Study for the Head of St. Michael
Medium
black chalk
Dimensions
sheet: 19 × 16.8 cm · secondary support: 31.9 × 27.6 cm
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Accession Number
1996.257
Tags
male
About this artwork
Pietro da Cortona drew this angelically beautiful face in a style reminiscent of the work of Renaissance master Raphael (1483–1520). Cortona's use of black chalk to develop extremely subtle effects of shading shows the technique at its most refined. He drew this sheet in preparation for a ceiling decoration, Saint Michael and Angels with the Instruments of the Passion, painted in fresco in the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella (better known as the Chiesa Nuova, or "New Church") in Rome, comple...