Cupid Drawing His Bow
Medium
black chalk with pastel (stumped in places), heightened with white chalk, squared with black chalk; framing lines in graphite
Dimensions
42.4 × 27.2 cm
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Dudley P. Allen and Delia E. Holden Funds
Accession Number
1969.70
Tags
About this artwork
This drawing formed part of the painter Federico Barocci's painstaking working method, which began with studies from nature, included sculpted models in wax, and concluded with full-scale cartoons in color. A detailed figure study such as this would have followed numerous compositional and life studies in preparation for the final cartoon. The squares drawn over the figure indicate it was meant to be transferred to a larger format. Barocci may have made this drawing as a preparatory study for hi...