Italy / c. 1507–8
Studies of a Seated Female, Child's Head, and Three Studies of a Baby
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Studies of a Seated Female, Child's Head, and Three Studies of a Baby as drawing (Italy · c. 1507–8).
This sheet was probably once part of a sketchbook carried by the artist Raphael on a 1508 journey between Florence and Rome.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this drawing as metalpoint and credits Raphael (Italian, 1483–1520).
The museum's collection notes: This drawing is from Raphael’s "pink sketchbook," comprised of ten sheets of roughly equal size that each portray variations of a mother and child. Today, six of the drawings at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille; two are at the British Museum; one is in a private collection; and one is in Cleveland. The small format of the sheets would have enabled the artist to carry the notebook as he traveled from Florence to Rome in 1508. Raphael used metalpoint, a technique popular in 15th- and early 16th-century Italy on a pink prepared surface. The pose of the infant's head in the drawing was based on that of the Christ child in Leonardo da Vinci's Beno
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The Cleveland Museum of ArtStudies of a Seated Female, Child's Head, and Three Studies of a BabyOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.