Getty Museum

Standing Woman Holding a Muff, Turned Slightly to the Left (recto); Studies of Heads (verso)

Date

about 1755–1760

Medium

Black and white chalk (recto); Black chalk (verso)

Culture

Italian

Department

Drawings

Institution

Getty Museum

Turning slightly to the left with one hand tucked deep inside a muff, a woman stands holding the ends of her shawl with her other hand. This drawing and another of a similar subject originally formed a single sheet and have remained together since being divided, probably in the 1800s. Pietro Longhi drew both as preliminary studies for two female figures who stand beside each other in the center of a painting. Longhi appears to have had the final composition already in mind, since he drew this figure slightly larger than the other, anticipating the woman's position a little farther forward in the finished work. The shadows at her feet also correspond to her placement in the final painting. At the left margin, a few chalk markings are all that remain of a detail study for the woman's left hand. The rest of the image remains on the far right of the pendant drawing. Longhi drew various studies of heads on the verso.

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