Studies of a Man's Head and of His Hands
1592–99
Medium
Black chalk, highlighted with white chalk and touches of red chalk, on blue-gray paper
Dimensions
11 x 16-1/4 in. (28 x 41.3 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1950
Accession Number
50.143
Tags
Art Historical Context
Federico Barocci (1526–1612), a leading Italian artist from Urbino, created this exquisite drawing, *Studies of a Man's and of His Hands*, 1592 and 1599. Working in the late Mannerist style with early Baroque tendencies, Barocci was renowned for his preparatory sketches that captured the tender humanity of his subjects. This sheet, measuring 11 x 16-1/4 inches, exemplifies his meticulous approach to anatomy, focusing on the expressive head and expressive hands of a male figurelikely studies for one of his religious compositions. Rendered in black chalk for subtle modeling, with white chalk hi...
About the Artist
Federico Barocci · 1535–1612
Federico Barocci (c. 1535–1612) was an Italian painter from Urbino whose luminous, emotionally tender religious paintings made him one of the most original and influential artists of the late sixteenth century, bridging Mannerism and the early Baroque. Born in Urbino, the city of Raphael, he studied under Battista Franco and traveled to Rome, where he absorbed the lessons of Raphael, Correggio, an...