In comparison with his sculpture, Rodin's drawings appear airy and ephemeral. His working practice, however, explains the discrepancy. Rodin often had several models posing simultaneously. When sketching, he and his numerous pupils would move from one model to the next, sketching rapidly in an effort to capture a single fleeting moment. Rodin concentrated so intensely on observing his subject that he scarcely looked at his paper. Regarding drawing, Rodin said:
"The movements of the figures in a sketch are made more lively by indicating only their general appearance. The action is not frozen either by affirming elements that are partial, or by including an abundance of detail; the impreciseness itself enhances the active quality. The complete freedom of a rendering that is necessarily cursory establishes what is essential; and, by recording what is essential in all of the elements that are necessary to the work, what is presented is both the beginning and the completion of the work at the same time."
