Head of St. Joseph, Study for the Nativity with S.S. Longinus and John

Datec. 1536

MediumBlack chalk heightened with white chalk over brush and brown wash on four joined sheets of tan laid paper

DimensionsIMAGE: 15 7/8 x 12 13/16 in. (40.3 x 32.5 cm)
FRAMED: 30 3/4 x 22 3/4 in. (78.1 x 57.8 cm)

ClassificationsDrawings

Credit LineMuseum purchase, 1960

Object numberSN712

The configuration of facial features in this drawing-large, heavy eyes; long, broken nose (that appears to grow straight out of the forehead); and wild, serpentine hair-suggest that Saint Joseph was drawn from a compilation of studies, rather than from one sitter. Although an artist often used an individual model, he would have also amassed a repertoire of features, poses, and details that could be synthesized into a final composition This head of Saint Joseph is a cartoon fragment for the Nativity with Saint Longinus and Saint John the Evangelist originally in the Boschetti Chapel of Sant'Andrea in Mantua (Paris, Musée du Louvre), which was commissioned by the Duke of Mantua, Federico Gonzaga.

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