Niños Jugando (Children Playing) by artist Fernando Botero is made of charcoal on linen, and was made in 1969. It measures seventy-five and a half by seventy-seven and a half inches, so it is nearly a perfect square in shape. These dimensions are equal to a little over six feet on all sides. Niños jugando features the inflated, doll-like style for which Botero is known and the heavy, loose lines characteristic of a charcoal drawing. There are five children portrayed outside. Four of them are in a cluster surrounding the fifth child, which is in a baby carriage. Starting at the top of the work, one of the children is riding a horse. Moving clockwise, there is a sliver of a house to the right of the five children, extending along the length of the right side of the charcoal drawing. Standing next to the house, another boy is seen in full length and is raising his left arm. Below the standing boy is a girl seated on the floor, in the lower right portion of the composition. Her large rounded legs are drawn together and straight in front of her torso. To her left, and generally in the center of the composition, is an overgrown baby girl in a baby carriage. She is being pushed by the last girl, who stands along the left side of the drawing. The girl pushing the stroller is on her tip-toes because she can hardly reach the handle. The exaggerated scale of figures clouds their identity as children and recasts them as large, bulbous beings, an almost monstrous and grotesque mass of forms. Botero’s artistic style underscores the formal dimensions of his work and reveals both a caricaturist portrayal and a serious craftsmanship that reminds the viewer of his classic academic training.