The Head of a Young Boy Crowned with Laurel

about 1500–1505

Medium

Black chalk

Dimensions

23 × 21.2 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-199662

Head of a Young Boy Crowned with Laurel is a magnificent example of Lorenzo di Credi’s appealing draftsmanship. The drawing is a highly finished cartoon (a study for design transfer) for the head of a prominent youthful shepherd in Credi’s Adoration of the Shepherds (Uffizi, Florence). One of the largest and most important works of his career, the altarpiece was commissioned by the Florentine wool merchant Jacopo Bongianni for a chapel in the church of Santa Chiara, Florence, and likely dates between 1500 and 1505. The artist used the black chalk with extreme subtlety to model the features and show the delicate fall of light on the face, and it is easy to forget that chalk draftsmanship was in its infancy at this time, having become common only twenty years before. With a delicate technique very similar to that of his studio colleagues Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci, Lorenzo di Credi particularly used black chalk for head studies. The current sheet has pinpricked holes along many of the lines to transfer the design to the panel, but there is no sign that chalk dust was knocked through these holes, as would have been the practice. Instead, it seems that the artist—understanda…