Study of the Head and Left Shoulder of a Woman by Raphael was created in 1519 – 1520. The drawing is in Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. The size of the work is 33 x 24,2 cm and is made of chalk on paper.
This splendid drawing demonstrates Raphael’s flair for delineating a figure with just a few lines. He worked out the shadows on her arm and shoulder blade with fine hatching. This is a study for one of the prominent figures in his last and most famous painting The Transfiguration. It was almost completed when Raphael suddenly died. He was laid out in state under the painting in his workshop… (read more in Rijksmuseum)
About the Artist: Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance Raphael was born in the small but artistically significant central Italian city of Urbino in the Marche region. Most modern historians agree that Raphael at least worked as an assistant to Perugino from around 1500. Raphael led a “nomadic” life, working in various centres in Northern Italy, but spent a good deal of time in Florence, perhaps from about 1504. Although there is traditional reference to a “Florentine period” of about 1504–1508, he was possibly never a continuous resident there… read more
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