Five Figures of Men.

John Flaxman (York, 1755-1826) was a english sculptor, illustrator and cartoonist. He lived for several years in Rome, where his work became increasingly inspired by the art of ancient Greece. In addition to sculptures, he produced excellent drawings, characterised by figures with pure lines, executed for editions of The Iliad, The Divine Comedy and the tragedies of Aeschylus. Goya, inspired by the Englishman's work, produced a series of six drawings that are difficult to date. 

However, the one entitled Three Groups of Figures and between them a Moder in bed with her baby provides a clue to the possible dating of the series, as there is an inscription on the lower right-hand side of the paper that reads January 1795, most likely Goya's autograph. It is known that Flaxman's drawings to illustrate Dante's Divine Comedy were engraved in Rome by Piroli, who made a short initial print that was already finished in July 1793, and it can be affirmed that Goya was aware of Flaxman's work shortly after it was published, judging by the date on his drawing, which would correspond to its execution. If Goya had known about the second edition of the engravings, his drawings would have to be dated from 1802.

All the drawings in this series were executed on the same type of thin, beige laid paper of similar dimensions.

According to Gassier, in this drawing Goya copied the figures that appear in different engravings by Flaxman and which illustrate Dante's Inferno, confirming that the Aragonese artist did not intend to compose a coherent scene, but rather a kind of study of new forms related to the purification of lines and a rigorous stylisation of the human silhouette.