Paul et Virginie

Ault read extensively. He took the subject of this drawing from the late 18th-century sentimental novel of the same title by the French author Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Despite being raised as brother and sister by mothers from different social classes, the novel’s protagonists fall in love. The tale turns tragic when Virginie drowns during a cyclone, leaving Paul heartbroken. Ault depicted the ill-fated couple using contour lines to define form and minimal shading to convey volume. The palm-like foliage against which Ault posed the pair evokes the story’s tropical setting on the island of Mauritius.