The motif is undoubtedly allegorical. The young man with the burning torch represents the genius of Life and the female figure with the horn of plenty strikes the same note, whereas the broken column alludes to elegy and the burial cult. The very pronounced hatching and the strong contrasts between light and shade are untypical of Thorvaldsen’s drawings. The inscription is undoubtedly not Thorvaldsen’s own. In addition, it is signed “A.T. 1796”, whereas Thorvaldsen did not use the signature “A.T.” until after his arrival in Rome in 1797. So the drawing is possibly by someone other than Thorvaldsen.
