An Apple Harvest

Despite its rustic subject matter, this highly finished drawing displays many elements of the classicizing style of French art, which Jacques Stella absorbed during his close association with Nicolas Poussin in Rome. Stella lined up the figures in a loose, friezelike fashion, allowing the composition almost to be "read" from left to right. The calm, somewhat static effect and the shallow space, in which depth is cut off by the large trees and ladders, also characterize the classicizing style.

Stella probably made this drawing to be transferred to a plate for printing; indentations can be found across the sheet, and its verso is covered with red chalk. Although no prints of this image are known, Stella probably made this drawing in preparation for a print by Claudine Bouzonnet Stella, his niece, pupil, and engraver.