Pencil on cream wove paper, 1945. 103x125 mm; 4x4 7/8 inches. Signed in pencil, lower recto.
The pencil inscription and sailboat under-drawing are from a letter the current owner, one of Benton's former neighbors on Martha's Vinyard, sent to his parents while he was at summer camp. He requested that Benton critique the sketch, to which the artist added the caricature of the sailor and his signature.
Professor Henry Adams, Case Western Reserve University, has confirmed the authenticity of this drawing. According to Professor Adams, "The figure is surely a humorous self-portrait."
