Female Head

A young woman's head, tilted down, the eyes lowered, the hair drawn back and softly shaded. In his Florence years Leonardo made studies like this for the gentle women of his religious pictures, the Virgin and her attending angels, working out how a face might look inward and calm instead of turning to meet the viewer. The modelling is delicate, built from fine close strokes that let the light seem to settle on the cheek and brow. Little is recorded about who she was, or which painting she was meant for. What survives is the expression itself, the quiet downward look he wanted his holy figures to carry.