Curatorial Narrative Ennemond Alexandre Petitot’s “Two Designs for Vases” situates itself within the classical tradition, its creation date unspecified but unmistakably rooted in the late 18th-century French art world. The artist’s fine brushwork imbues the drawings with a level of detail that borders on the obsessive, as if to underscore the importance of proportion and balance. Petitot’s use of monochromatic grayscale tones creates a sense of gravitas, underscoring the static nature of these designs while simultaneously inviting the viewer to contemplate their relationship to the Baroque tradition.When enlarged to 44×66 inches, the palette takes on a more dramatic quality, its subtle gradations of tone and value imbuing the space with an atmospheric weight that is both calming and contemplative. The spatial depth created by Petitot’s use of lines and values invites the viewer to engage in a dialogue between figure and ground, thei