Study for the Sleeping Knights

'Study for the Sleeping Knights' is a preparatory sketch for a larger painting, 'The Briar Rose'. The story is based on the fairy tale of a princess and her kingdom who have fallen under a spell. They will sleep for 100 years, only to be awakened by a young prince's kiss. The bodies of the knights are depicted frozen in time and suffering as they sleep. The bodies in this sketch morph into one another and mix gendered attributes. In both his finished paintings and preparatory his figures remain ambiguous.