Atalanta and Hippomenes. Sketch

A bearded nude man strides forward through a stylized forest of dark palm-like foliage, one hand raised and a blue cloth flying out behind him. Two dogs, one tan and one dark, run at his heels on the left, while at the right a second nude figure, wrapped in red cloth, bends low toward a small golden fruit lying on the ground.

The composition is built from flat, saturated blocks of blue and red against dark silhouetted leaves and a pale, hazy sky, with the figures modeled more traditionally in warm flesh tones. The strong contrast between graphic, patterned foliage and rounded, illuminated bodies gives the long horizontal scene a decorative, energetic rhythm of pursuit and motion.