# The Head of the Virgin in Three-Quarter View Facing Right

**Leonardo da Vinci** (Italian, 1452–1519)  
1510–13  
Black chalk, charcoal, and red chalk, with some traces of white chalk (?); some remains of framing lines in pen and brown ink at upper right (not by Leonardo)  
Sheet: 8 x 6 1/8 in. (20.3 x 15.6 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 51.90. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/337496).

## About this work

The Virgin’s head is turned in three-quarter view and tilted downward, her eyes lowered and a faint smile on her lips, modelled in black and red chalk and charcoal with a softness that seems to dissolve the contours into shadow. Leonardo made this study around 1510–13 for the Virgin in his painting The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, now in the Louvre. It is a supreme example of sfumato, his technique of soft transitions between light and dark, which gives the face its gentle, breathing presence.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Leonardo da Vinci drew this in 1510–13, aged about 58. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Chalk.** Natural black, red and white chalks. Used together on toned paper they could give the warmth of flesh with very little effort, and they were favourites for studies from life.
- **Charcoal.** Burnt willow or vine. It smudges and wipes away easily, which made it the natural tool for working out a composition.
- **Pen and ink.** Drawn with a quill or reed pen, often with wash added by brush to model light and shadow.

### [Leonardo da Vinci](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/leonardo-da-vinci)

Italian, 1452–1519; born in Vinci; died in Amboise

Leonardo trained in Florence in the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio and spent much of his career in Milan in the service of Ludovico Sforza, where he painted The Last Supper. Painter, engineer, anatomist and student of nature, he left relatively few finished paintings, among them the Mona Lisa, but thousands of notebook pages and drawings on every subject. His soft modelling of light and shade, called sfumato, transformed painting. He died in France at Amboise, a guest of Francis I.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Drawings
- The artist was about 58
- Real size: about 8 × 6 in (20 × 16 cm). The original is small: even the 8 × 10 in print shows it larger than life.
- Century: 16th century
- Subjects: Heads, Profiles, Women, Virgin Mary
- Colour: grey
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1022.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1022/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-head-of-the-virgin-in-three-quarter-view-facing-right-met-337496).