Head of a Young Woman Looking to Lower Right
Federico Barocci Italian
Not on view
This exquisite, though fragile and abraded drawing in color served as a study for the head of the Virgin in the Madonna di San Giovanni, a votive altarpiece probably painted for the Church of the Capuchin Fathers at Crocicchia around 1565, and then transferred to the Convent of the Capuchins in Urbino (Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino; reproduced and discussed with related drawings in Emiliani 1975, I, pp.29-31). The facial features of the Virgin in the Museum's drawing are nearly identical to those in the altarpiece, but her head is not yet covered with a veil. The related study for the head of the Virgin in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. 2864) shows the suggestion of a veil on her cranium, and hence may have followed in the sequence of preliminary design for the altarpiece.
(Carmen C. Bambach)
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