Studies for two soldiers, one asleep, the other standing, c. 1499

This silverpoint drawing on prepared paper shows two men in contemporary Renaissance dress. The lower figure is seated on the ground with his head resting on his hand in a state of slumber, while the standing figure looks upward with a raised arm in a gesture of surprise or reaction. Fine white highlights are used to define the contours of the limbs and the folds of their tunics.

The seated figure's posture is a characteristic example of the 'melancholy' pose, which in Renaissance Neoplatonism was reinterpreted from a simple ailment into a sign of the contemplative soul's inward turn. This iconographic link between sleep, mourning, and deep thought was central to the intellectual framework of Marsilio Ficino and his followers.