Sunrise

Several heavily hooded and cloaked figures are packed closely together on a rocky rise, their faces almost entirely hidden within deep folds of drapery. One figure raises a long spear diagonally into a bright, glowing sky at the upper right, while gnarled bare branches reach in from the opposite corner.

The charcoal contrasts dense, richly worked blacks in the cloaks and tree limbs with the bare, luminous white of the paper left for the sky, producing a strong graphic contrast. Rough, energetic strokes in the drapery give way to careful, tighter modeling on the hands and spear shaft, and the strong light-dark opposition creates a tense, charged, almost ceremonial mood.