Ismael, Watercolor of Augusto Santo at Soares dos Reis
2023-04-22
Ismael, by Augusto Santo. This was my first time at Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis, on another meetup organized by USKPnorte. It was a really good Saturday, we managed to see the whole museum. Since it was one of the museums in Porto I hadn’t been to yet, it felt like a fantastic chance. I got to draw some of the pieces on display, from a really rich collection.
When I walked into the main hall, where the museum’s largest statues stand, my attention went straight to the statue of Ismael. Desolate, abandoned out in the desert, with no angel around to save him. His lost gaze, without hope, and his hand fallen on his chest, without strength, said so much.
I sketched the statue really fast, straight in with the thicker pen. I decided to paint it with bigger watercolor washes. I wanted to keep that sense of urgency, that rush of not wanting to miss what felt like his very last breath.