Head of an Old Woman Looking to Lower Right (Saint Elizabeth)

Head of an Old Woman Looking to Lower Right (Saint Elizabeth)

Federico Barocci

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Barocci was among the pioneers of the oil sketch in Italy. This dazzling full-scale study in color was preparatory for the figure of Saint Elizabeth in his famous Visitation altarpiece in the Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella or "Chiesa Nuova," Rome, painted between 1584 and 1586. In the final work, the saint's head would become more idealized and serene of feature, and the technique of execution much less sketchy. Barocci was an indefatigable and stunningly fluent draftsman. For the Visitation altarpiece, he prepared also a great number of small-scale composition sketches and detailed figure studies based on the live model, as well as an imposing cartoon (full-scale drawing) in charcoal (now in the Uffizi, Florence inv. 1784 E). Together with an oil sketch for the head of Saint Joseph (New York, Private collection: see Di Giampaolo 2008) the Museum's sheet was a step of refinement in the design process beyond the cartoon.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Head of an Old Woman Looking to Lower Right (Saint Elizabeth)Head of an Old Woman Looking to Lower Right (Saint Elizabeth)Head of an Old Woman Looking to Lower Right (Saint Elizabeth)Head of an Old Woman Looking to Lower Right (Saint Elizabeth)Head of an Old Woman Looking to Lower Right (Saint Elizabeth)

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.