Italian Peasant Woman with Basket on her Head
1820–40
Medium
Graphite on buff wove paper with blue fibers
Dimensions
10 1/8 x 4 13/16 in. (25.7 x 12.3 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.650
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate graphite drawing, titled *Italian Peasant Woman with on her Head*, captures poised grace of everyday rural life in early 19th-century Italy Created by a Northern European between 1820 and1840, it depicts a woman balancing a basket atop her head—a traditional method of transport that highlights the strength and rhythm of peasant labor. Rendered on buff wove paper embedded with blue fibers, the 10 1/8 x 4 13/16-inch sheet reflects the intimate scale of preparatory sketches popular among artists traveling through Europe. The use of graphite, a versatile medium akin to modern pencil...