Drawing Pencil on Paper by Bob Meyer: Svengali, Framed

Svengali was fiction's great hypnotist. Here he appears to be juggling.

This framed drawing by Bob Meyer is titled Svengali and carries the date 2017. It is pencil on paper, from France. The title borrows the sinister mesmerist of George du Maurier's novel Trilby, whose name became shorthand for anyone who controls another person. Fine graphite lines build a swollen, tapering form dotted with circles, one arm lifted toward a floating sphere. A pleated fan of shading anchors the bottom. A wide white mat and a carved black frame surround it. Twenty-seven inches wide by 30 high.

Try not to stare. That is how it starts.