk. Although we do not know of a painting to which this drawing relates, the flying angels indicate that Dorigny had a religious subject in mind when he drew them.