This delicate pencil study captures Dame Elisabeth Frink’s signature motif of the man and horse stripped of artifice and heavy trappings. In this scene, the figures embark on a quiet pilgrimage towards the historic cathedral town of Chartres in France. Frink rejects the conventional mechanics of control – there is no saddle, bridle, or bit. Instead, the composition focuses on the synergy between human and beast, guided forward by a solitary star in an open landscape.

While Frink often described herself as alienated from the strictures of her Catholic upbringing, a deeply felt Christian belief remained central to her life and practice. This enduring faith led her to accept numerous high-profile commissions for churches and cathedrals throughout her career.

On the Road to Chartres possesses a lightness that contrasts with Frink’s monumental bronzes. Created in 1977, this drawing served as the foundational design for a large-scale wool tapestry executed six years later in 1983. An edition of that final textile work now resides in the permanent collection of the Murray Edwards College’s Women’s Art Collection in Cambridge.