The appearance of the man in this drawing marks him definitively as a manual worker, shown wearing a cloth cap and grasping a rope with large, strong hands. The drawing is simplified, as the subject is not depicted as an individual, but represented as a ‘worker’ type. Although this drawing is described as a study for the painting ‘Les Constructeurs’, it was in fact made after the painting was completed. It is one of several such drawings which focus on aspects of the full and finished painting, of which the Gallery owns a painted study. This work is certainly more of a highly-finished drawing than a sketch, with shading carefully cross-hatched within the strong black outline of the figure.