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Here’s the sketch of the crucifixion. I noticed a couple of things worth commenting on. First, clearly at the time I made the initial drawing I had not researched the acacia – in this early version the tree was going to to be an olive. Second, I had intended to pose as the centurian myself, although my old friend John Scott Lucas took that role in the finished work.
You can see the wave composition clearly at this early stage, with the tilting of the crowd toward the upper right corner and the curve of the tree with its foliage as the foam.
