Oeuvres sur Papier - Works on Paper - Jean-Luc Baroni & Marty de Cambiaire - 2022

3. A. del Sarto, Étude d’enfant priant, Paris, musée
du Louvre.
A. del Sarto, L’Assomption de la Vierge, détail.
Inv. inv 1692) which Sarto used, with variations, for
one of the angels of the Passerini Assumption (1526
Florence, Palais Pitti) but also of The Assumption
of the Virgin (Fig. 1). Both children are physically
very similar, except for the curly hair in the Louvre
sheet, with their full cheeks and button nose. The
manner of modelling the face is very similar in
both sheets. Lastly, a Head of a Young Woman at
the Fondation Custodia, in black chalk and dated
instead around 1515-1520, also has strong points
of comparison, the eyes hollowed around the eye
sockets – a characteristic that Pontormo was to
emphasize even more – the double outlines, the
softness of the stumping to form the face – and
the “sooty softness of the modelling” 2 are all
characteristics shared with our drawing.
1. A. del Sarto, L’Assomption de la Vierge, Florence,
palais Pitti.
This head of a child, without any doubt a study
from life, is typical of this mature drawing style,
with its double outlines at the chin and the
hatching in the hair. These are nevertheless slightly
softened by the normal wear of a work that has
not been in a museum, but instead has passed
through several collections. The modelling and
treatment of volume is very strong as well as the
force of the expression. The double framing line
in pen and brown ink is characteristic of Italian
23