Study of a girl's head

Ghirlandajo

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing by Domenico Ghirlandajo. The drawing shows the bust of a girl with her head turned towards the left and her gaze directed at the viewer. She is wearing a fabric cap, and curls fall from this on either side of her face. Her head is positioned in the upper half of the composition, and in the lower half simple details of her dress are sketched in. The girl has a serious expression. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "No. 2 DOMENICO GHIRLANDAJO (b. 1449, d.1494) STUDY OF A GIRL'S HEAD British Museum (P. p. 1-26). Silver-point on grey prepared paper. 37.5 x 24.3 cm. (14 3/4 x 9 1/2 in.) Rarely indeed does Ghirlandajo attain in his portrait heads to the poetical charm of this drawing. The pose has a delicate hesitancy and the expression a wistful charm which make one think of Ghirlandajo's greater rival. Ghirlandajo could not retain these qualities when he came to transfer such portrait studies taken from life to the frescoes of Sta Maria Novella. If, as one is inclined to suppose, this is a study for the girl who enters so majestically in the fresco of the Birth of St. John the Baptist, the final presentment, beautiful as it is, is far more prosaic and less sensitive than this."