The Head of the Virgin in Three-Quarter View Facing Right
Drawing on paper attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Head of the Virgin in Three-Quarter View Facing Right is a drawing on paper in pierre noir pencil and red chalk, attributed to the Florentine painter Leonardo da Vinci and kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The Head of the Virgin in Three-Quarter View Facing Right | |
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Artist | Leonardo da Vinci |
Year | Between 1507 and 1513 |
Medium | Pierre noir pencil, charcoal and red chalk, with some traces of white chalk on paper |
Subject | Study for The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne (Leonardo) |
Dimensions | 20.3 cm × 15.6 cm (8.0 in × 6.1 in) |
Location | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
Accession | 51.90 |
This drawing, whose dimensions have been reduced by the removal of certain existing parts at the time of its creation, is a portrait of a woman's head. It is a preparatory study for the head of the Virgin Mary in the painting The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne in the Musée du Louvre.
Probably executed between 1507 and 1513, it belongs to a series of studies largely dating from the beginning of the painting's creation in 1502–1503, each focusing on a particular detail. The braid motif is largely different, but can be found in the studio copies; researchers consider this work to be one of the arguments in favor of the theory that these copies are life-size prototypes of the painting in the Louvre.
All Leonardo da Vinci's skills as a draughtsman can be seen in this work, in particular his mastery of the use of graphic materials and the rendering of sfumato, resulting in a work of incomparable poetics and beauty.