Fruit Bowl and Vase in Blue Pastel

Worked almost entirely in blues and warm browns, this pastel restates a favourite group: a blue-and-white vase of brushes at the left and a fluted white bowl of apples, mango and grapes at the right, with a split pomegranate and a small glass jug below.

The painter drops the local colour and treats the whole as a study in tone, letting the toned paper glow through the chalk in the drapery folds. The bowl and vase are lifted out in cool white and pale blue, softly blended rather than sharply drawn.